Page 14 of Changeling
“It’s a chimeric familiar,” Sasha said, a spark of recognition on his face.
“It’s a what now?” Nathan asked. He knew the words ‘chimera’ and ‘familiar’ but he had never heard of those two things together.
“Aren’t those things usually a lot…bigger and more dangerous?” Alex asked.
“If the spell’s done right, yeah,” Sasha said. “I guess her master either didn’t know what they were doing or something wentreally wrong. You have to be a powerful sorcerer or sorceress to pull off a familiar summoning for a chimera.”
Great. Witchcraft, Nathan thought. But one other thing had caught his attention. “Did you sayher?” he asked. The creature looked genderless as far as he was concerned.
“Yeah,” Sasha smiled, reaching out toward the chimera tenderly, who shied away for only a moment before allowing him to pet her. She soon stopped trembling and the sound of contended purrs like a cat rose from Nathan’s arms. “It’s female.”
“No wonder she likes you,” Nathan smirked.
Sasha chuckled a little and shrugged. “You too. And I don’t know how I know. I can just tell she’s a girl. Must be an incubus thing.”
“She could still be dangerous though, right?” Jim said, obviously a little distrusting of the thing as he drew closer.
Alex nodded. “Chimeric familiars are the most powerful kind, used back in the Dark Ages as guardians against dragons. But she’s so tiny…”
“Don’t worry,” Sasha said, looking like he was really enjoying being able to pet a small furry creature since he had told Nathan before that most of them didn’t like him, “it looks like the spell was disrupted right after the different parts were combined, before she could be imbued with any real power or a mission. She’s just a scared child really.”
“But whatisa chimeric familiar?” Nathan asked. He hated when others talked like everyone should know these things already.
“A chimera in science is pretty much the same as what they are supernaturally,” Sasha answered, “a being with genetic traits from three or four different creatures all together in one. Summoning a normal familiar as a witch isn’t too hard becausethings like cats exist everywhere. But transfiguring three or four different creatures into one being is tricky stuff.”
“Doesn’t the witch have to give up part of her own soul to complete the summoning?” Alex asked.
The incubus nodded. “I’m guessing that’s where the spell went wrong. Probably killed the witch and left our little friend here unfinished.”
“So she has a soul of her own,” Alex jumped in again, unable to hold back a smile as she reached out and touched the bundle of fur in Nathan’s arms, “like a person…”
“Completely autonomous from her maker,” Sasha smiled. “Not like the witch is trapped inside or anything.”
“Wow,” Alex said in awe, pleased that the creature was allowing her to pet it. “That’s amazing, but…she’s been stealing food and taking things from around the Gatehouse for months now. I can’t have some witch’s familiar having the run of the place with seals as boarders. If they find her, they’ll kill her.”
That was certainly true. If any of the normal seals caught her, she would be shot dead without a second thought. Nathan no longer had the same desire, but it wasn’t as if they could set her free out in the woods.
Now that Sasha had been stroking her fur for some time, gently, with those long soft fingers of his, along with Alex petting her too, the little chimera peeked her head out of Nathan’s arms finally to look at them. Nathan saw now that her big, round eyes were bluish grey and very human looking, not black as they had looked yesterday.
“She’s so cute,” Nathan said before he could stop himself. He grunted at the curious looks and raised eyebrows he received. “What? I can’t like cute? Nothing unmanly ‘bout that. Not such a bad little thing, are ya?” he said to the creature, placing a hand close to her fur-covered face. “Sorry about last night, but you got me pretty good, huh? What say we call it even?”
Her lips and face were definitely more like an Ewok, Nathan decided, as she sniffed his hand and blinked up at him. A little mewling purr started again and Nathan decided they must be in agreement. The chimera’s fur was as soft as anything Nathan had ever touched.
“Aww, Ma, can’t we keep it?” he grinned at Alex. “She’s better than any cat.”
“You sure changed your tune quickly,” Alex said, hands on her hips.
“I’ve been known to be wrong about supernatural creatures in the past,” Nathan said, with a none-too-subtle glance at Sasha.
Alex bit her lip. “I’d like to, but how can we keep this…failed familiar like a pet without seals spotting her? I doubt they’d buy that it’s the Gatehouse’s new mascot.”
Nathan knew they couldn’t bring the thing along with them when they left, and if Alex kept the chimera in the Gatehouse it would eventually be noticed by other seals, and the results after that would only be bad.
While they all stood there for a few minutes trying to think of something, Nathan cradled the creature close and continued to pet her head. She snuggled in and sniffed at Nathan’s chest like she could smell his wounds, making that purring noise again as she touched her little human hands to where the bandages lay beneath his shirt, as if in apology.
“I’m not sure if it will work,” Sasha said suddenly, “but I might have an idea. Alex, will you hold off on a final decision until the three of us leave in a few days? By then I might be able to manage something.”
Chapter 7
