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The duo continue their trek with their new friend, but they encounter an obstacle along the way...
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An exhausted mage blinked several times. With blurry vision and his ears ringing, he found himself bound to a titanic tail constantly swinging left to right. Soft fur enveloped his body. Although the tip of the fluffy tail blocked most of his vision, he could still see a dirt road moving away from him, and looking to the side allowed him to spot another human man on a horse far below his position.
Following a brief struggle, the mage partially removed a cloth gag from his mouth. He practically coughed and sputtered it out of his throat combined with shaking his head back and forth, albeit it still obscured part of his face afterward. “Agh.. ACK. He-hey… HEY!” he said with his voice rising over time. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!”
A moment of silence then filled the air.
“What does it look like?” asked Kazem with his own voice barely audible.
The mage squirmed against the other ropes. “You’ve tied me to this godforsaken giant cat!”
Farishta glanced at the base of her tail and frowned. “Um… I do apologize for this…”
Kazem stopped snacking on some sliced sausage as he looked up at them. “Apologize? This insane asshole threatened to kill you, Farishta, and now he’s being a racist. He should be the one apologizing and begging for your forgiveness more than anything else.”
“How exactly am I being racist?!” asked the mage, quivering in place.
“Just because Farishta has some more feline features doesn’t mean she’s a cat.” replied Kazem, shaking his head. “She’s a mergich. That’d be like if she called a human a monkey.”
“AS IF YOU’RE ONE TO TALK!” shouted the mage at the top of his lungs. “You’re some rogue that physically assaulted me before stealing my most valuable possessions, putting me in this compromising position that could result in my demise, you thug and thief!”
With a shrug, Kazem closed his eyes. “At least I’m not a racist.”
The mage thrashed against his restraints once more. “I’LL KILL YOU.”
“Is that so?” asked Kazem, focusing on the road ahead. “You’re actually gonna kill yourself at this rate if you keep removing all those ropes meant to keep you safe.”
“SAFE?!” replied the mage with a similar level of hysteria. “How is any of this remotely safe?!”
Farishta reacted to the exchange with a bewildered look spreading across her face. “There’s no need to fight, guys…” She only halted to look at her passenger eye to eye. “I didn’t know Kazem was going to do that to you and I find this arrangement uncomfortable too! Would you like me to carry you with one of my hands instead?”
“I WANT YOU TO UNHAND ME ALTOGETHER, WOMAN!” screamed the mage in return. “My name is Horace Black, son of none other than the Count of Reviale! I demand my release… IMMEDIATELY!”
“Oh, great…” Kazem said with a hint of disdain, “A blueblood. He’s by far the most loud and obnoxious one I’ve ever encountered. I guess it makes sense since he talks real fancy with some of his vocabulary, but I doubt he holds much sway anymore if he got thrown in a dungeon.”
As for Farishta, she resumed walking to quickly catch up with Kazem’s horse. “What’s a blueblood?”
Her words alone resulted in Horace’s face turning red. “I’M A MEMBER OF THE NOBILITY! Not some common peasant or ruffian you can do as you please with!”
Kazem looked at the sky and sighed. “Are you sure you don’t wanna eat him or something, Farishta?”
She frowned with her face contorting. “For the last time, I would never-”
“WHAT?!” exclaimed Horace, cutting her off.
“And can you stop it with all the shouting and screaming?” Kazem asked, gesturing to the front. “It’s inconsiderate. My map says we’re about to reach a small town, and it might disturb anyone still sleeping.”
Horace almost boiled over as he squirmed. “INCONSIDERATE? I’m the one being practically tortured here, and you’re calling me inconsiderate?!”
“Correct.” Kazem said without any hesitation.
“Can’t we just let him go?” Farishta asked with her ears folding down. “I do want to get him off my tail before we enter another human settlement at the very least! It’d be… awkward otherwise.”
Kazem rolled his eyes. “Just as long as you keep him close. I don’t think letting him go is a good idea at all, though.”
She blinked a few times. “Why not?”
“How do I explain this?” Kazem said, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. “You know what? Get him off your tail real quick and store him somewhere else. We might need a private chat.”
“Alright then…” Farishta said, grabbing hold of her own tail. “Sorry, Horace, but I’m going to need a minute!”
Horace’s eyes became increasingly dreary. “Un... unbelievable…”
From there, a clawed finger cut a few ropes. Farishta carefully grabbed hold of Horace, pinching his body to slide him against her tail before he ended up in a padded palm. With that accomplished, she grabbed hold of the knapsack slung over her shoulder by using a free hand, allowing her to place the mage inside. He weakly shouted all the while, up until he disappeared from her view. She then delicately set her knapsack and wooden staff on the side of the road as Kazem awaited her presence a short distance away.
Farishta took several steps forward before bending her knees to the ground. However, her overall position still rendered her looming over Kazem as her titanic shadow blocked most sunlight. “I don’t know if Horace can still hear us, but now you can speak your mind if you need to!”
Kazem’s horse stumbled back a bit and neighed, resulting in him pulling on the reins. “Easy!” he said under his breath. Eventually, the horse calmed down and returned to a more stoic state. “Ugh. Damn creature isn’t fazed by some hundred-foot-tall woman walking alongside it, then it gets a bit spooked now? Must be raw instinct. Kind of surprised it hasn’t tried bucking me off so far… but yeah, before I get too off-topic, I wanted to talk about what to do with Horace.”
“I thought the plan was to turn him into the local authorities?” she said, tilting her head.
He rolled his shoulders. “Originally? Yeah. Now I’m not so sure. I don’t really care how we do it, but I got a gut feeling this guy could be a problem later on, and I’d prefer permanently getting rid of him.”
Farishta reeled a bit. “You’re not implying that we should hurt him… are you?”
“Not necessarily.” replied Kazem, his own eyes averting her amethyst ones for a moment. He then stared at her with a more stern look. “I already know what you’re probably going to say ahead of time.” His arms went in the air before his voice transitioned to a more high pitch. “Oh, Kazem! The world is wonderful and full of sunshine and rainbows! I’m painfully naive! Why don’t we let this insane mage go, even though he has zero redeeming qualities and literally just tried to kill me, all so that he can be a big problem later on if he’s actually the son of a noble?”
She shook her head and laughed a little. “You keep forgetting that I’m centuries old and somewhat self-aware about my more… sheltered upbringing. I just don’t see how this mage could possibly be a genuine threat to us considering how easily we apprehended him!”
He rubbed his eyes. “For starters, this alleged Horace somehow tracked us down. Assuming they weren’t outright lies or the ramblings of a madman, he claimed to be part of an imperial conspiracy to steal your amulet.”
“So… you don’t believe him?” asked Farishta with a more concerned look.
“Why should I?” asked Kazem in return. “Even if what he’s saying is true, there’s also the whole ex-prisoner thing. I don’t know exactly what the mage did to end up in the emperor’s personal dungeons, but I’m from the Astranian Empire myself, and I know that only the most serious criminals end up there. The underground dungeon itself is infamous for being allegedly inescapable. If that wasn’t bad enough, the emperor’s personal estate is arguably the most well-protected one on the continent with how it’s crawling with his best soldiers and extensively fortified thanks to all these walls and whatnot…”
She brought a hand to her chin. “You seem to know a lot about that.”
“Just about every imperial citizen does.” he replied, scratching the back of his head. “Horace is lucky he wasn’t blinded, castrated, or crippled in some other way if they let him out unharmed… assuming he’s being truthful about that.”
“I still don’t want him to come to any harm!” Farishta said as her face scrunched up. “Self-defense is one thing, but murder is an outright sin. The gods themselves instructed my ancestors to never kill another one of their creations unless they needed to eat or protect themselves!”
Kazem sighed. “Fine, fine… we’ll stick to our original plan. Just keep in mind that he’s going to be nothing but a burden in the meantime.”
Her tail drooped against the ground. “Alright! But… Kazem?”
“Yeah?” he replied, making direct eye contact with her.
Farishta’s amethyst purple eyes went wide as she looked at him like a kitten. “You haven’t hurt anyone like that before, have you? I really didn’t like seeing that more violent side of you when you punched Horace in the stomach earlier…”
The blood drained from Kazem’s face. “I… uh…” He shook his head before looking at her again. “There have been times where I’ve been forced to defend myself, but I don’t wanna talk about it. Hell, self-defense is why I roughed him up when he tried attacking you in the first place!”
“I... understand.” she said, nodding.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone, Farishta, but now I have to carry a pistol and dagger as a deterrent for the most part. Sorry you had to see that.”
Farishta’s tail swooshed behind her. “Mostly?”
“They occasionally have other uses…” he said, gazing at the road. “Like hunting small game. I don’t think I need to explain why a knife is the most useful tool you can have either.”
She unsheathed the claws on her hands and feet. “I’ve never really needed much in the way of weapons myself, but I know what you mean!” A few cute fangs sticking out of the corners of Farishta’s mouth served as a strong reminder of everything she was physically capable of. “Humans need to make their own tools if they don’t have more natural ones like me!”
Kazem grunted. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” asked Farishta, standing back up.
“Yeah...” he answered, using his reins to control his horse once more. “At least for now. I guess it doesn’t really change anything.”
“We’ll find out what we can do once we reach the next town!” she said, pivoting in the other direction to retrieve her knapsack. “I don’t know if I’m more excited or anxious about seeing a human settlement that isn’t Ashbourne for a change of pace!”
In a matter of moments, Farishta grabbed hold of her knapsack. A quick peek inside revealed Horace inert and surrounded by spare black wrappings, unconscious once more. Content with this, she grabbed hold of the sack rather than slinging it over her shoulder, attaching it to the end of her wooden staff to create a bindle before moving on ahead.
~~~~~
As time passed, an arid environment gave way to a more temperate one. Kazem led the way with his horse. Farishta’s toes curled up once her black pads came into contact with a cold, cobblestone road... replacing a poor dirt one previously adjoining it.
“Oh, wow!” she said, lifting one foot. “These feel really nice, smooth, and cool to walk on!”
Kazem smirked. “Really? You’ve never encountered a road like this before?”
Farishta resumed walking with a pep in her step. “Ashbourne never had anything like this!”
“Well, that’s because it’s some village in the middle of nowhere.” he said with a sneer.
“That’s true!” she replied, giggling. “But it’s my village in the middle of nowhere, so that makes it special!”
“Can’t argue against that.” Kazem said, chuckling. “How’s your passenger by the way? He’s been awfully quiet ever since we had our little talk.”
She brought a hand to her mouth, cupping her chin. “Last time I checked, Horace looked like he was asleep in my knapsack.”
He scoffed. “Blueblood must have screamed his head off until he passed out.”
“I’ve also been feeling really rejuvenated recently!” Farishta said in an upbeat tone. “Like… I’ve never felt this energetic before. I was starving when I woke up, but now I feel really full and sated!”
Kazem’s head perked up. “Oh. So that’s it…”
Farishta’s own smile slowly vanished. “What?”
“Horace is a mage, right?” he asked, gesturing with one hand. “He also had a bunch of magical tools and enchanted jewelry that I took the liberty of confiscating. Odds are you’re sapping a ton of mana from him and any of his stuff just by being around, squeezing and sucking him dry if he’s constantly exhausted from what I’ve seen so far.”
“Oh my!” she said, looking over her shoulder at the knapsack attached to her staff. “You don’t think that’s harmful to Horace, do you?”
“I don’t know or care.” answered Kazem matter of factly. “But it does explain things if you’re somehow getting your sustenance from his magic.”
She made a blank stare. “That would explain a few things, actually.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You never knew about this or figured it out until now?”
“I mean… I did know about it, Kazem, but I’ve never been exposed to this much mana before!”
“And here I am worrying about how we’re going to feed you in the long run.” he replied, shrugging. “I guess we only need to find more mages for you tie to your tail or something if we happen to stumble upon anything magical.”
Farishta laughed at his words. “Why do you think I developed such a taste for dragons?”
Kazem made a more smug facial expression. “I was thinking about all the food you’d get from them, but now things are clicking together in my head…”
“Clicking?” she repeated back to him with a smile. “Should I be concerned?”
“Nah.” he replied, waving the question away. “Just means everything is starting to make more sense. I still don’t know how or why you mergich are so huge, but if you’re literally absorbing magic like a sponge everywhere you go…”
“Oh, look!” Farishta said, interrupting him. “I can see a human town from here!”
Her words resulted in Kazem perking up his head. As they walked up a small hill, a medieval town gradually came into view in the far distance. Outlying walls circled the center of the settlement, but many buildings continued far past it, allowing for various structures. A river also bordered the area. It all culminated in boats, wagons, and lone traders constantly entering and exiting the town itself with farms far away from it.
“Is that a water wheel?” asked Farishta, standing on the tips of her toes as her eyes beamed up. “This is absolutely incredible!”
Compared to Farishta marveling at mundane things, Kazem remained unfazed. Instead, he focused on distant guard towers and posts for the most part. “There’s a watchtower protecting the road up ahead. I’m not sure how they’re going to react to a mergich, but I guess we’ll have to find out.”
Farishta focused on the aforementioned stone tower suddenly looming over their positions. She easily rivaled it in height despite its position at the top of the hill. “Wow. This is all so nerve-wracking… but I’m so happy to have you at my side as we experience this together, Kazem!”
He grimaced, dying a bit inside. “I should say the same.”
“You can do the talking if there’s an issue of some sort!” she resumed, optimistic as ever.
“Right, right…” Kazem said, nodding several times. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Eventually, they reached an area of the road bordering the watchtower. Soldiers armed with pikes, matchlock muskets, and swords awaited them at a checkpoint as they processed a caravan composed of a few wagons. Upon spotting Farishta silently yet steadily approaching their positions, a civilian woman sitting on one wagon screamed at the top of her lungs.
Farishta stopped in place.
As for the soldiers, they collectively recoiled. Then a sergeant wearing blue and white colors over his steel armor began barking orders…
“FORM RANKS!”
With some hesitation, the small assortment of soldiers sprinted toward one another to protect the rear of the caravan. Some raised their pikes at Farishta. Others on the sidelines or gaps completely ignored Kazem as they concentrated on the practical feline giant.
In response, Farishta slowly placed her bindle on the ground, freeing both hands. She put them in the air with her smile rapidly transitioning into a frown. “I don’t mean any-”
More abrupt screaming from the merchants and scarce civilians drowned out her voice. Complete pandemonium enveloped the caravan. Horses similarly freaked out as they dragged their wagons away, taking their passengers with them whether they liked it or not. A child cried as a parent coddled them. Young soldiers with a shaky grip on their weapons only maintained their morale in the face of such a large, potential threat due to their much senior sergeant fearlessly leading them at the front and center, who raised his own pistol.
Kazem charged forward with his horse. “Hey! HEY! SHE’S NOT GOING TO ATTACK YOU!”
The sergeant then proceeded to fire a warning shot into the air.
Farishta covered her mouth with both hands.
Stumbling back, Kazem’s horse stood on its two hind legs, loudly neighing. The sudden force alone caught Kazem by surprise. Before he knew it, his grip loosened on the reins as his mount made short work of bucking him off. This only caused further chaos as the horse proceeded to run away without him, confusing the soldiers even more as some pointed their firearms in Kazem’s general direction.
Tears started forming in Farishta’s eyes before she turned tail and ran. She did so with a great degree of grace and speed, taking advantage of her titanic strides to descend down the hill in no time at all.
This left the soldiers visibly perplexed as the sergeant raised a hand.
“Hold your fire!” he ordered.
Some soldiers immediately lowered their weapons or let out sighs of relief.
Meanwhile, Kazem stood back up. He let out a groan as he dusted off his legs, looking back at Farishta retreating further from the hill, then at the soldiers in front of him. Most merchants were now gone from the scene, swiftly advancing toward the distant town with only a few remaining at the checkpoint itself.
Kazem’s hands balled into fists as he spread out his arms and strolled to the assortment of footmen. “What the fuck?!” he said with a raised voice. “You fucking idiots!”
The sergeant moved away from the formation to confront Kazem directly. “Easy there, lad. Was that mergich with you?”
“YES!” Kazem said, lowering his arms in an exasperated fashion. “Why the hell did you do all of that? She’s a pacifistic monk!”
Although other soldiers awkwardly looked at one another and scratched the backs of their heads, the sergeant refrained from reacting with a single hint of emotion. “I wasn’t sure if we were under attack. Of course, everyone else’s response to the mergich didn’t exactly help matters either since it wouldn’t be the first time one caused us trouble...”
Kazem rubbed his eyes before turning around. “I swear, whenever something bad happens, it’s always in a torrent like this…” He paused to look over his shoulder. “Did you at least see where my horse went?”
The sergeant looked in the direction it ran off. Only hoof prints in the dirt showed any clear path. “Lyle! Smith! Try to track down this poor man’s horse and return it to the watchtower!”
“Right away!” replied one of the soldiers in question before they both broke formation.
“I am terribly sorry about all of this,” said the sergeant as he looked back at Kazem, “But I…”
He stopped speaking upon spotting Kazem sprinting away. The man more or less chased after Farishta, ignoring almost everything else, including Farishta’s abandoned knapsack and staff combined into a bindle.
The sergeant let out a sigh. “What a bloody mess…”
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An exhausted mage blinked several times. With blurry vision and his ears ringing, he found himself bound to a titanic tail constantly swinging left to right. Soft fur enveloped his body. Although the tip of the fluffy tail blocked most of his vision, he could still see a dirt road moving away from him, and looking to the side allowed him to spot another human man on a horse far below his position.
Following a brief struggle, the mage partially removed a cloth gag from his mouth. He practically coughed and sputtered it out of his throat combined with shaking his head back and forth, albeit it still obscured part of his face afterward. “Agh.. ACK. He-hey… HEY!” he said with his voice rising over time. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!”
A moment of silence then filled the air.
“What does it look like?” asked Kazem with his own voice barely audible.
The mage squirmed against the other ropes. “You’ve tied me to this godforsaken giant cat!”
Farishta glanced at the base of her tail and frowned. “Um… I do apologize for this…”
Kazem stopped snacking on some sliced sausage as he looked up at them. “Apologize? This insane asshole threatened to kill you, Farishta, and now he’s being a racist. He should be the one apologizing and begging for your forgiveness more than anything else.”
“How exactly am I being racist?!” asked the mage, quivering in place.
“Just because Farishta has some more feline features doesn’t mean she’s a cat.” replied Kazem, shaking his head. “She’s a mergich. That’d be like if she called a human a monkey.”
“AS IF YOU’RE ONE TO TALK!” shouted the mage at the top of his lungs. “You’re some rogue that physically assaulted me before stealing my most valuable possessions, putting me in this compromising position that could result in my demise, you thug and thief!”
With a shrug, Kazem closed his eyes. “At least I’m not a racist.”
The mage thrashed against his restraints once more. “I’LL KILL YOU.”
“Is that so?” asked Kazem, focusing on the road ahead. “You’re actually gonna kill yourself at this rate if you keep removing all those ropes meant to keep you safe.”
“SAFE?!” replied the mage with a similar level of hysteria. “How is any of this remotely safe?!”
Farishta reacted to the exchange with a bewildered look spreading across her face. “There’s no need to fight, guys…” She only halted to look at her passenger eye to eye. “I didn’t know Kazem was going to do that to you and I find this arrangement uncomfortable too! Would you like me to carry you with one of my hands instead?”
“I WANT YOU TO UNHAND ME ALTOGETHER, WOMAN!” screamed the mage in return. “My name is Horace Black, son of none other than the Count of Reviale! I demand my release… IMMEDIATELY!”
“Oh, great…” Kazem said with a hint of disdain, “A blueblood. He’s by far the most loud and obnoxious one I’ve ever encountered. I guess it makes sense since he talks real fancy with some of his vocabulary, but I doubt he holds much sway anymore if he got thrown in a dungeon.”
As for Farishta, she resumed walking to quickly catch up with Kazem’s horse. “What’s a blueblood?”
Her words alone resulted in Horace’s face turning red. “I’M A MEMBER OF THE NOBILITY! Not some common peasant or ruffian you can do as you please with!”
Kazem looked at the sky and sighed. “Are you sure you don’t wanna eat him or something, Farishta?”
She frowned with her face contorting. “For the last time, I would never-”
“WHAT?!” exclaimed Horace, cutting her off.
“And can you stop it with all the shouting and screaming?” Kazem asked, gesturing to the front. “It’s inconsiderate. My map says we’re about to reach a small town, and it might disturb anyone still sleeping.”
Horace almost boiled over as he squirmed. “INCONSIDERATE? I’m the one being practically tortured here, and you’re calling me inconsiderate?!”
“Correct.” Kazem said without any hesitation.
“Can’t we just let him go?” Farishta asked with her ears folding down. “I do want to get him off my tail before we enter another human settlement at the very least! It’d be… awkward otherwise.”
Kazem rolled his eyes. “Just as long as you keep him close. I don’t think letting him go is a good idea at all, though.”
She blinked a few times. “Why not?”
“How do I explain this?” Kazem said, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. “You know what? Get him off your tail real quick and store him somewhere else. We might need a private chat.”
“Alright then…” Farishta said, grabbing hold of her own tail. “Sorry, Horace, but I’m going to need a minute!”
Horace’s eyes became increasingly dreary. “Un... unbelievable…”
From there, a clawed finger cut a few ropes. Farishta carefully grabbed hold of Horace, pinching his body to slide him against her tail before he ended up in a padded palm. With that accomplished, she grabbed hold of the knapsack slung over her shoulder by using a free hand, allowing her to place the mage inside. He weakly shouted all the while, up until he disappeared from her view. She then delicately set her knapsack and wooden staff on the side of the road as Kazem awaited her presence a short distance away.
Farishta took several steps forward before bending her knees to the ground. However, her overall position still rendered her looming over Kazem as her titanic shadow blocked most sunlight. “I don’t know if Horace can still hear us, but now you can speak your mind if you need to!”
Kazem’s horse stumbled back a bit and neighed, resulting in him pulling on the reins. “Easy!” he said under his breath. Eventually, the horse calmed down and returned to a more stoic state. “Ugh. Damn creature isn’t fazed by some hundred-foot-tall woman walking alongside it, then it gets a bit spooked now? Must be raw instinct. Kind of surprised it hasn’t tried bucking me off so far… but yeah, before I get too off-topic, I wanted to talk about what to do with Horace.”
“I thought the plan was to turn him into the local authorities?” she said, tilting her head.
He rolled his shoulders. “Originally? Yeah. Now I’m not so sure. I don’t really care how we do it, but I got a gut feeling this guy could be a problem later on, and I’d prefer permanently getting rid of him.”
Farishta reeled a bit. “You’re not implying that we should hurt him… are you?”
“Not necessarily.” replied Kazem, his own eyes averting her amethyst ones for a moment. He then stared at her with a more stern look. “I already know what you’re probably going to say ahead of time.” His arms went in the air before his voice transitioned to a more high pitch. “Oh, Kazem! The world is wonderful and full of sunshine and rainbows! I’m painfully naive! Why don’t we let this insane mage go, even though he has zero redeeming qualities and literally just tried to kill me, all so that he can be a big problem later on if he’s actually the son of a noble?”
She shook her head and laughed a little. “You keep forgetting that I’m centuries old and somewhat self-aware about my more… sheltered upbringing. I just don’t see how this mage could possibly be a genuine threat to us considering how easily we apprehended him!”
He rubbed his eyes. “For starters, this alleged Horace somehow tracked us down. Assuming they weren’t outright lies or the ramblings of a madman, he claimed to be part of an imperial conspiracy to steal your amulet.”
“So… you don’t believe him?” asked Farishta with a more concerned look.
“Why should I?” asked Kazem in return. “Even if what he’s saying is true, there’s also the whole ex-prisoner thing. I don’t know exactly what the mage did to end up in the emperor’s personal dungeons, but I’m from the Astranian Empire myself, and I know that only the most serious criminals end up there. The underground dungeon itself is infamous for being allegedly inescapable. If that wasn’t bad enough, the emperor’s personal estate is arguably the most well-protected one on the continent with how it’s crawling with his best soldiers and extensively fortified thanks to all these walls and whatnot…”
She brought a hand to her chin. “You seem to know a lot about that.”
“Just about every imperial citizen does.” he replied, scratching the back of his head. “Horace is lucky he wasn’t blinded, castrated, or crippled in some other way if they let him out unharmed… assuming he’s being truthful about that.”
“I still don’t want him to come to any harm!” Farishta said as her face scrunched up. “Self-defense is one thing, but murder is an outright sin. The gods themselves instructed my ancestors to never kill another one of their creations unless they needed to eat or protect themselves!”
Kazem sighed. “Fine, fine… we’ll stick to our original plan. Just keep in mind that he’s going to be nothing but a burden in the meantime.”
Her tail drooped against the ground. “Alright! But… Kazem?”
“Yeah?” he replied, making direct eye contact with her.
Farishta’s amethyst purple eyes went wide as she looked at him like a kitten. “You haven’t hurt anyone like that before, have you? I really didn’t like seeing that more violent side of you when you punched Horace in the stomach earlier…”
The blood drained from Kazem’s face. “I… uh…” He shook his head before looking at her again. “There have been times where I’ve been forced to defend myself, but I don’t wanna talk about it. Hell, self-defense is why I roughed him up when he tried attacking you in the first place!”
“I... understand.” she said, nodding.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone, Farishta, but now I have to carry a pistol and dagger as a deterrent for the most part. Sorry you had to see that.”
Farishta’s tail swooshed behind her. “Mostly?”
“They occasionally have other uses…” he said, gazing at the road. “Like hunting small game. I don’t think I need to explain why a knife is the most useful tool you can have either.”
She unsheathed the claws on her hands and feet. “I’ve never really needed much in the way of weapons myself, but I know what you mean!” A few cute fangs sticking out of the corners of Farishta’s mouth served as a strong reminder of everything she was physically capable of. “Humans need to make their own tools if they don’t have more natural ones like me!”
Kazem grunted. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” asked Farishta, standing back up.
“Yeah...” he answered, using his reins to control his horse once more. “At least for now. I guess it doesn’t really change anything.”
“We’ll find out what we can do once we reach the next town!” she said, pivoting in the other direction to retrieve her knapsack. “I don’t know if I’m more excited or anxious about seeing a human settlement that isn’t Ashbourne for a change of pace!”
In a matter of moments, Farishta grabbed hold of her knapsack. A quick peek inside revealed Horace inert and surrounded by spare black wrappings, unconscious once more. Content with this, she grabbed hold of the sack rather than slinging it over her shoulder, attaching it to the end of her wooden staff to create a bindle before moving on ahead.
~~~~~
As time passed, an arid environment gave way to a more temperate one. Kazem led the way with his horse. Farishta’s toes curled up once her black pads came into contact with a cold, cobblestone road... replacing a poor dirt one previously adjoining it.
“Oh, wow!” she said, lifting one foot. “These feel really nice, smooth, and cool to walk on!”
Kazem smirked. “Really? You’ve never encountered a road like this before?”
Farishta resumed walking with a pep in her step. “Ashbourne never had anything like this!”
“Well, that’s because it’s some village in the middle of nowhere.” he said with a sneer.
“That’s true!” she replied, giggling. “But it’s my village in the middle of nowhere, so that makes it special!”
“Can’t argue against that.” Kazem said, chuckling. “How’s your passenger by the way? He’s been awfully quiet ever since we had our little talk.”
She brought a hand to her mouth, cupping her chin. “Last time I checked, Horace looked like he was asleep in my knapsack.”
He scoffed. “Blueblood must have screamed his head off until he passed out.”
“I’ve also been feeling really rejuvenated recently!” Farishta said in an upbeat tone. “Like… I’ve never felt this energetic before. I was starving when I woke up, but now I feel really full and sated!”
Kazem’s head perked up. “Oh. So that’s it…”
Farishta’s own smile slowly vanished. “What?”
“Horace is a mage, right?” he asked, gesturing with one hand. “He also had a bunch of magical tools and enchanted jewelry that I took the liberty of confiscating. Odds are you’re sapping a ton of mana from him and any of his stuff just by being around, squeezing and sucking him dry if he’s constantly exhausted from what I’ve seen so far.”
“Oh my!” she said, looking over her shoulder at the knapsack attached to her staff. “You don’t think that’s harmful to Horace, do you?”
“I don’t know or care.” answered Kazem matter of factly. “But it does explain things if you’re somehow getting your sustenance from his magic.”
She made a blank stare. “That would explain a few things, actually.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You never knew about this or figured it out until now?”
“I mean… I did know about it, Kazem, but I’ve never been exposed to this much mana before!”
“And here I am worrying about how we’re going to feed you in the long run.” he replied, shrugging. “I guess we only need to find more mages for you tie to your tail or something if we happen to stumble upon anything magical.”
Farishta laughed at his words. “Why do you think I developed such a taste for dragons?”
Kazem made a more smug facial expression. “I was thinking about all the food you’d get from them, but now things are clicking together in my head…”
“Clicking?” she repeated back to him with a smile. “Should I be concerned?”
“Nah.” he replied, waving the question away. “Just means everything is starting to make more sense. I still don’t know how or why you mergich are so huge, but if you’re literally absorbing magic like a sponge everywhere you go…”
“Oh, look!” Farishta said, interrupting him. “I can see a human town from here!”
Her words resulted in Kazem perking up his head. As they walked up a small hill, a medieval town gradually came into view in the far distance. Outlying walls circled the center of the settlement, but many buildings continued far past it, allowing for various structures. A river also bordered the area. It all culminated in boats, wagons, and lone traders constantly entering and exiting the town itself with farms far away from it.
“Is that a water wheel?” asked Farishta, standing on the tips of her toes as her eyes beamed up. “This is absolutely incredible!”
Compared to Farishta marveling at mundane things, Kazem remained unfazed. Instead, he focused on distant guard towers and posts for the most part. “There’s a watchtower protecting the road up ahead. I’m not sure how they’re going to react to a mergich, but I guess we’ll have to find out.”
Farishta focused on the aforementioned stone tower suddenly looming over their positions. She easily rivaled it in height despite its position at the top of the hill. “Wow. This is all so nerve-wracking… but I’m so happy to have you at my side as we experience this together, Kazem!”
He grimaced, dying a bit inside. “I should say the same.”
“You can do the talking if there’s an issue of some sort!” she resumed, optimistic as ever.
“Right, right…” Kazem said, nodding several times. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Eventually, they reached an area of the road bordering the watchtower. Soldiers armed with pikes, matchlock muskets, and swords awaited them at a checkpoint as they processed a caravan composed of a few wagons. Upon spotting Farishta silently yet steadily approaching their positions, a civilian woman sitting on one wagon screamed at the top of her lungs.
Farishta stopped in place.
As for the soldiers, they collectively recoiled. Then a sergeant wearing blue and white colors over his steel armor began barking orders…
“FORM RANKS!”
With some hesitation, the small assortment of soldiers sprinted toward one another to protect the rear of the caravan. Some raised their pikes at Farishta. Others on the sidelines or gaps completely ignored Kazem as they concentrated on the practical feline giant.
In response, Farishta slowly placed her bindle on the ground, freeing both hands. She put them in the air with her smile rapidly transitioning into a frown. “I don’t mean any-”
More abrupt screaming from the merchants and scarce civilians drowned out her voice. Complete pandemonium enveloped the caravan. Horses similarly freaked out as they dragged their wagons away, taking their passengers with them whether they liked it or not. A child cried as a parent coddled them. Young soldiers with a shaky grip on their weapons only maintained their morale in the face of such a large, potential threat due to their much senior sergeant fearlessly leading them at the front and center, who raised his own pistol.
Kazem charged forward with his horse. “Hey! HEY! SHE’S NOT GOING TO ATTACK YOU!”
The sergeant then proceeded to fire a warning shot into the air.
Farishta covered her mouth with both hands.
Stumbling back, Kazem’s horse stood on its two hind legs, loudly neighing. The sudden force alone caught Kazem by surprise. Before he knew it, his grip loosened on the reins as his mount made short work of bucking him off. This only caused further chaos as the horse proceeded to run away without him, confusing the soldiers even more as some pointed their firearms in Kazem’s general direction.
Tears started forming in Farishta’s eyes before she turned tail and ran. She did so with a great degree of grace and speed, taking advantage of her titanic strides to descend down the hill in no time at all.
This left the soldiers visibly perplexed as the sergeant raised a hand.
“Hold your fire!” he ordered.
Some soldiers immediately lowered their weapons or let out sighs of relief.
Meanwhile, Kazem stood back up. He let out a groan as he dusted off his legs, looking back at Farishta retreating further from the hill, then at the soldiers in front of him. Most merchants were now gone from the scene, swiftly advancing toward the distant town with only a few remaining at the checkpoint itself.
Kazem’s hands balled into fists as he spread out his arms and strolled to the assortment of footmen. “What the fuck?!” he said with a raised voice. “You fucking idiots!”
The sergeant moved away from the formation to confront Kazem directly. “Easy there, lad. Was that mergich with you?”
“YES!” Kazem said, lowering his arms in an exasperated fashion. “Why the hell did you do all of that? She’s a pacifistic monk!”
Although other soldiers awkwardly looked at one another and scratched the backs of their heads, the sergeant refrained from reacting with a single hint of emotion. “I wasn’t sure if we were under attack. Of course, everyone else’s response to the mergich didn’t exactly help matters either since it wouldn’t be the first time one caused us trouble...”
Kazem rubbed his eyes before turning around. “I swear, whenever something bad happens, it’s always in a torrent like this…” He paused to look over his shoulder. “Did you at least see where my horse went?”
The sergeant looked in the direction it ran off. Only hoof prints in the dirt showed any clear path. “Lyle! Smith! Try to track down this poor man’s horse and return it to the watchtower!”
“Right away!” replied one of the soldiers in question before they both broke formation.
“I am terribly sorry about all of this,” said the sergeant as he looked back at Kazem, “But I…”
He stopped speaking upon spotting Kazem sprinting away. The man more or less chased after Farishta, ignoring almost everything else, including Farishta’s abandoned knapsack and staff combined into a bindle.
The sergeant let out a sigh. “What a bloody mess…”
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>"From there, a clawed finger cut a few ropes. Farishta carefully grabbed hold of Horace, pinching his body to slide him against her tail before he ended up in a padded palm. With that accomplished, she grabbed hold of the knapsack slung over her shoulder by using a free hand, allowing her to place the mage inside. He weakly shouted all the while, up until he disappeared from her view. She then delicately set her knapsack and wooden staff on the side of the road as Kazem awaited her presence a short distance away."
>” His arms went in the air before his voice transitioned to a more high pitch. “Oh, Kazem! The world is wonderful and full of sunshine and rainbows! I’m painfully naive! Why don’t we let this insane mage go, even though he has zero redeeming qualities and literally just tried to kill me, all so that he can be a big problem later on if he’s actually the son of a noble?”
>"He stopped speaking upon spotting Kazem sprinting away. The man more or less chased after Farishta, ignoring almost everything else, including Farishta’s abandoned knapsack and staff combined into a bindle."
Nice
>” His arms went in the air before his voice transitioned to a more high pitch. “Oh, Kazem! The world is wonderful and full of sunshine and rainbows! I’m painfully naive! Why don’t we let this insane mage go, even though he has zero redeeming qualities and literally just tried to kill me, all so that he can be a big problem later on if he’s actually the son of a noble?”
>"He stopped speaking upon spotting Kazem sprinting away. The man more or less chased after Farishta, ignoring almost everything else, including Farishta’s abandoned knapsack and staff combined into a bindle."
Nice
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