Annora took a deep breath. The aroma of roasting meats filled her nostrils. Her stomach gurgled to remind her it was empty.
“Patience,” she said to herself.
She put her hand in a pocket to feel the two coins she had. “Just enough for some meat.”
Colorful flags hung from every eave and pole, but she felt sad that no breeze made them flutter. Even the smoke from the fires roasting the meat hung low over the village. She thought that dampened the spirit of the festival.
However, people hustled about to make things ready for the fall festival that would start just before dusk. Their movement made up for the still flags because of their brightly colored clothing. She felt cheer from the people. Anyone who could play music would be playing. In fact, the first chords of a song came from a house where she knew someone tuned their instrument. Once the music started, so would the dancing, whether one could dance or not.
Annora anticipated a joyful night of entertainment. She just hoped to purchase her bit of meat and to find an out of the way corner to watch. If no one saw her, no one would shoo her off. Even though she had found enough cloth to sew a bit of an apron to put over her soiled blue dress, she wouldn’t look fancy enough to attend the festival.
Around her neck, she had looped twisted strands of her long blond hair. She likened them to golden necklaces, and they made her feel fancy. However, her feet were bare.
Annora looked down at the puffs of dust that rose with her every step. The fall weather had remained very dry. While that was good for drying crops and the last cutting of hay, it didn’t bode well for the winter crops.
Her feet suddenly felt warm. Her eyes caught a hint of red as the feeling of thick mud oozed around her toes. The dry dust disappeared as the ground belched up fresh, warm blood.
Annora stopped, knowing this wasn’t real, but an omen. She felt some concern, especially since this was the first time she had ever seen such an anomaly. However, she immediately knew what it meant. Blood always meant death. Especially this much of it.
Reluctantly, she rubbed her two coins together, having the feeling she would never spend them. She hastened her pace, but altered her course away from the village center.
“Meow.” She knew if anyone heard her they would think she was crazy, not that they didn’t already.
She pulled a kitten out of her apron pocket by the scruff of its neck and dropped it onto the ground. “We have trouble.”
The kitten mewed and jumped away to run off.
Annora veered around a food stall that had yet to put out its wares as she made her way toward the stable.
“Neigh. Neigh.” She knew her words weren’t that loud, but animals had better hearing than people.
She knew a small group of warriors, which wasn’t uncommon in these days, had stopped to rest. Because of all the talk about the festival, she had heard they planned to stay an extra day. Villagers always liked outside money. She knew they would pander to them and try to make them spend all they had.
Annora ran toward them, not to warn them, but to take one of their horses. She felt the need for fast travel. As she turned up the lane to the stable, she saw the men jumping to their feet. However, she knew it wasn’t because of her presence. They weren’t aware of her. It was the horse kicking at her stall door that had startled them.
“Easy now,” a man said, rushing forward toward the horse. “Easy now, m’lady.”
Annora stopped, not wishing to get any closer to them. Nor did she want their attention. But she had little to worry about, as she could see the men fully focused on the horse. A crash sent them running for their safety when the stall door flew off its hinges.
“Easy, m’lady.”
A huge black mare bolted from the stall, almost running over the man. He tried to catch her, but the mare easily out maneuvered him. She stretched out to thunder down the lane.
Annora waited, preparing for her jump. She knew the horse saw her. And when the horse paused for just a moment, Annora jumped to grab a handful of the long, thick mane and swing up.
“Meow,” she said again, just above a whisper.
The mare neighed as if she was answering her, before continuing on her way down the lane.
Annora pulled on the mane. “We need them, too.”
In anticipation, Annora clung on tightly as the mare completed two large bounds before rearing to complete a one hundred and eighty degree turn back toward the men.
“Get just close enough.”
The mare slid to a stop far enough away so that the man who was chasing her would not catch her.
“Saddle your horses,” Annora said to the stunned men. “They are coming.”
Then, with a pull of the mane, she guided the horse to wheel around again and gallop down the lane. Behind her, she could hear the men running.
The mare burst out onto the main village road. Annora could see that their sudden appearance had startled all that were present.
“Call to arms,” Annora said, using as deep of a voice as she could, knowing the people would automatically respond to a male voice rather than a woman’s. However, while everyone looked startled to see the horse, as soon as they spied her, their expressions only turned to annoyance. She knew that would soon change.
She spurred the horse on toward the west side of the village. Once they had passed the last house, she pulled on the mane to have the horse skid to a stop. Dust billowed up around them.
Another kitten jumped from her pocket and scampered up the horse’s neck to sit between its ears.
“Are the big ones coming?” Annora said.
“Yes,” the kitten said. “They are almost here.”
Annora could see out of the corner of her eyes that every dark corner and crevice contained a cat. Ahead of her, the road curved and went through the woods. Because of that curve, she couldn’t see who was coming just yet. She expected they were warriors. Most people these days came from the east to trade. Few people traveled west or came from the west, thus she expected trouble to come from that direction. However, all she could hear were the sounds of hooves from weary horses.
“Fifty of them,” the kitten said.
“They are not the trouble,” Annora said. “There must be another war in the east drawing them. But they are leading trouble that they don’t know about.”
The kitten bristled her fur along her back and puffed out her tail.
Blood seemed to drip from the trees.
“We’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen,” Annora said. “Keep your eyes on the woods. They are coming.”
“That’s my horse.”
Annora turned to see a warrior come riding up behind her on an old nag. The nag had no saddle or bridle, just a halter. The man had been the one trying to catch the mare. She found she couldn’t answer him because his voice accused her of stealing his horse, when she had merely called for one. This was the horse that answered and came willingly.
“We have trouble,” Annora said, deciding to ignore the accusation.
“You’ll have trouble if you don’t give me my horse back.”
Annora stared straight ahead. “Trouble.”
She could see dust now on the road. Soon, horses and riders appeared. They were indeed warriors, or at least were trying to look like it, but only a few showed swords hanging from their saddles. She could also see they were young and inexperienced by how they had dressed, and by how they had traveled too long this day with their horses, who were now very weary.
“That does look like trouble,” the warrior beside her said.
She thought he and his group didn’t look much older.
They both turned to the sounds of other horses. The warrior’s companions had come. They all rode large black mares, like the one she rode. She felt pleased to see they had saddled up and were prepared for battle. They looked better armed, showing more experience.
She turned back to face the oncoming horses. They seemed to stumble in on a cloud of dust. The two men in the lead reined in their horses with exaggerated movements, despite their horses had already stopped because of how Annora and the warrior blocked their way. The men laughed like teenagers teasing a friend.
Annora knew they hadn’t expected a slip of a girl on a huge horse along with a warrior on an old nag. Although, she didn’t think their horses looked much better than the nag.
“They’re behind you,” Annora said in a quiet voice.
Her voice caused the men’s two horses to become uneasy, despite they had looked dead tired moments before. The men had trouble controlling them.
“Stand down. We need rooms for the night,” the lead man said. “And a few women.”
Annora doubted any woman here would want them.
“You need to fight,” Annora said, “But we’re not the enemy.”
“Mew,” said the kitten.
The men would have laughed again, but their horses now spun to look the other way, as if directed by the kitten.
Annora wished she had a sword. She knew she would have to rely on the cats.
“They will come through the woods,” she said.
Her voice seemed to send a shock wave through the horses in front of her. They all whirled around until they stood butt to butt with their neighbor.
“Black smoke,” Annora said in warning.
The smoke whirled through the woods on both sides of the road. An uproar swept from the back of the fifty men. Annora heard swords drawn behind her. Another moment later, the warriors had come up alongside of her. Two even took a few steps ahead of her. Annora could see the man on the nag no longer had his attention on getting his own horse back. One of his men handed him a sword.
The smoke suddenly surged out onto the road, materializing into black four-legged creatures. Horses screamed and reared. Men yelled.
The kitten on top of Annora’s horse hissed, fluffing out every strand of fur to make herself larger. The mare spun on the spot, lashing out with a back foot at a dog. Annora clenched tightly to the horse’s mane, barely able to hold on. The kitten on the horse’s head went flying.
Black fur and blood splattered everywhere. Then turned to dust.
“Death dogs,” the man on the nag said.
The cry swept up around her. She spied villagers finally realizing danger had arrived.
The surrounding warriors surged forward to attack the dogs. She knew cats would do their best to worry the dogs so the men could kill them. Her horse jumped to avoid a dog with foam coming from its gnashing teeth.
Annora looked hard at the animal. It had no heart. She felt no free will. Another controlled it.
“We need to find its master.”
Her horse responded by rearing and landing on the dog, crushing its skull, before leaping out of the way of two riderless nags trying to escape. She saw a kitten jump on one to guide it back to its rider, who was now fighting on the ground as if the small knife he held would do any good. Annora shook her head, not thinking he would survive. He wasn’t showing much fighting skill, unlike the warriors she had warned.
“They have this handled. Let’s go.”
Annora directed her horse out of the melee and heard a shout from the man on the nag as she went. The sound of hooves followed her, but her horse easily out raced the nag. Her focus was on finding who directed these black dogs of death.
Another kitten popped out of her pocket and raced up to sit between the horse’s ears.
“Listen,” the kitten said.
“I hear it,” Annora said. “The whimper of a leader who is too much of a coward to risk his own skin.”
Annora pulled hard on the horse’s mane, causing her to skid to a stop at the edge of a barren field. Not far into the field stood a large black dog. She thought it looked rather mangy and ill fed. Her horse pawed, showing some fear.
“Hold steady.”
A moment later, the dog reared to transform into a mangy, ill fed looking man. He laughed at her. She could tell that even the kitten felt unimpressed. This wasn’t a master, but another underling who thought he had some power.
“Get closer,” Annora said to the horse.
She felt the horse work through her fear before stepping forward.
“He is nothing. Nothing to fear.”
The horse finally took the last few steps that Annora needed. She shifted so that she now crouched on the horse’s back. Then, as the horse put down her last foot, she grabbed hold of the horse’s mane for purchase as she lunged herself forward at full speed. At the crest of the mane, Annora leapt over the horse’s head. She cleared the kitten sitting between the ears.
Even though this was only the second time she had done this, she felt the transformation and knew how long it would take to complete. And from the look in the man’s eyes, she was transforming faster than he could comprehend. She also knew he had failed to take in the consequences of turning into a man. Or understand the fate he would soon face. Annora completed her own transformation the moment her claws raked across the man’s neck. She hit the ground, cushioning her landing between her own paws, then spun to make sure the man was dead. At that moment, she also transformed back into her human form. She hoped she had done this with no one having seen.
However, she looked up to see the man on the nag staring at her, looking dumbfounded. Annora wiped the blood from her hand onto her apron, but the blood turned to dust.
“You can keep the horse,” the man said in a dry voice.
“I don’t need her anymore,” Annora said.
The dead man’s body suddenly shriveled up, then turned to black dust.
“I’ve never seen death dogs like these before,” the man said.
Annora almost answered him to explain, but a large leopard cat caught her attention.
“All creatures destroyed,” the leopard said in a low growl. “They injured some men. We are no longer needed.”
“Good. Their master is dead, but I fear there is another,” she said.
Out of the corner of an eye, she saw the man raise his sword.
“She won’t hurt you,” Annora said. “She just wanted to tell me there are no dogs alive.”
“She told you that? I just heard a growl that sounded like she wanted to kill me.”
“You hear what you want to hear,” Annora said.
The leopard flicked her tail. “We’ll be gone.” She turned and trotted off into the woods.
A kitten came running up to Annora. “Mew.”
Annora opened her pocket, and the kitten jumped in. “The leopard said there are injured needing attention.”
She had hoped this would cause the man to leave and find his men, but he stayed with her. He still rode the nag. She walked. The horse she had used followed them. Annora felt surprised the man hadn’t grabbed at the horse to put a rope on her.
When they left the field, the man swung off the nag. He stooped to pick up something from the dirt. Annora saw the glint of silver. Reflexively, she felt in her pocket. Her two coins were gone. And thus, so was her dinner.
“I think you dropped these,” the man said, handing them to her.
“I did. Thank you.” She wondered if he really knew, had guessed, or thought this would repay her.
“My name is Elichio. This is Kova.” He gestured at the horse she had used.
“I am Annora. I did not steal your horse. She came to me willingly.”
“Yes, I see that. She usually listens to one master, me. But I see she also listens to you.”
Another kitten ran up. Annora saw Elichio step away from it. She opened her pocket for it to jump in.
“It’s just a kitten,” she said.
“I’m used to the big ones that want to eat you. So I don’t really like cats.”
“This one won’t eat you.” She chuckled. “The big ones don’t eat you, either. We don’t taste good.”
“But they kill.”
“I never said they wouldn’t kill you. Just leave them alone and they’ll leave you alone.”
“I don’t have that trust,” he said.
When they reached the village, Annora’s nostrils again picked up the scent of roasting meats. However, she could also smell blood. As soon as they reached the main road, Elichio’s men made their way to him.
Annora felt some relief that none of them had received injuries, despite the human blood on them. She already knew there were ten injured, eight of which were the inexperienced warriors and the other two were village men.
“Two might die,” one of Elichio’s men said. “Depends on the skill of their healer woman.”
“They have hope,” Annora said, looking around and no longer sensing any festive feeling within the village. She briefly mourned her loss of meat, but her mind quickly moved on to where she last saw clover to eat.
“I’ve never seen death dogs like these,” said another. “They scattered to dust when skewered. The only blood is that of man. Not beast.”
“No, these were not living,” Annora said. “They had no heart.”
“And what are they doing here?” said a third. “There is nothing here but village and field.”
“Perhaps ask the other warriors,” Elichio said. “Where are they going? That might be our answer.”
“They act too scared for sensible words. They’ve lost horses and run around like children looking for them.”
Elichio glanced around. “Looks like most of the village is still hiding.”
“What is this one?” said the first man who had spoken to Elichio, pointing at Annora.
“This is Annora.” He gestured at the man who had spoken. “This is Tachio, my brother. This is Seri, Bree, Gornio, and Jant,”
All the men nodded at her.
“And the horses?” she said.
Elichio smiled. “You now know Kova. In the order I introduced my men, is the same order as their horses. That is Ivia, Madda, Sese, Rock, and Watcher.”
“I asked what she was,” Tachio said. “Not who.”
“She is the sorceress we’ve been looking for,” Elichio said.
