Flash Fiction #625 -- Neko's Trip Home/5

 

Of course, we stayed for the festival. Who could turn away from bright lights, acrobats, dancing elephants (and their chipmunk friends), music, plays, and small poodles dancing on the backs of horses?

Down through the years, I've noticed that humans will do just about anything to be entertained. Dancing poodles is not the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Cats are lucky since we can find just about anything to keep ourselves entertained, and we will not dance for our dinner.

Mostly.

There was so much going on that people rarely noticed that I was a talking cat.

Or so we thought.

Colin rented us a couple of tents near the central fountain.  It was well after midnight, and only a few people were still up.  The elephants and chipmunks had gone off with a promoter who wanted to take them on tour.  The little army had joined the local guard for the festival's duration, but I had the feeling they wouldn't go on with us, either.

Eliminating one mousie-like temptation.

Not that I would have eaten them.  I don't even like the taste of mice.

"I am going to be in and out tonight, Neko," Collin said.  "I want to go check the gates and see if I can narrow down which one we'll use."

"They are near?" I asked.

"A couple of miles out of town.  Why don't you spend the night with Luna? Both of you get some rest.  I can't guarantee that this will be an easy trip back to where we belong."

"Good idea," I agreed. I thought nicely about going home -- or at least to the reality I best understood.  The bookstore called me tonight.  I looked forward to sleeping in my bed and staying up too late reading odd books.

That's what vacations were about, right?  Seeing other things and appreciating what you have.

There were still noises outside, and some people had gotten rowdy now that they had been told to quiet down for the night.

Sometimes, humans are a lot like cats.

Luna was sitting just inside her tent with some Tarot cards spread out before her. She looked up and smiled as I neared.

"You know, it is remarkably hard to get a reading for the future when you aren't even sure where you are.  Come in."

 I stepped around the cards, Careful not to disturb them. I had enough trouble with the future without messing with tarot readings.

"Colin is gone to check out the gates," I told Luna as I sat beside her. "He wants to find the one that will lead us back home if you can. Otherwise, I think we're going to be bouncing around a bit. Are you still happy to be with us?"

Luna turned to me and smiled. "I was in a bad situation before the two of you came along. And you can't say that we haven't had some adventures together. I hope that everything works out soon, but even if it does, I still want to stay with the two of you. Has Colin asked if you want to leave us? I'm beginning to think that you worry so much about the rest of us that you don't consider what you might want."

Her words surprised me because I had not really considered my future. I was happy enough to be free of the building in which I'd been trapped for so long, and I was having a great time on our road trip, even if it had taken a slight detour. But my future? I had never considered such a thing in all my life.

"As long as I'm not trapped in some building for a couple hundred years, I think I'll be happy. I will even be happy back at the bookstore because I have so much stuff squirreled away that it will take a while for me to sort it out. Besides, I am not there alone anymore. That doesn't mean you have to stay when we get back there. You may not like the bookstore."

"You're joking, right?" Luna gave an unexpected laugh. "I've never met a bookstore I didn't like. You think I'm going to run away from one with pixies, fae, and a talking cat?"

"Not to mention the books," I added. "There are a few so old they were written in Latin."

I feared she would swoon.

Then I thought I was fainting.  Everything went completely still and a dusty gray.  I turned slowly, afraid that everything would turn to dust and blow away if I touched anything or created the slightest breeze by moving.


"Nice kitty," something growled.

Then something grabbed me, and I feared I felt the world dissolved as I went ... Somewhere else.

Everything had gone black. everywhere and so bright that I couldn't see a shadow, even my own.

"What the hell --" I began.

I sensed movement nearby, though I could see nothing. It proved hard to concentrate, and even though I knew some minor magic, I could not recall any of the spells.

"Nice kitty," the voice growled again.

"I'll show you nice kitty," I finally snarled --

Something bit me on my back left leg.  It wasn't a tiny insect, either. I spun and found nothing except a spot of bright pink where my leg bled.

Something laughed.

Flash Fiction #624 -- Neko's Trip Home/4

 

Gone.

More than gone, it was as though they had never been here. There should have been signs of the elephants at the very least.

Maybe I had taken the wrong path back.  Maybe this realm messed with my abilities.  I glanced around, but everything looked too perfectly the same for me to be wrong.

"Colin?" I whispered.  "Luna?"

Nothing.

"Colin! Luna!"

Nothing.

I have had an odd and even dangerous life.  Very little can scare me.  

"Meow," I cried.  I felt like a helpless kitten.  I turned in circles.  Where could they have gone?  Why did they abandon me?  "Meow, meow, meow..."

No.

Why was I panicking?  I knew they hadn't simply forgotten me.  There was magic involved, and that power didn't scare me, even though it was a different type of magic than I had known before.

That realization on its own bothered me. Even before I met Colin the Fae and Luna the Seer, I had known magic. Until now, I hadn't considered how Colin came from another realm, but his magic was mostly the same as the little that I knew.

I could not even feel the magic here.  I could only perceive its effects.  Everyone but me -- and maybe the elephants -- had seemed to be affected by the power. That couldn't be because we were not human.  The chipmunks had seemed touched by the magic.  Or at least they were gone with everyone else.

Where?

They hadn't walked away.  I would have noticed that path. I had noticed where we had walked in or any other spot around --

Up?

I considered it as I looked up into that unchanging -- and obviously magical -- sky. I had gotten used to the never changing daylight until I started thinking about it. Unnatural was the least I could consider it.

Cursed came to mind with a sudden rush of worry. This place was cursed to eternal daylight.  We had seen very little in native life except for plants. I had no time to consider what more it might mean because up appeared to be the right direction.  I could feel magic in the air above me.  Strong magic, moving like a wind into the direction we had been traveling.

I wouldn't have considered  it so important, but I could feel a trace of fae magic, specifically Colin's power, like a thread through it.

I began jumping upward.

I am a Siamese.  I did pretty well, despite fearing I was simply going to fall farther, the higher I jumped.

Then, when that didn't work, I climbed a tree to the highest branch that would hold me, and threw myself off with arms outstretched as though they were wings.

I flew.

It was all about attitude, and any Siamese can handle that, even without magic.  I enjoyed it for about three minutes (I need a watch in this place).

It was at three minutes that I started considering the idea of landing.  What if I saw my friends below me?  Did I just drop out of the sky and hope for the best?  Did I sweep down like a bird of prey and catch someone by the shoulder?

They couldn't be far now.  I could hear Luna calling my name.

By the time I saw them, Luna had hold of one man and shook him like a rag doll.  A man with a lot of power, too, although he looked too shocked to use any of it.

"You lost Neko!" Luna shouted and shook him some more.  "Where is Neko!  You had better find him, or I swear --"

The man --fae -- started to look annoyed.

"Luna, how do you land?" I shouted down at her.

She looked up. Then she released her prey, who stumbled backward.

"Neko!"

"I can't get down."

"How did you get up there?" Colin asked.

"I climbed a tree and jumped."

No one questioned that answer.  There is a reason we get along so well.

Colin reached upward and I could feel tendrils of his magic carefully catching hold of me. He gently pulled me down and into Luna's arms.  She cried and held me tight so that I could hardly breathe at first.

"Now," Colin said, looking at the other tree.  "What is going on here?  Why did you bring us here?"

"We naturally assumed you were part of the carnival," one of them said.  "You showed up in one of the pickup spots, so we grabbed you to get in early."

"What made you think we were part of this carnival?" Colin asked, still confused.

"Quite honestly, it was the elephants."

"He has a point," Luna said.
 

Flash Fiction #623 -- Neko's Trip Home/3

 

Colin all but spun around, looking --

"Not here," the leader said with a note of disbelief. He mumbled something about stupid giants. "It's far away.  It will be a long journey, even for giants."

Great.

We had a destination and guides, though.  The purple grass wasn't so bad, but the orange flowers had spikes at the ends of the petals.  I quickly learned to watch out for those.

We walked and walked and walked.  I noticed that the sunlight never changed.  Colin glanced upward a few times, too, so I knew he had noticed.  He said nothing, so neither did I.

The terrain changed from hour to hour, though, so at least we were not marching in place. I wondered if our new companions ever got tired or hungry. I was about ready to beg for food from Colin or Luna. All that stopped me was the idea of trying to hurry to catch up with them. My legs ached. Wasn't there a magical way to travel in this realm? Was there no magic here? There were many things I wanted to ask Colin, but it didn't seem like a good time. My questions might indicate weakness, and though I didn't worry about going up against the small army, I did worry about what else might be out there.

There had been other giants that came into this area. Had they all left by these gates we were heading towards? And what were the gates, anyway?

The little guys looked exhausted when their leader suggested we stop for the night. Colin shook his head.

"The sooner my group gets to the gates, the better it will be for everyone. Why don't you ride on the elephants?"

The troops discussed it and decided riding on an elephant would be better than sleeping and walking again tomorrow. At least one of the elephants didn't seem to find this objectionable and was probably as tired as everybody else from the slow pace they'd been forced to keep. Colin suggested I get up with them, but that didn't seem like a good idea. The chipmunks went up as well, though. I was glad when Luna scooped me up, and I could ride in her arms for a while. We were already moving faster than we had for the whole day.

"Why didn't you want to ride with them?" Luna asked.

"I am hungry," I mumbled.

"I'm sure we can find some food for you, and you could eat it up there," she replied.

"No, that is not the problem. I am hungry and the little guys were starting to look like mice in uniforms."

I could tell she was starting to laugh and fought the emotion back. However, she did glance up at the soldiers and gave a nod of her head. She also found me a piece of cheese from her purse. I almost asked how she happened to have it there, but then I thought about her power and realized it was probably inevitable that she would have just what I needed to stop me from going berserk and devouring our allies.

We kept going for a few miles before Colin finally called a break. Only the elephants hadn't been complaining, but even they looked ready to rest for a while.

"I miss the car," I admitted. The chipmunk nestled by me gave a sound of agreement. "I thought I was just getting the knack of those windshield wiper things. And now here we are about to get rained on again."

Everyone stopped and looked up at the sky as though no one had noticed it before. I was beginning to think there was something strange about this realm, and I wanted to talk to Colin about it, but he was now talking with the general. That was not a conversation I wanted to get involved in.

Besides, they were still looking like tasty little mice to me -- which was strange because I never really did like mice for dinner. Or breakfast and lunch. I sniffed the air and swore that I could smell mice...

Something very odd was going on, and I began to suspect that I was the only one not taken in by some magical vision surrounding us. Even the chipmunk seemed blissfully unaware. I looked over at Colin again, but he was deep in conversation. Maybe it was time that I did a little exploration of my own. I did have my own powers, though they were nothing compared to the Fae.

Maybe being someone of lesser power was why I wasn't affected like the others. Maybe I had just enough magic to protect myself, unlike the chipmunks, but not enough power to be targeted by whatever spell laid over this place.

Or perhaps I was just going a little stir-crazy and seeing trouble where there was none.

I could still smell mice, though.

Being down on the ground felt odd at first. I had not been walking much lately, and the ground felt mushy beneath my paws. The purple grass was not as thick here but seemed to have a different scent. There were none of the enormous orange flowers, either. The elephants sniffed at the plants and then began to nibble them again.

I would never be that trusting of this place.

I could feel more magic as I moved away from the others. The area had a few low hills and a small stream with pink water and rainbow fish swimming.  I watched and then realized I still couldn't judge the passage of time.  I didn't want to miss lunch or have Colin come hunting for the lost cat.

I retraced my steps up over the small mounds and ridges.  The golden butterflies were back, and I thought there might be more flowers, including a few of the huge orange ones.

When I got back to the camp, the others were gone.

Flash Fiction #622 -- Neko's Trip Home/2

 

The first sign we were somewhere else was the fields of grass where there had been nothing but sand and rock before.  Purple grass dotted with bright orange flowers. Golden-winged butterflies glittered as they danced over the petals.

I looked at Colin.

"Somewhere in the Faelands," Colin said.  He squinted out the window.  "I have never been here before, though. We might as well get out. The car won't go any farther into the magic lands."

Luna eased her door open and looked cautiously around before she stood. I held onto her shirt and thought about just burying my head in the cloth until things went back to normal.

Three elephants took mincing steps through the purple grass. I looked down and decided to hold on a little tighter. There was no way I was going to put my feet down there. What if it stained my paws? Or worse, my legs. I wouldn't look terrific in purple.

Then, one elephant took a little bite of the purple stuff. Before long, we were all eating it. Colin watched them for a moment and then shrugged again. They didn't seem to know much of what was happening, which worried me since he was the closest we had to a guide here.

The Chipmunks must have decided to stay in the car. That didn't work out well. The car made a popping noise and disappeared, dropping everything we put in it, including our new little friends, on the ground.

At that point, we all turned to Colin, including elephants and chipmunks. He looked startled, glancing around at the entire group.

"Why are you looking at me?" He asked. "What makes you think I have any idea what's going on?"

"You said this is the fae land," Luna reminded him. "And you happen to be our only Fae."

"We are in so much trouble," I mumbled. The chipmunks nodded in agreement.

I started looking around, hoping for a sign that would direct us back to our own place. I saw purple grass and orange flowers that seemed to go on for miles until they faded into the hill land beyond us. I saw nothing except the strange movement of the grass about half a mile away from us. It took me a moment to realize something was heading our way. Whatever it was, the thing appeared to be short and long.

"I think we're about to have company," I said and nodded toward the waving grass.

We all gathered in the line, but the elephants remained behind us. I had the feeling the elephants might be a little intimidating, and Colin agreed. The elephants never told us what they thought.

I could hear small voices. "High-cut, low-cut, high-cut, low-cut."
We had trampled down the grass in our area, and it wasn't long before a small army appeared at the edge.

A small army of very small people. At first, I mistook them for pixies, but they had no wings and certainly didn't have the pixie disposition. About 60 of them rushed out of the higher grass and lifted their swords and other weapons into the air as though to warn us they were not to be messed with.

I don't think laughing with the answer either. I had to do a lot to keep myself from doing more than coughing. One of them was a stout little guy with a beard all the way down to his waist. Stepped forward and looked at us with a snarl.

"Not more damned Giants," he snarled in a voice that was louder than I had expected. "What do you want here?"

He shoved his sword into the ground, waiting for an answer. It was a good question. My answer would have been to say we only wanted to get away, but that might not be polite.
We looked at Colin again.
Since he didn't look any less confused, I had to suspect he had no idea what was going on. "It might help if we knew where we are," he offered with a bright smile.

"You must be blind! It's obvious where you are. You're in the land of the purple grass."

This was not going to be as easy as I had hoped. Then something odd -- well odder -- happened. The little guys had been looking up at us, but something to their attention to the ground. And there they saw the chipmunks. Their leader yelled angrily, drew his sword out of the ground, and started to charge forward with all of his army behind him.

The chipmunks rightly panicked at this behavior. One jumped on my back, and the others climbed Colin or Luna.

Colin pointed at the army. "Stop right there."

And they did, although that had clearly not been their intention. They gave cries of fear and anger.  The chipmunks made sounds of worry.

"How dare you come between us and the evil ones!"

Chipmunks as evil ones finally got a laugh from me. Neither side appreciated it. Apparently, the elephants got bored, though.  They wandered off, munching on purple grass.

The leader took a swipe at Colin's ankle.  He yelped and grabbed the guy up by his shirt.  "Don't do that," Colin ordered. "None of us, including the Chipmunks, are here to do you any harm. What makes you think there's a great evil?"

"They come in every harvest season and raid our fields and still our food before they cross back to their own lands and leave us to find more supplies for winter."

"They go back to their own lands? How did they do that?" I asked and shifted slightly to move the chipmunk off my shoulders.

"They don't do it with your fancy fae magic.  Oh yes, I know what you are.  Put me down!"

Colin put him down. "How do they get home?"

"By using a gate, of course."