| |
Wrapped in a hastily procured blanket from a sympathetic bear, a naked Gulid legs it across the snow and past me, loitering on the threshold. Peering over my shoulder, I watch him hustle towards the roaring fire, making a swift detour to grab the entire pallet full of fry up. Curt snatches one rasher out of his hand, before he has a chance to bite.
“Glad you’re back, Gulid,” says Big Wolf, being closest to the fire.
“Why are you back?” asks Yelena, in her usual direct to the jugular style.
“I couldn’t just leave you to it,” Gulid mumbles, mouth full.
“You looked terrified to my eyes,” says Yelena, not giving an inch. Audira nudges her, but mother-in-law is on a roll. “Flying out of here as though your tail feathers were on fire.”
Since he once fled the serpents with his tail feathers on fire, that memory triggers the poor freezing bird.
“For your information, wolf, I flew over the area all night, checking the serpents weren’t already here. I was keeping you safe,” he hollers, spraying chewed rasher.
Big Wolf wipes a dollop of spit out of his eye, but diplomatically says nothing.
“Do you think you could stop the shouting?” begs Ursid, cradling his head.
“So, are they here, the serpents?” Alpha asks, perking up.
“Well, no, not yet,” Gulid replies, stamping frozen toes on a trailing edge of blanket. “Now you know. You’re welcome.”
“You didn’t much like being on your own, did you?” says Curt, with more of a statement than a question.
Gulid returns a non-committal puff of breath down his nose, but we all know my wolf’s right.
Dulcis gives the shivering eagle a swift hug. “I’ll fetch you some clothes. I’m glad you’re back, Gulid. And thank you for looking out for us.”
The birdman smiles, until Curt whips the pallet out of his hand. Never get between a wolf and his rashers.
Once the eagle is in a more modest condition, everyone takes up their former positions around the table. So, notwithstanding the previous lovefest and the Return of the Beak, we’re now back where we started, with a total lack of battle strategy. Cue the onslaught of ridiculous nonsense. Strap in.
“Now you’re back, Gulid, what can you tell us about these serpents?” asks Yelena which, granted, is a fairly sensible beginning, but it’s early.
“Erm,” begins Gulid, chewing and swallowing in one great gulp. “Well, there’s at least fifty, that I saw, all serpents.”
“How do you know?” asks Big Wolf.
“They chased me through their town, slithering,” he answers, making the snake motion with his hand, “and they all looked like you.” The last said nodding at Serpen. “There may be a lot more than that. I don’t know. Their citadel was big. Best assume there’s more than I saw. Then there’s the king.” Gulid shudders at the thought and Audira pats his hand, drawing a weak smile in response. “He’s four times the size, huge scales, massive spikes and vomits up fire.”
A reptile flamethrower. Lovely image.
“And we know how many eagles they have,” says Wings.
“All of them.” Gulid’s reply is barely a whisper.
“Bar two,” I qualify. “We’ve got the best two.”
“Thank you,” says Gulid. “But I still blame you for my nose.”
“Fair enough. I’m still traumatised by that yellow suit, if it’s any consolation. What more can you tell us about the cat?”
Gulid shudders before stuttering, “Nothing. Didn’t know it was a cat. I never saw it, just heard a noise. Are you sure that’s what it is?”
“If you never saw it, the noise could have been anything,” Yelena says, wafting her hand around before pointing at the eagle. “You’re hardly reliable and we’ve got more to worry about than some magic legend.”
“I’ll say,” Gulid mutters, scowling at her. “Their king is going to burn us all alive, hopefully starting with you.”
“I have a plan,” states Yelena. “We could poison Gulid and feed him to their king.”
“Or give him you,” snaps Gulid. “He’ll choke to death on your hairy wolf backside.”
“Mama’s Mould Throttler would do the trick,” says Big Wolf, smiling at her.
“Curt could bore him to death with woodwork,” I add, getting into the ludicrous swing of things.
“Give him Edi,” Curt offers, in retaliation. “He’ll go mad and throw himself off The Drop.”
“Get Wings and Ursid to sing non-stop,” Adamo adds. “The serpents will all follow him off the edge, screaming.”
“Why don’t we just snatch the cat, if he’s such a big thing?” asks Audira.
Everyone laughs. She stares at us all, straight faced.
“You’re not joking,” I observe, exhibiting my world famous empathy.
“No,” she agrees.
“Why would we want a cat, exactly?” Big Wolf asks his mate. “Not that I’m knocking down your idea, but why?”
“Cats disappeared hundreds of years ago, right?” she begins. “And not a single sighting of one since.”
“As far as we know,” Alpha agrees.
“So if it is a cat, it’s either hundreds of years old or arrived here from somewhere else.”
“Like Edi’s home,” Curt speculates, chewing on another rasher.
“I am home,” I remind him.
“Like Edi’s world of origin,” he amends.
“So, the question is...” Audira continues, “Why have they kept him in secret?”
“Magic,” Gulid offers. “All the cats had it in the old days.”
“Exactly,” says Audira.
Curt looses a sarcastic “Huh. Stories.”
“I remind you a story and a book brought me here.” I grab my own rasher and comfort gnaw whilst asking, “What can a mage cat actually do?” Silence. “So nobody knows?”
Serpen raises his index finger. “I don’t know where this came from, but we’ve always believed our snakes also took up magic to combat the cats and that’s where my bloodline came from.”
“Which might explain why they have it,” Primus remarks. “But is it a captive or in control?”
“What about the library in the castle?” I wonder. “Would a book there tell us anything about the cats?”
Anguis blows out a breath and leans forwards. “There’s no going back there. It’s been a year. The mould would have overrun everything, since we stopped trying to hold it back.”
“Even so,” I reply, “I know this cat’s important, so we should...”
Curt slams his palm on the table with a reverberating thud and the room goes silent again. “No more about cats. Sorry, I hear you, Edi, but we don’t have time to wander around that castle, dodging the mould. We have to concentrate on forming a defence plan. Ursid, can you come up with a strategy?”
“Holes,” Ursid mutters. “I mean, dig them around the town. And set log swing traps.”
“Won’t big snakes just slither out of holes?” I ask, imagination running wild.
“It’ll slow them down and leave them vulnerable,” Ursid replies. “Maybe.”
“Serpen, ideas on how to defeat snakes like yourself?” Curt continues. “We stopped you once, or at least Anguis did. How can we do it again? Wings, Gulid, how do we defend from eagle air attack?”
“Arrows and spears?” Yelena offers.
“No,” hollers Gulid, making Ursid and Wings wince. “They’re mesmerised, not evil. And they’re my friends. Don’t hurt them.”
Curt stares at him for a long moment, then sighs. “Fine. You find a way to stop them without killing them and I’ll listen.”
“Arrows and spears won’t work on serpents,” offers Serpen. “Not small spears, anyway. They were used on my father and he barely felt them.”
“We can try them in the holes,” Ursid offers. “Bigger versions.”
“Wolves, bears, snakes,” Curt continues. “We train all our people until we work together as one.” He draws a breath and glances from face to face, ending with his brother. “Alpha, after we’ve done all this, you’ll have the final decision. If we can’t defend against their king, then we must hide.” He takes my hand and peers into my eyes. “And if we have to run to draw them away from our pack, then we go together.”
I’ve never loved my wolf more than in this moment. “Then we go together,” I repeat.
Yet, somehow, deep inside, I still know the cat is the key to everything.
