Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria

Chapter 58: Hideous beast

Marco vaulted up and over the velvet chair onto the hound’s back and dug his claws into the animal’s hideous body.

The beast continued to scale the bookshelves lathered by the hunt and his bloodthirsty nature. When all three creatures were at the top, Cicero escaped in a flying leap to the floor, barely avoiding the dog's dagger-like fangs.

Marco was still gripped on the back of the demon animal as the dog inelegantly climbed down from the shelves. Cicero was struggling to get up from his fall, but by the time Marco was on the ground, Cicero had hobbled up to the low shelf under the window and climbed to the sill. He seemed to be waiting for the dog to notice him, and then he jumped out the window. What in the world was he doing?

When the dog leaped through the opening after Cicero, Marco had no intention of letting go, and so he sailed through the air on the dog’s back. All three of them crashed in a heap on the ground, with Cicero on the bottom. When the beast of a dog arose, the old Guardian lay motionless on the ground, his head and neck twisted, his fur smoldering.

At first Marco couldn’t understand what had happened to Cicero, and then a ferocious cry pierced the air. It took a minute to realize the sound he heard came from him.

The hound twisted his head back, seeming to realize for the first time something was fastened onto him. Marco knew he was doomed, but if he let go, he felt the dog would eat him alive.

The hound flung himself into a frenzy trying to dislodge him, but Marco was latched on, his head laid flat against the thick roll of fur and skin on the dog’s neck. His eyes were closed tight and he tried not to breathe in the dog’s stench.

Somehow in the middle of this madness, he thought he saw Cicero, looking alive. He was speaking to him, but Marco couldn’t understand what he was saying. The dog was throwing himself against the magnolia tree, smashing Marco’s back against the trunk.

“The words, Marco!” said Cicero’s apparition.

The dog started to spin in circles.

Marco tried to hear what his mentor was saying.

“Remember the words!”

The words! He couldn’t imagine the words could help him now. He only remembered what a disaster it had been the last and only time he tried saying them. But he had no other options. “Faw…” he began, and with the utterance of that sound, he noticed a change, but it wasn’t for the better.

The hound was rolling in the dirt, frantically trying to dislodge him.

“Fawta…lani,” he continued haltingly.

The dog’s fangs clamped on to his hind leg and Marco clawed his way farther up so he was practically on top of the dog’s head.

“Nee!” The last word exploded from within him and he suddenly found himself airborne, still clinging to the hell hound. The ascent was swift and the pair twisted and swung violently in midair.

Marco lost his grip and fell. He landed on all fours and looked up to see what had happened to the dog. He had been snatched up by an enormous bird, something like an eagle, but with a body like a lion. The hell hound hung loosely in the talons of this strange flying creature. Marco sat motionless until both bird and dog disappeared in the sky, leaving him wondering if what just happened was a dream. When he returned to Cicero’s lifeless body, however, he knew it was no dream.