Penname: Lady Lye

The young witch looked up. It was night. She picked up a feather from the ground and drew a star within a circle on the ground. She took the powdered dragon’s scales, ginger and garlic and lightly sprinkled them along the outer rim. She had to do this very carefully so as not to smudge the lines.

Four cats walked out of the bushes surrounding the clearing. One scornfully looked back and yowled at someone or something. Another cat bounded out of the bushes and got back in league with the others who had formed a line, one next to the other.

Perhaps cat was not the word. Morwen frowned. These did not look old enough for what she needed. They all appeared to be about the equivalent of teenagers. The one who had arrived last toppled over. The other four glared at him disdainfully as he sat himself up. Clearly these were not ordinary cats. Ordinary cats did not stare attentively and wait or form straight lines, well, except for the last one of course for the last one who seemed to be having trouble sitting still. All of these cats seemed like strays. There wasn’t a sign of a collar among them. That was good. No one would care about a few strays running around the Enchanted Forest.

Morwen shook her head and frowned. This was not the time to worry about a bunch of cats! She only needed them for a few minutes anyway. Just long enough to complete the spell she had to do before midnight. Each cat moved to a point of the star as Morwen began to chant. Each cat lifted its voice to join hers. There was a flash of white light and Morwen blacked out.

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Morwen was awakened by a cat brushing against her leg. She was surprised to find herself lying on the ground in the clearing. She sat up groggily and noticed that the star she had been sitting in had disappeared. She wondered if this meant that the spell had worked. She got up and almost fell over as cats entwined themselves around her legs. She gathered up her things and started walking home to her cottage. The cats followed like ducklings despite her attempts to ignore them.

When she reached the gate all five jetted through and settled themselves on the porch as if they lived there. She sighed and shut the gate. Dangerous things lived in the Enchanted Forest and it was silly to give them easy ways in. She walked to the house and inside, nearly tripping over a cat in the process. She was exhausted. Morwen went to bed promising to herself she would get rid of them tomorrow.

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“Go on! Shoo!” Morwen waved her hands at the cats who had once again assembled on the porch. They all stared back at her, blinking. Well, except the silly one. He was batting around a dust fluff. Morwen tried one more time to get rid of them. She got a ‘How stupid do you think we are?’’ look. Defeated, she sat on the porch next to them. It was obvious they would be here for quite a while. One cat drifted into the house and the silly one tagged along.

Morwen picked up a white cat. A name popped into her head. “Miss Eliza Tudor.” The cat just stared at her then settled down in her lap. Another white cat was sitting on the windowsill above her. Morwen looked up to see it glaring down at her. “Scorn. Definitely Scorn” she turned from the cat who now seemed quite pleased with itself. Morwen looked down to see a ginger cat twirling around her legs. “Hmmm, Jasmine should suit you.” Morwen looked around for the other cats. “Now where did they go-“ she was interrupted by a crash. She put down Miss Eliza and went in the house to investigate. The silly cat had a basket that used to have dried flowers in it on his head. The gray tom who had led the way was sitting on top of a cabinet trying to look innocent and disinterested.

“Trouble.“ she directed at the cat who looked rather offended. She lifted the basket off the cats head and he looked up at her expectantly. “Oh Fiddlesticks!” The cat yowled approval. “Oh Okay. You can be Fiddlesticks.” With that she sighed resignedly and left to find a spell so she could communicate with them.