“I just want to live my life,” I said. “Eating and sleeping and grooming and playing…”
“No, you don’t. You want to survive like any creature upon this world. But that’s the irony of it all, you have never been powerful enough to survive alone. Just like the humans… Or at least the ones who don’t claim power for themselves.” He pointed his staff in my direction, and he shot a bolt of purple energy out of it. The beam hit the ground right next to me and caused a rock there to shatter into pieces. Astravar curled up his mouth and laughed, entertained by his cruelty.
He was a bad man that one, of the kind that liked to tease and torture cats.
I stared back at him, licking my lips. If he was going to kill me, he might as well do it here and now. At least I wouldn’t have to deal with this world anymore, and I wouldn’t have to witness the destruction of all the wonderful food within it.
The warlock sighed wistfully, and then he jumped on the demon Maine Coon. I couldn’t help but hope that doing so gave him a burnt bottom. He pointed his staff off into the distance.
But before he had gone far, he stopped the Maine Coon, and he twisted around and let off another bolt of purple energy. This fizzled as it hit the ground next to me, and sparks flew out from the impact point in all directions. These created more impact points, and the ground seemed to melt for a moment. Then, red sprouts shot out of it in all directions, and out of these grew hideous thorns and those snapping heads that I’d had to deal with during my first encounter with a Manipulator.
Astravar’s voice boomed out once again.
“This world will teach you, Dragoncat, how you are truly incapable of survival,” and he rode off into the distance, his maniacal laughter trailing in his wake.
39
Toss Up
The forest of Mandragoras grew and grew, and the thorns became thicker and thicker. Their heads snapped into the air as if feeding on a flock of sparrows. Everywhere I looked, I could see thickening stems and thorns that I knew were tipped with venom. I couldn’t see any way out.
Astravar had kindly left a large circle around me that kept me safe from this forest. But it was slowly closing in on me, as the plants continued to grow on their own accord. I could try running through. But I’d get stung so many times, it would kill me.
“Salanraja,” I called out in my mind. “Salanraja, are you out there?”
I heard no reply, and I could only assume her to be unconscious. She’d probably been stupid enough to fight the demon dragon, even though she knew she couldn’t kill it.
I tried to find a path through the plants. I saw a glimmer in the distance between the thorns, indicating sky. I was probably going to die anyway, so I might as well try something.
That’s when I noticed the purple mist creeping in from the outside. It was getting thicker, and as it moved more and more stems seemed to grow out of it. It was as if the mist fed the plants and gave them life.
I stood meowing from the back of my throat and feeling hopeless. The gas soon reached me, and I found myself unable to breathe. I was weak, and I fell down on the ground, my legs collapsing under me. Thorns writhed above me, and my vision went red and blurry.
A roar came out from the distance, faint now, but still like thunder. I knew what it was, the demon dragon creating even more carnage.
“Salanraja,” I cried out again. “Please, I need you.”
Her voice came back to me faint. “Hold on, Bengie. Hang in there…”
“Salanraja… I can’t breathe.”
“Just one more moment…”
The branches of these terrible plants were now almost close enough to touch me. They didn’t seem to want to lash out like before, as if they knew that I was rendered helpless and there was no point in spending energy on sudden movements. I closed my eyes, ready for them to pierce my skin and inject their deadly poisons into me.
But then, strong claws grappled around my waist, and lifted me up into the sky. I opened my eyes, wondering if this was one of those angel creatures that sent you up to cat heaven. In that place, our old Ragamuffin mentor had said, you could have as much salmon and chicken liver as you wanted. Apparently, angel cats had wings, but I don’t think they had long scaly talons like the ones that were gripped around me.
I came to my senses pretty quickly. “Salanraja you came,” I said, my eyes a little bleary.
“Of course,” she replied. “We’re bonded, and I won’t let you die. Now get up onto my back.”
“I—” But I didn’t have a chance to even start my thought, because Salanraja shot suddenly upwards. She gained momentum, so she could open her claws, tossing me out of them. I rose, and then I started to fall, looking down at the forest of those terrible thorny plants and purple gas that had formed around them.
I plummeted, and I shrieked out into the wind, although I’m sure nothing heard me. I landed on Salanraja’s back and tumbled down her corridor of spikes before I caught myself on one outer rib with my claws. I lifted myself up to safety, then I sat down, breathing heavily.
I couldn’t believe it. I was alive. But I felt sick…
So, I threw up on Salanraja’s back.
“What in the Seventh Dimension?”
“I couldn’t help it,” I replied. “And it’s me who should be complaining. You almost killed me.”
“What? I saved your life, and then you thank me with the contents of your stomach for it.”
I growled. “Just never do that again.”
“Fine, I’ll abandon you in the warlock’s forest next time.”
“Not that. Never toss me up in the air and catch me like that again. What if I’d hit the ground?”
“Bengie, we haven’t any time for your moaning right now. We need to meet up with our friends.”
She turned sharply in the air, and I watched the forest disappear below. It wasn’t long before we broke out into Illumine again, and I breathed the fresh air as if I’d just emerged from my mother’s womb and was tasting it for the first time.
40
So Many Wasted Fish
Salanraja didn’t seem to want to take time to slow down and appreciate the scenery. We flew over a forest – this time a normal one with pine trees in it. There was a glade down there, with a long blue lake that stretched across it. We approached a silver beach where Olan and Ishtkar were waiting. Salanraja landed so heavily on it, that I ended up tumbling off her back onto the sand.
“Ben,” I heard Aleam say. He was there in the distance, setting up a load of fish bones in a circle. In the centre of this there was a wooden pedestal, with a massive crystal on it just like the one Astravar had used to summon the dragon.
I soon spotted Rine and Ta’ra out on a small raft on the lake. Rine had a rod raised over the water whilst Ta’ra was crouched over the side of the raft, her head lowered to the surface as her head rolled from side to side.
I jumped up from the sand, forgetting about the injuries from my scrap with the Demon Maine Coon. I moved over to Aleam, purring, and I rubbed my cheek against his knee. “Please let it be salmon,” I said. “Finally, are you about to find salmon?”
Aleam didn’t turn to me, as he continued to concentrate on getting the exact arrangement of fish bones. I didn’t like being ignored, so I moved over to one of the bones right next to him and knocked it out of the way.
“Don’t do that,” he said. “We must get it in exactly the right position.”
“But it’s fish. I’ve not tasted salmon in ages.”
“Just…” Aleam shook his head. “This is much more important than your stomach. We’ve found a lake abundant in fish, and we’re using their bones to summon up an offering to the Seventh Dimension. I’ll need to concentrate, because I don’t want to have to deal with a demon tetrapod as well as a demon dragon.”
I blinked at him. “A what?”
“An ancient demon fish,” Aleam said. “Now, let me get back to my work.”
I growled, and I moved over to the water, watching a
s Rine and Ta’ra lifted fish after fish from the water. As they did, I wondered which ones would be salmon and which ones wouldn’t. Come to think of it, I had absolutely no idea what salmon looked like in the wild. The fish they lifted out seemed rather small, and I’d heard from the Savannah cats that a salmon could be as large as an Asian leopard cat. Which meant they had to be massive.
“Don’t you want to know what Aleam is doing?” Salanraja asked me.
I yawned. “I guess you’re going to tell me, anyway?”
“Of course. We don’t have a chance of killing the demon dragon. But we might be able to lure it back. If we can trick it back to where it came from, then we only need to close the portal.”
“What? That’s a suicide mission!”
“If we don’t,” Salanraja said. “Then it will kill us eventually, whether we like it or not. That beast has only one purpose, to destroy any mortal life it finds. Or at least that is the task Astravar has set for it.”
I crouched down in the sand and gazed out into the distance. Rine and Ta’ra had gathered a sackful of fish, and Rine was rowing the raft back towards shore. “How does Aleam know how to do this stuff, anyway? Is he some kind of warlock himself?”
“Kind of,” Salanraja replied, and she lowered her head to the ground and looked at me with her yellow eyes. I turned to meet her gaze, now not at all scared of her massive head. “Several years ago, King Garmin of Illumine Kingdom decided that he wanted to train up eight powerful mages to help protect the kingdom from its enemies in other lands. Use of dark crystals for magic had been banned by his ancestors long before him. But he decided to bring their use into the realm. Aleam was one of those mages, and the others became the seven warlocks.”
“You mean to say the other seven turned on the king?”
“Yes,” Salanraja replied. “The power in dark crystals corrupts the mind of those that use it, just as the power in the light crystals brings them closer to their souls. But dragon riders are immune to the effect dark magic has on the mind. It is we dragons who protect you from the darkness that seeks to taint your souls, which is how I managed to keep Astravar out of yours – most of the time, anyway.”
“So, what you’re saying is that Aleam could have turned out just like the other warlocks?”
“Exactly. If he hadn’t found Olan and bonded with him, then he probably would have. Dark magic is now once again banned within the Kingdom of Illumine. But the warlocks betrayed King Garmin long ago and tore apart a large part of his kingdom which they claimed as their own. This was the Darklands. Soon after, the Wastelands became a battlefield, where the king’s Mages of the Light fought against the warlocks, each trying to gain power for themselves.”
“But what does this magic from crystals of the light do, exactly?” I asked.
“Not much that’s useful in war, unfortunately. It helps build cities and wealth and heal those in need. It’s focused on growth, whilst the warlock’s magic is focused on decay.”
Rine and Ta’ra had almost reached the shore now. Rine lowered his oar down into the sand and pulled the raft in. I looked in awe at the massive sack they had on that boat, imagining its tasty contents. The bag was literally wriggling, with all those poor fish inside trying to escape. Perhaps I should have felt sorry for them, but I was too hungry to care.
Rine hefted up the sack and lugged it onto shore. He placed it just outside the circle that Aleam had created, but he didn’t open it. Rine turned to Aleam, then he lifted up his staff off his back. Aleam did the same.
“Are you ready?” Rine asked.
“Yes,” Aleam said.
I was already at the sack, sniffing at its contents, relishing the smell of something I’d not eaten for so long.
“Stand back,” Rine said. “Unless you want to be a fried cat.”
I didn’t need to be warned twice. I dashed out of the way and then turned around to see what the humans were up to. A massive bolt of blue shot out of Rine’s staff. It hit the sack in the centre and immediately froze the material on the outside. Then, Aleam took his turn to send out a cascade of yellow lightning. His magic hit the sack and then the sparks danced over its surface, as Rine added more and more of his ice to the recipe.
“What are you doing?” I cried out. “Stop, you’ll waste all that lovely food.”
“Oh, can’t you stop worrying about your stomach all the time,” Ta’ra said, stepping up to me. “We’ve got a demon dragon to stop.”
“But the food,” I protested, and I watched with wide eyes as the sack shrunk under the power that Aleam and Rine fed into it. My heart sank in my chest, and I realised that I wouldn’t be getting any salmon today.
After a while, the sack tore apart and shrivelled under the forces that Rine and Aleam were putting upon it. Fish bone after fish bone tumbled out of it, all of them devoid of flesh.
“That should be enough,” Aleam said. “Now, it’s time to get on with your duties, Rine. Ben, you and Salanraja shall accompany him.”
I wasn’t listening. I was just staring in shock at the smouldering pile of fish bones that didn’t even smell like fish anymore.
“Ben, will you stop being so selfish for once?” Salanraja requested. “And jump on my back.”
“But why do you need me there?” I said. “What use am I going to be against a demon dragon?”
“Just get on,” Salanraja said, and she fixed a stern gaze upon me. Ta’ra was staring at me too, looking at me in a cat’s expression of what I could only describe as disappointment. For some reason, I didn’t want to let her down.
“Fine,” I said out loud, and I turned and ran up Salanraja’s tail. She took us up, up, and away in pursuit of the demon dragon.
41
The Demon Dragon
Rine was soon flying alongside us on Ishtkar’s back. Aleam, Olan and Ta’ra meanwhile stayed on the ground. From up high, I watched Ta’ra help lift the fish bones with her mouth and drop them in the right position. Aleam had them all neatly arranged, and from this height it all looked like an intricate clock pattern. The wind was warm, but this soon chilled as we gained altitude.
“Why does she get to stay?” I asked Salanraja, as I felt a little jealous for the fact she could wrap her mouth around the fishbones and get a slight taste of them, even if Rine and Aleam had completely destroyed the food.
“Because she isn’t bonded to a dragon,” Salanraja replied. “And you are.”
“But I still don’t understand what use I can be up here. I can’t shoot jets of ice like Rine can. I don’t have any of that useful battle magic.”
“Do you know how to summon a portal?”
“No…”
“Then even the tiniest use you can be up here,” Salanraja said, “is better than making mischief on the ground.”
She had a point, I guess. The demon dragon was flying slowly, and Salanraja and Ishtkar seemed to be putting all their strength into catching up with it.
This, we soon did. I saw the air shimmering on the horizon before I saw the great lumbering beast. Black smoke drifted up from the huge rents in its skin and trailed behind it in the sky. It didn’t seem threatened by our arrival and didn’t turn to knock us out of the sky. It just carried on its path, as if no force upon this world could stop it.
“What do we do now?” I asked Salanraja.
“Well, we’ve not quite worked that one out yet.”
I felt the hackles shoot up on my back. “You’ve not worked it out? I thought you said that Aleam had it all planned out.”
“We had up to the how do you make a demon dragon turn around, bit.” Salanraja said. “Now, all we have to do is annoy it so much that it abandons its orders to destroy Dragonsbond Academy and instead comes chasing after us.”
“And how do we do that?”
“We try everything we can, and we don’t give up,” Salanraja replied.
Great, I thought. I’d never even imagined such idiocy would be possible.
“I heard that.”
&
nbsp; “Good,” I said.
Beside me, Ishtkar let out a massive roar and sprayed fire out of his muzzle. Salanraja joined in the battle cry, and they were both casting amber jets of flame at the demon dragon, as if trying to set something on fire that was already on fire. See what I mean by idiocy.
Then, Initiate Rine tried something which seemed a little smarter. He turned Ishtkar around in the air and lifted his staff up high. It seemed to suck in blue light from all around it, and it was soon glowing with an intensity almost as bright as the moon. He opened his mouth and screamed with an energy I never imagined he’d had.
His ice beam hit the demon dragon right on the flank, and it might have shifted the beast by a fraction of a claw. But even trying to cool fire with ice didn’t seem to make any difference, as the demon dragon didn’t sway from his path.
“You know nothing,” I said to Salanraja. “That’s not the best way to taunt something.”
A rumbling came from Salanraja’s chest under my feet, and she let out a deep growl. “Do you have a better idea?”
I licked my paw. “As a matter of fact, I do,” I said, and I used my superior cat perception to judge Salanraja’s current trajectory, as well as the distance between us and the beast and the speed at which both dragons were travelling. Satisfied, I leaped up onto Salanraja’s head. “Get right next to its head. I want to be able to reach.”
“I won’t be able to do that without barrelling into it,” Salanraja said.
“Then do that,” I said.
“Are you going to explain why?”
A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons Page 17