Cat Out of the Bag Read online

  “Great, the Imperial court isn’t going to help us,” I said.

  “But they didn’t deny your demands either, so that isn’t altogether bad news, is it?” Vex asked.

  “I guess.”

  “Can I haunt them now?”

  “No. They told us they weren’t going to fight us. Why would we haunt them?”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll wait for the Landlords to get here.”

  “The Landlords won’t send their own people. There’re only a few hundred Landlords who even live on the planet. They just have all kinds of money and power to manipulate the Empire. They’ve been here for a hundred years, and in the beginning, they only had a small tract of land, but now, it’s as if they dominate the entire planet. I’m sure that the Imperial court wouldn’t mind getting rid of them.”

  “We should use that to our advantage,” Vex said.

  “I am in total agreement, but that means we shouldn’t just randomly haunt Imperial guards.”

  “Point taken. I’ll wait for the Landlords to send their own forces, and then it’s haunt away,” Vex said with a laugh.

  “Absolutely. You can haunt as much and as hard as you want.”

  After the Imperial ship left, we flew onward toward the city center. I felt excited, but it didn’t take long before more ships approached, and that time, they were the ships of the Landlords, full to the gills with canine and goblin gunmen. They opened fire.

  Moira’s eagle dodged a laser and dove. More lasers peppered the air, and we dodged each as they came. We all invoked our avatars. Vex sent her ghosts to haunt the men in the ships, and before Mythril could even breathe his first stardust, the Landlords guards were jumping out of the ships on their own.

  “This is when it gets fun,” Vex said. She withdrew the haunting curse just as they began to plummet toward the ground, their final realization that they had thrown themselves to their own deaths. I looked back at her and shook my head. Not all summoners were alike.

  “Now, Mythril!” I yelled.

  He blew his stardust at the remaining ships, and they disintegrated, the metal melting and dripping from the sky.

  “I’m sure that’s not the last of them,” I called over to Moira. She’d summoned several dozen large birds, though none as large as the eagle. They swooped after the falling men and could catch a goblin in their claws.

  “You need to save your strength,” I said to Vex. “There’s a long way to go before we make it to the center of the city.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to be saving our strength,” Vex said, pointing in the opposite direction. Mechanical robots twice as big as Mythril were launching into the air.

  “It’s time to get serious,” Vex said. She directed her ghosts at the mechanical creatures, but I heard her spluttering in disbelief behind me. “I can’t haunt these things!”

  Moira’s eagles were circling around the monstrosities, but they bounced off the robots with no effect. They had some kind of energy shield that prevented the eagles from getting through. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Avalon had summoned a large water elemental and several small ones. She directed them toward the robots. I joined them on Mythril’s back, and we all reached the robots at the same time. We attacked, but we had no effect.

  One robot shot a burst of flame, and it shot out in an arc. We flew away just in time, the edge of the blast singeing Mythril’s wing. He hissed, and I called on To’tonya to heal him so we didn’t fly with a wobble.

  Avalon’s elementals were not so lucky. The largest elemental was able to absorb the blast, but the smaller ones were completely disintegrated. I didn’t know what would happen if a summoner’s creature was destroyed. I looked at Avalon and saw that her teeth were gritted and her eyes were narrowed. She waved her arms frantically and summoned another large elemental. But even with the two of them using their power against the mechanical beasts, there was no effect.

  “We need to find a way to take out that shield.”

  “I think I know something,” Vex said. “My ghosts have an electronic shorting spell.”

  “Do it now,” I called as my dragon spun in the air and came back around toward it.

  Vex summoned her ghost and called out the spell. It shot toward the mechanical robots and let out a burst of electricity. It arced and zigzagged over the shields but did nothing.

  “Tell me what I should do, To’tonya,” I said to my avatar.

  “It’s time to land.”

  “We need to get out of the air!” I shouted.

  Chapter 29

  We ran through the forest, dodging branches and jumping over downed trees. The smell of wet earth filled my lungs, and dew from the underbrush soaked into my clothes. I ran as fast as I could, with Moira, Vex, and Avalon right beside me. Moira was by far the most adept at running through the forest, her strength and agility rivaling my own. After twelve years in the desert, I wasn’t used to the thick forest and the muddy soil. My foot squelched in a puddle, and my shoe got stuck in the mud. I hissed and pulled it out, continuing to run toward the edge of the forest. The muddy shoe slowed me down. Vex was losing ground, not used to that kind of physical exertion. Avalon kept up, using one of her elementals to help her levitate through the forest. We made it to the edge of the wood and stopped.

  Beyond the cover of the trees was a busy human village—I could hear the sound of the market as the stall owners called out their wares to passersby. A blacksmith was situated beside a cybernetic-parts-repair person, and horses shared the street with hover bikes and buses. I had never been to a human town. The primitive and advanced technology existed side by side. The Sho’kin towns were often more primitive, with a smattering of advanced technology and a reliance on magic. I saw little evidence of magic among the humans and knew that they weren’t as adept at using it as the Sho’kin were.

  The streets were crowded with humans, and I knew that the moment we walked out of the forest with Moira, the beast girl in a fur bikini, a Sho’kin, Vex in her miniskirt, and blue-skinned Avalon riding an elemental, we would stand out in the crowd. “Try to act human,” I said.

  The boom of the robots’ heavy feet vibrated through the soil.

  “We don’t have time to pretend to be like these people,” Vex said.

  “They’re coming. We have to get out of here,” Avalon said.

  Moira growled and burst out of the forest, running through town as she summoned her creatures.

  “That’s one way to do it,” I said.

  “Very subtle,” Vex said, rolling her eyes.

  We all followed Moira into the town, to the shouts and screams of the humans we passed. Moira was followed by a dozen different creatures, wolves, bears, wolverines, lions, and a few I didn’t recognize. As we ran through the village, I looked behind me and saw the robots towering over the forest in the distance.

  “What’s the plan?” Vex asked.

  “Don’t get smashed,” I said as we ran through the market. The smell of grilled meat and vegetables filled the air. We dodged into a tavern and closed the door behind us, catching our breath.

  “We can’t stay in here,” Avalon said.

  We felt the rumble of the robots’ feet approaching the tavern. The humans inside were screaming, not about the mechs attacking the village, but about Moira’s beasts, who were walking through the tavern, smelling people and growling. The rumbling grew closer. The building shook, and the ground trembled under our feet. The humans who had been running scared from the beasts were now running scared from the noise.

  Dust streamed from the ceiling, and it crunched with the sound of a giant hand clamping around the roof. A great screech erupted as the roof separated from the building. The humans ran out the back door and through the windows. Avalon, Moira, Vex, and I scurried out the front door and into the sunny streets beyond. The mechs caught sight of us and stomped on the tavern where we had just been. The villagers ran in all directions, screaming and panicked. I felt terrible that we had brought such destruction d
own upon them. The robots were after us, not them.

  We maneuvered through the streets, ducking into alleys and jumping through doors. We were small and fast, but the mechs were huge and relentless. We ran through the public square as the machines followed, stomping on market stalls as the people scurried away, screaming and terrified.

  “The Landlords have brought this upon us!” they yelled. “Death to the Landlords!”

  It wasn’t only the Sho’kin who hated the Landlords—the humans of the cities were beginning to hate them, too, and for good reason. The mechs were destroying their town in their relentless pursuit of us, stomping, smashing, and destroying with each step. One of them reached down for us, bashing and crushing all in its wake. Its mechanical hand reached for Moira, and she rolled away. Jumping to her feet, she growled, clenching her fists. I could see the look in her eyes change. She wasn’t going to take it anymore. “Enough of this!” the beast girl yelled.

  Waving her hands and speaking the words of her summoning spell, Moira called all of her beasts, one after the next, until there were dozens all around her, jumping and flying and howling with excitement. She lifted her palms toward the charging robot. With a single word, all of her beasts charged at our enemy. I summoned Mythril and sent him against the mechs. Vex and Avalon sent in their ghosts and elementals to support the beasts until so many beasts surrounded the robot that it could not keep track of them. It smashed and waved away the birds, kicking at the wolverines and wolves. It let its shields down at some point, and all of the beasts, elementals, and Mythril could get through.

  “Stardust, Mythril!” I yelled.

  My dragon sucked in a breath then blew his magic at the robot. In a whoosh of stardust, the mech disintegrated and melted into a puddle of ooze and dust on the ground. Moira pumped her fist into the air triumphantly with a loud whoop.

  The other three mechs found us and landed all around the village with resounding booms. The four of us looked at each other, our mouths open and eyes wide. Dread felt like lead in my stomach. We had barely beaten one of them, and there were four more.

  “I can see you need some help here,” said a familiar voice. Serious stepped through a portal right beside Avalon in the street. My heart leapt, and a smile crossed my face. Summoner after summoner stepped through the portal, joining us in the dust and the glare of the sun.

  “It’s about time you got here,” Avalon said. “Did you enjoy your human celebration?”

  “I spent most of the time tracking down inebriated summoners, if you want to know the truth,” Serious said.

  “At least you’re here now. We have a rather grave situation.”

  “I can see that.”

  The last summoner had walked through, and there were at least two dozen of them standing in the street. They didn’t waste any time. They waved their hands in the air and spoke the words of their summoning spells, and out of the ether came their creatures, elementals, phoenixes, banshees, griffons, demons, ghosts, beasts, and all kinds of things I had never imagined and had never seen. Serious summoned a legion of dragons, and all of the creatures imbued by the power of the summoners’ avatars charged, flew, and slithered toward the mechs.

  Chapter 30

  The multitude of creatures engaged with the robots. We had already taken out four of the creatures, and with two dozen more summoners, we should easily have been able to take out three more. But the creatures seemed to have no effect, and the mechs were tearing down and stomping all over the houses and buildings of the human village. I jumped on Mythril’s back, and we flew up into battle. We joined the other dragons as they attacked in unison.

  “We have to take down their shields,” I said.

  “How did we do it last time?” he asked.

  “I have no idea. Dumb luck, I guess.”

  “We’ll have to do better than that.”

  Mythril blew his stardust at a mech, and it fizzled out when it met the shields. With all of the other creatures bombarding it, the mech was losing its power. The shield was growing weaker and weaker.

  When the creatures had finally broken through the shields, Mythril blew his stardust at the mech, and it, too, disintegrated into nothing.

  We turned in midair, and I inspected the rest of the battlefield. The summoners’ creatures were overpowering all of the robots, and it looked as if we had won the battle.

  As they fell to the ground one by one, burning and crumbling, I returned to the other summoners. Mythril landed beside Serious and Avalon.

  “We did it!” I said gleefully as I slid from my dragon’s back.

  “I wouldn’t be so ready to celebrate,” Avalon said, pointing up at the distant sky.

  I gazed in the direction she pointed, and my mouth dropped when I saw a mass of tiny points flying toward us, growing closer and larger as the moments passed. There were at least three dozen more mechs headed our way. And while two dozen summoners against four mechs had been an easy fight, three dozen mechs against two dozen summoners might not be so easy.

  The summoners were worn out from the previous fights and were re-summoning their creatures in preparation for the next round. I looked around at the terrified humans. Many had run away from the village, but many others were cowering amongst the rubble. I ran towards them, determined to get them away from the battle that was about to commence. When it was done, none would be left standing.

  “Hurry. Get on your speeders. Get away from here.”

  “The speeders have been crushed,” a woman cried as she cradled her baby in her arms.

  “I’ll help you,” I said, reaching out to her. I offered her a ride on Mythril’s back, but she cowered, holding her baby close and shivering, her eyes wide with fear. “You must get away from here. Don’t you see them coming?”

  Moira, seeing my predicament, summoned several horses from her menagerie, and we quickly attached them to a few carts that had not been crushed in the battle. The humans reluctantly climbed in. I instructed Mythril to stay with the summoners as Moira and I helped the humans away from the village. Her horses were fast, and the carts bumped over the broken road. We made it to the edge of the forest and continued under the cover of the trees until we reached the coast.

  “The mechs will stay away from water,” To’tonya whispered in my mind.

  Several dozen boats were in the harbor, including a large sailboat that belonged to one of the humans. He instructed the survivors to join him. The humans hurried out to sea just as the boom of landing mechs trembled through the ground.

  “We need to get back quickly,” Moira said as she summoned her eagle.

  We climbed on and flew back to the scene of the battle. When we arrived, the summoners were already engaged in heavy fighting with the robots. I felt a twisting agony in my gut and found a mech bashing Mythril. He flew through the air and landed with a sickening thud on the ground at my feet. I ran to him and touched his cold scales.

  “Mythril!”

  “You need to re-summon him,” Moira said. “Quickly. Do it now.” She was busily summoning her own beasts to join the fray.

  The human village had been decimated. Not a single building remained—the spot where the human survivors had been hiding just moments ago was nothing but a pile of rubble. I began to summon Mythril, and his body disappeared. He reappeared in my hand, good as new. It was such a relief to see him alive that I nearly wept.

  “You can’t get rid of me that easily,” he said with a snort.

  “I would never want to get rid of you, my friend.”

  “Just wait till you’ve known me longer, or until you’ve found yourself some more useful dragons.”

  “Let’s just win this fight before we discuss the future of our relationship.”

  I directed him toward the action. He flew forward, his wings powerful and fast. As Mythril engaged with a mech, I felt a surge of energy flow through me, and my dragon laughed with glee. It hit me like an electric shock, and I immediately knew that I had achieved a new level.


  “Moonbeam activated,” he said.

  “What is moonbeam?” I asked.

  “You’ll see as soon as I gain the energy to cast it.”

  All around me, the summoners’ creatures were dropping like flies as they came up against the robots’ shields. Serious and Avalon were holding their own, but the others seemed to be losing strength. They had only managed to take out half a dozen mechs, and many more remained.

  “Are you ready, Mythril?” I asked.

  “Not yet.”

  The summoners surrounding me were trying to re-summon their creatures in the midst of the raging battle. The mechs had surrounded the summoners and were closing in, blasting their lasers. I jumped and rolled out of the way as one of them nearly hit me.

  “Any minute now,” Mythril said, dodging the attacks.

  A laser slammed into the summoner beside me, searing her leg to the bone.

  “To’tonya, blessing of healing, healing wave,” I whispered.

  “Healing,” To’tonya replied in a low, quiet voice.

  The girl quickly healed, and the drain of the spell nearly knocked me to the ground.

  “Blessing of water unlocked. Additional water damage granted to all allies.”

  “Blessing of water!” I called, knowing the extra water damage for all my allies could turn the tide against the mechs.

  “Moonbeam ready,” Mythril said.

  “Do it now,” I commanded.

  Mythril shuddered with energy and whirled around at an alarming speed. Light shot from every pore, flowing all around him. When it hit the mechs, it immediately forced them to drop their shields. The summoners had all recovered, and their creatures surged against the robots. The summoners then turned the tide in the battle.