Anna Petracci, Fantasy Author

Ashra let go of the magic she’d been using to make the stairs out of the cave now that they were no longer needed, and they vanished. The cat from the cave, meanwhile, had taken a few steps past her and was standing perfectly still, sniffing the air with obvious pleasure. His fur was long and black, and looked pretty matted and dirty. Was that blood?

He turned back to her as she was watching. “Are you hurt?” she asked with concern.

“A little bit,” he replied. “It’s nothing serious. Thank you for helping me out of the cave; what can I do to pay you back?”

“No need, it was no trouble,” Ashra replied. She was still concerned about him; as she looked, she could see several injuries beneath his fur, as well as what looked like a tear in his ear. “Are you sure you’re okay? Those cuts look kind of bad.” 

“I’m fine,” he assured her. “The thing that attacked me got off much worse.” He held up a paw, claws out, to demonstrate. Ashra saw what looked like partially-dried blood around his claws. 

“That’s good, I guess,” she responded. “What was it, do you know?” 

“Big ol’ cave rat, I think,” he replied. “It was dark so I couldn’t see it, but it smelled like one for sure. Unusually big one, but I still got it. I’m a pretty good fighter,” he added. 

“I can tell,” Ashra replied. “Those cave rats can be mean. What were you doing down there, anyway?”

“Traveling,” he replied evasively, which immediately caught her attention. She was distracted, though, by his next question.

“Are you hurt?”

She tilted her head quizzically. “Me?”

“Yeah, your tail.”

“Oh…” She glanced back at her tail. Apparently without realizing it she had been swishing it a bit as she talked. She now twitched it so that it was fully out of sight behind her, but there was no hiding from reality. “No… I’m not hurt.”

“Then how come your tail is red? I’ve never seen that color on a cat before.”

“It’s not exactly natural…” Ashra hedged. “You’re not familiar with what it means?” 

“No. Should I be?”

“I thought all cats were, but I guess if you’re this far from the kingdom…” She trailed off, not wanting to explain. But she supposed he had a right to know. So she took a deep breath, then said before she could talk herself out of it, “The color means I’ve been banished from the kingdom.”

“Banished?” the other cat repeated. 

Ashra nodded reluctantly. 

“What for?”

“It’s a long story.” Her ears flattened a bit; this was not a story she wanted to share, false as the accusations that had landed her with the mark of banishment were.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he told her. 

Ashra relaxed a bit. “Thank you,” she replied gratefully. “I promise, I’m not going to attack you or anything like that. Well,” she added in a more teasing tone, “not unless you attack me first, I guess. But I promise I’m not a danger to anyone who doesn’t mean harm themselves, banished though I may be.”

“I believe you,” the other cat replied. 

He sounded entirely sincere, and she beamed at him. “Thank you,” she replied. “That means a lot to me.”

It didn’t escape her that he was putting a lot of trust in her considering that he’d only just met her and had no particular reason to believe anything she said. Well, she had best live up to that trust then.

“I realize I never introduced myself properly,” she commented. “My name is Ashra. What’s yours?”

“Coal,” he replied. 

“Good to meet you, Coal,” Ashra responded warmly. 

“Good to meet you too,” he replied with a somewhat shy smile. 

There was a bit of a pause in the conversation then. Before it could get too awkward, Ashra asked Coal, “What are your plans now? Do you have somewhere to go?”

“Um…” He hesitated. “I’m trying to figure that out, to be honest,” he admitted. “I’m… not exactly sure where we are right now, actually.”

“That makes sense if you’ve been wandering around in the caves for a while, I suppose.” She paused, hoping he’d volunteer a bit more information about why he was down there in the first place, but he didn’t, so she continued. “We’re about ten miles west of the western base of Mount Briar. The closest town is the canine village of Ruforfur, which is around six miles away as the bird flies.”

“Okay.” Coal still looked a bit confused. 

“Where do you live?” Ashra asked, going for a straightforward approach. “Then I could probably figure out where we are from there.”

“Um… I guess nowhere right now,” he replied.

“What do you mean?” Ashra tilted her head curiously. 

“I don’t really have a home right now,” he told her, sounding astonishingly cheerful. “I guess I’ll need to find one. But right now I’m as free as a bird in the sky.” 

He tipped his head upward, gazing at the sky as he finished. How long had he been in that cave? Ashra wondered. But perhaps that mystery, as well as her other questions, should wait. First she wanted to get him some medical attention; his wounds seemed to still be bleeding, albeit slowly. 

“You know, there’s a number of things magic is good for, and one of those is speeding healing,” Ashra commented. “I know you said you’re fine, but I’d feel better if I could do something about those cuts of yours.”

“Oh, um… With magic?”

“Yes, if you’re willing.”

“Well… I suppose.”

“Great.” Ashra stepped toward Coal, and he tensed. Right. She should explain better. “So, magic won’t just entirely make the wounds disappear; it works like a very effective bandage, in essence, and it also helps you heal a lot faster. It makes it much less likely for wounds to get infected, too. That’s actually one of the biggest benefits of magical healing for wounds.”

Coal nodded, looking intrigued. 

“I can heal you without touching you, but it’s easier for me if I am either touching whoever I’m healing or at least very close. Is it all right if I rest my paw on you?”

“I suppose,” Coal replied hesitantly. 

“Thank you,” Ashra responded warmly. 

She stepped over to him and sat beside him, then rested one of her front paws on his uninjured shoulder. His fur felt matted and grimy, but of course they weren’t nearly close enough for her to offer to help groom him. He stayed very still as she focused on him. Her paw and his fur where her paw rested began to glow as she started to use her magic, sending it to his injuries and sealing and purifying them.

“That should do it,” she said with satisfaction, setting her paw back down on the ground.

“You’re all done?” Coal asked with surprise. “That was fast.”

Ashra shrugged. “Was it? Magic is usually pretty quick.”

“I guess so. Does it tire you out?”

“If I used a lot, it would, but most of what I do is fairly quick and easy.” It had been quite some time since she’d had a reason to push herself power-wise, Ashra reflected.

“You know, you’ve done a lot to help me,” Coal commented. “I would really like to pay you back somehow.”

What Ashra had done had been very minimal in her opinion, but she knew some animals felt it very important to not accept charity from another. So, she offered, “I suppose if you want you could carry the blackberries I picked back to my house.”

“Sure.”

“Great. I left them at the edge of the trees over there.” She nodded back the way she had come. 

“Lead the way,” Coal replied.