CHAPTER X – THE CAVE

The newly formed search party was still creeping through the small passage in the cave. It was all rather cold and dark inside and nothing was to be seen yet, except for the wet rocks and stones. The path was narrow and winding, often taking turns once to the left and once to the right. This was getting uneasy and maybe frightening over time, yet they still went through, not letting their fear overcome them.

Puss stepped up closer to Paweł: „If the dragon is really dead… Then what will we encounter?"

„Prepare for the worst." He answered. „I am not too sure of it myself. The scriptures and legends only told us about the labyrinth. But thankfully, there is a way of passing it through."

The journey lasted only a couple of minutes before they encountered a stone blockade wall. On it, there was a mathematical equation written in white ink:

x = 1 + 0.5x

x = ?

At first, all of the party members stared in shock at this seemingly hard mathematical question. But Paweł went to his senses the quickest and looked back to check how his companions were doing. Not to lie, they were quite a bit scared by the math they encountered.

„The numbers, Senor..." Puss said in shock. „What do they mean?"

„At first I expected it to be harder." And so Paweł took out a scalping knife and carved a „2" right next to the question mark.

Suddenly, the stone wall rumbled and opened just like an ordinary horizontal gate would. The passage thus opened and showed a large area with open sky and green grass, surrounded by rocky and very tall walls. This land filled with rich green grass was seemingly peaceful. Even the flowers were blooming and the trees were resting peacefully, their leaves free from being shuffled around by wind. On the left, there was an entrance to a cave and the opposite site had another passage. However, right in the middle of this area, between just a few trees, there was a pond.

„It's easy… Once you know how to do it. No time to waste." Paweł muttered right under his nose and moved forward.

At the same time, Puss stood still quite a bit shocked and kept staring at Paweł in disbelief. However, his gaze soon ended as Kitty playfully nudged his shoulder and explained with a smile:

„Who knows, maybe we should go and learn some maths together."

Puss frowned and moved forward. „Si, whatever."

„Uhhh..." Kitty hugged closer to Puss. „I don't like these open areas. Is this place even real?!"

„Senor Paweł." Puss spoke. „It isn't possible this place is that clear."

„I know." He responded and walked out of the stone tunnel and walked right on the grass.

Paweł kept his eye on both the cave and the pond. It was not without any reason at all. Right after that, a strange creature crawled right out of the small lake. Despite the foreign and totally supernatural, it gave an impression of being stunningly beautiful for these standards. So beautiful that Puss himself performed his best not to approach it.

After all, it was nothing other than a rusałka – a water nymph from Slavic mythology. In the watery form of a beautiful lightly-dressed women and with amazingly pretty long hair, rusałkas often preyed on unsuspecting young lads only to kill them, often by constant dancing and painful exhaustion due to that. Paweł fully knew that and that is why he turned his head back to Puss.

And, unfortunately for him, rusałka's charm was working. Puss had his eyes widened altogether and his jaw opened. But rusałka had different plans. She wrapped her liquid hand around Paweł's shoulders and began a monologue in a fascinated yet also mysterious and magical tone of her voice:

„Welcome, adventurer… I'm glad that such a warrior like you made it this far, Panie Mieszkogradzki."

Paweł only narrowed his eyes from slight frustration and rusałka continued in a maybe even seductive and caring tone:

„Paweł Mieszkogradzki, still full of honor and glory. Pronounced as the „Polnisch Hollenritter" by the Teutonic Order. All because of your will to keep your closest ones and your country safe… isn't it?" Then she stared with her icy-blue eyes right into Paweł's only functional right eye. She stared with her eyes stunning so much that one would see reflections of countless stars in them.

„I admire you, Panie Mieszkogradzki." And she gently swiped her delicate hand over his furry chest.

Puss switched his awe into jest very quickly and bursted out laughing for a brief moment. At this reaction, Paweł turned his head towards Puss and glared at him.

„S-Sorry, sorry!" Puss tried to calm down his laugh. „But, hahahahaaaaa! It's unbelievable that you're so good in your lands that you've even been together with such a stunningly wonderful entity!"

Paweł gave a long sigh while still glaring angrily at Puss:

„It's the first time I even see it." He was in no mood for jokes after all.

Immediately afterwards, the rusałka petted Paweł's ear gently and continued:

„You have come here for the White Eagle – the symbol of Poland's power, prosperity, and independence. You have come here to take it. But what for? Why would you do that? You're already an elite soldier. Once a Hussar, always a Hussar… Come on, let's have some dance instead. Maybe… Maybe that will get rid of your dark thoughts."

„I came for the White Eagle." Paweł interrupted her with firm seriousness and even small anger. „And I walk out with the White Eagle. Now you let me through."

„Oooooooooh!" Puss said and walked up with a giant smile on his face. „M'lady… Maybe you want to dance with me instead?" He asked with a nice tone and tipped his hat politely, just like a high-class gentleman would.

Kitty felt her heart jump to her throat. She could not believe what was happening. Her timeless companion, her lovely fiance was just coming right at a mysterious creature they both did not know much about. To be exact, they knew nothing about it. Kitty rushed out of for both of her companions and stood between them and rusałka, holding her paws.

„Hey, enough!" She hollered. „This White Eagle has special blood and great artifacts! We take it and basta!"

„If you don't have the time for a nice dance, then how about..." Rusałka started as she flipped her hair. „How about you solve me a riddle instead?"

Paweł gritted his fists even harder and felt his heart stop for a second. As far as he knew about Slavic folklore and mythology, rusałkas were excellent at forming and solving riddles, so this was without question that this is going to be a hard path. Yet soon enough, he realized it fully that it is a lot better than being danced to death, therefore he agreed.

„Let it be." He said. „Tell me your riddle."

Rusałka leaned forward and rested her elbows on the shore of the pond. Then, she began explaining:

„What is the speed of a flying swallow bird without any load?"

Paweł turned to the side and scratched his chin. Everybody of the three did a similar thing, as to think of the right answer. After all, this was their only legitimate chance of getting the White Eagle.

Suddenly, Kitty widened his eyes and lifted her head and paw up.

„But a white-banded or black-collared?"

The rusałka looked sheepish and then violently turned around and began crying loudly while covering her face in her hands. This was a shock for the team that they managed to somehow defeat a creature like this. Kitty still stared at this scene cluelessly, but Paweł walked up to her and rested his paw on her shoulder.

„Good one." He commented.

„I-I mean..." Kitty stuttered. „I was just curious because I've read there might be a few swallows, so I wanted to know."

„Whatever you might say, we made it." He summed up and walked straight for the passage in front of them.

Puss then shook out of his thoughts and quickly marched up to Paweł: „Woah, woah, Senor Paweł! You must have the iron will to resist the beauty of this water beast!" And so he playfully and lightly punched his chest, which did nothing, actually.

At this gesture, Paweł only gritted his slightly crooked teeth and explained: „Not the iron will. I am not interested in any such things."

„Why… Why wouldn't you be?" Puss asked in disbelief. „I mean, women are beautiful, they can smell seductively, and care for you, right? Who wouldn't want that?"

Paweł quickly yet clearly responded with a bit of irritation in his voice: „I am castrated if that is what you wanted to hear."

Now, both Kitty and Puss stared in shock and did not say a word. Only the rusałka's hard weeping was heard in the background. After a few seconds, though, Puss nodded his head slowly a few times and smiled widely.

„Aaaaaaaah…" He raised his paw up. „That's why you were so invincible when we first met!" And laughed a bit.

Kitty walked in front of Paweł and asked a bit sarcastically: „Maybe you know where this vet lives, Senor Paweł, so he could do the same to Puss. It'd be a relief, seriously."

„HEY!" Puss aimed his finger right at her. „I don't need any of this!"

Paweł interrupted the escalating quarrel: „It was not a vet. It was an executioner."

Kitty hung her head down at this fact and Puss soon did the same. He even took his hat off.

„Senor..." Puss began. „Right after your daughter was born?"

„Right after my daughter was born." Paweł confirmed.

„I see… I am sorry, Senor." And then there was another moment of silence, only to be filled with rusałka's cries again.

„I admire your honesty. But there is no time to waste." Sir Mieszkogradzki summed up and Puss put his hat back on his head.

On the stone wall he noticed a metal ring tied to a rocky gate with a chain. He grabbed the ring strongly and pulled it with all his might. Then, the gate opened and the goal of their whole journey finally stood in front of them.

The gate hid a small room covered in stone. The only sources of light were the small gaps on the ceiling. And yet they perfectly aimed at what was the real deal in this area. On a flat cylindrical stone there was a golden crown filled with blood-red jewelry, a ring with a red diamong, and the main reason of their adventure – the White Eagle. Even though both of its legs were tied strongly to the rocks with a steel chain and a sturdy lock, the White Eagle was still healthy and mighty. Its powerful wings now raised up in glory and his great beak screeched in might.

Kitty came in with Puss following her. They all stared in awe at the bird from Polish legends. The bird which was the leading cause of Poland's glory they all had now. But Paweł did not want to waste time. He dug in his teeth for quite a while and there he pulled out a small metal wire. He bent it and then inserted it into the lock, hoping to pick the lock.

Kitty stared at him doing this from one side and Puss stared from the other side. Even though it took longer for him that it would for either of them, the lock finally snapped open. The chain went loose and let the White Eagle free. Paweł put the wire back into his mouth, wrapped it on his teeth, spread his left arm and waited for the Eagle to come. It flew soon enough and rested its claws on his shoulder.

„Perfect." Paweł muttered.

„What do we do with this Eagle, then?" Puss asked as he shrugged.

„We take it to our current King. Jan Kazimierz II Waza. Along with the ring and the crown. Hurry up, we need it now more than ever… And you have my word that you will be rewarded."

Puss slowly formed a smile on his face and so did Kitty. They felt a strange feeling of relief that their hardships are finally going to pay off. Therefore Kitty grabbed the crown and Puss snatched the ring. He didn't dare to put it on, however. The last time he wasn't careful with magic proved to be bad for him and for the whole town of San Ricardo at first. After making sure everything got their loot, Paweł gently moved past them and at a quick pace he ran back to the entrance of the labyrinth with both of his companions following him.

In the meantime as the party had their adventure, Bożena was getting bored to death. All she was ordered was to stay at her post. Soon, she pulled out her saber from the sheathe and began waving it just to admire it. Even though this type of weapon was very sophisticated, it still survived hundreds of years in many armies. The moves for it were very intuitive and bigger mass than an epee guaranteed critical hits. This one she was holding, however, was a Polish Hussar saber. A hybrid mixing only the best traits of all the sabers combined and often utilized by the Hussars, yet unfortunately only as a sidearm. And her saber with the goldened handle was still sharp and hard, even though she had to kill a fox with it.

Bożena carefully placed her saber back into her sheathe and then kicked a stone in boredom. She searched something more on her belt and noticed that something was missing. She gasped in shock and anger started to form in her chest. She patted her belt further just in case and then she clutched her paws in fury. She lost the keys to her home! They were regularly checked whether they are still there, but recently they were all alright. That means they must have been somewhere in Zakopane!

At nearly the speed of a cheetah, she rushed out of the passage and completely out of the Dragon's Lair. That's when she halted, just to give herself a pause for thought. Who would do such a thing? So far, the only one who would do that could be Filemon.

„Filemon, I'm coming for ye." She muttered in her native language through her teeth.

And so she quickly ran to the first location she could think of – the nearby fisherman's hut. It took her some time until she finally found a lake nearby and a decent-sized hut next to it. Just when she went closer to see it, Filemon himself walked out. He was visibly very content and she could see why – he had a fish on his back and he was even plumpier than when she last saw him. With a slight fury, she violently approached him.

„Filemon! Ya give me my keys back!" And so she stood right in front of him. She could feel the stench of fish on his face.

„I… I don' have any of yer keys?" He asked in shock and fear while stepping back a bit.

„Bulls***! I know ya would take it and stuff it somewhere safe just to piss me off!" She yelled back and Filemon went back from fear even further.

„Re-relax, I swear I don' know where yer keys are! Please!" Then, he covered himself with his forearms.

From irritation and maybe to prove her point, she poked his slightly plump abdomen. „And what is this? You've spend my father's coin on food and ate it all?! Ya greedy slimy scumbag!"

„Okay, okay, it's all of the coin I had! I still have some!"

Bożena retaliated now and sensed some suspicion. One could say that Filemon was very sus.

„You have some? What do you mean?"

„Oh, by these fellas over there." He waved his paw casually behind her. „They were very curious where Pan Mieszkogradzki was."

Bożena immediately turned around and the sight just froze her heart from horror. What was in some distance from her were a few men dressed in justaucorps with varied dark colors. Besides their tall hats popular in Western societies, they also had ammunition belts, rapiers, and muskets on their shoulders. With a calm march, they all approached Bożena and Filemon.

„Filemon, we have searched every corner of this settlement and there is nobody here." One of the small group called and stepped up, probably their leader. He was in dark blue justaucorps and had decent black moustache.

Bożena stepped to the side and stared once at Filemon and once at the Western-dressed man. She felt her throat squeeze and she tightened her paws.

„What does it mean, Filemon?" She walked up to him and stood right in front of his face. „Who are these fellas?"

„Aaaah, yeah, this is Gerhart from the Teutonic Order and his friends. He gave me quite a lot of coin to tell him that your father is there. I hope you won't be mad." He smiled and then he put the fish down on the ground. Actually, behind the fish, he also had a quite large sack filled with silver coins.

Tears started to form in Bożena's eyes when she started to circle him. Her breath started to become irregular and broken and finally when she blinked, the tears rolled down her cheeks on her fur.

„You don't know what you've just done..." She whispered and then sniffed her nose from sadness.

„I don't get it, they're very kind guys, they even gave me the money, you see?" Filemon chuckled a bit.

„YOU F***ING TRAITOR!" Bożena screamed at him through tears and she drew her saber at the speed of light.

The second Bożena grabbed her saber, she slashed it across Filemon's neck. With this move, she took his life in less than a second by decapitating him and leaving a lot of mess behind. The group of mercenaries soon drew their weapons and Bożena strafed back, put herself into fighting position and hissed in all her might and fury.

„Now you are really going to get it, you Hurentochter!" Gerhart yelled and grabbed her rapier.

Even though Bożena has never really fought against serious human enemies, this time she completely ignored that fact. The strong emotions she had now were controlling her great skills achieved through intense training only to deal as much damage in the shortest amount of time as possible. There was a lot of anger and despair in both of the sides and despite being outnumbered, Bożena managed to fight maybe even too well. However, everything eventually comes to an end. Gerhart finally grabbed her by the neck and kicked her hard for a few meters. She banged her head agains a rock as she landed, which dazzled her greatly. But when she was about to stand back and fight again, one of Gerhart's henchmen bashed his musket's stock against her jaw. Bożena was defeated and fell unconscious.

„Verdammt!" Gerhart yelled while panting. „What is this demon cat?!"

„Herr, she managed to kill two of our men already!" One troop reported. „And I am bleeding, Herr!"

„Patch yourself up, we won't let this chance slip by. Search the mountains."

„Jawohl, mein Herr!" The soldier saluted and went to tend to his wounds.

„Mein Gott… Was ist passiert?" Gerhart spoke in his language and wiped his eyes from shock. He couldn't believe what just happened. After getting back to his senses, he hollered: „ADOLF!"

„Ja, Herr?!" The young boy yelled back.

„Bury the dead and make everybody alive ready!"

„Herr, how about Boshena Matchko- Metchko- Myeshko..." The young lad tried to pronounce the hard name.

„THE DAMN FELINE STAYS WITH US! LOCK HER UP! TIGHTLY! DISARM HER TOO! AND KEEP HER ALIVE, FOR GOD'S SAKE!"

„JAWOHL, HERR!" Adolf yelled back and moved over to perform his order.

Gerhart now looked at the unconscious Bożena and smiled. He had a plan to fulfill and a mission to accomplish. All yet to be revealed.