Chapter 26

Nicole groaned as she heard voices. Loud voices ringing in her mind like the sharp peals of bells. She opened her mind's eye to find a silver she-wolf standing over her. "Nicola of Cria?" the wolf murmured.

"That is my full title, Silver, and you'll do well to remember it." Nicole replied her face set in a stubborn frown.

"Temper, temper. I see you've grown adapted to your new friend and her foolish actions." Silver replied with a chuckle.

"They are foolish but she knows her place." Nodded Nicole, glancing around as bright white lights surrounded her almost blinding the she-cat as she backed away. Wild beats like the throb of drums sounded as the gods lifted their hands, light spilling over like an overfilled cup. Music surrounded the gods and shape shifter like a frothy mist from the sea on a cloudy day, it wove with the wild beating of the drums, creating a mystical scene. Nicola stared as Silver raised her head and howled a harmonious but commanding note. It frightened Nicole to say the least, she backed off slightly, shifting back to her human form, but stiffened as a sword was pressed roughly to her throat and a deep voice rang in her mind: "Learn to keep up your guard; you'll need it on this journey." The sword was taken from her throat as a familiar voice shook her from her wonder:

"Have care with that blade, Mithros, you may be a god but immortals can be slain, and with a simple slip of the hand, she could be with your brother in death." A cool voice said.

Nicole blinked as a tall, wiry man with coal-black hair and strangely alluring purple eyes, walked forward and offered his hand, which she took with a worried glance.

"It's alright," laughed the man, eyes dancing. "I'm a friend. Mortals often see me imprinted upon the stars."

"Faithful!" exclaimed Nicole, hazel-green eyes wide.

The man nodded. "Years travel fast in the Mortal Realms, my kitten. You're older now, I see, and more beautiful then before."

Nicole was jolted back to a memory, lost to childhood, a time when this same man—as a cat had once said those same words. She had been only three when he had first come, blessing her with the white cat form and telling her that he would visit again. Six years had passed and she, at thirteen, had lost all remembrance of the strange purple-eyed cat, save for his compelling amethyst gaze. It had haunted her dreams until he had come again. This time was the third. She had waited four years more and he had appeared once again.

Nicole bowed to one knee as the Great Mother stepped forward and spoke, her voice like the barking of hounds: "Faithful, my servant, has spoken much of your loyalty to your mistress, Squire Midori of Queenscove, and how you strive to protect her in any way. You saved her from fire, do I stand correct?"

"Yes, Great Mother, I believe it is the right thing to do for Midori. She is a--" Nicole was cut off by Silver's sarcastic input: "Foolish."

The Goddess gave her a sharp look and the she-wolf fell silent as Nicole continued in a small voice: "--headstrong mortal and needs my watchful eye."

"Faithful?" the Great Mother turned to the man, who nodded and told Nicola to stand. "Follow me. I have to show you something you must see." He said in an emotionless tone.

Nicole could tell the man, who once had assisted Alanna on her quest for knighthood as a supernatural cat, was concerned for Nicole the way he hesitated when he offered his hand again. She took it and he led her into a large expanse of a room covered with a thick coating of ice at least 2 feet thick. He led her to the center and told her to look up. "What do you see?" he asked in quiet voice that was peculiarly soothing.

"Stars. Many, many stars." She answered, feeling an overwhelming sense of peace as Faithful chuckled.

"What do you see in the stars, little kitten?" he inquired, eyes glazing over.

"I see..." Nicole squinted to decipher the hazy image that appeared. "The Chamber of Ordeal, the door is opening and Midori is walking out. Oh gods she looks terrible! She has a...a letter of some kind in her hand."

"It's a letter she must read on the night she receives the shield, a letter from the dead..."

"From the dead! What does it say?" Nicole took Faithful's hand and gripped it tightly, as he murmured in her ear. "We will find out soon enough, my kitten, it is time for you to go back to your friends..."

"Will I ever see you again?" Nicola cried as a door of blue light appeared, sparkling with tiny reflections of stars.

"I come and go as I please, but if you truly must know, look to the stars and a constellation shall appear for you. Now go!" "I will miss you, kitten, and take care of yourself now." He replied, brushing her cheek with a kiss.

Taking one last look at the man who had haunted her childhood dreams and spoke to her in his cat form, she faded into the door of starlight five words lingering on her lips as she vanished: "I'll miss you too, Faithful."

Nicole gasped and sat up from her bed, face wet with tears. She whispered the name she had long since remembered and had pushed aside. "Faithful."

Alanna, who had been talking with Baird, turned around sharply and looked dumbstruck. "You're awake." She nodded, acknowledging Nicole's presence. "You've been unconscious from smoke inhalation, we found you near the temple district, out cold. Midori still isn't awake but she'll be alright soon enough."

Nicole nodded, still a little shocked. "He spoke to me, Alanna, Faithful spoke to me."

Alanna looked surprised, "How?"

"In a vision of some kind, he was not a cat but a man, he's been coming and going in my childhood years and this is the third time I've seen him." She replied.

"He gave you the cat form and helped you." Alanna whispered, "Helped you to become a guardian for the Goddess like him."

"Yes. He has loved me like a kitten and I cannot repay him with failing Midori..."

Alanna was jolted back to early memories of her and Faithful, back in her own squire years, and also when a man used to call her 'Kitten'. Liam Ironarm the former Shang Dragon who died on the same night as her brother, the night Roger was defeated for the second and hopefully final time.

"He also told me to look to the stars when I feel alone...he'll appear." Nicole murmured, almost dreamily.

Alanna only nodded, lost in her own memories.