The serket lashed at me one more time with its sting, but I was quick enough to get out of the way. Then, it went still, and shrivelled up within its own shell. I looked at Ta’ra, who was now the same size as me, licking the paw the serket had just stung. I mewled once more, and then I rubbed my nose against hers to say thank you.
She laughed. “Flaming demons, Ben,” she said. “Why do I have to like you so much?”
The answer to that one was obvious. “Because I’m a Bengal, descendant of the great Asian leopard cat.”
“Nah,” Ta’ra said with a yawn. “It’s just the hormones. I’ll get over them in a few days.”
She got up and stalked towards the front of the cavern, a certain feline and seductive sway to her hips. As she walked, her back feet landed in the same position as her front feet. She’d clearly been practising.
Initiate Rine and Aleam were busy at the front of the cave mouth knocking the crystals out of the serket’s underbellies with the butts of their staffs. Ta’ra went over to help them. I watched them for a moment, thinking that I was too tired to work and that I needed some time to groom myself. But then, I realised that they had come all this way to help me, and I should at least help out a little.
So, I moved towards the front of the cave and helped with the arduous task of knocking the crystals out of the serkets. There were a lot of them, and so it took us an awfully long time.
33
Aftermath
I could tell Salanraja was angry, as she’d said nothing to me since my battle with the spider. So, by the time we’d reduced all the serkets to shells on the cave floor, I dreaded going outside.
Aleam, Rine and Ta’ra had already left me there, and I half worried that they might fly off without me. But then, at the same time, I worried that Salanraja would flame me as soon as I left this cave.
After a while, I mustered up the courage to leave. Salanraja had joined a couple of other dragons, each of them feeding upon a carcass of roasted goat. One of these dragons was an emerald with bright red eyes and two charcoal lines of spikes that ran across both flanks. The other was a brilliant white, the colour of snow – and by that I mean proper snow, the type I saw outside the Versta Caverns, and not the yucky type that falls in thin quantities in South Wales once or twice a year.
Both dragons wore saddles and had panniers on either side of them so wide that each bag looked like it could fit a large animal. The humans had created a campfire a little off to the side of the dragons, and they also had another goat roasting on a spit. Really, with all the delicious smells mingling with the air, I should have been starving. But I don’t know if it was because of the spider’s poison, or just my general mood, but I’d really lost my appetite.
The sun had set low in the sky, and though that same purple gas was still here, the presence of dragon riders and dragons seemed to push it away. So, the air had a certain freshness to it. Not the kind you’d get in the forest, but it didn’t taste stale, at least.
“So, you finally came out to join us,” Salanraja said.
“Salanraja,” I replied. “I really don’t know what to say. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run away like that. It was stupid.”
Salanraja turned to me and snorted. A plume of smoke rose from her nostrils. “It really was…”
“But the warlock,” I continued. “Astravar is in my head, and I don’t know what to do about him.” I glanced at the humans and Ta’ra. They hadn’t yet seemed to notice that I’d left the caves.
“I’ve been keeping Astravar out of your mind, you fool. But if you run away, I won’t be able to watch what he’s doing in there. Until we find a way to get that crystal you swallowed, Bengie, you need to stay close to me.”
“You mean to say that you can protect me from him?”
“Usually,” Salanraja said. “And I can do it in my sleep as well. It’s a by-product of us being bonded – we protect each other. Only once did I let my attention slip. I was so exhausted after battling that bone dragon, I may have let him into your dreams. But as long as I’m close and protecting you, the warlock won’t be able to take control.”
This mind control stuff was so much to take in. Before I’d come to this world, I hadn’t even conceived that people could talk to me in this way. It was all rather strange.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I really am.”
A deep rumbling sound came from the base of Salanraja’s stomach. “Just don’t do it again. Remember, we’re a team, and we need to work together. From now on, you’re going to have to accept that.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Good. Now go and get some food; you really should eat something.” I looked over at the goats that the dragons were munching into. “Gracious demons, not here. Go over with the humans. After all we’ve been through, I don’t want to see the other dragons tear you apart.”
I groaned, and then I pulled myself over to the humans. Each step felt like I was trying to drag my feet through molten lead. My muscles not only ached, but they also burned as if that venom was still raging inside them. I didn’t think it would kill me. Luckily, I don’t think I’d taken enough of it. But my body still needed to break it down.
I approached the campfire where Initiate Rine and Aleam sat on a long stone ledge jutting out of the crag. Ta’ra sat opposite them, already with a good several scraps of goat in front of her. They must have brought the wood for the fire over in the panniers, because nothing around us looked good for burning.
“Why don’t you get panniers?” I asked Salanraja.
“Please shut up,” Salanraja replied. “Don’t mention that idea to anyone.”
“What? Why?”
“Because no one who has any power has had that idea yet, and I’d rather fly light, thank you very much. My dragon friends, Ishtkar and Olan here agree it’s for the best. If they had any choice, they’d lose the panniers too.”
I glanced back at the two dragons, who had their heads tucked into their food, without seeming to have a care in the world. “Which one’s which?” I asked.
“Ishtkar’s the green and Olan’s the white. Ishtkar and Rine are bonded, as are Olan and Aleam. Now haven’t you got some apologising to do?”
I meowed, then I jumped up next to Initiate Rine on the ledge. Rine turned to me and turned up his nose. “Come to cause more problems, have you?” he asked. “Because you have no idea how much trouble you almost got me in.”
“I came over for…” And I suddenly realised how hungry that the smell of the goat on the spit was making me feel.
“What, you want food now?” Rine said.
“No,” I said. “I came to say sorry.” Then, I pushed up to him and I let off a soft purr as I sat down next to his hip.
“I guess we’re always going to be different,” Rine said. “You’re a cat, and I’m a human.”
“I guess.”
Aleam turned to look at me. “You know, Ben. Even if you’re new here, you’ve caused quite a stir at the Council of Three. I’m sorry to say this, but I’m not sure they’ll accept you as a dragon rider when we get back. There will be a trial, and the fate for you and Salanraja they were threatening might come to pass.”
“But it was me who stepped out of line,” I pointed out. “She doesn’t deserve to get punished for it.” Whiskers, no wonder she was angry with me.
“It doesn’t matter,” Aleam said. “You’re bonded and your responsibility is also Salanraja’s. You get rewarded together for your good deeds, and you get punished together for your bad. That is the law.”
“Not just that,” Rine said as he tore a thick strand of meat off a bone. “But you got me into trouble too. There’s a reason why I brought Ishtkar out here. Fortunately, Driar Aleam had the heart to help too, because I’m not sure I could have handled these creatures alone.”
“And me,” Ta’ra said, and slinked around the fire. “Don’t forget about me.” She jumped up and sat on Aleam’s lap.
“You were the bravest of all, Ta’r
a,” Aleam said with a chuckle, and I don’t know why, but something about that was funny. I couldn’t help but laugh. Like a human…
34
An Epiphany
After we’d all eaten and had some time to chat the evening away, Initiate Rine and Aleam put out the fire then strapped up the panniers and tightened the saddles on the dragons. I had remained silent through the rest of the meal, as I kind of realised that I had an ordeal ahead of me. I felt awful, I really did. Both Salanraja and I would be punished, me probably locked up in the cattery and not even let out on rat duty in case I ever tried running away again.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t imagine what they might do to Salanraja. They might clip her wings or something, which is what I heard they did to those nasty swan birds that every cat but Adam knew not to go anywhere near.
There was also something else bothering me. I remembered that conversation that High Prefect Lars had had with his friend, Asinda in the dining hall. He’d mentioned something about a demon dragon.
I walked over to Aleam as he tightened the straps on Olan’s saddle to try and find out some more. “Aleam,” I said. “Can I ask you something?”
Aleam turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “Go on…”
“I heard about the demon dragon,” I said. “High Prefect Lars was talking about it in the dining room.”
“Terrible thing,” Aleam said, shaking his head. “I just hope the king can send enough forces in time to stop it. Otherwise, no dragon rider or mage on this world will be able to kill it. It will hunt all dragons down and then it will destroy cities, and after a year there might be nothing left of civilisation on this world.”
I thought about it a moment. Then, I remembered what the crystal had shown me. How South Wales had become a barren landscape, my owners lying down as skeletons on the master bed. Could it be the demon dragon that caused this? All because of the demon rats I killed…
“How long until he summons it?” I asked.
“The problem is that we don’t know,” Aleam replied. “Nor do we know exactly where the warlocks will perform the ceremony, or which warlock will be involved.”
“Astravar…” I said.
“How do you know?”
“He told me his plans in a dream,” he said. “And he wants me to be part of them.”
“If only we knew where he was,” Aleam replied. “Then maybe we could put a stop to this. We have scouts out hunting the Darklands for him. But I fear we don’t have enough time.”
I left Aleam to finish checking the saddle on his dragon, feeling as if I’d failed everyone. If I hadn’t come to this world, none of this might have happened. But I was just part of Astravar’s nefarious plans.
That was when I felt a force in my head. It felt as if there was a stone just behind my nose, and someone was pulling it gently. A sudden image entered my mind. I saw Astravar in the middle of a massive pentagram, set in the centre of a shallow crater in the grey earth. He had tiny bodies arranged all around him – the husks of dead rats. He stared right into a crystal on a pedestal, which fed light into a massive hole in the sky. This shimmered like the surface of a lake, reflecting the putrid landscape that surrounded the warlock.
Suddenly, he turned his head as if he knew I was watching him, and I batted my eyelids and blinked him away.
I turned around to see that Initiate Rine and Aleam had already mounted. Ta’ra was sat on Aleam’s lap, strapped into a belt that the old man had wrapped around his legs.
“Come on, little one,” Salanraja said. “It’s time to face our punishment.”
“Wait,” I replied and I sprinted right past Salanraja and then in front of the emerald and the white dragon. They had their legs lowered, as if they were ready to take off. “Wait!” I shouted out loud.
Rine pulled on the reins in front of me and then looked down from his dragon. “What is it now?” he called back.
“It’s Astravar. He’s starting to perform the ceremony to summon the demon dragon, and I know exactly where he is.”
35
Flight to Astravar
After I’d delivered my news that I knew where Astravar was, Initiate Rine and Aleam had told me not to be fanciful, and Salanraja had called me an idiot inside my head. But I informed them that since I’d swallowed the golem’s gemstone, somehow it worked as a compass between me and the warlock. That caused them to become more interested. Aleam put his hand to his chin, scratching it, then he gazed off towards the purple horizon.
“We should go,” he said. “I think the young cat is right.” Aleam also instructed his dragon to call for reinforcements from Dragonsbond Academy. But he didn’t think they’d get there in time to stop Astravar summoning the demon dragon. We had the advantage of distance, and so it was down to us.
Hence, we took off into the sky.
We had a long flight ahead of us, through the Wastelands and into the Darklands. Fortunately, we took a sharp right at some point, as we wanted to minimise the encounters with griffins and harpies and other horrible minions of the warlocks that I couldn’t remember the names of.
I’d been tripping out on those purple gases so long, that the green and the yellow hues of Illumine’s fields didn’t look so vivid and straight as they should. Rather, they spun by below, whirling and dancing in my vision, as if they were alive. Though, this might have been a side effect of the venom, admittedly.
After a while the effect wore off. The air tasted fresh again. The grey layer of clouds had lifted by this point, and the sun had passed through, casting its warm rays upon the farmers and sheep down below. It also helped allay the effect of the strong and cold wind, somewhat.
We passed by Midar village, and I looked down at the sheep pen. The young lady – Rala the shepherdess – was down there shearing the wool off her flock of six sheep. She turned up to look at us, shielding her eyes as we passed.
After that, the sun set, and we flew under the cover of night without stopping. As we progressed, the weather got colder, and the air took on a smell of rotten eggs. We didn’t have time for camping. Astravar could complete the ceremony at any time.
I was still worried. This could easily be another trap. Astravar could have faked my visions for all I knew. Maybe the portal wasn’t to summon a demon dragon, but to suck us all into the Seventh Dimension. Then, from what Salanraja had told me, we’d have to deal with demon beasts of all kinds.
“We’re all fully aware of what we might be flying into,” Salanraja told me. “But we don’t have time to wait for reinforcements to arrive. Nothing can kill a demon dragon once it’s out of the Seventh Dimension. If Astravar succeeds in summoning it, it will eliminate anything that we send at it and eventually destroy everything upon this world.”
I guess she was right, but I couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of a massive invulnerable dragon from another dimension. Whiskers, Salanraja was scary enough.
The thought of it all made my skin itchy, and the only way to calm the stress was to groom myself with my paws and tongue. But then I recalled that I had just been wrapped in a venomous cobweb, and so licking myself didn’t seem such a good idea.
We turned back into the Wastelands, just as day approached. There was a beautiful sunrise that brought farmers out from their huts to watch. The massive orb in the sky cast brilliant red rays over the fields, and it made me feel good to be alive.
“This is the best part of flying,” Salanraja said. “To experience sights like these.”
But unfortunately, this sight was short-lived, because that odorous purple horizon was approaching and the mist there was thicker than I’d seen it before. We soon hit it like one hits a wall, and with it an intense chill washed over me. That dense purple fog had taken over the land and sky, and I imagined how a massive demon dragon might jump out of the murk and swat us down in one fell swoop.
I felt a sense of emptiness from the absence of the sunrise. Everything that I’d lived for, the good life full of milk and salmon trimmings for breakfast in
the morning, running over my owners’ lawn in South Wales trying to bat the butterflies out of the air. All this, I’d now had to leave behind so I could face my destiny.
“Do you have to be so melodramatic?” Salanraja said. “I think I prefer the old Bengie.”
“Well he’s gone,” I said, clenching my jaw. “This time, we’re going to stop that evil warlock and then you and I will force him to send me back through the portal.”
A slow and sonorous rumbling came from Salanraja’s chest underfoot. “Do you really want to go home? Does our bond matter to you so little?”
I hesitated as I lowered my head. Of course, the bond was important to me. But then, I didn’t ask for any of this.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Let’s just take this one step at a time.”
The mist soon cleared a little, and I could make out some shapes through the murk. There was a tall tower there, which I presumed to be Astravar’s. It’s funny, when I was running away from it, I never turned around to look at it. But now, I could see how menacing the thing looked. With the mist drifting around it, it looked almost like a ghost flickering in and out of existence. On the top of it, it had what looked like a raised crown, with thorns like spades sticking out the top instead of parapets.
Seeing it now, part of me wondered if I could just summon the portal myself. Maybe I could just climb off Salanraja, run to the top of Astravar’s tower that would be conveniently unlocked for me and then step into the centre of his portal. Shazam, it would open up for me, and the next moment I’ll be looking right into my bowl of milk and salmon trimmings. None of this would have happened and everything could go back to normal.
But then, such a portal could take me to the dangerous Savannah. A land full of hippopotamuses that would tear me up with their razor-sharp buck teeth or take me down underneath the mud and suffocate me. The worst deaths, I had heard, happened underneath the belly of the hippopotamus. Oh, those Savannah cats were such storytellers.
A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons Page 15