"None of them are empty-headed. Their thoughts travel as quickly as they race up and down trees. Tolti was one of my better students, and she always listened carefully. We can believe her. Did the humans say how they intend to do this?"
"They said only that it would be done and that the swamp would be theirs."
"It will not." Rage gave Druid speed, and they soon reached the place where the swamp met the woodlands. Other cougars, alligators and a few eagles waited for them. "I see them," an eagle shrieked. "Their fuzzy heads bob up and down in the distance."
Druid's eyes were not nearly so keen, but he smelled the rank human odor. Fury ennobled him. He rose to his full height, his long neck curving gracefully, his mane streaming in the breeze. Steam poured from his nostrils. He roared, a sound that began at the tip of his long tail, rushed up through his body, and exploded from his mouth in shattering thunder. The humans screamed, and, in a wake of cracking branches, dashed towards the fields.
For long moments the animals waited silently. When the sound of clumsy footsteps disappeared, they shouted, "Hail, Druid! Hail our guardian and protector!"
Druid bowed his head. "It's my job. Now I need to go home and lie down."
"I'll escort you," Tomo said. "Alone," he growled at the squirrels and chipmunks who tried to follow Druid in a ragged victory parade.
Tomo waited until they were out of earshot and then asked, "What would you have done if they'd entered the swamp?"
Druid hissed, spraying the cougar with steam. "Do you speak so to the Keeper? Do you believe I hold my vows lightly? The day humans set foot in the swamp with murder in their hearts and the means of it in their hands will be the last for all of them and their kind."
Tomo's eyes narrowed to amber slits. "The legends are true? You'll summon the fire dragons to destroy the human caves and burn their fields?"
Druid shook his head. "I don't even know where they live. As usual, this lonely dragon will have to take matters into his own paws, but I'd rather humans killed me than know that my cowardice caused one animal to die. Face it, if it comes to that, we can be certain the Mother has abandoned us."
"I already have my suspicions on that subject." Tomo growled. "Admit it, so do you. We're on our own."
"I keep that thought to myself, and I urge you to do the same. Despair can destroy the World more quickly than even the humans."
"Especially the despair of a dragon," Tomo said. "It's heavier than the spring rains."
"I try not to let it show, and when I can teach the young only cynicism, I'll stop. If I have any hope, it's that one of them, a new being, undiscouraged by a world damp with tears of despair, can lead us back to wholeness."
"I'll try to share your hope. In the meantime, what do we do about our knowledge of the humans' plans? I told Tolti to keep her little nutcracker shut, but she may have told half the swamp already. And we don't know who else may have heard the humans."
"Hope it wasn't Gris," Druid said. "That hawk has no discretion. Unless we notice rumors getting out of control, I'd rather wait until we've observed the rain rituals. Let our friends celebrate this expulsion of the humans. It will strengthen them for what may be coming."
"I yield to your wisdom," Tomo said. "And I'll leave you now to contemplate the events of the day."
"Thank you," said Druid, who was tired of contemplation.
So it has come, long after I'd given up hope that the romantic myths spun by that pair of careless drifters called my parents would ever come to pass. Now that I've accepted my peaceful, if boring and more than a little disappointing, life, the disruption arrives that makes my heart quicken with the possibility that they might have told the truth, that I'll yet discover myself as a dragon of destiny.
And probably fail.
On the evening of the rain celebration Druid left his cave to wash himself in the sea. The water spread silken folds over his hide. When he finished washing, he dove to the bottom in search of some particularly succulent varieties of kelp, but after eating a few strands, he lost his appetite, for the waving seaweed reminded him of his mother's green mane, of abandonment and eons of loneliness. He shook himself dry and headed for the large island in the center of the swamp, trying to think cheerful thoughts about the glories of spring.
During winter, the dry time, life for most of the animals was a continual search for water and food. Spring and the coming of rain gave rise to one of the most joyful celebrations in the swamp. The newest babies were introduced to the community and helped to find their places in the pattern. It was a time when all animals, in tribute to the end of deprivation, were pledged to disregard traditional predatory relationships.
Meadowlarks flew side by side with eagles, and cougars stretched out in their tawny glory to watch fawns pick their trembling way through the meadow. The animals praised the rain and She who showered abundance on them.
As the sky grew dark and the rains abated, the birds and animals gathered together in a large circle. "Let's have a story," called out a laughing gull.
Tolti, the squirrel, who had found a place on Druid's shoulder, said, "A dragon story."
"Yes, tell us a story, Wise One," a wolf howled.
A story would distract Druid from the concerns that had marred his enjoyment of the celebration. "What story shall I tell?" he asked the assembled animals.
"Tell us of how the dragons and humans became enemies."
"That's a very sad story, and old, older than even me."
Tomo's golden eyes raked him. "Tell it."
Druid sighed. The cougar was right. The celebration was almost over. Tomorrow the animals would have to face possibilities more grim than winter.
"When humans first appeared among us, they didn't know how to do anything," he began. "It looked as if they were going to be a small drop in the pond of history when the animals, in the spirit of She Who Teaches Us All, decided to instruct them."
"The birds and mice and beavers taught them how to build homes."
"The big cats taught them how to hunt," said a cougar.
"No interruptions," someone muttered. "Show respect."
"The fire dragons looked down from the sky at the poor, shivering human beings and decided to give them their special gift of warmth and heat. At first, the humans were grateful to the animals, but as they learned these skills, they wanted to forget who had taught them. They wanted to believe themselves above the animals who, out of kindness, had helped them to survive and flourish. They wanted to think they had done it all by themselves."
A young cougar spoke out again. "That's why they hate cats, for our wisdom. We remind humans that there are other intelligent animals around. For that knowledge they try to imprison us. Even now, our small cousins languish, maltreated and dishonored."
"Try being a turtle in a cage," a snapper muttered.
"You're both right," Druid said. "Humans do try to imprison or kill the animals they fear. They attempted to do so with dragons. My fire cousins had taught them how to start fires with wood and stones that burned, but humans found that to be hard work. Some human, may he be cursed, got the idea that it would be easier to trap dragons in order to have a ready source of fire."
Tolti pulled his ear. "May I ask a question?"
"Ask, little one."
"How did the dragons allow themselves to be trapped?"
"They thought it was a game. For a while they were patient, waiting to see how it was played. When they realized that the rules favored the humans, they decided to break them. They melted the prison bars with their fiery breath and flew away.
"Some humans saw the lovely dragons flying in the air and shot at them with fire sticks. Though the weapons couldn't penetrate the dragons' thick scales, this act of hatred ensured that from that time on, dragons and humans would be enemies."
The animals fell silent-all but the frogs and crickets, who sang a melancholy song about the death of trust. As the final chirp died away, Tolti cried, "Mother, protect us from the humans!"
All the animals echoed her words, and the trees whispered supplications to their creator. Tomo slunk gracefully into the center of the circle.
"Druid called his story an old one, but it is no older than a few days ago, when humans nearly breached the sanctity of our home. This is not the worst of it. Tolti, tell the others your story."
Druid would have preferred that the cougar consult with him about the best way to spill the bad news, but that was the problem with being a Keeper. He could protect, negotiate, and mediate, but with a crowd of independent animals, he could never dictate.
"Go ahead, Tolti," he said.
The squirrel clutched Druid's mane as she spoke what she'd heard of the human's plans to take the swamp. "They said they would drain the swamp and knock down the trees and build houses. What are houses?"
"Their nests, I think," Druid said.
"But, Druid, what happens to us?"
Snakes began to hiss, and alligators slapped the water with their tails.
Every animal looked at the dragon. Words never came quickly to him, and he could find no comforting ones now. "We must pray, as Tolti did a short while ago. We must ask Her to protect us and to tell us what we must do to protect ourselves."
His words were as dry of hope as the swamp had recently been of water. The pattern was being rent, and he, alleged dragon of destiny, stood helpless before its unraveling.
He rose with a wet sigh. "I must go, my friends. It has been a long day."
Tolti remained on his shoulder. "Keeper, your sorrow shudders through me and makes me want to weep."
"Water dragons have that effect. One of our tasks is to arouse the deep and hidden emotions in all living things that they may be brought to the light."
"You arouse love in mine, dear Druid. I don't like to think of you being alone tonight. Let me be with you."
Tears stung Druid's eyes. "You're kind, small one."
"Oh, no," Tolti said as she snuggled into the hollow of his neck. "It's my honor."
Tolti chattered as incessantly as other squirrels. "You can't imagine how shocked I was to hear those humans speaking. Wasn't it good of me to tell Tomo immediately? I was quite frightened to approach him, even though my tail was raised in truce. He ate my cousin only last week. It was all properly done. Her spirit was ready for departure, and the dance was correctly performed. Still, the sight of his teeth wasn't a happy one, I can tell you that. It isn't just the humans, is it?"
Druid, who had drifted beyond the squirrel's chatter to his own gloomy thoughts, jerked his head up. "What?"
"It's not just the humans, not even just the swamp. Remember how you taught us to hear and feel the earth's rhythm? It's disturbed now."
Druid lifted the squirrel from his shoulder and held her in his paws so that she faced him. "Tell me what's wrong with the rhythm."
The squirrel's nose quivered. "I'm not sure. It doesn't seem to be coming from the ground. It's a feeling from far away, the trembling of wounded animals, but none I've ever known, cries that shiver through me. It's the sound of hearts that have forgotten how to feel."
A young squirrel senses more than I have. Druid clasped Tolti to his heart.
The sky was clear now, and the new moon trailed stars across the sky. Reeds quivered with ghostly beauty, and moonbeams painted the charred tree stumps. Slender pine needles glistened as if they'd been dipped in the silver cauldron of the night.
Tonight the swamp was cloaked in grandeur, and its beauty was bitterness in the dragon's heart as he listened to the reeds and saw grass singing in the faint breeze and heard the distant shriek of a small animal who had surrendered its life.
So the leaves die in autumn, he thought. So they release their hold on the trees who have nurtured them, and fall to the earth to return the gift of life to their hosts. So the seed is food for a rabbit, the rabbit food for the cougar, the cougar food for the seed. It is the way of things that nothing shall be lost or wasted, that we are all important and necessary. Thus the pattern is woven and re-woven.
"How beautiful the World is tonight," Tolti said softly. "Surely the Mother won't permit it to be destroyed."
Do You listen? Druid asked the night. Will you answer this small one's devotion? Perhaps You are more present than I imagine. Perhaps You hide behind the moon, to mock the fumbling creatures who attempt to survive in this world of Your creation, Your laughter as faint as the fading whisper of dragons' wings.
If you've enjoyed reading these stories, please check out
my web site at https://www.cmbarrett.com
About the Author
C. M. Barrett has been enslaved by cats for most of her life. You can view the current master/mistresses who rule her at https://www.adragonsguide.com/bio/pers.shtml
She is the author of the series, A Dragon's Guide to Destiny, which includes Big Dragons Don't Cry and Dance with Clouds, House of the Moon, and Book of Sorrows.
She also has written Animals Have Feelings, Too: Bach Flower Remedies for Cats and Dogs and Renew Your Life the Natural Way: Balance Your Chakras with Crystals and Essences.
Visit the author at https://www.adragonsguide.com and at her blog on creativity at https://www.dragonfirethecreativespark.blogspot.com
"Cats in Command" was originally published in 2011 by https://www.curiosityquills.com, an excellent web site to visit if you'd like to read more cat-centered stories.
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Prequel to A Dragon's Guide to Destiny.
When a foreign nation conquers her land, Zena, an apprentice snake charmer and mind master, becomes a slave in the Emperor's harem. A dedicated sadist runs the harem, and the Emperor is a temperamental drug addict.
Determined to escape, she resists those who urge her to start a slave revolt. Heroes have short lives and violent deaths. Soon, though, she learns the power of friendship and love and can no longer turn her back on the suffering of others. As life in the harem becomes increasingly perilous, Zena wonders if leading a rebellion is the only way she can survive.
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Cats in Command
And Other Stories
By C. M. Barrett
Copyright ? 2013 by C. M. Barrett
Cover design by Joleene Naylor
From a photograph by C. M. Barrett
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Cats in Command and Other Stories Page 5