Once more the left-hand door slammed open. Brechal, the
bartender, looked up from where he was wiping off the top of the bar. Those
looking at him rather than looking at the door would’ve seen that his eyebrows
rose in surprise and he stopped in mid swipe. Most of the bar patrons had
turned to stare at the door. They had barely finished assimilating the last
couple of people that had come through the portal and here was another. It
certainly was an exciting afternoon at the Badger Hole Bar!
Walking through the door was a young woman, dressed in
slacks and wearing a jacket that said “FBI.” She took two steps into the room
and stopped to look around. The door had closed noiselessly behind her unnoticed.
Carrying herself with assurance well beyond the years displayed by her face and
figure, the magic users in the room could tell immediately that this was a
witch. And one of uncommon power. Despite the attractiveness of her dark,
almost black hair and trim figure, none of the mercenaries made any move to
approach her. Instead, the 20 or so
patrons in the bar simply stared.
The room was motionless and quiet until muffled cries could be heard. Emanating from what appeared to be
the jacket of the young woman, those closest could hear a demanding little voice
yelling, “Let me out! I want to see!”
A wave of interest flew through the postures and expressions
in the bar. Curiosity, alertness, hunger, all of these reactions were present.
The woman’s gaze had marked for consideration each person that was in the bar
and had only lingered momentarily on the more unusual forms. Reaching into the
pocket of her jacket, she drew out a small blue-and-white animated form.
“Where are we? Why did we go through the weird door?”
“Quiet, Fergus.”
The small figure in the woman’s hand marched back and forth.
Fascinated, one of the mercenaries leaned closer to see what type of small
creature it was.
“Watch it, big guy! Come any closer,
and I’ll skewer you with my horn!”
The large man drew back in surprise, “Gads Zug of the Hairy
Beard! It’s a unicorn! And it talks!”
“Of course, I talk. Should I be surprised that you talk?”
replied the little creature, straightening up and thrusting his chest out.
Before the conversation could go any further, Madrik came
hurrying into the bar area. “Welcome to the Badger Hole Bar, please feel free
to come in and sit down.”
The woman smiled in response, and said, “Thank you for the
welcome. My name is Agatha, and my
grandmother sends her greetings.”
Madrik responded, “Marcella’s granddaughter is always
welcome. Please have a seat and allow me to bring you a drink.”
Whatever Agatha would have said in response was
short-circuited as the spidercat dropped
from the ceiling on an elastic strand of web to bob
over Agatha’s hand.
“Ack! A monster!” was wrenched out of the throat of the
small unicorn.
“Fergus! Watch out!” cried Agatha. She made an abortive grab
for the small form just as he jumped frantically out of her hand to the floor.
Fergus dove under the chair closest to him but it was no bar
to the spidercat. The 2-foot arachnid
with the cat tail and face dropped to the ground in pursuit and scuttled toward
Fergus. Multiple people tried to grab Fergus as he dodged and wove behind legs
and other obstacles. They all missed as his deceptive speed, and his small size threw
their reflexes off.
Finally, Fergus dashed
across an open area of the floor. In the open space, the spidercat’s long
legs were used to advantage, and it
pounced. The arc of its jump was rudely interrupted by a battering ram in
animal form. Slamming into the side of spidercat, a yowling tornado of fur,
flashing claws, and glowing green eyes
violently shoved the attacking animal to the side and onto its back. The attacking feline pinned the spidercat to
the ground with a paw tipped with needle-like
claws. Staring down into the face of the immobilized animal, a small feline creature
announced in bored tones, “Bad kitty! No eating the guests!”
Holding the stare long enough to make sure the arachnid
kitty had gotten the message, the small black cat turned back to Fergus.
“Obviously, you missed the whole self-defense class for familiars.”
Fergus stood in the middle of floor shaking slightly but
still standing in a defiant posture. The action had been too fast and too confusing
for anyone to react quickly enough or effectively. He seemed to be somewhat
stunned, but not from the attack itself.
“But… but… but you’re a cat!”
“Yeah! Horsey face can see as well as talk.”
The cat started to stroll back to a table toward the rear of
the bar. Throwing another comment over its shoulder, the cat said, “My name is
Dascha. You are welcome to come with me and meet my witch. Of course, you can
take your chances with spidercat when she gets over being blindsided. If so, I
hope you can run faster than you did before.”
Fergus shook himself and started out after the black cat
with a clatter of small hooves.
“Hey! Wait up. What sort of name is Dascha? So, you have a
witch too? Mine is really smart and really
pretty. And she gets me pizza! What does yours do?”
