Part IV:
John wended his way to Count Latath, with whom he had
become well acquainted. Then something sunk in, driving his
stomach into turmoil. "She had referred to me as 'dear!"
Rather then be flattered by this he was deeply disturbed.
He shrugged it off as he smiled to Latath, "Well, that was
fun."
Latath returned with a knowing smile looking deeply
into John's eyes, "I would say it was. It looked that you
made quite the impression." Latath's smile deepened as he
saw his friend's complexion turn pink and he chuckled.
Almost as swiftly as the smile came to his lips, his face
hardened to make stone look soft and friendly. His voice
reflected the emotion on his face, "If that is all, Baron?"
John took a half step back, pain and confusion in his
eyes and on his face. He stammered, "Yes, it is."
With that the Count swept away, leaving a lingering
chill. Out of the corner of his eye, John caught some
movement, not unlike that of a small furry creature running
off. He took a table, emotions awhirl and gnawed at some
food. His pretense at eating was interrupted by the woman
he had met that morning. She gestured to the empty chair
next to him smiling, "May I join you?"
He felt himself warming under her smile and managed a
half hearted smile and nod. She settled in delicately
looking at him with eyebrows furrowed. "Is there something
wrong? This would be first time that I heard a complaint of
one of the Duchess' parties..."
He glanced away from her to look at the throne, but
couldn't see through the press of bodies. Looking back at
her, he smiled with more sincerity shaking his head, "I just
have a lot on my mind." He couldn't help but notice a fresh
red scar on her immaculate left hand. He thought to
himself, "Oh, no, I can't even remember her name..."
By then a third dance song was started up by the unseen
musicians. The Lady looked at John coquettishly offering
him her hand, "Shall we, m'Lord?"
John grinned in return, "Of course, m'Lady!"
He took her hand and escorted her out on to the dance
floor. Soon they were swirling amongst the throng of
dancers. A familiar burning sensation consumed him as he
looked into her eyes. He knew that he couldn't hide it from
his face. Confusion burned within him. He looked up and
saw the Duchess in a heated discussion with her Satyr lover.
The Satyr looked up and saw John. The next time he could
look, he saw Elana looking at him furiously and the Satyr
grinning an evil grin of victory. His heart felt cold.
Then the whirling of the crowd prevented him from seeing her
anymore. Count Latath saw them dancing and smiled. Once
again he was enraptured of the woman beside him. A light
tap on his shoulder interrupted their dance. He saw the
Lady bow herself away and turned to see the Duchess behind
him. Behind the Duchess was the Satyr, a disgusted look on
his face.
The Duchess smiled sweetly at John, "Shall we continue,
where you left off?" The passion that previously been for
the Lady of no name quickly changed its course and was
redirected to Elana before him. He reached out and took her
into the dancer's embrace, sweeping her across the floor.
One time that he looked up he saw the Lady talking to the
Count and pointing in his direction. The Count looked up
and turned his back in disgust.
*****************
Tim was feeling cold and wretched by the time the SPCA
workers had put him into a cage to await veterinary
examination. He curled up trying to sort out his thoughts.
He was still trying to make sense of the events of the day
and come up with a plan when a person in a white
veterinarians uniform started unlocking the cage. He
decided it was now or never. As the door swung open, he let
out a hideous meow launching a cantrip at the veterinarian.
He then leapt out of the cage and ran for the open door.
Behind the vet was looking baffled by the empty cage.
His luck held as someone was heading out the back door
just as he was about to pass it. He ducked quickly out and
into unfamiliar territory. He ran down the street a ways
before stopping to get his bearings. He realized that
wherever it was, it was far from downtown and his apartment
and maybe not a good neighborhood..
*****************
The Queen looked up to see the commoner who had
reported earlier entering the lair. She decided to switch
into her feline form. She curled up, her sleek black coat
glistening in the fairy lights. Her gaze remained fixedly
on the commoner who arrived finally at the base of the
throne's pedestal.
"My Queen...?"
A black tail twitched, "Proceed."
"Old Tiger is sowing the seeds of the plan."
"Very well, be gone."
The commoner rushed out of the Queen's presence,
anxious to return to the party. Esmerelda stretched
languidly nearly slithering to the floor. She dropped down
gracefully, and sauntered over to the cage. The black tom
looked at her a mischievous gleam in his eyes. The mouse
trembled in its prison. Esmerelda purred, "Well, well,
well, the net is being slowly wound about your old oathmate.
You should have known better then to return to Arcadia
without your old friends. And to comeback..." The Queen's
eyes narrowed to slits hatred crashing from her like a tide.
A crowd of Cait Sidhe, gremalkin and noble alike, gathered
around and yowled their derision, burying the mouse's
squeaking losing whatever she was trying to communicate.
"Perhaps, we can have a taste of the fun that we shall
have with the both of you."
The mouse squeaked in alarm and started running circles
in her cage. Silence descended on the assembled cats, their
tails twitching in anticipation, ears back. In the distance
was the thud and crash of kittlings getting into and
knocking over something they shouldn't.
The gathered felines poured glamour into their Queen as
she laid heavy enchantments on her victim.
Part V:
Andoris ran back and forth in her cage feeling the
glamour gather about her, binding her in its enchantment.
The purring of the gathered cats was sounding almost like an
earthquake to the trapped Sidhe turned mouse. The Queen
spoke, venom dripping from her voice, "Now, my pretties," a
cantrip was cast and her voice carried throughout her
domain, "the *mouse* will run loose in the freehold. She is
bound so she can not leave, among other things. This is the
game. She will be allowed a five minute head start, and no
one is to follow or watch where she goes. When her five
minutes is up, the hunt begins." Meows of anticipation
filled the lair, interrupting the Queen. She hissed and
silence descended once more. "She must be returned to me
alive. The one who returns her will be rewarded. Any who
dare kill this forsworn meat will face my wrath!" As the
echoes of that pronouncement sounded down the hall, Andoris
cringed into the back corner of the cage. Meows of
anticipation resounded throughout the freehold. The mouse
felt as though cords yanked her and she tumbled out of the
now open cage door. She looked back hoping to return to the
safety of the cage but it was no longer open.
The cats all watched the mouse reach a decision and
then it scampered away. The cats' eyes followed it. The
Queen's voice boomed, "Five minutes, starting now!"
The gremalkin who had gathered dispersed to their
previous activities or inactivity as was their wont. The
Queen languidly guided herself into her throne. She curled
up in a purring ball of black fur and counted the time
before the hunt would begin.
*****************
Tim wandered the streets in what he hoped was the right
direction. Fortunately, given the time of day, these streets
were unusually quiet. In the distance was the drone of
traffic and nearby the sound of the occasional car. He
passed a depanneur and a little girl came out with her
father, squealing in delight at the sight of the cat. Tim
barely managed to save his tail from the grasping hand as
his sprinted off. After crossing the street he looked back
to see the father admonishing the child in French. He
sighed wishing that he had taken the time to learn that
language. He strolled for a few blocks before realizing that
he was getting hopelessly lost. "Hey, beauty," he chided
himself, "this adventure is wearing thin rather quickly."
He heard an inquisitive meow from behind him and realized
that he had been foolishly lax by: talking out loud, and
not paying any attention to his surroundings. A brown and
white house-cat was perched on a nearby garbage can looking
at him with curiosity. A little boy opened a nearby door
and called out in Italian. The cat looked to the boy and
back to Tim, hissed and ran to and through the door. For
the next half hour Tim was despondent, wandering aimlessly.
He stopped, flattened his ears and spat in derision. He
thought to himself, "Fool, you've been getting too fat and
lazy under ole John's care, can't even think for yourself
anymore." He licked his paw and swatted his tail. A little
flickering light appeared sitting right in front of his
nose. He twitched his whiskers and whispered, "Take me to
John before he gets himself into serious trouble." The
light went through a rainbow of colours before zipping off
going from lamp post to lamp post.
In moments he was at a metro station. He stopped in
his tracks. People were coming and going. He gazed from
the alley to the station watching the will o' wisp
glimmering in the lights of the station. He sighed not
liking the looks of things. With the feline equivalent of a
shrug he ran through the doors just as someone opened one,
wind pressing at him from behind. With nary a glance
elsewhere he rushed through the turnstiles and down the
stairs. His luck held as no one noticed the flash of fur so
intent were they on their conversations. He descended the
final flight of stairs to the metro platform, a sense of
disquiet settling over him. He heard a voice call out and
turned to see a woman pointing at him from further down the
platform. The loud whirring and a whooshing of displaced
air heralded the arrival of the metro drowning out her
words. Tim hopped into the car, realizing at that moment
that he had lost track of the will o' wisp in his haste.
The car held a smattering of people. A couple of people
looked at the feline passenger but in typical Montreal
fashion, ignored it as the metro accelerated to the next
stop. He looked anxiously about for the will o' wisp. He
saw it in the next car down and rushed to the door. Then a
cold and ill feeling swept up his spine leaving his fur in
end. The doors opened and a pack of goths stepped in
exuding banality in waves.(Author's note: these goths just
happened to be really banal... can you guess why?) Tim
looked up and turned to run to the other door. As he
started moving, the coldness of the banality leeched at his
already low reserves of glamour. The world turned grey. He
felt ill. His thoughts drifted...
Amy looked up as the odd looking bunch of goths boarded
the metro. She had known plenty of goths in her time, but
something unnerved her about these ones. Then she saw a cat
run from them meowing and hissing trying to make it for the
doors by her at the end of the metro car. The doors shut in
its face. Her heart went out to the poor thing. It seemed
daftly afraid of those goths. She reached down to pick up
the cat. It looked up and jumped into her lap purring.
Then it looked at the goths and hunched its back. They
looked at the cat and laughed before turning to talk with
someone who was already seated. She stroked the cat's back
murmuring comforting words, looking forward to her stop
downtown. A mote of dust, reflecting the light, drifted in
front of the cat's face. The cat, in typical feline
fashion, started batting and trying to play with it. The
mote seemed to dance around the cat's paws. Amy chuckled,
smiling for the first time in days, distracted from her
fellow passengers and her worries for a time by the cat in
her lap.
*****************
For John and the Duchess, the evening passed in a swirl
of colours, sounds, and textures, and the other person was
at the center of the swirl. Forgotten to them were the
Satyr lover, the Lady, the Count and matters of state. All
that mattered was that they were together. They could not
see that they were alone in the crowd, abandoned by friends
and suitors alike. The Duchess' friends and suitor all
figured John as a whimsical romantic interlude, but would
have no part of it. John's relationships were newly forged
and tenuous. None of his friends truly understood their
rising bitterness at his apparent romance and the hatred or
apathy this was spawning. They were embracing each other
leaning on the door to the Duchess' apartments. The Duchess
smiled coquettishly, "Well, well, my dear, care to explore
the apartments..."
Before John could answer, the door was opening and they
stumbled into the apartments giggling and laughing. Elana
whisked out of his arms, disappearing through one of the
doors. Her voice, even melodious through the door she had
shut behind her, called out for him to wait. His eyes took
in the luxurious apartment that would make heads of state
green with envy. His eyes settled on the couch. There was
a cat there. It seemed to be looking at him intensely. It
had a black coat and its eyes were crystal green....
Part VI:
The freehold of the Queen of Cats in Montreal was
nestled down a trod hidden in an alleyway off of St. Laurent
street. The trod itself even if discovered was treacherous
to all fey of the non-cat variety. Any who managed to wend
their way through the enchanted pathway would have found
themselves in front of a skeletal building overgrown with
vines. They would have faced a myriad if choices on how to
enter the frame of a building. Each entryway was cloaked in
shadows. Many of them led to nightmare realms, others
realms of dreams akin to paradise, trapping those unfamiliar
within those pathways. By employing various treasures and
vantages within the real freehold the cait sidhe watched the
trespassers invoking cantrips to play with or help their
unfortunate prey. Sometimes there were kindly gremalkin who
would show up and rescue them from the traps. For those few
who chose the correct entrance, they found themselves
entering a world of chaos in beauty and beauty in chaos.
The artistry itself could have trapped the unwary, if it
wasn't for the constant romp of kittlings, cats and other
fey folk distracting from the art, some may have been lost
there in the wylds of the art. Those who did overcome the
obstacles that far had to deal with the Queen and her
knights...
Tucked away in a corner, down one of the many hallways
adjoining the throne room, was a velvety birch barked tree
with golden leaves. Towards the top the boughs wove
together in an intricate shell with an entrance. Inside
that woody capsule was the home of one of the knights of the
Queen, shunted off into its own dreamrealm. Within this
dreamrealm, in front of a fire, on a Persian rug, was a
tortoiseshell cat curled up in a ball. Her tail was
twitching in reflection of the agitation of her thoughts:
The Queen is off her rocker. She's obsessed. This bid for
repaying the debt of the traitors I can understand; but,
they don't even seem to remember what they did wrong. She
chuckled to herself, and that John, he's a charmer. That
doesn't excuse what happened. They deserve some *reward*
for their deeds but...
Her thoughts were interrupted by a scritching sound in
the back room of her abode. She practically jumped right to
the ceiling, landing with her back arched. The dreamhome
fell silent. After a couple of seconds the scritching sound
resumed in earnest. Lithui crouched down approaching the
doorway behind which the source of the sound was hidden.
She thought for a second realizing that she had left the
door open when she had left. With a whispery meow, she
'spoke' the word which opened the door. On the other side a
white mouse froze, looking at the cait sidhe in fear. With
a feline smile, Lithui lay down gloating to the mouse.
"Well, well, the hunt is over and I am the victor it
seems..." The mouse looked at the cat and took a bite out of
the door. She gnawed at the splinter of wood she had torn
off with the feline looking on finishing her gloating, "The
Queen will be happy to know that I was the one to find you
after the others had done a couple of hours of searching
Oh my, and it will be a couple of hours before
she gets back even. We're going to have some play
ourselves."
At that point, the mouse had deposited a small piece of
wood in front of herself. Glamour gathered about the piece
of wood, then launched a barely telephone-like cord between
cat and mouse. The mouse's mouth moved and she whispered,
"Please, Noble Knight, don't return me to the prison. Can't
you see the Queen is falling to bedlam?"
Lithui mreowred dangerously as she stood up and paced
back in forth in front of the door keeping the mouse
trapped. The mouse continued, "She's psychoticly obsessed
with this pointless vengeance of hers..."
Lithui hissed interrupting and growled, "It is not
pointless, Andoris. You and Jonold broke your promises to
us when you left us behind in this world. You deserve..."
Andoris whispered, "No less than what we're receiving.
But there's something about the way the Queen is going about
this and hints to what she's planning..."
Lithui plopped down eyeing the mouse. "We shall see."
*****************
Amy let out a breath that she hadn't known that she'd
been holding as the metro doors slid to a dull thud behind
her and the metro whirred away. She was still holding the
cat who was snoozing quietly in her arms. She felt oddly
warm and alive with the cat she was cradling. The memories
of the odd goths and the events that occurred around them
folded in on themselves tucking into a far corner of her
mind. There was a hint of wonder in the air as she exited
the metro station. Amy started whistling a tune she had
been rehearsing at Vanier College on her flute. A wave of
disorientation hit her strongly. She stumbled over to the
bus stop's bench. The world was shifting under her gaze,
getting a hazy effect. The cat in her arms woke with a
start. The mote of dust that the cat had been playing with
on the metro appeared and looked like a small firefly. Amy
was hit by vertigo. She grabbed onto the cat, hugging him
close. The cat looked up at her and asked, "Are you OK?"
She stared at the talking cat for a second. He looked like
a gremalkin. He should be... The world turned strange, too
much light, too many colours for this time of night. She
stood up shaking her head. What's a gremalkin anyway?
*****************
The black car had avoided every overture of friendship
that Jon had extended to it. He let it run away from him to
the windowsill of the room. It was staring off into the
night when Elana made her entrance. The Duchess sashayed in
wearing intricate yet flimsy negligee. John's heart stopped
for a split second as his jaw hit the floor. His pulse
quickened making up for lost time as she settled into the
couch next to him. He was going to mutter something about
moving too quickly when the mood was shattered by a fierce
meowing at the door. Elana huffed in frustration as the
black cat ran at the door. There was a knock at the door.
The Duchess let out a nearly feral snarl as she stood up and
opened the door briskly, not caring for her attire. A
stammering troll was at the receiving end of the Duchess'
glare. The black cat ducked out chasing an orange tom.
"Your grace, uh, the Knights reported, uh, a chrysalis."
The troll was blushing.
Elana smiled her most charming smile, running her
slender finger under the troll's chin. "Well then, we'll
just have Balinor look after that. Why don't you pass that
message for me." The troll's blush deepened. He did an
imitation of a fish before bowing his acknowledgment and
beating a hasty retreat. Elana shut the door slowly. She
gathered glamour as she placed a finger to her lips, making
a shushing sound, and laid a cantrip on the door. She
strode quickly to the window, opening it enough for a cat to
enter. Elana turned back to John a mischievous smile toying
with her lips. She sashayed once more to the couch. "Now
where were we?"
*****************
The Queen padded along beside Old Tiger back out on the
streets. She was fuming. She was about to see her plan
reach fruition when this came up. She smiled a wicked grin.
At least the plan will ripen further as she took care of
this little matter.
(
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