“Just my luck,” I whispered, as I grabbed for more rockface so I could climb to my cat. “Stay where you are, I’m coming.” I heaved myself up another few feet. “Fraidy? Sweetie, if you can hear me, stay calm, okay? Can you hear me, sweetie? Just stay calm, I’m coming.”
“I’m dying! I’m dying!”
Oh, Goddess.
I pulled myself up another two feet and rested my chin on a rock ledge. “You’re not dying, sweetie. I’m nearly there, just …. just deep breaths, okay?” I said, panting.
“I can’t breathe! I’m choking!”
One more pull and I had my hand on Fraidy’s back. I looked at Shade. “Buddy, we don’t have much time,” I said. “I need you to run as fast as you can down this face and get my broom and bring it back up here, okay? Bring ‘Clipsy up with you too. Think you can do that, Shadester? The Clearcloak is about to disintegrate, and we need to be gone, understood?” Shade nodded at me dumbly, his eyes black. “Go,” I said, and Shade picked his way as fast as he could down the rock face.
“Honey, I’m here,” I said to Fraidy, rubbing his back to let him know I was with him. “Hattie?” His breathing sounded labored. “Get me outta here!!” He wailed.
“So it’s just your head that’s stuck, right?” I queried. “I can’t see from this angle, but it doesn’t look like any other part of you is stuck.”
“Just my head? My head is the most important part of me! I want to take my head with me when we leave here, Hattie! Please!”
“Got it,” I said, and went to work. Using both hands, I wedged them down the sides of Fraidy’s neck between his fur and the edge of the rock hole he’d gotten stuck in. “How’d you even get in this situation,” I mumbled, feeling around his fur to determine how much clearance I had. “You told me to investigate, so that’s what I did!” I wasn’t sure if I heard an echo of Fraidy’s voice.
I shook my head and pushed my right hand in further, and dislodged a fragment of the rock along the edge of the hole. It fell. And about one second after its initial descent I heard it hit something substantial below the place where Fraidy’s head was stuck. A tunnel, maybe?
My hand found the top part of Fraidy’s chest, close to his throat. “Okay, Fraidy, you have to relax now, okay? I’m going to pull you out, but you need to let your head go limp.”
“But the rock is clutching it! It’s crushing my windpipe.” His voice took on a croaky sound for the first time. I didn’t mind his exaggerating, I knew my kitty was almost paralyzed with fear. “Okay, with me. Breathe in, one, two, three, breathe out, one, two, three, breathe in, one, two …. That’s it, sweetie, you’re getting it. Now just relax a little ….”
“Yowl!!” Fraidy screeched as I pulled. His head popped out of the hole.
“I had to do it quickly while you weren’t expecting it, sweetie,” I said, giving him an apologetic shrug.
“Yo! Boss, lady!”
I turned to my side to see Shade hovering -- or, rather wobbling -- on my broom next to the cliff face. Eclipse clung to the rear, using his claws as crampons. Horace, Dilwyn, Hinrika, Vee, and Portia were already astride of their brooms, the two fairies and the Witch Fearwyn still trying to hold up the now tattered Clearcloak.
“It’s giving way here,” Portia screamed up at me. “Have you quite finished your kitty-kat picnic up there now, Ms. Jenkins?”
I nudged Fraidy’s bum toward the wobbling-hovering Shade. “Sweetie, hop on the broom, c’mon, let’s go.”
“Are you insane? I’m not getting on a broom that Shade’s driving ... he’ll kill us--”
“Fraidy, now!”
Fraidy hopped on the broom and cowered down close to the thatch. I jumped on behind Shade and turned to give the others a thumbs up. I could just see Hinrika’s corner of the Clearcloak disintegrating. Like heat waves tumbling in the air.
“Down there!” Came a gruff voice from above the withering shield. A goon-on-a-broom pointed down to where we hovered close to the waterfall. In seconds the sky all around the goon who had spotted us, darkened, as it filled with uniformed workers of Gideon Shields’ underworld.
“Bran the blessed,” I muttered.
“Uh, boss, I don’t think we’re getting out of this one,” Shade said, trying to maintain control of the broom.
“Hattie!” Portia shouted up to us. “Come here, now!” I looked down to see all the others had gathered around Portia. Holding their brooms at their sides now, each of them had hold of the other’s wrists, forming a loose circle.
“Oh, no, she’s working up to that Shadowgate spell, I know it,” Fraidy whined. I admit I felt my stomach flip as I saw the telltale signs of the Shadowgate charm below me. Of all the cruel and unusual ways to travel, this escape magic really was the pits. But it looked like it might also be the only thing that could get us out of here before Shields’ cronies descended upon us.
Shade pointed the nose of the broom downward until we’d crashed Portia’s little circle. I nudged my Shade and Fraidy onto my shoulder, and just as Portia snatched my wrist with her bony hand, I saw Eclipse jump onto the Witch Fearwyn’s shoulder. I reached out gingerly for Horace’s thick wrist and held on. Portia tried swatting Eclipse down from her neck, but she knew that time was up. She muttered some well-practiced magic and the world was wrenched out from under our feet. We all fell, spinning into the airless black void of Portia’s Shadowgate charm, and landed, with an unceremonious crash of jumbled bodies, on the sands of Sugar Beach.
“Whew-ee!” Horace exclaimed, untangling himself from Hinrika’s silk-stockinged leg. “Now ‘dat were close! Lookit me, I’m shakin’ like a leaf, I am.” Horace fished out a small pewter flask from his pocket and took a healthy slug. I watched as his tennis ball sized Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he guzzled the fiery brew.
I checked for my cats. Fraidy looked a little dizzy but was otherwise okay. Same for Shade.
“‘Clipsy?’ I called, scanning the bodies for my kitty. I saw him, sitting in front of Portia, staring rudely into the woman’s face. Portia reared up. “Who is this cat?”
“That’s Eclipse, Portia,” I said. Curious as to why they were looking at one another in such an intense and odd way.
“Well, get him away from me,” she said standing. “Damned thing’s giving me the creeps.”
Verdantia Eyebright stood, brushing sand from her emerald green flowing dress. The beautiful faery’s head jerked to a spot beyond the headland of the dunes. “Look!” She pointed to the top of a distant cliff, cloaked with tall, dark evergreens. I swiveled my head to where Vee was pointing, and above the trembling treetops a plume of billowing smoke stretched up into the afternoon sky. Flashes of red and orange shot through the thick, gray haze, showing the heat of the blaze. “David’s there,” I whispered, grabbing my broom. Fraidy still clung to the thatch. “Sweetie, if you want to stay out of danger, I suggest you tag a ride home with Portia. I’m sure she’ll drop you off, no problem,” I said, gently shaking the broom to release my clinging cat.
Fraidy, his body flattened to the shaft of the besom, shook his head. “If it’s dangerous where you’re going, then I’m going too,” he said, digging his claws into the wooden handle.
“Me too, boss,” Shade said, hopping onto the broom.
Eclipse broke his peculiar gaze from Portia and jumped onto my broom.“If the chief’s in trouble, I want to be there to help.” He wasn’t asking for permission. I looked at the others, most still in various states of collapse. Portia Fearwyn flicked a finger at me from her spot on the sand. “Go,” she said. “We can meet later, and we can all share our news then.” She squinted at the smoke and flames on the horizon. “Maybe we’ll be getting some solid info about the Wyrmrig later on.”
She suspects Jyldrar too.
“Millie … she’s looking after the other cats back at the Angel. Do you think you could --”
“Go,” Portia said again, her voice sounding tired this time. “I’ll swing by the apothecary and let Millie know where yo
u are. And I’ll tell her to come out to Gaunt Manor this evening for a Custodian meeting.”
“Thanks, Portia,” I said, swinging a leg over my ride.
“He’ll be fine, don’t worry,” she said, reading my mind.
“Thanks again,” I muttered, and pushed off toward the raging fire above the Mwyrden Cliffs.
“It doesn’t matter what you thought, Hat, you shouldn’t be here,” David said, already turning his back on me and walking toward Spinefield.
“Anything?” David asked his sergeant.
“Not hide nor hair of him, chief.”
My friend ran a soot-blackened hand through his hair, leaving a trail of dark ash through his white streak. I could see the distant flames dancing in the chief’s steely blue eyes. “Very good, Spinefield,” he said, “Keep looking. Call out more men, if you have to. I want men on the coast, and I want them to stay put until the suspect comes out of hiding. Jyldrar has to be somewhere.” David looked out over the burning forest, raising a hand to shield his eyes. “And make sure the fire crew has access to plenty of cold water.”
“Will do, sir,” Spinefield said, turning to give instructions to a couple of constables close by.
David turned to me. “Don’t look at me like that, Hattie. This is a crime scene, and in case it had escaped your attention, there’s a blazing inferno going on behind us here. It’s dangerous.”
“Oh, I get it,” I said, jamming my hands on my hips and squaring up to my friend. “You’re just trying to get back at me for me not wanting you to come to Cathedral, right?”
“Don’t start on that now,” David said, shaking his head and looking up at the sky.
“Well … what’s going on then?” I challenged. “Of course I’m going to come out and find what’s happening and make sure you’re okay.”
David looked at me for the first time since I got there. His blue eyes were bright but they held barely concealed secrets. I saw the pain in my love’s eyes. Deep, churning pain. I felt a piece of my heart fall away as I wondered how long my friend could hold his act together.
He shook his head again. “Come here,” he said, reaching out for my arm. I let my body go loose in anticipation of him holding me, but I didn’t move. I stayed rooted to the spot. David tugged my arm gently again, but this time the chief crossed the expanse between us. He pulled me into him. My body turned to liquid as the heat of David’s chest burned through to the front of my body. He buried his face in my hair, and let his breath warm my scalp.
“Just … just stay safe, okay?” He said, squeezing me tighter.
“You too,” I said, returning his embrace.
I could have stayed in his arms forever. I could have happily stood there, in my friend’s competent and robust embrace until my time was up, I swear.
But my phone vibrating in my pocket took us out of the moment. The chief pushed me to arm's length while I fished out my cell. I looked at the call display.
“It’s Midnight Hill,” I said.
“Maybe Sparky’s found some stuff in the banking files?” David suggested.
“Or the ‘payload’ files,” Eclipse added.
I answered the call and waited patiently for Cressida Dreddock to come on the line. I could hear the orderly shouting at the old witch to come down from the end of her bed, and that if she wanted to behave like a bird, then he would personally see to it that she had a bowl of bird seed for her evening meal.
Cressida came on the line. “Hello?”
“Hello, Cressida? It’s Hattie Jenkins.”
“Yes? How can I help you?”
I looked at the chief and my cats and rolled my eyes. “Cressida, you had the asylum call me, remember?”
“Oh! Yes! Hattie, well, do I have some news for you,” she said, her voice tapering off to a conspiratorial whisper.
“You have some news about the Red Orb Program?” I asked, hopefully.
“No, this is the Bank of Alchemy file I told you about. Sparky got in this morning. I’m giving you the most pressing, and juicy intel from the drive right now. Of course, you and the chief will be more than welcome to scour the whole folder at your leisure, but I thought you might want to know about this little gem first.”
“Shoot,” I said, wanting to keep the crazy witch on track. I put the call on speaker phone so that everyone could hear.
“So, there’s a massive payment set up to go to the Unseelie Court. Well, specifically into Ankou’s account, I mean, but anyway … it’s weird because this upcoming payment isn’t only dated, it’s also time stamped. And what’s weirder? Well, only two minutes after the payment is released into the Unseelie Court’s account, it is set up to be redacted! How about that, huh?” I could hear Cressida’s breathing quicken on the other end of the line.
“Wait, so you think Shields is going to transfer funds and them immediately pull them? So he’s tricking Ankou? You’re certain?”
Cressida giggled. “It’s all in there, m’dear. Sparky’s uncovering the lot!”
“But how can he even do that? Wouldn’t that directly contravene bank protocol or something?”
“Hattie, dear, Shields’ family owns at least half of the Bank of Alchemy. I’m sure the governor holds sway over many of their protocols.”
David waved his hands in front of my face. “Ask her when. Ask her what the date and time are for the deposit and the subsequent redaction.”
“I can hear you, CPI Trew,” Cressida said in a sing-song falsetto. “And your answer is tomorrow. Tomorrow at five p.m is when the redaction will go down. Exactly when the Bank of Alchemy closes, so there will be nobody there to assist should Ankou want to shout at some poor bank clerk for his missing funds.” The old witch cackled. “He’s a very naughty governor, our Gideon, yes? Very naughty indeed.”
I think the mad witch said something else, but none of us were listening. We stood, in a loose circle, staring at one another in utter disbelief.
“Tomorrow? Like, as in tomorrow?” Shade said, his face aghast.
Eclipse’s face was neutral, but he uttered: “Um, that doesn’t sound like a workable timeline for us.”
I clicked ‘end call’ and looked at David. “We need to go see Ankou. Right now.”
“Was just going to say the same thing,” he said. “Only I didn’t bring my broom.”
I straddled my ride and waved a hand in front of me, signaling the expanse of vacant broomstick. “Your chariot awaits, sir.”
David hopped on and grabbed the front of the besom, and, without a word, the cats hopped onto the back. I turned my head back to look at them, each of them appraising me with watchful faces. Goddess, these silly animals melted my heart sometimes.
“Guys, we won’t need you on this trip. I want you to make your way back to the Angel. Go and be with your brothers and sister. There will be a message from Portia waiting for you telling you what time to be at Custodian HQ. David and I will come straight there after we’ve spoken to Ankou.” They looked at me but didn’t move from their respective spots on the broom handle.
“Guys, c’mon, I mean it.”
“Um, boss, I think you might be forgetting you can’t actually get into Mag Mell without cats like us,” Shade said.
“Oh. Right.”
David turned and arched an eyebrow. “‘Cats like us?’”
“He means the faery kind.”
“What? Oh … yeah, right. The Cait Sidhe.”
“Did you forget how important my furry crew are, Mister?” I joked. I slid a hand to David’s side and dug my fingers in playfully. His torso shifted beneath my palm, his muscles firm and yet so fluid with his movement. My breath hitched in my throat for a second, and I fought with myself to let the breath out naturally; in one even outbreath. The panting won over almost immediately. Pretty embarrassing. Nobody wants to be on a broom stuck behind the man they love, panting in his ear like a puppy who loves unconditionally, obediently and pathetically. Am I right? Whatever your answer, please know that I gasped all the
way to Mag Mell.
“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested,” Ankou said, waving a bored hand at us as soon as we were brought before him.
“Ankou, you’re about to be conned. Big time,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and jutting my chin toward the Unseelie King.
“I’m well aware of that,” he said dismissively. “You think I was born yesterday and that I haven’t had dealings with guys like Shields before? I know the governor’s a crook, and I know he’ll want to pull a fast one on me when it comes time.” He fidgeted in his throne, and muttered. “You damned Mystery cat,” he said, eyeing ‘Clipsy suspiciously. “I knew you were sneaking about in my affairs.” He turned away, preferring to focus on his beloved orchids-in-recovery instead.
“Then why are you still agreeing to store and deliver his dragon then?” I said.
Ankou spun toward me.“Do you have any idea how much Black Diamond will be worth in twenty years time? Do you?” The Unseelie King slid his portly frame off his regal chair. “You don’t get it, do you? These gems come only in limited supplies. Once the last stone is mined from the Glimmer Mountains, that’s it. No more Black Diamond. Cathedral is the only place in the world that these gems exist.” He looked at me with something approaching regret, and shook his head. “You poor fool. These gems are going to skyrocket, and you’re going to be very sorry you didn’t jump in while the going was good.” He swept his arm across the expanse of his throne room, and whispered: “Yes, my Court will benefit greatly from my business relationship with Mr. Shields.”
Shade coughed. “Dude, you’re making a mistake,” he said. “Let me lay this out for you … you know, tell you what’s going to happen. You can decide from there, cool?”
Ankou pursed his lips and tugged on his chin for a second. “You’re family,” he said. “I owe it to you to listen.”
Shade nodded and smoothed back his whiskers. “You’re going to deliver the dragon to Shields. The beast you’ve been holding for the governor for … what, months now?” Shade didn’t wait for Ankou to answer. “So you do this solid for the Warlock Chief -- you store his dragon, right? Then you deliver his dragon when the time is right. I’m guessin’ the governor’s gonna let you know when?” Ankou nodded silently. “Well, it all sounds like a smooth plan, I’ll agree,” Shade continued. “Only, as soon as you get that dragon through the portal and you think you have your funds deposited, the governor is going to slam that portal shut and react your precious money.”
Moggies, Magic and Murder Page 71