Рахма Крамбо - Guardian Cats And The Lost Books Of Alexandria

“Ha! I care nothing for silly stories.” She looked toward the boy. “Get back to work, Peter!” she ordered the gray boy. He'd stopped cleaning and was reading one of the books.

“What are you going to do with them? They are practically dead!” Marco tried frantically to reason with her.

The Queen waved her wand at them. “I don’t know what you mean. I’ve brought them back to life!”

“They have no life of their own.”

“But I’m giving them new life. Come,” she said in an overly pleasant manner to a young girl. “What’s your name?”

“Ummm… I can’t remember,” said the girl. She looked a lot like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

“No matter, we will find a new name that suits you,” said the Queen. She wrapped her robed arm around the girl and drew her close, like they were old friends.

“See, I can be nice when I want to,” she said pointedly to Marco.

Marco growled.

The Queen aimed her scepter at him. “This is my place now. Get out!”

Marco roared louder, but the Queen didn’t flinch. “The library is mine! My castle. With the help of my new companions, I can slip into the human’s world with no more sound than the moon falling behind a mountain.”

The Queen pushed the girl aside and paced the room. “They will not know me, but I will be the one who invades their peaceful dreams.” She gazed upwardly as though envisioning the future. “They will not know, but I will be the one who steals their happiness.” She stepped up on a chair and laughed. “I will send an army of nightmares to bring them to their knees.”

She stood on the table as if that would stake her claim to the realm and looked down upon the wreckage of the library. Marco wondered how it was possible she could see without seeing.

“Fear,” she announced triumphantly, “is my greatest weapon!”

The Book of Motion made a strange sound and light leaked out through its pages. The Queen glowered at it. “Get rid of that thing,” she ordered Marco.

“You will have to destroy me first,” said Marco. “And you can’t do that, because I am not afraid of you.”

“You’re in my way, Beast!” she yelled. She turned to a zombie-gorilla and ordered, “Destroy him!”

The words now came from a deeper place. As the zombies moved to do the Queen’s bidding, Marco began to say the words, “Fa-taw-la-nee…”

The Queen drew her scepter.

“…rah-ma-la-nee!” he roared, and the Queen threw daggers from her eyes. She lowered herself to the floor and approached him.

Marco stood stolid as a mountain.

“Ma-fa-la-nee!” he proclaimed, and the Queen unsheathed her scepter, revealing a glowing red sword.

She aimed it towards Marco as he completed the words. “Moon-too-laaaah!” The Queen’s sword touched the top of his head, and a surge of pain shot through him.

The Queen brayed like a donkey. Then the dark power went into reverse. Like a giant wave crashing and rolling back onto itself, the Queen’s evil power ran backwards through her sword, through her arm and into her body. Her arm withered and her sword clattered to the floor. In slow motion, her body shriveled into a dry carcass, leaving nothing but her crown and robe in a rumpled heap on the floor.

The characters she hadn’t turned to zombies were huddled together, ridiculously trying to protect themselves behind a child-sized table. A young girl in a pink tutu began to cry. A clown asked to borrow the woman’s fur coat, and then wrapped it around the girl.

Free of her spell, Marco’s roar filled the room, terrifying zombies, characters and even Lily. He went to the table where he’d left the Book. He knew what to do. He drew in his breath and blew across the book, cleaning it of any remnants of death and devastation.

Alaniah reappeared, hovering over the Book, wings spread out in full glory. Marco opened the Book and the light blinded everyone.

And the sound… it was painful to his ears, but gradually waves of light and sound receded like the tide going out.

From the mystical world of The Book of Motion, the light had done its job. From a book that was more than words, the light overwhelmed the darkness, herding all the demons into their miserable domains and locking the door of their wretched cages.

The library was restored. The first rays of sunlight heightened the colors. A fresh bouquet of yellow tulips appeared on the librarian’s desk, the deep reds and browns of old leather, gold and vermillion of a Chinese print. The books were shelved and their characters tucked safely inside. Order reigned.

Then from the stacks, far away at first, the sound of hoofbeats rang through the air. A man on horseback burst from between a set of book shelves and charged across the main floor, miraculously missing tables and chairs. Marco recognized him by his black hat and long white feather.

A light flick of the reins and D’Artagnan’s horse slowed to a gentle walk. The Musketeer jumped from his horse and surveyed the library. Then he came over to Marco, whisked off his hat and bowed deeply to the lion.

“Thanks to you Marco, we will live to tell our story another day. I wish you well.” D’Artagnan jumped back on his horse. “Godspeed!” he yelled, then galloped back into the stacks.

Chapter 65: Captain of the ship

Marco surveyed the library from the balcony, the captain of his ship. He loved how window light streamed across tightly-packed rows of books in the late afternoon. There was something appealing as well in the stability of shelved books as the backdrop for the disorder of human activity.

The library had been busier these last few months—ever since rumors of ghosts. At certain times one could hear what sounded like a man talking to himself from underneath the basement-less building. The possibility of encountering a real live ghost attracted young curiosity seekers and they stayed to browse the stacks.

The only report that touched on what had happened came from a trio of teenagers. They swore they'd heard a lion roaring inside the library that night, but everyone laughed at them and none of the other rumors came close to the truth.

He went back to his chambers to check on Lily. The librarians had made a special place for her and their five kittens. Marco figured they wouldn’t be contained in the box much longer, and he jumped inside to give a quick wash to a calico, the only one who would sit still.

“I’ll be back later,” he told Lily. “There’s a meeting of the Dead Cats Society tonight.”

“What story will you give them, Marco? Will you tell them about turning into a lion?”

“A Guardian never tells his own story, Lily. Tonight Cicero will become part of the legend.”

Marco went downstairs and threaded his way through the library, a sort of cat walkabout he liked to take. It was the busiest time of the day. Librarians pushed squeaky book carts. Students, clustered in groups, studied and talked, their conversations punctuated with soft laughter. An old man rattled his newspaper and two silent young boys hunched over a chess board.

He picked his way around backpacks feeling that there was someone he must meet. A familiar voice drew him to a reading corner. Lucy was a regular visitor since her parents had moved in with her grandmother.

She was sitting next to a boy slouched in a chair, both of them lost in their books. When Lucy noticed him, she murmured some greeting and the boy reached one long arm down to scratch his head, his eyes never leaving his book.

The meeting could wait. He nuzzled himself into an impossibly small space and laid his head on the boy’s leg. Marco purred. The book was The Three Musketeers. D’Artagnan was alive and well.

###

About the author