Saben led Seth into the city. Rosia was the kingdom capital and had walled districts that were like separate cites. The Upper Town was where the Royal Palace was. Saben had just pointed towards that district and told Seth not to be tempted and to stay out of it. Seth just sighed.
There was also the Magic District, where the Magic Academy was, its dorms, and the shops and businesses that supported them. This was the district that Saben led Seth to. There Saben circled a market as many of the outer stalls were starting to close for the night. In short order Saben had sold the hides and some of the claws Seth had acquired, and replaced Seth’s torn clothes and missing shoes.
The inner market square stayed lively even as night fell. Seth was distracted constantly by street performers and hucksters inviting him to games of chance.
One in particular looked interesting. Seth watched while Saben haggled with a shopkeeper.
“Two pennies!” the man cried. “I’ll double your money if you can keep your eyes on the red card! Come boy, give it a try! Just two pennies!”
“You’re not actually thinking of playing, are you Seth?” Saben asked.
“Well, why not? I think I can keep track of a card.”
“Of course you can. Anyone can. So how do you think he is making money?”
“There’s a trick to it, of course.”
“Yup. And what’s the trick?”
Seth watched him playing for a bit. “He waves one hand to distract you while moving the cards with the other.”
“And?”
Seth watched some more. “That looks like it.”
“And that is why you’ll lose your money every time, little brother. I’ll let you play when you know the trick. Come on, the next stop is this way.”
Saben left the market area and wandered into the winding alleys that bordered the Magic District and the less savory East End. Here he walked up to the side door of a run down house and banged loudly.
A young woman snatched the door open and glared at them.
“Hi Isolde. Think you could do a familiar ritual for me?”
She glanced up and down the two boys, then either side of the empty street. “I ain’t got nothing left but a bat and a couple toads. You fine with that?”
“We already got one. We just need the ritual,” Saben replied.
She pursed her lips a moment then waved the boys inside. She led them through dark and narrow hallways and down a steep staircase into a stone basement. There were a variety of cages here and some were exceptionally large. They were so large that any creature that needed them would be too big for the hallway and stairs they used to get in.
In the back of the room was a clear area with a ritual circle laid out. A table covered with bowls of colored powder was next to shelves filled with bottles of different shapes.
“All right. Show me what you got,” she said, turning to the boys.
Seth pulled the cub out of his bag. She yawned mightily, then squinted suspiciously at the woman.
“What kind of cat is that?” Isolde asked. “Looks like it’ll get bigger.”
“It’s a kitten, and the mom was bigger,” Seth answered.
“I asked what kind of cat, not how old it was,” Isolde said. “And don’t bullshit me. I need to know this shit if you want the ritual to work.”
“That’s all I know, sorry,” Seth said, and looked at Saben uncertainly. Would it be fine to tell Isolde about the horns and stuff?
“All we know is that it came from Below. It’ll get bigger, but we don’t know how much bigger,” Saben said.
Isolde suddenly snatched the cat up by the scruff. The cat hissed and waved her claws, but the woman was expert at avoiding them and controlling the beast as she examined the creature. “An entrance? Where? And are there more cats? These would sell way better than toads.”
“That’s privileged,” Saben answered.
“Humph. So you don’t intend to use it as a mount or anything. Fine. Any reason you’re so sure this is a magic beast? Below by itself doesn’t mean anything, there’s all kinds of weird shit down there. Ritual won’t take unless both the master and familiar have power. That looks like an ordinary snow leopard to me.”
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“She understands when spoken to,” Saben said, “and has obeyed spoken commands.”
“Familiar rituals can get pretty wonky with more powerful beasts. We should probably do a power assessment on both you and the beast to see what kind of materials we need. That’ll cost more. You got a talent, kid?”
“I do,” Seth answered, conjuring up a little wind.
“We don’t have funds for the assessment and stronger materials,” Saben said. “We should probably just do the stronger materials.”
Isolde handed the cat back to Seth and turned to Saben. “You’re pretty confident this is a powerful enough beast that you want the upgraded ritual straight off? Those materials ain’t cheap and I can’t do all the standard substitutions.”
“It’s cheaper than having to redo it.”
Saben and the woman haggled for a bit. Seth wasn’t really paying attention and studied the room. He saw the toads and the bat at the far end, looking pretty forlorn. Or as forlorn as toads and bats can look. Eh, maybe they weren’t forlorn, and Seth just thought they looked that way. Honestly, the animals probably didn’t care much.
His cat was very interested in the surroundings, her body nearly thrumming in his hands.
Finally Saben and Isolde settled on a price, and Saben handed the woman several pricey coins and a few items from his bag. She put one of the things he gave her on the table, and the rest in a locked box. She pulled other things out of the box and assembled her reagents. She added lines and symbols to the circle on the floor and then directed Seth to it.
“All right. Sit down in the center with your beast, and don’t touch any of the lines. I’ll charge you again if I need to redo the circle.”
Seth carefully arranged himself in the circle and put the cat in his lap and held her firmly. He wondered how Saben knew this woman and where he got the money to pay for it. Seth didn’t think the sale of just the hides was worth all this. Maybe he’d sold the horns too.
After several moments of waiting as Isolde continued to work Seth finally asked about the large cages. “If beasts as big as these are allowed, why don’t we see more around?” Seth asked.
“The big ones are for mounts, not familiars. You can bind a mount in a similar way, but it’s only really necessary if the mount isn’t normally cooperative. You can’t stable those types with normal mounts, so they’re rare in cities,” Saben answered.
“So, like, giant lizards or wolves or something?”
“Yeah, pretty much. They’d eat any horses, or scare them anyway. Not really useful unless you are out of town most of the time, or need a mount you can take Below for example.”
“Why would you want a mount in a tunnel? You can’t ride it there, can you?”
Saben shrugged. “I dunno. It’s what I was told when I asked.”
The woman was finally done with whatever she was doing.
“The two of you are going to be connected. The more you trust each other, the better and stronger your bond will be.” The woman started lighting candles around the circle, then poured bits of powder in each candle. As the ritual went on the cat got more and more antsy.
“It’s okay,” Seth said softly to the cat. “This should make it so we can understand each other better. I know you’re smart, so this should help.”
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What. The. Fuck.
Crazy land just keeps being crazy.
Gandalf is here sitting with me in what looks like a demon summoning circle from a bad movie. It would be comical if it wasn’t tinkling a vague memory. I’d seen shit like this before. Recently.
He was keeping a firm grip on me and I couldn’t get down to get a good look around. Nothing was ringing the old ‘Eureka!’ bell, and all I was getting was some deja vu. I squirmed anyway, but Gandalf had a few pounds on me and I couldn’t leave. Whatever. This shit was just weird, not scary.
I could tell we were in a basement somewhere, and that this was definitely not official-like proceedings. But that was okay. Getting a job done was far more important than doing it all on the up and up.
Ugh, I was still so tired. And hungry. I was rudely awakened from a delightful nap for this shit. I’d slept all day already, and I felt like I could sleep a couple more.
I watched the demon summoning ritual. Well, I really doubted that’s what it was, seeing as I was already in the summoning circle. The kid was here too, and I didn’t think he’d be volunteering for anything too wackadoodle. I had no idea what he meant by connected, but maybe this would let me talk? Eh, my choice right now was to roll with it and let the kid do what he wanted, or just nope out of all this. If I noped out, I’d probably be on my own in crazy land. And I didn’t think the kid would keep feeding me. I didn’t like the idea of hunting mice for food, that was just gross. Or eating raw food. Grosser still.
For the sake of good food, I shall stay and allow Gandalf to serve me. Yay food!
Assholes better feed me something nice.
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“Alright, touch the sphere, and then touch your beast. That will be the location of its mark,” The woman had placed an orb in front of Seth during the ritual, and now the orb was glowing faintly.
“Is it supposed to be cracked like this?” Seth asked, studying the orb. “The light looks a bit inconsistent.”
“Yes, it’s normal. Just touch it and then the cat.”
Seth touched the orb and all the glow from the sphere now clung to his hand. He touched the beast on the back of her neck, in the same spot that a mother would pick up her kitten. The glow didn’t leave his hand and go into the cub as expected. Instead, they both glowed faintly before the magic sparked briefly, then winked out and the circle vanished.
The woman was frowning. She picked up the beast and examined the place Seth had touched it.
“What went wrong?” Saben asked. “Was the bloodcrystal powder a bad substitution?”
“Nothing went wrong,” the woman said. “The mark is here. Might have been some interference or something.”
“So she’s bonded to me now? No one can take her from me?” Seth asked.
“Here. Stand over there and close your eyes,” The woman said. She then handed the cat to Saben and motioned for him to move across the room. “Now, without opening your eyes, where is your beast?”
Seth was able to point directly at Saben.
“And how is your beast feeling?”
Seth cocked his head like he was listening. “She’s annoyed. And hungry.”
“There you go. Enjoy your new pet, and if you have any questions, ask somewhere else.”
Saben laughed. “Thank you, Isolde,” he said. He handed her a folded piece of paper that Seth guessed was the location of the Below entrance. Then they left.
Once they were outside Saben’s smile faded. “Let’s go see Benjamin now.”