Well, looks like Grep won’t be snitching on the Clinkers again.

And she’s just wearing it openly.

My respect for the human grew, but I’d be lying if I didn’t also feel a little intimidated. Cleo offered me a single nod of encouragement, and coming from her, that was enough.

Behind me, the bright blue Croco guard snorted and spat.

My eyes turned to the massive Chief as he spoke, his voice irritated, but loud and clear.

“Where is sun-cursed cat thing, Clink?” Beside him, I saw old Gumbridge glaring at… well, probably nothing. She could hardly see at all, but she was glaring.

In response, an older Croco stepped forward from behind Cleo, gently cradling the cat in his big, green paws.

I always liked old Denggg. The Croco Clinker had always played and shared food with us cubs.

Smart move, having him here.

The old Croco was more than just a Clinker to the Oasis, even if he wasn’t quite considered a full member. Denggg rode a delicate line between the world he’d left behind and the trophies he wore on his leather vest; he was somebody that was accepted by both sides.

The cat must have decided she wanted to be here, she was snuggling in his massive arms until she caught sight or scent of me and her head perked up.

With a huff, Chief Bigums started to clomp forward to take the cat from Denggg, but the old green Croco looked like he didn’t like that idea at all and took a step back. The tension in the air was so obvious that even Gumbridge picked up on it. She put an old, faded olive claw on Bigums and began sniffing the air.

Her nose quickly locked in on Denggg and the cat, and I watched her take slow, careful steps forward, stopping just about halfway between the two groups. After a nod from Cleo, Denggg walked over to Gumbridge and with unguarded hesitation and a growl of warning, allowed her to take the cat from his arms. My heart ached as I watched the scene unfold, completely powerless, even if I didn’t have a guard holding on to a noose around my neck.

Gumbridge turned away and walked in the direction of the rock wall on the outside of the pool of water that made up the actual Oasis. As soon as she was a few paces away, though, she lifted the cat and gave her an audible sniff.

The old Croco growled and changed her grip, now carelessly holding the small cat in one hand by the rough of the neck as she made her way to the low wall. I just barely stopped myself from calling out at the rough treatment. Denggg started forward, himself, but allowed Cleo to restrain him with a hand and a whispered word.

To my relief, Cleo squared her shoulders and called out, “Honored Gumbridge, this treatment is unnecessary. Your Chief has agreed to belay punishment pending a trial.”

Gumbridge ignored Cleo and I watched her take the final few steps to sit on the edge of the rock wall and the Oasis.

“First, don’t know what belay means. Don’t care. We have everything we need for trial.” She tapped her nose with her free claw.

“Old Gumbridge never forget a smell. And that little rat,” she pointed at me… for the most part, “was carrying this foul creature.” Gumbridge thumped the cat on the head. She struggled in the old Croco’s claw, but Gumbridge shook her roughly.

This time, Denggg made it a few feet before he allowed Cleo to stop him, but by now, all eyes were on Gumbridge. Even mine, till I heard “Prince” Biggums laughing and noticed he was now standing on the opposite side of his bored father, watching. Hearing old Gumbridge speaking, though, I turned back in time to see her hold the small cat, who still looked stunned, over the water of the Oasis.

“My nose remembers this creature, and I know for fact… it was quite dead. If not, I would have eated it,” she added with a short cackle.

“That’s impossible, it must have been a different cat, Honored Gumbridge.”

“It was not. And you know it. I don’t lie. Nose don’t lie. Only you lie.”

I saw Cleo bristle at the insult, but her voice sounded calm to me as she tried again to diffuse the situation.

“I do not lie. There must be some mistake, some way forward from this.”

“The mistake was letting use of dark magic under our very noses!”

I stopped breathing, and there were gasps all around us that quickly turned to murmurs and whispers.

“And, as you know, no justice for that. Only purging.” The old Croco looked at me, sniffing the air. “Purges for everyone involved. Especially rats.”

Cleo took a step forward, and Denggg looked ready to go to war, but I felt the guard’s short spear poke into my neck, and everyone froze.

To my horror, the first one to move was Gumbridge, who, with a cry of, “Foul, evil creature!” plunged the cat into the water.

Oddly, the first thought I had was that I should have named her. She deserved a name. I’d been so afraid of losing her that I’d been too scared to even give her a name.

I justified it by telling myself that since she was the only cat, it wouldn’t hurt to just call her “the cat.” That felt wrong now. It just showed I’d not had near enough faith in her to take care of herself.

Me, along with those close enough to see into the Oasis’ water, were the first to see the consequences of Gumbridge’s actions. Instead of sinking into the water, the glow of the Oasis water sank into the small cat, who erupted in a shimmering light. The water flashed once and the Oasis sank into the earth.

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The cat was glowing with magic, still in the grip of the blind old Croco who’d just tried to kill her. I could see the cat glaring up at Gumbridge from the empty Oasis, and her golden cat eyes now blazing with power and intelligence that seemed impossible. All eyes were on the cat now. Her golden, glowing eyes drew me in just like everybody else. She commanded it with her sheer presence. I could barely think, just watching her.

She looks like one of those queens Cleo told me stories about.

Even Gumbridge, blind as she was, felt something amiss. She let go of the little cat, who floated in the air for a moment before falling as slow as a feather to land on the rock wall of the Oasis. Well, it wasn’t an Oasis anymore, it was just a deep hole in the ground now. The air around the cat crackled, and Gumbridge cringed backward with her olive-colored claws clutched close to her chest.

The temperature in the area rose sharply, and the small breeze disappeared. As the air stilled, I heard Biggums panicked voice cut through an explosion of gasps from the Crocos and Hyena’s around me.

“Chief dad! What’s wrong with my Goggles?!”

I could hear the Croco behind me going back and forth between praying and cursing, and even though I didn’t know what triggered all the gasping, I couldn’t blame him. Our whole world had just changed, and although I didn’t feel sorry for him, really, I knew what he was going through, cause I was going through it too.

I felt the big blue Croco’s spear pull away from my neck and I guess I could have ran at that point if I’d really wanted to. But… I wanted to make sure the cat, who I was definitely going to name as soon as I could, was going to make it out of here.

I wasn’t too sure what I could do to help a glowing, golden eyed, crackling cat, but doing nothing definitely felt like the wrong thing. The long months of playing had evolved into occasionally hunting into the dead lands, and we’d been through a lot together. She’d taught me how to find magic water like from the Oasis.

Well, most of the time, but I’d been able to get water to sick and injured Kobolds, which was something else that could have gotten me killed. But, that cat literally saved some of our lives, and I’d do anything to help her if I could.

If I could make sure she got out safe, I could even live with dying. but I guess if you consider the lives of most Kobolds, most people would see it my way.

Dying for someone else wouldn’t be the worst possible outcome for a Kobold, really. Most of us die for no reason at all.

The thing was, I knew she was special. I’d known it since the first time she’d peeked her little yellow eyes out from the pile of clothes Biggums was snoring on top of. I’d been so right about that cat that I’d almost circled all the way back to wrong, because she was a lot more than special.

Those who hadn’t attended the trial were staggering out of the now sweltering dwellings, no longer cooled by the magic of the Wayspring Oasis.

I guess, when the water and the magic left and went into the cat, it took everything with it, including his authority.

And it turns out, as I suspected, she didn’t need my help at all, anyway.

The cat, covered in ethereal magic, glared at Gumbridge a moment more and darted off toward the dead lands, but she turned and winked back at me before disappearing around the corner. I was still afraid to move, but then I felt small hands lifting the braided cord over my head. I turned to see Aur, grinning fiercely at me, her gray eyes intense. Cleo’s daughter put a finger to her lips and waved me after her.

Looking around, I saw the big blue Croco was gone, probably to check on his own family. I guess I needed to go with Aur and check on my own family… the Clinkers. I sure couldn’t let Biggums get his hands on me, I knew that much.

So, I guess Little ol’ Luth is a Clinker, now, I thought with a nervous grin.

***

The reason for the utter breakdown of civility in the wake of that farce of a trial became clear to Luth sometime afterward. A single word had appeared in those powerful enough to have interface Goggles.

/// Judgement ///

Pretty much all the Oasis Crocos and Hyenas had gotten the strange message, along with a few of the Clinkers, which was how Luth later found out. Unlike other messages, this one was impossible to dismiss and remained front and center throughout the day. Aur was the first to find out the trick to getting rid of it.

You had to pet the kitty cat.

A half dozen Kobolds paid a sad cost for ignorance through poverty as the Crocos raged and lashed out before Cleo could, with Luth’s help, restore order. Those unfortunate Kobolds were the last of their kind to die for quite a while, though.

Really, though, as much talking, and even fighting, that Cleo and Luth did… it was the cat.

Still radiating a regal, shimmering power, she walked with Cleo and Luth from place to place, and the violence stopped. Sometimes it took a little violence to stop it, but the Crocos could hardly see through their Goggles, and fighting without them was even worse. They all calmed right down after a concussion or three.

All but one.

Chief Bigums was not one to take having his authority stripped laying down, and so he hid his panic behind blind rage. He was too big and too strong to subdue. The Chief spent a full hour, screaming and lashing out dangerously at anything that drew near to him. Even his own son, Biggums, who'd been almost killed by his father in the first few minutes of the Chief's building panic and rage. Bastet had taken care of him personally, and glowing or not, I was scared out of my mind she was going to get hurt when she got near him. She moved like a blur, though. She darted in once, and the great big Croco toppled to the ground, screaming and reaching for the ruined tendons of his clawed feet. She walked a slow circle around him, and with her golden, glowing eyes, looked every onlooker, one by one, right in the eyes. I could feel the blue, shimmering magic pulse. It felt like a weight in my chest.

She dashed forward, faster than I could even see, and his screams turned to gurgling. I stared, horrified- fascinated- as he surged to his feet and lashed out blindly before falling back down as his feet failed to hold him. He cried silently, beating his claws on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum until he was too weak to do even that. He was the last to die that day.

As for the Hyenas, if they excelled in one thing, it was following whoever seemed to be in charge. Within a few hours, some of them were even wearing trophies like the Clinkers- to the Clinker’s great amusement. The hardest part was actually the Kobolds. Convincing the spirit bent Kobolds they could stand up for themselves for the first time in their oppressed lives went from impossible to an ongoing struggle.

***

It took Fox a great deal of effort, as well as that entire first year of living the other Kobold’s life, to reestablish her own identity separate from Luth. It was a hard fought lesson in willpower and focus. The training, though, the knowledge… it all stuck with her.

There were times she allowed herself to fully experience Luth’s existence again, usually during times when Bastet, as Luth finally named her, taught the resourceful Kobold how to lead and survive.

It also got lonely just watching a life. It made Fox feel separated from her own emotions in some ways. Living his life made the time pass quicker. It didn’t feel at all like the decades it was, but it still felt like a very well lived, full life.

She didn’t mind that she couldn’t always distinguish between whose emotions were whose, because as she trained, fought, lead the Kobolds- and even the Crocos for a time- and eventually died, she realized it was he, the Little Luth of myth and children’s tales, that gave the Kobolds the best part of themselves. It was Luth that really made the Kobolds strong enough to survive anything.

She was strong enough to survive anything. And now? Fox had knowledge on how to use that strength. Luth became a Child of Bast. The original in a long line of a Legendary class long, long lost.

And now? So am I.