She climbed stiffly to her feet, terribly tired. The huge black cat moved silently through the trees to join them. "Hello," he piped in a thin, reedy voice. "The King says I'm to walk you to the Lodge." Kate jumped and gasped, feeling abruptly that she did have weak nerves, but Emily yelped in delight. "Oh, Seylin!" she cried. "You clever cat! You can talk!" The large feline sat down. "Well," he said in an abashed tone, "I'm not really a regular cat." He turned his round eyes with their huge black pupils on Kate. "Are you ready to leave now?" he trebled politely. Kate swung her arms, hesitating. It was still nighttime, or at any rate very early morning. She hated to leave the safety of the tree circle. "I don't know, Em," she said cautiously to her sister. "Maybe we should stay here until the sun comes up." "You don't need to worry," Seylin assured her earnestly. "I just look like a big cat, but I can protect you with magic. The King wouldn't have made me your escort if he didn't think I could handle the job." Kate detected a note of pride in this last statement.
