by Kim Falconer
She struck at them, yelling at the top of her voice, swinging towards the crow first and sending it cawing to a low pine branch. The buzzard opened its wings as if to stand its ground, but hopped away quickly when Rosette’s staff whizzed by its head. With a few more swings and curses she had the birds scattered enough to turn her attention to the feline.
Kneeling down, she saw that, for all its large size, it was only a kitten.
‘Where’s your mamá?’ Rosette looked around the clearing as she spoke.
Wherever the mother was, the creature would be huge. She saw nothing nearby except the darkening woods and the buzzard swooping to a branch just above her.
The baby cat shuddered in the snow, its nose on the ground. One leg was bent at an unnatural angle and the others were tensed underneath its body. There was blood oozing from its neck and one eye had swollen shut. It tried to leap away only to collapse into the snow, inches ahead.
‘I’ve got you,’ Rosette whispered. ‘You’re safe with me.’
She scooped the kitten up into her arms, unbuttoned her coat and thick woollen sweater, tucking it into the warmth between her breasts. The touch of its cold body burned her skin and made her gasp.
She patted the animal. ‘Don’t worry. They can’t get you now, baby cat.’
She buttoned her sweater over it, tightening her coat as she stood. Drips of melting ice-water trickled down her belly, and something warmer too. The baby’s blood? She grabbed her staff and ran for home.
The birds closed in, seemingly united now in their effort to reclaim the feline, or perhaps even Rosette. She swung her staff and screamed at them before scooping snowballs and firing them at their heads, the fists of ice forcing them to seek cover. Rosette had an accurate throwing arm, thanks to her playful summers with Jarrod and Liam, and she felt grateful for it now as the birds flew higher and higher in retreat.
Constantly looking over her shoulder, the journey home seemed to take forever. At the edge of the woods she turned back, catching her breath. A pale beam of sunlight shone between the clouds. It was near to setting. The baby cat felt warm now, and the dripping had stopped. The double-time tap of its heartbeat against her own reassured her it was still alive.
‘We’ll be home soon,’ she cooed, patting the large bump in her coat.
Hoisting her staff like a fishing pole, she jogged the rest of the way to the cottage.
Around the corner of the ruined temple, on a fallen slab of marble entangled with bare vines and spotted with snow, a mammoth feline stood. She opened her mouth to roar, but let no air escape her lungs. She closed her eyes instead and sat. Her tail wrapped tight around her body, the tip lifting slightly, moving in fits and jerks. Slowly she lay down on her sternum, her forepaws stretched out in front of her like a sphinx. She didn’t flinch, but her heart pounded into the cold marble like a slow, aching drum.
Maudi was tortured by her choice. Was it the right one? She was tempted to run down the girl and retrieve her cub. Her whiskers twitched as Drack, a rust-and-black male, approached, sitting a distance away. She could feel the vibration of his purr through the marble slab, through her heart. She knew it was generated from fear, not joy—an involuntary response to alarm, something like the way humans might laugh when suddenly frightened. Drack probably thought she would eat him alive.
She considered it.
It was the only way, Maudi.
She turned her head towards her mate and snarled, her tongue flashing over white teeth.
There will be other cubs.
At this comment she spun on her haunches and lunged at him, claws swiping towards his face. He leapt aside to avoid the raking.
She returned to her vigil.
Maudi, Drack tried again, he’s bonded now. They will both benefit from the union.
I didn’t allow it for their benefit.
I know, but it’s comforting just the same.
Not to me.
There was no sign of the birds, though a curious sound echoed in Rosette’s head from time to time as she ran. Maudi? Maudi?
She flipped her hood back as sweat trickled down her neck. Throwing open the gate, she ran up to the cottage door.
‘Help, Nell. Quickly!’
Nell swung open the door and Rosette stopped just before ploughing into her.
‘It’s wounded,’ she said, gasping for breath.
Nell pulled Rosette across the threshold, boots and all, and closed the door behind her. She pried the staff from her frozen fingers and leaned it against the wall, noticing the blood on Rosette’s gloves.
‘You’re hurt?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘Are you being chased?’ Nell looked out the window.
‘Not any more,’ Rosette stammered. ‘It’s a cub—a kitten.’
‘Where?’
‘I found a huge baby cat.’ Rosette patted the bulge under her coat.
The colour drained from Nell’s face. ‘Show me.’
Rosette knelt on the rug next to the glowing hearth and unfastened her coat. She opened her sweater, button by button, until the feline’s head popped out between her breasts, one swollen eye making it look as though it was winking.
‘Goddess of the woodlands,’ Nell whispered. ‘That’s not a kitten.’
‘It is…it’s just really big. Look at the paws, the size of its head. It’s a baby for sure.’
‘That’s not what I meant, Rosette. Where did you find it?’
‘A fair way into the woods. Two birds were fighting over it. I chased them off, grabbed him and ran for home.’ She smiled. ‘Oh look, it is a “him”.’
‘You found him in the Dumarkian Woods?’
‘Yes, Nell, of course I did. What other woods are there?’
Nell looked into Rosette’s eyes. ‘Deep breaths now. He will be less frightened if our movements are calm. These creatures are very dangerous.’
‘He’s a kitten, Nell.’
The older witch gave her a sharp look. ‘Even at this age—and this damaged—he could tear your hand off with his claws. Now calm yourself.’
Rosette spoke softly. ‘I’m calm, but you certainly aren’t. What’s wrong? Will he be all right?’
Again the strange sound filled Rosette’s mind. She thought her ears must be ringing from the cold. Maudi? Maudi?
She turned her attention to the little animal. ‘It’s okay, baby cat. You’re safe with us.’
Rosette kept her hand on the kitten while Nell examined it. She counted his heartbeats, checked the gum colour, palpated the twisted foreleg and gently pulled open the swollen eyelids. All the while Rosette talked to him in a comforting voice.
‘We need a basin with hot water and clean cloths. I want Golden Seal, Coptis and Hypericum, mixed in equal measure. Also that ointment I gave you this morning. We’ll use that too.’
Rosette got up. ‘What else?’ she asked as she followed the directions.
‘My splinting sticks and bandages. They’re in a box under the long bench.’
‘Got ’em.’
Maudi? The sound was plaintive as the little animal turned its good eye towards Rosette.
‘We’re going to help you, baby cat,’ Rosette said, stroking the crumpled body when she returned. ‘Nell’s going to fix you up. She’s the best healer ever.’
Rosette went back to the kitchen to mix the herbs. ‘He’ll live? He’ll be able to run and jump, won’t he, Nell? Hunt? Both eyes will see?’
‘I think so, darling. Let’s just get him treated and give him something to eat. Bring a cup of milk to warm, and the hot-water bottle. He’s still cold.’
‘Meat?’
‘I have lamb in the oven that he can try later.’
Rosette smiled at the thought, her mouth watering.
Nell cleared her throat. ‘Can you hear him?’
‘Like a bellowing bull. Nothing wrong with his vocal cords. He was screaming and spitting in warrior fits until he went unconscious.’ Rosette returned, handing the herb mixture to
Nell and setting the milk on the hearth.
‘A good sign, but that’s not what I meant.’ Nell flushed out the wounds, covering them with the soothing ointment.
‘What did you mean?’
‘I was wondering if you could hear his thoughts,’ she said, making a compress for the swollen eye. ‘Hold this over his face. It may sting a little. Be ready.’
‘It’s going to hurt?’
‘We have to get the swelling down to protect his optic nerve. Talk to him.’
It’s okay, baby cat. It might pinch a bit, but it is going to help you heal. Trust me. I won’t hurt you. She thought the words, applying the warm compress to the feline’s face.
Trust…me…Maudi.
Rosette’s eyes widened when she heard the sound in her head. She looked first at Nell and then at the injured cat.
‘He’s communicating already, isn’t he?’ Nell whispered.
Maudi?
She stroked his back. ‘He called me Maudi,’ she said, her eyes welling.
‘Answer him then, reassure him. Keep your thoughts flowing!’
Rosette started babbling at the kitten.
‘They don’t have to be aloud,’ Nell said.
Rosette closed her mouth. I’m here, little one. Maudi is here. You’re going to be fine. Are you hungry? She turned to Nell. ‘I can hear him. It’s impossible.’
Nell shook her head. ‘After all our work this summer, you still think that some things in this world might be “impossible”?’
‘But this…I just wasn’t expecting…this.’
‘Nor was I.’
Rosette turned back to the feline and wiped the crusted blood and leaves from the black fur. A tiny, sputtering, rumbling sound vibrated in its throat.
‘Nell! He’s choking. He must have an obstruction. Quick!’
Nell smiled, stopping her hand. ‘He’s not choking, Rosette.’
‘What then?’
‘He’s purring.’
‘He’s happy?’
‘Wouldn’t you be? Here he is, by the fire, being looked after and loved, where a short time ago he was about to be torn apart by scavengers. He may be young, but these creatures are very intelligent. I think he knows he’s got plenty to be happy about.’
Rosette smiled, stroking him again. She was lost in the vibration of his purr for some time before she looked up. ‘What do you mean, “these creatures”?’
‘Dumarkian temple cats.’
Rosette’s mouth opened, but no words came out for several seconds. When they did, they were a mere whisper. ‘He’s a temple cat? Of the ancient line? Familiars to the High Priestesses? The offspring of Basta?’
‘It appears so.’
‘I thought they had all left when the temple was abandoned?’
‘Apparently not all.’ Nell washed her hands in a basin, wrung out a sponge and handed it to Rosette. ‘Clean him up properly. They can’t stand a hair out of place, even the younglings.’
‘But, Nell, what does it mean? Are we…are we really linked, thought to thought?’
‘Maybe not the words, not yet, but he’ll learn fast. Talk to him with your mind. You can learn his language too, though it’s not an easy one.’
Nell touched Rosette’s left forearm where she had received the tattoo of the guardian feline, Basta, months before. ‘You’ve got yourself a familiar, Rosette. A bond with a Dumarkian temple cat is an eternal one, something to cherish and revere, forever.’
Rosette welled up again. She sent thoughts of love and safety and warmth to the little feline, and his purring increased. She sponged him clean and offered a bowl of milk. He lapped at it eagerly, white splatters flecking his whiskers.
‘Help me set the fracture. He’s going to be one big animal when he grows up and we want to make sure he has four strong limbs,’ Nell said, her brow creasing.
‘Is the break that bad?’
‘It’s greenstick. It’ll heal fine.’
‘What, then?’
‘It’s going to be hard to keep you anonymous with this one in tow. You’ll turn every head, if you didn’t already.’
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ Rosette said. ‘What will I do?’
‘Don’t worry. We’ll work it out.’
Through that night and for the next six weeks, Rosette rocked, carried, fed and cradled the young feline. They called him Baby Cat for a few days until she understood that his name was Drayco. Nell was surprised. The Drayconians were primordial creatures, thought to be from another world. They looked like black winged dragons and their auras were filled with a very old magic. The Drayconians had ruled over beginnings and endings and fateful encounters. They were placed in the star charts as the dragon’s head and tail, the north and south lunar nodes—indicators of great portent.
‘I never thought an eclipse on my nodes would bring such a thing.’
Nell chuckled. ‘Star charts aren’t about making things happen. You do that yourself. They are about authenticity and timing, the transits coinciding with events, inner and outer.’
‘I get that now,’ Rosette said, grooming her familiar with a soft brush. His purring filled the cottage.
Drayco grew fast, his orange eyes bright, all four legs sound. He learned her language quicker than she learned his, though she persevered with the strange vowels and consonants that formed his speech. With their minds linked, Rosette was filled with awe. Few humans shared the thoughts of a Dumarkian temple cat, now that the order had vanished. The remaining survivors were fiercely independent, most rejecting human contact and forming family structures with only their own kind.
She and Nell couldn’t figure out how he ended up alone and vulnerable that day. And no matter how many times she went over the events with Drayco, he couldn’t remember what had happened to his blood family. Rosette didn’t know why she had been blessed to be there at the exact moment he’d needed her, but she thanked the goddess of the woods every day of her life for it.
Four summers later, Drayco’s back came halfway up Rosette’s thigh when he brushed against her, his tail entwining her waist. She hadn’t been able to pick him up since he’d turned two.
‘He’s full-grown now,’ Nell said, looking across the table at Rosette. The girl had her head bent over a star chart, listing the angular relationships of each planet to the others. She mumbled as she made notations in the margins, her brow knitted.
‘Mars in Capricorn square Venus in Libra—no wonder Liam could never decide what girl he wanted. So much conflict of interest. Does he assert his will, or does he accommodate to the needs of others? It’s like being a self-sufficient recluse and a social-hungry people pleaser, all at once. How can someone with this aspect do both?’ She lifted her braids off the table, flipping them behind her back. ‘He has to find a way if he’s ever going to be happy.’
Rosette sighed. ‘I’d love to know Jarrod’s birth time. It’s such a pity that he was a foundling—I guess an estimate’s all I’ll ever have for him. He was never even sure of the day.’
She looked up to see Nell watching her.
‘I need more charts,’ she continued after staring back at her for a moment. ‘I’ve studied everything you have, cast the dates and times I can remember of those back home, but it’s not enough. If I’m really going to understand star-craft, I need more data to work with.’
‘And it seems you are too.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Both you and Drayco are adults now, Rosette. You turn twenty-one this summer—have you thought of what that means?’
Rosette put down her pen and capped the ink bottle. ‘A bit.’
‘And?’
‘I want to keep studying, Nell. If I could train at one of the temples I’d really make some progress. Would that be possible?’
‘Rosette!’ Nell pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. Nothing’s impossible, so anything and everything is always possible. We live in a universe of infinite possibilities.
Rosette blushed.
‘Do you have a different question?’ Nell asked.
Rosette hesitated for a second. ‘Where can I apprentice?’
‘That’s better.’
‘And the answer?’
‘What do you want?’ Nell asked.
‘You already know.’
‘Remind me.’
‘Star-craft,’ Rosette said, ‘and the bow.’
‘Anything else?’
‘I’d like to learn more about controlling my power, about boosting the magic without having, um, side effects.’ She looked at the north wall of the cottage where new cedar boards replaced the ones that she had burst into splinters last month while trying to heat a cup of tea with her thoughts. ‘Spells and shape-shifting…’
‘And what about the sword?’
Rosette started picking at a scab on her forearm. ‘I’ll never be good enough.’
‘Not if you keep saying that to yourself, you won’t!’
Rosette felt the blood rush up to her cheeks. ‘Right. The sword as well.’
‘Where?’ Nell asked.
‘Bangeesh Temple has excellent teachers of both star-lore and the bow, spell-craft and sword-craft. It’d be perfect, except…’
‘Except their Sword Master has retired and his successor, though greatly experienced, is hopeless at teaching.’
‘I didn’t know that.’ She raised her brows. ‘I was going to say, it’s very close to Lividica. We seldom speak of it, Nell, but I don’t think it would be safe to go back there yet. Maybe never.’
Rosette’s heart tugged as she said the words. Whole weeks went by when she didn’t think of her family. When the memory did come flooding back, it was as raw as ever. And there was Jarrod. She thought of him all the time. It was like she’d seen him only yesterday, even though she knew he’d have changed. His kisses still lingered on her lips and she wished with a passion he’d stayed that night on the beach, so many years ago. She looked up, realising that Nell was talking.
