Vyacheslav Miroshnikov - Cat Marquis De Richelieu

Two cats landed noisily in a cart, falling directly into the hay. One of them was black and he was here for the first time, and the second was already familiar to the fellow travelers and Bogdan even smiled slightly. This happened to him for the first time in his life. Never before had cats fallen into his cart from the sky. The first time there was only one cat, and the second time there were two of them at once. He thought with interest about the third time and the three cats. And these thoughts brought a smile to his face.

“De Richelieu?” Bogdan asked in surprise, glad that the old acquaintance was with him again.

He did not know what had happened and why the cats had to climb one of the tallest trees on the outskirts of the forest and look out for where he and Lisa were. Bogdan understood that the cat, too, was frightened by Zaldan and the terrible black cloud hanging over them, in which the black eagle lived, and that is why the cat ran away. On his way, he met another cat. But it was immediately evident from De Richelieu’s look and that he was very frightened by something.

“What happened?” asked the man.

“Bogdan, after escaping from Zaldan I didn’t even think of looking for you and returning! But what I found out simply made me return! I was afraid that I would not find you and Lisa!”

“Well, tell me everything from the beginning now!” Bogdan said calmly and stroked the cat on the head.

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“This is my new friend.” Marquis pawed toward the black cat. “His name is Angie. We met… no, I’ll start from the beginning!”

De Richelieu began his story from the moment when he fled in the rain from Zaldan and saw a small village, where he decided to hide in the house to dry his fur, and possibly have some food. But what he saw from the top stair of the ladder just hit him. And it was no less scary than the flight of a terrible black eagle. So he had a new acquaintance, whom he wanted to support and try to show that there are many more people and animals that can change his life for the better. Then his story went on to the hunters’ house, delicious meat and the overheard conversation of the three men with guns about a lost horse. After that, he and Angie decided to find Bogdan and Lisa at all costs in order to warn them about the danger.

Bogdan lovingly stroked the soft fur of both four-legged friends. He felt a little light-headed. Too many unusual stories have fallen on his head in the past two days. First, the talking cat that amazed him so much that in the first minutes he even thought that he had lost his mind. Then the black eagle Zaldan, about whom he had heard a lot, but did not believe that this monster really existed. Now here is the story of Maga, the magic woman, from whom this black cat escaped. And also the story of the hunters who needed a horse, and who were heading precisely to the Gorge of the Black Peaks, hoping that the animals went there to hide from some danger. Bogdan and Lisa were heading in the same direction…

“He knows who Zaldan is and where he came from!” De Richelieu suddenly interrupted his thoughts, nodding towards Angie.

“Marquis, what did this black cat tell you?” Bogdan immediately became interested.

“This is also an incredible story. Maga, with the help of her witchcraft, turned a young deer into a winged predator, a terrible beast, and now she makes him do whatever she wants. He is powerless to confront her and does not seem to even know who he was before he became a terrible black eagle. He always appears where people can interfere with Maga’s magic for she is the queen of black magic,” said De Richelieu.

“So that is why he wanted to attack us and attacked right in the forest!” Bogdan said thoughtfully, continuing to stroke the cats. “Now I’m starting to understand why the miller stole Sima, our beloved cat, from us. He came to visit us several times and always took Sima in his arms, saying that she is an incredibly clean breed. He said that there is not a single hair of a different color on her body, and more than once offered us to sell her. I even remember how he once told me that only an animal of pure breed can be perfectly changed. And, it seems that he stole her precisely for Maga’s black designs. They told me that they saw him heading towards the Gorge of the Black Peaks. Here we also saw Zaldan, who attacked us. So we are going in the right direction. We must save Sima. We won’t let Maga turn our beloved cat into one of the monsters that will fulfill her ridiculous desires!”

Bogdan took out a whip and slightly slapped Lisa, forcing her to run across a huge field as quickly as possible. Angie, feeling the joy that they did not throw him away and received him so warmly, rested in the corner of a cart and after some time fell asleep. But all this short time before

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sleep, his thoughts about De Richelieu, who spoke so freely with a man, and they understood each other, did not leave his mind. And he just looked and could only guess that Marquis was telling the man a story about him, Maga, the hunters and why they decided to find Bogdan.

None of them could even imagine how events will unfold in the future and what things they will have to face, and how much will the appearance of Maga the magic woman, the terrible eagle Zaldan, and the hunters heading towards the Gorge of the Black Peaks, and the animals that live in those terrible and vast forests, affect their lives.

THE STORY ABOUT THE GIFT OF SPEECH

“De Richelieu!” Bogdan turned with cheerful curiosity to the cat sitting next to him. “Before you ran away, you promised to tell me a story about how you learned to understand human language and speak it, and what role your great-great-grandmother played in this…”

“Yes, I remember,” Marquis agreed, and gladly continued his story.

“I want to emphasize right away,” he said with dignity, “that my great-great-grandmother did not eat mice, and that is what I can be proud of. She was the first person of title from whom our famous and well-known clan descended from. It all started with a memorable occasion for our family when one of the high-ranked representatives of high society attended a ball in Paris and presented my great-grandmother to the marquis. From that moment on, the life of our family became interesting and well-fed. Sour cream, milk, fresh meat and fish were bought from the best market of Paris. Moreover, we were not allowed to eat raw food; the best cooks prepared it for us. It was a time when tomcats and pussycats all over France walked up to the walls of a huge city to look at my beloved great-great-grandmother Lavroix-La-Pargenier. She loved to come to her window at night, when there was silence and peace in the city. It was at that moment that thousands and thousands of eyes lit up, like little lamps trying to illuminate the streets.

In an instant, the whole city was shrouded in meows, from which, I think, almost half of the population of Paris woke up. And what envious dogs did! They began to bark frantically and chase my fellow cats through the narrow streets. And the cats seemed to play with the dogs, and, quickly jumping onto the nearest tree, sat there until the citizens drove away the angry noise-makers. It was the best time for cats, about which countless legends are still told. For a long time Parisians could not understand what was happening to their cats and dogs at night.

“And how long did it go on?”

“Not too long really. If only you knew who solved the cat’s secret…”

“And who was that?”

“The servant. The most ordinary servant. Once he got tired of all this, like all other Paris citizens. Despite the order of his master not to close the doors in the corridors and windows with curtains, he did not obey him and, in a state of slight madness from constant insomnia, violated this prohibition. So