Dar'Kind Promises

Chapter One

Chapter 1

Verucca Toadswizzler cocked her head to consider her dilemma from a different perspective. A large predatory cat sat on its haunches, head level with the wizard's chest. Verucca tapped her chin with a long-pointed finger, knuckles swollen and gnarled from age. "You can't transport to the Earth Dimension in this form." She sighed. This used to be so much easier.

The animal took great care in licking its paw. Flexing the huge nails, its rough tongue rasped across the bottom of a smooth pad with a lick. The beast's spotted flanks vibrated in a contented pur.

Verucca shook her head. "No, this won't do at all. If I send you on this mission this way, you'll stand out like a Tillyboat in a Jonkanu race." Tillyboats ferried garbage in the Aheron Province, no match for the sleek skiffs in the annual speed race.

The cat paused in its grooming regimen, its tongue sticking out mid-lick in-shock or commentary?

Drab robes swirled around the crone's legs while she stretched her arms over her head. In recent years movement without pain became harder and harder. She'd been old when the royal twins were born and they were men, grown now. She ignored her creaking joints and made grand sweeping motions in the air, accompanied by incantations in an ancient language. She watched the cat stare at her with absorbed interest.

Cats liked all the flash and sparkle.

"The things I do to entertain you, Zelia." Verucca lowered her arms. Those dramatics weren't necessary to craft an incantation. "How much? Hum," she mused, holding her index finger above her thumb. Then she pinched her fingers until the distance between them shrank to mere inches. "Small," she pronounced distinctly so the magic could make her will reality.

The huge feline shrank by degrees until she was the size of an ordinary house cat sitting by Verucca's ankle.

She considered her handiwork. The cat's eyes seemed over large for its face. Perhaps it was just the surprise at the transformation.

"No, this is better but still not completely right." Verucca pulled a book from her cluttered worktable and flipped through pages. "Cat's the size you are now are pets in the Earth Dimension. However, your color is all wrong. There are no house cats with the odd spotted pattern of your fur. Fuss and bother."

She lay the book down on the table by her hip, studying a picture from the pages. "Now, that color will do nicely. I'll just have to add another layer to the spell." She paused to reassure her feline companion. "It'll be fine." She shrugged, reconsidering. "It should be fine." She checked the book one more time, clapped her hands and pronounced, "Orange Tabby." The dark spots on the animal's creamy tan pelt stretched, elongated, and ran into a pattern of strips swirling around becoming golden orange on the cat's fur. The crone walked around the animal looking down at her handiwork. "Yes this will do, quite satisfactory, if I do say so myself."

The cat spoke for the first time. "Sa-tis-factory?" she stressed each syllable. The animal's voice sounded like it emanated from the bottom of a well, a remote, shrunken sound that modulated through a range of helium-induced tones. "You cronish hack! This is far from satisfactory."

"Now, now, don't get your fur in a twist you'll get a hair ball or something." She put her long index finger against her lips and breathed a "shhh" sound against them.

The beast let out a plaintive yawl, replacing the cartoonish voice.

Verucca scooped up the cat, dropping her into an oversized shopping bag. "Hush now, I can't have one of the Solidarian see me leave here with a suspicious looking Earth Dimension creature." An angry muffled meow answered from the bag making the old wizard chuckle.