by Taki Drake
Bam! The floor smashed him into semi-consciousness. As he fell, something else broke inside of him. Something that increased the pain in his side and made every movement of his chest unbearable. But he had to move past it. Dragging the key, the staggering rat made his way toward the beacon of pain that was his mage. Step-by-step, by torturous step he made his way toward the mage’s cell door.
The journey seemed to take forever. It might have lasted forever except that a rude introduction to the cold metal door slammed the rat into minimal alertness. He was there! The familiar pushed the key under the door as far as he could move it. The key had cleared the door! He knew it did because he could hear it. The sound was different when it was out from under the door frame.
There wasn’t much energy left, and he knew he was close to done. But his mage was there, and if his mage could get out, the one he loved more than anything would live.
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The rat could feel his mage crawling across the floor toward the door. The man was very badly injured and very weak. The rat knew that he needed his staff as soon as he could get it. That might be the last gift the familiar could give him.
Dragging his body once more across the width of the hallway, the rat grabbed the strap on the staff. He could hear the mage on the other side of the door gasping in pain. He could feel the intensity of the pain rising as the man found the key and attempted to get to his feet to unlock the door. The two efforts, mage on one side, familiar on the other, crashed together like opposing waves meeting in harmony. The rat was losing more feeling in his feet, and the splotches on his vision were getting larger. Just a little ways more and his mage could grab a staff when the door opened.
Pull! He had to pull harder. The small animal pulled and dragged, too tired even to moan from the pain. But finally, the door to the cell creaked open. The rat could feel the air going over his fur. The familiar had made it back to the doorway, and the staff was there for his mage. Now, he could rest.
As the last bit of his consciousness descended into the abyss, the rat heard his mage cry out, “O my friend, what have you done to yourself? Do not leave me, I beg of you!!”
The swirl of light that signaled the end of the memory share was wrenching. Dascha found herself panting and mewing, emotionally trashed and exhausted. The echoes of the shared pain hurt her chest and caused an ache deep in her throat. Dragging herself to a sitting position, the black cat looked around.
Some of the familiars were curled up in protective balls, some lying flat and panting heavily. There was no active movement in the whole lesson area. Dascha turned her attention to the instructor still sitting on the polished stone. The rat met her eyes and nodded his head.
Dascha responded to that acknowledgment, saying, <
Brett twitched nose and tail in surprise, answering, <>
A haze settled over the rat and as she watched his body seemed to disappear. Brett had made his goodbye.
Chapter 12 – To Rank or not to Rank
It’d taken the students quite a while to recover from the last lesson. It was a very subdued group that eventually got up and wandered away. Even Trey was quiet. The intensity of the last lesson had certainly left an impact on the students, one which would haunt them for many days. Dascha and her friends were no exception.
This time it was Kevin that pushed them into making sure that they had something to eat and drink. Their numbness gradually wore off as they got something in their stomach and slaked their thirst. Slowly, they got more alert and started to pay attention once more to their surroundings.
The horn that announced general meetings sounded and Dascha and her friends started to make their way toward the assembly area. All of the juveniles were quiet. The combination of exhaustion and remembered pain keep them subdued, at least for a little while.
The assembly area was almost filled when the last of their group arrived. Once again, one of the senior familiars was waiting, perched on the rock outcropping. This one was a sleepy-looking buzzard. Large and nonthreatening, the bird was still awe-inspiring.
Raising his wings to get their attention, a deep powerful voice pushed inside of their heads, <
<< At each of our gatherings we conduct additional trials. Trials are tests of your different skills, such as wisdom, adaptability, intelligence, and the ability to work as a team. In each trial, the judging panels will determine if you have made improvements or not. There is no objective scale. This is totally based on the perception of the reviewers.
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There was an immediate surge of familiars toward the registration area. Dascha and her friends took a little more time, figuring that things would start to sort out by the time they got there. They had discussed the choice and were unanimous in the selection of the ranked pathway for the trials. Each had their own reason, but everyone wanted to KNOW their rank.
Their thoughts about the congestion in the room appeared to be spot on since when they got to the correct area lines of waiting familiars had started to form and some of the initial confusion was abating.
Trey flew up in the air looking around. His voice could be heard as he directed them to the right place. <
Stinky was laughing as he responded, <
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Dascha just smiled at their antics and kept walking. They joined the end of the line and patiently followed the queue as it shortened. All too soon she was at the front of the line. Banners flew from the side of the table also. Sitting up high in the air, they showed a series of four symbols. The one at the bottom showed a single set of wings. The one above that had a spiral of one wing and a tail all set in a circle. The two levels above that had symbols that increased both the tail and the wing, with the topmost having three of each around the circle.
Kevin said, <
<> said Stinky. <>
The fox that took her information smiled and greeted Dascha by name, <
The young cat felt a bit intimidated by being singled out. She nodded respectfully to the register and walked to the end of the table. The old storyteller was sitting there with a carved ebony stick in his hand. The stick was only the length of a large man’s hand but Dascha could see the lines of magic that connected the stick to the mage and to the ground. She leaned forward and the mage carefully touched the end of the stick to the middle of her medallion. Something that felt like a small spark ran through Dascha’s body when the stick made contact.
That was it. A few words and a tap on the medallion and she was all set. The black cat moved about 15 feet away from the table and waited for the rest of her friends to finish. All of them had made the same choice, even TT. That surprised Dascha a little bit since she didn’t know what TT was going to do. However, it was nice that they were altogether.
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Suddenly, the firebird took off into the air, winging his way over to the other banner. Dascha couldn’t exactly hear what he was saying but from the birds posture he was trying to finagle a copy of the banner.
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Chapter 13 – Let the Trials Begin!
Dascha had slept the night deep in the slumber of the truly exhausted. Waking up as soon as the soft light of pre-morning appeared, Dascha looked around to see the slumbering bodies of her friends. Trey was perched on a low hanging branch directly over the entangled bodies of Kevin, Stinky, and Jack. They were close enough to Dascha that she could feel the heat that the pile of slumbering furred males emitted. It was a bit comforting to know that they were this close.
Expecting to see TT someplace close also, Dascha was a bit concerned when she could not find the white cat. The Persian had been very subdued the entire day and Dascha’s concern about her had grown. Quietly rising to her feet, Dascha started to explore, looking for TT.
Avoiding the area where the trial courses were being set up, Dascha searched more than half the rest of the space before she saw a sign of the Persian’s white coat. Quietly, Dascha walked up behind the larger cat. TT was sitting beside a small pool of water, staring down at the surface. The black cat walked over beside her friend and sat without a word. There was a moment of shared silence and then TT began to speak.
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Dascha didn’t know what to say. Between Zhanna and her there was no expectation of perfection. And she didn’t think that Zhanna really cared how Dascha looked. This was something outside of her experience and the only thing she could think to do was to listen.
After a few moments of shared silence, TT continued, <
In the following pause, Dascha could hear the sound of more familiars moving around and calling cheerful good mornings to each other. The black cat knew that food would be available shortly in the feeding area. Her stomach chose that moment to make a gurgling sound but Dascha remained silent and supportive next to TT.
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The sentence hung in the air carried by the sorrow in TT’s mental voice and a feeling of inevitable resignation that tore at Dascha’s heart. There was nothing that could be said that would comfort TT at this point. Dascha knew that the white cat truly believed that her witch would repudiate her because of her scars. The smaller cat couldn’t conceive of that type of shallow attachment but she didn’t know the other witch. Again, all she could do was listen.
Finally, TT turned her head and looked at Dascha. <
Dascha interjected, <>
TT didn’t appear to have even heard Dascha. Her sad voice continued, <
Dascha jumped to her feet. <
The black familiar could see that TT was trying to look less depressed. The white cat got to her feet and the two felines set off at a brisk walk toward the food area. The trials would start soon and they wanted to be ready.
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An hour later found the full group of friends standing around the trial fields. Dascha felt like she was sitting on hot coals. She kept shifting her body and getting up and moving around, coming back to sit in the same place, and then repeating. Most of the others weren’t any better.
The only two that seemed to be calm about the whole thing were Jack and TT. If anything, Jack looked almost sleepy, eyes closed to slits and perfectly relaxed. TT didn’t look relaxed at all. Instead, the cat just looked sad and introspective.
Dascha worried about her but there wasn’t much she could do right then. She was really hoping that TT’s witch was not as bad as TT thought. Only time would tell and in the meantime they had new and difficult things to do.
The three-note fanfare sounded loud and clear. Everyone looked up at the top of the rock pile and saw that the huge tiger was standing there. The Siberian had no problems projecting his mental voice to the whole crowd.
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None of Dascha’s group was in the first ten. She was actually quite happy about this since it would give them some time to watch what others did and perhaps learn some tricks. She watched as the different familiars flew, crawled, ran, and slithered through the course. Most of them seem to be looking at the blue and red guidelines, followed by the terrain that connected the required pathways. Making a mental note to do the same when it was her turn, she felt herself getting tenser as the time clicked down.
A single, silvery note marked the end of the inspection time. The candidates that were up for this first heat quickly got back to the starting line. Waiting beside the tiger was a creature that Dascha had never seen. It looked like a mixture of a powerful dog and a massive cat. Taller than any cat except the Siberian by his side, the animal blended the powerful front legs of the cat with its clawed paws and the shoulder and muzzle of a massive wolf.
Turning to Jack, standing by her side, Dascha asked, <
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