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We may not plummet in freefall, like the castle debacle, but it’s still a petrifying fairground ride of bumps, scales, side slithers and reacquaintance with the full length of my overburdened digestive tract. Mostly it’s like jumping out of a plane at night, riding the lovechild of a space hopper and a trampoline. I shouldn’t complain since Serpen’s scales are taking a battering on loose stones and Curt yelps in terror every time a bump sends us airborne.
When we finally reach the base of the cliff and level out, my wolf slumps into me, resting his face in my neck. I reach back and pat his head.
“I hate you,” he mutters and smothers a burp. “I feel sick and my hip hurts.”
“I know, darling,” I tell him. “It’s been a rough day.”
It’s not over yet as Serpen slithers across the valley, bumping, swelling and grinding until my backside aches and motion sickness threatens to make me pass out.
“How long is this ride going on?” moans Curt, not being a fan of nausea.
“We must be there soon,” I tell him, just before our bouncy castle deflates beneath us, depositing two travellers on our backsides.
“You could have given us a warning,” I mutter, picking myself up as Serpen’s naked form reappears. “I’m too old for this treatment.”
I undo my coat and unceremoniously dump shoes and clothes into his outstretched arms. He’s heaving on his coat when I spot the bear funeral party trotting towards the caves, carrying their prostrate burden. Unfortunately, our cat remains unconscious, which is worrying. I’m not yet allowing myself to ruminate on what we’ll do if he doesn’t wake up.
I dash up to the bears and tag on to the group, leaving the wolf and serpent to sort themselves out.
“Graer grid grou grum grom?” growls one of the laden grizzlies, which I translate to ‘where did you come from?’
“Up there,” I answer, pointing up the cliff side.
“Gruh? Grow?” they all rumble in harmonised shock.
“I rode down on a serpent.”
“Groh. Grool.”
I lift up a corner of the leather coats covering our moggy mage. His eyes are closed and the dark circles under them are new, but he’s definitely breathing, since a bit of fur fluff sucks in an out of a nostril like a metronome.
“Kit, if you can hear me,” I whisper in his ear, “please wake up. I need you.”
There’s no response as the bears jog ever onwards.
“Where are the caves?” I ask Curt, since I’ve never been this far south and the entrance seems swallowed up in darkness. I could walk right past it and never know.
“Underneath us,” Curt replies.
“They’re subterranean?”
“What does that mean?”
“Under the earth.”
“Isn’t that what I said?”
“Don’t get snappy with me,” I tell him, annoyed because he’s right. “Give me my book.”
“No.”
“Mange.”
“Big Bum.”
“Children,” Serpen throws at us as he runs past.
The answer to my next question, to wit, ‘where’s the entrance?’ arrives with the sudden reappearance of Yellfire’s head, as though popping up from the earth like an overgrown mushroom. A few steps around a bump in the valley floor reveals a narrow fissure in a clump of rock, camouflaged by a blanket covered with mud and grass.
“You got here quickly,” Yelena says, her body trailing her head out of the hole. Audira follows on her heels, carrying a flaming torch.
“We came down the cliff and don’t ask,” I advise. “Serpen’s here. Did you tell...?”
“We know,” Audira replies, torchlight casting her shadow on the valley floor. “Yelena told us everything. We’re all ready to support you. Sospa’s inside.”
At least I don’t have to repeat the saga all over again. A growl precedes the arrival of the cat bearers.
“Is that the mage under there?” Audira asks. “That’s not good.”
“He’ll wake up,” I insist. “Can they get him in the cave?”
“The entrance is wider than it looks,” Audira replies.
The bears are performing a sidestep with military precision, rotating to line up with the cave, when a dark shadow passes overhead and a set of outstretched claws reach out to grab me. Curt shoves me so hard, I stagger straight through the blanket and dive headfirst down a slope into the cave, landing in the ever loving arms of Mama Bear, who happens to be standing exactly where she’s most needed.
“Welcome back,” she says, our two ample chests squashing together as we hug.
A terrible racket rains down from above, being a mix of shrieking eagle, growling bears and one mangy wolfman, hollering.
“Excuse me,” I offer, extricating myself from Mama Bear, scrambling back up the slope and sticking my head out of the hole, catching the feather strewn finale to the scuffle.
An enemy eagle flaps into the distance, favouring a bald left wing, but still gaining height. No doubt he’s off to deliver the news of my whereabouts to his puny king. Two bears look the worse for wear, sporting a sore selection of claw gouges. Slashed leather coats pepper the ground, and a sabre tooth tigerlion lies on his side, covered head to tail in loose feathers, his limbs tied in knots.
“Kit,” I cry, emerging from the cave and lugging each of the discarded cat’s limbs into a more dignified position. “Wake up, UrRahUm. Please.”
“I’m fine. Thank you for asking,” moans a dishevelled Curt, thinning hair sticking out at right angles. “That eagle now knows you and the cat are here, together.”
“I know. I’m so sorry, I led them straight here. Can we get the children away before the serpents arrive?” I ask Audira.
Yelena answers for her. “No, it’s too late. They’d be caught out in the open. We’ll have to make a stand here. Where’s Wings? We need to get everyone back to defend.”
“Alpha will see what’s happening,” Curt replies. “Once all the serpents and eagles head here, he’ll stop the diversion and bring the pack.”
“Let’s hope they arrive before the serpents,” says Yelena. “Get the cat inside, please. We can’t have him being snatched or injured.”
Despite their wounds, the bears gently pick up Kit and shuffle towards the blanket camouflage. Mama Bear emerges just in time to hold it open for them, watching as the drooping tail disappears down the slope.
“He won’t be doing much magic like that,” she says. “I’ll take a look, but I doubt there’s much I can do. Magic isn’t in my medicine.”
“That Mould Throttler did the trick,” says Curt. “Not that there’s any mould to throttle. Not anymore.”
“Oh? Did you destroy it?” asks Mama.
“Long story,” he replies, nodding at me. “Mainly hers. But yes, we did.”
“Kit did,” I point out, “but the castle didn’t fare so well.”
“Is it badly damaged?” Serpen asks.
Oh, wow. I can’t believe I forgot to impart that information to its former owner. “Yes. Erm, sorry, but Kit blew it up to kill the mould monster.”
Serpen frowns. “Mould monster?”
“Big arms and legs. Walked,” says Curt, doing a zombified impression. “Teeth like it was alive. And stank. It went up in flames. Then the castle fell down.”
And they call me the Storyteller.
“The castle’s gone?” asks Serpen. “Completely?”
“Flat as Edi’s fried cheese,” Curt replies, “and twice as burnt.”
“Good,” says Serpen and marches into the cave without another word.
“Get inside,” Audira tells us. “There’s nothing you can do out here without the cat anyway.”
“I’ll keep watch,” Yelena offers.
“No,” states Audira with quiet authority. “I’m the Alpha Mate. It’s my job to keep watch for the Alpha’s return. Sospa needs your protection.”
Yelena stares at her son’s mate before a proud smile lights her stern features. “As you say. Your eyesight is better than this old wolf’s anyway. You only have to bark and I’ll be straight back.”
Audira places the torch inside the mouth of the cave, hidden from outward sight. The serpents know we’re here, but we don’t need to give them a flaming beacon. Curt follows Yelena through the camouflage and into the caves, but I hesitate, glancing back at the Alpha Mate’s calm, graceful form.
“I am sorry for this,” I tell her. “All I ever wanted was for us to be one pack.”
“I know,” she replies, face shrouded in shadow. “Maybe when it’s all over, we will. Your story was always leading back to Earth. You do know that?”
The truth of that ominous pronouncement scares me witless, so I hurry past the blanket and back down the slope without replying. A path through the rock takes a sharp turn to the right and opens out into a jagged, stalactite laden cave with dripping catacombs that seem to stretch the entire width of the valley. The space may be huge, but the roof barely clears my head and forces Curt to stoop. A wave of claustrophobia sweeps over me and I fight the urge to sprint back up that slope and into the open air, no matter what awaits out there.
Torches tucked into fissures or propped against outcrops illuminate the wide eyed faces of our children, huddled together in furry and scaly groups. Baby snakes cuddle into their wolf and bear cub friends, drawing comfort as well as warmth. Some remain as human, but most prefer their animal forms in this dreary, frightening place. Audira’s wolves patrol the caves, ever ready to leap into action.
A sharp set of teeth take a bite at my ankle, piercing straight through my boot. “Get off, you little monster,” I tell the fur ball as he peers up at me with those glossy eyes. “Now.” Beetus scrambles up my leg, into my waiting arms and snuggles his nose into my neck, much as Curt did earlier. A watching Friddie, in his ursine form, waves a paw and I smile back at him, cuddling his wayward cub.
Curt nudges me and I follow his gaze to the feather covered cat, lying on a pile of blankets, his head cushioned by the slashed leather coats. Sospa sits beside him, cross legged, stroking his ears and mumbling inaudible comfort. Her uncle stands over her, not knowing what to do or say. I understand his quandary. Still holding Beetus, I sit on the floor beside her, doing my best not to let concern show on my face.
“Why won’t he wake up, Auntie Edi?” Sospa asks.
“He’s very tired and he used a lot of energy,” I reply, draping an arm around her shoulders. “He’ll wake up soon.”
Wide sapphire eyes, framed by feathery blond eyelashes, peer at me. “If he doesn’t, we won’t be able to go to Earth, will we?”
I can’t help exchange a worried glance with Serpen. His young heir grasps the situation all too well.
“Nana Yelena told me,” says Sospa, nodding at Yellfire. “If we can’t go to Earth, will you have to send Uncle and me away with the other serpents?”
A sudden silence hangs in the cave and I sense every single gaze land on my face. Beetus reaches out and splats a paw on her forehead in solidarity.
“No,” says Curt, answering for me in his Alpha wolf voice. “We won’t be sending you away. Ever.”
“None of us will let you go,” says Yelena.
Sospa blows a feather off Kit’s nose and gently strokes his mane. “I want him to wake up.”
“Me too,” I reply.
“Not to help me,” she explains. “I want him to wake up so he can run and play and sing. I think he likes to sing.”
As I glance around the cave, not a single person would give up this child to save themself. But how long will that hold true when the serpent king arrives. A king who despises her bloodline. A king who’ll hurt their families to get at me.
I lean over the cat and whisper in his ear. “You better wake up, Kit, or I’ll lock you in a cage and have Wings sing to you non stop. And feed you my burnt cheese speciality for every meal.” I know none of that makes sense, but I’m out of ideas. Except maybe one. “UrRahUm, we love you and we need you to save us.”
Beetus disconnects his front paws from my neck and leans over, growling his agreement into Kit’s ear. Sospa grins at him.
“Get ready,” cries Audira, her voice echoing through the cave ahead of her hurried return. “The snakes have signalled from the cliff. The serpents are coming.”
