Vyacheslav Miroshnikov - Cat Marquis De Richelieu

“I also don’t really believe in it, but my brother says that he saw him and that the bird almost grabbed him. He barely escaped, it was truly a miraculous escape, and he still cannot forget the fear that he felt! Now it’s very difficult to even hear a word out of his mouth!”

“Maybe it’s because of the horse? After all, he should return it!”

“No! I believe its that bird Zaldan scared him so much. Do you really think that he is lying when he says that Zaldan carried the horse away? And talking about that horse, we will surely work this out somehow. We will find a place where a whole herd of nobody’s horses is walking. Or, on the way to the Gorge of the Black Peaks, we will definitely meet someone with a horse and take it. We will also make a big hunt and bring a lot of meat for sale. I mean wild boar, deer, hares and bear. Yes, we’ll gather everything we meet on our way!”

“So be it!” the bearded man agreed with him and patted his rifle with his hand. “If we are lucky, and we find a horse, then we will go on a big hunt…”

Hearing those words Marquis immediately remembered about Bogdan and Lisa and got so excited that he did not even notice how he got up on his paws and practically got out of the attic in order to hear the conversation of the hunters as best as possible. Angie peered out next to him.

“Look!” the bearded hunter pointed up. “Two hungry cats! They are waiting for meat, just like we do!”

The hunters laughed out loud, and the one who was twisting the spit cut off two large pieces of already fried meat from the edge and threw them to the attic.

“Eat, you, hungry devils!” he said affably, “If necessary, I will throw you more. I love cats!”

12

“Hey,” the bearded man called him, “give me a bottle, and cut off a lump of good, fried meat for me. Or else your lovely pets will devour everything!” he finished jokingly.

And not even trying to hide from each other their good mood, the hunters continued their meal. The cats also demonstrated excellent appetite. De Richelieu ate his piece very quickly and Angie was almost as quick. And then both of them got sleepy.

“Angie”, asked Marquis, already falling asleep, “and where did the black eagle Zaldan come from? Maybe you know?”

“Yes, I know,” the black cat answered. “I lived with Zaldan for two days. It was a beautiful and kind young deer brought to Maga by some man. Maga turned him into Zaldan and since then I have not seen him again. If I could talk, I would tell this to people, but I cannot do it. Now Zaldan is a terrible and cruel black eagle, which you should better stay as far away from as you can. He can lift anyone he wants under the very clouds, and then throw him down. He is Maga’s servant now. They rarely see each other, so that only few people could see him and everyone thought that a flying black eagle of enormous sizes is just a fairy tale.”

“The young deer Zaldan…,” Marquis spoke barely audibly and fell asleep.

Rain was falling somewhere far away, and it was much easier to run. De Richelieu and Angie were afraid of a thunderstorm, and with each bright glare of lightning and the roar of thunder, they quickly ran aside and clung to the trees. And if there was an opportunity to get inside a big hollow of a tree, then they did it without hesitation in order to sit out for at least a short while and get rid of their fear. Angie was amazed at the courage of Marquis and was glad that he met such a friend. He always wanted to have a determined friend. De Richelieu was an example of determination and courage for him, and Angie saw Marquis really hurrying to get to his new friends Bogdan and Lisa, which meant they really needed help.

“De Richelieu, have you known Lisa and Bogdan for a long time?” asked Angie.

“No, just a few days. I don’t even know why they are heading to the Gorge of the Black Peaks and what kind of person Bogdan is. But I like him, and my heart tells me that I must help him. No injustice should be allowed and hunters should not be allowed to take his horse from him.”

“Do you understand human language?” Angie asked in surprise.

Marquis simply looked in his direction,

“The time will come and you will know everything. Now I only think about finding them! After all, I can only guess which way they could go!”

13

De Richelieu did not want to tell Angie about how Zaldan attacked them and he ended up in the witch’s house; and he also did not want to tell that he knows the human language and can talk with people. It would take a lot of time, and they just did not have it.

“Here! This is where I was running from!” Marquis pointed towards the ditch, where Lisa turned. “The horse was hiding there. And Bogdan was hiding on the other side!”

“From whom did you run away?” Angie asked in surprise, realizing that De Richelieu had not yet told him much.

“From Zaldan, the black eagle!” Marquis answered with a trembling voice, recalling those terrible minutes.

“I saw him only once,” said Angie, feeling the blood freezing in his veins from those memories. “That was exactly the moment when Maga conjured, making a real monster out of an innocent deer. In those minutes I thought that I would die of fear!”

“They drove this way!” suddenly exclaimed Marquis, pointing to the crumpled grass. “They are alive!” De Richelieu several times jumped in place, after which he got up on his hind paws, raised his forepaws and shouted aloud to the stars in the sky “They are alive, they are alive! The traces left after the wheels of the cart will show us the way! We will find them!”

Angie had no choice but to run after De Richelieu, who from that moment behaved as if they were not tired and did not make such an exhausting journey.

“Now we are ready to go,” Bogdan said in a contented voice and patted the horse lightly on the back. “What a crazy day we had yesterday! First, some crazy cat fell into our cart directly from the sky, and then this terrible black eagle Zaldan attacked us. We were just lucky that we were not far away from the forest and managed to hide.”

Bogdan saw how, having heard the word “Zaldan” the horse again shuddered, fluttered and began to turn her head around.

“It is al over now,” the man reassured Lisa, “he is not here and it has been a long time! He flew away, and you and I were able to spend the night peacefully and relax a little! To be honest, I myself did not believe in the existence of this monster. I thought all that was just rumors that they spread only to keep children from running too far from home! But everything turned out differently!” Bogdan stroked the horse on the back and began to put on her reins.

They slowly headed toward a vast field. It was necessary to cross it, but the memories of yesterday’s events still haunted the travelers.

14

Bogdan lightly patted his horse with a whip, seeing that she was taking time and did not want to go out into the open area. He tightened his pull on the reins in order to hold Lisa at the right time from rushing out of fright at full speed across the field.

“Everything will be fine!” Bogdan was saying from time to time in order to reassure both himself and the horse, “Here ends this forest, and another one blackens on the horizon, and you and I will slowly get to it.”

“Frr…,” the horse uttered in response, as if she agreed with her master.

“Yes!” the horseman continued, pointing his hand at the clear morning sky, “it’s like a mirror! We pass by the last tree of this forest.”

“Meow!” suddenly Bogdan heard the sound right over his head.

He did not understand that it was De Richelieu who was telling his friend the good news, “Here they are! We found them!” He did not know that they climbed onto the tallest tree on the edge of the forest to see them in the distance and, by pure chance, were completely nearby. He only saw that from somewhere above him a cat was flying again, and not only one cat this time. A slight fright ran through the body, but Bogdan quickly pulled himself together and pulled the reins quite tightly, feeling that Lisa was literally ready to fly with the wind, through the field, to the trees that were looming ahead.