Journeyman Cat

by Virginia Ripple

  A black tail curled around the paws, thumping an impatient rhythm.

  “Anything else?”

  “The young tom also asked if we knew anything about some black market rings that had been shut down across the border several years ago.”

  The tail lashed once. Hanif chanced a look at the tom’s piercing green eyes and wished he hadn’t. He felt his soul wither at the tom’s scathing expression. The tabby wrenched his gaze away, choosing to stare at his own paws instead.

  “Fear not, my servant. You have done well to inform me of this tom’s trespasses. I will guard your watch and take care of your pursuers in my own time. Until then, continue doing my will and you will receive your reward.”

  Hanif breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, my Lord.”

  Silence. The temple cat looked up at the mirror through his eye whiskers. His reflection stared back. He was about to leave when he saw a flash from the corner of his eye. He turned to look at the mirror again. It was the silver tabby he’d seen on other occasions, his Lordship’s first.

  “How may I be of service?” he asked.

  “His lordship has heard your fears and has chosen me to act on your behalf. You need no longer be worried over your enemies.”

  The mirror flashed again and the tabby was once more facing his own reflection. As he sat there, he wondered at his Lord’s unusual display of speed in dealing with this irritation.

  “Blessed be the New Life for moving quickly for His children.”

  Chapter 3

  Having been stonewalled by both Hanif and his mother, Toby decided he should talk to the only other person who had known about Victor’s last mission: Master O’dorn.

  It was handy to be working in the same complex of buildings as his friend, but sometimes finding him was easier said than done. A quick call to his office told Toby the old mage was at the artificer’s guild. Since working on the wheeled contraption, the man had been at the master artificer’s office more often than his own. It made the young cat smile. At least his friend now had something to occupy his mind other than worrying over what new debate he would have to endure in the council.

  Toby sauntered through the artificer’s office and into his workshop at the other end. The first time he’d been there he’d waited in the office for over an hour before a young woman had strode in with a contraption in her arms. She’d glanced his direction as she walked by, seeming to look straight through him, then stopped in the doorway on the other side of the room. She spun around and stared at him, blinking rapidly. A moment later he was led into a room that looked like something from a a childhood fable, with contraptions clicking and whirring away on every shelf, table and in some places even the ceiling. From then on he never bothered to wait in the office.

  “Hello?” he called into the workshop. Two heads popped over a safety rail of a staircase near the ceiling, each wearing a set of contraptions over their eyes.

  “Marvelous, isn’t it?!” shouted one man over the sounds of thing-a-ma-jigs.

  “Absolutely astounding!” shouted the one with the gray beard.

  Toby cocked his head at the men. “Master O’dorn?”

  “Toby, my friend, you simply must try these contraptions!”

  The young cat grinned and raced up the stairs. The two men looked even stranger once he got at the top of the stairs. Leather straps encased their heads, holding large glass-like bug eyes in place over their own eyes. It was a little disturbing. Master O’dorn reached up and pulled the contraption off his head.

  “Simply amazing,” he said, shaking his head as he looked at the thing in his hands. He looked up at the tom and started to hand him the head piece, then paused, frowning.

  “Sylvester, this is obviously too big for a cat. I don’t suppose you have anything smaller.”

  The bow-legged dwarf of a man scratched his cheek and frowned. Taking in his day-old beard growth and rumpled clothing, the young tom guessed the master artificer had been sleeping in his workshop again.

  “I hadn’t thought about a cat needin’ a pair of these closer up eyes.”

  “It’s alright,” said Toby.

  “Nope. Shoulda thought of it. Well, no bother, just a matter of shortening the straps a bit and fixin’ up a smaller nose piece. Won’t take but a moment.”

  Sylvester grabbed his walking sticks and was half-way down the stairs before Toby could open his mouth to protest. Master O’dorn chuckled and sat on a nearby stool, patting another beside him.

  “So what brings you here?” asked the old mage as he watched the orange tom leap to the stool.

  “I wanted to talk to you about mother.”

  “More miscommunications, I take it?”

  “Not exactly. I called her a few days ago to ask her about father’s last mission.”

  The mage frowned. Toby lowered his head, staring at his paws.

  “I know it’s a sore subject, but something came up and I just needed to know if she would, you know,” the orange tom said with a shrug.

  “If she would finally talk to you about it?”

  The young cat looked back at his friend. Master O’dorn sighed and looked toward the rest of the workshop.

  “I’m not sure she will ever be ready to talk about what happened.”

  “She’s keeping secrets.”

  The mage looked back at the tom, eyebrow raised. “Aren’t we all?”

  Toby grimaced, thinking about how he’d kept from telling Lorn that he’d talked to Hanif for days.

  “I guess that’s true.”

  “Sometimes, the secrets we keep are the kind that would rip a person’s world apart. We keep them because we love that person.”

  “But is that right?”

  “You tell me. When you first started investigating your father’s disappearance so long ago, why didn’t you tell your mother?”

  “Because she’d throw a fit.”

  Master O’dorn raised an eyebrow again.Toby looked away toward the workshop and thought back to the first time he’d asked his mother about Victor’s disappearance. She had been terrified, had told him to leave it alone and ended the mirror call without another word, much like she had this last time. He’d never brought it up again, except to fill her in on what they’d discovered about her deadly illness. Since then he’d honored her wishes to distance himself from the desire to find his father. Why? He sneaked a sidelong glance at the older human sitting next to him. He sighed.

  “I didn’t tell her because I knew she was scared and I wanted to spare her.”

  “As I thought. Can you take that one step further?”

  The young tom grinned, thinking back to the lessons he’d had with his old friend when his mother had given up on him.

  “You’re saying mother is trying to spare me.”

  “Perhaps. More likely she is trying to keep you safe. Whatever secrets she keeps, I have never known her to keep them out of respect for one’s feelings.”

  “That’s certainly true. But what could she possibly know that would be dangerous for me to know?”

  “That I cannot answer.”

  The two were silent as they considered the secrets the black queen might be keeping. Toby remember the other reason he had sought Master O’dorn.

  “During a recent interview, Lorn and I discovered some information about a certain temple up in the hill country. When I contacted the head temple cat, he mentioned something about having already been asked questions by the High Council. Do you happen to know anything about that?”

  Master O’dorn’s eyebrows raised. “As a matter of fact, I do. Assuming it’s the same temple, the High Council recently dispatched partners to investigate the viability of funneling our population of young people into the temple schools.”

  “What does that mean?”


  “Well, after the mess Chivato left our economy in, our kingdom is having difficulties supporting certain public programs, such as the public schools. The High temple priest came to us with the suggestion of shutting down the public schools and moving our children into the temple school programs.”

  “But there’s laws against combining religion and government. Wouldn’t there be problems with their curriculum?”

  Master O’dorn tapped a finger to his nose and winked at the orange tom.

  “There are a lot of positives to having the temple schools take over. The main problem is making sure what they instruct their students isn’t inflammatory toward the rest of the kingdom. That’s why the council sent the partners.”

  “Based on the reaction of the temple cat, I’m sure it’s the same place. Any idea when their report is due back?”

  “I suspect it will be arriving in another week or so.”

  Toby’s ears flattened to half mast. Before he could say any more, Sylvester appeared at the top of the stairs.

  “Here we are,” said the rumpled artificer, holding a miniature version of the contraption Toby had seen Master O’dorn wearing.

  “That was fast,” said the tom.

  “It’s what I do.”

  The man chuckled and held out the closer up eyes. Toby leaped from the stool and paced toward the artificer. He sat with his eyes closed as the man placed the contraption on his head and adjusted the straps.

  “All right. That should do it. What do ya think?”

  Toby opened his eyes and jumped.

  “Your buttons! They’re huge!”

  The artificer laughed. “Look toward the workshop and tell me what you see.”

  The young cat did as instructed, turning his head to the right. The safety bar on the stair loomed in front of him. He waved a paw at it, seeing each hair on his paw in stark detail. He took a couple steps toward the safety rail and peered down toward the tables and shelves. Suddenly little bits and pieces of contraptions still in the works looked close enough to bat across the floor. The tom jerked his head toward the door, blurring everything in his sight for a moment and making him wobble.

  “Careful there,” Sylvester said. “They take some getting used to.”

  Toby closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again to stare through the door. A piece of paper with writing on it lay on the artificer’s desk.

  “Who is BH?”

  “BH? Where’d ya see that?”

  “It’s on that piece of paper on your desk.”

  “Hmmm… seems a cat’s eyes are even better than a human’s after all. I always wondered.”

  “I wouldn’t want your new contraption to fall into the hands of a cat with ulterior motives. Who knows what trouble a snooping cat might get into with your closer up eyes,” said Master O’dorn.

  Toby took the hint and turned back toward the master artificer.

  “These are truly amazing, Master Sylvester, but I think I’ve had my fill of seeing things like they are about to hit my nose.”

  When the artificer removed the contraption, the orange tom returned the man’s smile.

  “Thank you for sharing your new device with me. It’s always a pleasure to visit your workshop.”

  The master artificer beamed. Toby turned toward his old friend. “Thank you for listening to me complain.”

  “Any time, my friend. Just think on what I said. I’m sure you two can come to terms somehow.”

  The tom bowed his head to his friends and started down the stairs. Master O’dorn had a point in trying to talk to his mother. It wasn’t likely he’d ever get any new information from her. The problem was, if he wanted more information, he was running out of leads and patience. A week? He shook his head and trotted out the door. Perhaps he could figure out a way to speed that up.

  The next morning Toby decided he couldn’t wait a week for the partners to file their report. It felt like he’d wasted too much time from their interview with Lars already. After Chivato’s cryptic last words six years ago that his father had given them the information they wanted, Toby was certain the only way the black tom would have said anything was from being tortured. How long could a feline, even one as strong as Victor, hold out? How long would they keep him prisoner?

  He needed the information now. But how would he contact the partners in the field? He sighed, knowing he’d have to contact the temple school and hope someone could find them. Of course, then he’d also need a good cover story. It was unusual to disrupt partners during their investigation. The tom faced his mirror and worked the mirror call quickly, not giving himself a moment to change his mind.

  The image changed from his own reflection to the small round room that had become very familiar over the last couple weeks. He heard the clanging bell in the background, summoning a young person to answer the mirror. In no time a child skidded into view and bowed. He didn’t wait for the usual greeting.

  “I must speak with the partners.”

  “I am sorry, your Lordship, but they have left already,” said the boy, still bowing low.

  “Left? When?”

  “I do not know, sire. Shall I fetch His Excellency for you instead? I am sure he would know.”

  “No,” Toby blurted. That was one cat he didn’t want to talk to again at the moment. “There is no need to disturb His Excellency. In fact, there is no need to even mention I called.”

  “Yes, sire, as you wish.”

  The boy remained bowing, never moving a muscle, as if waiting for further instructions. Toby blinked a moment and wondered what he was supposed to say.

  “You may go now.”

  “Yes, sire.”

  With that the child scurried away, never looking up for a moment. Such strange behavior. The young tom shook his head. He needed a map of the hill country. If he located a mirror in one of the local inns, perhaps he could track them down and speak with them while they were on the road. But then what? Was he going to contact every mirror in every inn along the road from the temple to the High Council? And what if they chose another road? He couldn’t very well spend all his time in their room sending out mirror calls all over the kingdom. He had responsibilities as a journeyman. Not doing his job would end in dismissal. And what about Lorn? If Toby was dismissed then Lorn would have to leave as well. They were partners, after all. The OKG rarely accepted lone humans into their ranks.

  The young tom shook his head until his ears popped. It was no use. He’d have to be patient.

  There was a loud knock on the office door. Gillespie looked up from contemplating his roast duck and cheese on wheat bread. What an interesting new idea to put meat and cheese between fat slices of bread. Why had no one thought of this before? The knock came again, this time louder. Gillespie frowned at the closed door. How rude to interrupt his lunch.

  “Enter,” he barked.

  The door was flung open, making Councilman Damon look as if he had suddenly appeared in the opening. Gillespie grimaced.

  “What do you want?”

  The rotund man sauntered in as if he owned the room. He raised an eyebrow and looked down his nose at the various awards and notices pinned to the walls. The councilman turned toward the chair in front of the desk and sniffed. He pulled out a large handkerchief and dusted the seat. Satisfied, he lowered his large body into it, overflowing the sides like a novice baker’s first attempt at filling a cake pan.

  “We are here on behalf of one of our constituents,” Damon said.

  “We?”

  K’dash Shyam leaped onto Gillespie’s desk, making the man sit back. He never got used to the way they jumped in front of you, as if they just popped out of thin air. Made him glad to be among the elite few who didn’t need the shifty things. He glared at the massive black tom. K’dash returned his glare with a look
of amusement, wrapping his tail around his paws.

  “It seems one of your underlings has been harassing a certain head temple cat at the New Life Temple,” Damon said.

  The man looked back at the large human protruding from his guest chair. “Where’s that?”

  Damon waved his handkerchief in the air in dismissal.

  “That doesn’t matter. What’s at issue is that you seem to have lost control of your charges.”

  “Assuming, of course,” interjected K’dash, “that you did not order this tom to investigate the temple.”

  Gillespie glared at the tom, wishing he dared shove the massive beast off his desk. He imagined the satisfying thunk the cat would make as he hit the floor. In the next moment, his imagination filled in what would happen to him if he tried such an inane stunt. Goosebumps rose on his arms.

  “There’ve been no assignments for anyone to investigate any temple,” he said, turning his attention onto the councilman. “Just who are we talking about anyway?”

  “The young tom we asked you to… guide… through his time as journeyman. It seems he has slipped his leash and is causing a bit of awkward business for one of our citizens.”

  Gillespie’s eyes widened for a moment. He remembered that conversation quite clearly. K’dash shifted his weight, drawing the man’s attention and making him break into a cold sweat.

  “By the way, how is your wife doing? I understand she took ill not long ago.”

  “She’s fine,” he snapped. He covered his face with a trembling hand. “She’s okay. The healer says she needs to take an herbal remedy for a while longer and then she’ll be back to her old self again.”

  “That is good to hear. With the stress of all these expensive scrips weighing on your purse, I am sure you are more than ready for your wife to be well again.”

  The man stared down at his desk top. He couldn’t deny it. They were in debt over their heads now with all the medical expenses and the loss of his wife’s small income as a seamstress.