I dreamed of a white bone forest full of skeletal cats. They gambolled and played together beneath the frosty gaze of a pale sun. All the two-leggers in this world were also skeletons. In fact every creature, every fairy, every human - all of us - fleshless and dead. I was a skeleton too, but I was happy to be so.

  My bones rattled as I jumped, and I had tiny fluttering wings of white, like a dove, sprouting from my shoulders. Everything was fine, until For-Molsnian reared up, ghastly, foul and smug, yellowed teeth gnashing, twelve ratty tails swishing, and the world was flooded with instant gloom.

  My wings fell off.

  The ground tilted. I was sliding, falling, slipping into a deep, dark pit with no bottom and there was nothing I could do except yowl into the unending night as I plummeted downwards in a never ending drop. But someone was falling next to me - a skeletal rat that looked like Brosnod. He turned his white jaw towards me with a click and said: “I told you so.”

  I awoke with a gasp.

  Panicking, I looked around but everything was fine.

  The cottage was as it always had been, weak sunlight filtering in through the shutters, casting shadows across the stone floor. The flagstone floor. The flagstone floor with those odd stains from where Maud had drained the qi. I blinked at it. There was proof. There was the evidence that it had not been a dream. Well, not that part anyway.

  Yawning, I got up. I still felt stiff. I felt depleted and small - a most unnatural feeling. The balls of precious qi that I stored in my core were smaller now after my long battle. Normally I would start by replenishing fire in my basket but the house was as cold as the grave. I did not like it.

  Maud was gone again. Gone. There was no friendly, crackling fire. No pesky Small Folk pattering across the rafters or snuggled against my sides. I was lonely. I was alone. It was not nice. I shivered, and walked over to nose at the ashes in the grate. They made me sneeze.

  I carried fire within me, the fire was not gone gone. Neither was the memory. But this was very not nice. Why hadn’t Maud lit a fire today? I cast my mind back to her skeletal form with some uncertainty. Did she no longer need heat? Did she no longer care for this most sacred of home rituals? Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy?

  Or perhaps was she now burning fire qi from a sneakily constructed dantian that I had not noticed her constructing? Hmm. But Maud had never shown any sign of being a cultivator, and building a dantain was not something that happened overnight.

  (I admired mine proudly for a moment, even depleted it was a thing of beauty).

  No, I dismissed this thought as nonsense. It was highly unlikely, and I had seen there was nothing inside her skeletal ribcage. It was just a hollow space. Something else was going on.

  I paced through the cold, empty cottage, feeling the chill in my toes. I missed the fire. I missed the Small Folk. I missed fleshy Maud. Her legs would not be comfortable any more, where was I going to sit in the long evenings? She should have thought of that before becoming a skeleton! Did she no longer care for me or my comfort?

  Throwing back my head I let out another heart rending yowl.

  The sound of my displeasure bounced off the ceiling but since there was no one around to admire my melodrama I sat down to wash myself, and to collect my dignity. Perfecting my appearance was empowering. A perfectly presented cat could do anything, and solve any problem. Mama had said so, long ago. I remembered.

  I had two lives left. That was twice as many as a normal creature. I had one meridian to clear before I broke through into the next realm, and once there I would be a step closer to flight, I would develop new abilities, I would grow more powerful. I would protect what was mine. I would make new friends and deepen the friendships I already had.

  This was all comforting.

  Now I could think about more difficult things.

  Was bony Maud using demonic qi? If she was, how much of a problem was it? The more I thought about it the more it made sense. As a skeleton she had no body. She had to pull ambient qi from the outside world because she had no dantian, no flesh, no meridian channels. Something had to sustain her.

  Had the necromancer done this to her? Had she done it to herself? Would I make a similar bargain if it was a matter of life or death?

  I thought I would, however distasteful.

  But Maud was not a vile squeaker, taking blindly. She had not stolen my qi even if she had not scratched my ears. I stared hard at the dark, blighted patches on the kitchen floor, as if they could explain everything to me, but they too, remained silent. They were not slimy like the rat’s corruption, more like… the burn marks after a flame had been extinguished. And they reeked of Old God. Not exactly the same as rat- corruption then. My nose twitched.

  My deep pondering was interrupted by noises at the door. Outside the door.

  I sat bolt upright, my ears swivelling, picking up whispers and scratches. Scuffling. Who was it? Giant rats? No, two-leggers? In the garden. Who dared interrupt my musings? Who dared defile the sanctity of my place when I was in such distress!

  I caught a glint of steel between the roses. Steel.

  Narrowing my eyes I slipped behind the cupboard, just as the door creaked open.

  A handful of humans shuffled into my cottage, hushing each other, and making an almighty racket. The anger I felt at this incursion surprised me, but I controlled myself long enough to observe. Some of them were wearing metal. It was not quiet. Two of them, keeping to the back, seemed particularly twitchy, and these ones looked squishy compared to their fellows, wearing only long, flowy robes. Each of them, even the flowy ones, carried a weapon of some description.

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  I doubted they were here for potions.

  One of them knocked over a pot which clattered to the ground and they all jumped. A quivering archer shot the pot with a CLANG and then swore, as they bumped into a chair. The room looked very crowded with so many big people in it. It had been a long time since I had thought of two-leggers as giants. I had seen real giants and monsters now and knew they were not worthy of the title. Humans were just… an oddity that I mostly ignored, apart from my Maud, of course. I did not want them in my house. Maud had strong feelings about uninvited guests and so did I.

  “Idiot,” said one.

  “It’s not here,” said another, in gruff tones.

  I crouched down, peering at them carefully, noting their fleshy spots. I decided, if they left soon I would spare them.

  “Search everywhere,” demanded the tallest, loudest, smelliest metal man. “The monster might be hiding. Look for a cellar.”

  I swallowed a growl.

  One of them went towards the great hearth and looked up the chimney, as if expecting to find Maud there. He knocked over the cauldron which landed with a massive clang. The hackles on the back of my neck rose.

  “There’s an attic.”

  A female in red robes moved towards the stairs and peered gingerly up into the bedroom. The tip of her staff glowed like an ember. She smelled of burning, while the other softly dressed squishy one smelt of …water. I decided those must be their affinities. The woman looked vaguely familiar, I must have seen her before. Perhaps in the forest? But I knew none of them were friends of Maud. Friends did not act like this.

  Friends came in ones or twos, and shared tea before the hearth and talked and laughed in low tones. Quiet people. Nice people. These were not nice people. They smelled of rust and fear.

  The humans continued touching my things, throwing them around without care. A snarl threatened to burst from my lips as they pawed at my belongings. My eyes narrowed. Unable to bear it, I reinforced my claws and teeth with qi. There were a lot of two-leggers out there and there was only one of me. Two lives. One cat, me. Radiant cat versus assorted tin-pot two-leggers.

  One of them picked up my basket, then tossed it aside like a leaf.

  I burst, spitting, from beneath the cupboard, springing off one back, two, knocking them down the ladder into the pitch black cellar with the full weight of my qi enforced legs.

  “Demon!” screeched the man in blue robes. I slashed his legs open as I passed by in a flurry of claws and teeth. His screams blended with the others, as blood dripped onto the flagstones. Groans and clanks came from the cellar. I sprang up the cupboard for height.

  “No, idiot,” said the leader. “It’s just a cat!”

  I sprang for his face, and his open helmet.

  I had his eyes out before he had even registered my glorious form. He fell backwards, flinging me from him with a scream, flailing about and hacking the air with that giant blade. I landed against the wall with a thud, all the air whooshing from my lungs.

  “DEMON!”

  “AAA- MY EYES!”

  An axe crashed into the stone next to my head and I scrambled away.

  “What in the-”

  I darted between feet and blows, coming up behind the blue-robed mage. Blood streamed from the leader’s face, as he crashed about, flailing wildly and getting in everyone’s way.

  “What in the Bright One’s name is going on up th-”

  A ball of fire exploded behind me. I ducked and wove, avoiding armoured legs and blades and-

  “Hold on-”

  An arrow pinged off the chimney. I evaded it, turning mid leap, to savage the kneecaps of the nearest archer. Alas, for me, he had chain-mail beneath his baggy trousers. He kicked at me, and I fell against Maud’s chair, the cushions saving me from even more bruises. I skidded across the stone floor, my claws scrabbling.

  “GET IT!”

  “GET IT!”

  “There!”

  “MY EYES!!!”

  “AHHHHHHHHHH-”

  Blows rained down on me, and I used all my agility to dodge. The humans were so many they kept getting in each other's way. I was evading their attacks but they were surprisingly hard to kill. My claws ran red with their blood but it was not enough. Just as I thought I was getting somewhere two more came in from the garden.

  Leaping onto the top of the kitchen cupboard I pulled myself up majestically and released the full might of my killing intent. The waves of it washed over them. As one, the horrible humans all took a step back. A shudder ran through them as I swished my tail and growled, low and deep.

  “Leave,” I hissed. “Leave now and I will spare you.”

  The hairs on my body stood tall and proud, making me look larger than usual.

  One of the archers screamed and ran out into the garden.

  One of the metal men fainted.

  The rest did not.

  “The Bright One protects us!” Shouted the red mage. Foul creature of the night you have no power here!”

  Light burst from her staff, washing over us, smelling of Old God and cinders. It did not hurt me, not one bit, but all the two-leggers straightened, as if drawing strength from it. What was this two-legger nonsense?

  “The Wave-Walker protects us!” Shouted the blue mage, no longer a blubbering heap on the floor, alas. “Bathe in his mercy!”

  The light that burst from him smelt of brine and wet, washing across the cottage to centre on the still screaming leader. Their wounds started to heal. His eyes healed. The blue mage was healing them. I did not know that humans could do that.

  I knew then, that these were worthy opponents.

  I should not hold back. A score of arrows thudded off the wall above me. One of them found its mark through my leg. I ignored the pain, reaching within and withdrawing the very last of my stored sunshine qi, turning my coat into blinding, golden brilliant. They wanted fancy, I would show them fancy.

  They shrieked and turned their eyes away, and as they were dazzled, I leapt. My claws as hard as diamond, every part of me as glorious as a midsummer sun on a perfect afternoon. I soared out to battle, to banish the intruders from my home. To punish the unworthy, to put the upstart two-leggers in their place. But I had miscalculated.

  The swish of a blade met me. Flesh parted by steel.

  The leader’s freshly healed eyes were hard as I bled out on the floor, the radiance fading from my coat like the last star of morning.

  One life.

  I had one life left. One more.

  A silver bell rang.

  For the last time. Heralding the end. The beginning.

  When I came back to life, the foolish two-leggers all had their backs to me.

  They were standing around the door, talking, muttering and arguing, as if they had not just killed me. As if they had not just killed the most glorious beast they had ever laid their eyes on, the most glorious beast they had ever had the privilege of beholding, of fighting with their unworthy maggoty hands.

  Their muddy boot prints messed my floor. My floor. None of them were even bleeding any more. The mage had healed them. It was as if I had not mattered. I would show them how much I mattered.

  With a roar, I sprang.

  Fire bloomed hot and angry, in my throat, hot and glorious, hot, hot hot.

  I was truly a dragon-cat, my breath destroying hair, cloth and flesh with equal ease. They screamed as they sizzled.

  I chased burning humans all over my cottage, up the stairs, down the stairs and then out into my garden.

  There, in the last rays of the day’s light, death found me one last time.

  And this time there was no silver bell, only darkness.