Hellcats: Anthology

by Kate Pickford

  "Come on," Wynder said, "the Protectors hear all prayers at the church. If goblins have done this, we will be safe there."

  The cat smacked Wynder with his paw and then collapsed back down, "I am a Protector! The Guild is all over the town trying to stop the goblins, but the humans and elves are waging a rebellion against something much darker. It has complicated things. Get out of here, kitten, or you'll end up like me."

  Wynder looked around them, "I am looking for my friends. Cats that were by the harbor."

  "I saw 'em, they were taken. You'd be good to stay far from them goblins. You're untrained and they'll be back. They're letting their poisons wear me down. They’re smarter than we give them credit for."

  "Where are they?!" Wynder asked.

  The cat sat up as best as he could. His body quivered, the poison causing his muscles to twitch, further incapacitating him. "You ready to die or something?"

  "Ready to live, I'm no mere tavern cat!"

  The Protector stared at him for a moment before laying back down. "Down the center pipe there, they pulled the cats into that. Their spears are tipped with a much stronger poison than normal. The Guild thought the harbor was safe and that the goblins would flee into the woods to the west but we were wrong."

  "I'll be back to get you help," Wynder said. "Just stay here."

  The Protector laughed and flicked his tail. "I'm not going anywhere but do yourself a favor and not worry about me. If you can get to your friends, do it, and hide."

  Wynder hurried toward the Great Pipe. While great for what came out during rainstorms it was not a place many cats went because there was always a chance of worse things than goblins lurking in the darkness.

  But Wynder would not be dissuaded.

  He went to the pipe. It was many times taller than he was with a steady stream of stench coming from the darkness ahead. He began running down a stone pathway that ran alongside the stream.

  In the darkness of the tunnel, with little light from the outside world, his vision cleared. But it wasn't what he could see that caused his heart to beat faster in his chest or his muscles to tense and his claws to grip into the stone, pulling him faster.

  He heard other cats.

  He swore he heard Coral crying.

  I've got to be fast.

  He was running now. But he was unsure of what he'd do when he got there. He had fought five goblins at one time but that was in a place he knew well. His surroundings now were a maze of broken bricks, timber supports, and pipes with random gashes in them. He saw spots of night sky, glimmering with spangling stars, whenever he glanced up. The outside world was but a whisker away but he didn't tarry to take it in. His intent was the unknown ahead.

  He thought of what Ragfeet had said.

  I'm not a dumb orange ball and I'm about to show all of them.

  The truth was that his ability to see goblins so easily wasn't seen as a gift by the other cats. He couldn't even pretend to be “normal” like the other cats but that didn’t matter one whit because no one believed him anyway.

  His life in the tavern was a necessity.

  Wynder wasn't the largest of cats, or the strongest, but he embraced the gift he did have. Now, the words of others didn't matter, only his choice to act, be it for good or ill.

  Wynder made it to an opening in the Great Pipe which let out into a vast subterranean cavern. Here there were dozens of goblins. He inched inside but spotted many cats. Several had already been killed and the goblins were hard at work cutting them into pieces. The cries of his fellow cats and kittens were long and loud, echoing off the cavern wall.

  The goblins had constructed barges, kept secure with a few ropes, and ready to move down an even larger pipe with a fast-moving current.

  There are so many of them.

  He imagined how horrifying it must be for his kin, unable to see what grabbed them. He had to find Coral and help as many of them as he could.

  He went to pounce upon one of the goblins when he was stricken with a fear unlike any he had ever felt. He could run, he could flee right now and do as the Protector had told him.

  I am not a Protector, I'm a mere tavern cat. I can't—

  NO.

  I will.

  I will be a Protector to these cats and kittens. They need me. This is who I am to be. No one will ever laugh at me again after this.

  Wynder leaped from the high rocky cliff, landing among the goblins and slashing them with his claws. He spun about, sending goblins flying in every direction as he was lucky that they did not have their typical armor on. He bit at one of their heads, tearing through his flesh and pulling it apart.

  He felt a sting in his tail and spun, slashing another goblin and knocking its spear away.

  "Wynder!" a voice cried out.

  It was Coral, bound with many others in a cage of bones and on the second barge in a line of three.

  Wynder ran for the cage when a large, burly goblin with fluffy curled eyebrows grabbed him by the whiskers. He went to bite the goblin and three more goblins climbed on top of him.

  "Release the barges, get moving down the river!" a goblin ordered.

  The goblins began cutting the lines and Wynder rolled across the ground, kicking and pushing at the goblins upon him. He slashed the face of the one with the fluffy eyebrows sending him staggering back.

  There was another stab in his tail and then one in his rib. He could feel that the second one was poisoned but it was just a grazing hit.

  The barges moved down the river but the third one was a bit slower. It was the one with the kittens and in one leap, he was upon it.

  The goblins had thought they were safe. They were wrong.

  Wynder hissed, slashing at them one after another and biting open the cage with the kittens. While the current was dangerous, they were moving into a vastly more open area beneath the ground. It was a cave system and at the very least, the kittens could get away from the river.

  The kittens were nuzzling him, and he patted the calico and black kittens before directing them away.

  "Jump my friends, keep running away from this place!"

  The kittens did so, each of them jumping as the moment was right as Wynder turned to the other two barges.

  He hated water. Absolutely hated it. The mere thought of what he needed to do was repulsive, but he couldn't make the jump all the way to the second barge.

  Wynder plunged into the icy depths as lightning flashed into the river from the outside world. The ground rumbled around him as he paddled his way forward, pulling himself on to the barge where Coral was held captive.

  The other cats began shouting as the goblins ran at him. He slashed one but two more stabbed him in the neck. He coughed, blood running down his fur as he rolled in a fury of claws and teeth, clearing the deck of the barge and making his way to the cage.

  "Wynder! Wynder! You did it!" Coral said.

  "Good work," Ragfeet said. "Get us out and I will catch you every fish you need. Tell us what you need and we will help. I never doubted you!"

  "Yes, you did," Wynder said.

  His vision was getting fuzzy. Those last two spears had poison and his gamble of a move to clear the barge had meant he got a serious dose from their wretched spears. Coral’s cage had a lock on it. He couldn't bite through this one as he had done with the one that contained the kittens.

  He stumbled forward, seeing a silver latch on a strange wooden column. That had to be it. There had to be a lever to unlock it. That's how goblin locks worked or so he knew it as went the stories he had heard as a kitten.

  He began fumbling forward as spears whizzed by him. He pushed the silver latch and the lock on the cage opened.

  He collapsed. Staring ahead of him, he saw with horror, that cats had already been killed. Their flesh stacked in piles, coarse salt coating them as the goblins were preparing to preserve them.

  He had gotten to his fellow cats just in time.

  Coral licked him but he couldn't stand up even though he wa
s trying.

  "He's been poisoned," she said.

  He felt a cat grip him by the neck.

  "Let's go," another said. "There is a split in the river ahead. We're in the river passage beneath the city! I've been here before."

  The final barge kept moving well ahead of them. There weren't any cats on there, but they could not have caught up with them if they wanted to. There was not time to avenge their fellow cats that had been murdered. At least, for now, they were safe.

  Wynder tried to speak but couldn't. His fellow cats jumped from the barge onto the rocks where the river diverted, and he was carried with haste down a pathway.

  "Is that all of us?" Coral asked.

  Wynder felt the grip on his neck lessen and he coughed several times.

  "I think so," he said, forcing himself to stand up on all four legs. He didn't feel as bad as he did before but he was far from perfect.

  "The kittens made it off the barges, but we need to make sure they get to safety."

  "The Protectors are here," Ragfeet said. "We saw one at the harbor. Where are the others?"

  "Not here," Wynder said. "We are on our own, but I can see the goblins, I told you I could. He began to step forward even as more blood seeped from his wounds.

  "We must get back to the harbor and hide. We must help the Protector there."

  Wynder began forward.

  "I know the way," Ragfeet said.

  As Wynder, Ragfeet, and Coral pushed forward with a host of random cats, Wynder's body fought the poison. With each paw fall, he could feel the vibrations through his legs up to his spine. From his tail to his neck, he felt warmer than usual and his heart was racing more than it should have been.

  They came to a series of stones that led up to the outside world and the group of them made their way up toward the light. They were on a bridge. The harbor was only a few buildings back east.

  But the city burned. Flames rippled through the buildings above them.

  "What has happened?" Coral asked.

  That goblin was right. There was something bigger going on.

  Wynder growled.

  "We have to get to Rocky Cove. We have to get to the harbor! We can't stop here!"

  Suddenly, blasts of fire struck all around them. Several of the cats fled into nearby streets. Others lay dead, scorched by the fireballs. Pieces of fur and smoke floated in front of Wynder.

  Coral and Ragfeet both backed against the bridge. There was a sudden bolt of lightning that bounced through the buildings around them crashing debris all over the road sending Ragfeet and Coral darting across to the other side of the bridge.

  A horse and rider were fast approaching, the rattling of its hooves sent shockwaves over the bridge.

  "Wynder, come on! This way!" Coral cried.

  Wynder felt sick, the feeling before of warmness now a debilitating pain that made it difficult to move.

  The horse thundered across the bridge.

  Wynder heard barking and just behind the horse was the dog he’d seen in the tavern earlier that night. But instead of glowing red fur, flames rippled down his back. But he wasn't on fire. This dog was different than the typical fleabags. Wynder watched as the dog propelled himself into the rider, dragging the rider from the horse

  The dog snarled, biting the person over and over before a blast of ice blew the dog backward with a whelping cry.

  The man stood, the flames of the town accenting the glistening sweat and blood rolling down his face. "The time of reckoning draws nigh and you will all—" The man's words were cut short as another figure flew upon him with fiery daggers, thrusting the blades into his upper torso.

  “You will be silent," the second figure shouted.

  The dismounted figure slumped to the ground and collapsed.

  Wynder struggled to get across the street.

  Human figures made their way to the bridge. They were holding wooden sticks with bright lights on the top of them.

  "Purge the darkness," one of them said.

  Wynder was nearly stepped on as the figures bathed the bridge in bright white light. He felt his body become light and quite strangely a-tingle. He felt the poison flee his body and he was renewed.

  "Light of the Goddess, purge all," a voice said.

  He looked up to see a woman in silver robes reach down. "Even the smallest are safe this night." She scratched him just under his neck and he purred, moving up against her legs.

  Thank you, thank you, stranger.

  Wynder didn't know what had happened or how.

  The lights from the staffs lessened and the figure with the red blades sheathed them.

  "Send word to Evurn, this Ascender is dead." The man—where he’d come from Wynder couldn’t say—tapped his leg and his dog joined him at his side.

  The dog looked down at Wynder. "Not bad, cat. I could smell the poison on you before."

  Wynder sat up proudly, "I'm not sure what you are but good work yourself." He wasn't really sure what else to say.

  "We all have secrets, we're all different. That's exactly what makes us unique. There are more of your kind nearby. Take shelter until the fires are out."

  The figure with the red blades whistled, "Come on, Nonro. Leave that cat alone."

  Wynder walked over to Coral and Ragfeet. Both of them stared at him with wide eyes. They circled around him, sniffing his fur.

  "What happened?"

  Wynder licked his coat. "I don't know. But it worked. It was something those warriors did."

  "Do you think they're here because of the goblins?" Ragfeet asked.

  Wynder flicked his tail, "I think we both had our battles and we just all happened to meet up. Their concerns aren't ours but if it means less goblinkind in our midst, I have no quarrel with them. We need to get back to the shore, that Protector is still there."

  They made their way with haste, zipping between burning buildings and the cries of people as whatever threat was here before, had left a trail of destruction. They came soon to the harbor and Wynder hurried to the spot he had left the Protector.

  He was gone.

  "Wynder, you shouldn't worry about it," Coral said. "He likely left, went off to find more goblins."

  There were goblin bodies all around the harbor.

  "These weren't here before. There were no bodies here." Wynder meowed sadly. "They came back, they killed him."

  A goblin appeared from behind a nearby rock.

  Wynder hissed, running toward the creature who lifted up his spear.

  "Wait! Wait! You remember, I? Right? Tavern cat?" he said, dropping his weapon. "Tavern goblin is here."

  Both Coral and Ragfeet ran up beside Wynder.

  "Where are they? Tell us! We can help!" Coral said.

  "It's okay," Wynder said. He turned his attention back to the goblin. "What do you want?"

  "Come, come."

  Wynder followed the goblin around the rock to a large pile of oyster shells. Here, there were many more goblins.

  "After the tavern, I decided to see if I could find a boat to hide on but then all the fire and spells flying around the town scared us to take cover. A few minutes ago, the goblins that took the kittens, came to take your large cat friend, the one with the gash in his leg. They were angry and said that a random orange cat had ruined everything. I owed you one. I told you that you made a friend. So, we helped him."

  They pulled several oysters shells off the mound and revealed the Protector.

  Wynder sniffed him.

  The cat opened his eyes, "Yes, yes. I am alive. I smell like oysters now but, these goblins for some reason decided I was worth saving."

  "Um, Wynder," Coral said, her voice trembling.

  Wynder looked up to see over a dozen massive silver and black cats. These all had emblems on their necks with a silver star and a strange bolt.

  One of them, a large white female, stepped forward. "Moosh, are you okay over there?"

  "He's been poisoned," Wynder said.

  The cat ran
over to the pile of oysters and the Protector beneath.

  "He's a Protector," Wynder said. "He tried to help my friends and me."

  "I know. He’s the Protector known as Moosh. A great cat. One of the greatest. He has been poisoned. We need to get him to the elven fountains."

  "Good Protector," the goblin said. "We did what we could to protect him. We do not want any trouble."

  "Why would you help our kind?" she asked the goblin.

  He pointed at Wynder. "That one spared me, seemed right to help."

  She looked at Wynder.

  "You can see the goblins?"

  "I can."

  "But you were not born in elven lands?"

  "No, but my mother came to this town from another place. I don't know where. I'm just a tavern cat, I live at the Twin Tailed Crab Tavern just down the road."

  The cat's whispers twitched. "The Protectors thank you, Wynder, I have heard about deeds this night from a group of kittens that say an orange cat saved them from certain death. I will assume that was you. Thank you, Wynder."

  The Protectors departed leaving Wynder, Coral, and Ragfeet beside the shoreline.

  The sun was coming up and Wynder hurried to get back to the tavern, leaving his friends for now but he'd be sure to check back on them soon.

  He had to make sure The Master was okay.

  To his surprise, the tavern was untouched but the buildings around the tavern had a lot of damage. He made his way, carefully, moving through broken timbers and making a massive leap onto the awning that led to the window in the attic.

  He made his way inside and looked down to see The Master sitting at the bar holding his head.

  Meow.

  The Master jumped up from his seat. Looking at Wynder as the cat made his way down from the attic to the bar top.

  "I had thought the worst! Where have you been?!"

  Wynder nuzzled his master and purred.

  Protecting you and everyone else. Just what I'm supposed to do.

  In the coming weeks, the goblins stopped attacking the tavern and robbing the patrons after a bit of discussion between the goblin, who he discovered was named Muncher, and himself. There was another tavern outside of the town that was trying to take the business of The Master's tavern and the goblins were happy to ransack the place on a nightly basis.