Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Cotton
Small footprints stamped in dust and debris, revealing the glittering black floor beneath as I padded down the hall. When I first ventured from our rooms, I’d hissed and shook my paws, desperately trying to dislodge the particles that got stuck between my sensitive toes.
Now, I just ignored the grimy feeling and bite of sharp rocks against the pads of my feet. Years kept as Faylinn’s pet in our little cottage were followed by months of luxury in Vespera; I slept on fluffy pillows and buried deep into thick blankets.
Not now. Today, I was a regular outdoor cat, a ferocious feline on a mission to save his girl.
Faylinn would be so proud of me.
I flicked my tail with pride as I quietly ran through the halls and down the stairs, clinging to the shadows.
Must find my girl.
She’d been missing for hours, and I’d grown restless and irritable from both missing my girl and the lack of food. Particularly that delicious orange fish she ordered for breakfast each morning and placed on the floor for me in its own little dish.
I licked my jowls at the thought.
Faylinn, first. Then fish.
The lower I descended, the louder voices became. There was shouting and sobbing, emotions thick enough to taste.
Where is their leader—that man with the creepy eyes? Or the other one that stared at my Faylinn when he thought no one else was looking?
Clearly, neither were to be found, if the alarmed discussions were any indicator.
A lithe woman with tattoos across her chest—done by my Faylinn, of course—was animatedly talking with the big, hulking Mage that visited Faylinn in Isrun for a time.
She always locked me in a little wooden crate when he visited, and I experienced things no feline should ever hear or see.
Even so, I begrudgingly liked him.
It seemed that they were the de facto leaders, directing men and women in various states of exhaustion to clean the building and find survivors. I paused on the stairs as I listened to their conversation.
“They’re not here. None of them,” the woman hissed under her breath. Her Vessel grunted in agreement.
I liked that one.
“They can’t have just disappeared, Sol. We all saw Torin leave with Ellowyn. But Rohak? Faylinn? Lex? They all just didn’t vanish,” Ben grumbled as Asha absently stroked his back.
The woman scoffed. “We saw Faylinn drag Rohak in here, but we’ve searched as well as we can. They’re not here. We have to act as if they’re both—”
“Don’t you say it, Sol. Don’t you fucking say it. They are not dead,” Ben said with vehemence as he turned his large body toward the woman.
I growled quietly in agreement.
The woman responded with something, but I didn’t listen—my girl was somewhere in here with that grumpy man she was so fond of. I’d find them, then I’d be rewarded handsomely.
Preferably with a new pillow and an endless supply of that orange fish.
I scampered down the stairs, leaping effortlessly over fallen stones, some three times my size.
Faylinn would be so impressed with my skills.
The destruction was alarming—several of the buttresses in the entryway had fallen, the ceiling they supported collapsing to the floor as well.
I saw a few random hands and feet sticking out from under the fallen rock; clearly, the collapse happened too quickly for the soldiers to move out of the way.
Those who survived worked tirelessly without their magic to clear the debris the best they could. Though some of those boulders would be impossible to move without the aid of an Earth or Destruction Mage.
I’ll find that Destruction General. Then he can help.
An enormous boulder blocked a hallway—much too large for a person to squeeze between the wall and the rock and much too tall for someone to climb.
But not impossible for me.
With a growled “meow,” I slunk down and pulled myself along, belly to the ground. I grumbled the whole way, my fur snagging on the jagged edges of the rock as the hair on my stomach cleaned the dusty floor completely, but I was able to sneak through relatively unscathed.
“Meow!” I sang in triumph before I spent a moment cleaning my paws. I deserved it, after all.
The hallway beyond the boulder was relatively untouched, the prominent destruction from the entryway almost nonexistent here. There were a few closed doors, but most stood open, and I bypassed those quickly.
Faylinn would not have kept the door open. She’s smarter than that.
I flounced down the hall, pausing to sniff at several closed doors before I caught a familiar scent.
Pine and parchment. Ashes and smoke.
“MEOW!” I cried loudly, scampering after the scents of my Faylinn and her general. They grew stronger closer to the last closed door, and I promptly stuck my nose to the crack at the bottom of the door and inhaled.
I was flooded with the scents of my girl—strong and sure.
Definitely not dead.
“Meow, meow, meow,” I called to her as I scratched against the door.
Useless paws! I cannot grasp and pull the handle!
I paused my distressed wails, waiting for her to answer the door. My despair only grew with each passing second with no movement from the room beyond.
My Faylinn is trapped inside and needs help!
Without second thought, I bounded away from the door, back the way I came. I slid beneath the jagged edge of the rock and shot out of the space back toward Ben and the woman.
“MEOW MEOW MEOW!” I screamed as loud as I could before launching myself at Ben.
Their heated conversation paused just as my outstretched paws and unsheathed claws met the meaty part of Ben’s back. The woman’s eyes widened comically when Ben yelped in pain before twirling around, swatting at me with his extra-large hands.
“WHAT THE FUCK! What is it?! Get it off, get it off, get it off!” He squealed the last part, which would have been comical if I weren’t spinning at an alarming speed, the motion threatening to dislodge my claws from his side.
I must not fail. Faylinn needs me.
“Ben, Ben. Stop. Hold on,” Asha said between choked laughs as she stopped her Bonded from spinning. “Come here, you poor thing,” she cooed to me, gently petting my head.
I purred at the attention and acknowledgment.
Yes, I was a poor thing. My Faylinn was trapped, and I hadn’t had any of that orange meat in days.
I told her such as my claws instinctively retracted, leaving small dots of blood on Ben’s tattered tunic.
“What the fuck,” he muttered as he looked over his shoulder, assessing the damage I inflicted. Asha pushed her nose into my fur as her fingers massaged the skin at my back.
Oh, this is nice. She has nice fingers.
I momentarily forgot my panic as her magic fingers lulled me into a sense of peace and security. My purrs ratcheted higher as I pushed my head into her arm. She gave in to my desires for head scratches with a tinkling giggle, one that cut off when Ben realized who I was.
“Cotton?” he muttered, plucking me from Asha’s warm embrace to hold me aloft with both of his hands. My feet dangled down, and I grumpily meowed at him for holding me in such an undignified position.
“What are you doing out of Faylinn’s room?” he mused, brow furrowed. At the mention of my girl’s name, the sense of urgency came rushing back, and I pawed aggressively at his hold with a string of strangled mewls.
“Oh, what the fuck. Ow!” he exclaimed as my claws scraped across his forearms, leaving red scratches in their wake. He dropped me with a hiss and muttered curse.
“MEOW,” I grumbled, swishing my tail through the dust as I gazed at the giant man who once loved my Faylinn.
“I . . . is he trying to tell us something?” the other woman asked, and I turned around, showing Ben my back, to regard her. I cocked my head before giving her a small meow of confirmation. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought, but it was Asha who spoke.
“Take us to Faylinn, Cotton.” Her voice was quiet but strong, and I flicked my tail in excitement.
Finally, finally, someone understands.
I bounded from my spot, scampering back over debris and around the legs of soldiers, the thundering, hapless pursuit of Ben and Asha following behind.
Hold on, Faylinn. I am coming!