by Taki Drake
“Would you like a glass of wine also?”
The catog materialized with its mouth inches away from Cal’s throat. Even with the understanding that something was going on and that it was not dangerous, the sheer size of the catog startled Cal into allowing the bottle to slip from his hands. With a blindingly fast motion, the catog neatly snagged the falling bottle out of the air. Its extendable claws had formed a cage around the bottle which he carefully handed back to Cal. Mouth askew and eyes widened, Cal silently, and carefully, accepted the bottle back, mumbling some phrase of thanks.
When the catog had appeared out of thin air, even though the Marines in the room have been aware that it was accompanying Ruth their reflexes drove them to draw weapons again. Pawlik had bounced out of his chair and covered most of the space to Ruth to protect her before he realized that apparently, this is not an enemy. The seneschal had just shrunken back into his chair with a helpless motion of denial. Mary had widened her eyes, but not moved at all.
Maintaining a straight face with grave difficulty, Ruth turned to the catog and asked, “Hunter, would you like a drink of wine?” Her amusement had found a release in sharing when the catog’s thoughts showed her an image of swirling lights and the feeling of tickling energy like bubbles in her blood. She thought silently, At least, I am not having giggling fits. That would be so bad of an example to set!
Another brief set of images showed in Ruth’s mind in response. The bottle of wine was shown quickly buried by an energetic leg dumping dirt on it. Instead, the buried image was replaced with a foaming tankard of beer. Ruth nodded her head in acknowledgment and raised her voice to reach the ears of the waiting servants. Would you please bring the bowl of beer for Hunter? I believe he’s thirsty.”
It took a little bit of time to familiarize all of the people in the room with how Hunter had come to accompany Ruth. Mary had stared unblinkingly at Hunter for a short period of time before nodding her head and extending a hand out toward the massive animal. Hunter very gently reached out a huge dinner plate-sized paw and touched its carefully sheathed shape against Mary’s hand.
Pawlik remained a little suspicious of Hunter but was also intrigued. Cal was just intrigued. Ruth heard him mutter at a low tone, “Oh dear Lord, when the children meet this one…” The mage silently agreed.
The excitement had settled, and the dinner service had resumed. Everyone was starting to relax a little bit, and the food and drink were being consumed at a substantial rate. Even Hunter was snacking on a large haunch of meat. The seneschal especially seemed to be amazed by the size of the catog’s jaws. He looked a bit nervous, but took his cue from the others in the room and maintained a relatively calm expression. Ruth gave him a lot of points for not getting up and fleeing screamingly out of the room. She was even more impressed with the one serving girl who made a point to make sure that Hunter had food and drink. She thought to herself, I need to watch this one too. Somehow we’ve ended up with a whole bunch of really amazing servants.”
Cal was giving a summary of his day in town. It had been a lot of time going around to the separate factors and guildmasters within the town that clung to the castle as if it were the skirts of a dowager. His day had been productive and, apparently, also pretty amusing. Was it an extremely wide grin on his face, Cal turned to Mary and asked her, “Has anyone ever told you the whole story of the poker game?”
Everyone at the table knew what poker game was being discussed. As far as the people in the castle, and for that pretty much the people in the town, there was only one “Poker Game” to be considered. Mary blushed a furious red and stared fixedly at her empty plate. Cal took no mercy on the embarrassed woman. Raising his glass and nodding toward Mary, he continued, “Your boyfriend, Jack, is something else! You would not believe how thoroughly he settled that creep that insulted you!”
Blessing even a darker shade of red, Mary reached blindly for her glass of wine, downing the entire glassful while still staring at her plate.
“I had heard that the manner of the settlement was neither illegal nor very bloody,” murmured Pawlik.
“I definitely was not illegal! With Mary’s boyfriend being the head legal representative in the town, that wouldn’t have been very smart of them. And that man is definitely smart.”
“Cal, stopped torturing me and tell me what you found out,” exclaimed Ruth.
With another small smirk toward Mary, Cal told the tale that he learned.
“Apparently, Jack marched up to the table, grabbed one guy by the shoulder and threw them on the floor. He sat down at the table, put a whole pile of money out, laid his drink down, and told the jerk to deal. That bully, William, was stupidly not afraid of Jack. What happened afterward is a little bit garbled, but apparently, Jack systematically destroyed William. He took all his money, and then he goaded the man into betting his clothing. When Jack returned to the dining room to join us for dinner, William was left in the middle of the bar floor with a rag wrapped around his waist and not a single item of clothing left in his possession.”
During the explanation, Mary had raised her eyes up to stare at Cal’s face. She seemed to be looking for something in his expression that she was half afraid to find. Cal smiled at Mary, before continuing, “Jack did nothing illegal. Apparently he has a reputation for being extremely dangerous when it comes to fighting, but in this case, it was probably more damaging than a physical fight. Rather than giving William a wound that would heal, the damage to William’s reputation is so bad that I’m not sure he’ll ever, ever, live it down.”
Mary had a small smile on her face as Cal finished speaking. Ruth clapped her hands in delight and exclaimed, “What a perfectly delightful man. I hope, Mary,”, Ruth continued, “that you’re planning on seeing him again.”
Once again Cal interrupted, “Well according to Jack, who I saw at the end of my day, he is going to be picking Mary up tomorrow for dinner and a concert.” He looked happily around the room as he laid this fact out for all to see. Mary’s blush was painful to look at. Everyone was smiling and staring at Mary, so no one saw the small, contented smile that appeared on Ruth’s face.
Chapter 6 – Preparation Day
Planet – Borachland Castle
The soft light of a new morning had barely started to illuminate the bedroom when Ruth completed her preparations for the trip to the Hot Barrens. She and Pawlik had talked late into the night, the catog curled up across her feet. It had been a couple hours of comfortable catching up and dealing with the type of orderly minutia that brought some calmness to Ruth’s mind.
Her sleep had been untroubled, as had Pawlik’s. Spooned together in the bed, it was apparent that mage and anchor now drew breath on the same cycle, hearts beating in unison. Ruth wondered if all mage and anchor pairs developed that during their association. The unconscious presence of another person’s inner physical functioning was a new thing to her, both in concept and actuality. She found, to her surprise, that she not only didn’t mind the intimacy but that she liked it.
Time for breakfast. Feeling the energy of an untested and unconsumed day, Ruth practically exploded out of the doorway of her bedroom, walking rapidly down the hall. The catog was even forced to speed up his pace to stay with her. The Marines that had been stationed at her door while she slept increased their pace to a fast trot, glancing at each other in wonder at the Mage’s look of mingled anticipation and dread.
When she entered the breakfast room, Pawlik was already seated at the table and had a cup of her favorite beverage sitting at the place next to him. A sleepy Cal with Techla and Troyer in tow, sat yawning at the base the table. Mary was nowhere to be seen, but Ruth had not planned on seeing her before they left later in the morning. Both Margot and Harril had joined Jenna for a briefing over the meal.
“Good morning everyone, I hope you all slept well and are ready to have a very busy day?”
“Good morning, Grandma!” called out Troyer. There was a mad rush of flailing children’s arms a
s the two of them stumbled all over each other to be the first one to get to their grandmother, the Archmage. Troyer won, but not by much. His slightly sticky embrace brought a smile to Ruth’s face. That expression widened into a grin when the Mage saw that in her determination to reach Ruth, Techla had unknowingly climbed on top of Hunter.
The catog was once again invisible, based on the lack of reaction from everyone in the room. To the others in the room, it appeared as if the little girl had climbed up the empty air and was hugging her grandma from an invisible platform about 3 ½ feet off the ground.
Troyer noticed it first. He made a muffled exclamation and reached his hand out to pat the empty air underneath Techla’s feet. By some chance, he managed to touch Hunter’s head.
The young boy’s face snapped to an expression of extreme focus. His suddenly startled father glanced between the boy and his mother. Mouthing the word “Hunter,” Ruth both reassured Cal and let him know that the next few minutes was going to be entertaining and amusing.
Troyer continued his exploration of the invisible being. His small hands, sticky with his breakfast, started to define the shape of the being that he could feel, but not see. The traces of jam seemed to hang in the air, moving to trace the catog’s movement as he turned to watch the young boy explore body.
Techla’s observant eyes watched her brother’s actions while the young girl held her body very still. She was content to let Troyer take the lead on this, as he did so much of the time. After one swift glance at her grandmother, the young girl remained calm. An appreciation for her bravery in the face of an unknown invoked a rumbling purr from Hunter. To Techla, it must’ve seemed like the entire world foundation was rumbling. She let out a small squeak of surprise, which quickly turned into a delighted smile and a lunge downward, arms spread to bury her face in the invisible fur at the back of Hunter’s head. Whipping outward and then slamming together, her equally jam-covered hands wrapped tightly around his neck.
A muffled and excited scream could be faintly heard through the muffling effect of the fur and tight grip. To Ruth, it sounded like a cry of “Kitty!” To Troyer, it must’ve sounded like an argument since his immediate response was, “Doggie!”
Hunter chose that very moment to regain visibility.
Ear-piercing squeals of delight greeted the appearance of the large animal directly under and next to the small children. There was no fright, no negative response. All that happened was that two sets of energetic small children hands proceeded to start touching, feeling, patting, and otherwise messing up the fur of the large animal standing next to Ruth. The mage could feel the amusement of Hunter in the back of her brain. The image that came through to her was one of a pair of small cubs tumbling all over the feet and legs of another catog lying on the ground. At least Hunter is amused, rather than annoyed, Ruth thought to herself.
The children were soon settled, cuddled up with Hunter as he lay on the ground. His rumbling purr could be heard as a background texture to the excited comments and motions of the children. His benign observance of their behavior allowed the rest of the party to go over the plans for the day in peace.
The seneschal had started off the summary by confirming that the supplies and personnel that the Mage had requested would be on-site when she had requested them. The first shipment was scheduled to arrive later that same day. He seemed a bit disoriented, glancing between Pawlik and Ruth repeatedly. Finally, Pawlik asked him, “Harril, what is bothering you? I can see that something is and it’s not like you to avoid mentioning it.”
“It’s not that I doubt you, Lord, or Lady Mage, but I don’t understand why it is that you’re going to want all of this material and all these people today.”
“The Lady Archmage will be handling all the spell work necessary, and there is no other way that we are going to be able to get a two-year project built in a day than to use her skills.”
The seneschal nodded his agreement, without changing the deeply conflicted expression that rode so uncomfortably on his face.
Cal took over the briefing at this point. He quickly summarized again the arrangements he had made with the village to provide them with certain key personnel for the get-together at the new space field and the mechanics of feeding an unknown number of people. He concluded by saying that he was very uncomfortable not being able to be at the location the whole time. After a short discussion, Cal and Pawlik came to an agreement that Cal was needed on-site, and Cal got up from the table and went off to make arrangements with his back up to take over at the castle. He would rejoin them in a half hour when they left for the space field.
Pawlik interrupted Ruth, deep in conversation with Jenna, Margot, and Mary as they were discussing certain logistics and areas of concern. “Are you sure, my dear, that we should be taking the children?” he asked Ruth.
Before she could answer him, shrill protests from the two children forced Pawlik to cover his ears. “Alright, alright,” he said, smiling. Standing up and grinning at his consort, Pawlik said, “I’m going to just go over a couple of things with the security team, and I will meet you by the vehicles in a few minutes.” Blowing a kiss to the Mage, he left the room.
<<<>>>
There was a small convoy leaving for the Hot Barrens. It consisted of four cars, two that would hold Pawlik, Ruth, Cal, the children, and Mary. Another was devoted to their security team, and a fourth one carried some of the support crew from the castle. It was a very small entourage for a noble such as Pawlik. But here on Borachland grounds, no one thought there was any need for additional protection. Especially with the Mage along.
The Hot Barrens was about an hour’s drive away. They had plenty of time, but Ruth really wanted to look over the area so that she had a better idea of what the requirements on her magic might be. The party piled into the vehicles, doors slamming, people making a variety of comments. A bit of last-minute running back and forth, and they were finally off. The vehicles pulled out from the castle proper to salutes from the outer keep and inner keep guard. The townspeople were also out in force to wave goodbye to the Lady Mage and Lord.
Ruth wondered if Mary, comfortably ensconced with the two children in the other vehicle was watching for Jack. Ruth had spotted his figure immediately. He was standing apart from the crowd where he could both see and be easily seen by the castle party. Ruth hoped that whatever was developing between those two would fill the empty spot that she had felt in both of them, the displacement of self that indicated loneliness that each carried at their core.
The cavalcade had proceeded along the road when a shrill screech hitting her senses brought Ruth sitting bolt upright, away from Pawlik’s comfortable shoulder on which she had been leaning. Pawlik came instantly out of his half doze, glancing around alertly. He noticed in passing that Hunter had materialized also and was staring about alertly.
Ruth said urgently, “Pawlik, we need to stop over there, by the edge of the forest on the road.”
Pawlik relayed the information to the driver, and as the vehicle came to a halt, he was the first one outside the vehicle, standing protectively by the door as Ruth emerged. There was nothing unusual in sight. Small animals continued to make rustling sounds in the underbrush, and songbirds flitted from tree to tree warbling their joy in the morning to each other. Pawlik could not see or hear anything that would have caused Ruth such a strong reaction.
Ruth felt watched. The hair on the back of her neck was standing straight up, and her adrenaline response was causing the blood to rush through her veins, producing an audible pounding of her heart. Poised for fight or flee, Ruth walked over to the edge of the forest, planted both of her feet shoulder-width apart, and flung into the mental air, I’m here, what you want?
The watched feeling didn’t make her feel like she was in the presence of an enemy, or at least not exactly. It was more like she was being inspected again, just like she had been when she first came to Borachland. The presence of another entity, a ghost or something was discordant o
n her senses.
It was like a color briefly glimpsed from the side of the eyes, or a voice too vast to be understood by small ears. The mage did not know what to do other than to stand there and wait. In the Mage’s intense scrutiny of the forest in front of her, she was aware of Hunter’s presence on one side, and Pawlik’s on the other. She felt supported and protected.
A snarl ripped from Hunter’s chest, and he shoved Ruth back into Pawlik. The materialized catalog looked twice as big as he normally would because every hair on his body was standing out. A wave of transformation washed over the catog’s body. To the Mage’s fascinated gaze, the catog’s fur rippled and transformed into metallic-looking scaled battle armor.
Ruth knew that if she had fur that it would have been doing the same. Only the tension in Pawlik’s body where he was in contact with Ruth told her of his shared alertness.
The alertness was given a focus when a rippling in the air directly in front of the Mage quickly materialized into a fantastical creature. The only thing that Ruth could compare it to was an imaginary creature used in some game systems at home, called a wyvern.
Looking like a small, underdeveloped dragon, the wyvern was related to the dragon but had its own unique characteristics. It was a multiheaded beast, possessing three independently-moving heads. While smaller than the dragons she had seen discussed in those games, the wyvern was significantly larger than the aircars that the parties had been riding in.
It was damnably impressive, with what looked like double wings and a forked tail. One of its heads stood fixedly staring at Ruth while the head to the right constantly scanned for additional threats. The third had appeared to be somewhat sleepy, with half-closed eyes and a lagging attention focus. The creature stepped ponderously closer to the Mage. Pawlik and Hunter appeared to be frozen in place while Ruth could move with difficulty. On the edge of her vision, she could see that Cal was struggling to get out of the second vehicle. Moving like a man stuck in a sticky, viscous fluid, he was not making much headway.