Piercing the Swordsman: Prologue
Dragon slaying. Steampunk. High fantasy. An era bygone. No humans. What's not to like? Dive into a world where classic themes like 'family' and 'true love' are fondly pulled apart and put under a magnifying glass. The animals, despite having tails, using magic, and being concerned over high-power politics, are a lot like you and me. A certain sensible dog will make that quite clear, alongside our two somewhat more impulsive feline protagonists.
Dragons were a threat to most of the world.
Only a few places were truly safe from them.
The gigantic gemstone which protected the Valley from the shadow of dark beasts' wings was legendary. It had chosen a royal line of lions that had presided over the citizens for more than twenty generations.
Other countries had to commission magical wielders to slay dragons when the need arose, when their populations would spill over into talking animal settlements.
Only truly powerful wielders could accomplish such a feat. Below a certain magical strength level, all they could do was repel a dragon. And even then, it might take multiple wielders.
But, due to certain circumstances, the Valley now needed guarding, too.
Many a monarch had a 'wizard' always on hand to keep his or her kingdom safe.
That term was falling out of favor among the non-magical populus. Partially because it had a particularly Western flavor. Magical animals from other countries were, as trade routes opened up, more and more roaming the world to swell the ranks of protectors.
One of the most powerful wielder clans on the planet, predictably enough, was comprised of . . .
. . . magical black cats.
No one knows why black cats were so dominant in the magical animal kingdom. There were many theories, but they were hard to test.
The neon green eyes and midnight fur of the Mao were legendary in their own right.
Even the runt of his litter, a stub-tailed cat who inexplicably went by the same name, first and last, could slay even most medium-sized dragons barely even lifting a claw.
But this little feline had a host of other weaknesses, as the ruler of the Valley was about to find out.
For, as it turned out, a lion was in love with a cat.