Blue twilight darkened before my eyes. I blinked as the reflection of sunset on the puddles became as ink. Thus I was sure that I had opened my sight to witness the moment after dusk.
"Tremendous pain will be yours. You have no idea what bargains you owe and what debts shall be torn from your flesh." Hatheria reminded me.
I knew the creature's name and her intentions. I had forgotten how I got there and why I had come. I only knew I was her captive and she was preparing to torture me to death. It was my punishment. That much I could recall.
"Why am I here?" I asked out loud. I couldn't answer her questions. The last thing I remembered was watching fireflies hovering over a sunflower field. And then I remembered my daughter Persephone, Isidore and Dr. Leidenfrost. Where were they now?
"My Lord has forgotten something after being struck on the head." Cory squawked with frustration. "That is what happens to a brain in a skull."
"Silence, foul bird." Hatheria hissed. Cory flapped at her from his perch and watched without saying more.
"I don't know what you are asking. I can't remember." I swore. Hatheria's huge eyes regarded me as she tossed some more bone dry sticks onto her fire and had light to see by. Her kind could not see in the dark much better than humans, yet in darkness they dwelt. Then I knew of her: one of the Fen and the Fell. I knew she was like their leader. Very large for her species, very ugly, very old.
"It took me years to learn your languages. Years? I mean centuries, I am a slow learner." Hatheria was heating a wire coat hanger she had twisted into a strange brand. "You will belong to Hatheria. I will put my mark on you."
As she turned only slightly on her stubby legs and then reached with her impossibly long arms to sting my neck with the hot brand I gasped in pain. She pulled the wire away and inspected the damage on my neck. Above her rancid breath I smelled the burned flesh and felt sick.
"I will tell you what you want to know. I just can't even remember what you have asked." I told her in pain. She had promised me pain. I doubted that languages were her only expertise.
"I am bored with your amnesia." Hatheria sat down, her height unchanged. "Cling to the facts as I spill them for you. Then you will know and you will talk."
"And you won't cause pain?" Cory interrupted.
"I will still cause pain, but only for amusement." Hatheria yawned, her filed tusks gleamed as ivory in the firelight. "I am tired. I might sleep before I torture you. You will still be punished. But if you are to talk to me, tell me things, I might be too busy listening to you to torture you so much. Hell, you might even survive the night. Hatheria is not entirely without ruthfulness."
"I remember taking the stone." I forced my brain to work. "I threw it into the field."
"It is not in the field. Someone else has it. Who?" Hatheria demanded. Her huge eyes regarded me with malice.
"The cats. I stole it for them." I confessed.
"I cannot simply ask the cats to give me the Alltheim. Why would they even listen? They think it belongs to them. What shall I do?" Hatheria stood and paced as she asked more questions.
I realized I was in the entrance of a cave, I could see the outside and the inside of the world by turning my head from left to right. I vaguely recalled Dr. Leidenfrost screaming in terror. I was tied up to a stalagmite and sitting in a cave. Human bones, licked clean, were all around.
"How did I get here?" I asked, bewildered.
"I took you from your home. I found you and came through the darkness. I opened the door and there you were, as true as my oldest spell. Then I hit you and dragged you into the darkness behind the door. When your woman stopped screaming she opened the door. Only her clothes were hanging. No bird, no man and no Hatheria. In the light it was just a closet." Hatheria chuckled as she described my abduction.
"I serve the cats. You will have to kill me." I decided.
"I will have to kill you, yes. How long you live and how much pain you will feel is entirely the property of your capacity for memory and honesty." Hatheria was suddenly right in front of me. Her toothy maw smelled of rotten meat.
Somehow the smell triggered my memories. Entire days had gone by before she caught up to me. My mind was damaged by the swelling and I had to recount each day and every detail before I could contend with that present moment. I had stolen more gems for the cats. Hers was only the first of several. The rest came flooding back to me and I murmured while I tried to catch the memories and recall what I needed to know for the monstrous master of the Fen and the Fell.
Fireflies danced over the black sunflowers under a quiet and calm starlight. My little daughter giggling was the music they swayed to. The sighs of Isidore and Dr. Leidenfrost at the beauty of the spectacle arrived in my ears. It was as though I was inside my own memories and my time in the cave of Hatheria was just destiny and irrelevant.
"Its getting cold. Let's go home." Isidore decided. She had allowed Dr. Leidenfrost to sit beside her and even to hold Persephone. I couldn't comprehend how they had become friends. On the way home they were chatting and telling jokes to each other like they had known each other their whole lives. It was evident that Dr. Leidenfrost held affection for Isidore and Persephone. Isidore, in return, held respect and admiration for the other woman. Earlier I would not have thought it possible, yet at some point they had bonded. I had missed the exact moment even though I was there the whole time.
"Will you come stay with me for awhile? I have a two bedroom and you both can stay with me." Dr. Leidenfrost asked us, mostly directing her question at Isidore. We stood outside her car, Persephone's carseat in my arms, in front the the home of Mrs. Winters. I was again surprised as Isidore responded to this request by hugging Dr. Leidenfrost.
"You like her?" I asked Isidore as we walked alone to the house.
"I like her a lot. She is so awesome." Isidore was being sincere. I couldn't believe she had warmed up so easily, it seemed impossible. I realized that it was part of her I had always liked. Isidore was just a very affectionate and loving person. Once she no longer felt threatened her attitude shifted to her normal way, warmth and kindness. Dr. Leidenfrost was the same way, they were fast friends. I accepted my good luck: I had two women in my life and they liked each other. It was too bad I was an old man already.
Working at the restaurant proved to be tedious and hard work. I helped bus dishes, washed them, put them away and helped the girl who rolled silverware. Ten hours of that made me feel the age of my body and mind. It was only my first day. I wanted to express gratitude to Josh. I told him I was glad to have a job. He asked if I hated washing dishes and I could only tell him the truth.
"Just do it for a week while I hire someone else. Then I will make you a line cook. You can learn the salads or the desserts. You will like it, I promise." Josh sentenced me with clemency. I was glad for whatever form of nepotism I was getting and was able to thank him for the job with more sincerity after I ran my last load of dishes at the end of the week.
After my promotion we went to spend the weekend at Dr. Leidenfrost's apartment. Isidore had looked forward to the visit with her new friend all week. We had a bed in the second bedroom. Isidore told Dr. Leidenfrost:
"I haven't shared a bed with him since we made Persephone." When she thought I wasn't listening. They both found that to be funny for some reason. I didn't comprehend the humor. Cory asked me:
"Does my Lord have two mates? It seems strange. I don't like it. One should be faithful to his mate and not be with another." Cory preached a crow sentiment to me. I recognized that monogamy was both the way of Crow and Man, I had trespassed on something he felt sensitive about.
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"It is more that two mates have me, Cory. You know this. Don't place me among men who are not faithful." I defended myself.
"I am not sorry to place my Lord where he stands. An honest mistake is still a failure born of ignorance. It is less forgivable than a calculated deception." Cory explained. I could tell he was offended by the circumstances. My defensiveness had only made him feel more righteous in his opinion.
"They are happy." I pointed out. The two women were discussing the pornographic paintings in Dr. Leidenfrost's bedroom and giggling. They certainly sounded happy in there. Cory had nothing to say in objection to this fact. He rested his case against me by going to the dog bowl with a variety of dried eggs, pieces of a blueberry bagel, seeds, peanuts and softly steamed vegetables. He looked at me and then dipped a chunk of the bagel in the water next to it and then began to eat the softened bread.
"I am happy also." Cory decided after he had eaten.
"I thought you found this to be unforgivable." I said quietly. He just clicked once that he did, ironically.
"I want my Lord to know what he has, to appreciate it. When have you had more?" Cory purred with precision. He was right: I had never had more opportunity to be happy with my life. I told him he was right and he accepted that as better than some form of apology for my bad behavior.
We had Chinese food for dinner. Dr. Leidenfrost announced that in addition to her pregnancy she was also writing a book while she was taking time from her work. It was to be titled Princess in the Underworld. It was about a girl raised by zombies who grew up to have a taste for necrophilia and cannibalism. I wasn't hungry enough to finish dinner after that so I went outside for some fresh air.
A thin black stood under a lamplight with glowing green eyes. She meowed at me several times and panic swept across my brow. I had no idea what she was telling me in Felidaen. She licked her paw and looked at me and then repeated the instructions before she darted off into the ink of night. Trembling in terror I rushed back inside and past the women to where Persephone slept.
"My Lord, what is it?" Cory flew in and landed on my steep back as I leaned over the baby. He had asked me in our own language with just a couple rapid clicks and my name. I told him in the same tongue:
"Cat."
"My dear Lord, what now? What will happen?" Cory saw the two women behind us and used discreet Corvin to ask his panicked question. I cleared my throat and replied in as little English as possible:
"I must go to see the Prince of Cats before I fail to obey." I decided. Cory agreed with one click for 'yes'.
"What is going on? What are you talking about?" Dr. Leidenfrost had accurately realized that I and my crow were terrified. The concern in her voice made Isidore worried. She came and picked up the baby as I stood up.
"In the hospital Persephone didn't make it." I reminded her and told Dr. Leidenfrost. "I made a bargain to save her life."
"Lord, I don't remember." Isidore claimed. She took the baby with her and sat on our bed. She did remember something, but to her it was a memory of a memory. She knew the awfulness had happened, but there was no replay or recollection of the trauma. The day had started with her little girl alive and well in her arms. What happened the night before that was just a bad dream. Except now I had brought it back to her and she started crying. Dr. Leidenfrost went and sat beside her and put one arm around her and whispered soothingly to her.
"I have to go." Was all I said and then I was at the window, bellowing my woe to the world: "I want her to live!"
The cats wasted no time. The same one returned within minutes and faced the rising moon. I held Cory in the cradle of my arm and put my hand on her black fur and she jumped and I with her, ignoring the distance from the second story to the ground. We landed with a soft thump after our hurtling through space, a million miles in mere minutes. She meowed in Felidaen and Cory translated:
"She says you would not hear her instructions a third time. There is no way she would repeat them again." Cory advised me. I nodded. I had already known that she would not cooperate. She had only repeated her instructions once out of some form of cruel humor, knowing I couldn't understand her words. I never looked away from her as we stood there in the white desolation. "She says it is a good thing you guessed you were to come here to collect some regolith."
"What is regolith?" I asked. The cat's shadow loomed over me, ready to crush me like a mouse. I didn't blink, didn't look away. To do so would be certain death, although it might take awhile to finish killing me. She meowed much more to clarify and Cory translated:
"Moon dust. You will need it to reflect moonlight when you are in the shadow of the guardian. There you shall look up and see its heart. Take it and flee. It will try to kill you and anyone else around you. There must be a death. You have no choice." Cory repeated her words and she listened and then she spoke English in her high pitched cat voice:
"Leave the heart in where there is sunlight and not moonlight." The black with green glowing eyes smiled and showed me her fangs. I scooped up handfuls of regolith and filled my pockets with it. Then she swept me up and I was flung to the very place I was meant to burglarize.
I was in a park in some corner of the world. I spotted the unfortunate victim I needed to complete my mission. He was laying on a park bench under a blanket of cardboard, his empty bottle under the wood in the grass. I gulped and felt dull horror as I decided I was willing to sacrifice the sleeping man to whatever I had to awaken. Then turned and beheld a massive statue of carved stone. It was a great horse without a rider. The legs and saddle and the butt of the rider were all that was left. The horse had an expression of might and malice that I could only imagine was rivaled by the removed person from its back.
I decided, on some perverse instinct, to awaken my solitary companion in the midnight park. When he had sat up and spoke in his own defense he realized I was not a policeman and relaxed. He wasn't speaking English. I pointed at the horse statue and asked.
"Kamen' loshad' slomanny. Comrade? Just pony. A pony." He tried to tell me about it drunkenly.
"I am sorry." I put my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me in the darkness and I felt like he knew, somehow, that I meant to sacrifice him. He just shrugged and said with a heavy accent:
"I've waited to see magic my whole life." And then he just watched me as I went to the statue on the platform. My eyes were watering, I hated what I had to do.
I took the handfuls of regolith from my pockets and created a round moon circle under the statue. Then I looked up and sure enough I could see that wedged inside a crack there was a small red gemstone, shaped like an odd oval organ with bumps where arteries would be. The actual shape of a heart. I reached for it and my hand found the stone of the statue to be like flesh in the pseudo moonlight. I took the gemstone and as I backed away I heard Cory squawking in high Corvin:
"Must go now, must go now!" And took to the air to escape the perceived threat on the ground.
It took me another moment for the dread and horror to sink in. The stone of the statue was changing to a gray flesh and the legs of the rider became as flesh and seemed to melt into it along with the rest of the rider. Stiffly it began to move and then it tossed its head, more like a wolf than a horse. Then the creature reared up, three times the height of any horse and kicked its front legs into the air. It stood like that and then bellowed forth a sound like a rockslide filled with screaming victims. I fell down backing away and dropped the gemstone. I had to find it in the grass and when I looked back up the horrible giant was stepping off the platform of where it had stood as a statue.
"Very magic!" The vagabond was clapping with delight. He had no fear of the creature but rather a childish happiness. I forgot he had to be killed, fear for him making me react:
"Run you idiot!" I hollered at him. I got to my feet and ran past him, my crow following me and passing me in the air above.
The creature followed, shaking the ground as it cantered after us. My comrade suddenly realized he was in the path of destruction and got up and tried to flee. The creature smashed through his bench with terrifying ease, splintering it to rain down everywhere. Then it caught him with one of its hooves and he was squashed into a splatter of gore that also rained down and covered its leg.
I had stopped and stared in absolute panic and horror. Then I turned and ran some more. I could hear the impact of its hooves and the snorting of its breath and the ground shook beneath its weight. It had begun the gallop, about to catch me.
"The stone, it follows the stone" Cory was saying. I threw the gemstone from me to clatter on the pavilion I was running past. Cory swooped after it and cried: "I have the stone, you monster!"
I looked as I was depleted of strength and breath. Cory had taken up the stone and gotten airborne. The creature heard him and slowed from trampling me and turned and broke through the side of the open pavilion. It destroyed tables and kiosks as it followed the taunting bird. "Come get your heart!"
I stood breathless as they went towards the man made lake in the middle of the park. Intent on following the heart-stone, the creature did not slow down or watch where it was going. It splashed into the water following my crow. It could swim just a little bit and at the middle of the lake Cory circled. It swam around and around as I approached and watched. This went on for some time until it became obvious that it was weakening. It was a living thing and its energy was limited. It ended with the creature becoming exhausted and sinking. Then Cory returned to me and I received the heart from him.
I walked through the park until I noticed a sundial. I faced east and looked around, eventually spotting the moon. We continued through the park until I saw a miniature obelisk that's moonshadow faced east. I decided this was where the cats wanted me to leave the stolen gemstone. I placed it there and sat and waited while the sun began to rise.
An all-white with yellow eyes arrived and placed one paw on the heart-stone. I went to him, Cory on my shoulder, and put my hand on his back while he waited for me. I was teleported magically to where I had started, standing in the open window I had called out from. It was, of course, late at night. I found that Isidore and Dr. Leidenfrost had sat together, waiting for me. They had fallen asleep, and I woke them up and told them everything was fine.
"I saw real magic, you disappeared." Isidore sounded happy at what she had seen since I had returned.
"The real magic is coming back home." I told her. She agreed and gave me a kiss. Dr. Leidenfrost wanted to also but restrained herself. Instead, she offered her words:
"I am glad you're back safe. I wasn't scared."