I could only be in awe of the teleportation abilities of these gods and goddesses. One moment we were strolling down the gentle hill of the gateway island and the next we were in the middle of a vast forest. The ground was flat and covered in leaves and rot, and all around us was a dense wood of trees and brush. The sour scent of pine needles invaded my nostrils and I let out a sneeze.

“Now then, cat, where to next?” Pampir questioned me.

I took a delicate sniff and wrinkled my nose. How can I smell anything with all these needles?

He frowned down at me. “Well? Which way?” The man stiffened and narrowed his eyes at my cute self. “You have not tricked me, have you?”

I drew my ears back and stabbed a bandaged paw at the needle-littered ground.

“You wish to be set down?”

I rolled my eyes and pointed at the earth, then at my nose.

The response was a blank look. “I do not understand you, cat. You do not wish to be set down?”

I gave an affirmative nod before I gestured at the thick mess of smells around us.

He knitted his eyebrows together and tapped a foot on the ground. “Do you wish for me to set you down or not?”

I would never have this guy as my charade partner. A quick look around and my eyes settled on a rocky bluff some distance off. I pointed at the gray stones and meowed.

Pampir followed my paw and sighed. “Very well but do not expect me to obey your every whim.”

I slumped in his arms as his magic surrounded us, transporting us to that rocky bluff. The vantage point allowed me to see where we had traveled and my mouth dropped open.

The gateway island was a spot in the distance and slightly to our right, recognizable only because of the gleaming stone on the round point. A huge forest stretched out before us, thick with green-leafed trees. Some of them towered over the rest, showing off their great age among the younger generations. A few glistening blue ponds broke the monotony as did the swift river that wound its way through the woods. The rocky hill upon which we stood was not alone but was part of a small mountain range of ebbing and flowing craggy tops and sparse plateaus.

There was some comfort in the vastness that stretched before me. We were upstream from the gateway island and thus on the opposite side of the huge valley where I had had the encounter with the horrible plant.

Pampir’s voice snapped me out of my admiration. “Hurry up, cat! The emperor and His Highness are swift!”

I glared at him before I went to work. The stones were nearly devoid of scents and a clear breeze floated past us. I sat up in his arms and inhaled. My brain buzzed at the myriad of scents, many unfamiliar and a few downright vile. The woods were a busy place of life and death, and the death smelled like rotting flesh.

I tried to block out the more unpleasant smells and searched for the unique blend that belonged to Dadan.

I paused and wrinkled my nose. Dadan? Why in all the realms was I calling him that?

Because it’s adorable.

I rolled my eyes. Not that voice again.

“Well, cat?” Pampir scolded me. “Have you found them or not?”

I would have glared at him but he was right. Time was of the essence and I stopped enjoying the scenery. I pushed away all thoughts of ‘Dadan’ and geography and started deciphering all the smells. My keen sniffer managed to pick up on a faint scent and I pointed one paw upstream toward a small group of leafy hills. The highlands were topped by a shell-shaped dome of solid gray granite rock that glistened in the bright sunlight.

Pampir squinted into the distance and nodded. “Yes, going to Turtle Rock would be an easy point to the Shrouded Mountains.” He tightened his grip on me and his magic surrounded us.

Only our trip was interrupted.

My ride was suddenly a jarring one as the world around us came into view. We weren’t on the rocky point but flying over the forests at the foothills of Turtle Rock. Pampir’s magic made our outlines very faint so that I could see below us.

That’s how I could see the dark green spear-shaped magic shoot out of the forest canopy and straight at us.

“What in all the realms?” Pampir exclaimed as he twisted about to avoid the sharp glittering point of the weapon.

He lost his focus and we went plummeting down toward the canopy. The lord twisted about so his back faced the trees and he hugged me against him. We crashed through limb and branch, the wood cracking painfully against his body before we came out into the open forest floor. Pampir landed with a hard thump on the dried leaves and loose sticks. His body went limp and his arms loosened their grip around me.

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I shot up and examined him. He was breathing but the sound wasn’t very good. His eyes were shut and his face contorted with pain.

And blood. I smelled blood.

I pawed at his chest and meowed but he didn’t stir. A quick look around told me we weren’t very close to any point of civilization.

The march of heavy footsteps caught my attention. I looked over my shoulder in the direction the magic had come and beheld a group of some dozen people. They were shabbily dressed in rough leather and cotton clothes, many stained with travel and food.

A short woman with shoulder-length brown hair led the people. She had a crooked smile on her lips as she stopped a foot away from Pampir.

One of the men scurried up to her side and nodded at the unconscious Pampir. “Is it him, Nan?”

Nan examined his face and nodded. “It’s him. The same one that threw me out of line because I wasn’t good enough.” The woman’s attention invariably fell on me. “Well, well, it looks like the ribbon doler has a pet.”

One of the women scooted up to her other side and hunched over. She eyed me with a hungry look and rubbed her hands together in front of her. “It looks kind of tasty, doesn’t it?”

I spun around and my fur stood on end as I hissed at her. The group merely laughed at my grandiose attempts to be ferocious.

The leader crossed her arms over her chest and leered down at me. “What’s he to you, little spiritual cat? Just another food supplier, huh? Well, he took food out of our mouths by throwing me out of the fair, so now it’s time for a little revenge.” The woman’s face twisted with fury and she kicked the bottom of his foot. “Get up!” she snapped as the people behind her jeered and echoed her. “Come on! I know you’re not dead so get up!”

Her loud words stirred my companion and I leaped off his chest where I could stand at his side. Pampir’s unfocused eyes fluttered open and rolled about our unfamiliar surroundings. His gaze finally fell on the woman at his feet and the people who crowded around behind her like a herd of animals clinging to their leader.

“What is the meaning of this?” he protested as he tried to sit up. He winced and dropped back onto the ground where he clutched his left side. His fingers partially obscured a faint dark red stain that soaked through his robes. He clenched his teeth and cast his eyes at the crowd. “I am injured. I believe there is a village only a few miles southwest of here, is there not?”

“Bad luck for you there is,” Nan scolded him as she nodded at her companions. “We saw your light flashing all over the hillside over there and thought you looked a little lonely.”

Pampir narrowed his eyes as he gingerly sat up. “Then you were the ones who attacked me?”

The woman coyly cupped one side of her face in her palm and rolled her eyes up to the sky. “Was that me that threw that little bit of magic at you? I guess I don’t know my own strength.”

“You’re wasting your time telling this guy about being strong,” one of her group spoke up as he nodded at Pampir. “What would a scrawny thing like him know about strength?”

“I know enough to have trounced the likes of you many times over who tried to storm the gate,” Pampir countered. He leaned forward on one hand and eased himself onto his feet to face the horde. “Now will you show us the way or step aside?”

Nan’s fist swung out so fast and hard that I heard a crack as it connected with his bone cheeks. Pampir’s head jerked to one side and he stumbled backward a half dozen steps before he caught himself. Blood poured out of numerous scratches on his cheek and a few drops dribbled onto the ground at his feet.

Nan held up the fist she’d used to punch him and revealed a patch of thick green scales that covered her knuckles. “Not so tough without that gate to protect you, are ya?” she tormented to the resounding laughter and jeers of her compatriots. She cracked her scales hands and they sounded off like fireworks. “We’re going to teach you a lesson about leaving us out of the money bag.”