He moved with quiet strength and grace. As a lion, he could conquer anything. As the king of beasts, he could not imagine returning to being a stray cat of no consequence. Now he could protect the Book, the library, even the other cats.
Aware of every sinew in his powerful body, he shook his head, feeling the fan of fur that was his mane, almost unsettling Lily. He roared with the pride of this power, reveling in his new size and stature.
“You’re scaring me Marco,” said Lily. “But I like it.”
When they reached the top step, Alaniah said, “You have done well, Marco, but your rejoicing will be short-lived.”
Puzzling words, thought Marco, as he waited for her to open the portal. When she did, he stepped into the library, and indeed, his rejoicing moment was over.
As if such a thing were possible, the library seemed more desolate than before.
Chapter 63: Encounter with a Queen
The stench of death was in the air and the only color present was varying shades of gray. Marco gently released the book from his jaws onto a table and Lily hopped off his back. He turned towards the sound of something like a pig rooting in the dirt, and a creature crawled out from between the ruined stacks.
Marco had only seen trolls in books before. The misshapen creature, looking like something cursed, ignored everything around him while he squatted on a children’s table, picking things off his hairless body.
What seemed like an empty dead room now started filling up with small hairy beasts and dozens of gremlins. They appeared out of nowhere and roamed the library like rival gangs, sweeping books off the shelves, sending some whizzing across the room like missiles.
The wart-covered troll seemed oblivious to the riot, scooting across the floor until he reached the lion and began to sniff at him. Marco growled, warning him to keep his distance. The troll broke into a fit of damp sneezes and ran from the room, but not without leaving behind a putrid smell.
Not far from where the troll disappeared, a Queen emerged. She wore a dress of dazzling white underneath her red cape, and her crown sparkled so brightly it made Marco blink.
The Queen stepped over the dead bodies of the characters. The gremlins and warty things slunk off as she shooed them off with a black and gold scepter.
“Disgusting creatures, aren’t they?” She aimed the scepter at Marco. “Where are your manners, beast? Don’t you know you should bow to the Queen?”
Marco kept his chin firmly up. “You may be the Queen, but I am the King of Beasts.”
“You are still an animal. This is my realm, and I rule here now.”
“But it’s dead! Will you bring the library back to life?”
“Bring the library back for what? A bunch of smelly kids and old men? Libraries, you know, coddle to the lowest common denominator of humanity, and books are a waste of good paper.”
“You don’t like humans? Or books?” asked Marco, his eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”
“Empty buildings are my specialty,” the Queen breathed, looking fondly at the desolation around her.
“But it wasn’t empty until…” How could he reverse the black magic? The Professor had destroyed the library and now this awful creature was challenging him for property rights.
“The Professor did me a huge favor,” said the Queen.
None of this made sense to Marco. What was she planning to do?
“And I should thank you for relieving me of the nasty job of getting rid of him. But I won’t.”
She spoke to something unseen, and a gremlin appeared on the table. He tried to grab the Book but was thrown backwards as the Professor had been, and he high-tailed it back into some dark corner, licking his wounds.
The Queen invited another presence, but nothing as tame as a gremlin. It was some kind of apparition that Marco could only tell was there by following the dark stain it left as it swept over the room. The library was under the control of this mad Queen, and her long robe trailed over the remains of the characters as she tracked the phantom.
A crack in the ceiling split open and the chandelier fell, shattering onto the floor. The Queen watched the phantom spreading its curse and laughed. Alaniah let out a high pitched squeal and curled herself into a cocoon on a top shelf. Lily scrambled to find a hiding place where she could still watch what was happening and Marco, the lion-hearted, began circling the perimeter of the room.
When the phantom appeared to be finished, the Queen turned from the scene as if her job here were done and passed by the mirror. She stopped to admire herself, straightening her crown and smoothing her dress. When she smiled, Marco saw the image in the mirror was not a Queen, but an old hag with black teeth and clouded eyes.
The Queen looked at Marco. She gave a command to a brown lizard that was part of the mirror frame, and it dropped to the floor and scurried towards him, shooting flames with his tongue.
Marco roared, and the lizard burst into flames.
“What fun!” said the Queen. “But I see that was too easy for you, Beast.” She waved her wand, and pieces of ceiling drifted down over everything. She called out to the fallen characters still scattered on the floor and they rose and moved towards her in a trance. “What lovely creatures!” she cried out, as they performed a stiff, cardboard-like bow to the Queen. “Come and pay your respects!”
They each took turns walking up to her and she laid her scepter on their shoulders as though knighting them. Then she cackled some welcoming speech to her soulless slaves.
Sparks emanated from along the edges of The Book of Motion and the dark festivities were interrupted. In her celebratory moment, the Queen seemed to have forgotten about the Book, which was now hovering above the table, vibrating with light.
“This will not do!” screeched the Queen, as her robe slipped a bit. She ordered one of her minions to fetch the Book and Marco leaped over library tables to reach it at the same time as the dead character. If it weren’t for the hat, he wouldn’t have recognized who it was. D’Artagnan!
Marco’s shock and confusion caused him to hesitate, and the soulless d’Artagnan grabbed the book. Marco tore after him.
The creature dodged tables and chairs, but Marco, now forty times larger than his former self, toppled the furniture in pursuit, which slowed him down considerably.
The Musketeer ran up the stairs and Marco almost had him, until he crawled into a narrow place in the stacks. D’Artagnan, who was not the real d’Artagnan Marco knew, clutched the Book and stared at Marco with dead eyes.
“You can’t do anything to an apparition,” yelled the Queen from below. “They are under my control.”
It was utterly unreal that Marco was faced with attacking d’Artagnan. He stared at the dead gray shell of his hero for a moment. Then he realized that the real d’Artagnan would advise him of nothing less than to go full speed ahead to defend what he’d been given to protect.
Marco smashed his way into the stacks, roaring and knocking apart shelves, which toppled more shelves until all had fallen like giant dominoes. Even the zombie-like d’Artagnan seemed to fear him and he let the Book fall as he made his escape.
Chapter 64: A life of their own
Marco returned to the ground floor and bore down on the Queen, roaring and bellowing the words Cicero had given him. “Fa-taw-la-nee!”
As soon as they were out of his mouth the Queen froze, exuding icy calmness. “I’ve heard rumors about cats guarding the Book, but I do not understand how such a filthy beast can guard something so powerful?”
“I am no rumor,” Marco shot back. “I could destroy you in a flash if I chose to.”
“Not so easy as you think. I know what you really are,” she said, flinging her next words at him like a curse. “You. Are. Nothing!”
Marco answered with a growl.
The Queen kept her distance, pulling her cloak closely around her. “We are the same, you and I. You are not the king of beasts any more than I am Queen. No matter. My followers see me as I desire them to.”