Getting There: How I Learned to Love Dragons And Crazy, Talking Cats

The wind whistled in her ears as Andi stood on top of a wall. She looked across the dusky plains that she remembered were grassy, beautiful, and once filled with native animals. She shivered as the wind pulled at her hair, blew up her skirt and she turned away to wipe dust from her face.

The savanna had been decimated. Huge blackened craters pock-marked the landscape. Exploded vehicles, crashed airplanes, dead horses, and mules, the carcasses of lions and elephants lay among the carnage of ruined armies. The smoke of many pyres darkened the sky overhead. The underbellies of the cumulous clouds were tinged with red and indigo. The stench of death and decay overrode it all as the wind blew it in her face. Tears ran down her cheeks as she beheld the horror of a massive battlefield.

She felt the presence of the cat as she stood at the wall. “When are we, Cat?”

“I am not sure. I don’t like what I see. I think we missed the battle.” She shivered, and suddenly yowled plaintively. “Oh, my Lord, I fear he might be dead. I cannot feel or hear him.”

“You can hear him?”

“Yes, like I hear you. We are bonded. He knows me too.” The cat wailed now, “Oh my poor Sefu!” She jumped from the wall and with her tail low, she slunk away under a pile of broken masonry. “I fear for us now.” She mewled from her hiding place.

Andi climbed down and knelt on the broken tiles near the cat. “What can we do? I guess the magic didn’t work.”

“Maybe it worked too well. At least, we were saved from fighting in that dreadful battle. But now, who is in power? What will that person do to us?”

“I could wish us home, again.”

The cat reached a paw and patted Andi’s hand. “No, I should be brave for my Lord. We should find out who won. If they are wise, I can counsel them.”

“What if it was the maniac you were trying to avoid, what was his name, the High Far-seer? Or was it the Jameel guy?”

“They are the same, although his brother Sawan was alive then in your time. I wonder if he still is now. Hm?” She crept out and rubbed her face on Andi’s knee. “I suppose there is nothing to be done but be a messenger, eh? Come, Kitten.”

“Yeah, let’s be brave for Sefu.” Andi rose and followed the cat through the rubble on the roof balcony. Even the jungle that had once been around Sefu’s palace was charred and cut to shreds. Many trees were felled, gaping black holes and fallen branches littered the ground. When they came down the steps to the garden level, the pair wept.

“His beautiful palace and garden are a ruin.” Andi commented. She spied the forms of many dead animals draped in the trees and lying crumpled on the ground. “Who would kill them? They were harmless.” Andi felt tears rise as she gripped a fist. “That is not right.”

“None of this is right, Kitten. But we must move on.”

The once grand throne room where the king had held court, was a charred, empty ruin.

They stepped carefully through the ruined jungle arriving at the swimming pool and the patio. A great battle must have been fought there. Blackened tiles and broken walls surrounding the pool had nearly emptied the swamp of the pool. Dead frogs, snakes, monkeys, and fish lay on the tiles and in the muck of the pool bottom.

“That is not good. I wonder if the enemy found Sefu’s special place.” Ain-u-tep remarked quietly.

“What place?”

“You know … the special one.”

“Oh.” Andi thought for a moment but seeing the cat looking about nervously, she knew it must be where Sefu’s artifact was hidden. “I just hope he is still alive.”

“As do I. Come.” The cat ran a dainty path around the destroyed pool and patio, through the long hallway, splashed with blood and grimy ashes. They came out into the great hall, but it was open to the sky, empty of anything but the whistling wind.

They trotted down the steps and Andi said, “This is so weird, it is like the battle just ended a while ago. Yet, there aren’t any people here. Some stuff is still smoking hot, and ruined, but where are the armies or their dead?”

“I do not know, Kitten. I am still hopeful we might find our Sword.”

They walked amid the crunching of masonry, burnt timbers, and crushed walls. The gate was no more, even the headless lions were gone, it was just a hole in the wall. The pavers and tiles of the road blackened and crumbled under their feet.

“I think a great tank must have come here. See the serpentine tracks?”

“I’m wondering if maybe someone dropped a bomb on everything. It looks like the photos of Hiroshima after the atom bomb.” Andi added.

“It could we be, if that is the case, we must hurry. Radiation exposure would be a bad thing.” The cat said, trembling.

“Yeah, right, like I’ll end up a Mutant Zombie like in the game.”

“No, like you will soon be dead. Hurry!” The cat bolted out the gate and into the nearby trees. They followed a zig-zagging path through what was left of the forest and finally came to the great Zambezi River and the cascades. The rope bridge was gone, parts hung loosely on both sides of the chasm.

“That’s not good.” Andi said, and shivered. Looking up, she noted the darkened sky, it wasn’t just thunderclouds but flocks of birds careening and wheeling about in the sky across the river. “That, is definitely not good.”

“I don’t like carrion birds—dirty things. But then who else is left to clean up the dead?”

“You are really creepy, cat, and kind of a buzz-kill.”

The cat shook herself and paced away into the brush. The sky continued to darken, Andi feeling creeped-out by the encroaching darkness kept up a light banter, even if the cat did not respond. “So, what is the deal about my ring?” she asked, taking a second to glance at it as she walked. The rubies sparkled in the gloom.

“I cannot say just yet.”

“Were you planning on telling me? What is it, another charm or something bad?”

“Again, nothing I can say right now.” The cat replied as she jumped over a tree trunk in their path.

“So, do you know where we’re going?” Andi asked as she tripped on a thorny vine. “Stupid vine.” She gritted and rubbed her knee.

“We are getting there. Don’t worry, Kitten.”

Andi avoided an unidentifiable dead beast, then hurried to catch up with the cat. “So, when we get there, do you have a plan?”

“I think you might.”

“Why me? I mean, I am nobo—” Andi screeched as the earth swallowed her.

“Ow!”

She looked up at the darkness above her. “Cat! Help me! I’ve fallen and” she cracked up laughing, “I can’t get out.” She hit the sides of her new prison and flinched as dirt clods fell on her. “Cat! Do you hear me?”

She stood still, listening to the growing sound above the hole. She could barely discern the moving shapes above in the growing darkness. “Hello? Anyone out there?” She peered up into the darkness, the shapes waved their hands and wailed.

“Hey! Can you give me some help here?” She hollered. She sank to the muddy ground near a wall and huddled around her knees. “Shoot, I don’t even have my pack, I could have made a fire or at least had a lighter to see stuff.” She rubbed her arms, “I didn’t even get a coat this time.” Her stomach growled, “Or any food” she added. “Dang it.” Tears crept up and spilled over her cheeks.

“This is so stupid. Why am I crying?” She brushed the tears away. “King Sefu had a harder battle than this. He wasn’t blubbering. So, what if I fell into a hole—”

“A tiger pit.”

She quickly retorted, “There aren’t any tigers in Africa.”

“True, not anymore. In fact, they are extinct in this time.”

Andi looked about, “Is that you, Cat?”

“No, I am not a cat.”

“Okay, who are you? Can you get me out of this mess?”

“Not sure if I can get out either.”

Andi stood up and peered into the darkness. “Where are you?”

“Over here. You almost fell on me. Be wary as you go, there are dangerous things here.”

Andi put her hands on the wall of the pit and palmed her way slowly around. “Are you a gross thing or a person?”

“I’m a person, although I am not sure about the gross part. What is gross?”

“You know, like slimy and scaly or all boogered up with your skin falling off, that’s gross.”

“I am not sure. I think I broke my leg.”

“Oh, I am glad you have legs. I hate snakes.”

Andi felt a furry impediment in her path. “Is that you or did I just step on your dead cat?”

A low snicker echoed dully about the pit. “I don’t have a cat, although they sometimes taste good.”

“Yuck. Do I even want to meet you? You aren’t going to tear me up, are you?”

“I doubt it. I can’t move. But since you can, I would appreciate you getting off my tail.”

“Sorry.” Andi side-stepped and knelt, feeling her way across the furry lump she asked, “Are you bleeding? I feel something wet.”

“Maybe a little. I was licking myself, trying to make it better.” The something in the dark whined and thrashed about.

Then Andi felt something wet and hot against her hand. “I hope you were licking me, just now.”

“Yes, it was me. Thank you for being here. I have just thanked the Supreme One for your help.”

“I haven’t done anything, yet.”

“You have a nice touch and a kind voice. You are a little funny too. I like jokes.”

“Well, this isn’t a joke, buddy.” Andi sighed and sat near the creature. “Can I touch you some more, or do you want to tell me what you are?”

“I can hear you now in my head. I think you must be a powerful mage, yes?” The creature sounded hopeful.

“No, I’m just a girl.” Andi put out her hand towards the creature. “Hi! I’m Andi Fallon, my sixteenth birthday was today, and it was going really swell, until Cat and I ended up here. I mean in Zimbabwe, and now I just fell into this hole with a … whatever you are. And I’m still hoping you aren’t something gory.”

“I wouldn’t know much about that either. I am pleased to meet you such as we are, Andi Fallon. I am Truth. And I think I have been here for several days, maybe more.”

“Truth, huh? That doesn’t tell me a lot about you. So, did you see the war up there?”

“Yes. I fought with the mightiest of men, King Sefu. The Sword was magnificent! Oh, to be a part of his army was the experience of a lifetime and I—”

“Wait! Cat and I know the King. So, is he still alive?”

“Sadly, I saw him fall before I fell in this pit.”

“He fell in a hole too?”

“No, his mount was struck down and he fell into the mass of fighting men and beasts. Oh, my poor King! I hope he did not suffer.”

“Me either.” Andi stroked the rough fur. “I am sorry for you Truth. You must have been very brave to fight alongside the King.”

“I tried my best,” he sighed, “but alas, I failed him.”

“So, what are you anyway? —not a horse, or a zebra, because you have clawed feet,” Andi said, as her nimble fingers gently prodded down the beast’s leg. “Are you a dog of some kind?”

“Not a dog. I am a dire wolf.” The animal growled.

“There aren’t dire wolves in Africa, unless they were somehow repopulated here.” She commented then queried, “Do you know what year this is? Have I gone to the past or the future?”

“It is the year of the locusts and the blood moon.”

“That is not helpful. I mean, like twenty-sixteen or when I left Moyo it was around twenty-two thirty-five.”

“I do not know your years. But King Sefu reclaimed his throne and held it for almost sixty moons. Then the Creature from the Abyss returned and brought his legions of horribleness. We fought for many moons and suns and, for a time, The Sword was winning.”

“I still don’t understand why you were fighting? You are an animal. Sorry, but animals don’t fight alongside humans.”

“We do when it is right. The King called us and we came. We are loyal to him. He promised us nothing but the glory of the fight, and the hope that we could help him bring peace to the world.”

“What I saw out there was bad, everything was destroyed.”

Truth moaned and howled. “I prayed that we would win and drive the evilness from the earth. Oh, it is too sad. I should just die here alone. You go, Andi, save yourself and leave me to the worms.”

“No, I won’t.” Andi held the creature’s head. She could feel its hot breath upon her face, and barely see the gleam of his pale eyes. “Truth, we will escape together. I promise you.”

He licked her face. “You are kind like the Sword. He loved us all, but we have surely disappointed him.”

“Maybe not. If we survive, then we can go out into the world and proclaim his goodness. Hey, this is sort of like what Jesus’ disciples did, they evangelized all over the world.”

“I do not know Jesus. Was he a great man?”

“The best. He was the son of God—” Andi stopped. “Well, that is what I believe.”

“It is good to believe in something. I believed we would win. But,” Truth whined, “I do not feel well. I need sleep.” The wolf pulled away and laid his head upon a rock, whimpering, “I hurt.”

“I want to help you. Maybe I can make a splint or something to support your leg.”

“I think I am hurt more than my leg. You rest. Thank you for your kindness, Andi.”

Andi sat in the darkness of the pit. The wind howled and the things above waved their long arms. It was then she realized the things were trees whipping about in the wind. She wondered about the wind, “Maybe it is a nuclear winter, the fall-out. Oh, God, please don’t let it be a nuclear war.” She prayed.

A voice answered.

“Yes, it was. The enemy hit us with two missiles of death. What was left of the Sword’s armies, the rest of us, that is, we did what we could.”

“I am sorry, Truth.”

“King Sefu said this war was like the Biblical story of the Battle of Armageddon, that if he succeeded then the earth would know peace. If not, then the world would slowly die under the reign of evil tyrants.” The wolf shifted slowly and sighing said, “Some people and animals were sent to another world to protect them. I could have gone, but I chose to stay and fight for the King.”

Andi shivering, crossed her arms about her body. “Oh, I never could imagine such a thing and for me to be here to see it, is terrible.”

“It was terrible.”

“Maybe the King is still alive.”

“I do not know.” Truth shifted painfully with a grunt. “You have been a comfort to me. I am cold.”

Andi crawled across the rough ground and lay near the wolf. She put her arms about his large body, feeling him tremble. “I have a big yellow lab at home. Snickers loves to cuddle. I’ll keep you as warm as I can.”

“Thank you. May you be blessed.” The wolf sighed and moved slightly into her arms.

☼

Sunlight rose above the pit—it was a painful lance blinding her. She saw an orange sky above illuminating the center of the pit. She lifted her head from the wolf’s deep chest. He died in his sleep during the long night while the winds wailed his name. She petted his rough coat and laid his head upon the ground. She closed his sightless, silver eyes and wept too. “You were a good soldier, Truth. Now, I must find a way out of this place and finish your work.”

Andi rose and stretched her aching muscles from the uncomfortable night. She studied the sides of the pit, there were some vines, and a few rocks in the uneven cuts in the dirt. Near the center of the pit she noticed large spikes made from tree limbs. “Yikes, how did I miss those?”

She went to one and roughly waggled it, hoping to pull out of the ground. After a long time and the sun had moved past her pit, she had removed four spiked logs. Carrying one over her shoulder, she then wedged it into the walls of the pit, several feet up. She repeated the process a bit higher, although one fell out and crashed to the floor. She clumsily climbed up and replaced the log higher than it had been before. While there, she tugged on some vines, twisting until they were frayed and easily broken. She climbed down her ‘Jungle Gym’ as she was now calling it and sat to rest and make a rope of the vines.

She looked across at the dead wolf. His shadowy form now emaciated and stiff, he was starting to smell. “I’m gonna get out of here, no matter what, buddy.” She said harshly as she twisted the frayed edges around another piece of vine. She chewed and bit at it to start another frayed end and then tore it into shreds. She continued to braid the pieces. After a time, she had about twenty feet of rope. “Enough to hang myself for sure.” She mused.

The day was fading fast. “I gotta get out before I lose the light again.” She tied one end of the rope about her waist, then coiled the rest over her arm. She checked the large rock she had tied on the end. She hoped to toss it up and out of the hole to use it as a counter balance. She knew the logs were not high enough for her to get out, but at least she would be within ten feet, not in an impossibly deep hole at the bottom.

Her plan worked as she climbed up the logs. She balanced against the wall and swung the rock like a bola and let it go. It went up then right back down, nearly yanking her arm from her shoulder.

“Let’s try it again.” Andi repeated the throws, modifying her angle and pitch slightly four more times, each time re-coiling the rope. She hooted and yelled when the rock disappeared above. She pulled gently and worried there would be nothing to catch the rock. But it stopped, the line went taut.

“Hallelujah!” She hummed the rock tune as she placed a foot against the wall then hand over hand, pulled herself up the walls of the pit. She grabbed onto the earth, it crumbled as she clambered up, then grabbing some roots, soon pulled herself up onto the earth.

Trembling, Andi lay for a time. “Thank you, God. Bless me and wherever Cat is, and bless that poor wolf, Truth. He was a good soldier.” Rolling over, she used her hands and knees to right herself. She blew on her blistered hands and skinned knees. “Not bad, for a girl.” She commented, dusting off her skirt and blouse. She circumnavigated the deep pit, trying to remember the direction she and the cat had been traveling. As she walked, she coiled up the snaking vine rope then hung it on her shoulder. “I might need you again.”

She took a sharp stick and bore a hole in a tree and was happy to see water drizzle down. “Yup, this girl learns from only the best. Thanks, Sefu.” She tore off some large leaves and fashioned a packet, allowing some of the fluid to drip into the packet. “I got a canteen now.” She put it in her shirt pocket. As she walked feeling better after the rough night and her ordeal, she plucked the berries and fruits from the greenery that she recalled from her trek through the forest with Sefu last week, or whenever that was.

Eating her fill of sticky fruits, she drank a little water and then found a large stick. It helped to keep her balance on the rough terrain. “I got a bear or lion bopper now.” She mused as she trekked along swinging the stick. She regretted wearing the platform Mary Jane shoes. Her ankles and feet were sore. “Stupid slave to fashion,” she gritted as she clambered among sharp boulders, feeling her ankles weakened, and skinning her knees and palms as she climbed.

Andi was worried though. Night was coming again, there was little time to either get out of the forest to the plains or to make a nest and stay the night in the forest. She chose some trees that were near the edge. She could watch for any activity on the savanna or the dirt road she saw there.

After making a nest up in the trees, she of sudden, realized the quietness of the jungle and plains. No baboons howled, no monkeys screeched or chittered, no birds twittered or called. Not even a cricket chirped. The night was silent, except for the wind that made dust dervishes out on the plains. Eating some berries and sipping tree water for her supper, Andi kept vigil through much of the night.

She worried about Ain-u-tep, what happened to her? And why didn’t she come to Andi’s rescue, or at least talk to her? Andi tried to concentrate on communicating with the cat. Feeling the emptiness and only her rampant worried thoughts, she gave up, thinking the lovely smoky cat was dead. In fact, she felt the loneliest, ever.

“Please, God, don’t be far from me. I need your help.” She prayed. Only a whining wind whipped about her and she cowered in her nest. She fell asleep with the words of the twenty-third Psalm on her lips.

☼

A brutal, jarring shake awakened Andi. She looked up and about at the trembling leaves. The tree was crackling as if it might break. “Is it an earthquake?”

She looked down to see an elephant butting the tree with its head and tusks. It was huge, its tusks so long, that they curved inward almost touching the ground. Its palmate ears flapping as it grunted and trumpeted. This was no friendly mother and her calf to feed fruit to, this was a bull elephant! She wondered what to do—shout at it, drop something on its head, or just ride it out, hoping it didn’t topple the tree.

The tree as if it was giving up, made a loud groan, a huge branch cracked and went crashing to the forest floor. She clung to the trunk, hoping the branch would frighten the elephant. But after inspecting the branch with its inquisitive trunk, it began pounding against the tree again. This time, Andi uncoiled some of the rope and like a bola swung the weighted end and let it fly. It arced out and dropped right on the elephant’s head.

“Hey! Leave my tree alone!” Andi yelled. She shrank back for the elephant trumpeted loudly and then grabbing onto a limb above its head pulled and shook the tree.

“Okay, you can have the darn tree!” Andi yelped and swung down through the boughs and dropped to the ground. She held up her stick, “Ya-Ya! Get!” She yelled.

The elephant, so huge, moved quickly. “I beg your pardon, little girl!” It faced her. She was a tiny thing against a huge beast.

Andi backed away in a crouch pointing the stick. “Do you understand me?”

The elephant flapped his ears, “I am not deaf.” It nodded its head and then lowered it. The trunk quested snakelike toward her.

She stepped away. “I’m not food. And I didn’t like being awakened in an earthquake.”

The beast make squeaking snickers then blew out a gust of air. “You are needed if you are ‘She Who Is Smart and Helpful’.”

Snickering, she replied, “I guess I am that, but you can call me Andi. Who needs me?” Andi rose from her crouch and lowered her stick.

“The ‘little mage’ is hurt. She needs your charm.”

Andi felt a pain in her stomach. “Is it the cat?”

“I cannot pronounce her name, but she calls for you.” The great creature rocked away, taking large steps, its trunk bobbing as it left the tree.

“How did you find me?” Andi stepped carefully keeping some distance, still wary. “And hey, where were you when I was stuck in a tiger pit last night?”

“Oh, those are very bad. Who helped you escape?”

“I did it myself. Cat certainly didn’t help, she disappeared.”

“Do not be harsh. Your friend needs you. ‘He Who Is the Darkest Evil’ harmed her.”

“Crud.” Andi stepped up her pace, but soon was running alongside the elephant.

“You are tired, take my trunk and climb up.”

“I’m scared …” Andi shook her head as the animal tried to grab her around the waist. “No, I will do it. Thanks.” She held his trunk as he lifted it high. She scrambled up his leathery head, with the beast telling her where to sit.

“You hang on to my neck, and I will run. I will be very swift.”

As they ran, Andi shouted to the beast, “What is your name? You are very big, also very kind to help me.”

“Mtembe.” He rumbled.

“Does that mean anything?”

“Largest Bulls with The Most Wives.”

“Oh, that’s a big title for a small name.”

“I am big.”

“Do you know King Sefu?”

“Yes. I helped him escape. When my favorite wife, Rindan, fell in battle, I picked him up.” The elephant made a loud moan, “She died bravely. I miss her.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I lost many wives, daughters, and sons. I should change my name to ‘He Has Nothing’.” The elephant sounded both wounded and angry.

“I think you are wonderful.”

“I am now Wonderful.” He said with satisfaction. “The Little Mage spoke true, you are a nice girl.”

Andi rode atop the elephant as it thundered across the savanna. It stopped at the river, where they both drank, and then continued their journey. The dawn came on, this time Andi heard the conversations of many about them. She put her hands to her ears. “Why do I hear voices? It is not the cat or Sefu. But others are speaking, some to me.”

“You have the gift of understanding us. That is a good thing. Cat and Sefu are like you. You must be a very talented witch or mage.”

“I am not sure what I am these days, Mtembe. When I left home, I was just a sixteen-year-old girl, having a weird day. Now, I am in the aftermath of a great war, talking to animals of all kinds and helping Kings and talking cats.”

“And Elephants.”

She patted his head, “Yes, you too.”

“I will be your mount, if you desire. I will carry you anywhere, you wish to go.”

Andi laughed, “You are so sweet. But I don’t think you would fit in our garage. In my day, some people would call you Mr. Jumbo Sized, like a Big Gulp.” Andi licked her lips, “Man, I miss home. I could go for a soda about now or an iced tea.”

“I do not know these things. But how about some fruit?”

The elephant changed course, and headed to some trees. Its trunk pulled down a large mango and held it up to her. He dropped several more in her lap then took some and ate them himself. “Sweet and juicy.”

Andi feeling refreshed commented as they walked away, eating fruit, “You are better than a shopping cart and Cat. She eats mice and fish and other things that are gross.”

“She is a cat. We must hurry.” The elephant with a squeak, stuffed his fruit in his mouth and then picked up the pace until they were jouncing down the broken road.

The sun became an enemy, even hotter out on the desolated plains. The elephant seemed to know how to find the wadis and watering holes, as they were no longer close to the great Zambezi River. He wallowed in the muddy water and sprayed Andi with it too, until they both were covered by thin mud. They walked for a time in the heat, the mud baking on their skins, yet keeping Andi from getting sunburned. She pulled some large leaves and while she rode, fashioned a sunhat to shade her head, face, and shoulders.

It was late afternoon, Andi was drowsy, achy from riding Mtembe, when he veered away into the trees. He stepped carefully, slowly making his way deeper into the forest. Andi began to hear birds again, some loud and raucous, others twittering and then flitting from tree to tree across their path. They came to a large outcropping of rocks. There, Mtembe instructed Andi to get down, she would find the cat hiding in the rocks.

Andi gave her last fruit to Mtembe and patted his trunk, he swung from side to side and butted her. “Go now to your friend.”

Andi crouched low and pushing her stick before her, she crawled into the narrow hole in the rocks. She could smell something terrible, it was a little cooler there, but the smell was overpowering.

Andi grew afraid, but chastised herself, “You can do it, Fallon.” She continued through the narrow opening until it widened and she almost fell off the ledge. There in a shallow cavity lay the cat. Emaciated and wheezing, she opened her eyes, they were glassy and Andi wondered if Ain-u-tep could see her.

“I am here.” She said, putting a hand on the cat’s bony ribs.

“I’m …” she breathed out then in, “glad.” And then the cat closed her eyes, expelling a shaky breath.

“What happened to you?”

A voice nearby said, “The evil one caught her. He tried for many days to get her secrets. He wanted you and the Jinni’s charm, and he wanted your dragon.”

“My dragon! Do you mean Arkan?”

A wrinkled face emerged in the dimness, a hairy arm and dark hand reached and touched her face. “You are the one now. Everything will be passed to you.”

“I don’t understand,” Andi sat back on her heels and laid the stick down.

“You will take the power of Ain-u-tep and join Sefu’s Army.”

“He is alive?”

“He is gone.”

“Dead?”

“Sh. He is gone. He needs to build up his armies again while the Evil One is weak, and attack him at his citadel.”

Andi shook her head. “All this war for nothing. Why?”

“Good must win.” The cat said. She opened her eyes again. “Touch me with your pendant, dear one. I will then go to paradise.”

“I don’t want you to die. Can’t I save you? The elephant, Mtembe said I could.”

“Mtembe. He is a good friend. My life is too long, I have fought too many years. Jameel did not win, yet. But you have time to finish, what I began.” The cat said in labored gasps amid moans.

Andi bent her head. “I need you.”

“You have learned much. You must take this, my power.” The cat lifted her head and licked Andi’s cheek. “Do not weep for me, Kitten.”

“Can’t I just wish this all away? Can’t we go back to the way it was last week?” Andi sobbed.

“If you did that, then you would have learned nothing. I would not exist. Maybe Jameel would have won, his desperate battle.”

“So, you exist only because of me?”

The small ape, took Andi’s hand. “You must do this now. We are three, it is a good time.”

“What happens to Cat, when I do?”

“She cannot be immortal.”

“What happens to me?”

“You are.”

“Immortal?”

The cat gripped Andi’s hand with her paw. “I die … you live. Simple.”

Andi pulled out the pendant from under her shirt. Gripping it in one hand, she then laid the other on the cat.

The ape completed the circle by holding Andi’s arms. “Now,” it hissed.

“Aaliyah, I wish that you take away Ain-u-tep’s pain, let her live,”

“No.”

“Let her live as my companion for as long as I live. I love her, she is mine.” A haze of golden light flowed over Andi’s hands, arms, up her shoulders and head, then shot down through her body and legs. She felt the surge of power like a wind through her soul. Her hair rose and arcs of electricity spat between the trio. The ape closed her eyes but her teeth were bared in a grimace of pain as the power struck her too. The cat was rigid, sparks and lightning flashed from her to Andi.

“It is done. Your last wish.” The voice of Aaliyah thundered in the rocky tunnel and cave. An earthquake rumbled and rocks cracked and fell about them. Feeling full of power and will, Andi grabbed up the small ape and her cat and crawled with them out of the channel into the darkened day.

The sun eclipsed above them as the clouds gathered and the sky darkened. Andi looked up at the corona about the sun, she shielded her eyes and prayed aloud, “God, help me save these people and be a dutiful and obedient warrior for you against the evils of this world!” She fell against the rocks as if struck down.

The small ape lay limp in her arm, and the cat let out a belabored breath. She opened her eyes and looked about. “I am alive. You wasted the wish, Kitten.”