7. The Prison Cell

When Cosmo spread his feathers and made haste, he couldn’t be overtaken, not even by Leion.

Eeris shrieked as she tried to pull him from the sky. “Slow down!”

“We have little time,” he called down.

“What do those cute animals have to do with this?”

Reluctantly, Cosmo flew lower, forcing him to swerve around trees. “Long ago, we supported the animals in the west. Remember? I’m leading us there.”

“They were under attack by an unknown invader. Of course we defended our animals.”

“The enemy, however, was not so unknown after all. They must have been the Pricecats.”

Leion required all his muscles to restrain Eeris. Clods of mud flew upwards under her stomping feet. Feria nimbly swung from branch to branch, but was soon a panting fox buried under sticky leaves.

“Any animal they could abduct has fled. Their pile of diamonds grew as did their arrogance.” Cosmo flew even faster.

“And so they attacked our lands, Origina, hoping for new victims,” said Feria after a short pause. “We supported the fight against them. They didn’t appreciate that.”

“So they went straight for the gods’ heart,” Eeris puffed, eyes wide and fixed on her family.

“And you know what a Pricecat does?” Cosmo yelled. “No payment has been received on time? For the victim it’s the end of line.”

The rest of the journey passed in silence. There was little breath for talking, but also nothing left to say. Bella was in mortal danger. Maybe she was already dead. No one said it, but everyone thought it.

After a long journey, they found the region they had supported in that long ago war: Thon. There, Gulvi awaited his family.

The dolphin looked mournful and could barely get the words out. “They … they have Bella. But I didn’t dare do anything, or they would hurt her.”

“She’s still alive? Where is she?”

“I think so. I hope so. I don’t know.”

Cosmo angrily stomped away, but Eeris took the time to tell Gulvi it wasn’t his fault and he did the right thing. In the distance, Thon looked peaceful—deceptively so.

“Tell us everything,” said Feria, as they walked toward the village.

“Those cats call themselves Pricecats. And they just walked over the water, which made no sense, so I went to take a look, and it turned out they were riding Ancient Turtles, but those Ancient Turtles had strange spikes, so I almost didn’t recognize them, and before I could do anything they reached land and raced like madmen toward Thon, and—”

“Watch out!”

Leion had scouted the surroundings for danger again. He hadn’t consciously noticed anything, but his peripheral vision had picked up on something. And when Cosmo came close he immediately yelled, even though he didn’t know the threat.

This made the warning useless.

A wheel spun around in the water along the beach. A line extended from it, scratched into the ground. Above it, a tiny wire was strung between two trees, right by the entrance to Thon. The wire snapped when Cosmo ran into it.

All the trees slammed down like hammers. Leion got away just in time, but Cosmo’s wing was crushed under thick layers of wood. The gods fought against nature, but it moved on its own to dodge each blow.

Leion didn’t understand it. There was no attacker in sight. Yet their surroundings did exactly what was needed to defend itself.

Feria ran toward Cosmo, but dug her paws in the sand when a new creature leaped into the circle. The trees were now a prison. Cosmo was trapped. And before them stood a large, muscular, black-spotted jaguar, with dozens of golden bracelets around his legs and a crown of fused diamonds atop his head.

“We almost thought you wouldn’t come. We would’ve murdered Bella for nothing!”

The Prizecat stood with his back to Leion. I have one surprise attack, then it’s over, he thought. He found a branch and rapidly gnawed it to a razor-sharp point. Jutting it forward, he searched a sturdy bit to push off of, to initiate the leaping attack. But that’s foolish. I’m never stronger than him. And there are surely more.

So he put the stick down.

His paws found a patch of soft mud. He smeared it over himself until he looked like a beaver. In total silence, he stuck on leaves until he stealthily shuffled behind the tree trunk pinning Cosmo down.

The Pricecat looked back. “And now we’ve caught another.”

He playfully tapped Cosmo’s head, then suddenly, with one wild swing, reached behind the trunk. Leion saw the claw pass by and grab another tree, which the Pricecat hurled on top of Cosmo’s other wing with brute force.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Feria tonelessly. “If it’s riches you want, we can provide it. Darus made all those riches.”

The jaguar slowly circled his prey in the wooden cell. “We did want gold. The amount is carved on your gate. Until … we realized we could ask for more.”

The Prizecat suddenly lept forward and roared. Eeris shrank back, but Feria stood unfazed.

“Ha! So it’s true? You can read animals’ intentions?”

“I make no claims about my powers, certainly not to criminals. What do you want from us?”

“Didn’t you get my lovely message?”

“We can’t—”

A thin river appeared. It widened, pushed some trees aside, and circled the group until it was steady enough for the water to flow.

With his snout, Gulvi pushed a raft on which Darus stood. His fur had deep scratches and his paws showed blood spatters. His tail already shot up, ready to magically slam the prison’s floor.

The jaguar roared. This time at full volume, and Leion flinched.

“If any of you take one more step, you’ll never see Bella again! Don’t you dare use your powers. Don’t you dare try to escape.”

By now, Leion had left the tree trunk and crept through the bushes behind it. He could just see and hear what happened, but climb a few more trunks, and he’d be free.

“We want proof you actually have Bella,” said Feria.

“Ha! That would be quite the trick. Someone else kidnaps Bella and by chance we make demands that same day.”

“We don’t believe it,” Feria insisted. Only now did Leion notice that she glanced at him sideways in the bushes. “Why didn’t you let us know a meeting place?”

The jaguar laughed, long and heavy. “There is only one thing keeping the animals under your paws. Your powers are a mystery. They fear you. I tested whether the gods really knew what was happening in their world. You have failed, failed, failed deeply.”

Feria’s face betrayed nothing. She remained the regal fox she always was. Still, Leion thought he saw her ears trembling. Then again, he was trained to read body language—friend or foe.

“We are indeed minor gods. We cannot make decisions without consulting the Supreme God.”

“Supreme God? Don’t make me laugh. That’s a fairy tale for dumb animals, disproven long ago by some staircase.”

“It’s true. If it were a lie, why would half the world believe it? We must wait for his judgement.”

Feria nodded. The most subtle movement of her head. The gods planned to do nothing and keep questioning the jaguar.

The jaguar signaled, in every way, that he had the upper hand and didn’t fear a fight. Just like he revealed that his right paw was stronger than his left—he used it much more—and he couldn’t see well what happened below him—as he kept glancing down while walking.

And Feria signaled Leion had her approval.

He slithered past trunks, slow as a snail, his body twisting as if he were a cloth draped over them. Unseen and unheard, he reached the end of the makeshift prison.

And he ran away.