Written for legendland.
Kitten Alert
"I am Mord'Sith," Cara muttered savagely, as she maneuvered her way onto the next tree branch. Leaves fell to the distant forest floor, probably getting caught in Kahlan's bodice…
Distracted, Cara's gloved fingers slipped a little on the rough bark, and she had to shift her weight quickly in order to balance.
"Just a little further!" Richard called. "You can do it!"
He was hanging precariously from a branch about a body length above Cara, the kitten he had insisted on rescuing cradled protectively against his chest. It was showing a remarkable lack of the appropriate outraged spirit, and had so far neglected to bite or scratch him.
Cara doubted that it would extend her the same courtesy.
"I have broken more men than I can count," Cara went on grimly, as she continued to climb, "I have led armies, I have withstood torture that would make any of you three beg for the Underworld, I have outlined Darken Rahl's eyes with kohl—"
At that, Richard raised his eyebrows, and had the audacity to grin down at her.
Cara refrained from explaining that it was no laughing matter, and had actually involved an unusually complex and arcane assassination plot, and concentrated on her climb.
After all, if both she and Richard, who had neglected to realize that once he retrieved the kitten he would be as stuck as it had been, since that last branch was impossible to get down from one-handed, fell out of the tree to their doom at Kahlan's feet, there would be no one possessed of the Breath of Life left to revive them.
She owed her Lord Rahl care for both his life and his dignity—the latter was far more difficult than the former with Richard.
But the fact remained that all her training hadn't prepared her for this. "I am Mord'Sith," she concluded, finally within range.
Richard gently held out the kitten. It resisted leaving the comfort of his arms, and clawed futilely at Cara's leathers once she had a firm grip on it. "And Mord'Sith," she said, in defiance of her current position, "do not rescue kittens in trees."