Рахма Крамбо - Guardian Cats And The Lost Books Of Alexandria

“I daresay it is Cicero’s young protégé,” said the Whisperer.

“How did so many wretched cats get in here?”

The Professor swooped down and seized Marco, who pumped his hind legs furiously against the man’s chest.

“Oh, no you don’t! I’ll not suffer from the claws of a cat again.”

The Professor gripped both sets of Marco’s legs while Marco tried to bite him.

“So wild. He must be feral,” rasped the Whisperer.

“Feral cats in the library? I think they are not wild, but why are they lurking everywhere? The one I thought I needed is dead. Now…! How many more demon cats prowl this library?”

Marco turned his head so he could see Lily. Never had he seen her scared, not even in the clutches of Sting, but she was frightened now.

“Perhaps you could do something interesting with him? Try out some of your new skills,” offered the Whisperer. “Better yet, use him for a spell needing a cat. Of course, he would have to be dead first.”

Marco struggled to escape the Professor’s grasp, trying every trick he knew. He finally got his head into a good position and sunk his teeth into the man’s hand.

The Professor shrieked and threw him across the room. “Here, you take care of this beast,” the Professor ordered the shadow. Before Marco could move, he was enveloped in a cold, black nothingness.

Like his dream. It was his dream, his nightmare come true!

He thrashed out in all directions, but it was impossible to fight an enemy he couldn’t see. He heard the Professor’s muffled voice as though he were under a heavy blanket. He heard nothing from Lily.

Then even within the darkness, Marco saw a flash of light and heard Lily’s terrified yowl. The Professor announced, “You are mine!” and Marco knew he had the Book.

The shadow creature shifted positions and Marco couldn’t tell if he was upside down or right side up. He was cold beyond belief and shivered so violently his teeth were chattering.

Then he realized the Professor was speaking to him, as though from the other side of a door. “You can have your freedom now,” the man was saying. “It won’t hurt a bit.” Then he said something Marco couldn’t hear as though he’d turned away. “All you must do is declare your allegiance to me.” Suddenly the darkness cleared and Marco saw the Professor, but he was unable to move. “That’s better. You can see me now. So let’s get this over with quickly. I need to move on, but I want to test out my power. You will do as well as the next miserable creature.”

The Book of Motion was lying open on the table and Lily was lying unconscious next to it. Or was she dead?

“Declare your obedience and, as much as I’d like to be rid of you, I will give you your mobility. You would like to walk again, wouldn’t you?”

Marco struggled to move, but his body was as good as dead.

“You want to make this difficult? Don’t waste my time. You are nothing to me and I will leave you down here to rot. Declare your obedience or suffer the consequences.”

Marco could not imagine owing his life to this demon human, but he could also not allow the man to get away with possessing the Book and leaving Lily for dead. He was powerless and thought that maybe this was his sacrifice. Would he have to be the servant of a mad man in order to save the Book? Could the Professor unlock the secrets of the Book? Any power that his man had would be dangerous. That he had seen with his own eyes.

The Professor approached Marco and peered into his face. “My father always said the only good cat was a dead cat. I will make better use of you that way.”

The Professor grabbed him by the throat and squeezed his neck. Somehow, through the terror, or maybe because of it, he remembered.

The words came to him and strength welled up inside. “Fa-taw-la-nee…” came the words that had mystical power, words that were the key to motion born from the beginning of time. It moved through his body and into his throat. The force that came out of his mouth bellowed like a lion.

Before he sprang, he recoiled and roared again, a terrible and savage cry.

*****

In the small room there was only the lion, the man, the Book and a shivering white kitten. As a lion, Marco filled most of the empty space.

When he opened his mouth he spoke in the language of men. “Leave it! You have no permission to use this Book!”

The Professor was trying his best to appear unruffled, but when Marco roared the third time, the Professor backed up.

“This is not a book for magicians!” bellowed Marco, the lion-hearted.

“I will use it to help others,” he offered, as if this would somehow appease the terrifying predator that stood before him. “People will be happy with my illusions.”

“You seek to control the minds of men?” accused Marco.

“There is nothing greater than absolute power over other men,” said the Professor.

“Your words echo those of tyrants and oppressors.”

“Rulers, misunderstood, are often considered tyrants.”

“You are nothing but a petty thief longing to become a god!” Marco growled. Then he opened his mouth to roar again, but instead a light appeared, filling the room. When it touched the Professor, the man appeared to shrink. He withdrew from the light and crouched in a corner, a small, pathetic creature. Like a battered child, thought Marco, and he had one fleeting glimpse into the man’s wounded past.

Marco moved to the table and lowered his shoulders so Lily could easily climb on. Then he picked up the Book in his powerful jaws and went out to the landing area outside the door. Alaniah appeared on the steps.

“Where have you been?” roared Marco.

“I have my job, dear Marco, and you have yours. Forgive me if I am neglectful.” Alaniah secured the door to the underground chamber, committing the Professor to utter darkness.

From the outside, Marco heard another door slam shut. Then a noise, like waves crashing, or the sound of steel gates rolling shut, and the screaming of a madman.

Chapter 62: Rejoicing

Marco ascended the stone steps with Lily nestled in his lion’s mane.

“I would never have believed that if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” said Lily.

Alaniah lighted their way and Lily kept chattering all the way up. “You had light coming out of your mouth! How’d you do that, Marco?”

He moved with quiet strength and grace. As a lion, he could conquer anything. As the king of beasts, he could not imagine returning to being a stray cat of no consequence. Now he could protect the Book, the library, even the other cats.

Aware of every sinew in his powerful body, he shook his head, feeling the fan of fur that was his mane, almost unsettling Lily. He roared with the pride of this power, reveling in his new size and stature.

“You’re scaring me Marco,” said Lily. “But I like it.”

When they reached the top step, Alaniah said, “You have done well, Marco, but your rejoicing will be short-lived.”

Puzzling words, thought Marco, as he waited for her to open the portal. When she did, he stepped into the library, and indeed, his rejoicing moment was over.

As if such a thing were possible, the library seemed more desolate than before.

Chapter 63: Encounter with a Queen

The stench of death was in the air and the only color present was varying shades of gray. Marco gently released the book from his jaws onto a table and Lily hopped off his back. He turned towards the sound of something like a pig rooting in the dirt, and a creature crawled out from between the ruined stacks.

Marco had only seen trolls in books before. The misshapen creature, looking like something cursed, ignored everything around him while he squatted on a children’s table, picking things off his hairless body.