by Jenny Foster
He crossed his arms in front of his chest. They all shook their heads, baffled. None of his men had an answer. He thought about the traitor, who was probably sitting with his men in the library right now. Who could it be? What had Talon done to him that would make him put the lives of his fellow warriors on the line, just to see Talon go down?
“At this moment, it doesn’t matter why the Krak kidnaped Cat,” he said into the awkward silence. “We will do what we have to do, but I will need an answer later.” He was aware that this must have sounded like a threat to his men, but it was too late to do anything about it. It was time to rescue Cat. Everything else would have to wait.
He set off. His warriors’ steps were quiet, but his sensitive ears heard every squeak their feet made on the blanket of snow. With every step they took, the smell of the Krak got stronger. It wouldn’t be long before they reached their hideout.
It was time to shift. Talon gave Tybor the sign to stay behind. The experienced warrior would keep watch while he and the other men prepared themselves. He raised his eyes and took in everything about his surroundings. Until now, they had been moving through a thick forest. Now, however, as they were approaching the edge of the forest, the area was changing abruptly. He could see a paved street, but its deep cracks told him that it wasn’t in use. Since the big catastrophe on Earth, humans only took care of the roads that were used the most and were necessary for the transportation of goods. Everything else, from buildings to transportation routes, was left to decay.
To Talon, the defective street was a good sign. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about running into any humans around here. The Krak had probably looked for a place to flee to as much as he had. A place where they were hidden from the eyes of other species.
Carefully, he looked through the thick bushes that separated the woods from the street. Even though the nauseating smell was very strong, he saw nothing but a huge building. The extinguished neon sign told him that there used to be a zoo here. In vain, he rummaged through his brain, trying to remember what that word meant.
He had no choice. Now or never. He gave his men the signal. The cracking and crunching behind him told him that their animals were coming out. He lowered his head and released his lion.
****
Cat had had a hard time taking even one more step, but she had done it. She had gone all the way around in a circle, counting the seconds as they passed. If she hadn’t miscalculated, then the interior of her living cell had a diameter of about 80 feet. That was still large, but didn’t come close to the impression she had first had of a huge space. Cat was pretty sure that she had walked about 150 feet from the spot where she had woken up, until she reached the “wall”. How was that possible, and also now, when she coughed or cleared her throat, she couldn’t hear an echo any more, either.
There was only one explanation, even if it was ridiculous and ignored all logical laws. The space was able to change. It could expand and contract. A part of her brain wanted to scream and call it quits. For a moment, she had the idea of just going crazy and giving up, which seemed like a good alternative to the fear she was feeling, because Cat really was terrified. The feeling gnawed through her stomach like ice and settled there. She would never be able to get out of this thing. How in the world would she be able to tear the living tissue that separated her from the outside world with only her bare fingers? Not that she hadn’t tried, in a rush of courage, but her fingers had only slid down the surface. The only evidence she could perceive that her dungeon had felt her treatment, was a rumble and the vague sense that the walls had contracted a little. After that, she had stopped trying to injure the walls.
She sat down on the floor and pulled her knees to her chest. Feeling her own body gave her a little comfort, but not for long. She hated not being able to do anything, and having to just wait to be rescued or for an unknown fate. “Damn it, let me out of here!” she screamed and dug her heels into the floor. Nothing happened. Once again, she was on her own.
Talon was probably already on his way home. His words left no room for hope. No matter how much he wanted her – the short visit in his head had confirmed this for Cat – he would never do anything that went against his king’s will. He was gone and she was here, caught by something or someone who wouldn’t even talk to her. She rammed her heels into the floor again and followed this up with her fist. Her fingers brushed against her boot and the knife she was still hiding in it.
She had a weapon. Cat laughed hard until tears ran down her face. She had a knife: a sharp, nice knife with a shiny blade. Did she dare use it?
If need be, she could always use it to end her own life. That thought was strangely comforting. Not because she wanted to die, quite the opposite, but knowing that she had this way out was better than not having a choice and just giving up. Her fingers closed around the knife’s handle and she held it tight for a very long time.
A rumble woke her from her slumber. It sounded like thunder, which reminded her of Talon for some reason. Her heart skipped a beat and then started beating twice as fast. The dull, deep sound was getting closer. At the same time, something started moving. It was hard to tell in the dark, but once again, Cat had the impression that the walls were closing in on each other. The floor underneath her quivered, like a steady, soft wagging, but she had no trouble staying on her feet.
She stood with her legs spread slightly, holding her dagger in her right hand, and leaned her head to the side so that she could listen. It was coming from the left, so Cat faced that way. It, whatever it may be, had almost reached her. It sounded like the only thing separating them was the wall. Cat could feel the sweat running down her back. She resisted the urge to make herself small, like a child would when it didn’t want to be found.
A red, shimmering crack opened up in the wall. Cat stared at it, as if hypnotized, and watched it get bigger, revealing more and more red and a pulsing light. Her eyes burned, and she had to force herself to not look away. After all that time in complete darkness, the light probably seemed brighter than it really was. The crack spread into a big opening, and now she could see a shadowy figure. It had a massive, wide body, and its backlit state vaguely reminded her of a huge egg, and… were those tentacles? There were too many arms for Cat to count. They were long and tapered at the ends. The dread she had been able to keep in check until now, spread through her entire body. While her brain was still trying to make sense of the creature she was seeing, and trying to reconcile it with something she could recognize, she started to shiver uncontrollably. She forgot all about the knife she was holding tightly. She focused on two tentacles that shot towards her out of nowhere and started wrapping themselves around her. Anywhere the meaty arms touched her naked skin, they burned her like liquid fire. She was unable to defend herself, and the thing started pulling her towards itself.
The closer she got, the more details were revealed to her, and she wished she didn’t have to see any of them. Black, unseeing eyes. Skin that was completely covered with small, wart-like bumps, each emitting drops of thick fluid. The thing’s mouth changed from a thin line to an opening with teeth.
Worse than anything she could see, though, was what she heard. Cat lost all willpower when it spoke. The bubbling syllables came out in shrill squeaks that hurt her ears and pulled at her consciousness. Even though she couldn’t recognize a single word, the meaning in the voice came to her, and she thought she could hear the roaring of the ocean in it: “Come, little human woman. Let’s go play.”
Chapter 6
Talon and his men snuck carefully into the zoo through the open gate. The shack that had once guarded the main entrance had collapsed a long time ago. Talon could smell the moldy and rotting wood from underneath the blanket of snow, and the smell made him nauseous. Everything here on Earth seemed to be in the process of dying. Contrary to his own race, humans had only had a small timeframe during which they flourished. No sooner had they left their childhood behind than they were already approaching d
eath.
A quick look behind him told him that his men were still following him. His instinct told him to be careful, but his legs wanted only one thing: to follow the very obvious trail that stretched in front of him like a red thread. Under his gold fur, his muscles twitched impatiently the further they went. Once upon a time, the paths had been paved. Now they were covered by greenery that muffled their lithe steps. To the left and right of the path, he could see several cages. The metal grates had stood the test of time. He wondered what the humans had exhibited in them. Artwork? He had his answer when he saw the bleached bones of a small, human-like creature stretched out on the floor. Talon shook in disgust. With every hour he spent on Earth, the less he understood the human race. He was happy that Cat was being pursued by her own race and needed to leave here. Her warm scent was different from anything else he had smelled on Earth thus far. He would recognize it among thousands of other scents, even when it was covered, as it was now, by the penetrating odor of fish. The further they went into the zoo, the more intense the smell of the ocean became. This wasn’t just one Krak, but at least four, maybe even more. The notorious race of loners had joined to form a pack.
This was bad news.
The Krak usually only got together to mate or on special occasions, like when they were after a certain prey. They could extend their tentacles as fast as lightning and extruded a numbing and fairly painful substance. Inside their plump shapes, they had sharp minds and enormous strength. The only way to defeat a Krak was to lure it onto dry land. In the water, they could move as swiftly as arrows and defy all laws of gravity as their heavy bodies homed in on an opponent with elegant and deadly precision.
Talon frowned. The damned Krak had laid a trap for him – this much was obvious – but if they were willing to hide on Earth and wait for him to fall into that trap, then they must have water nearby. They couldn’t survive more than four hours without water. He raised his head and sniffed. There was a building close to him and his men. He could smell the moldy odor of standing water coming from it, but there was nothing – neither their typical smell, nor any sound – that told him that they were hiding in there. He couldn’t detect Cat’s scent, either. Their trail led further to the northeast, deeper into the park. The only good thing was that she seemed to be uninjured. He didn’t smell any blood, so he was right. As bait for the prey, they had left her unharmed.
In order to be sure that no one was in the building, he sent Felcor and Sancar in. They came out a few minutes later, shaking their heads. There was nobody in the strange house with the glass roof.
They continued to sneak on, noses to the ground, their ears peeled. The Kraks’ trail became weaker, but Cat’s scent grew stronger. She couldn’t be more than 300 feet away. They stopped and listened. Behind them, they could hear a soft whining coming from one of the cages. Talon’s muscles tensed up immediately. His predator gave a cry and started to run.
He was just barely able to stop it from running into the cage that was covered with leaves and vines. Then he saw Cat.
She was lying motionless in the middle of the cage. The only reason he knew that she was alive and conscious was that her eyes were moving and that she was breathing rapidly. His eyes searched the area. Nothing. No sign of the Krak. Was it possible that they had just taken off and left Cat behind? His men were right behind him, and he could hear their excited and tense panting.
Cat’s soft moaning tipped the balance.
Without making a conscious decision, Talon jumped with one leap through the circular opening into the cage. He heard the cage door slam shut and new that he had made a mistake.
Talon was sitting in the trap.
****
Out of the corner of her eye, Cat saw the powerful predator jump into the cage. Talon. She was sure it was him. She would have recognized those eyes with their infatuating combination of amber and liquid gold anywhere. His body was huge in its animal shape, and far more powerful than lions on Earth. His powerful build reminded her of the pictures of the saber-toothed tigers she had seen in books and movies. He was emitting danger out of every pore – only someone with a death wish would try to stand in his way.
Or people who were sure that they could approach him without getting hurt – for instance, if they were separated from him by steel bars. Cat cursed the paralysis that was taking too long to let up. She had gotten it from the substance on the slimy squid monster’s skin. Her skin crawled, but she couldn’t even scratch herself. She saw Talon’s head jerk around when the steel door slammed shut. His irate roar rang in her ears and made her heart race. She had no idea how much control he had over the animal inside him, even though she was sure that she had seen his intelligence in the beast’s eyes. She watched helplessly as he jumped at the steel bars at full speed. The cage rattled, but the bars held.
On quiet paws, he snuck over to her, licked her face once with his rough tongue, and settled down next to her. His predator body exuded welcome warmth, and it helped her fight back a new wave of fear. If she wasn’t mistaken, he had not come alone. She could hear roaring and yelping outside the cage, and it gave her a glimmer of hope. Maybe… Cat thought hard. She couldn’t move, but if he shifted back to his human-like form… She stared into the yellow-gold eyes looking down at her out of the large feline’s head. “Can you change back?”
Was that a grin? The sight of the razor-sharp teeth prevented her from considering if lions could smile. Before he did what she had asked of him, he growled something at the steel bars, and received some yips and howls in return. A restrained roar silenced them. She could hear rustling in the bushes, and then it was quiet.
The air flickered and bones cracked, and after a few seconds, Talon was himself again, and he was naked. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea, after all. She kept her eyes firmly on his face, which was unexpectedly hard, even though they were imprisoned and Cat couldn’t move. He stood up, went over to the other end of the cage, and tried in vain to move the door that had crashed shut.
“Are you okay?” he growled and came back to her. For a man who was locked in a cage after falling into his enemies’ trap, he seemed remarkably calm. He answered her most burning question before she could even ask it. “The paralysis will leave your body in the next few minutes. Do you know what they want from me? Did they say anything?”
Cat shook her head and asked him to help her up. She felt better already, sitting up, even if being this close to the completely naked Talon was making her exceptionally nervous. She looked at her surroundings with curiosity. Something about this place felt vaguely familiar, like a dream that kept returning. In the cold air, she thought she could detect a hint of a smell she associated with her childhood. She closed her eyes and tried to recall the memory. It had something to do with Coran and her birthday – that was it! Cat wanted to smack her forehead. Of course! Coran had thought of something very special for her birthday. He had given her a visit to the zoo but had made a scavenger hunt part of it. Her brother had always loved riddles and had been a master at solving even the most difficult secrets. Coran and Cat… enough, she told herself. There were far more important things to discuss.
She looked out from the cage but couldn’t find what she was looking for. “Where are your men?” Cat whispered and leaned against him. Her arms went around him on their own, and she leaned her head on his naked chest. At first, she couldn’t identify the feelings welling up inside her – that’s how foreign they were to her – but then she realized what they were. Protection and something else, something deeper. She felt safe in Talon’s arms. Whatever happened, they were together. The numbness seemed to be leaving her body more quickly now. Cat raised her head, and he lowered his at the same moment. Their lips met for the first time. Cat knew she would never forget the tremendous tenderness in his touch. His lips told her what he hadn’t been able to say in words. A soft growl came from his chest, but there was nothing threatening about it. Cat could feel his whole body vibrate with that sound and could have
spent hours in his arms. She closed her eyes, heard his breath, and tasted him on her lips.
Cat felt dizzy when she understood what the kiss meant. There was no going back now. She had fallen in love. It felt final, and even though she had always shied away from the word “love”, she knew that this was a turning point in her life. Her escape plans vanished into thin air.
“Where are your men?”
He shrugged. “I sent them back.”
“I assume you don’t know what these… things want from us, either?”
“The Krak?” His eyebrows went up. “I have my suspicions but I wouldn’t bet money on them.” He went silent and leaned his head to the side. “I have a feeling we are about to find out though.” Then she heard what his sense of smell and sharp ears had already perceived. Someone was coming towards their cage, with slurping, slow steps. It was hard to tell how many there were, but the intensity of the increasing stench told her that there were more than one. Three figures materialized out of the dark. She didn’t know which one of them had taken her from the bizarre jail cell. They looked too much alike for that. Cat couldn’t even tell if they were male or female. They all looked the same to her.
She could see another person behind the three of them. He or she was light-footed, compared to the slurping Krak, and had a human silhouette. Broad shoulders and a narrow head … similar to Talon.