Journeyman Cat

by Virginia Ripple

  “Nettle weed?”

  “Only thing I could get a hold of to be convincing enough to get in here,” Lorn said with a shrug.

  “And the charcoal?”

  “Darker circles. Pretty good don’t you think?”

  The boy shifted his head so the cat could get a better look. He had to agree. The subtle shading did enhance the human’s already wan appearance. He glanced back at the small group huddled around the newcomer. When he turned back to Lorn, he shoved the three vials toward his partner.

  “Pocket one of the vinegars. Take the other two whenever your throat gets sore or itchy. Mother Hazel shouldn’t bother you so long as you don’t draw her attention.”

  Lorn nodded, then put a hand to his head. Toby patted his other hand.

  “Take the mixture. It has willow bark in it for your head.”

  The boy obeyed, swiping a finger across the plate and putting the sticky goo in his mouth. He grimaced, but swallowed.

  “How long?”

  “Depends on how much nettle weed you ate.”

  “A pinch. Couldn’t stand the burning as it went down.”

  The gray tom kept his whiskers clamped together, though he wanted to laugh.

  “In that case, you should feel better by this evening.”

  The boy scooted down to lay on the bed. Toby patted his arm again, then dropped to the floor and trotted toward the door. He bumped into Janelle coming into the hospital as he was leaving. She dipped her head to him and stepped aside.

  “Excuse me, Brother.”

  “Janelle?”

  The black and brown mottled she-cat blinked. “Yes, Brother? How may I serve you?”

  “Are you feeling alright?”

  “I am well. Thank you for your concern, Brother... uh...”

  The young she-cat blinked again, her ears swiveling outward. Embarrassment flowed from her in heated waves.

  “I’m afraid I don’t know your name.”

  It was his turn to blink. He surreptitiously sniffed in her direction. She wasn’t lying. She really didn’t know his name. Mother Hazel called to her from across the room. She smiled at him and dipped her head again.

  “I must go now. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

  The gray tom watched her go, wondering again who was exempt from the isolation chambers and the school’s re-education program.

  Toby awoke to voices and hurried paw steps in the hall. The Brother he shared a room with had already left, which was odd since they normally left at the same time. Another precaution Father Hanif had put in place, he was sure. The room was darker than usual for morning. The gray tom jumped to the window sill to look outside. Large gray clouds sat heavy in the sky, promising snow.

  He leaped down and trotted toward the door. As the pulley system opened it, the sounds of loud banging at the end of the hall greeted him. He peered around the door frame to see two boys holding large sheets of wood against the window and a third hammering nails around its edge. Toby looked down the other side of the hall to see more youths nailing another piece of wood to the other window. His tail fluffed to twice its normal size as he thought about being shut into the school.

  He heard the indistinct shouts of feline voices from the stairwells. The gray tom scurried to the nearest one and peered down. More humans were lugging several pieces of wood up the stairs. Brother Robert was standing on the landing above them, shouting directions.

  “What’s going on?” Toby shouted down toward them.

  Brother Robert glanced up for a second, then turned his attention back to the humans as one of them stumbled. He shouted a word of encouragement and looked back at the gray tom.

  “Storm’s coming. We have to prepare the school.”

  Brother Robert went back to directing the humans. The tom shivered as he watched the students carry the teetering sheet of wood.

  “How long?”

  “Hard to tell,” shouted the Brother, not looking up. “Couple days at least. Roads are likely to be closed longer, though. Depends on how fast the King’s road crews can get out this far. Last time we were shut in for over a month.”

  Toby’s eyes widened. A month? Could their information wait that long? He had to talk to Lorn. He shouted a thanks and hurried down the hall to the other stairway. Thankfully the humans were almost at the top of the stairs on that side. He waited, shifting from paw to paw, as they struggled to turn the corner. As they stopped in the hall for their next directions, Toby rushed past. He tore down the stairs, sliding into walls as he turned at each landing, just missing being crushed by a set of human feet hurrying in the opposite direction. Half-way down the next set of steps he heard a shout behind him. He looked back at the human who had nearly stepped on him.

  “We gotta talk,” Lorn hissed, running down the stairs toward him.

  Relief flooded through the tom. He glanced up and down the stairwell, checking for possible listeners. The next group of humans were several landings below and the last group was nowhere in sight above them. He looked back at the freckle-faced boy.

  “You heard about the storm?”

  He nodded. “I don’t think we can wait to gather more evidence.”

  “I agree. It’s a good thing you were able to decode Master O’dorn’s letter. For all we know, by the time the roads are cleared, the kingdom could either be facing an army of slaves or enough tainted food to make everyone into puppets.”

  “Do you think that’s what Hanif is up to?”

  “I think he’s a stratagem piece like Chivato. This master they’re serving has bigger plans than teaching children some mumbo-jumbo about a New Eden. I mean, look at what they did with the plague.”

  Lorn’s lips thinned into a line. “It truly is a war on humans, then. But why?”

  The tom shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. What’s important is letting the OKG know what’s going on here.”

  “I’ll go. Less likely to cause a stir if I disappear. I’ll just be one less human worker for them to mess with.”

  “Makes sense. Hanif said you’re too old for training anyway.”

  The boy nodded. “That’s what I was beginning to think.

  “You should leave tonight.”

  Lorn shook his head and looked pointedly down at the workers slowly gaining the stairs below them.

  “Better do it now. With all this chaos I won’t be missed until it’s too late.”

  “Good point.”

  They stared at each other for a moment. Lorn opened his mouth to speak.

  “Go,” said Toby.

  He watched as the boy slipped out the landing door as the Brother cat and his crew turned onto the landing below. He said a quick prayer for them both and jumped down the few steps to ask the Brother how he could help.

  The snow had begun to fall by the time Lorn made it down the long winding drive to Old Road in front of the New Life Temple and School. He stood panting, wiping the melting snow from his eyes. He had to find a horse or something or he’d never make it past the hills before the snow covered the road and blocked the way back to OKG headquarters. How far had it been from the small village to the school? They’d been in a carriage at that time. It would feel a lot further on foot.

  The echo of horse hooves on packed dirt came from the distance, muffled by the growing blizzard snow. Fat flakes gathered on the dry grass and nearby pines. Lorn peered down the road. He saw the dark outline of a single human rider, a dark bulge in front of him that might be his travel pack. The young man wanted to cheer at his luck. He jumped into the road and waved like a mad man, hoping the rider wouldn’t be spooked.

  The horse paused, snorting and pawing at the ground. Lorn took a chance and ran toward them. He grabbed the rider’s stirrup, using it to keep himself upright as he bent over, still panting.

/>   “Please, I have to get to the OKG,” he gasped. “I’m Journeyman Lorn Ribaldy. I have news—”

  He looked up toward the rider, his eyes meeting a set of piercing green feline eyes.

  “How fortuitous.”

  The monstrous black cat’s deep voice rolled over him. Lorn’s eyes widened. He turned to run. Something heavy landed on his back, knocking the breath from him as he hit the ground. He heard the tom’s rumbling purr as he leaned closer to his ear.

  “Thank you for saving me the trouble of locating you myself. Now, “ the beast whispered, “let’s see how well you learn to obey your new master.”

  Chapter 11

  Clarence looked up from the tiny spider-like contraption scuttling across the master artificer’s work table to see David stalking toward them. The man set a small box on the table and crossed his arms.

  “Here’s your device, Sylvester,” he said, his eyes narrowed. “I hope this experiment of yours is worth the trouble. It took Aaron’s smooth talking and my promise to be quick to get access to the crime scene.”

  The master artificer beamed at the device, reaching for it as if it were made of thin porcelain.

  “Oh it will be. Just let me get this into my special room and process the images and you’ll see. Won’t be but a moment.”

  The old mage watched his friend hobble away and smiled. He turned his attention back to David, noting the obvious absence of his companion.

  “Is Aaron still at the site?”

  “They’re pulling in every resource for this one.”

  “May I ask what makes this incident so important?”

  “You haven’t heard?” the guardian asked, his eyebrows raised.

  “I’ve spent most of my time either here in Sylvester’s work room or in council sessions regarding the school issue.”

  “Avoidance as coping?”

  “You could say that. You were also going to tell me what is so important about this case.”

  “It looks as if Adele was the first in a series of feline murders. Some patrons of the Cat’s Tail pub had gone around back to, shall we say, exchange business when they stumbled upon a dead cat. Everyone knows partners and loners like to frequent the place, so a dead cat means trouble.”

  “Who was it?”

  “A loner instructor from the academy, Master Natsumi.”

  The old mage’s eyes narrowed as he thought about the accusations Toby and Lorn had made during their investigations while at the academy. He wondered if Master Natsumi had run afoul of the blood mage they accused her of having dealings with. The bigger question to Clarence, though, was how the OKG thought the two murders were connected. David cleared his throat, re-capturing the mage’s attention.

  “I take it you’re familiar with the rumors?”

  Clarence nodded. “The boys ran across the possibility that they’re true, but we could never prove it at the time.”

  “Doubt we’ll prove it now unless this mysterious cat who seems to have his paws into everything wants it that way. My gut tells me this is connected, but without being able to untangle Adele’s case, there’s no way to know.”

  The guardian’s eyes widened and his lips compressed into a thin line as he stared at his friend. The master mage felt his hands grow colder.

  “You’ve been told to end your investigation, haven’t you?”

  “Yes,” he said, his shoulders sagging. “I did my best to change the captain’s mind, but she says it’s out of her hands. This came from higher up.”

  Clarence slumped against the work table. He knew it had been vain hope to believe his friend would have any luck with his investigation. Still, having that hope taken away left him feeling like an empty wineskin. He shook his head.

  “I guess it should come as no surprise given what you’ve discovered thus far. Whoever this cat is, he doesn’t want anyone to find him.”

  The two men stared at each other in silence. The tap of Sylvester’s crutches sounded loud as he rushed back into the room. Both men looked at him to see the bow-legged man waving a small stack of papers in his hand.

  “I knew it would work!”

  “What do you have there, my friend?” asked Clarence.

  “Evidence,” the master artificer said, slapping the papers onto the table. He squinted at them with a predatory smile.

  “Evidence of what?” asked David, leaning over the table and shuffling through the papers. “What exactly are these?”

  “I call them miops, short for magic images on paper.”

  “Magic images on paper?” asked Clarence.

  “What else would you call capturing what you see onto a sheet of paper?” Sylvester said with a frown.

  “Wait a minute,” the guardian said, pointing to one of the pictures, “that’s Master Natsumi, but what’s that brownish glow on her paws? That wasn’t there when I looked at the body.”

  “Lubricant.” The bow-legged man turned to look at the master mage. “Cross bow lubricant to be exact.”

  “You mean...”

  The master artificer nodded. “She was my friend, too. I had to do something to help, so I came up with this idea. You aim the miop box’s quartz lens at whatever you want to capture on paper, then push the little button to set the gears in motion and — snap! — you get a copy of what you see only with more detail.”

  “Hold on. That all sounds great, but how do you know that’s cross bow oil?”

  “Once I got the idea to make the box I decided to try it out on a replica of Adele’s cross bow. Didn’t know what I was seeing at first. Then I decided to shoot the bow and take some more miops. Low and behold, I discovered the oil showed up on my hands as a strange brownish glow in the miop.”

  “Well, that explains the glow, but are you sure it’s cross bow oil?”

  “Yep. I tested my theory on lots of different lubricants. Even took a miop of a juice spill just to be sure. That’s cross bow oil. I’ll stake my reputation on it.”

  “That’s brilliant, Sylvester,” said Master O’dorn. He could feel his hopes rising again. He knew he shouldn’t allow it, but the idea crept into his thoughts anyway. This could be the means to bringing the mystery cat to justice.

  “Your miops,” he said, “added to the rumors could mean only one thing. Master Natsumi killed Adele and was in league with this mysterious cat David’s been tracking down.”

  The guardian held up his hand. “That’s a good start, but it doesn’t get us anywhere.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Anyone outside this room will want more than rumor and unproven gadgetry before jumping into a full-scale investigation with a host of dead ends. We need hard evidence to back up what we’re saying.”

  The old mage sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face, as his hopes evaporated again. His warning to Toby and Lorn about accusing someone without proof came to mind. He opened his eyes and stared at a photo of Natsumi’s body. He blinked, picking it up for a closer look.

  “Sylvester, in your experiments, did you ever come across this?” He handed the miop to the artificer. “There seems to be some yellow speckles on her shoulder.”

  The man took the paper and held it close to his face. Mumbling something about old eyes, he reached into a pocket in his leather apron and pulled out a piece of glass attached to a chain, then placed it against his eye.

  “Well, I’ll be. I never noticed that when I was processing these. Just a minute.”

  The master artificer maneuvered over to a large cabinet with a multitude of cubbyholes holding stacks of paper. He scanned the labels, running his finger over them as he read them, until he found the one he wanted. He grabbed the stack and came back to the table, placing the new miops next to the one of the loner’s body.

  “These are ones I took of f
lowers and such. See the yellow speckles?” he asked, pointing to the top picture. “That’s bee food.”

  Clarence’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t suppose each type of flower has a different color like the oil does.”

  Sylvester grinned and nodded. “Indeed it does. All I need is a specimen to shoot.”

  “I’ll see that you get one.”

  “Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” asked David

  The old mage smiled at the guardian as he put a hand on his arm to lead him out of the work room.

  “You remember that little private investigation we sent the boys on?”

  The guardian nodded, his eyes brightening. “I’m guessing you have some information that might lead to solving more than just that case.”

  “I just might, but first we have a letter to write to a flower-growing Brother.”

  Toby curled into a tighter ball near the large fireplace in the chapel amongst the other cats. He’d heard that most of the students had been herded into the cafeteria. Those who couldn’t crowd in had been taken somewhere else to wait out the storm. The Brothers were taking a head count, making sure no human or cat had been shut outside.

  Hanif had claimed the best spot in front of the fireplace for himself. The brown tom, like many others, seemed to be dozing from the warmth. He sat up when the chapel door opened and two Brother cats entered.

  “What news?”

  “There is a female student and a male worker not among those gathered.”

  “Have you done a sweep of the buildings?”

  “The twins are doing that as we speak. They should be finished shortly, Your Excellency.”

  The gray tom kept his eyes closed to slits, pretending to do like the others. There was nothing he could do now. He sent a prayer to the One for his partner, hoping he was far away and safe on his way to the OKG. The door opened again and the two toms from the isolation chambers entered. Father Hanif turned toward them.

  “Anything?”