Cats Eyes Two : Mendax Strikes Back

“Mog” Jakob cried, “How did this happen?”

Wordlessly, Mog leapt into Jakob’s arms and sobbed silently into his chest. Her fur was matted, her paws swollen and bleeding from the dangerous chemicals of the spangle. Her entire body shuddered from crying as Jakob clung to her desperately, tears forming in his own eyes. The horrible revelation that one of his best friends was now dead hit him suddenly and his chest tightened in grief. In a moment of hope, he wanted to believe the worst had not happened.

“Where’s Casper?” he croaked, already knowing the answer.

He was dimly aware of several Caji reporters taking photographs and whispering nastily about how much gold the stories would make them. Merlin hissed angrily at them, sending them scurrying away. When they finally broke apart, Mog and Jakob stared at the wreckage of what had once been a pleasant place to practice charms. The frothing, steaming spangle liquid still corroded the ground, vaporising everything in its path. Corpses of cats, cats they all knew and had attended the battle training classes, littered the ground. Those directly in the path of the spangle liquid Mendax’s supporters had filled the crater with had been reduced to crumbling skeletons. Even their blood had been swallowed up by the enormous wave, every last scrap of fur eradicated forever.

“He’s gone Jakob” Mog whispered, “They haven’t found any survivors from the crater.
Jakob felt his heart skip a beat. He recalled the months spent with Casper, being trained in the art of Caji charms and battles. Images of Casper’s face when he discovered Mendax had been overthrown filled his mind. He felt himself slide slowly onto the ground, stray drops of spangle singeing his knees. Ignoring the pain, he crumpled to the hot, dead ground and sobbed.

“Jakob” Mog said gently, “I’ll need to get all these cats out of here. Halo’s going to stay here and help, but Merlin will take you somewhere safe”

She nodded to Merlin, who scooted to where Jakob sat crying. His paws also ached from the heat of the ground following the attack, but he chose to ignore that. He placed his head gently onto Jakob’s knees, his own eyes swollen with tears.

“Sure Jakob” he whispered, “We’ll get out of here”
Jakob shook his head while getting slowly to his feet. Brushing his hair out of his tear streaked face; he stared determinedly across the ruins of the place his friend had died. Anger surged throughout his shivering body as he remembered that the cat responsible was also holding the only surviving member of his family hostage. All the fear and pain of seeing his mum and brother murdered came flooding back.

“I’m not going anywhere” he said defiantly, “I’m staying here until Mendax comes back. And when he does, I’m gonna kill him”

His fists clenched in fury, he kicked the crumbling ground hard. Dust billowed around him, adding to the grime and filth already coating his clothes.

“No Jakob” Mog said tearfully, “You have to get out of here. Halo’s had reports of where Mendax and his supporters are hiding. There’s a team of cats planning an attack on their base, you just have to get yourself to safety”

Jakob felt a lump form in his throat.

“What cats?” he retorted bitterly, “The team Casper was training? Because there doesn’t seem to be much left of them”

He knelt beside Mog and wrapped an arm around her gently.

“There’s no one else who knows all the charms” he said, “No one but the cats in your battle training classes. And they were all in the crater when-“

He broke off to hug Mog tightly, his breathing ragged with anguish.

“I can’t lose you too” Jakob whispered into his friend’s ear, “And we both know Mendax will be after you. I’m not going to give him the chance to hurt you, or Halo. I can do this Mog; I still remember everything Casper taught me”

Knowing he had won, Jakob released Mog from his grip. Her furry face was crumpled in grief, her whiskers bent and ruffled out of shape. Casper was the friend who completely understood her. In the dark years they had spent locked away in the dungeons, all they’d had was each other. Even when they had escaped, she had never ceased her admiration for him. He was endlessly fun and kind to everyone. She could hardly believe he was no longer alive.

“Where is they’re hiding?” Jakob asked
Mog stared at him. She knew that in his next life, Mendax had developed weapons more dangerous than Caji had ever known. And he had many equally dangerous supporters who still believed he was the planets rightful king and ruler. Yet something in Jakob’s face made her trust him. He had defeated Mendax once before, and she truly believed he was capable of doing it again.

“They’re rumored to be hiding in the Whirly Field” she said slowly, “Large amounts of natki chemicals have been detected in the area”

Jakob breathed in sharply. He recalled Mog telling him about natki chemicals once. They were exceptionally powerful, and only used in dark curses as part of haoki mind control devices.

Suddenly everything made sense. Mendax was using these chemicals to control cats and force them to cause disasters like the one which had killed Casper. And when they became immune to the natki and haoki, he would place them under a curse which would end their life. They would be driven insane by the terrible crimes they had committed and would die alone in the Sailveg hospital. It had happened to Caliban, and dozens of others like him. But now Jakob was filled with determination. Somehow, for some unexplainable reason, he knew his Dad was being controlled and possessed using these chemicals.

“Jakob” Merlin said suddenly, “Perhaps I should have mentioned it earlier…but I have teleportation powers”

Mog gasped. Throughout the battle training classes Merlin had been enthusiastic and eager to please. Yet he had never shown any extraordinary powers, even his tranveeriums had been fairly weak.

“Don’t look so shocked” he said, managing a watery smile, “It’s amazing what you pick up among the slaves”

Mog realized that his was true. She and Casper, when they had escaped from the dungeons, were utterly unaware that cats on Earth were not expected to talk. They did however, have an excellent knowledge of charms and curses.

“So you can get us to the Whirly Field?” Jakob demanded.

Merlin nodded warily. He would have happily pounced on Mendax and scratched him to a pulp, but in his heart he knew that even his and Jakob’s powers combined might not be a match for the ex-ruler.

Jakob wiped the last of his tears from his face and smiled shakily at Mog. He felt Merlin leap on to his shoulder and begin to whisper words from the ancient cat language.

“Icedale Holak” he hissed furiously, until Jakob began to spin in circles. He closed his eyes as a wave of nausea hit him, and allowed the darkness of the charm to engulf him. Feeling as though his body was being pulled in several obscure directions, Jakob was hurled head first on to long sticky grass.

“Not bad” Merlin remarked, “Considering I haven’t teleported in a while, it was a fairly smooth landing”
Jakob got to his feet shakily. It had not felt like a remotely smooth landing, judging by the bump already forming on his forehead. But, too full of terrified adrenaline to reply, Jakob simply nodded.

He took his first proper look at his surroundings, noting the apparent innocence of the field. It was bright, the grass glimmering and water lapping gently in the distance.

“Mendax can’t be here” Merlin said, voicing Jakob’s thoughts, Not here, not in a place like this”

It looked noting like the suspected hideout of a mass murdering cat. In fact, it reminded Jakob of the places he drew with wax crayons as a young child.

“What do we do now?” Merlin groaned