Adam Drake - Blackout

Quantiqtl was alive. The huge squid raged and thrashed its long tentacles about smashing against the rocky chamber’s walls. The impact shook the room and a loud cracking was heard above us.

I grasped at Fairfax to see if he was alive. He groaned in pain but looked at me with concern. “Winged me, the lucky grubber!” he said to my relief.

Archambault lay on the ground clutching his wounded shoulder, but he did not care. His face was one of reverence as he looked at Quantiqtl.

Blythe had lowered his pistol and stood in a dazed stupor, eyes locked on his now living God.

Quantiqtl roared again and pulled itself closer to us. The motion of something so huge and frightening paralysed me with fear. Man was not meant to gaze on such evil and stay lucid.

The beast flailed wildly and hit the walls again.

This time the ceiling high above cracked even louder. Huge chunks of concrete and stone fell from above.

“Look out!” Fairfax cried and threw himself over top of me. The noise of the crumbling ceiling was deafening. Within a few moments it subsided and Fairfax and I looked.

Thick dust choked the air and a large mound of rubble now took up most of the chamber. Blythe and Archambault had been under the falling rocks and were buried.

The collapse only agitated the Ancient One even more, and it pulled itself forward, huge eyes locked on us. A tentacle lashed out at me and Fairfax moved in its way.

The large man was cast aside like a toy and landed in a heap on the other side of the chamber.

“Fairfax!” I cried. As I tried to stand up to go to him, the squid moved closer and shrieked, its beaked mouth opening wide showing rows of sharp teeth.

For a moment I was transfixed by the great being, and the sight of the surrounding carnage. The creature pulled itself forward again and raised its vast tentacles preparing to put an end to me.

I did the only thing I could think of in that terrifying moment. I reached into my satchel and touched the knitting bag’s clasp.

A cat jumped out of the bag. Then another. Followed by another. And another. Soon cats poured out of the bag like water from a hydrant. Dozens, then hundreds and even thousands. Each flying out with such an amazing speed they blurred past my vision.

Quantiqtl shrieked in confusion and retreated. Cats flew through the air, ran along the ground, and swirled around the giant squid like a feline maelstrom. When the Ancient One thrashed out its tentacles the cats avoided them then resumed their assault.

Stunned, there was nothing I could do but stare. So many magical cats in one place. Before I had never seen more than one at a time, now it appeared to be a near infinite number of them. And they were all here to aid me.

I smiled.

The torrent of cats from the bag suddenly ended, and I looked at its dark opening. It was pitch black within, a void without limits.

Then a paw emerged, and another. With calm purpose a cat pulled itself out of the bag.

This cat was unlike any other. It wasn’t one color. It was every color. From its flat snout to the end of its long bushy tail, its fur was a vibrant rainbow of multicolored hues. It turned its head to look at me. Its eyes did not have irises and were completely white which glowed with an inner energy.

I stared in amazement at this incredible creature. No, not creature. This being was far more than that.

“Hello,” I said.

The cat blinked at me and from within its eyes I sensed an old soul, older than anything I’d ever encountered before, or ever would. And I realized at that moment what this cat was.

Quantiqtl’s roars now turned to shrieks of fear. It did not know how to deal with this enemy.

The cat then turned from me and sauntered over to the rubble under which Archambault was buried. On the rock strewn floor rested the Talon. With its mouth the cat picked it up, then walked over to me. It sat down, looked at me, and waited.

Its eyes spoke to me, at a place deep within my soul. There was a magic there I could not hope to fathom. But I knew then what it wanted me to do.

I took the Talon from its mouth, and felt its binding shift to me. I pointed it at Quantiqtl.

The great squid must have sensed what was about to happen and roared in defiance one last time.

Guided by the inner whispers of the special cat I called for a magical incantation from a secret place within my soul.

Quantiqtl shrieks ended in an instant. The Ancient One was turned to stone once again.

The swirl of a thousand cats subsided and each flew to the knitting bag to stream back inside. As they zipped past my face I caught the multicolored cat sitting and staring at me with its glowing white eyes. I knew how special this encounter was and it filled my heart with joy.

When the last cat vanished back into its home the multicolored feline stood. It regarded the stoned version of Quantiqtl. Then it made a light sneezing noise.

The huge stone Quantiqtl shattered, and crumbled into a million pieces. The remains looked no different than the rock and concrete which filled the chamber.

The cat then walked over to the knitting bag and without a goodbye look, it was gone.

My heart beat against my chest for I knew what that cat really was: an Ancient One.

From behind me I heard a groan.

“Fairfax!” I cried and hobbled over to him.

He was missing his cap and his hair was tussled. He leaned up and rubbed at his head. I saw his arm was bleeding from a bullet wound.

“Are you okay?” I was worried for him, perhaps in more ways than I wanted to admit.

He blinked at me and said, “I think it knocked some sense into me.” He smiled, and I nearly fainted with relief.

“Can you walk?” I asked.

“I’ll walk out of here,” he said and pulled himself up to his feet, favoring his left arm. He looked around. “Took care of it did you?”

I laughed. “Well, I had help.”

“Let me guess. Your animal circus made an appearance.”

“You have no idea. I’m now of the firm belief that there is no such thing as too many cats! Let’s get out of here and fix you up.”

“There is no real fix for me, Mayra,” he said. “I am who I am after all.”

“I wouldn’t have you any other way,” I said. And we hobbled back to the sewer tunnels.

I regarded the statues of Elicia Ipthorn and Radley Oswall beneath the awning of the back lot of the Constabulary. Elicia sitting on her stone chair drinking from her stone teacup. Oswall with one hand outstretched, the other reaching for his pistol. A sense of excitement I had not felt for a long time filled my heart. In my hand I held the Stone Talon. Bound to me now with the help of the multicolored cat, or whatever that being was.

“You’re going to have to rename that now,” Fairfax said from beside me. One arm was in a sling and a mottled bruise on one side of his face. I found him to be as handsome as ever.

“How do you figure that?”

“Well, first it was Gunther’s Stone Talon. Then it was Blythe’s Stone Talon. Then it was Archambault’s Stone Talon. So, Beeweather’s Stone Talon? Does that have a good ring to it?”

I chuckled. “It is none of those, I’m happy to say. Once done we’ll give it back to the Capital Museum. They can name it whatever they like.”

Constables crowded about the parking lot anxious to see what was about to happen.

Chief Constable Kyrill approached us. “Trying to decide which one should have the honor of going first?”

“Not at all,” I said. “Ladies always go first.”

I pointed the Talon at Elicia and, from a secret place within my soul, called forth the magical incantation.

And like a rock light being touched on, Elicia went from completely stone to completely real. She slurped at her tea for a moment before she realized where she was. Her eyes went wide and sputtered out her tea.