Prologue: The Clan of Cat

Nine paths to walk, nine lives to live, upon the earth and under the sun.

Nine times to see the sky, and lie upon the sweet green grass.

Only then, to part the veil, and walk upon our

final path.

For so it is remembered, and so it has been sung.

In the morning of the world, the Spirit Above breathed out the universe. On that day the Clan of Man was set upon the good green earth, and beside them the Clan of Cat.

So say the oldest of the Songs, by which my kind keep our memories. Our story stretches back to the beginning of all things, and many are our Songs.

Wherever the Folk have gone, Cats and Men journeyed there together, upon the earth and under the sun.

Whatever we have done, we did it together. Cat and Man were called out of Chaos side by side, and thus they have walked, out of Creation and into the Before Times.

Not so the Clan of Dog, though their service has been without peer, and we honor them. They were once eldritch, just hungry green eyes, shining from the darkness, beyond the firelight. Only lately, as the universe counts time, did they come to be of the Folk.

I am Shadow Chaser, called Mister Boogie by my human companion. I am of the Folk, and of the clan of Cat. I walk with the Humans. I have done so since reason woke me in the darkness.

I am a singer of Songs, a keeper of Dreams. I remember the Songs which tell our stories and tales, for that is my place, upon the earth and under the sun.

Do you know the name of the cat who fought Wolverine to the death, for the lives of his humans? Can you recite the ancestry of the kitten given by Gaius Caesar to Calpurnia, his wife? Can you tell of the Ship’s Cat who rounded the Horn aboard the tall ship Flying Cloud? I can sing all these Songs, and many more.

I know the Songs first given voice when the Folk began to spread out and to fill up the earth, so many ages ago, in the morning of all things. I can sing the Younger Songs also, the ones which were made for the New World.

Cat was there, when Leif, son of Erik, stepped from his dragon-ship in that fresh new place. Cat was there again, when Captain Lewis and his brave band first caught sight of the shining Western Sea.

I will one day sing the Songs of the stars as well. When the first starships dare the Deep Black, the Ship’s Cats will go with them. All the others will be there too, from temple guards and hunters of rodents, to simple ladies’ companions, as we have always been.

And now, acquit yourself comfortably, you of the Clan of Man. Arrange your cushions; take your drink in hand. The night is long, ‘ere the Moon shall set. If you would hear and know of all these things, it shall be done.

I will now sing for you, the songs and tales of my Clan and my Kind. I will sing for you of times, and places, and wonders of which you have never dreamed.