by Dash Hoffman
Marlowe listened carefully and watched her, and she rubbed his head once more. “Oh dear… it looks like the rain is going to start back up. We should probably head for home, my darling.”
She tucked her handkerchief back into her purse and pushed herself up from the bench, taking a few steps toward a nearby rubbish bin, where she dropped the candy wrapper. She was about to walk away, but then she stopped short, staring intently at the trunk of a nearby tree.
“Marlowe,” she whispered, “I swear I just saw something over by that tree… that one, just there. Do you see anything? Is there a little animal over there? I’m so certain I saw one just now… not much bigger than you, but now there’s nothing there at all! Look carefully, do you see anything?”
He peered closely along with her, and a low growl sounded from his core. She gave him a sharp nod. “That’s what I thought. I can’t be seeing things. I refuse to go senile. It’s just that… there’s nothing there now.”
Alice’s mouth twitched, and she harrumphed softly. “My goodness. Perhaps it’s time to be getting back. Tea time soon.”
She opened her umbrella and glanced toward the elegant Abyssinian beside her. “Come along then, Marlowe. Let’s get home.” She straightened her coat and hat, and they set off together.
Chapter Two
Chippa Mari
The gears in the massive old grandfather clock began to whir and grind, and the deep tones rang out from it four times as Alice spread her napkin over her lap.
The cats were lined up at their dishes, and Henderson gave them each a few treats before he came to the table and served tea and scones with clotted cream and raspberry jam to Alice.
“How did it go at the church?” He asked with a hopeful smile.
She furrowed her brow some. “Not very well, actually. I don’t suppose I’ll be joining the group. They are looking for a younger contingency.”
He was genuinely disappointed. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Madam. Perhaps there is another group that might need your help elsewhere.”
“Perhaps so, Henderson. Thank you.” She gave him a little smile, wishing with all of her heart that it was true. “It is a great feeling for one to know that they are needed.” She added, lifting her teacup for a sip.
“It is indeed.” Henderson answered pleasantly. “It’s quite fulfilling.” He spoke as if it were the one thing in his life that made him happiest.
When tea was finished, she rose from the table and sighed, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. “I think I’ll skip the evening meal tonight, Henderson.” She told him quietly.
He frowned slightly. “Are you feeling all right? Can I get you anything?”
“No, thank you. I’m just a little tired.”
Alice bid him goodnight, went to her bedroom, and readied herself for bed. Once she was in her nightgown, she sat in her chair beside the fireplace in her room, reading a book for a while as the cats all napped nearby. She tried to keep her mind off of the worries of the day. When the grandfather clock chimed eight times, she put the book down, turned off the lamp, and got into her bed.
Reading had not distracted her much from her thoughts, though she tried to push them away as best she could. Deborah’s cold words had cut at her and she wasn’t sure whether or not they were true, even though she felt as though they couldn’t possibly be.
She didn’t feel old. She still saw the world around her with the eyes of a woman less than half her age. That didn’t necessarily mean that her body would let her do what her heart and mind wanted to do. She was still in decent shape, and strong enough, but her age had slowed her down a little, at least physically, much to her disappointment.
She lay in bed in the dark, pondering over all the things on her mind. The shadows and light from the dying fire danced lambent across the ebony ceiling and walls, and she watched them, listening to the ticking of the clock. Marlowe lay curled at her feet; the warmth from his body comforting her through the blankets.
He moved slowly and carefully, a few steps at a time, and she wondered at the edge of her thoughts what he was doing, as he rarely came up further on her bed than his favorite spot at her feet.
It was then that she realized Marlowe hadn’t moved. He was still curled up by her ankles; his soft form and body heat against her, but his purring had stopped. Alice’s breath caught silently in her chest as she realized that something else was taking very slow steps up the other side of her body, toward her arm.
She knew it wasn’t one of the other cats. They never got up on her bed; any of them. They each had their own beds around the fireplace, and Marlowe had made it clear that Alice’s bed was his, and nobody else was allowed there. He’d have had them off of it in a moment if it had been one of the other cats.
Her heart began to beat faster, and blood rushed through her, pulsing in her ears as the slight pressure of the moving thing inched closer. Her eyes were locked on the ceiling; motionless, while her mind was focused with magnified intensity on her predicament.
Somewhere in the vast reaches of her heart, an untapped strength took over, and she found herself feeling level-headed and in complete control.
Whatever it was creeping up beside her kept pausing, and then inching forward slowly. It stopped again. Alice waited until it began to move once more and then like a flash, her hand shot through the dark and she grabbed wildly at where she was sure the thing was.
Her fingers closed tightly over something very soft; a kind of silky fur, and just as they did, there was a loud squeak.
A moment later, Marlowe was at her elbow, opposite whatever it was that she had a hold of, growling deeply as he stared at Alice’s hand.
The softness inside her grip wriggled about, but she held on tightly as she reached over Marlowe’s head with her free hand and flipped on the lamp beside her bed. Blinking in the light and pushing herself upward, she saw that all of the cats were grouped together on the floor right beside her bed.
She sat up and realized that she couldn’t see what was in her hand. It looked as if she was holding onto thin air, except that where her hand was supposed to be, it wasn’t. There was just nothing there to see past the middle of her forearm. Whatever the thing was, she had a death grip on it, and it wasn’t going anywhere, though it squirmed and pulled to get away.
Marlowe growled even louder, and in a blink all six of the other cats leapt up onto the bed, surrounding Alice’s body as she pulled the soft invisible thing onto her lap and gave it a shake.
“All right now, I’ve got you and I’m not letting go. You come out right this minute! Do you hear me? Come out! I don’t know why I can’t see you, but I know you’re there and I’ve had enough of this foolish nonsense! Now out!” She demanded.
All of the cats and Alice watched in disbelief as color and form began to show through a strange looking fringe just before their eyes. It was as though a feathery curtain was parting, revealing the creature behind it.
Two big, dark, round, shining eyes appeared; they were deep black, almost like portholes to the universe. Around them was a thin sliver of an ocean blue ring. The eyes were framed with short, light brown fur, and above each eye there was a delicately arched fringy antenna in place of its eyebrow.
Just below its eyes sat a tiny nose and mouth that resembled a cats’, though the mouth was wider, and shaped with an upward curve, as though it was smiling a little. It might have been smiling, Alice wasn’t sure.
The rest of the creature emerged then, and Alice realized that the feathery fringe that had been covering it was actually its tail.
It was fanned out like a peacock tail, but it was all directed forward and was made of several wide, fluffy ostrich-looking feathers. There were short, dark brown feathers at the base of its tail, longer golden sand-colored ones that reached up to the creature’s shoulders, and vanilla-colored fronds that draped all the way over the front of its body, touching the blanket in front of the creature’s feet. The colors blended softly into each other whe
re they changed.
The tail feathers came up around the creature like a bubble, covering all of it and making it disappear, until the animal pulled its tail back, opening the feathers like a curtain, revealing itself.
The little being slowly retracted all the feathers, and curled its tail into a nautilus spiral reaching up its back and resting snuggly just behind its neck, similar to a squirrel.
Its furry ears, like those of a large puppy, were perked up at attention. It had small paws with four fingers and what looked like a thumb, as well as toes on its feet, like a raccoon.
Alice could see that it had retractable claws, though they weren’t extended. The fingers on its paws were shaded dark brown with white and tan spots on them. The thing stood upright on its hind legs.
There was a thick soft white tuft of fur in a V shape at the creature’s throat, which wrapped around to the back of its neck, like a bandana. The rest of its fur was varying shades of natural browns, from tan to mahogany, and black, and all of the fur on its body, save for the white fur neck collar, was short and silky, like a rabbit.
Alice could see dark freckles of varying sizes and shapes all over the creature’s face, almost like it had been splattered with paint.
The animal stood at about a foot and a half tall, but it was cowered down somewhat, making true height difficult for Alice to determine.
Its body was shaped like a teddy bear, with a gently rounded and protruding belly, but it didn’t seem fat; rather that some of the roundness was an illusion of its fur.
It blinked and a quiet chirping sound issued from its throat, though its mouth didn’t open.
Marlowe arched his back and vaulted up on his toes; every hair on his body standing straight on end. His eyes filled with fire as he pulled his mouth back and hissed and spat, growling dangerously.
Alice, and the creature she was holding by the arm, both jerked in surprise. Though Alice wasn’t afraid, the creature was terrified. It whimpered and began to wriggle in her iron grasp once more.
“Marlowe! Now hold on! We don’t know what this thing is yet. Let’s figure this out. Please, try to calm down a little!” Alice reassured him gently.
Marlowe wasn’t listening. His body remained rigid, ready to pounce in an instant. Alice picked up her reading glasses from the nightstand beside her and pushed them onto her nose, tilting her head back and looking through them at the creature in her hand as she shook her head almost imperceptibly.
“Well my goodness…” she spoke in a near whisper, but then her voice became sharp and strong.
“I knew I wasn’t seeing things today, you dodgy little ankle biter!” She dragged the thing a little closer toward her on her lap, glaring hotly at it. “What in the world are you up to?”
It reached its front paws up and closed them gently over her hand. “Had to see ‘ef ‘et ‘es you! I know ‘et ‘es you.” He spoke in a tender voice not much bigger than he was, with a strange accent. It was immediately clear that English wasn’t its native language.
Alice’s eyes widened as she blinked at it. She hadn’t been expecting an answer. She spoke to her cats all the time, but they never spoke back to her.
The cats all scowled at it, except for Marlowe, who was still on the razor’s edge of a full on attack. “Never mind about me! What are you?!”
He held his paws around her hand still, and she could feel their softness on her skin. “I ‘es Chippa. Chippa Mari. I ‘es an Inkling.”
Her whole face contorted as she frowned and looked at him a bit closer. “You’re a what?”
“I ‘es an Inkling.” He answered, slowly beginning to pet his paw over her hand with a calming touch. “You ‘es surprised by me?”
Alice narrowed her eyes at him. “Of course I’m surprised by you! I’ve never seen anything like you, but that doesn’t mean you’re getting off scot free! You’ve been following me today and I want to know what’s going on! What do you want, Chippa Mari?”
Marlowe growled long and low again, and Oscar the kitten slowly padded up the side of Alice’s leg, his eyes wide and his orange fur fluffed out more than usual. He got just close enough to the Inkling’s tail to lean out and sniff it carefully.
Chippa Mari glanced back at him nervously, and then returned his attention to Alice. “Had to come. Had to find you. Have come from home… from Mari Village.”
“I’ve never heard of Mari Village.” Alice countered shortly.
The Inkling shrugged a little. “No. You doesn’t know ‘et. Mari Village ‘es very far away.”
“Why are you looking for me?” She pressed, regarding him suspiciously.
His eyes grew wider, though that didn’t seem possible to Alice, and he continued to pet her hand gently with his paw.
“Mari tribe need your help. Need you to come to Mari Village.” He pleaded, “Mari tribe ‘es desp’ruht!”
“Well that’s certainly true if they think they need me.” Alice muttered under her breath. “What do you need me for? Isn’t there someone else who can help you?”
He shook his head and the soft fringe on the antennae brows over his eyes swayed with the movement. “No one else. Only you! There ‘es the prophecy. ‘Et can only be you! You must come! We ‘es in trouble! There ‘es danger. Everything ‘en danger.”
“I don’t need danger in my life.” Alice stated flatly, but she softened a moment later. “Why are you in trouble?”
He stopped petting her hand and gripped it a little tighter. “There ‘es the crystal was stolen from Mari Village, Blue Fire Crystal. Must be found. Must be brought back.”
She frowned sharply. “The Blue Fire Crystal.” She shook her head. “Well, I think that’s just about enough of that. I’m not going anywhere with some strange creature to-”
“Inkling… I ‘es an Ink-”
“-to God knows where in the middle of the blessed night. It’s bedtime, just look at that! It’s a quarter after eight already, and any reasonable person should be off to sleep! Now out you go! You’ve caused enough trouble for one day. Off with you, and don’t let me catch you sneaking around here again!” She released him and sat back against her pillows, giving him an unrelenting glare.
His big black eyes shone with the beginnings of tears. “Please! You must come! Mari need you! Can’t be anyone but you… ‘ef I doesn’t bring you back… I’ve failed again. Everything ‘es lost.” He sat his little body down on her lap and sniffed.
“Please come!” He clenched his paws, wringing them together; his soft, pointed ears directed forward, along with his imploring gaze.
Alice’s heart melted, and she sighed heavily. “I don’t even know where this place is. You’re some strange creature-”
“I ‘es an Inkli-”
“-from some strange village I’ve never heard of…. Goodness knows where. How far away is it? Would it take long to get there?” She couldn’t believe she was considering it, but there was something about his tone and about him altogether that intrigued her.
“‘Es fast trip.” He replied in a soft voice, but he glanced away from her nervously.
“So this Blue Fire Crystal is missing... What do you need me to do about it?” She lifted her chin and eyed him pointedly.
“We ‘es needing you to come and help us find ‘et.” He murmured hopefully, then hesitated. “But, ‘et’s not ‘en thes world.”
Alice crossed her arms over her chest as she regarded him pointedly. “It’s in another world? And how am I supposed to get there? How do I even know that what you’re telling me is true?” She peered sharply at him.
He blinked and pulled his head back a little. “I ‘es here, right ‘en front of you. I doesn’t think you ‘es ever seen anything like me before.”
“Well I saw plenty of you today.” She snapped back at him. “You’d better come up with something more than that. Some kind of proof.”
He fidgeted, and his feet curled and uncurled as he thoughtfully considered what she said. Reaching his paws up underneath the lo
ng white fur at his neck, he tugged, and a small cloth pouch came into view.
It was on a drawstring around his neck. He slid it open and his eyes danced a little as he reached in and pulled out what looked like a fiery twig. It shimmered and glowed just as the embers did in the fireplace across the room.
Alice gaped at it. “What is that?”
Chippa Mari smiled brightly and his pointed ears perked up as he lifted it for her to see. “Thes ‘es Tinder Root. Not from ‘thes world. Mari eat ‘et. Inklings love Tinder Root. Comes from base of Flame trees.”
Alice reached her finger toward it, but he pulled it away and wagged his other paw at her. “You shouldn’t touch. Might burn you.”
“You’re going to eat that?” She gasped.
He turned his attention to the glowing root he held, and a wide smile came over his little face as his eyelids lowered and he gazed adoringly at it.
“Yes. Mari love Tinder Root. Hot and spicy.” He popped it into his mouth and the chirping sound issued from his throat again as he closed his eyes and savored it for a long moment before swallowing it.
Chippa Mari came back to himself then, opening his deep, dark eyes as he stood back up and took a few steps toward Alice, still on her lap. “Please… you has to come. Mari need your help! None ‘es can survive ‘ef you doesn’t come and find the crystal!”
Alice sighed, crossing her arms over her chest once more. She turned her eyes toward Marlowe, who was still at rigid attention beside her, glaring hotly at Chippa Mari.
“Oh, Marlowe. I’ve never even thought about whether or not there were other worlds. How bizarre! Strange business; this situation, and this little one here. He’s certainly the most unusual thing I’ve ever seen, but he does seem to be telling us the truth, even if it is difficult to believe. I’ll be honest, I hate to think of anything happening to him and to his little Inkling village, no matter where it is. You know I can’t stand to see anything suffer. Obviously. I do have seven cats.”