Three Wizards and a Cat

A.L. Sirois

 

Affecting an air of nonchalance, Rali Ribhu strolled through Ileranth's theatrical district amidst a throng of richly caparisoned pedestrians. Slender yet well-muscled, garbed conservatively in green and beige clothing of his own design, Rali negotiated the press with assurance. His professional thief’s eye automatically noted all he passed, from the chubby and obviously prosperous burgher doubtless out of the Empalister farming region to Ileranth’s north and here on a dinner outing with his no less chubby wife, bedecked with carnelians and diamonds; to the whip-thin young couple dressed solely in black transkins with silver highlights, enhanced with aniform whiskers and fur, perhaps performers in one of the plays or tabernacles. Rali enjoyed the bustle of the city and had on occasion found it quite lucrative.

Cruising a few meters above rooftop level private air cars enameled with family crests or provocative images floated through clouds of steam or smoke vented from the buildings, avoiding antennae and other appurtenances projecting from the rooftops. Their warning lights flashed variously carmine, amber and acid green.

Rali crossed an intersection and entered a dim street leading to Voormi's Belly, a warren of fetid alleyways many of the city's less sophisticated inhabitants called home.

It was here in the Belly he hoped to glean information that would lead him to the elusive Ludai Mahgrobi, a sorcerer of small repute who owed a substantial sum to Rali's master in return for advanced lessons in the craft.

The twisting streets of the Belly were clamorous with the cries of hawkers and the importuning of various tempters. Avoiding eye contact with the neighborhood's denizens, Rali mentally reviewed the details of Ludai Mahgrobi's case.

Mahgrobi had made some few small payments, but none for the last two months. Rali's employer, the sorcerer Xaglun Harridor, was never one to let loose ends dangle, especially where accounts receivable were concerned. He dispatched his assistant, Rali Ribhu, to secure the remainder of the debt.

After three days' search, however, Rali had found no trace of Mahgrobi. No one in his accustomed haunts had seen him. The address where he supposedly dwelt showed signs of being hastily vacated. Rali therefore decided to search the Belly.

Without warning a small shape rocketed out of a dark alleyway, colliding with Rali and knocking the wind out of him.

“Your pardon!” The aniform, in the semblance of a bipedal male tortoise shell cat, scrambled to its feet. Dodging across the street, it ducked into a crumbling apartment building.

Rali straightened his cap. “Be-damned feline!” He would have hurled further imprecations after the creature but a second, larger shape wrapped in a voluminous ultramarine cloak hurtled out of the same alleyway, likewise slamming into him. Though smaller than Rali, this one nevertheless massed enough that he tumbled sprawling into the gutter along with his latest assailant, who appeared stunned by the impact.

Rali’s rooner, Seffriet, had been trailing her master along the crenellations of the rooftops overhanging the byway. Upon seeing him seemingly attacked she dropped chittering to the ground. Puffing herself up so her spines poked through her dense fur, she advanced threateningly upon the aggressor.

Really angry now, Rali levered himself up on his elbows. He noted Seffriet’s stiff-legged stalk and followed her line of sight. The cloaked figure beside him yanked back its hood, revealing a tousled young woman glaring at him. His jaw dropped and he threw himself at the rooner.

“No, no, Seff!” he said, stroking her. Seffriet, whose ancestry bespoke more of cephalopod than mammal, responded to his touch. Her spines lowered and she turned several questioning eyes at him. He murmured a few words. Seffriet clambered up the side of the building, back on watch.

"Dullard! See what you've done?”

“I?” Rali stared at the girl. The emblem emblazoned on the clasp of her cloak caught his eye. His jaw dropped. She's of the house of Mahgrobi! This is a stroke of luck.

Scrambling to her feet, she made to pursue the cat. Rali shot his hand out, grasping the folds of her garment while hauling himself erect. “My employer, Xaglun Harridor, sent me to secure monies your house's patriarch, Ludai, owes him. Let us discuss payment terms.”

She scowled. “This is none of my concern. My father has many creditors. In any event, we are estranged and have not spoken in years. Now release me at once!” Disdain sharpened her tone.

Despite her waspish demeanor she was, Rali saw, a most attractive young woman. Ludai being her father, the girl's name, he recalled from his research, was…

“Yaontine.” He relaxed his grip slightly. “I understand your position. But could it be made worth your while to…understand mine?” He smiled his most winning smile, and pulled her closer. “Surely such a lovely female—”

The girl, wriggling in his clutch, spat out a series of uncouth syllables. Rali's sight dimmed and his hands—indeed his entire body—went limp. She stepped out of his grasp. Rali stood knock-kneed and slack-jawed, unable to move a muscle.

“Where did the cat go?” Yaontine spoke in a commanding tone.

Like her father, she has thaumatic skills. I might have known. Helpless against the compulsion, Rali answered: “Into the building, there.” He pointed with his chin.

“Was it wearing anything?”

Wearing? “Yessss, a sporran cinched about its… middle.” Vague surprise glowed within him; he had not consciously noted the pouch.

“Damn and blast!” The girl dashed into the apartment building. Her spell was obviously of short duration because when Rali's will returned the structure's door had not quite swung shut.

He shook his head to clear it. Ruefully resolving to be more careful, Rali stumbled into the entry and found himself in a squalid, odoriferous stairwell littered with debris. Glowing cabochons on the walls provided insipid illumination; many had been gouged out.

Moving with the caution of a practiced thief he reached the first landing a moment later. He heard her footsteps pounding up the stairs. The building had no walkways to adjoining structures. All he had to do was follow her. She couldn't escape past him.

Despite his aggravation an ironic smile played on Rali's lips. When he had first met Xaglun, the sorcerer had been in a position almost identical to that of the unfortunate Ludai—owing money that he could not repay to an unforgiving creditor: a powerful sorcerer named Kod Wasrey, a specialist in shape-shifting of high standing in Xaglun's order. On that occasion Rali had found himself entangled in Xaglun's ill fortunes to an extraordinary and almost fatal extent. Through luck and his native talents, however, he had proved to be of such help to Xaglun that the wizard had taken him on as a protégé.

Rali hoped now to be of help again. With the abrupt appearance of young Yaontine Mahgrobi, it appeared as if Rali's luck had turned—assuming he could win her sympathy.

Of the aniform he saw no trace. But if he found the cat he'd find the girl, too; and vice versa. Forewarned now of her thaumatic ability, he'd be ready. Xaglun had provided him with a few minor spells in case of emergency.

Above Rali the girl's footsteps stopped abruptly.

Frowning, he paused. What was she about?

Peering around the corner of the landing, he saw Yaontine frozen in the act of taking a step as if pondering the wisdom of her actions. He drew back lest she hear him and glance down at him over her shoulder. But she remained motionless.

He relaxed and a grin spread across his vulpine features. The same rigidity compulsion that she had laid on him had been cast on her. By the aniform, no doubt. Clever beastie! Will she now be compelled to answer questions? Careless now of stealth, he trotted up the stairs and seated himself on one above her, bringing his head level with hers. She glared at him with a degree of malice surprising in one so young.

“Why are you chasing the cat?” Rali asked, slightly discomfited by her animosity.

“He stole something from me. I am trying to get it back.”

“Ah. What has he taken?”

Fighting the compulsion, she ground out, “An amulet.”

“A thaumatic amulet, I daresay.”

She hissed an assent.

He sighed. Yaontine would answer questions, but would vouchsafe nothing voluntarily. He could certainly find out all she knew but that would take time, and the compulsion placed upon her would fade in moments.

“Does your father know his amulet has been taken?”

“Nnnno.” Her stare hardened and he suppressed an urge to grin. His guess—the amulet was Ludai's and not hers—had paid off. She had stolen it from her father, and the aniform had in turn stolen it from her. Rali, larcenous by nature, nodded in understanding.

“Who is working with the cat?” Because, of course, as he'd just proved, one could expect nothing but double-dealing where thaumatic objects were concerned. If she was chasing the aniform they clearly weren't co-conspirators.

“Kod Wasrey.”

Rali blinked, unable to hide his dismay. “A man widely regarded as being no-one to cross. Your father owes him money?”

“Yes.” Rali, staring intently at Yaontine's face, barely noticed her left hand twitch in his peripheral vision. The significance of the gesture hit him just before her spell did.

He had time to sub-vocalize a few words of a counter-charm and so was spared the worst of the effect. Even so it took him a very painful minute to twist his head back around until it faced the proper direction. Dizzy, with eyes watering and no feeling of benevolence for the girl, he stumbled up the stairs after her.

At least he had a few more answers. Obviously Yaontine wanted the amulet back before her father discovered its absence. Why had she purloined it in the first place? No matter; all Rali had to do was obtain the trinket for himself and present it to Xaglun, who would use it as leverage to convince Ludai to pay his debt.

The stairs ended in a short hallway with a window at each end—and no doors. Where had the girl gone? Rali glanced up and grinned. An attic door! He leaped, caught the rope hanging from the door, and let his weight pull it open. A set of folding stairs opened outward and downward. He scrambled up them. Above was a small, dark chamber with another trap door in its ceiling.

Rali flung back this second trapdoor and thrust his head out into open air. Above, so close that he ducked right back down again, thundered the engines of a mighty air cruiser, an immense potato-shaped gasbag with a car slung beneath and six outboard propulsion pods. That single glance had been enough, however, for him to see the girl clambering up a swaying rope ladder toward the airship. Rali gripped the topmost rung of the steps, forcing himself up against the downdraft and his fear that the spinning propellers would chop him to pieces.

The ship rose wonderfully into the night air with Rali swinging from the bottom rung of the rope ladder and damning all airships to Gorgorleth. Ileranth spun beneath him as he scrambled up the swaying ladder, resolutely not looking down. A gust of wind snatched his jeweled cap off his head.

As he spidered up the rope ladder, a thought occurred to him: airships don’t appear out of nowhere to provide escape for young women. Either Yaontine had known it would be there for her, or else she summoned it via com-gland. Rali liked neither option.

He liked them even less a few instants later, when, still several meters shy of the hatchway above, Rali saw two rough-looking faces appear within its frame. He ground his teeth. Retreat was impossible. Therefore, within moments he was being pulled up into what appeared to be the aircraft’s cargo hold. Here the throb of engines was louder albeit lower in pitch. Complicated duct-work snaked across the ceiling and down the walls, interrupted here and there by gaskets and valves controlled by glowing keypads. Wire bundles spasming with power crawled across the floor to monitor kiosks. The overall effect was one of hasty construction and haphazard repairs.

His captors were dressed identically in blue trousers that came to their mid-calves, split-toed slippers, and horizontally striped red-and-white linen tunics. They even looked similar, with long faces and straw-colored hair. Both were armed with what Rali recognized as stunner pistols.

“An unpaid passenger,” one crewman said to the other, sneering as he dogged the hatch in the floor. Rali took a quick glance down as the portal swung shut. The tops of Ileranth’s buildings were far below now, with the running lights of numerous air cars visible as the vehicles slowly threaded their way through the city. Rali regarded them with a pang of longing.

The other crewman grinned, revealing uneven and discolored teeth. “Indeed, and we know how to deal with stowaways.” The two seized Rali and half led, half dragged him across the cargo hold, which was in truth no bigger than a good-sized parlor. Set into the bulkhead was a sturdy hatch that one of the men opened. The other one thrust Rali inside.

Then, with a derisive snort each, they slammed the hatch shut and left him.

Rali took a few moments to catch his breath while looking around the closet-sized chamber in which he was imprisoned. Its only furnishings were a little bunk and a toilet. There was a porthole to the outside, but it was too small for him to squeeze through. In any case, where would he escape to? Outside, only stars were visible.

He sat on the bunk, which was quite hard, and morosely considered his circumstances. They were considerably worse than before. Not only had Yaontine and the aniform cat evaded him; wherever this airship was going Rali was along for the ride, will-he nil-he. Doubtless no good outcome awaited him at the voyage’s conclusion.

A slight scratching from outside the cabin attracted his attention. He frowned. The noise seemed to be coming from near the floor. He rose and approached the portal.

“Rali Ribhu? Can you hear me?” The voice was low and rough. There was something familiar about it…

The cat! The cause of Rali’s predicament! “What do you want?” Rali growled.

“My name is Gaalor. I wish to assist you,” was the answer.

“Ah. And why would you do that, friend Gaalor?”

“I feel responsible for entangling you in this affair.”

“As well you should. Even assuming you could free me, what then? We are trapped aboard this airship.”

“There are emergency paragliders to be had. Can you pilot one?”

Rali considered the proposition. “If there is no other way, I am willing to try.”

“Excellent! I am too small to effectively manage a paraglider’s controls, but I can certainly give you some advice, as I have seen them in use.”

The temptation was strong. And yet… “You are in league with Kod Wasrey,” Rali said. “Whereas I am in the employ of his rival, Xaglun Harridor, to whom Mahgrobi is also in debt. Do you propose a partnership?”

Gaalor evaded his gaze. “What better way for our mutual patrons to wrest suitable recompense from the wretched Mahgrobi?”

“Hmm. And where is Mahgrobi? Surely not aboard this airship.”

“No, I am unaware of his current whereabouts. Nevertheless, we won’t be able to find him while we are stuck up here in the air.”

“I admit there is much truth in what you say. Very well then, let us join forces to find Ludai Mahgrobi.”

“Most wise of you.”

Of this, Rali was not so sure. Yet, if the cat could secure his release from this prison cell, so much the better. “One thing, though—where is Yaontine bound?”

“Nowhere near her father, of that you may be certain,” said Gaalor, busying himself at the hatch’s locking mechanism. Rali heard an odd fluttering sound and was about to inquire as to its nature when the hatch creaked open. Sure enough, there stood the aniform looking up at him with calm amber eyes. Rali had an opportunity now to inspect the creature more closely. Obviously based on a tortoise shell cat, the humanoid being stood about two and a half feet tall. Its front paws had been modified into serviceable hands with opposable thumbs.

This time Rali did not fail to note that the cat indeed wore a small sporran attached to a thin leather belt circling its hips. The sight of it suggested several pertinent questions to him but he said nothing, instead casting his gaze around the tiny cargo hold. No crew members were in sight.

“Very well, Gaalor. Where are these paragliders of which you spoke?”

“Follow.” The cat padded across the hold to a locker. “Within.”

Rali opened the locker and found inside it a number of tightly bound packages of what seemed to be a flexible fabric. “Self-inflating, no doubt,” he murmured, selecting one. It weighed less than he expected.

“Let us hope so.” The cat led the way back to the floor hatch through which Rali had entered the airship. To open it was the work of but a few moments. Rali stood poised on the brink, examining the package in his hands. He found a seam and tugged at it. The package fell apart into a harness with a fabric saddle, and a chrysalis-like bag.

“That,” said Gaalor, indicating the bag with a paw, “is the gliding wing. Once we depart this craft, you press the inflation switch there, on the saddle. The wing does the rest. All that is left is to guide it. Simplicity itself.”

“No doubt.” Rali strapped on the harness, which automatically positioned the gliding wing at his back. At the cat’s direction he thrust his hands through the glove-like controls attached to the harness, and prepared to leap out of the airship. He paused at the hatch, his insides quailing.

“Why do you delay?” asked the cat, obviously agitated.

“I don’t do well with heights.”

“Fear not; we will descend rapidly.”

“Precisely my concern.” Rali swallowed hard. Just before he leapt there came a chittering noise from outside and a familiar head popped into view.

“Seffriet! I had forgotten all about you!” The rooner scrambled up into the airship. She must have been clinging to the hull by her suckers. Seffriet paused upon seeing Gaalor, but did not bridle.

The aniform’s hackles raised. “I don’t like rooners,” he growled.

“Nevertheless, she accompanies us,” Rali said firmly. “Unless you’d care to remain behind…?”
“The rooner may come,” said the cat in a sullen voice.

Once more Rali positioned himself to leap from the airship, holding the cat firmly in his arms. Seffriet wrapped her strong, boneless arms around one of Rali’s legs. Taking a deep breath, Rali stepped out into the night.

He fell away from the airship into a rush of chilly air. “Shall I activate the inflation process now?” he asked Gaalor.

From his perch in Rali’s lap the cat craned his neck to peer at the dimly seen landscape beneath them. “The sooner the better. We are not as high up as I had reckoned.”

“Perhaps, however, we have enough time to discuss certain matters.” Rali pushed the inflation button. The wing at his back promptly unfolded and began expanding above him. Their fall gradually slowed.

“What matters are these?”

Rali tested the brake loops. The paraglider seemed stable enough, and responsive to his pulls on the controls. Satisfied that he could steer the contraption, he kept his eyes on the landscape. The huge red bulk of Sol stained the atmosphere to the east though it would not show above the horizon for some time. “Primarily this,” said Rali. “I assume you retain the amulet Yaontine seeks so avidly.”

“Let us speak of... other things,” said the cat.

“No, I believe this is an appropriate topic of conversation.” Scanning below for a place to land the paraglider, Rali spotted a meadow faintly visible at the bottom of a valley between two time-eroded mountains. He set about guiding the paraglider toward it. Fortunately, the machine was easy to pilot and he gained confidence with each passing moment.

“It occurs to me to ask,” he said. “What powers does it have?”

Silence.

“Come, come! I am risking my skin for you. The more information I have, the better I will be able to assure your continued freedom.”

Gaalor sighed. “Oh, very well. It bestows the ability to alter one’s form.”

Rali's eyes went wide as several puzzle pieces dropped into place. Kod Wasrey was known far and wide as an accomplished shape-shifter. Could this amulet be the source of his magical skills? This explained the Mahgrobi's’ eagerness to retain the charm. How had it escaped Wasrey’s grasp in the first place?

Certainly his own employer, Xaglun Harridor, would look on him with considerable favor were Rali to present him with such a talisman. “A rare trinket indeed,” he murmured.

“We can discuss the matter another time,” said Gaalor. “I urge you to direct your gaze above and to the west.”

Rali glanced up and cursed. Someone aboard Yaontine’s airship had taken notice of the glider’s departure, for another paraglider was making in their direction. He turned his attention to his craft’s controls. Gaalor stared over his shoulder at the other glider, which was closing rapidly.

“Yaontine is piloting it,” Gaalor said after a moment. “She participates in many paragliding contests, generally winning.”

Rali ground his teeth. “Hang on.” He twisted the controls with some force, setting the glider diving toward the ground at a steep angle. The cat gasped and even Seffriet chittered in dismay.

Sweating, Rali managed to pull out of the dive with a scant fathom to spare, bringing the craft to a grating halt on the floor of the valley. He looked up and saw that Yaontine’s paraglider was heading for the same place. It would arrive soon.

He tossed Gaalor to the ground and scrambled out of his harness. Seffriet uncoiled herself from his leg. Rali scooped the rooner up and muttered a few sentences. Seffriet chirruped and scuttled off into the nearby underbrush.

A line of brilliant light scored the ground between Rali and Gaalor. “Make no untoward moves!” Yaontine shouted as she brought her paraglider in for an expert landing. “Gaalor, get over by your friend.”

“Do not fire.” Rali deliberately put a quaver into his voice as Gaalor sidled over to him.

“You’ve got to do something!” Gaalor whispered urgently.

“I already have,” Rali said quietly. “We must keep her attention centered on us.”

“I want that amulet!” Yaontine disengaged her safety harness, keeping the pistol aimed at Rali and Gaalor.

“Gaalor—give it to her.”

“What? I will do no such thing!”

“Gaalor! Damn you, do as I say!”

“You must be insane,” the cat said disdainfully. “After all we’ve been through? I’d sooner die!”

“That you and I will certainly do unless you give in to her demand.”

“Listen to me­, cat—”

Yaontine discharged her pistol into the sky. “My patience is at an end,” she said. “I want that amulet, and I want it now!”

“Now?” Rali asked with no trace of guile.

“Right now!”

“Very well. Seffriet, right now!”

The rooner launched herself out of the bushes and wrapped her several tentacles around Yaontine’s arm and hand, wresting the weapon from the girl’s grasp. Rali stepped over to her and snatched it away from the rooner.

“Now then,” he said, training it on Yaontine as the rooner redistributed her tentacles into secure bindings around Yaontine’s body. “Let’s discuss this like civilized beings.”

“You bloody unmitigated fool!” Yaontine struggled against the tentacles, but Seffriet was too strong for her. “You have no idea what you’re up against.”

“Oh, I think I do.” Rali twirled the pistol.

“No, she’s correct,” said Gaalor. He mumbled a few sentences Rali couldn’t catch and suddenly a tall cadaverous man stood in his place.

Rali recognized him at once and his heart fell. “Kod Wasrey!”

“To be sure.” The wizard dusted himself off.

“I knew it,” Yaontine muttered.

“Why didn’t you reveal yourself sooner?” demanded Rali Ribhu.

“Actually, I was having myself a bit of fun. It was all quite exciting, don’t you think?”
“Exciting!” Rali found himself at a loss for words.

“Yes. I confess I was taken aback when this young lady’s father managed to pierce my defenses and purloin my amulet. I needed to know how he managed it so that I could plug the hole in my magical guard.”

Rali shook his head in puzzlement. “But how could you change yourself into an aniform without your charm?”

“Because I was already in cat form, busying myself with a certain task that need not concern you. While I was about it, Ludai Mahgrobi pierced my defenses and robbed me, forcing me to attempt to get my amulet back while trapped in a cat’s body. And once I did, I found myself being so ardently pursued by Yaontine Mahgrobi, here, that I had no time to cast the return spell.” He smiled at the girl. “You have a great talent, my dear,” he said. “You waste it employing it on your foolish father’s behalf. He’s something of a charlatan, not to mention a welsher.”

Yaontine hung her head. “I have had no other opportunity to learn the magical craft.”

“Hmm. Well, let us say that you can discharge your father’s debt by coming to work for me. I can use a resourceful assistant, and you have proved you tenacity at the least.”

Encouraged, Rali spoke up. “Mahgrobi owes monies to my master as well.”

“Mmm. Well, you, too have rendered me a service or two during the course of this adventure,” Wasrey said. He muttered to himself for a few moments. The air crackled with energy, and where Yaontine had stood a moment before there was now an aniform cat identical in appearance to Gaalor.

She yowled and spat.

Wasrey raised a finger. “Now, now. You can perform a great many useful functions in the guise of a cat. Your return to human form is contingent on your father paying what he owes to Xaglun Harridor.” He turned to Rali. “I trust this will satisfy the esteemed Harridor?”

Rali nodded. “I do believe it will.”

“Very good, then,” said Wasrey. “Simplicity itself.”