Journeyman Cat

by Virginia Ripple

  Toby focused his inner sense on the tree, finding its weakest point, then sent a rope of willpower to wrap around the trunk just above. He tugged and twisted until the giant toppled down, blocking the entrance and draping over the boulder. He sent up a quick prayer of thanks to the One that his energy was in good supply. It made him wonder for a moment at the coincidence of not being able to use more than a smidgen of magic while being at the school. It was a good thing, too, because he was going to need every bit of it to float his partner to the one nearby place of safety, the abandoned chapel.

  Toby stared at his partner. Lorn curled in a fetal position next to the tiny fire. It was a good thing the man had been living on half rations or the tom would never have been able to float him here and made a fire. As it was, anyone who might happen by would see them because he had no energy left to set up wards.

  The man jerked awake. His gaze roved the small room, landing on the orange tom.

  “Where are we?”

  “One of the alcoves in the abandoned chapel.”

  “We’re still at the school?”

  Toby nodded. “I couldn’t think of a better place that was close.”

  Lorn stared at the fire for a moment, then looked toward the door leading into the chapel proper.

  “I don’t see any wards?”

  “I didn’t have the energy left to put them up. We should be safe enough until one of us can get to them.”

  The man scooted closer to the fire, putting his hands out to warm them. Toby watched him, cocking his head.

  “What happened?”

  Lorn looked up at him, his eyes narrowing in thought. He flinched, placing a hand to his temple. When he looked back at the orange tom, his eyes were watering.

  “I remember being attacked by bandits on the road, then nothing until I woke up just a minute ago.”

  “Bandits? Are you sure?”

  The man shook his head, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

  “Not really. I just have a fuzzy memory of running away and some jumbled images of men in filthy, ragged clothes.”

  “You can’t remember anything else?”

  Lorn pressed his palms into his eyes.

  “I’m sorry, but this headache makes thinking impossible.”

  The orange tom nodded and shoved a small square of cloth with some herbs on it toward the man.

  “I figured you’d have an energy headache when you woke up. You drained your energy dangerously low. For a while I didn’t think you’d wake up at all.”

  The man pinched up the herbs and stuck them in his mouth. He frowned as he chewed.

  “Where’d you get these?”

  “Moved them out of storage in the hospital.”

  Lorn’s eyebrows rose. Toby smiled.

  “Don’t worry. They won’t be missed.”

  They were quiet for awhile, both of them staring into the fire. The tom looked up as his partner shifted. He was looking out the door again.

  “What did you tell them?”

  “I didn’t tell them anything. They think you died trying to find a little girl in the storm.”

  “So did I?”

  “Did you what?”

  “Find her.”

  Toby shook his head and looked down at his paws. “She was left to the storm.”

  The silence pressed down on the young cat. He glanced at his friend from the corner of his eye. Even the man’s shaggy beard couldn’t hide his fierce frown. Toby felt the heat of his rage blasting across the fire.

  “Did we at least get a funeral?”

  Toby shrugged. “If you can call it that. It was more like a sermon on the evils of this world and why we will all be better off following Hanif’s master.”

  The man grabbed a stick and poked at the fire, scattering bits of ash and sparks.

  “The long and the short of it is that I can’t go back and we’re stuck here until the roads are cleared. Am I right?” asked Lorn.

  “From what I understand, the locals have cleared a path from the village to King’s Road, but we’re blocked from here to the village.”

  “I’m guessing no one from the village is particularly interested in coming this way.”

  “You’d guess right. There’s no love loss there. You might still be able to make it to the OKG, you just have to wade through the snow.”

  Lorn shook his head. “How many other children are we going to let die? Even with everything we’ve learned it might take weeks for them to move on this. If we wait for this to go through protocol, half the kids here could be dead before they storm the castle.”

  “I don’t like it any more than you do, but what can we do?”

  “Take a stand. Do something. I’m tired of skulking around trying to gather evidence while children are being tortured.”

  Toby looked toward the ceiling. His partner had a point. The whole reason they’d risked the blizzard was to get the process in the OKG started. Now snow cut off that way. Unless…

  “If we disrupted the system, we might be able to free their minds enough to be able to help them all escape. There’s a slim chance we could turn the tables on Hanif and his master, but we’ll need more details on angel’s trumpets. I won’t risk doing more harm than good by messing with their formula before I know how it works.”

  “So how are we going to get that information?” Lorn asked, raising his eyebrows.

  Toby grinned. “I think we need visit a sick friend in a nearby temple.”

  Chapter 13

  Convincing Hanif to let him go visit his sick friend at a nearby temple had been simple, once he agreed to let the younger twin come along. Lorn had set out for the village a couple of days before. They’d planned on meeting up at the local pub and hiring a coach to take them the rest of the way. Having the guard along complicated things. There wasn’t any way to warn Lorn ahead of time, though he was sure the young man would act whatever part was necessary. At least he hoped so.

  As the gray tom leaped over another drift, he considered trying to lose the guard. He was sure the guard would return to Father Hanif and tell him what had happened, so that idea was out. They needed a way to either sway the guard to their position – Unlikely – or a story that would convince the cat that Lorn was just another traveler going in the same direction. Toby stopped, panting and staring down the snow-filled road. He looked over at the other tom.

  “You know what I’m looking forward to? A hot meal and a warm fire. When we get to the village, why don’t we stop at a pub and get something to eat?”

  The guard cat looked at him through narrowed eyes, placing an armored paw over the small money purse around his neck.

  “I thought you’re friend was sick and you just had to get to him.”

  Toby shrugged. “He is, but stopping to take care of our needs for a short time won’t make him any sicker nor will hurrying make him better.”

  It was something his mother had always said. His chest tightened as he thought about her. Once more he shoved his feelings aside. It would be disastrous if he let his concentration slip, especially with this cat tagging along.

  “I s’pose you’re right,” the guard said, “but let’s not dally. I don’t like being gone from my post this long.”

  One obstacle down, about a hundred more to go. The cats continued leaping from snow drift to snow drift until they got to the road the locals had cleared. Toby breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been faking being out of breath earlier and now he was as hungry and cold as he had feigned earlier. The pub was crowded when they arrived. The gray tom looked through the forest of legs toward the cheery fire at the other end of the large room. He raised up on his hind legs, trying to get a better view of the people sitting beside it. He spotted Lorn alone at a table just to the left of the roaring firepla
ce. Turning, he lowered himself to face the guard cat.

  “I’ll find a place to sit by the fire and you go order us some hot food.”

  Without waiting for a reply, the gray tom disappeared into the forest of legs. He trotted toward the fire, trying to seem as if he was looking for a place to sit and not heading straight for his partner. He pretended to notice an empty stool by the bearded man and moved toward it.

  “Excuse me, is that seat taken?”

  Lorn raised an eyebrow. The tom jerked his head toward the bar, never changing his expression. The young man glanced in the bar’s direction and back at the gray tom. He gestured toward the empty stool and went back to slurping his soup. Toby leaped up and turned toward the fire, his back to the bar and the waiting guard.

  “I got company. Wouldn’t let me go without a guard,” he whispered.

  “How do you want to play this?” Lorn whispered back.

  “Hail, fellow, well met. Offer to share a coach because we’re heading the same direction.”

  “What about when we get there?”

  “Worry about that when the time comes.”

  “Understood. Here comes your friend.”

  “Couldn’t find a seat for both of us?” growled the guard from the floor.

  Toby clamped his whiskers together, wanting to grin in defiance. He turned to stare down on the glowering tom.

  “I’m sorry. There were other tables further from the fire, but —”

  “Not to worry,” interrupted Lorn, leaning back and snagging a stool from a nearby table. “Here ya go. No need freezin’ yer tails off when there’s a seat to be had.”

  The guard cat’s hair spiked along his spine and he growled. Toby gave him a hard stare as he spoke to the human.

  “That is very generous of you, sir.”

  Lorn waved the idea away. “In cold like this, ‘tis nothin’ more than a common courtesy. Where you cats headed?”

  The gray tom turned his back on the guard again. “We’re going to the temple in Yonderkin to visit a sick friend.”

  The human nodded and smiled, his spoon hanging forgotten in his hand. “I know those folks. Good people. Sorry to hear yer friend is sick.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  The bar wench arrived with their stew then. The gray tom tucked into the hot beefy goodness, slurping up the thick broth and smacking his lips on the well-done vegetables. He glanced at his guard companion, noting the tom’s fur still hadn’t flattened, though he had taken the proffered stool. Lorn’s spoon scraped the bottom of his bowl. He called the wench over and ordered another bowl of hot soup and a small loaf of bread, making up for lost time. By the time the cats had finished their bowls of stew, Lorn had devoured his second helping of soup and half the bread loaf. He sat looking at them.

  “You said yer going to Yonderkin, is that right?”

  The guard cat growled. “That’s none of your concern.”

  Lorn shrugged. “I was just thinkin’, I’m headin’ that direction. We could share a coach, but if ya already got a ride....”

  “We can get our own,” snarled the tom.

  “I hope tha’s true, friend. It took me two days to find a coach headed that direction and most of m’ purse to secure passage.”

  The gray tom’s eyes widened. He took a surreptitious sniff of his partner. No fishy smell. Either he was getting better at lying or it was so close to the truth he wasn’t worried about being found out. He looked at the young guard.

  “We don’t have much money and His Excellency didn’t want us gone any longer than necessary. I think we should take this man up on his offer.”

  The guard’s tail lashed as he glared at the human. “Seems we have no choice.”

  Lorn grinned and threw his arms wide. “Excellent. We can leave on the morrow.”

  The cat growled and dropped to the floor, casting a sour expression over his shoulder at Toby.

  “I’ll arrange for us to sleep on the hearth.”

  The gray tom dipped his head and watched the young tom stalk toward the bar, then turned his attention to his partner.

  “Two days?”

  The human frowned and tapped the table.

  “Nearly. I spent most of the day just getting here. Walking through that forest and avoiding the tunnels is tricky work. Once I got here it took me most of the evening and the next morning to find out if there were any coaches headed toward Yonderkin. I had to drain a lot of energy to work off the debt for hiring it.”

  “Why so few coaches?”

  “Yonderkin is near the Outer Reaches. It’s the dead of winter and there’s no telling when the next big storm will hit. Nobody wants to be stuck on the road in a blizzard.”

  “I see your point. Was tomorrow the soonest you could get us on the road?”

  The man smiled. “Actually, I need to let the driver know we’ll be staying the night. Should make him happier. He wasn’t looking forward to driving through the night. I thought we could use the time to figure out what to do about our unwanted guest.”

  “Clever.”

  “Glad you approve.”

  By morning Lorn had mirror called Terence to let him know what was going on. Together they had hatched a plan to give the guard a personal experience of a temple worker’s drugged existence. When they arrived, Terence invited them to dinner. The guard received a dose of angel’s trumpet and the suggestion that there was nothing for him to do at the Yonderkin temple except meditate. Terence assured the guard that he could rest because Toby would be under the watchful gaze of the Brothers. Once the guard cat was tucked away in a meditation room, the gray tom dropped his disguise, shaking his orange fur out in glee.

  “Oh it’s good to be me again.”

  Terence splayed his whiskers in a wide cat grin. “I gotta say, if Lorn hadn’t been with you, I don’t think I’d have believed you when you said who you were. That’s a great disguise.”

  Toby returned the smile and winked at his old friend. “Maybe a little more subtle than the one we used for the White Dog pub? I think I prefer changing colors to changing shape. And might I add that it’s good to hear your voice. We were afraid our trip would be in vain, what with you taking a vow of silence and all.”

  “It might have been, but the One said it was time to end it the day before I got your message from Brother Samson.”

  “Seriously?” asked Lorn, his eyes narrowing.

  The gray and white patched tabby chuckled. “Some day maybe you and the One will meet. Then perhaps His ways won’t seem so impossible to you.” He looked back at Toby. “I also wanted to tell you that you’re not the only ones whisker deep in an investigation. I’ve heard from Master O’dorn that he and his guardian friend are hot on the trail of whoever murdered your mother.”

  The orange tom’s whiskers widened and his tail twitched. “Do they have any leads?”

  “I don’t know. I’m assumin’ they’re after some of the same lot as you, since they asked about angel’s trumpets, too.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” said Lorn.

  Toby stared at his partner, his green eyes narrowing as he tried to put all the puzzle pieces together. He was certain he knew who was behind it all, but then why would Councilman Damon’s companion murder his mother and then vow to find her killer? It didn’t make sense. He shook his head. Too many pieces missing. Terence cleared his throat, drawing the tom’s attention back to the moment.

  “So what’s this mess you got yourself into?”

  Toby and Lorn spent the next few hours relating everything they’d learned about the New Life Temple and School and it’s head temple cat, including their suspicions of who the overall master was. The little gray and white patched tabby listened intently, asking a few clarifying questions now and again. When they finished, the little tom
’s tail was lashing to and fro, his whiskers clamped together.

  “That is not the way of the One.”

  The orange tom glanced at his partner, then back at Terence.

  “We thought as much. That’s why we came here. Your information on angel’s trumpet was a good start and might have been enough to help get the OKG interested. As things are now, though, we don’t think we can afford waiting for the idea to filter through all the protocols. We’re hoping you can show us how to disrupt their system enough to let the children’s minds take over for themselves.”

  Terence padded toward a window and motioned for the partners to look outside. Between the building and a stone fence was a small garden covered by a magical bubble like the one over the New Life harvest grounds. Toby smiled as he remembered his friend’s desire to become the first garden cat if he wasn’t chosen to attend the King’s Academy of Mages. He turned to congratulate his friend, then sobered at the tom’s deep frown.

  “This is what one cat can accomplish using natural magic. The academy’s gardens were bigger ‘cause there were several masters workin’ on it together. What you’re up against is bigger than anything I’ve ever heard of.”

  “It’s blood magic,” growled Toby.

  “I’m sure it is, but here’s the thing: once you start messin’ with the master cat’s magic supply you’re gonna bring down a heap of trouble.”

  “We can handle it,” said Lorn, sitting down on the window ledge and crossing his arms.

  “What kind of trouble?” asked Toby.

  “It’s been a long time since I studied magic, but, from what I can remember, to create something that big, you need to have it connected to your victims.”

  Lorn shrugged. “In other words, the bubble is kept in place by the humans they’ve enslaved. Freeing their minds brings down the bubble. Okay, so what’s the problem with that?”

  “Do you have somewhere to take them once they’re free?”