Dolly Bell's Arc

Chapter 4 of 8

The next village turned Dolly away at the gate. Word of the lightning wolf had traveled, and so had word of the bandits who hunted her. She sat on a bench in a small garden park, the enchanted lights soft around her. Her wolf rested in the trees. Her cat-dragon curled at her feet. She had a voice, two guardians, and a plan to build a whole troupe. But no singer, no dancer, no drummer would walk the road beside a hunted woman. She had asked in three villages. Three times they said no. Dolly held her glowing microphone in her lap and did not sing. What was a troupe of one? She wiped her eyes. "Why are you crying?" a small voice asked. Two silver tabby kittens stood on the path. They wore matching flower dresses and had bright pink eyes. The first held her paws behind her back, shy. The second marched right up and repeated the question, louder. "I'm Rosie," said the bold one. "That's my sister Rosemary. We heard you sniffling." "I wanted to make a troupe," Dolly said. "Singers and dancers to cheer up villages. But everyone's afraid to join me." Rosemary crept closer. "Because of the scary wolf?" "Because of the bandits," Dolly said. "They know my face now." Rosie's tail flicked. "We're not afraid of bandits. Your wolf ate them, didn't he?" Dolly laughed despite herself. "He scared them off." "Then we want to be in the troupe," Rosie said. "I sing. Rosemary dances. Watch." Rosemary spun once on the path, careful at first, then faster. Her dress flared. Rosie clapped a beat with her paws and hummed a bright little tune. It was clumsy and sweet. Dolly's chest ached in a good way. "You'd travel dangerous roads," Dolly warned. "Grown performers won't. Why would you?" Rosie stopped clapping. "The grown ones have farms and shops to lose. We don't have anything. Just each other. And we always wanted to dance for people." Rosemary nodded fast. "Please. Nobody comes to hear two kittens sing alone. But with you and the wolf, they'd have to watch." Dolly saw the truth of it. The road turned away the safe and the settled. But it did not turn away the ones who had nothing left to guard. Her troupe would not come from the comfortable. It would come from strays like these. She lifted her microphone and stood. The crystals woke pink. "Then let's rehearse," she said. "Rosie, take the melody. Rosemary, you dance the chorus." They practiced under the glowing lights until dark. The wolf watched from the trees. The cat-dragon batted at Rosemary's spinning tail. By the time the lamps dimmed, Dolly Bell was no longer alone. She had two performers, small and fearless. She was a troupe of three now, headed for the next village and whatever waited on the road between.