Cat Out of the Bag

by A L Fogerty

  Toby pulled up on a hover bike beside me then stopped and smiled, reaching over to pat my shoulder.

  “We’re home, Toby. Really home.”

  “Yes, Mango. We’re all home, thanks to you.”

  We drove along the road, which was bumpy and in disrepair, clearing out the branches and debris that clogged the way. When we came to the town square, those who had remained with us broke into song and dance, clapping with ecstatic joy to be back home. I joined the dancers, clasping hands with Toby and Pepper and running in a circle as we sang. And when the dance was done, we embraced and wished each other well as we all went off to rediscover our own homes. Pappi and I rode our hover bike up the hill and down into the valley beyond. I saw my home, the one I had shared with my mother, nestled in the trees. My heart nearly stopped as we approached. It was exactly as I had remembered, though not quite as bright and not quite as new. The blue shutters were in disrepair, several windows were broken, and a large branch had fallen on the roof, but it was home.

  It was our farm, where we had raised mushu and raspberries. It had remained in my heart for twelve years, and Pappi and I had finally returned.

  Chapter 26

  Pappi and I settled into the house, cleared off the roof, and repaired the windows. We spent several days building furniture and putting together mattresses from pine needles and scraps of fabric that we’d brought with us from the junkyard. We had to start everything all over again, but the Sho’kin were industrious and used to living in rough conditions.

  Being back in the forest was better than the junkyard ever could have been, and we still had a thing or two from our home there. I went to hunt in the forest, and Pappi went about plowing the land, preparing for planting. If we hurried, we could have a late harvest of fruits and vegetables. Some of the raspberry vines still had green inside them and were already bearing fruit.

  Using a laser gun I’d procured from the guards, I shot squirrels and turkeys in the forest and captured wild mushu to replenish our stores. We roasted food over an open fire in the front yard, since our fireplace still needed repairs. Those few days were calm, quiet, and lovely, and I experienced some of the most peaceful moments of the last twelve years.

  One morning, as I was riding my dragon over the forest to check up on the little villages where we had left our friends, I smelled the scent of smoke and the crackling of fire. We swooped low, coming to the edge of the clear-cutting. There, we found an army of hired guns lighting the forest ablaze with torches. We weren’t far from one of the villages. They were trapping the Sho’kin on all sides. A hover ship spotted me and raised its guns at me. We dodged and darted then flew higher. Mythril flapped his wings, flying away from the ship.

  “Now, Mythril,” I said, and he swooped down toward the hover ship and blew out his stardust. The ship disintegrated and began to fall toward the ground. Lasers were blaring from every direction, and other hover ships were closing in on us.

  “Dive,” To’tonya said.

  “Dive, Mythril.”

  Mythril tucked his wings and directed his nose to the ground, and we shot down like an arrow, narrowly avoiding being hit. Three hover ships had gathered around us, all opening fire at once. Instead of hitting us, they hit each other. The ships burst into flames and began to rock in the sky. One of them began to plummet to the ground. It crashed and burst into flames, creating an explosion that blew hot flames into the forest. I could feel the trees and the creatures of the woods calling out in fear and suffering.

  I had been naïve to believe they wouldn’t come back. Everything in me that had wanted to live peacefully and never to kill anyone else felt a deep sense of despair in that moment. As long as the Landlords remained in the world, we could never live in peace.

  Mythril landed on the ground and blew his stardust at the assembled group of fire starters. They screamed as they melted into the soil. He jumped up from the ground, and I clung to his back. The hover ships were descending toward us, opening fire again. I could see the blazing red eyes of the goblins and canines manning the ships. Their anger was immense, but all I felt was despair and sadness. I didn’t want to hurt them, but I had to defend my dragon, my people, and my forest.

  Mythril shot out a blaze of stardust as he swept to the left, avoiding a collision with a hover ship. The ship melted and fell onto the other ship, knocking it out of balance. The remaining goblins wailed with terror as the ship plummeted to the ground and crashed, bursting into flames.

  More ships were coming from every direction, and I almost feared I would not be able to defend myself. “Get them all!” I yelled. The ships charged toward me, and Mythril blew his stardust at each as it approached. It was absolute carnage as they fell from the sky, screaming and hissing. I let go of my resistance, and we fought. Sweat streamed down my brow as the ships attacked from every direction. Lasers buzzed all around, and we swerved and ducked, trying to avoid them. A laser from a falling ship shot right at us and hit Mythril in the side. He grunted and lost balance in flight, tumbling toward the ground. I screamed in fear and called for To’tonya to heal him. It was a deep wound and took a great deal of my strength to heal. A dozen more ships were headed our way in the distance, and I didn’t know if I could carry on.

  “Mythril, are you okay?!” I screamed as he quickly landed then burst back up into the air again.

  “I am fine, summoner. Your healing power is strong.”

  “I don’t know if we can take all of them,” I said.

  “We can, and we will. Just stay strong.”

  Mythril shot back up into the air and sprayed his stardust at the oncoming ships. I could barely look at the carnage before us, as ship after ship full of goblins melted into dust and oblivion. But that didn’t stop them from coming. Below, the fire was approaching the village, and the Sho’kin people were screaming and running from their homes.

  “Isn’t there any way to stop this?” I asked my team.

  “You haven’t enough experience for the next level of spells,” To’tonya said.

  “What is the next level of spells?” I asked.

  “I am a water goddess. I can spray water.”

  “But you can’t do it now?”

  “Not until you have more experience.”

  “Can’t you make an exception just this once? Look at the forest. Look at the people. They’re in trouble.”

  “I’m afraid not, Mango. I wish I could bend the rules just this once, but it’s impossible.”

  “What about you, Mythril? You have any other hidden abilities you haven’t told me about?”

  “Isn’t my stardust breath enough? Just look at what I can do,” he said, breathing fire onto another oncoming ship. It melted and dripped to the ground.

  “You have a point.” I said. “But what about the forest?”

  “Let’s take care of the enemy first,” he said.

  I could see people running and screaming below. A little Sho’kin girl was clinging to her mother’s skirt as I flew overhead. The fire was growing closer, and smoke had overtaken the village. I gritted my teeth and growled. There was nothing I could do until we disposed of the Landlords’ guards.

  “Take them all,” I said. I was in a state of panic, and anger was rising inside me to a boiling point. Never in all my life had I been so completely enraged. The injustice of it all hit me hard as the forest burned toward the vulnerable people below. I screamed in despair and anger, and my energy shot through the dragon underneath me.

  “Well, you wanted a new spell, summoner,” Mythril said, “and it looks like you got it.”

  He took to the sky, flying higher and higher with each flap of his wings. When we rose over the clouds, he began to spin and dive, flying faster toward the ground. I closed my eyes, sure that Mythril had gone insane. But just as we reached the top of the trees, he spun and opened his mouth. Stardust burst from his mouth and flew around him in every direction, soaking all of the incoming ships over a wide area. A multitude of ships melted and fell from t
he sky, crashing into the forest with repeated explosions.

  Below, the fire raged hotter and higher. Although we had disposed of all the Landlords’ ships, the threat was not over. We flew toward the village, where an alarm bell rang violently above the screams of the people. Mythril landed in the village square, and I dropped from his back.

  “What is the best course of action, To’tonya?” I asked.

  “There is a well at the center of town. If the people form a line, they can pass buckets of water to throw on the blaze.”

  “Quickly, everyone!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “Form a line from the well, grab a bucket, and pass it to the person in front of you.” I was the first to the well, where I grabbed a bucket and dunked it inside. The line formed quickly as the panicked Sho’kin jumped into action. The blaze came hot and fast to the edge of the village, and we passed the buckets one by one. We threw the water onto the fire, and the hiss of steam and the smell of burning branches filled the air over the sounds of our shouts.

  The fire was so hot that it was impossible to get very close, so the Sho’kin in the front of the line began tossing their water into the grass like a moat. The fire surged toward us, but the saturated soil and grass did not allow it to burn. We kept passing water for several hours, fighting the blaze with all our might. It wasn’t until late afternoon that the fire began to dissipate. As the edges reached the clear-cutting, it found nothing to burn. All our work paid off, and we saved the village. After the last bucket was thrown on the fire, I sat down in the dirt, hot and sweaty and spent. I rubbed my face and caught my breath for the first time in hours.

  “You’ve done well,” a voice said. I looked up and saw Sasha standing beside me. I didn’t realize that it was her village.

  She helped me up and walked with me to her hut at the edge of the village. Inside, she offered me cool water and a bowl of mushroom soup. I sat at her table and silently drank and ate her offering.

  “I don’t think that’s the last we’ll see of them,” I said.

  “Do you think they’ll keep coming back?”

  “We’ve taken out so many of their ships and so many of their men. I’m beginning to believe the only way to escape the Landlords is to take the fight to them.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “We go to the Imperial cities and their strongholds and force them to leave our planet.”

  “Do you think you can do that?”

  “By myself, no. But luckily for us, I have some very powerful friends.”

  Chapter 27

  I flew with Mythril back up the mountain to my village and landed outside the farm. When Pappi walked outside, he had a dire expression on his face, as if he knew something was wrong. Maybe it was because I was covered in dirt and sweat.

  “I saw the smoke,” he said. “And I heard the warning bells.”

  I wiped my brow. “There was an attack. The Landlords sent a force against us. And we beat them, Mythril and To’tonya and me.”

  “You look terrible.” Pappi said.

  “Thanks.” I walked past him and into the house.

  He followed me. “Were you hurt? Are you okay?”

  “I had a few close calls, But we’re all right. The fire approached the village, but we were able to put it out.”

  “Come in and sit down. I was just washing some raspberries.”

  I sat at the table and waited for Pappi to serve me his raspberries and mushu cream with honey. I took a bite and tasted heaven. Nothing in the junkyard had ever tasted that good. “I think I’m going to have to go after them,” I said.

  “What do you mean, ‘go after them’?”

  “I don’t think the Landlords are going to leave us alone. They’ll just keep sending more and more goons out here until they burn down the entire forest and send us back to the junkyard.”

  “You can’t take on the Landlords by yourself.”

  “I know I can’t. Not yet, anyway. Mythril and To’tonya told me that the more experience I get, the more spells will be available to me, like when I got the mass-healing-wave spell. I got area-of-effect stardust today. But I’m not ready to take on the Landlords myself quite yet.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to go back to League HQ and ask for help.”

  “League HQ? What is that?”

  “The League of Summoners headquarters. They are the ones who trained me. They pulled me out of the junkyard right after the race and brought me back to the exact same moment.”

  “You never told me about that.”

  “You were sick at the time. I didn’t want to worry you.”

  “Well, tell me about them now.”

  “The League of Summoners is a group of people like me, people who can tame creatures and command them to fight for them. Their leader is a dragon summoner. Dragons are the only creatures who can open portals, you see, and that skill is needed by the League.”

  “And you can open portals?”

  “I can. But I’ve only ever opened one back to the League headquarters. I don’t know a lot more about how to use them.”

  “So the summoners will help you fight the Landlords?”

  “I hope they will. They seemed friendly, and they taught me how to use my skills. But there are some issues. I can sort of understand why Harry was reluctant to join them.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Who was Harry?”

  “Just some guy who tried to tame Mythril while I was taming him.”

  “He doesn’t sound very nice.”

  “I’m sure he had his reasons, but it didn’t leave a very good impression.”

  “What did he say about the League?

  “He said they were hierarchical and unfair. Later, I heard a story from the director himself. A dragon called both of them, and the director told Harry to stand down. Harry’s held a grudge ever since.”

  “I see.”

  “It was a special dragon. It was the one who allowed me to go to the League then return back to the junkyard right in the middle of the uprising. I returned one second after I left, but I spent almost an entire day at League headquarters.”

  His mouth dropped open. “That’s amazing, but are you sure that you can trust them?”

  “I hope so. They’re the only people who could help. And right now, I prefer them over the kid who tried to steal my dragon. Even if Mythril did call him, I got there first, and I was in the middle of taming him when Harry butted in. It was very impolite.”

  “When are you going to ask the League for help?”

  “I thought I would leave now, I mean, after I told you that I was going.”

  “I’m still not sure it’s a good idea to fight the Landlords head on.”

  “I don’t think I have a choice. I don’t like fighting at all. I can’t even fathom the number of goblins and kobolds that we took down today. But what else can I do? The Landlords won’t stop sending them, and they won’t leave us alone. It’s just in their nature. We have to send them away. To’tonya herself told me there’s no other option.”

  “If you think it’s what you need to do, Mango, then I am behind you. After all these years of telling you to settle down and keep your feet on the ground, I am willing to admit that I was wrong, and I’m glad that you didn’t listen to me.”

  “I listened to you when it mattered, before the junkyard changed you.”

  He smiled. “I’m glad you didn’t give up.”

  I stood and hugged him around the shoulders before summoning Mythril. The ethereal dragon grew from my palm, and I asked him to open a portal to League HQ.

  He spun quickly in a circle before me, and a dark void opened up in the middle of the dining room. Pappi’s eyes went wide, and I nodded, understanding how strange and miraculous the portals looked. “I’ll try to get back as soon as possible,” I said. “The Landlords might send another force against us. There’s no time to waste.” I stepped forward and took a deep breath before stepping through the portal. A rush o
f sensation flowed through me as I walked between worlds and stepped out on the other side in the front hall of League HQ.

  “Mango!” Moira said, walking down the hallway wearing nothing but a fur bikini. I raised an eyebrow, and she summoned a troop of foxes, who gathered around, jumping around her legs.

  “Serious said he might open a portal for me to Alpha Centauri. The Tyrannosaurus rex is mine.” She pumped her fist and set her jaw.

  “Congratulations. I know how important that is to you.”

  “What brings you back to HQ?” Avalon asked. She wore a flowing blue gown, and her silvery-blue hair was coiled around her shoulders and down to her waist.

  “I’m afraid I need your help,” I said.

  “Oh?”

  “That’s what the League is for,” Moira said, crossing her arms and nodding. The foxes were joined by several large bears. Moira’s beasts took up the majority of the hallway.

  “Hey, look, it’s Mango,” Vex said as she walked into the room. She was wearing a pleated black miniskirt, knee-high boots, and a leather jacket. Her black hair was in braids that hung over her shoulders.

  “I was able to lead the people back to the forest. But when we got there, the people who had stolen our land wouldn’t leave us alone. No matter how many of them my dragon disintegrated, they just kept coming. I’m beginning to believe they will never leave us alone. They almost burned down a village with kits in it. I don’t want to risk them coming back and hurting anyone. I’ve decided it’s time to take the fight to them.”

  “You’re very brave.” Moira slammed her fist into her palm. “I will help you. I and all of my beasts.”

  “And you’ll need them,” Vex said, rolling her eyes. “I could help if you thought you could use my ghosts.” She shrugged. “And I have three pretty amazing avatars.”