Flash Fiction # 692 -- Agreement

 

 

Valance stood with his back against the wall, and his head bowed as though resting. Two fingers settled casually on the pommel of his sword, and to anyone who didn't know the soldier, he would appear perfectly at ease.

The woman who entered the room did not make that mistake. She looked him over as if they had never met before. "You completed your task?" She asked. No, she demanded the answer.

"Enemy army destroyed, city in ruins, people scattered.  Now it is time for your part of the agreement."

She glared and then nodded.  "Let us marry, Prince Valence." 

Flash Fiction 691 -- Changes

 

Ungnyeo, lady of the brown bear, keeper of forgotten ways, stared at the craft that would transport her and the others to a new world. There, she would protect and nurture them. They would grow in her grace.

Ungnyeo appeared out of place in hand-sewn clothing as she stood in the shadow of flashing monitors and steel walls.  She shrugged the bearskin higher, ready to leave for Gojoseon.

Magic from that ancient place would follow them from Jigu. As others gathered to leave, a few waved for her to join them, but none prayed anymore.

No matter. That would change.

Flash Fiction #690 -- Life or Death

 

They say if you sit long enough in the shadow of the North Tower, you'll see everyone you ever knew. I didn't believe it until my father walked by, jingling of metal and gold. He'd abandoned his family for the long war and died in a forgotten battle. 

"Choose your side, boy," he ordered.

"What are my choices?"

"Stupid, blind -- no son of mine --life or death, boy. Choose."

"Life."

Father smiled, showing rotting teeth and a putrid black tongue.  I had known his choice.

We would fight forever on opposite sides. There had been no real choice for me.

Flash Fiction #689--Neko heads home again/4

 The horror took all but one thought.

I don't want to be here.

Darkness rippled like water all around him. Things moved, creating more ripples.  Neko tried not to see them, but sometimes he saw a flash of neon color, unexpectedly pretty.

Strange.  He would never have thought Maude had such a calm and sometimes pretty place within her. The feel--

Not her nightmare.  The horror took all but one thought.

I don't want to be here.

Darkness rippled like water all around him. Things moved, creating more ripples.  Neko tried not to see them, but sometimes he caught a glimpse of a flash of neon color, unexpectedly pretty. It moved closer, but something else pulled it away. Neko felt as though he was watching some sort of battle and wondered what he should hope for from this. What part of Maude should he hope to win in this contest? Could he trust anything pretty from her?

The battle continued. He tried to move closer and became aware of other things beyond the darkness. Those parts he could recognize as being Maude's creations. They seethed with anger. What was he supposed to do here? He had never been powerful.

Strange.  He would never have thought Maude had such a calm and sometimes pretty place within her. The feel--

Not her nightmare.  This was a powerful repudiation of everything she tried to throw at him. This was not his power, so someone else had found the link and had come to help him.  He didn't recognize the magic and that told Neko what he needed to know.

"Merlin," he dared whisper.

Neko felt more than heard the agreement. For a moment, he almost relaxed, but that could be too simple a trap.  He did not want to fall into Maude's hands at this point. Rage gave her power.

"Good," Merlin said, suddenly standing by Neko. The cat jumped and fluffed up a bit before he got control of his nerves. Merlin lifted his arms and sent out a wave of magic that transformed into… funny-faced balloons.

Maude's reaction matched Neko's confusion. They had both expected a masterful battle of wits and magic. Instead, they watched the balloon start to dance and sing. It was appalling. Or maybe it was just amusing.

Or confusing. Maude had to turn her attention to figuring out what was going on. Her level of rage dropped considerably. Merlin grunted in appreciation, and suddenly the balloons transformed into wraiths, attacking their prey. Maude tried to call her warriors to battle, but the balloons and the wraiths confused them. Maude shouted orders that her gargoyles and other monsters were not listening to. Dorian and Callen turned and sped toward her as the shadows of her nightmare disappeared.

Neko started that way but then changed his mind when he saw Luna trying to help Reggie with some sort of black blobs that kept bouncing at him. It took little to shred the blobs, and they fizzled and disappeared with a nasty-smelling puff of smoke.

Merlin was preparing to leave the others behind on the Hill and reinforce it so that even Maude's nightmares couldn't escape. Neko considered going with them, but they had enough company. Besides, he really wanted just to go back into the bookstore and rest.

He slept in the chair this time, although I made sure there was no spell attached to it as well. He was only aware at dawn, when the others came straggling in with mutters about the weather.  At least they showed no sign of battle, so Neko didn't feel so bad about not going with them.

Silver Cloud came into the building with four dragons. They quickly shifted to a smaller size. He still felt intimidated. Neko missed a good part of the conversation until he heard someone say they could sit on the roof and guard.

"Taller buildings," Neko pointed out and tried to pretend like he was paying attention. "Dragons sitting on the roof would still draw attention."

"This is an old-fashioned building," a Dragon said with a nod toward him. "It has a nice exterior cornice and corbels at each corner. A perfect spot for a Dragon to play gargoyle."

The others grunted in agreement. Neko couldn't decide if they were happy with the idea or not. Even Silver Cloud seemed less confident about the decision. Nonetheless, Silver and three other dragons went out onto the roof to check things out. 

Neko had trouble falling asleep while the others continued to discuss how best to stay safe. It wasn't as though he didn't trust them to do the right thing, but rather that he'd interfere with a crazy idea again. He slept to keep his mouth shut and woke up well into the day, smelling breakfast nearby. 

The building's tiny kitchen should have felt crowded, but the fae had played with reality, and the room was a nice size.  Neko took his usual place at the end of the table and was several bites in before he realized the others were still talking about Maude.

"I slept," he said with a little snarl. "Did I miss something? What has Maude done now?"

Merlin, who arrived later than Neko, gave an appreciative nod when Dorian pointed him to a chair and handed him a plate of food.

"She has gone into a deep sleep, Neko. One in which she gathers all the power she can without using any. She's buried herself so deep into her subconscious that if we didn't know where we left her, we would have a hard time finding her again. There is no telling how long she will be in the state, but we expect at least a few years."

The idea of years didn't sound nearly long enough. Neko frowned-- right until Luna gave him a piece of bacon. He considered it for a moment and then decided that it was better than worrying about something that would not happen tomorrow.

They had a friendly meal.  The others made plans to come and go, but Neko turned his attention to getting the bookstore up and going again. Luna was still happy to take over the job of dealing with customers.

The group had a quiet winter. Neko, though, knew the trouble was going to come in the spring.

That was when the kittens would be born.

The End

Flash Fiction #688-- Neko heads home again/4

 

The wind came first, of course.  There was always wind as a harbinger of disaster for them. This storm had no warning breeze or flash of lightning, either.

It simply was there and lifted Neko from the ground. Neko howled with anger and saw Reggie the Wolf leap upward into the maelstrom that had already tried to catch him.  In a heartbeat, they were both flying, and Reggie disappeared into a mass of cloud and debris.  A heartbeat later, Silver Cloud swept up past him.

"Dragons!" Silver Cloud shouted.

Neko, already losing his battle, followed and hoped to catch up with his friend.  He didn't like flying and would much rather ride. Besides, Silver Cloud was heading for trouble. Dragons? He couldn't say it worried him much.

He caught hold of his son's tail and began climbing. Silver didn't notice the inconsequential weight of something no larger than two of the scales Neko climbed across.  The magic he used to hold on went unnoticed as well.

Not that it would matter.  Something large -- some things large -- swept through the clearing sky.  They were so high that he dared look down only once. After that, he held on tighter and tried to focus on the trouble they headed toward.

It didn't help.

Dragons in a dozen rainbow hues swept through the sky. Neko shivered at the sight and gasped in surprise.

No. Gasped because the air was thin and shivered because it was cold enough to freeze his whiskers.  He admitted the dragons didn't really surprise him.  Life had been that way lately. 

If Silver intended to battle the dragons, it might be wise to let him know he had a passenger.  Neko scurried up toward the top of the head and leaned close to the right ear. He feared the others had seen him, though.

"Silver Cloud," he said, trying hard not to gasp.

"Honorable Father!  I did not realize cats can fly!"

"Caught your tail and climbed.  It is too cold!"

"Cold," Silver agreed. "Let me talk to them."
Then came a long stretch of whistles, pops, and low-sounding growls. Neko couldn't decide if things were going better or not. Some of the dragons left, but there were at least six still circling in the air around them. A couple of times, Silver became agitated, but nothing unusual happened.

As long as he didn't consider flying in the air with dragons to be unusual. Neko pulled himself into a crevice between Silver's ear and head, which was slightly warmer than out in the open. He rested since there was nothing else he could do at the moment. Silver, who, after all, was not a baby, seemed to have a serious discussion with the other dragons. None of them seemed overly upset, and since there was nothing Neko could add, he decided just to nap for a while. He was a cat, and there are certain requirements of napping that he'd been missing lately.

The others continued to talk until dusk, when a few dragons showed up. Neko thought they might be the ones who had left earlier. There followed a flurry of noises that he realized must really be speech. He thought he heard Maude's name, which got his attention again.

"Honorable father," Silver began. "They have been studying Maude and her prison. She is still fully asleep, of course, but there does seem to be some problem. She has dreams… Although I think we would call them nightmares. They're getting stronger, and my friends here, some of them may leak out. They're putting a watch on the hill, and might take Merlin back with them if he is interested. The rest will stay to help keep watch here until such time as they can end the nightmare threat."

"Won't having so many dragons around draw attention?" Neko asked with a worried glance around the area. "It seems as though we are concentrating a lot of power in a place that shouldn't have any at all."

Silver Cloud talked to his companions while the world went dark around them. It was then that he noticed Reggie gliding along with them. He had the sparkle of ice on his feathers, and that looked dangerous. He asked Silver what Reggie was doing there.

"Mostly, he is working as a messenger," Silver Cloud replied. "And he also answers questions. Reggie and you both served as familiars to Maude. You know things the rest of us, who only saw her in passing, never noticed. Once they have sorted through Reggie's memory of her, they will ask you some questions."

Neko didn't look forward to it. He had done his best to forget most of what had happened in his years with Maude. It hadn't worked, of course. However, he had made an effective wall to keep the worst of it out of his thoughts. He already felt the chill that did not come from the cold of the air around them.

Dragons were a lot warmer than he had expected.

They were also very quick. Silver Cloud spun once, pointed his nose straight down, and headed toward the clouds below them in the land below that. The other dragons did the same, and somewhere nearby, Reggie gave a cry of delight and swept downward with his hawk wings folded back.

Nice to know someone was enjoying themselves.

Then he thought about the conversation to come, and darkness swept through him again. That was Maude's thought, trying to take hold of him, and he would not allow it. He did his best to shiver aside for a moment; he feared he saw her there in the darkness, reaching for him.

Only a nightmare, he told himself.  Time to let his friends try freeing him, even from this nightmare that was not quite his own.

He heard her laugh and looked around, frantic to find where she was now. Or was he inside her nightmare?

"Gotcha," she whispered at his ear.