“Filthy traitors,” Junaki echoed Riya.
“Yes,” a voice said from behind us so that we were shocked, “filthy traitors they are.”
Chapter 47
I whirled around. It was a burly cat with big whiskers. He felt familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite recall where I had seen him earlier.
“Who are you?” Riya asked.
“Princess Junaki knows,” the cat said.
Junaki stepped forward and she and the cat embraced each other in a hug. I couldn’t help but be taken aback. Was the cat Junaki’s ex-lover or something? I was suddenly worried.
Junaki finally let go of the cat (I could finally breathe well!). She had tears in her eyes. She turned to me and Riya.
“This is my friend, Anuj,” she said, “Kitty, he is the one who helped me and you escape from our kingdom.” Just then did I remember where I had seen Anuj before—He was the cat that had boxed me and applied the enjoy-the-fire potion as I was being taken to be burnt at the stake such a long time ago.
Anuj and I shook hands. I recalled that time I had been tied to the pole. I was suddenly thankful to Anuj and felt guilty for my previous thoughts.
“How did you come here?” Junaki asked Anuj.
“Long story really,” Anuj replied. “I followed your parents and your brother. They were supposed to come alone though.”
“Wait,” Riya said, who seemed to be joining two and two together only now, “those three cats were your parents and your brother?” she asked Junaki.
Junaki nodded.
“Not the best parents or brother though,” she said, “they wanted to burn me at the stake.”
Riya’s eyes widened, and any guilt that had come over her eyes for calling the three cats ‘traitors’ vanished from them.
“We came by sea,” Anuj said, “Your family in a small ship and I in a large boat. The people of our kingdom do not have any desire to associate with dogmen, but they fear your father. I however couldn’t just stay watching and I volunteered to be the one to find out everything about the dogmen that your parents are associating with.”
“Actually,” I said, “the dogmen are just pawns. It’s a human, an evil one at that, who leads.”
“So have you also come to meet the human?” Anuj asked.
“More like to kill him,” I said with determination. “I have come to free my master and get rid of the dogmen nuisance from my kingdom forever.”
“Your kingdom?” Anuj asked confusedly.
Junaki quickly explained to Anuj about me. How I had died and lost my memory and how I had now regained it. Anuj looked impressed and in awe. The he grinned.
“At least I’ll be able to tell my great grandchildren how I once punched the King of Abhaya!”
I laughed.
“That was one punch I’d always be thankful for,” I said, “it saved me from the fire.”
Anuj then turned to Junaki.
“There is something important that I haven’t told you,” he said.
“Go on,” Junaki said.
“Your father… you remember right that there was a time when he was not so cruel?”
“Of course I do,” Junaki said, “but he just changed shortly after my mother died.”
“Not after your mother died,” Anuj said in a correcting voice, “after he remarried.”
Junaki frowned, apparently not getting what this implied.
“I have found out something,” Anuj continued. “Your step-mother has been making your father consume a special substance without his knowledge which makes her exercise power over him. She has been going on increasing dosages of the substance, rendering your father a mere puppet at her control.”
Junaki’s jaw dropped. She glanced at the Lair, inside which her family had disappeared.
“That woman shall pay,” Junaki said.
“But before that, tell me the plan,” Riya said, “How the heck are we getting inside? My old mind is not coming up with any solutions, maybe your younger minds can cook up something?”
I thought fast. The solution was fraught with dangers.
“Invisibility and Rupasur,” I said.
“Will you elaborate, King Kitty?” Riya said in a sarcastic tone. “Junaki makes Rupasur invisible. He goes into the Lair, drags out the Lord and that’s it?”
“No,” I said. “Junaki will make all of us invisible,” I turned at Anuj, “you want to go in too, right?”
“Obviously,” he replied.
“Good,” I said, “once Junaki makes everyone invisible, I’ll summon Rupasur. He’ll create a commotion here and distract the guards. With the guards distracted we will get inside the walls and inside the Lair. What do you all think of the plan?”
The others agreed that it was the only way possible, even though there were dangers. I summoned Rupasur. He was about to bow and say something in his booming voice that would obviously give us away, but I put a finger on my lips and silenced him. I told him about the plan quickly. Junaki made all of us invisible, including Rupasur. We had gone a considerable distance towards the Lair, when behind us Rupasur began to roar and stamp his feet to create as much noise as possible.
The guards looked at each other in confusion. Some of them ran towards the spot where the invisible Rupasur was creating all the noise. We reached the walls. We were light on our foot being cats and it helped considerably.
I climbed atop the wall and so did the others. We jumped.
The moment we did so, all the guards that were inside the wall of the Lair seemed to become able to see us again.
“What happened?” I said to Junaki as all the guards came towards us, yelling.
“I don’t know!” Junaki said. “The spell is still on!”
I reckoned the wall had some kind of a charm about it which disabled all kinds of spells.
I threw paralysis on a guard who was about to punch me. More guards came. I was able to paralyse a couple more before my mana depleted. I pulled out my sword. Riya began to throw fire. Anuj, bulky as he was, tried to fend himself with sheer muscle power. But we all knew that we would never win. I could somehow handle one guard, but five of them was just out of question. And these weren’t normal dogmen.
One guard grabbed my hand, while another took away my sword. They pinned me to the ground. I still tried to kick and bite them. But it was to no avail. The others were in a similar situation.
I expected the guards to take us out through the gate and perhaps kill us outside. But apparently they had other things in mind. They started to drag us towards the door of the Lair, the same place where we wanted to go. I stopped struggling. Did the guards want to take us to the Lord? I would be rather happy if they did so.
One guard pulled the lever. The door opened. There was blackness inside and they pushed us in. The lever was pulled again and the door closed.
“Are you guys okay?” I asked the others.
“Not really,” Riya said with a grunt, “but to look at the positive side, we are inside the Lair.”
“The coin please,” a voice said, and it belonged neither to Arun, Junaki, Riya or me. It was a voice that sounded like that of a male, but there was a very feminine quality to it. I realised that there was a figure sitting on a chair on the other end of the room that we were in. The figure was hooded. It was a dogman… a female one.
She stood up.
“The coin?” I said.
“One coin for each,” the female dogman said, “so four in total.”
“We… we don’t have any,” Junaki said.
I had a queasy feeling the female wouldn’t be very happy if we didn’t give her the coins. I regretted dismissing Riya when she had told about the coins all the other visitors were taking.
But the female dogman began to laugh. There was a very chilling vibe in her voice.
“Well, it’s either the coins… or it’s the play,” she laughed, “by default you have chosen the latter. So enjoy!”
Instantly I had a feeling as if the place was
moving. What was worse was that Anuj, Riya and Junaki became more and more translucent around me. All of us cried out in our panic.
And then a time came when the others had all vanished. A sense of claustrophobia overcame me. The room was also changing though, it had acquired a very gas like property. Soon, the contents of the room began to swirl. Light from unknown sources came in. At the end of all this I found myself in a dimly lit forest.
Chapter 48
The forest consisted of trees, none of which had a single leaf. The branches had a very ominous aura about them, like the fingers of a skeleton. I inhaled deeply. I had to keep myself calm if I wanted to get out of this alive.
There was a sound behind me. I whirled around instantly. I wished I had a sword at this moment. My mana was almost zero as well, so spells won’t work. There was nobody behind me. Another sound came. Once again there was nobody when I turned.
“Come on,” I said to the trees, “reveal yourself, whoever you are. What’s with the hide and seek?”
I felt a constricting force around my stomach. When I looked down, I saw black smoke. I let out a shriek as the smoke constricted me more. I could barely breathe now. All around me smoke appeared from nowhere. I kicked and swung my arms rapidly in a bid to be free. My health fell. It had fallen by half when the smoke allowed me to go free and I landed roughly on the ground.
The smoke now gathered in front of me taking the shape of a human, with glowing eyes.
“A cat I see,” an eerie whisper said, “it’s after a long time I am seeing one.”
I focused at the being of smoke and got its details. How the hell was I going to destroy this one?
“Can’t you just let me go?” I asked.
The smoke-being chuckled in a voice that sounded like the shattering of glass.
“You didn’t pay the gold coin, which is why you have been made to play,” the smoke-being said. “How can you expect me to let you go?”
The smoke-being had health and I knew that there must be a way to kill it. My brain was thinking fast even as I tried to engage the smoke-being in conversation.
“It is not fair,” I said to it, “if you just attack me. This place belongs to you, every nook and corner of it. I don’t know anything about this place that can help me fight you and win. Even my sword was taken away.”
“Do you actually think that I can be killed using a sword?” the smoke-being said. Just then it altered its shape many times. From a human-like shape, to a spherical ball, to the shape of one of the trees without leaves and then back to the human shape.
It was just making it clear that a sword was useless.
“That is secondary as to how you can be killed,” I said, “but my point is that I should be given a chance. At least if you are a being of honour.”
Honour. A big word. Many idiots have lost their lives over that word. The smoke-being fell for it too. I couldn’t help but smile inwardly although I was a long way away from killing the smoke-being.
“I am a being of honour,” the smoke-being said although there was a trace of unease in its voice, “and I will let you fight. But be guaranteed that you would not be able to proceed to the next level. You will die here.”
“Give me some hints as to how you can be killed,” I said. It was almost a crazy demand, considering I was in no position to ask for any demands, but the smoke-being, over confident of its ability to kill me, felt I could be given the hints.
“Stones can kill me,” the smoke-being said. There was a stone just a metre away from my grasp. I looked towards it. Should I just throw it at the smoke-being? Something inside me said that it would be very pointless.
The smoke-being laughed, seeing me look at the stone. It turned and began to move away.
“I give you five minutes’ time,” it said, “since I am generous. And then you die.”
Generous, eh?
I stood up. I began to look around me, taking in the entire environment. The smoke-being had not lied when it had said stones could kill it. But I was sure that not any stone could kill it. It couldn’t be that easy, right?
Suddenly, through the gaps between the trees, I thought I saw something shimmer. I peered hard, taking a step forward. Was it a lake?
I took a few steps forward. After I had gone a small distance I knew that it was a lake indeed.
“Three minutes!” a distant whisper said.
I moved fast and I reached the lake in a minute.
“The last minute remains!” the voice of the smoke-being announced again. My temples throbbed even as a sinking feeling took over my heart. But right there in front of me, I felt like the lake was trying to tell me something. But what?
I felt like the lake was the answer to how the smoke-being could be killed and not the stones.
“Zero minutes!” a voice whispered right behind me. Just then, I realised what the lake was trying to tell me. I jumped into the lake and I went underwater. The smoke-being hovered over the surface of the water, its face acquiring a look of anger. I thought it was saying something, but being underwater, its voice wasn’t much audible.
I felt a thrill though. Smoke couldn’t enter the water. I had survived beyond the time frame that the smoke-being had given to me. And if I was cautious and cunning now, then its over confidence would eventually let me to kill it.
But as the seconds passed, I knew that I would need to go up again to breathe. I would have to be careful. My lungs were already beginning to scream.
Think Kitty, think!
I gazed down at the bed of the lake. There were quite a few stones down there, with sizes ranging from that of pebbles to giant boulders. I kicked my legs and began to go deeper into the lake, ignoring my need for oxygen. I swam just over the bottom of the lake. The smoke-being had been cunning in hinting me that he could be killed by stone. His hint was too vague.
Finally I could ignore my lungs no more. I shot up towards the surface. The moment I emerged into the air, the smoke-being hurried towards me. I sucked in a lungful of air and I immediately went under the water again.
But I had seen something at a particular place in the edge of the lake: A great pile of small stones. They just didn’t merge well with the scenery of the place. I moved towards them and surfaced near them.
The smoke-being flew towards me immediately.
“No!” it cried. I was slow and the smoke-being was too fast. Some of its smoke circled around my neck just as I was about to dive down. Its grip around my neck kept hardening. My health began to fall. My vision blurred. For a moment I just wanted to give up and let the smoke-being kill me. Then my mind went back to all the hardships that Junaki and I had taken to reach the Lair. She had been my one constant source of support through the different situations we had been through. If I had asked her now whether I should fight or give up and die, she would have slapped me and told me to fight. The decision of fighting itself was the most important part. After that all kinds of doors would open to help me win.
I decided to fight. I was not going to be killed by smoke.
And the doors to victory opened on their own.
I splashed water at the smoke-being. The smoke-being immediately let go of my neck. I sucked in air and dived under the water, my heart hammering in my chest. I couldn’t believe that the difference between life and death was as simple as splashing water.
I took stock of everything now, telling my heart to relax as it was consuming way too much oxygen. The smoke-being obviously didn’t want me to go near the pile of stones. The stones could kill the smoke-being, I was sure of that. But say I was able to get to pile of stones without being killed by the smoke-being. What then? Would I just need to throw the stones at the smoke-being? A voice inside me told me I was not thinking along the correct path.
Then what was the correct path of thought?
I considered what else I could do besides throwing stones at the smoke-being. Strike stone on stone and create fire? I was sceptic I would have to create a large fire to make any
use of it against the smoke-being, before the smoke-being attacked. But wait… the smoke-being was made of smoke… fire created smoke… I felt like my head was about to burst. My lungs meanwhile felt like they would collapse due to lack of air.
Smoke, fire, smoke, fire.
Smoke was just a mixture of gases right?
Wait a minute. Was the being made of smoke in the first place? Or just a single gas? And if that was the case, could the gas be ignited, resulting in the death of the ‘smoke-being’?
If the smoke-being was indeed made of combustible gas, then it would take a mere spark to set the being on fire.
A mere spark could be obtained just by hitting the stones together. And if I was right the stones looked like flint stones, easy to create sparks.
It must be it. My brain felt exhausted from all the thinking. I swam up to the surface, gulped oxygen, and just before the smoke-being could catch me again, I dived down.
I rethought everything. Just one spark would be enough to make the smoke-being go up in flames. But I was acutely aware at the same time that the smoke-being was very fast. By the time I surfaced and made my way to the edge and grabbed some of the smaller stones, the smoke-being would be upon me.
I needed time. A bit of distraction would work. Thankfully, the water of the lake was muddy, and swimming at the bottom it was next to impossible for the smoke-being to see me. I began to swim towards the part of the lake that was the farthest from the edge with the pile of flint stones.
I surfaced.
The smoke-being had still been hovering over the waters near the edge with the flint stones. When it saw me, it came fast towards me. I let the smoke-being come, waiting till the last moment.
“You lied to me,” I shouted as it approached, “it’s the water that can kill you, not stones!” Of course, I said that only to confuse the smoke-being.
Just as the smoke-being was about to get to me, I dived down in a straight line. When I reached the bottom, I began to swim fast towards the edge with the pile of stones. Reaching there, I kicked my legs hard and swam up in a straight line. The smoke-being was still hovering over the earlier place. Once again it came towards me. However, I was already on the edge now. I picked up some of the smaller stones.
Catheroes Page 24
