After finishing his meal, Jaeger stood up with a stretch and took a few more bites of his ghost apple; he'd never had one before, but the taste was starting to grow on him. The fruit looked like every apple he'd ever eaten, except it was pure white. A tingle of information came to him; these things were supposedly an export from faraway Banora. He was halfway to hand the rest to Ventress when he pulled it back, causing her to stomp in annoyance. His unasked question brought another flash of information; these were safe to eat for most creatures, including horses.

“Sorry girl had to be sure.”

He then fed the rest to Ventress before turning away and preparing himself to use Bloodhound. By activating the skill, a golden trail appeared in front of him, leading out of the easternmost exit before continuing down that path.

“Time to saddle up and get moving.”

Tightening the saddle on his horse, he mounted and headed down the eastern exit. It was the same tall grass with no real change; at least at first. Slowly the grass grew heavier and became something else. The grass grew taller and denser, almost like trees. Jaeger felt less like he was on a grassy plain and more like he was entering a strange kind of forest. This intensified as the new grass began to grow to towering heights. Then the gaps between them became large enough for him not only to see, but to move through. He was no longer riding along a cleared path in a grassland, he was now very clearly in the middle of some kind of forest, a forest of tall, dense, springy grass like trees.

“This way? That way? Does it matter? Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows! Step deeper into the forest and you might find your cleared garden. You might find the shadow in the tent room!”

A cultured voice whispered in Jaeger's ear. He immediately pulled back on Ventress, whipping around in his saddle to find the owner of that voice. There was nothing there, but when he turned back, there was a silver cat sitting on Ventress' mane. He aimed his rifle at it.

“My guess is that you are the one who did this nonsense riddle.”

The cat just grinned and showed sharp fangs.

“Either talk sense, get off my horse, or I'll kill you.”

The cat’s grin simply grew wider, and wider, and wider still. Soon enough its head was more grinning sharp teeth then fur and Jaeger was deeply disturbed. So he fired, blowing a hole right through the cat. When the hole burst, the cat seemed to turn into smoke that was drawn through its wound and it disappeared.

“Damn magical madness. What kind of world have I landed in. Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy.”

“Why in darnation have I been brought to this rootin tootin magical malarkey? Why I swear that cat there was just about the most beautiful magical creature I've ever seen, and I just wish I hadn't shot it in a fit of terrible fear.”

Jaeger's eyes widened, for even though that sounded exactly like him, he had never said 'rootin tootin'' in his life, and what was more, the voice came from behind him. Twitching, he looked behind him and saw the same cat. This time it was floating in the air, its face set in a now smaller but still too wide grin. Jaeger almost shot it again, but he'd already seen the uselessness of that. Instead, he did the next best thing and decided to walk away. Pushing Ventress forward, he wanted to get out of this forest as soon as possible. The Bloodhound trail had not disappeared, so there was at least something to be thankful for.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Haste makes waste, so I rarely hurry. But if I had such a fine steed, I'd be in a hurry, too.”

Gritting his teeth but saying nothing, he tried to ignore the cat. It was difficult, considering it had appeared and simply reappeared on Ventress' mane. The only reason he didn't try to shoot it again was because Ventress seemed to have no interest in it. No fear or concern about it, and considering it was on her vulnerable neck, he took that to mean it wasn't a threat.

“If you keep wading along this golden stream, you will end up in the middle of your target's camp.”

Jaeger's furrowed brow deepened, he was under the impression that no one else could see his skill.

“How can you see this? It’s only supposed to be visible to me? Also I know where it will take me, I’m after the person at the other end. I want to find his camp.”

“You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself. I'm here and there, seeing what I want and ignoring what I want, and I can see that if you follow your golden thread, the only thing you'll find at the end is your death.”

The cat's body disappeared, leaving its head floating in front of him. Jaeger felt even more confused by this cat, it spat out riddles and nonsense. More than that, he couldn't identify it, his backlog of stored information had no idea what it could be.

“Fine, if my skill leads me to my death, then correct my path, O mighty cat, and tell me how I can survive.” Sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Make a deal with me. I'm mrrw.” A cigar appeared out of nowhere, and the cat began to smoke it; all while it was still just a head. “I'm so bored, I've been sleeping in this forest for so long, and my favorite bamboo scratching posts are boring now. So make a deal with me and I'll help you.”

Jaeger remembered Lisette mentioning that the Guild had devils on staff, and that made him wary of making deals with creatures he couldn't identify. He'd done some questionable things, but selling souls had never been one of them.

“I’m not offering souls mine or otherwise.”

“Why would I want your soul, it's all human and limited. No, the devils and gods can play with you. I want you to sign a binding pet contract.”

“Sorry, I don't want a pet.”

“You would be my pet.” said the cat, dropping the cigar from his mouth and disappearing.

“Piss off cat, I’ll take my chances with the raiders.”

“Fine, fine. I don't know what I'd do with a manling pet anyway. Agree to sign a Patron Contract. I'll be your patron and you my witless warlock. I'll offer you help in using your skills and other things. In return, you offer me entertainment and other things I want.”

“I need more specifics on what you can offer and what you want. Either I need more requirements for ‘entertainment’ or I can refuse things you want with no repercussions.”

“Hrrrmw. Fine, I can teach you how to improve your skills and give you access to some of my magic. In return, you must take me with you to entertain me, just do your job, fight people, save people, rob people, I don't care. I just want to see what you do.” The cat's body reappeared and rubbed its paws before smiling so broadly that it covered its eyes. “I will also offer you special tasks that I want done. If you do them, I'll reward you with something you need or want.”

“And if I don’t do your special assignments.”

“You get nothing.”

“Fine, but I want this contract in writing.”

The cat slowly flipped all the way around before rubbing its paws on its belly.

“With what manling. I have no thumbs and no paper.”

“I don't think that's going to be a problem for you.”

With another grin, the cat had a quill in its mouth and used it to write on a parchment that Jaeger could swear wasn't there. Quick as lighting a fire, the cat was done and flicked the parchment in Jaeger's direction, where it unfolded.

Patron Contract

The Cat has offered a warlock contract to Bounty Hunter Jaeger Darkblade. By agreeing to this contract The Cat will become a patron of the Bounty Hunter, teaching him how to use his skills, how to cast its magics and being able to view his life for entertainment purposes, along with offering jobs to the manling. By agreeing to this contract Jaeger Darkblade will become the warlock/jester of The Cat, providing him with entertainment as desired and in return will be taught on the best use of his skills and how to use The Cat’s magics. Now hurry up and sign this, I’m bored of all this bamboo and not killing.