by Drake, Adam
It was greater in height than Fairfax and more detailed than the others we had seen. Its long tentacles outstretched with an opened beak-like mouth between them.
“Well, Constable,” I said. “I believe we are on the right track.”
“Yes, but which way?”
I peered in both directions. A faint light could be seen further down the right one. “I see something, Fairfax. This way.”
We walked toward the far light. As we got closer the light became bright enough we doused our own rock lights.
The tunnel ended at a wide archway, and beyond it appeared to be a chamber. Fairfax motioned me to stop, and tip-toed ahead. Hugging the wall he peered through the archway.
He turned to me and shrugged. “No one there,” he said in a hushed voice. Mindful of potential danger we stepped through.
The chamber was huge with dozens of rock lights ensconced along the walls. The ceiling so high it could not be seen.
Fairfax looked to our left and let out a surprised shout. I looked, too, and my breath caught in my throat.
A large statue of a squid sat at one side of the chamber. It stood more than three times the height of a horse and was as wide as my house. Long stone tentacles reached outward in a frozen roiling mass as if searching for food. Two large sightless eyes seemed to glare at us, angry and wild. The bulk of its body extended behind it like a train car.
“Quantiqtl,” I said.
Fairfax and I stared in amazement. The bright rock lights enhancing its shadows making it appear almost alive.
“Incredible work,” Fairfax said. “It must have taken years to carve.”
A thought hit me which sent shivers down my spine. Wide-eyed I grabbed Fairfax's arm and pulled him backward, away from the statue.
“That is not just any statue, Fairfax,” I said as the full horror of realization struck home.
“That is the smartest thing you have ever said,” came a loud voice from behind us. We whirled around pistols at the ready.
Sigwald Archambault and Davlon Blythe emerged from a side entrance. Both wore black robes with the Mark of Quantiqtl on their sleeves. Blythe pointed a pistol at us. Archambault held what looked to be a long narrow bone sharpened to a point. I realized it was the Talon.
“Mr. Mayor,” I said with dripping sarcasm. “Why am I not surprised you are behind this?”
“Retired Detective Beeweather,” Archambault said, returning the sarcasm. “Of course I am behind this. Who else can bring about the dawning of a new era?”
I regarded Blythe who was sneering. To him I said, “So Davlon, the responsibility of wielding the Talon was too much for you? You shifted the binding over to Sigwald because you lacked the courage to keep using it?”
Blythe's sneer turned to anger. “He is the chosen one! I am but a tool for him to wield on his journey to rebuild the world.”
“You are most certainly a tool,” Fairfax said.
“Shut up!” Barked Archambault. He waved the Talon around. “Blythe did as commanded. He follows the same calling as me in our service to the one great god. And soon, we will all serve him, or perish.”
I glanced at the huge tentacled statue. “You mean -”, I said before Archambault cut me off.
“Do not speak of the great one while in his presence! You are unworthy of such an honor.”
Fairfax said, “What do you mean in his presence?”
Keeping my pistol aimed at the mayor I said, “That statue is the Quantiqtl. The real one from long ago. Turned to stone by Gunther.”
Fairfax blanched at the implications.
Archambault grinned. “Yes, now you realize the true import of what I am trying to accomplish. This is the great and mighty Quantiqtl! Betrayed in battle by that ungrateful wretch, Gunther. But soon his crime will be corrected and the entire world will rejoice!”
“This raving lunatic is boring me,” Fairfax said. “Can I shoot him now?”
My curiosity got the better of me and I asked, “What is it you think you can do?” Asking questions of the mayor fed his giant ego and might buy me time to devise a plan.
Archambault's eyes widened, and he smiled. “Why, to resurrect the Great One and restore him to his rightful place as the ruler of the universe!”
My eyes went to the Talon in his hand. Again, I was struck with a terrifying realization. “You've used the spell from the book to reverse the Stone casting ability of the Talon,” I said. It was a statement and one that chilled me.
Archambault laughed. “Now you know, foolish woman! Yes, and I will undue the Stoning of the Ancient One and return him to life! And our mighty god will reward me beyond my wildest dreams!”
I arched a brow at these two idiots. “If you cannot use the Talon to turn one of us to stone then it's no threat to us. So it is our two pistols to Blythe's one.”
Archambault's reverie faltered. He seemed to realize that the situation was not as much to his favor as his ravings had led him to believe.
Blythe tensed, his pistol moving between me and Fairfax.
My pistol remained on Archambault. He could not be allowed to use the Talon. Not for what he intended to do. “Drop the Talon, Sigwald. Otherwise I will be forced to shoot.”
Archambault's face contorted in an expression caught between sanity and servitude to his chosen God. In an instant he made his decision.
The mayor turned the Talon toward the huge statue. I fired my pistol, hitting the mayor in the shoulder. But as I did so Blythe fired at me with a scream of rage.
At that moment, Fairfax jumped in front of me, grunted in pain and knocked me down.
A loud and terrifying roar shattered the air causing the chamber walls to vibrate. I looked knowing full well what I would see, but did not want to.
Quantiqtl was alive. The huge squid raged and thrashed its long tentacles about smashing against the rocky chamber's walls. The impact shook the room and a loud cracking was heard above us.
I grasped at Fairfax to see if he was alive. He groaned in pain but looked at me with concern. “Winged me, the lucky grubber!” he said to my relief.
Archambault lay on the ground clutching his wounded shoulder, but he did not care. His face was one of reverence as he looked at Quantiqtl.
Blythe had lowered his pistol and stood in a dazed stupor, eyes locked on his now living God.
Quantiqtl roared again and pulled itself closer to us. The motion of something so huge and frightening paralysed me with fear. Man was not meant to gaze on such evil and stay lucid.
The beast flailed wildly and hit the walls again.
This time the ceiling high above cracked even louder. Huge chunks of concrete and stone fell from above.
“Look out!” Fairfax cried and threw himself over top of me. The noise of the crumbling ceiling was deafening. Within a few moments it subsided and Fairfax and I looked.
Thick dust choked the air and a large mound of rubble now took up most of the chamber. Blythe and Archambault had been under the falling rocks and were buried.
The collapse only agitated the Ancient One even more, and it pulled itself forward, huge eyes locked on us. A tentacle lashed out at me and Fairfax moved in its way.
The large man was cast aside like a toy and landed in a heap on the other side of the chamber.
“Fairfax!” I cried. As I tried to stand up to go to him, the squid moved closer and shrieked, its beaked mouth opening wide showing rows of sharp teeth.
For a moment I was transfixed by the great being, and the sight of the surrounding carnage. The creature pulled itself forward again and raised its vast tentacles preparing to put an end to me.
I did the only thing I could think of in that terrifying moment. I reached into my satchel and touched the knitting bag's clasp.
A cat jumped out of the bag. Then another. Followed by another. And another. Soon cats poured out of the bag like water from a hydrant. Dozens, then hundreds and even thousands. Each flying out with such an amazing speed they blurred past my vision.
>
Quantiqtl shrieked in confusion and retreated. Cats flew through the air, ran along the ground, and swirled around the giant squid like a feline maelstrom. When the Ancient One thrashed out its tentacles the cats avoided them then resumed their assault.
Stunned, there was nothing I could do but stare. So many magical cats in one place. Before I had never seen more than one at a time, now it appeared to be a near infinite number of them. And they were all here to aid me.
I smiled.
The torrent of cats from the bag suddenly ended, and I looked at its dark opening. It was pitch black within, a void without limits.
Then a paw emerged, and another. With calm purpose a cat pulled itself out of the bag.
This cat was unlike any other. It wasn't one color. It was every color. From its flat snout to the end of its long bushy tail, its fur was a vibrant rainbow of multicolored hues. It turned its head to look at me. Its eyes did not have irises and were completely white which glowed with an inner energy.
I stared in amazement at this incredible creature. No, not creature. This being was far more than that.
“Hello,” I said.
The cat blinked at me and from within its eyes I sensed an old soul, older than anything I'd ever encountered before, or ever would. And I realized at that moment what this cat was.
Quantiqtl's roars now turned to shrieks of fear. It did not know how to deal with this enemy.
The cat then turned from me and sauntered over to the rubble under which Archambault was buried. On the rock strewn floor rested the Talon. With its mouth the cat picked it up, then walked over to me. It sat down, looked at me, and waited.
Its eyes spoke to me, at a place deep within my soul. There was a magic there I could not hope to fathom. But I knew then what it wanted me to do.
I took the Talon from its mouth, and felt its binding shift to me. I pointed it at Quantiqtl.
The great squid must have sensed what was about to happen and roared in defiance one last time.
Guided by the inner whispers of the special cat I called for a magical incantation from a secret place within my soul.
Quantiqtl shrieks ended in an instant. The Ancient One was turned to stone once again.
The swirl of a thousand cats subsided and each flew to the knitting bag to stream back inside. As they zipped past my face I caught the multicolored cat sitting and staring at me with its glowing white eyes. I knew how special this encounter was and it filled my heart with joy.
When the last cat vanished back into its home the multicolored feline stood. It regarded the stoned version of Quantiqtl. Then it made a light sneezing noise.
The huge stone Quantiqtl shattered, and crumbled into a million pieces. The remains looked no different than the rock and concrete which filled the chamber.
The cat then walked over to the knitting bag and without a goodbye look, it was gone.
My heart beat against my chest for I knew what that cat really was: an Ancient One.
From behind me I heard a groan.
“Fairfax!” I cried and hobbled over to him.
He was missing his cap and his hair was tussled. He leaned up and rubbed at his head. I saw his arm was bleeding from a bullet wound.
“Are you okay?” I was worried for him, perhaps in more ways than I wanted to admit.
He blinked at me and said, “I think it knocked some sense into me.” He smiled, and I nearly fainted with relief.
“Can you walk?” I asked.
“I'll walk out of here,” he said and pulled himself up to his feet, favoring his left arm. He looked around. “Took care of it did you?”
I laughed. “Well, I had help.”
“Let me guess. Your animal circus made an appearance.”
“You have no idea. I'm now of the firm belief that there is no such thing as too many cats! Let's get out of here and fix you up.”
“There is no real fix for me, Mayra,” he said. “I am who I am after all.”
“I wouldn't have you any other way,” I said. And we hobbled back to the sewer tunnels.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I regarded the statues of Elicia Ipthorn and Radley Oswall beneath the awning of the back lot of the Constabulary. Elicia sitting on her stone chair drinking from her stone teacup. Oswall with one hand outstretched, the other reaching for his pistol. A sense of excitement I had not felt for a long time filled my heart. In my hand I held the Stone Talon. Bound to me now with the help of the multicolored cat, or whatever that being was.
“You're going to have to rename that now,” Fairfax said from beside me. One arm was in a sling and a mottled bruise on one side of his face. I found him to be as handsome as ever.
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, first it was Gunther's Stone Talon. Then it was Blythe's Stone Talon. Then it was Archambault's Stone Talon. So, Beeweather's Stone Talon? Does that have a good ring to it?”
I chuckled. “It is none of those, I'm happy to say. Once done we'll give it back to the Capital Museum. They can name it whatever they like.”
Constables crowded about the parking lot anxious to see what was about to happen.
Chief Constable Kyrill approached us. “Trying to decide which one should have the honor of going first?”
“Not at all,” I said. “Ladies always go first.”
I pointed the Talon at Elicia and, from a secret place within my soul, called forth the magical incantation.
And like a rock light being touched on, Elicia went from completely stone to completely real. She slurped at her tea for a moment before she realized where she was. Her eyes went wide and sputtered out her tea.
“What?” Elicia said. “What is this? Where am I?” She nearly fell out of her chair. “By the Gods!”
A pair of constables hurried to her side and gently guided her toward the Constabulary's back door. “What happened?” she said before she disappeared inside.
“It will take her time to adjust. From her point of view she hasn't missed a few days. Only moments,” Fairfax said.
I asked Chief Kyrill, “So Rousset will not press charges for the book's theft?”
The Chief shook his head. “No, he thought being turned to stone was punishment enough. As for the book, it will be sent to the Capital Museum along with all the other items the mayor and Blythe had hoarded in their sewer lair.”
“That was kind of him,” I said and turned my attention to Oswall.
Fairfax asked, “You are certain this will work again so soon? Doesn't it need hours to recharge its magic?”
I grinned. “For this task the Talon has been given a brief reprieve. Once Oswall is transformed it will go inert again.” I thought of the Ancient cat and the unfathomable knowledge behind its glowing white eyes.
“It appears a lot of rules were broken for you,” Fairfax said with a grin.
“Who else should the rules be broken for?” I said and pointed the Talon at Oswall.
As with Elicia it was instantaneous. One moment solid stone, the next a real man again.
Oswall was shouting, “No! Don't!” He pulled out his pistol.
“Stop Detective!” Chief Kyrill said. “Hold your fire! You are safe now!”
The detective, bewildered, was looking about in utter confusion. But he had the mind to holster his pistol much to everyone's relief.
“What the devil is going on?” Detective Oswall said.
“Allow me to explain inside, Detective,” Chief Kyrill said as he led the confused man into the Constabulary.
My heart thumped with joy at the sight of him whole again.
Fairfax was smiling from ear to ear which stretched out his walrus mustache to comical proportions. “Now that business is taken care of.” He held out a narrow little box, its lid open.
I frowned and glanced at the Talon. So much harm had been done with it. I hoped it would finally be put in a safe place back at the Capital.
With a thunk, I dropped it into the box which Fairfax snapped shut.
I said, “I just realized something. Remember when I put the case files on the ground and asked the cat to point out the one that led to Oswall's killer?”
“Yes,” Fairfax said.
“Well, Oswall wasn't dead. Just transformed. So the cat did not move until I changed my wording from killer to attacker.”
“Ah, very good,” Fairfax said with a smile. “So, what now, Miss Beeweather? Another case, perhaps?” There was a glint in his eye.
