The sun crept over the horizon as Flare woke up and quickly scanned her surroundings for Abby. When she saw the crimson cat sleeping soundly on the corner of the rock, her tension released and she lay back down, trying to get her head to rest comfortably on the surface of the rock. After trying and failing, she sat up and pulled the abyssinian close to her, stroking the cat's smooth fur.

"I won't let him take you, okay, sweetie?" Flare cooed softly. Abby mewled and nestled into Flare's lap, where they remained as Flare watched the field of flowers sway back and forth. She marvelled at their innocence; certainly those flowers had no idea of the death that they contained within themselves. They simply swayed in the wind, unaware and blissfully ignorant. Flare longingly wished that she could regain that sense of innocence.

"Hello, darling," Flare heard. She whirled her head around to see Calico climbing up the boulder on which she perched, wearing the same ragged clothes as yesterday that hung across his lanky frame like tatters. Patches followed with a smug grin on his face that Flare was sure she was imagining. "I brought you a bottle of water. I figured after today you'd start to run out."

"Thanks, but don't call me darling," she grumbled, taking the water bottle.

"Why shouldn't I?" Calico said with a simper on his face. Flare narrowed her eyes and set her jaw angrily. His stupid smirk, his cocky walk, it enraged her unreasonably.

"Do you want my cat or not?" she asked indignantly.

"You're giving him to me?" Calico's eyes lit up.

"She's a girl," Flare scoffed, letting Abby hop out of her lap. "And no, I'm not."

"Flare," Calico sighed, exasperated. "I think you're forgetting a crucial fact. I'm just being nice with this whole bargaining thing. I can control animals. I offered you a generous deal, but I guess it leaves me no choice."

"You wouldn't. Zomancers don't control animals that aren't theirs. It's considered disrespectful," Flare boasted her knowledge.

"Little Miss Worldly, aren't we?" Calico said, seemingly entertained.

"Yes, we are," Flare mocked him.

"Fine. But it looks like your cat wants to come with me and Patches," Calico said smugly, crossing his arms and looking over at Abby and Patches. Patches had brought Abby a mouse he had caught, and they shared it fondly. "They're fond of each other, it appears."

Flare had had enough. Abby would never leave her, and she felt disgusted at herself for even considering giving her up. "Calico, can you please stop pestering me?" Flare howled. He seemed shocked, and even the cats looked over, surprised. "My cat - Abby - she's all I have left. She's my only tangible memory of my dead brother. She's the reason I got the chance to start talking to my former girlfriend. And then she saved her - that same girlfriend - from a tiger attack. She saved me," she choked up, tears running down her face. "She saved my life, about to be taken by a Mountain Dartou. But not Dune's," Flare stopped, wiping away her tears and breathing slowly. "Abby is the only thing that reminds me of what I'm on this journey for. I'm doing this for my brother. As treacherous as it may be, she reminds me that I have to keep going, because if I don't, I may never see him again. So that's why I'll never let her go, especially not to a zomancer like you."

The next few moments were dripping with heavy silence, a blanket of it, thick and suffocating. Until Calico started to talk.

"I know a phytomancer," he whispered softly. "She lives just a day or two's journey away, and she could make this entire field wither in seconds," he said gently, gesturing to the field.

"Would you go get her for me?" Flare hiccuped, hope returning to her voice.

"Free of charge," Calico said as he patted Flare on the back, which was annoying, but also felt kind of comforting. Flare mustered up a smile and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you," she said. Calico seemed awkward as he hugged her, like he hadn't hugged anyone in a long time.

"Do you want to have breakfast with me and Patches?" he blurted out. "We have some extra cat food."

"Will we be dining on the cat food?"

"No," he laughed. "We also have a delectable selection of human food. And by delectable, I mean a can of peaches bathing in syrup and something called Blossomberry Custard."

"I love Blossomberry Custard!" Flare grinned.

"Miss Worldly," Calico scoffed. "I was certain you wouldn't have tried it. I got it from the aeromancer village yesterday."

"You've been there?"

"I'm a regular customer," he boasted.

"Well, let's have it," Flare smiled, wiping away the tears on her face and smoothing back her hair. Calico brought around his backpack and unpacked the promised meal.

The meal was perhaps not equivalent to the lunch with the aeromancers or the dinner at Queen Tera's palace, but Flare's heart felt full afterward, if not her stomach.

***

It was a day and a half into Calico's absence and Flare, as well as the two cats which Calico had entrusted her with watching, were beginning to get tired of remaining on the boulder and waiting for him. That was when they saw the field of flowers begin to shake and move. Flare watched in awe as the black pollen from all the flowers ascended into the air like a massive swarm of locusts, swirling and whirling until it was just a narrow pipe. The phytomancer who was controlling it, at least, Flare assumed, flung the deadly pollen into a crevice on the mountain to the left of the field.

Immediately after, they saw Calico trekking through the field with a smug grin on his face, followed by a middle aged woman clothed in a loose, flowing dress. As they got closer, Flare observed that the phytomancer's dress was created using various sticks and leaves.

"C'mon!" Calico yelled across the field, and Flare gathered up her stuff with a giddy smile and ran after him, the cats bounding after her. Patches leapt into Calico's arms with a vivacious meow, snuggling up to him joyfully. Abby, Flare, and the phytomancer stood around the reunited pair for a moment until Calico thought to introduce them to one another.

"Flare, this is Holly, a phytomancer. And Holly, this is Flare, a pyromancer. This is Abby," Calico gestured to the abyssinian with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you," Holly said shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear and extending her hand for Flare to shake. Flare took it and said the same.

"Holly, would you like to join us as we cross the field? We can have dinner and then Flare can continue her journey," Calico asked.

"I think I'll simply head back home," Holly said, composed and quiet. "My town could use the extra help as soon as possible."

"Well, thanks anyway. You've been a huge help," Calico thanked Holly.

"Yes, thank you," Flare said.

"It was my pleasure. But Calico, I'll be expecting that favor later," Holly said, swinging her old leather backpack over her shoulder and walking away.

"What favor?" Flare asked inquisitively.

"I owe a lot of people a lot of favors. She's just one more," Calico said with a nonchalant wave of his hand, setting down Patches and starting to walk away from the mountain and through the meadow of no longer treacherous flowers.

"Okay," Flare said softly, but wondered what he could have offered to Holly that would be equivalent to their lives, and secretly felt happy that he would do that to help her. The hike through the flowers was short, and soon enough the flowers started trickling out and they found themselves standing at the edge of a forest scattered with trees.

Suddenly, Flare felt a pain in her right leg. She glanced down to see a dart growing fuzzier and fuzzier as her vision blurred.

"Calico, you too?" she slurred, her speech garbled.

"Just try to stay awake," he mumbled, but as he did, Flare's vision grew darker and darker and she felt herself tumbling to the ground.

***

When Flare awoke, she was sitting in a chair in a damp cave, torchlit and dark. Her hands and feet were bound to each other with rope, and when she tried to speak, she couldn't.

Although her vision was still blurry and her muscles still sluggish and drowsy, she squirmed back and forth in a feeble attempt to free herself while looking around the room for an escape route. She didn't find one, but she did see Calico, barely awake, sitting in a chair next to her. As soon as he saw her, his tired eyes gained a little more life, and he tried to speak but realized he couldn't. After a few moments, both of them stopped their useless attempts and stayed slumped in their chairs.

"Good evening," Flare heard a voice as she saw a tall woman walk into the room. The light was dim, but even still, anyone could plainly see that the woman appeared very powerful, not just physically strong, but in the way she carried herself you could see that she was mentally and socially powerful as well. The clothes draped across her body were tight and black, with chunky black boots. She wore her dark brown hair in a long, neat ponytail, her eyelashes and brows were thick and dark, and her lips were full and pink. She was obviously very attractive, and knew it.

"Hello, Calico," she smiled, evilly amused, at Calico, who narrowed his eyes and released an angered growl, which would probably be a yell if his mouth wasn't tied up. Two guards stood behind her, about to seize him, but she held them back.

"I'm Fox," she said. "Although Calico already knows that. I'm going to untie your mouths now. No obscenities, please."

Flare sat patiently as one of the guards untied her mouth, and Flare took a refreshing gasp of air. However, as soon as Calico was untied, he began shouting right away.

"I would've gotten it eventually! You didn't have to capture us!" He yelled.

"Calico," Fox said, and immediately he fell silent. It appeared that even he wasn't immune to Fox's intimidating glares. "We had reason to suspect that you weren't going to capture the abyssinian, so we had to activate your tracker and bring you and your friend back here. What's your name, darling?" she said, looking at Flare, who abruptly realized that Abby was missing.

"What've you done with Abby?" Flare whispered with trepidation.

"I asked your name."

"Flare," she responded, ducking her head.

"A pyromancer. How'd you get the abyssinian? Usually they avoid the dry heat and crowds of people in the pyromancer towns. Those are cats built for humidity and jungles," Fox asked.

"We found her in our town a few years back," Flare gulped.

"I doubt that. Tell me the truth, otherwise I'll have to have Zorro get it out of you," Fox purred, and from the shadows emerged a Caput Mortuum Ashtail Cross Fox, characterized by their distinct color, caput mortuum, which was a soft mauve-brown color, and their pitch black tails. They were slender, tall, and most importantly, deadly killing machines - swift, muscular, and loyal to their masters, meaning whatever they told them to do, they'd do.

"Oh shit," Calico whispered, but Fox flicked her eyes towards him with a fatal gaze and he went silent.

"Zorro is my pet fox, and we're best friends, aren't we, Zorro?" Fox cooed, stroking Zorro on the head. "He'll do anything I say. Including ripping your face off in one bite."

Flare looked down nervously, her hands trembling against their rope prison, to see that the floor was splattered in dried bloodstains - presumably from previous victims. She glanced back at Zorro, who was lashing his tail hungrily.

"We found her in our trash bin," Flare cried, bracing herself for impact although there was none. "That's all I can tell you, I swear."

"Is she telling the truth, Zorro?" Fox asked with a soft smile. Zorro glanced up at Fox, but remained quiet and motionless. "It looks like you are. Must've had illegal smugglers in your town or something," Fox said with raised eyebrows, amused.

"Where is my cat?" Flare growled.

"Patience, darling, we'll tell you in a moment," Fox said with a bored tone, examining her nails. "First we have some questions we want answered. Calico," she whipped her head towards him, her long ponytail slicing through the air. "Why didn't you steal the cat right away? You were tasked with bringing one to us. We would've relieved your jail sentence."

"I-" Calico began, then glanced at the confused Flare hesitantly.

"Ah, yes, let's explain to Flare," Fox said with a laugh. "Your new friend Calico is a criminal, charged on various occasions with theft and pickpocketing. We've been in need of an abyssinian just like yours, and we heard of a girl travelling through the geomancer's territory with one. So, since Calico was so good at stealing, we slapped a tracker and camera on him and sent him off to find you," she explained. "But once we saw that he found the cat, but didn't steal it right away, we had reasonable suspicions about his intentions. Then, of course, we had no choice but to capture both of you, bring you back, and get the cat ourselves."

"What's so special about Abby?" Flare asked. "I wouldn't think that this trouble was all for a little crimson abyssinian."

"Surely you've noticed that those cats are extremely powerful, despite their small size. They were held sacred to the ancient zomancers. We want to do more research on them. We suspect they might be the only known animals to have the powers that us mages do," Fox explained.

"What are you going to do with me and Calico?" Flare gulped nervously.

"Calico will be punished according to his crimes," Fox said. "You, however, will be set free, with the warning that if you come back here, you shall die." As if on cue, Zorro released a threatening growl.

"But..." Flare trailed off, looking at Calico. His eyes pleaded for help, the torchlight reflecting off his sweat-covered face, but he mouthed one word - go.

"Do you have an objection?" Fox hissed. "Because I'm sure Zorro wouldn't mind adding another kill to his list."

"No," Flare said.

"Good. We're going to quickly tranquilize you - don't worry, just a small amount, and have a zomancer drop you off where we found you. We have a skilled flier with a Great Aztec Gold Albatross, the biggest birds known to us, which should be able to carry both of you," Fox said.

"Okay," Flare responded, not sure if she should thank her or not. Fox promptly ushered her guards towards Flare, and they stuck the tranquilizer into her arm and she quickly drifted off into the blackness once again.

FUN FACT About The (Fictional) Caput Mortuum Ashtail Cross Fox: Caput Mortuum is a color but it ALSO means dried blood in Latin which I think symbolizes Zorro quite well! Also, thank you so much for 261 reads, 106 votes, and 56 comments! I love hearing all the feedback :)