Nothing happened.
I tried to hit the eyes of the monster since it was mere feet away from me now with my sword. But due to the milk, I couldn’t move my sword in any offensive way fast enough. The dark mouth of the monster opened wide and I could see the shadows of large teeth. I gulped and closed my eyes. I had tried my best. There was nothing else to do now. I accepted my fate.
Just then something of considerable mass moved past me. It seemed to hit the monster, for I felt a tug on the arm coiled around me. The arm loosened. I opened my eyes to see the shape of a large fish biting the river monster. Soon more large fish came.
I took the chance and kicked my legs and swam up to the surface. Upon reaching the surface all I could do for a moment was breathe. Breathe like I had never in life.
Once done, I took stock of my situation. I could see broken bits of the raft being carried by the river current in the far distance. Where was Junaki?
As if to answer my thought, the next second Junaki surfaced. She gasped for air like mad, and it was some time before she noted that I had surfaced as well.
“Kitty!” she cried. She swam towards me and hugged me. “For a moment I thought I would die,” she said.
“I thought the same,” I said, even as the river current took us along with it. “I think a group of fish attacked the monster. I used my luck.”
“But how are we going to get to the other bank?” Junaki asked.
At that very moment, I felt a light force below me. I looked down to see a dark shape under the milk. The next thing I knew I was atop a white dolphin. Junaki beside me was atop another dolphin!
So dolphins had attacked the monster and saved us.
“We are the guardians of this river,” the dolphin carrying me said. Wait, dolphins could speak? I shook my head. I was a talking cat. Why shouldn’t dolphins be able to speak in this world?
“There are many Abunaki monsters in this river,” the dolphin continued and I reckoned he was referring to the monster that had almost eaten me just a short while ago. “They reproduce way too fast through spores, but we are doing our best to eradicate them. They are a foreign species some vile person brought from another place and they have since been causing havoc. There are times when folks crossing the river fall victim to them, but we are glad that we were able to save you today.”
“We thank you for saving us,” I said to the dolphin. Judging by the dolphin’s voice which sounded like that of a young boy it seemed to be a male. “We will always be grateful to you.”
“So to which side of the river were you trying to go?” the dolphin asked me. “To the land of the snakes or to the other side that is populated mostly by cats, though dogmen also live in the farther lands?”
“To the cat side,” I said. “Could you please take us there?”
“We will,” the dolphin answered.
Within a couple of minutes Junaki and I found ourselves standing on the other bank of the river, waving bye at the dolphins. They wagged their tails at us and then disappeared under the surface of the river of milk.
Chapter 19
“I hope I get more of luck in the future,” I said to Junaki as I allowed myself to sit down on a boulder by the river bank. My fur was wet with milk. I shook my body, so that for a moment all the hair on my body stood on their ends.
Over the next few minutes, we licked ourselves dry. The sun was shining bright and it helped considerably.
“So what next?” Junaki asked me. Her eyes were forlorn, looking at the distance.
“Next we go to the village,” I replied. Then I ventured to ask, “Is everything okay with you? You look sad.”
Junaki sighed.
“I lost my sword,” she replied.
“I saw it falling into the river,” I said, recalling the happening. “The monster’s doing.”
“I had that sword for a long time,” Junaki said wistfully.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get another. At least we have our lives.”
We decided to go into the woods, hoping that the blind trek would ultimately bring us to the village of Duarga. It worked, for we happened upon some cat wood cutters. They looked at us with suspicion filled eyes, but they nevertheless gave us the directions to Duarga when we asked them about the village. It seemed that the village was about seven kilometres away from the spot. We thanked them and went on our way.
The sun would be setting soon. So after we had gone about three kilometres we decided to call it a day and climbed a tall tree to spend the night.
“I wonder,” I said to Junaki, as night fell and the stars in the sky began to appear. “What after we give the letter to the chieftain? Will I regain my memory right then?”
“I have a feeling you wouldn’t,” Junaki said. She still seemed a bit upset over losing her sword, and she gazed up at the stars in a forlorn manner. “Perhaps you would get another quest? I think you would eventually regain your memory, but it will take time.”
I sighed.
It had been quite a long time ago that I had first respawned back at the glade atop the back of the turtle Goruk. I closed my eyes, hoping to fall into the lap of dreams, or even better a dreamless refreshing sleep like the other night. Instead, a fragment of a memory came to me. It made my heart have a fuzzy feeling, almost like the same that I sometimes got when I lost myself in Junaki’s eyes.
The girl stood in front of me. She had large ears, which made her appearance all the more beautiful. She held my paws with her own.
“Kitty,” she said to me, and I could trace a glint of sadness in her otherwise soft voice that was like the musical rustle of a little stream, “free him and achieve your destiny. I will always be here for you… I hope to be here for you at least.”
“Do not say so,” I found myself speaking, “I shall save him and then I shall come back to you. He has been a good person to me, but I would not return to him, for I know this is the world that I belong to.”
She smiled. Her eyes swelled and a tear rolled down her cheeks. She threw her arms around me. The memory ended. I found myself back atop the tree in the forest, sitting up straight on the branch I had been lying on. Junaki was on a nearby branch. Her soft snore broke, apparently her sleeping being disturbed by the noise I had made.
“Are you all right?” she asked me, a bit drowsy.
I lay back on the branch. In my mind’s eyes the girl’s face still lingered.
“Yes, I am all right,” I said.
***
There were three guards at the village gate. Only one of them looked alert, the other two were sitting on some rocks, their shoulders hunched, as though they had stayed guard at the gate the entire night without sleep.
With some hesitation, Junaki and I approached the guards.
The more alert guard stepped towards us after having slapped the backs of his companions to make them realise we were coming.
“What business do you have in Duarga?” the guard asked. I focussed on him and saw his name was Abhat.
“We bring a warning,” I said.
Abhat frowned.
“Warning?” he said confusedly.
I held out the letter we had retrieved from the pigeon. I had kept the letter in my bag and so it hadn’t been swept away from me when the monster had dragged me under the milk.
Abhat took the piece of paper and read it, his eyes bulging by the time he had finished.
“What is it?” his companions asked him.
“It’s the dogmen,” Abhat answered.
“But we have a truce with them!” one of the other guards said.
Abhat ignored him and turned at us.
“Who gave you this letter?” he asked.
“We found it on a dead pigeon,” Junaki said before I could. Abhat seemed to consider her for a moment with his sharp, keen eyes.
“A dead pigeon?” Abhat asked with a raised brow.
“Yes,” I said, “why don’t you tell your chieftain about this?”
“Can we meet your chi
eftain?” Junaki asked.
“Not right away,” Abhat said, some distrust in his voice as he avoided our eyes. He turned to his comrades.
“I am going to meet the chieftain,” he told his companions. “Watch them till I return.”
“Chief is probably sleeping,” one of the guards said.
Abhat ignored him and went. Junaki and I remained standing.
“So we just remain here?” I whispered to Junaki.
“There’s nothing else to do. Remember, make the decisions that you feel you would have made in your previous life.”
Junaki was right. In my previous life I would have waited for Abhat to return.
“Where did you find the pigeon?” one of the guards asked. He had rather small whiskers. He still looked sleepy and tired.
“On the banks of the river of milk,” I replied.
“Interesting,” the guard said. “You travelled all the way to here just to give us this message? That’s so kind of you.”
Somewhere in his words I could feel a hint of sarcasm, as if the guard didn’t believe that we would come to warn the village of Duarga. Did he think we were trying to make them break whatever truce they had with the dogmen?
“We wouldn’t have,” Junaki said and she sounded determined and spoke in a voice of authority like the princess she really was, “had it been a warning about a dispute between cat villages. But when it comes to dogmen, it is the duty of all cats to come together against them.”
The guard nodded and shut up, Junaki having provided all the explanation. He resumed to sitting on the stone with his other companion with hunched shoulders.
Chapter 20
For about half an hour we waited, and then we were relatively surprised to see Abhat return, for he wasn’t alone. There were at least twenty more cats with him. One of the cats wore a silken cloak. He was definitely someone of authority. Was it the chieftain himself? I wondered.
When they reached us, the person with the white cloth spoke.
“I am Jurim, the chief of Duarga,” he said. Jurim was a relatively plump cat and his protruding stomach and chubby cheeks told of a life of luxury. “Since the two of you have brought this piece of paper with the warning written on it, I order you to tell me about how you came to be in possession of it.”
“Order us, eh?” I heard Junaki mumble under her breath.
I repeated what I had told to Abhat. This time however, with some hesitation, I also added that we had found the letter on the other side of the river in snake territory.
Jurim’s eyes bulged.
“So you crossed the river of milk just to warn us about the attack?” he said, considerable sarcasm in his voice. I nodded. With every passing moment, I was beginning to dislike the chieftain of Duarga more and more. “The Abunakis are most abundant during this time of the year,” Jurim continued almost in a mocking voice, “didn’t they attack you?”
“They did,” Junaki spoke, her voice cold, “and they nearly killed us. But the guardians of the river, the dolphins, saved us.”
Jurim rolled his eyes. He stuck out his lips slightly and nodded in a fashion that proclaimed that he didn’t believe us at all. The others with him however looked quite tense and worried. They didn’t seem to have much respect for Jurim.
A moment passed, in which Jurim gazed at the letter in his hand. He seemed to be reading the same words over and over.
“You see,” Jurim finally said, looking up at us, “while I commend the fact that you faced all the difficulties to deliver this letter to us, unfortunately, I believe that this letter is most probably a fake. I have my reasons to believe that the snakes might have written this letter and left it on the river bank so that on the occasion that the letter somehow made it to us, we would decide to flee to snake territory in fears of the dogmen, so that the snakes can then make a good meal out of us.
“As for the dogmen, they have remained true to their words for over a year, and I feel it is our responsibility to remain true to ours and not harbour any kind of enmity against them. The two of you can stay at our village for a day or two since you took so much pain to bring us this letter,” Jurim smiled sardonically, “otherwise the matter has been put to rest now.”
I exchanged stupefied glances with Junaki. How could Jurim just put down the issue like that? Didn’t he have any concerns for his village? But it was clear that there was no point arguing with someone like Jurim who seemed to have already made his decision. Reluctantly, I decided it was best to take leave. But before that, as if to sprinkle salt on a wound, I got a quest completed message.
Quest completed!
Congratulations! You receive 10,000 gold!
You have successfully delivered the letter of warning to the chieftain of Duarga. Unfortunately he does not believe the letter. The village of Duarga shall perish!
At least I got the gold, to look at the positive side of the affair.
“Well, it’s your decision—” I began, but I was cut short by a cough from Abhat.
“Since you have taken so many pains for us, even though it went in vain, I would like to have you at my home for a day or two or as long as you would like to stay,” Abhat said. And he winked. No, it was no playful wink of any kind, but a dead serious one. I suspected there were things he wanted to talk to us about. A voice inside my mind told me to accept his offer.
“Um, we will be very thankful,” I managed to say.
Abhat made a small bow.
“My duty at the gate ends in a little while and once the replacement guards come I will be happy to take you to my home. I hope you wouldn’t mind the wait?”
“Not at all,” I said.
Jurim meanwhile was observing me and Junaki intently.
He made a noise that sounded like a grunt. I reckoned despite his offer for us to stay in the village, he hadn’t really thought that we would stay.
“Well, in that case you can be Abhat’s guest for a while,” he said in a self-important manner, “I have other matters that I have to attend to now.”
Jurim turned on his heels and went. The other cats that had accompanied him went as well.
After a while the replacement guards came. Abhat’s stretched his body, now that he was free of duty.
“Please follow me,” he said.
We went with him. The village of Duarga, we discovered, was a pretty large village, populated by at least a few hundred families. It took us about twenty minutes to reach Abhat’s home at a leisurely stroll.
He allowed us into his sitting room.
“The two of you must be hungry,” he said to us, “I will get you lunch in a few minutes.” And he meant to go to his kitchen, but Junaki spoke up.
“I do not understand,” she said, “I appreciate that you have invited us to your home, but—”
“I get that you have questions,” Abhat said, “but let’s discuss them after a while, shall we? After all of us have properly rested. Our minds will be fresher then. And the real reason why I have brought you here is an important one, so fresh minds will help.”
Hearing his words Junaki raised a brow at me. I shrugged. I guessed it was pretty obvious that Abhat hadn’t brought us to his home simply out of hospitality.
We had a quiet lunch mostly. I asked Abhat if he had a family towards the end of the meal and he replied that he lived alone.
“I have been living alone for most of my life,” Abhat said, putting a fish head into his mouth. We were already done with the meal, but he was going on stuffing more and more food into his mouth. He had a stout body after all, and that body required a lot of fuel, unlike our bodies. “My parents died when I was young, and my siblings brought me up. Later on my siblings went to live in separate homes and started their own families,” Abhat suddenly gazed away with a rueful smile on his lips, “I expressed my love to a girl once, but she turned me down and that was it.”
After the meal Abhat gave us beds to take naps. By the time Junaki and I awoke, it was already night. A pop up appeared in
my vision immediately after I opened my eyes.
You have been bitten!
You receive -1 health!
What the heck? There was nothing biting me. But then I felt my arm itching and saw that it was a mosquito. I took my vengeance on the mosquito by killing it. Abhat suddenly appeared in the doorway.
“Mosquitoes, eh?” he said, apparently having seen me kill the insect, “Just wait a minute.”
In a few minutes Abhat brought in an incense stick with a nice smell of roses. He placed the burning incense stick near my bed.
“This will chase away the mosquitoes,” he said with a small smile.
“Why did you wink at me?” I found myself asking.
“You mean at the gate earlier?” Abhat said, stealing a glance at Junaki who was still fast asleep.
I nodded. Abhat had almost seemed then like he wanted to hide something from the chieftain Jurim.
“So that the two of you would not leave,” Abhat replied.
“But why wouldn’t you want us to leave?” I asked.
“Let her awake and I shall tell you everything,” Abhat replied, gesturing at Junaki. “She’s your wife?”
“Um, no,” I said with some unease.
“Girlfriend?”
“Just a friend and a companion,” I managed to say.
“I see,” Abhat said. “Well, anyway ,once she awakes I shall tell you everything.”
Chapter 21
Junaki awoke after a few minutes. It was odd, but Abhat closed all the doors and windows of his house and told us to sit at the dining table.
He lit a lantern. The yellow light from the lantern illuminating his face gave him a very serious appearance. Abhat himself pulled a chair and sat down.
He looked me in the eye.
“Our chieftain Jurim happens to be a big fat idiot,” Abhat said, his words filled with loathe. “He is inexperienced and he thinks the dogmen would never break the truce. Or maybe he is just lazy to prepare for any attack that might come. His father was a better chieftain than him, but he died last year and since then the village has been under Jurim’s power. His luck is the only reason why he is still the chief. No calamity has fallen over the village ever since he became the chieftain. Once any calamity falls and he proves how unworthy he is, the villagers would probably kick him out.”
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