Flash Fiction #636 -- Neko's Trip Home/16

 

 

 Hawks.

Five Hawks flew into our area. Four red-tailed hawks took positions at the cardinal points while the majestic white hawk landed on the fountain's edge.

Hawks belong to a realm where stubbornness is a virtue, and these birds have reached alpha status there. Once they have decided, getting them to change their decision is impossible. For instance why it would be a bad idea to try to eat you. Holding off a hawk while you attempt to get the window closed is no fun.

I tried to tunnel under the street again.

One of the hawks moved a step closer to me. I decided to become a rock.

"Fae," the hawk said in a tone that showed he was not happy. "Colin and Dorian."

"Kind of you to remember," Dorian said with a bow of his head. "And we remember you, of course, Lord Whitefeather."

"There. We have proved that our memories are all still good. So, I assume you two also remember the treaty."

"Word for word," Dorian replied.

"No doubt," the hawk said with a hint of snarkiness. "And you are still here interfering in my realm."

"You know the fae fight slavery everywhere."

"There are no slaves here."

"So, we should allow them to become slaves and then hope to rescue them," Colin replied. "Don't be pedantic with me."

The white hawk spread his wings and threw back his head in a show of dramatic aggression. From what I could tell, he hadn't impressed Colin.

I was fine until the other four hawks mimicked their leader's move. My legs twitched as I prepared to run. This was blind and instinctive fear. I saw nothing but predators around me.

But while I was blind, I was not deaf.

"Oh, do stop being so pretentious, Whitefeather," a familiar voice said. Avesa joined us from the alley to the right.

All of the hawks looked surprised and maybe embarrassed as they folded down their wings and bowed their heads to the lady.

Avesa surprised me by picking me up out of the hole. I wanted to protest, but suddenly, the hawks didn't seem so much like predators.

"Lady Avesa," Whitefeather said with a bit of a smirk despite his reaction to seeing her. "You haven't been around for quite a while."

"And you know why."

I was glad she handed me to Dorian. I didn't want to be too close to this disagreement. Even Colin backed away.

Not that it mattered since the two were not quiet. I was glad to see Luna had the children sitting down and silent.

Dorian had taken the guards and slavers in hand, but they looked restless.

"Dorian needs help," I whispered.

He looked back at the group, but I focused on Maude. She leaned against a wall and looked far too calm. She wasn't as powerful as she would be later, but the potential was there. So was the hatred and disdain for everyone else.

I was sure Avesa had not seen her. I didn't know if I wanted her to spot our mutual enemy. She was handling the hawks just now, and I didn't want them to go wild on us. They would and through no fault of their own. There was so much magic in the air -- and from different sources -- that it might short-circuit thought patterns. Some of us could be thrown back to our animal forms.

Let Avesa keep things under control.

I kept watch on Maude and her people. She was not in charge, but I knew she was the most dangerous of the group. In fact, I didn't like how quiet she'd been.

In all the time I had known Maude, she had never been quiet. Now, she stood by the ogre guards, looking no more interested than they were.

Looking at Maude, I was struck by how much she mimicked the ogres.

Like one of them in human skin.

Oh hell.

I admit that I panicked. "Where is Maude!"

"She's right there," Colin said. "Oh hell."

Before long, even the hawks were looking for our missing witch. She could look like anything, and by the time we found her, it turned out to be another fake. I studied everyone who came in sight, but before too long, I felt a wave of desperation, knowing Maude would get away and all we did here would gain us nothing.

I wanted to go home. I wanted to go to the beach, the mountains, the desert. I was beginning to feel trapped in this never-ending quest --

Trapped.

At first, I couldn't find Avesa. I had to fight my limbs to move so that I turned -- and found her sitting by the well, her head bowed into her hands and her breath coming in ragged gasps.   She was the perfect vision of despair.

I forced myself closer, each step like fighting through a storm. What could I do? Even the fae and ogres were affected by this woman's emotions. We had not broken her spell. She had brought it with her.

"Stop!" I gasped. In all my years of captivity, I had never felt such despair. It is an attack, I reminded myself. An attack.

I had no weapon to fight it. I didn't have enough magic.

But I did have very sharp teeth.

I bit her on the ankle.

Avesa's despair changed to rage, and she caught me by the front right leg and left me dangling as she stood. She was about to throw me when she suddenly swept me up, holding me tight. I could feel desperation coming back --

"Either you fight for control, or I'll bite you on the nose," I warned.

For a heartbeat, despair fought for control, even when the fae added his power to help destroy the spell.

"This despair is not you," Dorian said as he touched her forehead.

That was a mistake.

Flash Fiction #635 -- Neko's Trip Home/15

 

The fox came with us when we headed for the crossroads. He seemed overly enthusiastic about our agreement to take a look.

So he led us to a minor road, a bridge over a stream, and what seemed to be an alley crossing over the area.

"This was an important spot a few hundred years ago," Fox said. "There were fewer buildings, a lovely fountain, and statues of heroes."

I realized he'd been here and most likely knew more about the Forgotten than he had told us. I wanted to demand answers, but I worried that with so much magic about, such a demand might take on a different life than I had intended. This was not a night to take chances.

Have you ever walked down a street at night and thought someone followed you? Then, looking back, you see no one?

It was like that, but knowing something really was there.

Colin handed me to Luna, indicating the trouble was about to start. He and Darian slowed until they were behind Luna and me. Fox ran around us, kicking up almost visible traces of natural magic.

Shosha slept in Luna's pocket.

We were near the spot where the old fountain had been. It was easy to make out the circular pattern of old brick and the metal shield that now blocked off the system that had brought water to the surface.

And this was when something odd happened ... as if this midnight journey had been anything normal before now.

I heard children laughing. This wasn't anything I had expected. They were coming down the main road, swirling shapes that divided into individuals with discernible faces. Happy children. How could they be Forgotten?

"What happened here?" Colin asked.

"They were part of a refugee group," Fox said. "They were told to wait by the fountain."


The children's memory of the fountain, mixed with the wild magic in the air, made it real again. It did the same for the children.

"What happened here?" Darion asked, his voice as soft as a breeze.

"Slavers," the fox said with a snarl. "The children were traded for supplies to feed refugees on their way across the land. The slavers will arrive soon. They'll kill the youngest and the weakest of the group."

"No," Luna said. "We need to find a way to stop them!"

"No," Fox replied with a violent shake of his head. "We come here to ensure all goes as it did that night. Some have tried to change it, but it did not go well."

"No," Luna repeated. There was no arguing with her.

And I found I agreed with her anyway. The children were almost real already and I heard the sound of another group coming to the fountain.

They laughed.

I think the laughter upset the fae to a point beyond reason. I jumped from Colin's hold and almost landed in the water. Instead, I caught the sleeve of a young girl's shirt.

"Go!" I told her. "Gather them all and run!"

I hadn't considered the effect of a talking cat.

She screamed. I yowled. Luna came running to help, and beyond her, I could see the two slavers and their men arriving. The male slaver looked fat, scowling, and angry.

The woman was Maude.

The others might not have recognized her since she was so young. They didn't understand why I growled, leaped across the fountain, and charged toward her. Colin tried to use magic to hold me back, but my power surged through it.

I saw when she recognized me. I didn't expect her to scream in fear and shock.

"You can't be Neko! He's trapped!"

Colin, Dorian, and perhaps even Luna understood now. Shosha cried out and hid. I kept going because I had her at a disadvantage for once.

I never considered that her companions might also have magic. The stout leader spun on me with a curse and fire in his hands. I swerved in time, although I hated giving up my attack on Maude.

That's when I realized the guards all but glowed with magic. And despite how they looked, they were not human. They would be no help for me, and finding myself at their feet was a bad position.

Dart one way, slip the other, swipe at a reaching hand while avoiding the knife in the other. Magic didn't seem to give them extra speed or strength. It just made them human.

Outwitting humans was never that difficult. The guards were too close together, too. So I confused them, dancing around their legs and then down into a crevice at the edge of the street.

I had lost them, and it was even a few heartbeats before Maude began to yell.

"Where is he? Where did the cat go!"

"Damn the cat," the man snarled. "Get the children! If the guard comes along, we can't talk our way out of this!"

"That's why we have powers!"

"And if we use any more, we'll draw the watchers down on us. Grab the children."

"No," Dorian said. It was a simple word with a lot of power. "You will not take them."

"Fae," the man mumbled, and I could hear a hint of worry in his voice this time. "Maude --"

"I want the cat. Neko, come to me."

She had the power to call me. I had to put all my little strength into not moving so that I became almost as still as stone. Maude and her companions had limited time, and Maude wouldn't risk getting caught even to catch me. She was already siphoning off some of her magic to rope in the frightened children. Did they expect the fae to do nothing? The sudden surge of magic brightened the world. Maude yelled --

And then the watchers arrived with their own magic. I tried to tunnel my way into the ground. This was not good.