A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons

by Chris Behrsin

  “Get down off there, you filthy mongrel,” Driar Yila said, and she swung her staff forwards and pointed it at me, cutting off for a moment her stream of white light that fed the crystal. I didn’t want to be at the receiving end of whatever magic would be at the end of that, so I growled and then moved out of the way.

  “You really know how to make a name for yourself, don’t you?” Salanraja said.

  I turned to her. “I’ll make it right,” I replied. “Where’s the Manipulator’s crystal?”

  “It’s on my back where you left it.”

  “I’ll get it,” I said, and I sprinted around the back of her and then ran up her tail. I reached the corridor of her back, and I clasped my mouth around the crystal, then returned to the ground and dropped it right beneath the council’s platform.

  “You don’t seem to believe we defeated the bone dragon, but I brought proof. Here is the source of the Manipulator responsible for controlling the creature. Once I stole the crystal away from the source, the bone dragon ceased to exist.”

  “There you go,” Salanraja said. “Take all the credit, why don’t you?”

  I ignored her. I was focused on making the council happy, not her.

  “So, tell us, little one,” Driar Lonamm said. She leaned forward, and her broad frame cast an ominous shadow over me. “What did you do after you’d defeated this bone dragon? We know the story, but we want to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”

  “I’m not a horse,” I snapped back. “I’m a Bengal, a descendant of the great Asian leopard cat… Ma’am.”

  “Do you ever stop?” Salanraja chimed.

  “Shut up!”

  Driar Lonamm was watching me with narrowed eyes. “Fine. We heard it right from the Bengal’s mouth,” she said with a smirk. “Now answer my question. And before you think of lying to us, cat, know that we sent a shadow dragon rider to Midar Village to assess your eligibility as a fledgling Initiate. He followed you and he has already returned and delivered his report.”

  Whiskers, they knew something. I lowered my head. “I claimed my reward, Ma’am,” I said. “The villagers offered me what I wanted, and so I took it.”

  “They offered you what you wanted?” Driar Brigel said. He no longer had that kind look on his face, but instead a rather disappointed one. “Why didn’t you take what would be good for the academy and the kingdom? Tell us, do you want to serve this kingdom, or do you want to serve yourself?”

  I groaned, frustrated at the idiocy of these people. “I want to go home,” I screamed out. “Why is that so hard for you people to understand?”

  “That’s never going to happen,” Driar Yila shot back. “You’re a mangy, uneducated cat, and no one in this realm is going to waste powerful magic and energy on helping you cross dimensions.”

  Now that hurt, and not so much the part of being called mangy – even though that was an insult to my pride – but rather because I knew in my heart of hearts that Driar Yila was right. I didn’t have a chance of returning home.

  I lowered myself to the floor. I didn’t know what to say, but I had to say something.

  “Does that mean I can’t become a dragon rider now?” I turned back to Salanraja, and some smoke rose out of her nostrils. She really looked like she wanted to toast me alive.

  “You see, that’s the problem,” Driar Brigel said. “The crystal did choose you, and we can’t just ignore its request. But none of us present can quite understand the reason for it.”

  “Because I’m a Bengal,” I said and slinked out from behind my cover so I could raise my head up high. Maybe they were finally starting to understand. “But I’m not just a Bengal. From what I’ve learned about this place, it sounds like I’m the only Bengal in the world.”

  “I don’t doubt you are,” Driar Brigel replied, and he placed one hand on his chin. “But you are also selfish, arrogant, and unsuited for the role that has been chosen for you. Or at least, right now, it seems that way.”

  “So, what will you have me do? Will you send me out on another mission?” I shuddered at the thought of fighting another one of those bone dragons, or one of those golems I’d fought in the Versta Caverns. I still had that horrible taste of clay in my mouth.

  “No,” Driar Brigel said. “This isn’t about what to do next, but your attitude about it all. Do you know what the consequences could be about the way you behaved in this village?”

  “I don’t,” I replied.

  “I believe Salanraja gave you some hints. But it’s not just about the villagers. Fortunately, our Driar replaced that sheep for them.”

  I purred. “So, all’s well that ends well.”

  “No,” Driar Brigel snapped back. “Because unless you learn from your mistakes, you will continue to make them. Imagine what would happen if every dragon rider behaved like you did. Villagers would stop supporting the kingdom, meaning the king’s realm would dry up from the inside. We’d lose funding to this academy, meaning dragon riders wouldn’t get trained. That would weaken the king’s forces and allow the warlocks to gain power. Negligence costs lives, you see. You need to think big in a position of responsibility, not just about yourself.”

  I lowered my head. When he put it that way, maybe he was right. Though I still had no idea how I could put my wishes of my tummy behind the needs of a kingdom. “I’m sorry,” I said.

  Driar Brigel nodded. “Admitting that is the first step, and for the first time I believe you.” He looked at Driar Yila, then at Driar Lonamm, and they both gave him a nod. “So, we have decided what to do with you. You need to prove yourself to us before we even consider your schooling. We will therefore assign you a rank no one has had since we created this academy. From this day, until we feel you’re ready, you will be a freshman.”

  “A freshman?” I said, and it wasn’t the sexist nature of that rank that I objected to. “But I’m a cat.”

  “Fine,” Driar Brigel said. “From this day on, you’ll be assigned the rank of Freshcat.”

  “Freshcat?” Whiskers, I was making it worse. Now, I sounded like something you might order from an illegal butcher.

  “Freshmoggie?” Driar Lonamm offered.

  “No, no,” I said. “Freshcat will do just fine.”

  “Very well,” Driar Brigel said. “Freshcat Ben it is… Actually, I quite like the sound of that. So, from this day you can attend classes, eat in the dining hall, and you must obey the needs of any prefect or Driar on campus, as well as Initiate Rine who will serve as your temporary guardian. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” I said, and a cold shiver ran down my spine. Perhaps I wouldn’t so much mind taking orders from the Council of Three – though they weren’t particularly nice, they also didn’t seem particularly needy.

  But when I thought about the smarmy attitude of that Initiate Rine, someone like him would have me delivering newspapers to his feet like a dog. That was if they even had newspapers in this world, I have to admit in South Wales I always found them a little peculiar. They seemed to serve no purpose at all other than to be good for tearing up and as a cheap lining for my litter tray.

  In all honesty, I couldn’t understand how dogs could wrap their mouths around something that would end up in a litter tray. It was almost as bad as drinking toilet water. Dogs were disgusting creatures, really.

  Anyway, I digress.

  Driar Brigel stood watching me for a moment, and his look of kindness had returned to him. “Let’s get this ceremony out of the way then,” he said.

  “Agreed,” Driar Lonamm said, and Driar Yila nodded once slowly, but didn’t say anything.

  The three Driars raised their staffs high above their heads, and the light that streamed out of their crystals got brighter. The streams converged at a point on the front face of the crystal, and then they reflected off that point right into my chest. At first, I thought I should flee, but I was rooted to the spot, unable to move.

  “Wait,” Driar Yila said, and she narrowed her eyes to slits and looke
d right at me. “I sense something in there.” The beam from her staff became red, and it suddenly felt as if something was trying to pull me back towards the crystal.

  A headache pounded against my skull, and I felt like I was being searched, as if something was invading my mind and prying out all the private things in there. The pull intensified, and the surrounding air took on a strength of its own. I reached out with my claws and dug them into the stone beneath me to try to stay rooted to the spot.

  Driar Lonamm’s eyes shot open, and her light turned blue. “A warlock’s crystal. Inside him. He’s a creation of Astravar’s. We’ve been tricked. We must kill it at once, before he does any more damage.”

  Driar Brigel opened his eyes a little more slowly. “Oh, I don’t think he is,” he said, and his light turned green. The magic lifted me into the air until I was suspended inches from the ground. The air swirled around me, becoming a strong whirlwind that beat against my sides. I felt like I was going to throw up. “See, this memory? The cat swallowed the crystal on his own will.”

  That was when I saw it in the crystal above my head. It was showing flashes of my memories, just as I visualised in my head. I could see myself up there, clawing clumsily against the golem as I slid around on his arm and then knocked the crystal out of his eye. Really, I’d thought I’d executed the manoeuvre more elegantly than that. It was strange seeing me from the outside.

  Then I was sinking and sinking into the mud, and Salanraja lunged in to save me. But before she could reach me, the vision showed me lurching out with my head so I could cover the crystal with my mouth.

  “You fool,” Salanraja said. “You swallowed the crystal, and you didn’t tell me about it. Gracious demons, we’re finished.”

  But I didn’t have the will to answer. I was just floating above the ground, pinned in place by the Council of Three’s magical energy, and I couldn’t wriggle, let alone think.

  Suddenly the light cut off, and I fell back to the floor. I landed on my feet, fortunately; thank the whiskers for my flexible spine. But still, the landing sent a jolt of pain up through my legs and right down my back.

  “What do we do now?” Driar Lonamm asked.

  Driar Brigel shook his head. “We can’t get the crystal out, unfortunately, as the warlock’s magic has lodged it inside his body. We also can’t undo the crystal’s assignment and I think it would be unwise to do so.”

  “Still,” Driar Yila said, “the cat must be kept under strict guard.”

  “We’ll instruct Initiate Rine not to let him out of his sight,” Driar Brigel said. “He’s a promising young student, that one. I’m sure he’ll stop any signs of the warlock trying to take control.”

  “Very well,” Driar Lonamm said. She looked at me. “Freshcat Ben, congratulations on your new rank. However, you should have told us about this rather dire complication.” She then cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted out in such a loud volume that I scurried behind Salanraja’s leg.

  “Initiate Rine!” she called.

  There came a scuffling sound from behind me, and the spotty-faced teenager appeared at the entrance to the courtyard. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “We need you to keep this cat under guard, and if you see any sign of him becoming evil, you must terminate him at once.”

  25

  Good Hydration

  After my beating from the Council, the three Great Driars dismissed me and told me to spend a little time with Initiate Rine. The spotty-faced kid didn’t look too happy about it, and stared down at me with an expression of contempt. Honestly, I didn’t get what his problem was. To him, I could be a useful sidekick. Having a cat around him might cause the girls around him to forget about his spots and focus on his sensitive nature. That was, if he had anything to him underneath his pompous exterior.

  He walked over to the archway while the Council cut off the streams of the light from the crystal and then shuffled in their robes towards a door at the back. Brigel and Lonamm entered it, while Driar Yila turned to regard me with her harsh, scornful frown, and then she shooed me away with the back of her hand and lifted her staff slightly.

  Scared of being turned into a dog or something, I decided it better to follow Initiate Rine. He was waiting for me by the archway, playing a game where he tossed a coin in the air, then landed it on the back of his hand. I followed the movements of the coin for a moment, wanting to bat it off its flight path. But it was too high up.

  The young Driar looked down at me and laughed. “Whatever they say about you, you’re still a cat, aren’t you? I guess nothing will change that.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not just a cat. I’m a Bengal, a descendant of the great Asian leopard cat.”

  “So I’ve heard,” Initiate Rine said. “And I’m an Alterian, descendant of the great King Zod.” He flashed me an ugly, toothy grin.

  I didn’t like the mocking tone in his voice. “You are nothing compared to me,” I told him. “You have no grace, you can’t even walk in a straight line, and if I dropped you from the top of the tower you wouldn’t land on your feet.”

  He scoffed, then looked up at the tower above us. A green dragon flew out of one of the openings high up in the tower and roared out into the sky. Driar Brigel was on the dragon, his head shining in the sun and his green-gemmed staff swinging on his back. He had managed to climb up the tower pretty quickly, and I wondered if he did so using magic.

  Another dragon flew after him on its tail. This one was as yellow as lemon and had two long spikes that stuck out from both corners of its jaw. A young man sat on a saddle on its back, wearing a tabard with the symbol of a sun and moon on it over a burnished coat of silver armour. He had long black hair that whipped back behind him in the wind, and a faceted face that reminded me of one of those crystals.

  “Where are they going?” I asked.

  “Why’s that any of your business?” Rine replied.

  “Because I’m a freshcat now, one of your club.”

  “Exactly, which means you have to do exactly what I say, remember. To answer your question, there are rumours of something terrible out there, and Driar Brigel has probably gone to check it out.”

  “What exactly?” I asked. But the boy didn’t reply, and so I sat down and groomed myself.

  “That’s right, just wait there and don’t go anywhere.” Initiate Rine walked over to a stone fountain and drank from the steady stream of water. I watched him for a moment, then I realised that I hadn’t drunk anything for a while. I jumped up on his back and darted across it until I got to the stream. Before he could lift himself up, I perched myself on the rim of the fountain, and I caught the drops in my paw and tossed them into my mouth.

  “Who said you could touch me?” Initiate Rine said, and he brushed himself off vigorously as if he thought having a strand of fur on him might kill him.

  “I’m thirsty,” I replied, “and you’re meant to be looking after my needs.”

  “Wrong. I’m meant to be making sure you don’t get up to no good. You’ve got a warlock’s magic inside you and I don’t want you tainting me with his evil touch.”

  I didn’t have to listen to this nonsense. I blinked at Initiate Rine and yawned. “I’m hungry.”

  “How convenient,” Initiate Rine replied, and looked up at the sun in the sky. “Because it’s just about time for dinner. Maybe if you look at some of the younger Initiates with wide enough eyes, you’ll be able to get a few scraps.”

  He walked off, and I followed him, the thought of food pulling at me like a leash. I’d already smelled the fish, and smoked meat, and gravy, and butter, and all the wonderful things in the kitchen here. Finally, I was going to have a chance to sample this food. I was sure at least some humans would give me some. They always did.

  26

  Allergies

  We walked through the bailey and passed Aleam’s quarters. I wanted to go inside and gloat to Ta’ra that I was finally going to get a chance to dine amongst the humans. But with Initiate Rine
moving with such urgency, I didn’t have the chance.

  He quickly turned into the corridors underneath the parapets, and he led me through them until we reached a set of double doors that led into a massive hall. A woman stood at the door, and I recognised her immediately. She was that same woman who’d attacked me with the serving spoon back in the kitchens a day or so ago.

  She glared down at me over her folded arms as she tapped her huge foot on the ground.

  “Matron Canda,” Initiate Rine said to her with a nod.

  She scowled at him. “No cats in the serving hall, Initiate Rine,” she replied. “You know the rules.”

  “I’m sorry. But this is the Council’s order. We need to keep a watch on him at all times.” Rine pushed his head up to Matron Canda’s thick ear and whispered in it. I turned my ears towards them. “He’s got a warlock’s magic inside him.”

  “I can hear you, you know.” I told them, out loud. “I’ve got particularly sensitive ears.”

  I don’t know what caused Matron Canda to jump more – what Rine had just told her or the fact that the cat by her feet could speak in the human tongue. She backed away towards one of the doors and flattened herself against it. “Go,” she said. “And make sure you don’t touch my plates or cause any trouble, or I’ll come after you with a hot ladle of oil.”

  I mewled, but my action didn’t seem to make her think me any less of a freak. I didn’t get it, really. How could these people have such contempt towards such a cute and innocent cat? Humans are strange creatures, sometimes.

  The hall had three long tables across it, each of which must have had room for feeding one hundred people. Students had gathered at the tables, sitting on the long benches as they tucked into mouth-watering plates full of turkey legs and gravy. Of course, they also had the human yucky stuff on them like potatoes, and broccoli, and carrots.