"You lost my mother's collar!"
Sebastian's wings drooped. "I—I feared the demon, and the collar was heavy. How do you know it was your mother's? A leather collar, buried for years? It wasn't rotten."
"All the more reason. A collar with a spell attached wouldn't rot, would it?" Ivy paced about in the cage, meowing in as plaintive a manner as she could. This time, she was ready to bolt the instant the door was unlatched. "Besides, the Queen wouldn't have unearthed an ordinary trinket for you to carry, would she?"
Sebastian wisely kept his mouth closed, not uttering his opinion regarding the Queen's motivations. "It should be back by the stones in the graveyard. I dropped it not more than a second after I flew through the portal."
"Good. If I can get the healer to follow me there, and you help me put the collar on..." Ivy paused, scratching an ear. Did she really want to put the collar on? What would happen? Would the healer, the unknowing son of a witch and wizard, have any idea what to do with a Familiar? Would he even realize the power he possessed?
At least I might be able to speak to him. Try to explain where he came from.
Her foot stopped in mid-scratch as a thought occurred to her. "Wait a moment." She was unsure to whom she spoke, herself or the dragon. "The child I saw go through the portal...he was a young child. It hasn't been many years. Why would he be full-grown now? Humans don't grow that fast."
"Time passes more quickly or slowly in different places." Sebastian seemed grateful to impart useful information for once. "In the Distant Lands, I would be fully grown now."
Ivy digested this. It seemed plausible, though the dragon's thoughts were so often scattered and unreliable. She wondered what Isabella would think, to be reunited with a son she had last seen, not so long before, as a young boy.
They both froze as they heard a door open and shut in the next room. Steps, heavier than the elderly woman's, creaked across the floor.
"Try the lock again," Ivy said.
YOU ARE READING
The Prophecy and the Familiar
Short StoryIvy is an orphan Familiar, a magical cat without a master or mistress, and she is just fine with that. Years before, after all, her mother was killed by a supernatural monster, along with her wizard master. Unfortunately, Ivy's simple, peaceful li...
