Chapter 18 Just like Kittens

The idiots, as it turned out, were horrible hunters. She watched from the air, as they tried to sneak up on a herd of deer, but they made too much noise. The deer were long gone before they could even get close enough to see them.

Sighing in frustration, she landed next to them.

"Ahh! Why'd you hav'ta sneak up on us?"

"Yeah! We were trying to hunt here, like you said."

The last one seemed to wise up to the look in her eyes, and stayed quiet.

"You may have had a bath, but the deer can still smell you. The wind, in case you hadn't noticed, is blowing from you, towards them."

They looked at each other, but none said a word. Maybe they could learn?

"So, the first thing, when hunting, is to pay attention to the wind direction. If you are going to be traveling with me, you need to know how to hunt properly."

They hung their heads and she wondered how old they were. How were they so childish?

"Second, you need to watch your noise level. Every time you say a word, anything for a mile around can hear you. Every branch or leaf you step on, also alerts the animals that you are here."

"But how can they hear us so well?"

"And smell us? We don't stink no more."

"Is it cause we're not animals? How come no one's taught us this before?"

Sitting down, she looked at them all. "Where did you grow up, and what have you done with your lives?"

They looked at each other, then the smartest seemed to nod.

"Our pa was a thief. He taught us to find a good place on a busy road and wait for a suitable carriage to come along and steal from. We've never done nothing else. Pa died running from some guards from a town a while back. "

Thinking about that, she finally decided she could use this.

"I take it, you've killed people?"

Looking at each other again, they slowly nodded.

"O' course! If we let any o' them escape, they woulda ratted us out, and the guards woulda hunted us down!"

"You're not mad at us, are ya?"

"Not at all. You were taught the things, your father, thought was important. You have merely continued to do flawed things out of the simple fact you knew no better. I will not hold you accountable for those prior flaws. However, to be my followers, you will need to learn new skills and be willing to do things I ask of you.

"The fact that you've killed, is not a bad thing. I may have need of that ability in you sometime in the future. After all, all gods and goddesses have enemies."

They grinned at each other again. The fact that she wasn't condemning them was a huge thing to them. She was certain that they would be even more loyal now. Another thing suddenly occurred to her as they seemed to be enjoying the fact that she wouldn't blame them for doing bad things, she didn't know any of their names.

"Only my closest followers know my true name. Seeing as I will be training you with all new skills, it only seems right that you learn my name."

Their eyes, already large, grew even bigger.

"Kiterina. Now, your names?"

"James."

"Mike."

"Lee."

They almost stumbled over each other to tell her, which caused her to smile in amusement. They were like kittens trying to please the larger cat. If she thought of them like that, it would be easier to deal with them.

After spending all day trying to teach them to hunt, they at least didn't forget any of her tips, she finally killed a large deer, and they enjoyed the meal with Timmy as the sun began to set.

Laying next to the fire, she listened contentedly as they talked amongst themselves, of everything they had learned. She was happy they were so excited about their progress. She wasn't sure they would actually kill anything soon, but as long as they were progressing, she decided it would be alright. Regardless, it was immensely pleasing to her, to know that she hadn't had to clean or cook this meal. Her followers were starting to do what she wanted, and that was pamper her as a proper goddess.

"What do you know about the Demon King?" she asked, during a lull in the conversation.

"He's a horrible person who enjoys killing people," said James with no hesitation.

"He eats babies for breakfast and girls for supper," added Lee, quickly.

"I heard that he has a huge army that goes out every day and loots and kills everyone in their path. That only the king's army keeps them from getting to the inner lands, which is where we are." Mike tore a chunk of meat from his piece, and chewed it deliberately, as everyone thought about that.

"For one, his name, The Demon King, hints at the fact he probably has killed some people in his time, so that's not interesting," she said, pointing the James.

"Eating babies and girls all the time, would cause his troops and any people who followed him, to hate him and try to kill him. While I don't doubt the possibility of your words, they mostly sound like fear-mongering," she said, pointing to Lee.

"Your words are interesting to me, because if he does have an army, it would be far more difficult for me to deal with him. I wonder if there's truth to it. The king having an army keeping his army at bay seems very plausible. That would also explain the extra taxes being imposed on the people."

"What's fear mongering?" asked Lee, confused.

"Right, low vocabulary. We'll have to work on that. Well, it's what the people in power tell the people who aren't in power to keep them afraid and in line. It's far easier to control someone who believes you are their only source of safety."

They all nodded in thought, even Timmy, who had been quiet for most of the discussion.

"Do any of you know where the Demon King is?"

"He's to the east, everyone talks about the king sending fighters out that way, and people coming back from the east to escape the fighting," said James.

Several days passed, as she tried to teach them how to hunt, even including Timmy into the training. She kept them heading east, so that she could hopefully gain more information about this Demon King. It amused her greatly to think that she might be the one who took him out, or if it was supposed to be Timmy, then she would play a major part in it.

They eventually came to a road again, but as they began to make their way along it, several riders on horseback, approached them. Kitty had just left the road for a few minutes, to do her business in private, and overheard them all talking.

"Have any of you seen a winged demon cat?" asked one of the riders.

"No, the only demon we know about is the Demon King. Is that who you're talking about?" asked Timmy.

"Our Goddess Kiterina is kind of like a winged cat, but she's no demon by any stretch of the imagination. Would you like to hear about her?" asked James, excited to share the information with them.

"Uh, no thanks, we need to hurry along our way," said the other rider.

"There's a mage willing to pay a fairly nice bounty if it's returned to him dead or alive." The two riders rode off before any of them could say another word, and Kitty had to take a moment to overcome her moment of giggles before returning to them.

"You don't think they were talking about you, do you?" asked Timmy confused and worried.

She put on a serious face. "I don't think so, but just to be safe, we should probably avoid anyone else seeing me. Most people fear what they don't understand, and it would slow our mission to have to fight poor unfortunate souls who have been misled."