Shirley Murphy - The Catswold Portal

The Catswold Portal

Shirley Rousseau Murphy

FOR MOUSSE

Cats eyes in the face of a womanseem to promise the most unusual and selective delights as green and seductive they glitterThe cat face is an ensemble of marvelously matched and balanced features and the total result is one to stir the heart. Where the human female is able to approach them, she becomes irresistible.

Paul Gallico, Honorable Cat

Contents

Epigraph

Chapter 1

He ran pounding through the forest, his tennis shoes snapping

Chapter 2

Perhaps the universe tilted for an instant to allow Braden

Chapter 3

She pressed the pony fast along the high, grassy plateau,

Chapter 4

Braden, barefoot and wearing cutoffs, set his coffee cup on

Chapter 5

Melissa wrote the note in a thick layer of dust

Chapter 6

The soldiers kicked their horses to a trot, moving fast

Chapter 7

Braden was parking the station wagon after a pointless drive

Chapter 8

The scullery was steamy hot and noisy with the gossiping

Chapter 9

Feeling her way down the cellar stair clutching the rail,

Chapter 10

Uneasily Melissa approached the door of the queens solar, wishing

Chapter 11

The banquet hall was noisylaughter and drunken shouts rose over

Chapter 12

University of Chicago, Olive Cleaver said, dusting cake crumbs from

Chapter 13

Melissa slipped quickly into the kings chamber. With any luck

Chapter 14

From behind the draperies Melissa listened to the queens muffled

Chapter 15

The torchlight guttered and hissed, sending shadows running down the

Chapter 16

Now in the Harpys mirror mist clung against the buildings

Chapter 17

The spell-light came quickly down the stair striking across barrels

Chapter 18

The Harpy flew across the night, ducking through caverns and

Chapter 19

Melissa woke hot and uncomfortable. The king slept sprawled across

Chapter 20

Melissa ran, ducking branches. She was just able to glimpse

Chapter 21

Night was drawing down over the garden, making the vast

Chapter 22

She climbed the vine and swung onto Efils balcony. She

Chapter 23

Vrech left the portal and garden quickly, heading east along

Chapter 24

Speeding trucks made the roadbed tremble. Their hot diesel wind

Chapter 25

Riding fast, Siddonie and her two companions galloped along the

Chapter 26

In the Hell Pit the Harpy basked among flames, easing

Chapter 27

Stiff-legged, the cat stalked the door, her eyes burning with

Chapter 28

Basin Street jazz drowned the wind in the garden. The

Chapter 29

Braden was pulled out of a deep sleep, fighting to

Chapter 30

The Harpy sat rocking beside Mags wood stove, her expression

Chapter 31

Morian carried the little cat up the garden, snuggling her,

Chapter 32

Dawn. Melissa woke lying next to Braden deliciously warm curled

Chapter 33

At dusk Braden made himself a drink and stood studying

Chapter 34

She fled through the rain to the tool shed, and

Chapter 35

The lights of the street lamps looked thin and insubstantial,

Chapter 36

The cars racing by them, the speeding lights and the

Chapter 37

Olive Cleaver didnt sleep well. She thought in the night

Chapter 38

Get on the horse! Get on the horse now!

Chapter 39

The Harpy and Mag and the gathered rebels watched, in

Chapter 40

The tall Victorian house rose above the narrow street shadowed

Chapter 41

The beautifully dressed women on San Franciscos streets had filled

Chapter 42

The golden tom stared under the couch at the calico,

Chapter 43

It was dawn. The dark green of night had hardly

Chapter 44

Braden was drinking his third cup of coffee and going

Chapter 45

Melissa left Braden paintingalready he had roughed in a canvas

Chapter 46

Three hundred cats roamed within the fenced, wire-roofed compound in

Chapter 47

It was the evening the calico scratched Morian that Melissa

Chapter 48

Efil watched the compound from a nearby hill where he

Chapter 49

The Greyhound bus smelled of cigarettes and stale food. A

Chapter 50

Call them forth leaping, Olive read, bring them careening

Chapter 51

Pippin sat naked in Olives dining room reciting Netherworld spells.

Chapter 52

Wylles reached the top of the garden filled with rage

Chapter 53

The Harpy cupped her little mirror in her hands and

Chapter 54

Through the open bedroom window the bay was dark under

Chapter 55

She was afraid of taking the elevator by herself. She

Chapter 56

The coast was ragged and wild. Waves crashed against the

Chapter 57

The Harpys mirror was red with flame. In the little

Chapter 58

The restaurant rambled along the cliff high above the sea.

Chapter 59

She returned slowly to the inn. The dawn sky was

Chapter 60

Twenty paintings hung on the white gallery walls, each with

Chapter 61

Outdoor lights brightened the fluted borders of the museums tile

Chapter 62

Braden turned the station wagon into the lane, his headlights

Chapter 63

Braden tore at the wall with his hands, smashed his

Chapter 64

The swinging light of the lanterns jabbed and shifted along

Chapter 65

Melissa descended the cellar stairs among the roars of the

Chapter 66

On a narrow ridge east of Shenndeth, Siddonie sat on

Chapter 67

Zzadarrays towers were airy, open to the Netherworld breezes. The

Chapter 68

The army moved out of Zzadarray with Netherworld Catswold and

Chapter 69

It was midnight, the battle was stilled by darkness. Siddonie

Chapter 70

The ponies jogged along steadily behind Bradens gray gelding. The

Chapter 71

Melissa, riding the upperworld stallion meant for Helsa, wearing the

Chapter 72

Pain shot through Melissas shoulder. She unsheathed her knife as

Chapter 73

Siddonie stood captive, held by her own warriors. Melissa remembered

Chapter 74

It was midnight. Few lights burned in Affandar Palace, though