by Isaac Crowe
“Max!”
Max practically jumped out of his skin, despite having recognized the voice. He took a deep breath to calm himself while Eve climbed in through the window.
“Eve, I told you, don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“I’m sorry, Max, but we’ve got to get out of here.”
Max‘s eyebrows furrowed. “What? Why?”
Eve took hold of her tail. “It’s not safe. Please come with me.”
Max smiled. She always grabbed her tail when she felt nervous. “Eve, you’re silly. Dad will return any minute.”
“No, Max, something is wrong. Please come with me.”
Max’s smile faded away. He swung his feet over the edge of the bed. “I need to check on dad.”
Eve grabbed Max’s arm. “No, Max, you must come with me.”
Max had never seen Eve so scared. His heart raced. He stood and tried to run after his dad, but Eve pulled him back and shoved him towards the window. Max hit the sill and tumbled out. Behind him, Eve nimbly climbed out. He regained his footing only to have Eve grab his hand and pull him along. She took him behind several houses then cut between a pair of them. Max had seen no one else until they crossed the main street in town. Here, he glanced to his right and saw a large number of men standing outside of his house, none of them from the village. He tried to stop in order to find his father, but Eve jerked him along into the cafe. She took him in through the kitchen, back to a row of cabinets that lined the floor. She opened the door to one of them.
“Get in, Max”
Max didn’t move. “Those men out there…?”
Eve shoved Max into the cabinet. He managed to turn round to face Eve. The fear he had seen earlier had disappeared, replaced by a fierce determination. As he watched, claws shot out from the top of Eve’s hands, extending several inches beyond her fingertips. A chill ran down Max’s spine.
She has claws? Why didn’t she tell me she had claws?
Eve spoke in a soft tone, contradicting the sharp weapons she had just revealed. “I’ll be right here, Maxy.”
Eve closed the cabinet door. He heard the lock slide through the handles. Max tried to shake his head clear.
What is happening? One moment I’m in bed and the next I’m crammed into a kitchen cabinet. Now Eve’s turned into a wild beast.
Shouting came from outside the cafe, dulled by the walls and cabinet door. Max knew those sounds. He had heard them the last time bandits had attacked his father. Now, though, he could not even watch. The shouting stopped. He had never experienced such silence. He tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. After what felt like an eternity of dark silence, he heard the individual shouts of villagers calling for someone. He didn’t hear his father’s voice among them. Finally, Mrs. Tassi’s relieved voice came from outside of his hiding place.
“Eve, there you are. Do you have Max with you?”
Eve didn’t respond. Max wondered if she was still there. He tried to speak himself but found his voice gone. Mrs. Tassi spoke again in her caring tone she reserved only for Eve. “It’s okay sweetie. They’re gone. No one is going to hurt Max.”
“He’s in here, mother.”
The small, weak voice sounded nothing like Eve. Max reeled. In one night she had been scared, then fierce, then as fragile as he had ever seen her. His heart rose into his throat.
What happened tonight? What happened to dad?
Footsteps approached the cabinet. The door opened. At first the light from the kitchen blinded him, but slowly his eyes adjusted. Mrs. Tassi crouched in front of the cabinet.
“You can come on out now, Max.”
Max crawled out of the cabinet as best he could. When he emerged Mrs. Tassi picked him up and held him. Eve stood over to the side. Her claws remained out, but the tears that now flowed had put out the fire in her eyes.
Mrs. Tassi laid a soothing hand on Eve’s. “It’s okay, Eve. It’s over. You protected him. Now why don’t you put those things away?”
Mrs. Tassi forced a tiny smile on her worn face. Eve sheathed her claws and wrapped her arms around Mrs. Tassi.
“That’s my girl. Now, go outside and find Mr. Penna and bring him back here.”
Eve hesitated for a moment. She turned to Max, looking lost for a second, then ran out of the kitchen.
Max swallowed hard and found his voice again. “Where’s my Dad? Why did you send Eve for Mr. Penna instead of Dad?”
Mrs. Tassi took a deep breath and let it out. She stroked the side of Max’s face as tears ran down her own.
“I’m afraid your father can’t come, Max.”
As Mrs. Tassi carried Max out to one of the tables, his mind raced. What did she mean, dad couldn’t come? Was he hurt again? If the Healer was taking care of him, why can’t I go there?
Max started to get angry. He wanted to see his father. Mrs. Tassi sat down in a chair and began to rock slowly back and forth. Max’s anger faded, replaced, once again, by fear. Footsteps sounded at the door to the cafe. He twisted in Mrs. Tassi’s arms to see Mr. Penna standing before him with Eve peeking round from behind. Mr. Penna crouched in front of him.
“Maxwell, my son.”
Mr. Penna held out his arms. Mrs. Tassi let go of Max and he reached for Mr. Penna.
“Where’s dad?”
Mr. Penna took Max tightly in his arms. “Though both of us thought him to be more, your father was indeed a mortal man. Tonight others have taken him from us. I can only give you myself in his place. I am sorry, Maxwell.”
Deep in himself Max had known what had happened. He clenched Mr. Penna and sobbed. He felt Mr. Penna cry with him as Mrs. Tassi and Eve embraced them both.
CHAPTER TWO
Max stared out the window at the cafe down the street, wishing Mr. Penna would hurry and finish the lesson. It was a sunny day outside, and he wanted to enjoy it, but he doubted Mr. Penna would let him out early. Since becoming his sole guardian after Max’s father, Peter, died eight years before, Mr. Penna insisted on his studies.
“Maxwell. Maxwell! Are you paying attention?”
Max turned quickly away from the window and faced the front of the room where Mr. Penna stood, arms crossed, shaking his head.
“As I was saying, Maxwell Laskaris,” Mr. Penna sighed, “the Lifestone can create life itself, and its use is responsible for this world we now live in.”
“Isn’t the Lifestone just a fairy tale, Mr. Penna? I mean, no one has reported seeing it in centuries. Besides, why would we even need it? Things are fine here with the Protectors watching over us.”
Mr. Penna massaged his forehead as he turned away from Max. “You and your ideas about the Protectors again. You know, your father exemplified their good qualities. There are few others like him.” Mr. Penna faced the window, “I never had a better friend than your father and I promised him I would teach you as he wished. I hope he was right.” Mr. Penna let out a long sigh and turned back around. “I suppose it is getting close to practice time and that crazy lacarnian girl will be waiting for you. That is enough for today. You are excused.”
Maxwell didn’t give Mr. Penna a chance to change his mind. He leapt up from his seat, ran out of the house, and headed for the cafe down the street.
Eve, or, as Mr. Penna calls her, ‘the crazy lacarnian girl’, should have finished her chores by now. I‘ll grab Eve and head to Tyco’s for sword training. After a full day of lessons from Mr. Penna, I need a little action.
The villagers knew Max’s routine as well as he did. Mr. Penna might be his caretaker legally, but the whole village acted in his father’s place. He liked having so many people care for him, though they often tried to protect him too much. He didn’t complain about it, not after Mr. Penna told him they did so because they felt responsible for his father’s death. In fact, it helped drive him to be even more like his father, to show them he could stand on his own. His body was already on its way to being a carbon copy; the same dark, unruly hair, brown eyes and even the same slender, musc
ular body. He still had a couple of inches to go to reach his father’s height of 6 foot, but that was only a matter of time.
Now he just had to work on acting like his father. He already helped the villagers by running errands and repairing equipment. He even acted as “sheriff” for the other kids, breaking up fights and settling arguments. While it cost him some friends, the villagers had begun to look at him with the same respect he had seen them give his father. Unfortunately, as soon as he brought up his sword training, they went back to treating him like a little kid. Thankfully Mr. Penna had the final say on his dream of becoming a Protector, although, at times, even he acted reluctant to allow him to train.
Max put his thoughts aside as he reached the café and went inside. “Eve! Come on! Let’s go!”
Mrs. Tassi grabbed Max’s shirt and pulled him to a halt. “Land sakes, Maxwell! Watch where you’re going!”
“Oh, sorry, Mrs. Tassi. Hey, where’s Eve?”
“She’s in the storeroom trying to get rid of a mouse for me.”
“Is she done with her work for today?”
“She is if she can get rid of that filthy rodent.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Tassi.”
Max worked his way past the tables and customers, back towards the storeroom, opened the door, and stepped in.
“Hey, Eve, I hear you...have a …rodent…problem?”
The room was almost completely dark, only a few small slivers of light seeping in around the edges of the covered windows. Max turned and started to step back outside of the room, but stopped when he heard a low, quiet growl from behind him. Max sighed and his shoulders slumped.
“Le...Let’s think this through, Eve.” Max started to turn back. “You really don’t wa-“
Max finished his turn in time to see a dark shape spring out from behind one of the crates in the storeroom. The thing lunged straight for him. The impact knocked him out of the room and onto the floor in the hallway. It took a few seconds for Max to regain his breath. As he did he heard the faint breathing of the thing on top of him. Max rubbed the stars out of his eyes and focused on the face that hovered inches from his own.
“Hi, Eve.”
Eve laughed. “Hi, Maxy.”
“You know, normal people shake hands rather than pouncing when they greet each other.”
“Well, thank goodness I’m not normal then. I mean, what fun would that be? Besides, it’s not my fault that you don’t pay more attention to your surroundings.”
“You know I can’t see in the dark like you can.”
“See you? I heard you when you came into the cafe, smelled you from there too.” Eve waved her hand in front of her nose and laughed again. “When’s the last time you took a bath? Besides, think of the pouncings as extra training.” Eve put on a more serious tone much like Tyco’s. “Learn to observe your surroundings.”
“Alright, alright, you win. You also do a good impression of Tyco.” Max let out a groan. “Now could you get off of me? You may be light on your feet, but you still weigh plenty when you’re crouched on my chest like this.”
Eve stood up and offered a hand to Maxwell. He took it, and she helped him up. Max dusted off his backside.
“Weren’t you supposed to be after a mouse, anyways?”
“Yep! Caught him shortly before you showed up. It made a nice little snack.”
Eve licked her lips as if she’d just eaten a delicious piece of pie. Max scrunched his face up in disgust.
“You’re kidding, right?”
Eve just smiled. “Well, I am part cat after all.” She didn’t need to tell him that. He was well aware of it. He had become accustomed to the ears and tail during their friendship, but her cat-like behavior still amused him. On sunny days he would often find her lying on top of a house fast asleep. At night she ran around in the fields chasing moths and bats.
Eve had an insatiable curiosity as well. She would crawl in holes, trudge through ditches, and climb anything in sight so that no place went unexplored. Her clothes, a loose shirt with two pockets and a line of buttons up the front plus a pair of baggy pants, all well-worn and ragged, testified to these adventures. Max, on the other hand, often came back with an assortment of scratches, cuts and various bruises. At least someone in this town let him get into trouble. Of course, she always had to get him back out of it. He smiled. Except for one misadventure where she fell in the pond. He’d told her that branch wouldn’t hold, but she really wanted to catch the butterfly.
As Max’s thoughts circled back to considering what a live mouse tasted like, Mrs. Tassi came down the hallway. “Well, did you catch that filthy rodent?”
“Yep, sure did, Mrs. Tassi.” At this, Eve brought her tail around, the end of which wrapped around a small mouse. “She’s just a little one.”
Mrs. Tassi took a half step back and raised her voice a little. “I don’t care what size it is. Just get rid of it! Then you can go play with Maxwell till closing this evening.”
“Okay, Mrs. Tassi.” Eve turned and flashed a devilish grin to a stunned Max. “You didn’t think I’d actually eaten it, did you, Max?”
Eve, humming to herself, walked out the back door of the cafe. Max shut his mouth and followed her. Outside, they headed to the edge of the village where Tyco lived.
Bemused, Max studied the white and brown mouse still entrapped by Eve’s tail. “So, what are you going to do with your furry little friend?”
Eve lifted her tail over her shoulder and dropped the mouse into her hands. “Mmm, don’t know. Maybe I’ll keep her as a pet.”
“A cat keeping a mouse as a pet?” Max shook his head in disbelief. “You know, everyone already thinks you’re crazy. Do you really want to add this as well?”
Eve turned her nose up and smirked. “They only think that because I hang around with you.”
“Hey, now…”
Eve had a talent for interrupting Max at times like this. She pointed ahead of them. “Looks like Tyco is out and waiting for us.”
“Hey, don’t go changing the subject.”
Eve ignored him. “Looks like someone else is there with him. Wonder who it is?”
Max followed Eve’s gaze and saw Tyco standing in front of his house speaking with a stranger. “Don’t know. Guess we’ll find out. Let’s go.”
Max picked up his pace while Eve lingered behind, a wry smile on her face. “Okay, okay.” She gently put the mouse into her shirt pocket. Eve turned her ears forward and followed after Max. With the wind blowing towards her she could faintly hear the conversation between Tyco and the stranger.
The stranger, who wore a dull gray cloak with the hood pulled up over his head, nodded in their direction and leaned over to Tyco. “That him?”
Tyco glanced up at her and Max. “That’s him.”
Eve saw the stranger spit out a piece of a foul substance that he was chewing. “Who’s the stray?”
“The cafe owner bought her years ago. From what I’ve gathered, she’s the one that hid Maxwell the night the bandits killed his father. They’re close friends.”
Eve could see the disgust form on the stranger’s face. She started to tense up, but stopped herself when the stranger focused in her direction.
“Will she be a problem?”
“She might want to go along.”
The stranger’s mouth formed a brief, crooked smile. “Humph. I suppose we could accommodate her.” The smile disappeared. “You know what to do, then?”
Tyco nodded to the stranger. “Yes, I’ve got it.”
“Then I’ll get things ready. I’ll see you in a week.”
“I’ll have him there.”
The stranger walked to the side of the house and mounted a large black stallion tied there. Eve and Max climbed over the fence that separated the field from Tyco’s house as the stranger rode off. Maxwell walked up to Tyco.
“Who was that?”
“A messenger.”
Eve watched the stranger ride out of sight. “The horse was beauti
ful, but he gave me the creeps.”
Tyco nodded. “Riding across the south end of the dead lands can do that to a person.”
Eve shook her head. “I don’t know, he seemed like he belongs in the dead lands to me.”
Tyco glared at Eve, but she still faced in the direction of the departed stranger.
“It is none of your concern, lacarnian.”
Eve turned towards Tyco, an inaudible growl emitted from her chest. Max, able to sense the low growls after years of friendship, changed the subject.
“So, what are we practicing today?”
Tyco broke his gaze from Eve and smiled. “Nothing new today Max, instead I want to assess what you’ve already learned. Go get the practice swords and meet me in the circle for a match.”
Tyco moved toward a large circle drawn in chalk not far from his house. Max faced Eve. “I know Tyco doesn’t like you much, but you usually put up with him a little better than that.”
Eve looked over at Tyco. He was standing close enough that he might overhear her, so she kept to a whisper. “We don’t know much about Tyco, and I think that stranger is trouble.”
“Tyco is a Protector. He’s not going to harm us.”
“Max, there are things you don’t…”
Tyco shouted at Max from inside the circle. “Maxwell, we’re wasting daylight.”
“Coming, Tyco.” Max leaned over to Eve. “I’m sure it’s fine. If I’m wrong, you can tear the messenger to shreds later. Deal?”
Eve huffed. “Fine.”
Max laughed and ran into the house where he grabbed the wooden swords that Tyco and he used for training. He rushed back out and over to the large circle. Eve walked over to the fence next to the field and seated herself on the top bar. She tried to put aside the conversation between Tyco and the stranger. She enjoyed watching Max fight and did not want to be distracted; however, her thoughts still wandered.
The villagers knew little about Tyco. They guessed that he was in his late thirty’s. He stood six feet tall with broad shoulders and well-built muscles. His skin was weathered a bit, and his hands had the beginnings of permanent calluses.