Pre-numbered label used for registration.

The Ancients have prophesied that in every eighty-first generation of the most ancient of the Felidae there shall come a Cat of Power, which shall not be greatest of Magnitude, but possessed of the most exquisite Soul. And the greatest of these shall be the Golden Cat, which shall come only when the ancient north joins with the Eye of Horus, and it shall have the Power to harness the Sunne and the Moon and the Wild Roads, and may render to any so lucky as to possess it the very Key to knowledge of the Natural World
           --William Herringe
           The Diminutive Tyger, 1562

If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat.
           --Mark Twain

This is the tale of Tag, a pampered house kitten who doesn't even know his own true name. He has never hunted for his own food, or done much of anything but chase bubbles and a toy mouse. But he has been given a great task. He must find the King and Queen of cats, and bring them to Tintagel before the vernal equinox. Tag is not the only one seeking the King and Queen. A human known as the Alchemist wants them for his own ghastly ends. If he captures them, the world will never be the same. The Wild Roads are the most important thing in the world, and no human can understand or use them, but this man wants to. And only a handful of cats stand in his way. I almost pity him. ;)

There's a lot of good stuff in this book, a whole hidden world right under our noses. I've never had a cat myself, but I can't be entirely certain it isn't true. There's a look at the history of cats, and their (sometimes rocky) relationship with humans. One thing that sticks with me is a look at the burning of cats during witchcraft hysteria, followed shortly by the plague, carried by the rats that those cats would have killed and eaten.

I love the names, like Ragnar Gustaffson Coeur de Lion, Mercury Realtime DeNeuve, the fox Loves A Dustbin, and the magpie One For Sorrow.

There are also some great quotes.

When you've let everyone down, the least you can do is get up and help them out of the sack.

We can't all guard the life we love—or soon there would be no life left to love but being a guard

RELEASE NOTES:

Left in the pet store, in a release bag, propped up beside a cage containing two rabbits and three guinea pigs. Hopefully Tag won't scare them too much. :)

The third (and I think most appropriate) release made in memory of RainDrop162004's guinea pig Snuggles.