Commander Braghaman Larethian

Cake

The warlock stood back from the edge of the forest. Partially behind a tree, he hid as he looked out at the clearing beyond the tree line. He was motionless as he waited and watched.

Across the clearing, outside of the house at the other side, two children were playing. Banagan couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the tones and the laughter carried enough that he knew that they were playing.

“Why are you doing this?”

Banagan looked down at the imp beside him. Voltuk was staring at the warlock, waiting as patiently as an imp might for an answer to his question.

“Do what?” Banagan asked in reply, looking back at the house across the way.

“Just go and say hi. Tell them you’re back.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can,” Voltuk responded. “Its me! I’m home!”

“That’s not my home.”

“They’d cry and hug and make you a cake.”

Banagan turned his head to look at the imp again, the mask barely containing the look he was obviously given to the imp.

“And there’d be candles on the cake. And we’d make the cake explode!”

“Settle down, Voltuk.”

“Good times had by all,” Voltuk continued, almost sounding wistful.

Banagan was about to respond when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Looking back to the house, the warlock could see that a large, blue feline step from the small outbuilding and pad over to the children. The construction stopped and stared in the direction of the warlock. Banagan moved further behind the tree he’d been next to, still keeping an eye on the magical construct. Across the clearing, he could hear a low growl.

From the outbuilding, a winged lion emerged and walked over to the first feline. Banagan watched as Valiant first looked at the children and then to the blue cat before he finally turned to look at the forest. At him. The winged lion stared for a few moment, then let out a huff. He looked at the blue construct again and let out a grunt before it settled on the ground and rested his head on his paws. The blue feline looked at the forest for a moment longer before turning and settling on the ground on the opposite side of the children, neither of whom had ever stopped playing to notice what had just happened.

“We should go,” Banagan said quietly as he back away from the tree.

“Why?” Voltuk asked, peering around the tree at the other side of the clearing.

“They’re safe for now.”

“No cake?”

“No, Voltuk. No cake today.”