Alliance of the Unlikely

[Karate Cat]

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It was another boring day for the cat.


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<p>


Purring, stretching, yawning, Sir Catirahl the Brave (self-named) slowly rose from beneath the fluffy configuration of pillows left by the humans last night. It was time to say bye-bye to the house, not that he knew the human well in the first place. Just another place to take shelter and free food during the night. Humans...all he need to do was purring and rubbing on their feet and lo, came food in silver platter. Of course, he showed courtesy to their generosity by refraining himself of pooping indoor. He would do it later on the street.


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<p>


He climbed into the roofwork, a maze-like constructs made of wooden planks situated to help workers when they had to repair people's houses from above. Walking on ground was much like a survival contest, especially in bright days like this where crowds of humans swarmed the road, the wave occasionally opened up to give way to those rackety moving things pulled by horses which the humans called as "cart".


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<p>


A cat knows better route. Up here, on the roof's side, is a safer, faster walk to take. Sadly there was no bird to prey upon. They must have fled upon hearing the great Catirahl the Brave's coming. He stopped his trek when the planks reached their end. To reach to the roofwork at the house across would require him to make a huge leap. He did it everyday, but for now he decided to just sit down and rest. It was a hobby of his, perched up there soaking the sunlight while watching the business of humans frolicking under. He was confused with how humans always going through their day without stopping for a second, running their body until there was nothing left to run. It felt like a tiring life.


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<p>


But deep down he knew that it was an exciting life, far more than his own boring existence. In his feline heart flared the fire of adventure, a desire to reach a higher place. To escape this life halfly-made of being humanity's pet and have his own adventure. Like those adventurers he would watch inside the bar he frequented (for free milk from the owner), for whom awe was given for their stories, although mostly embellished, of days outside the safety of city walls. Of creatures they've encountered and monsters they had slained. A romantic tale of bravery and perseverance.


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<p>


The cat sighed. As if that would happen at this idyllic city. The best excitement he could hope would be if that butcher would give him some bits of meat later on. Hmmm...meat would be nice for days like this...yeah, meat...


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[Kuro Kasai]

She padded quietly through her forest home, towering halfway up an ancient oak tree in all her adult glory, as she went to meet the elders. Tio was quite proud of her size and apparent growth from her hatchling days. When she was little all the other kits had called her names like, 'shrimp', 'small-fry', and the stars forbid, 'runt'! Even now, years later, it still made her grit her teeth and hiss in affronted anger. She was not a runt! She had been born the first of her clutch and quickly dominated as clutch leader when all her other siblings had hatched. If that didn't speak of good lineage then she didn't know what did!


She huffed to herself before dismissing those thoughts from her mind and picked up new one's to study. She pondered why the elders had called her to their shared den and, despite her grown up size and mentality, if she had done something wrong. 'Goodness, I hope not! I don't want to be expelled from the clan before I even become an adult!' She saw a light break through the thick tree cover to her right and made her way to that, eventually breaking out of the trees into a clearing. The clearing was surrounded by birch trees on all sides except directly opposite her where the elder's den resided in a small cliff face, the entirety of the clearing was full of fresh spring grass and flowers.


Her eyes trailed from her surroundings to the elders, sitting in a half circle in front of their den, all completely relaxed and watching her. 'That's good. At least they aren't angry.' She didn't want to contemplate the thought that they were so angry with her that they were calm about it, it was, as they always said, 'the dangerous ones are the quiet ones'. She sat before them on her haunches and waited to be addressed, as was common courtesy when among one's elders. Finally, the elder on her farthest left decided to say, "Hello Tiolth." She bowed her head, so that her chin touched her chest, and then dipped quickly down to place her chin on the ground, before coming up. Once she was in the same position as before she said, "Hello Elders. How may I be of assistance?" Tio looked them each in the eyes as she talked to them. It was not a play on dominance or intimidation like so many other animals thought, it was polite to show the person whom you were speaking to your eyes because it reassured them that you had nothing to hide. Tio politely waited for their response and hoped that she had not done anything to incur their displeasure or disappointment.

 

[Karate Cat]

Today the cat learned of interesting thing.


After getting his usual free milk-in-a-bowl, gained after a few seconds of purring song, Catirahl settled himself on a table located at the corner of the tavern. People would went past and pet him occasionally, cooing like a little kid.


"Hey, Mr. Kitty." "Cute kitty cat, hello." "Nice to see you again, Mr. Kitty."


From what he had learned thus far, humans would give arbitrary names to things they like, regardless of what those things' real name was. He didn't really mind. But again, let's return to that interesting thing at hand.


After a long time off the street and living among humankind, Catirahl had started to catch up on human communication. The way they moved their lips and produce sounds actually convey something meaningful to them and not just bumbling noise like what the other cats thought. Catirahl would spent his time inside to focus on people's speech, how it sounded in his ears, and what those sounds seemed to mean for the listener. As such, he had managed to understand what people were saying. Granted it wasn't perfect, and he only know some "words", seemingly their name for those collection of sounds.


Remember those adventurers from before? They came again today and boasted about their newest adventure plan. It's in a bigger scale this time, judging from how excited people around was, and they would need to get "supplies", "carts", and "weapons" to accompany them. Of utmost importance was this "carts" thing, which they had not needed thus far. Catirahl had seen those "carts" everyday and he knew those things can carry a lot of thing. More importantly, carrying a cat as extra burden wouldn't be a problem.


Thus the cat formulated his plan. He followed the adventurers after they finished with their drinks, and when opportunity arise he jumped into the pile of crates scattered on the adventurers' cart. Nobody noticed him yet. Nobody noticed him now. Even when the cart shook and passed through the city gate, nobody noticed the presence of the small street cat.


Sir Actirahl the Brave (self-named), for the first time in his life, had ventured outside the city.

 

[Kuro Kasai]

The Elders were silent for a moment longer before the one just to the right of the middle said, "We called you here today to discuss something important to your future." She contemplated what they meant when they said that and the only thing she could come up with was that it had something to do with her coming adulthood and her journey. She waited a moment for them to elaborate, but when no one did she asked, "What do you mean?" She quieted her worried thoughts, it would do no good to assume things and get worked up over possibly nothing. At least she hoped it was nothing. 'Stop that!' She commanded to herself.


They watched her as she struggled to hide her anxiety and fear, when they saw that she had settled herself they began to explain. The one to the left of the middle spoke up and said, "We mean, that because you are now moving on to adulthood, we decided to send you on your journey early." The one directly in the middle next said, "We believe that you are ready." Tio couldn't believe it! Dragons weren't ever sent on their journeys early, it was really unheard of! She sat there dumfounded, her body lax with surprise, if she had been human her mouth would have been hanging open.


"My...um..Elders, I'm honored that you would think me worthy of such...um...trustworthiness, but I do not believe that I am ready to take on such a responsibility. I haven't even finished my courses yet!" This time, her chin touched the ground without touching her chest, this showed that she meant no disrespect to the person she was speaking to. She looked at each of them earnestly, hoping to convey her genuine gratitude and uncertainty.

 

[Karate Cat]

Sir Catirahl the Brave had found a new toy. It was a rat, a Dire Rat to be exact. More feral than common house rats, these critters could potentially grew to the size of a small child, and a herd of them could ravage a town until nothing remains. Most of the time they were easy target for new adventurers. Adventurer guilds would dispatch teams from time to time to exterminate Dire Rats' nests in city sewers and sometimes in slum area. This particular one was still small. Perhaps it was just a newborn separated from its herd.


People would say that cats eat rats naturally, but for them rats were more likely to be toy. Even more for Catirahl, who had enjoyed human-processed foods. Rather than eating this fellow unwelcome intruder, he was bouncing it around with his paws, catching it on the tail when it tried to scurry away and then dragged it back to him. When night fall he would sleep while cuddling the little Dire Rat on his chest.


The adventurers hasn't noticed Catirahl's presence among them. After all, it was still early in their journey and so they had no need to check the crates yet. The cat was happy enough to nibble on a few dried meat whenever he was hungry, although he reserved himself from eating too much. The Dire Rat would join his meal as well. Everytime it tried to eat more than what was allowed, Catirahl would just hug it close to prevent movement. After a few times repeating this the Dire Rat just gave up and followed his eating pattern.


The cart shook a lot. The adventurers didn't choose paved roads in their travel. Catirahl would spent most of his time inside the pile of craters, and only peeked out at night when the adventurers were deeply involved on their chatter around the campfire. The cat didn't really have a concept of time to begin with, but he could tell that they had been a few days away from the city. Most likely he couldn't find his way back even if he tried to at this point.


The adventurers' chat was always interesting to listen to. They were lively, accompanying their tales with motions. Some words Catirahl had learned to mean something important, for example about "war" and "danger". The adventurers spoke of "Elves", "Humans", "Orcs", and some other yet-unknown words for him. This world outside the city wasn't as peaceful as he'd known, it seems. The adventurers finished their day and retired into sleeps. Nothing else to do. Catirahl yawned and curled himself to sleep, cuddling the Dire Rat. He could feel the critter moved around on his chest before settling on a comfortable position. It was another peaceful night.

 

[Kuro Kasai]

The Elder to her farthest right said, "You are, or we wouldn't recommend you starting this early." She blushed like a kit at the scolding tone in the Elder's voice. She touched the ground with her chin again and muttered, "I'm sorry for being doubtful of your decision Elders, I'm just a little surprised and intimidated." Tio looked at all of them through her lashes and asked softly, polite as possible, "When will I be leaving?" The one in the middle finaly spoke up, "At the next full moon." She blinked for a moment before her eyes widened. That was in little less than a week! She quickly, but politely, asked, "Will that be all?" When they nodded, she touched the ground, then her chest, with her chin before leaving the clearing.


Once she was far enough away that they wouldn't hear or see her, she took off in a rush to her den on the far side of her kin's lands. While she ran she tried to wrap her head around the fact that she was going on her journey early, no one could say no to the Elders even if they wanted to, and all that she had to prepare before then.

 

[Karate Cat]

Adventuring was actually less exciting than what Catirahl had initially thought. The journey consisted of less action and more trekking through the forest. Not that the view was bad; compared to the processed wood and concrete buildings he had seen in the city all the time, the natural landspace offers the cat way more entertainment. The whispering of leaves and bright sunlight peeking through openings on the canopy was like a work of art. Even a cat could feel a sense of peace welling inside.


The Dire Rat had become boring these days. It struggled less with each passing day, and now he felt it more like a roommate rather than a toy. The rat would run around the empty space they called home for the past few days, but ultimately it would return back to the cat. As for the adventurers, they would stop here and there to look at this piece of paper they called a "map". When they met intersection or branching paths they would look at it and suddenly they found their way anew. That paper must be a powerful thing to be able to navigate these humans, that was what Catirahl had thought.


But danger came without warning.


The adventurers had drawn their weapons, swords and knives and bows were taken hastily out from the crates, prompting Catirahl and the Dire Rat to retreat to the darkest corner lest they would be noticed. Not that the humans paid them attention anyway. A small herd of Goblins, four or five of them, had decided to attack the group.


It was a bad decision for the Goblin in the first place. Green-skinned humanoid akin to the Orcs, Goblins were way weaker than their bulky cousins accompanied with their diminutive size just a bit bigger than average human child. They brandished themselves with thrown away human weaponries. Blunt knives, broken short swords, those things were swung around haphazardly without any rhythm or reason unlike seasoned fighters such as these adventurers.


Catirahl watched through the gap between crates as the humans slaughtered the Goblins rather easily. It wasn't a big problem in the first place, but it made the humans rather exhausted from the sudden battle. They decided to stop there for the night.


As they floated around to sleep, the Dire Rat twitching from time to time on his chest, the battle scene earlier kept on flashing on Catirahl's mind. It fascinated him. The thing he had wanted ever since he was abandoned that day when he was born.


Strength.

 

[Kuro Kasai]

Tio's feet hit the ground running as she jumped down from a tree on the edge of her kin's lands, she was making good time as far as she was concerned. The last couple of days had been full of frenzied packing and quick goodbyes, which put a lot of stress on her mind and she was happy to just get away from it all. It was exciting to be truly on her own for the first time in her life, she felt free and somehow whole. Her whole life she had felt that she was missing something, that she was supposed to be doing something, not just sitting there achieving trivial goals as she waited to grow up.


Not that she wouldn't miss home or her friends and family, it's just she had always felt like everyone was watching her, judging, and putting expectations on her that weighed as much as mountains sometimes. Tio quickly focused on her surroundings when she heard a frightened and pained cry from somewhere close. Her head whipped to her right as she skidded to a stop, barely making out a shape in the trees. She listened attentively for any more sounds, her horse like ears twitching in all directions as she searched.


There was as a loud crash followed by a bloodcurdling scream. "Help! Help me, please!" Tio was a little conflicted, she wanted to help the pour girl, but what if it was a trap or a trick? People were known for hunting down dragons for various reasons; bits of a horn for a spell, or an ear because it was lucky, or just for the hell of it. Tio heard the cry again and said, "Oh damn it all!" before taking off the to the obviously distressed person, it wasn't like she couldn't defend herself if it was a trap anyway, right?

 

[Karate Cat]

Sir Catirahl the Brave is in a bind.


Now that they had reached a full week of journey, the supplies had started to grow thin and thus the adventurers kept on opening more crates. Soon Catirahl found himself stuck in a small gap between crates in the rear. Food was not a problem yet since he only took from their backup supply, but he would give it three...at least two days before they would be found out. The group was still in the same forest like before. It seemed to be a large, stretching sea of trees spanning the entire continent. Catirahl couldn't comprehend the scale of such area, only that he was sure it was way larger than his city.


The humans seemed hesitant to enter their current region. They whispered about "witches", and that they had to make it out fast before curses would befall them. It resulted in a bullish forward-march even in nighttime. Only when the sun rises would they dare to stop and take a temporary break. It was already miles away from the last time they talked about the witch, though, and so the adventurers were more lax and took longer rest. Catirahl took this chance to venture out of the cart with Ariadne tucked on his head.


Oh, yeah. Out of boredom he named the Dire Rat "Ariadne", seeing that it was a female. It was still small now but would it grow bigger than even the cat later on...? Perhaps he should eat her sooner or later. But for now he wanted to see around the premise. He was content with watching all this time, but now his curiosity was at its peak. What would be in store here in the wild wilderness?

 

[Kuro Kasai]

Tio burst into a clearing with a snarl on her face, prepared for anything. She looked around aggressively as she searched for the source of the screams, there was nothing. The clearing was empty with no signs of a disturbance; the long grass was unmoved, there were no smells of anyone whom had passed by recently. The only odd thing was that the forest was silent, not even the wind was present. This made her stomach clench in a mix of anxiousness and fear.


Tio calmed herself with a breath, looking around cautiously as she turned to leave, there was nothing here and she had yet to actually make it out of her clan's lands. Tio was a step away from leaving the clearing when a childish voice that was disturbingly emotionless said, "Aren't you gonna keep looking? You haven't searched the whole clearing yet." Tio spun around with a startled growl, her tail fanning out in a wide arc with the motion.


In the middle of the clearing stood the one who'd spoken, a little girl. She however didn't look like any kind of little girl Tio had ever heard of; she had long pin straight raven hair, black eyes, and lacked any resemblance of a healthy complexion. Tio crouched low, keeping any vulnerable spots hidden and bared her teeth, she would not be fooled or tricked by the girl's appearance. The smell of the girls magic was so strong she could taste it's bitter tang. No, she wouldn't be fooled.

 

[Karate Cat]

Raw food tasted...really different. Beef jerky was salty, and the texture was hardened after a long time in storage. This new food, courtesy of Ariadne jolting away suddenly leading him to find it, tasted way better. It looked like a piece of meat he would saw on the butcher's shop, but way juicier. Sweeter. The muscles on the meat was well-defined. It was certainly a wild beast's flesh, perhaps a leftover from someone else's hunting. Catirahl couldn't tell what creature it came from given his lack of proper outside world knowledge. Oh well, he would learn sooner or later if he stays out, right?


The cat and the Dire Rat resumed their trek into the woods, enjoying the feel of grassy patch on their feet. Ariadne would keep on sniffing the ground, perhaps looking for more food, while Catirahl just soaked the scenery around them. It felt weird to be here. Catirahl was a house cat, a creature born to be taken care of by humans. He could be a stray, but his natural habitat was always among the humans. Traveling outside like this was beyond his species' usual behavior. As such, his instinct felt lacking among the many things happening around him.


Well...if there's immediate danger, Ariadne would know, he thought.


For now, he just want to see how much they can venture before they have to return back to the adventurers.

 

[Kuro Kasai]

Tio waited patiently for the little witch to say anything more, but when she didn't she decided to ask her some questions. "What do you want? Why were you screaming like that? Were you drawing me here?" The witch tilted her head and pursed her lips in a exaggerated 'I'm thinking' gesture.


"I suppose," the witch said, "that I want to fulfill my destiny. Which is, in a sense, to get you started on your journey." She looked at Tio with a semi serious look as she says this. Tio, with her guard still up, gives up on the stance and instead sits on her haunches with an almost comical look on her face. She contemplates in silence what the witch could mean, looking at the witch with unknowingly wise and intelligent eyes. "What's your name?" The witch tilts her head and then smiles prettily, and if the atmosphere wasn't so foreboding then it would have been entirely innocent, however it just served to make her more suspicious and Tio more on edge.


"Merlin. My name is Merlin."


Tio nodded absently, keeping her eyes on the witch, the same meant nothing to her. She continued questioning the witch, making sure to keep an eye out for anything else lurking about. "What did you mean earlier, about helping me start my journey? I've already started my journey." The witch abruptly turned sideways, earning my full attention and wariness.


"I cannot tell you. However know that you will probably thank me when all is said and done." She turned to Tio and rushed her, taking her enough by surprise that she couldn't avoid the witches painfully glowing touch. Her magic hit her like a drake (young male dragon) in a battle rage, and knocked her flat on her back with a loud "Ugh!"


Tio fell hard and fast as blinding pain swamped her senses. It felt like her body was being squished from all sides, she was afraid that her skin would pop like a rotten fruit, terrified that her bones would break like branches snapping in the wind, from the force of it all. She let out a terrified and pained howl as she spasmed on the ground. "AhHHHhhh!" 'What's happening!' She screamed to herself in her as she tried to right herself, and deal with the rapidly building pain.


After what felt like hours of nonstop pain, it ebbed slowly until it left her a panting, sweaty mess. She opened her eyes to an empty clearing and was startled by her new perspective. It was like she was a kit again, everything towering over her, seeming to be miles away from her when they had been below her in height not even a day earlier. Tio struggled to lay on her side and happened to see a cat on the edge of the clearing, 'What are you doing here?' She thought to herself, and called out weakly, "Run...away, there's ....a wit-..ch!" She could barely finish her warning before passing out from exertion.

 

[Karate Cat]

Catirahl was dragging Ariadne by her tail, inching slowly each time the Dire Rat got tired of holding onto the ground with her little clawed fingers. Halfway through the trek, Ariadne jumped down from atop Catirahl's head and ran back as quick as lightning. The cat managed to get hold of her, but she kept on struggling and squeaking as if gone mad. The house cat didn't realize that it was her wild instinct shooting sign of danger all over her body, urging her to get away as far as she could. For him, it was just a curiosity of what lies ahead that could scare Ariadne so bad.


And so he bullishly pushed forward, even while dragging Ariadne with all her might. Damn, Dire Rat sure are strong when they put their mind to it. Catirahl was forced to stop a few times to make sure her tail didn't bob off due to how strong she'd pulled back. Thankfully pain aversion still won in the end, and each time she would stop just close enough before serious injury would be done. But seriously, what was with this sensation...the air grew stiff, and cold, malevolent non-existant wind blew over his body. This thing felt unnatural. Weird. Unlike anything else he had sensed so far.


It was his first time sensing Magic, after all.


That previous feeling had filled his ears with humming sound, obstructing his vision with a thin mist which grew thicker by each seconds, and enveloping him with weights all over his body, slowly driving him down to the ground. The uneasiness lingered for what he felt like forever...until suddenly everything stopped. He didn't even realize how silent the area was now that his ears were clear. The world felt like its brighter than ever, and his body now felt light. As a bonus, Ariadne calmed down and now no longer resisted his tug. The cat plucked her up with his paws and then put her back atop his head. The exploration shall continue.


But it was cut shortly. Just a few more steps from there was a large circular clearing. Sunlight shone down like spotlight toward the center of the clearing, whereupon lied a small, winged creature, just barely the same size as him. What was it? What was it? His natural curiosity rose, and he decided to approach further. The creature, however, took notice of him and let out a weird sound. What was that? The sound felt structured unlike wild beasts, more like how the humans would call out at each other.


He didn't have time to think for long, though, as the creature passed out immediately. Ariadne let out a small growl toward it, but Catirahl didn't sense anything dangerous coming. Well...the creature does sport some scary, sharp teeth, but surely it's not dangerous, right? Against better judgement, the cat decided to bring it back to the cart. Let's see...this shouldn't hurt too much, right? He bit down on the creature's tail, albeit in such way that he didn't dig his fang in, then dragged it that way through the forest, back toward the adventurers' cart. It was slower than his earlier trek, but it wasn't far anyway so he didn't really mind. Ariadne was still growling though. He ought to silence her before they reached the cart.


And they reached it soon enough. The humans didn't even move yet. They decided to camp there for the entire day, and going to move out tomorrow at daybreak. And so Catirahl found it easy to slip through them, seeing they're really really drunk, and put Ariadne and the creature back at their spot on the back of the crates pile. He hugged Ariadne with his left paw and curled into sleep, leaving the scaly creature on the other corner. He would wait until it woke up, then he gotta try investigating more. His curiosity grew bigger by each passing moment.


It was his first time seeing a Dragon, after all.

 

[Kuro Kasai]

((Sorry I haven't replied all day, I've been watching children.))


When Tio returned to consciousness, she thought that she would still be in the clearing where this whole mess started, but was startled to feel the ground moving underneath her and unfamiliar sounds and smells surrounding her. She immediately struggled to sit up and only succeeded in flailling around, causing herself more pain in the long run. She heard a small sound of alarm and snapped her head around, a snarl on her lips and a growl starting up in her chest. Tio paused when she noticed that it was the cat that she had seen in the clearing before passing out, the snarl faded and the growl in her chest died as she considered the cat. Her eyes caught movement to the side of the cat and saw a very large rat with a snarl painted on, another quick sniff, her face.


From what she knew about the other races and creatures, they each had their own language and that there was a common language that they all used for trading and diplomacy; however common creatures like cats and dogs did not have their own spoken or written language and therefore did not communicate with outside species normally. She met the cats eyes boldly and used her magic to focus on his mind and conveyed both her emotions about the situation and her questions. 'Where am I? Who are you? What's happening?'

 

[Karate Cat]

Catirahl got used to the rocking of the cart, and thus he could sleep soundly even through the roughest of roads. Ariadne, on the other hand, would woke up each time she sensed any danger at all. This time, the danger was right there on the corner, and it didn't go away even after she waited so long. Ah, now the danger moved! It turned its head toward her, snarling and growling and is that teeth she was looking at? The Dire Rat showed her teeth as well, although instinctively she knew she would not win if she fought that thing head-on. At least Catirahl was beside her.


As for Catirahl, Ariadne's constant stirring did end up waking him up. He was still groggy from his slumber, but the daze cleared right at the moment Tio looked right on his eyes.


He couldn't describe the feeling. It was as if a voice boomed in his mind, but his ears registered nothing. It was different from the structured sound made by the humans, or even from that thing earlier in the forest. What conveyed to him was intent. Meaning. Clear, concise description universally understood by every living being. There was no need to put them into words, nor there was any urgency to learn it. From the moment they were born, every being with even an ounce of intelligence in their self would be able to understand it. The feeling was exalting, something he could get addicted to.


He understood that...lizard-thing's confusion, and question. Immediately he also understood that the feeling was two-way. Just like she could send her intents toward him, he too could do it as long as she maintained her contact. And so Catirahl tried his very first telepathic communication...!


'Meow'


Hmm, okay, that's a bit of a failure. Retry.


'Greetings, creature. I am Sir Catirahl the Brave. This is the vehicle of my human slaves. I brought you here when I found you in the forest.'

 

[Kuro Kasai]

Tio stared at Catirahl for a moment before her lips curled up in amusement and she started to laugh, loudly. It sounded a lot like a soft purr or growl, it rang out in the wagon for a moment, before she said, 'Creature? Haha. I am a dragon, Catirahl, not a creature.' Allowing her amusement to show in both her eyes and her mind, she also said, 'I also highly doubt that the humans carrying us around are your slaves, they smell like warriors or adventurers.'


Tio moved her body so that she was facing him politely, and rested her head on her, now small feet, with her tail curled underneath her chin. Her eyes softened, portraying gratitude and kindness, and a smile played across her face lightly as she said, 'Thank you for taking me with you when you found me. It was very brave of you, staying when there was a witch around.' Her eyes lit up with amusement when she mentioned him being brave, considering it was in his name.


Her eyes flited sideways to focus on Catirahl's rather.....interesting companion. A dire rat, female at that. They were known to be vicious, creatures, particularly those of the female variety, and often grew to ridiculous sizes. Considering it was a rat, it was a little surprising that Catirahl hadn't eaten her when he found her, before she got this big. Yes she had snooped into his mind, but she had wanted to make sure that he meant her no harm, and it was only recent stuff anyway, she didn't know his past, though she suspected that it wasn't a very happy one. Anyway back to the rat, she knew that the rat didn't like her presence, understanding that from her point of view she was a much larger predator that could eat her anytime Tio liked.


She stretched out her nose to the rat, a very sensitive part of her anatomy, and showed her her intent not to harm and goodwill through her magic. Tio didn't want to cause any problems while she was with them, it would only cause stress on both parties. 'Hello little one. I don't want to hurt you or dispute your claim on Catirahl. He belongs with you first and foremost, as his longtime companion.'

 

[Karate Cat]

Although her intentions were conveyed not through words alone, there was clearly a difference of level in the cat and the Dragon's fluency with language. While Catirahl's "speech" was direct, lacking nuances for dictating emotions contained in their meaning, Tio showed a more complex set of conversation, and Catirahl could feel it. Okay, perhaps slaves was not the right way to call them...although Catirahl actually thought humans as cats' caretakers, if not slaves, seeing they tend to feed and shelter them in his hometown. Of course it was just a misunderstanding.


Anyway, two words stuck on his mind. Dragon, and Witch. Even with telepathic communication, Catirahl couldn't understand them. But Tio did declare that she is a Dragon, so maybe Dragon is something like Tio? A...lizard-thingy, then. But with wings. And more cooler design. Okay, that's not a problem. Witch, on the other hand, was beyond Catirahl's knowledge. He did hear the humans spoke of it before. So for now he'd just think of them as dangerous thing.


'You're exaggerating, but indeed I am brave,' the cat said smugly.


He then watched as Tio attempted to communicate with the Dire Rat beside him. Ariadne did grew bigger these past few weeks, perhaps because food was easy to get and no apparent danger threatening her life. She was just the size of Catirahl's paw when they first met, but now she's almost half of the cat's size. But he was more concerned with the Dragon touching the Dire Rat's nose. The same magic was conveyed to Ariadne, telling her of Tio's desire to get along.


Only to be answered with squeaky sound and some disjointed words. 'Squeak. Squeak. Danger. Danger. Run. Run. Can't run. Stay with cat. Safe. Safe. Squeak.' The Rat jumped back and went to Catirahl's other side.


'I think she is scared,' Catirahl said to Tio. 'She'll be fine. She's scared before, but now she's okay with the journey. She'll be fine with you soon. So, Dragon, can you tell me more about you? What is Dragon? And what is Witch?' Catirahl's eyes glittered with curiosity. This was the first time he could communicate with creatures other than fellow cats back home. It wasn't like with the humans, where both party just try to guess what the others were thinking. They were actually communicating! This made him curious to know more. To know what more this Dragon would say to him.

 

[Kuro Kasai]

Tio turned her attention from the runaway rat and replied, her amusement clear, 'Yes, I can see that.' Her eyes caught his curious glint in his eyes and now understood where the saying, 'Curiosity killed the cat' came from. She decided to humor him and answer his questions as they were meant in innocent interest.


'As for your questions, my name is Tiolth, but you can call me Tio. A dragon is, depending on what kind, basically a flying lizard that uses magic to convey their element. For example I am an Earth dragon, so my expressed element is Earth but my sub element's are wind and water. These are altogether called conveyed elements.'


Her eyes darkened with an unknown mix of emotions, and her lips curled over her lips in distaste. 'A witch is usually a human or humanoid that possess enough magical aptitude to cast spells. I had no quarrels with witches until just a little before you found me. She cursed me, shrinking my size to that of a kit, for no other reason, from what I could tell, than her own gain. She was even so arrogant as to say that I would thank her for it. Humf!"


She huffed out a violent breath of hot air and mist at just the thought. 'My magic is still the same and growing, the only thing she's done is make it that much harder to defend myself!' Tio's retractable claws dug into the the wood of the wagon, her wings flaring and teeth bared, her eyes alight with a hard sort of fire, though unknowingly showing to her companions her very dangerous attributes. A soft, vicious growl bubbled up her throat before she could stop it, and she immediately quieted at the fear scent coming off the dire rat and the quietness from Catriahl. 'Excuse me. That was very rude.'

 

[Karate Cat]

Tiolth's explanation flew by Catirahl's mind, with understanding on some parts and more curiosity on the others. Elements, Magic, the meaning of those terms were conveyed naturally to him, but the exact working and intricacies were lost. He was about to ask her when she reached the part of the Witch. A particular benefit and as well downside of telepathic communication was that emotion easily transferred alongside information, and not much could be done about it bar stripping one's mind off of emotion entirely. And the emotion she showed when describing what the Witch had done to her was so great, it stopped Catirahl from asking anything else.


And of course, her showing of her fangs, claws, and the danger of her flaming breath wasn't helping at all. For Catirahl it might be a mix of fear and awe. Seeing such a small creature could exhibit such strength was new to him, coming from a world where size matters for survival. For Ariadne, though, she was just pure fear incarnate.


Aah, this scent...


'I think Ariadne just peed herself?' Catirahl slowly turned at the Dire Rat. The poor thing was trembling, curling into a ball, and of course a small amount of liquid flowed out underneath. The cat smacked her slightly.


'Very fascinating, this thing called Magic!' He relaxed a bit after Tio quieted down. 'Although I'm sorry that the Witch-thing did something bad to you. But fear not, for you have met Sir Catirahl the Brave, Conqueror of Worlds, Defender of the Innocents! I will help you destroy that curse-thingy or whatever the Witch-thing had put on you.'


He kinda pulled that off some plays the children in his hometown would shout everyday, but he genuinely wanted to help the Dragon.

 

[Kuro Kasai]

Tio settled down with an expression of regret on her face and said, privately, to the rat, 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you little one.' She settled down again before cracking a smile at his comedic response to her problems. 'Thank you Catriahl, but I wouldn't want to force my problems on you.' Her eyes became unfocused as she thought about her most recent problem, not really caring that Catriahl could hear her. 'From the way that the curse feels, it only affected my physical appearance, so it's a physical curse and not a metaphysical one.' Her eyes narrowed and she grit her teeth, this was going to be more complicated than she'd thought.


She glanced at Catriahl and saw him studying her. She sat still and let him observe, watching his eyes and every shift in expression or twitch in his brow, wondering what he was thinking about. Her eyes caught his and they stared at each other directly, she wasn't at all embarrassed by their interest in each other, humans are silly about that, she thought to herself absentmindedly as they continued to look each other in the eye.


She blinked when the wagon hit a particularly hard bump in the road and looked away, an odd idea had popped into her head a moment ago and she contemplated the risk of it if she did go with it. 'No. You're just being silly and just looking for some friendly reassurance after that ordeal.' Tio huffed to herself before thinking to Catriahl, 'I'm going to get some sleep, goodnight.' She curled up on her side with her cheek on the floor and her chin and tail tucked to her chest, puffing out a relaxing deep breath. A moment later she added on an absentminded, 'Sweet dreams.'


((Good night and sweet dreams! ^^ I'm heading to bed myself as well. ))

 

[Karate Cat]

After Tiolth fell asleep, Catirahl just curled into a ball and laid down without any particular thought. Ariadne certainly calmed down now that the Dragon was visibly and audibly asleep. The Dire Rat was back at the cat's side, snuggling on his soft fur. From the other corner, Catirahl could hear a rhythmic faint growl from Tio. Was that equivalent to snoring on human? Truly fascinating, this creature called a Dragon!


The road was bumpy where the adventurers were heading. They had left the comfort of man-made road and moved further into the wild. It was not like the time when they were in close proximity to the Witch, but they were always on guard. The cart was pulled hastily, not intending to spend longer than necessary in this perilous path. How long was it? It wasn't that long at all...perhaps a couple of hours. The cart abruptly stopped, and Catirahl could hear the sound of chaos all over the place. He peek out from the space between the crates, trying to see what had happened.


He remembered those green skins, sharp teeth, and white, blank eyes. The humans had fought them before, those thing called Goblin. But this time it was different. Before there were only five of them. Now there were ten. And more came out from the bushes. And more fell down from above. From every direction the Goblins poured into the adventurers. Individually they were weak, but in large amount like this, they were a swarm, a dangerous presence that couldn't be taken down easily.


The humans screamed and yelled, slashing with their swords, stabbing with their spears. For each one they killed, two more appeared, and soon they were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Goblins. Catirahl shook Ariadne awake from her slumber, and then did the same to Tio. He meowed as hard as he could on her ears, trying to stir the Dragon awake. Come on, wake up, wake up! We need to get out of here!

 

[Kuro Kasai]

Tio stirred quickly at the loud sounds of battle around her, as well as Catirahl's ridiculous meowing. 'Hush!' She commanded to him. 'If you're that loud you'll draw them to us! We can't leave the wagon now, we'll have to wait for the victor before deciding our next move.' She did not mention that she could leave now and be perfectly fine, however she knew that Catirahl's inexperience and curiosity would hinder him when getting away in the middle of the battle. Plus she could never leave them here to surely be found and killed. She turned so that her back was to the opening of the wagon and said to them both, 'Come here and get between me and the wall, my scales blend in much better than your fur and they are hard enough to block most blades.'





Tio was a bit bigger than both of them so she could cover them if need be, not to mention her wings were wide enough to provide a fire-proof blanket if the situation arose. Goblins were known to set things on fire for the fun of it. Tio's head snapped around at the loud scuffling heard by the curtain as a human denied what sounded like two Goblins entrance to the wagon. 'Hurry! Hurry!'

 

[Karate Cat]

Catirahl was more than relieved when Tio covered him and Ariadne. He wouldn't admit it to the Dragon, but the sound of battle did worry him, and having the bigger Tio between them and potential danger was assuring. He was still able to peek out from a gap between Tio's wings and the crates, upon which he witnessed so many green-skinned corpses. The adventurers were desperately trying to stop the Goblins from getting near the cart. If they took the supply stored within, it would spell the end of their journey.


The group had taken along them a stable hand to help take care of the horse, and Catirahl could see that boy sprawled on the ground beneath a pile of Goblin corpses. There was a red pool beneath him, dilluted by the pale green liquid bled by the Goblins. Catirahl remembered him. He would gave the cat a slice of bread everytime they met. A weird feeling rose in his chest.


"Watch out!"


An adventurer screamed when some Goblins surfaced from the bushes with lit torches on their hand. It seems that the horde was already at the brink of madness, not caring about their target anymore and just wanting to wreak havoc. The flaming torches were thrown toward the cart, most of them missed but three landed right at the top. Fire started to catch on the covering tarp, but the adventurers couldn't afford to take them out while focusing on the Goblins. It was over. With that realization coming, they grew furious and just wanted to get revenge against those goblins. With yells full of anger, they rushed forward and slashed through.


In the cart, Ariadne was squeaking in panic as the flame got bigger starting from the top. It slowly spread into the wooden crates, and smoke begin to fill the space. 'This is bad,' Catirahl shuffled nervously. Flame and cat is not a fun combination. 'The humans are keeping those things busy. We should sneak out before this place burned down entirely!'

 

[Kuro Kasai]

Tio knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Goblins set something on fire, so she had not been surprised when the wagon had caught on fire. She took enough time to glance at the top of the wagon to see how much time they had before it collapsed on top of them, then started to get ready to leave. Tio quickly rolled to her feet and hovered over the other two, her wings half spread and her eyes on the little crack in the boxes. 'Hurry, grab the rat by her scruff and don't let go if you want her to live. Hold on as best you can because this will be violent and fast.' Tio turned to look him dead in the eye and said gently, 'Don't worry, I won't drop you!'


As the screams outside reached their peak, and the roof of the wagon began to fall, Tio grabbed Catirahl's scruff as gently as she could and said to him, 'Try your best not to move, this is hard enough as it is without you moving around.' She crouched, pushing the others into the floor, before leaping up and breaking through the roof of the wagon, disappearing into the canopy of trees a moment later. Tio flapped as hard as she could once she was in the trees, and spun so she was facing the chaos below, then set them carefully on an overlooking branch high up. Tio panted hard, resting on a nearby branch, perching easily because of her remembered years of doing this as a kit. Tio glanced over at Catriahl to see his reaction only to laugh outright at the look on his face.

 

[Karate Cat]

Catirahl was hugging Ariadne beneath his paw when Tiolth suddenly said that she won't drop him. Drop him...from where? His brain paused a bit, trying to understand where she was going with that statement. That was when the Dragon grabbed Catirahl's scruff and leapt up high. High. So high. Sooooo hiiiiigh. The cat didn't even scream, even though Ariadne squeaked with all of her strength. No. Catirahl's brain had frozen shut, not doing anything else but just soak all the scenery flashing into his eyes in an instant, as well the sharp, cold feeling of air blazing through him in godforsaken speed.


This was, after all, his first experience of flying in the sky.


Tio had finally slowed their ascend before choosing a particular branch and perched there. Catirahl settled on her side, staying up the branch only through his natural instinct as a cat. Ariadne on the other hand was ill-equipped to the life of a tree-percher, and instead jumped onto Catirahl's back. Still trembling in fear. Seems like she kept on meeting traumatic experience one after another. First a Dragon, then a fire, and now this.


Ah, the Dragon seems to be laughing...well, it was kinda expected. Catirahl's face was so blank, people would've said he had found enlightenment. His blood drained out from the adrenaline rush, and now her body was trembling by itself from his heart beating so fast, while his face was pure white.


'Don't...DON'T YOU DO THAT TO ME EVER AGAIN' The cat screamed in his mind.