Between Two Ends by David Ward Page A

panther’s beauty and mystique. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
    The panther’s eyes gleamed. “A boy. His name is Roland. He entered this story a short time ago and remains lost in the town.”
    Yeats brightened. “My dad desperately needs Shaharazad to come home,” he whispered. “If you let me go, we can help each other. I will do my best to look for Roland. I’ve got to go into the town tonight and I could use the company anyway. I could bring him back here.”
    The giant cat’s tail thumped the garden floor. Yeats couldn’t tell if it was angry or thinking. Aftera long pause it said, “All those within the confines of this book live and die accordingly. But you and I are not of this place. We smell its smells, breathe its air, and taste its food, but we know better, don’t we? We know of the other place. It is indeed difficult to journey alone.”
    Yeats nodded. “I’ve only been here for an hour and already I’m homesick.” He thought of the pirates abandoning him on the shore. “If you’re a bookend, where is your partner?”
    The big cat’s tail thumped a little harder and Yeats wondered if he had pushed his luck too far. But the panther responded, “Lost to fire.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” said Yeats.
    â€œSo am I,” the animal said. “I will release you on one condition: that should you encounter Roland you must tell me. You will recognize him by his shaved head and black skin. I must find him quickly, for he has rightly and fairly broken the spell.”
    Yeats felt a rush of panic. “Why can’t you find him? The pirates told me I would return to my world if I broke the spell.”
    The panther licked its paw ominously. “With my partner’s untimely demise I work with only half the magic.”
    â€œI see. The pirates were separated for years, one in the library and one in the garden when Dad buried him. Does this happen to everyone? Do all wishes go bad?”
    The panther snorted. “Rarely. With those two, I shouldn’t wonder.”
    â€œI guess I’ll have to take my chances,” Yeats said. “Now, how will I reach you?”
    The cat glanced over its shoulder. “Only at night do I stray from my mistress to search for the boy. Otherwise, I am here.”
    â€œYour mistress?”
    â€œShaharazad.” The panther began to pace. “Go—if you will. But remember: Khan tracks you closely. If you should find Roland, do not dare to return to your world without first telling me. I have a duty while in this story to chew the legs of intruders. I do not let my quarry go easily. And I do not need the entanglements of another’s wish.”
    The thump of Khan’s great steps on theground was disconcerting, particularly so when the shimmering green eyes winked closed and Yeats lost sight of him.
    â€œKhan?” Yeats whispered.
    The cat was gone. Yeats scrambled to his feet and then dropped just as suddenly because of the pain in his leg. He touched it and his hands came up bloody. After further examination with his fingers, however, he determined the cat’s scratches were not deep. They would mend soon enough. He gritted his teeth and tore a long strip from his shirt to bind the wound tightly. “Not a nice place so far,” he told himself. “I’ve nearly been hung for hiding in a garden and killed by a panther!”
    Yeats tested his leg, taking several steps toward the culvertlike passage Shaharazad had described. The grand conditions of the palace deteriorated rapidly the more he progressed. Brackish water leaked in rivulets from cracks in the wall, and the path became uneven. A little farther along, the torches stopped. He was in a rarely used part of the palace, and yet, he thought with a grin, it wouldn’t surprise him if Shaharazad had beenthis way before. For someone who really wasn’t who she thought she