Chapter Eighteen

Of course, once I decided to go home, I still had one final journey to take. Let me tell you about the adventures I had after a mountebank slipped a sleeping potion into the evening wine at the castle of Baroness Elisabetta von Hasenpfeffer.

-Lady Chatterwick’s Journey

Once both kittens had eaten their fill, they dragged the remains to a patch of nearby moss. Once they were on the spongy, forgiving surface, Tia returned to girl-shape and leapt away, and Maria followed, brushing away any traces of human footprints, and leaving her own paw prints instead.

They quickly found their original resting place, but by now the scent of deceased squirrel was quite pungent. Maria, nauseated, insisted upon walking further upriver, and they soon fell asleep curled up together in a hollow log. With Tia’s dress making a soft bed for them and their fresh cache of food, they slept well and deeply until the sound of someone crashing through the woods awoke them.

“Stop whining, Grogas!” Sir Jenna’s voice snapped. “If you hadn’t fallen asleep, our food wouldn’t have been raided, and we wouldn’t be out here now. This is entirely your fault!”

“Is not,” Grogas muttered. “If Sir Baylin would have let us put the food in the middle of our camp, like I suggested, you two would have woken when the beasts tried to get it. I was wide awake, up on that stupid little hill, in the middle of friendly territory.”

Jenna snorted. “We’ll leave that between you and your gods, whoever they may be. All I know is that when I woke, I found you snoring away, and our food gone.”

“I decided to let you sleep,” Grogas countered. “You need your beauty sleep if you’re ever going to catch a husband.”

“I have a husband,” Jenna said, rather smugly. “And he thinks I’m plenty beautiful. Now be quiet and keep tracking! Sir Baylin wants us back in half an hour.”

“Wha-?” Grogas almost squeaked, and then there was a crash, as if the clumsy knight had stumbled and fallen. After some grunting on his part, the two moved away, toward Maria and Tia’s original resting place.

“If they keep going that way, they’ll find the remains of my squirrel,” Tia whispered. “That’ll convince them it really was animals.”

Maria, more knowledgeable about the ways of knights, shook her head. “They already believe that. If they thought it was bandits, they wouldn’t have left the camp with only one guard. This is punishment duty, because Grogas fell asleep. They sent him out to do something annoying and pointless, so he won’t do it again.”

“Then why is Jenna with him? She didn’t do anything wrong.” Tia asked. She peeked out of their log, then climbed out, stretching each leg luxuriously.

Impatiently, Maria waited for Tia to move, but the other kitten seemed to be lingering in the opening intentionally. Finally, Maria batted at the tempting tail tip hovering tantalizingly close to her face, and Tia jumped, spinning to face her. The two kittens tussled, rolling around as they playfully bit and hit at each other, though their claws were carefully sheathed.

When they were warmed up and wide awake, they lay, sprawled in the dirt, as each of them smoothed their own fur after the battle. Once she was satisfied with her grooming, Maria returned to their previous conversation. “Sir Baylin probably knows that if Grogas was alone, he’d just sit down as soon as he was out of sight. Sir Jenna is there to make sure he’s properly chastened by the time he gets back.”

Tia laughed. “I’ve seen parents do that to their children before, but never another adult.”

Maria stood, stretching a back leg slowly. “They do it all the time, just not as obviously. You’ll see it, now that you know what to look for.”

Shifting to her human form, Tia pulled on her dress. The item was rather the worse for the wear, but, though dirty, it was intact and covered her well enough, so long as she kept her tail tucked up. She hesitated before putting on her cloak, however.

“I need something to carry the food,” Tia said, looking from the small pile of neatly wrapped bread, cheese, and eggs to the long, green cape.

Maria hesitated, too, but scratched thoughtfully at the fabric. “Can you tear it? Just a strip off the bottom. We can wrap the food in it, and use the ends as a strap. As long as you have the hood and the top half, it could just be a short cape.”

“My legs will show, though,” Tia said, nervously. Her dress only fell to mid-calf, so her deep black skin showed when she didn’t wear the ankle-length cloak.

Maria looked from Tia to the pile of food, frustrated. “We need to carry it somehow. We put in so much effort to get it. Plus, if we have this, we don’t have to buy anything in town, so our money might be enough to get us all the way to the capital.”

Slowly, Tia nodded. “All right,” she said, though she was clearly reluctant. “As long as no one can see my eyes and ears, it should be all right.” Before she could change her mind, she used her sharp, thick nails to cut off a wide strip of the cloak. Now, it ended just above the bottom of her skirt, leaving her bare legs and feet visible.

Maria wound her way around the girl’s exposed ankles, purring supportively. “It’ll be fine. If we’re lucky, the carnival might even still be in town, and we can stay with them for a night.”

Tia laughed roughly. “And if anyone sees me, they’ll just think I’m another carnival freak.”

Gently, Maria bit Tia’s ankle. “Stop that. You’re not a freak. You’re just different.”

“That’s what a freak is,” Tia mumbled, but she picked Maria up, pressing her face into her friend’s fur. “All right, let’s do this.”

It took nearly two more hours of steady walking to reach the furthest outskirts of Minitaw. During their hike, they came across an area where the mud had been dug away in hand-width trenches. Lying near the water was a piece of rough, hempen rope. They both stopped, staring from the gouges in the riverbank to the powerful rapids upstream.

Maria was the first to break the silence. “I can’t believe you managed to pull us out of that water. Look how fast it’s moving.”

Tia shook her head. “I had to. We were both going to die.”

Leaning her head against Tia’s chest, Maria looked up at her. “You could have left me behind,” she said, softly. “Between the wet bag, and my fur, I should have been too heavy to carry, much less pull from such a strong undertow.”

Tia’s jaw clenched. “I had to,” she repeated, stubbornly. Without another glance at the obvious signs of her desperate battle for both their lives, she continued on.

The area near the low town walls was mostly clear of trees and brush. The easy foraging had all been gathered, and a few houses stood scattered around outside the safety of the town limits. As they drew nearer, finally stepping up onto the hard-packed dirt road, they saw that while there were guards, they were busy talking to three people on horseback, while carts and people on foot went in and out of town freely.

Tia barely paused. Maria could see that her lips were pinched so tightly together that they had nearly vanished, but she just put her head down and forged on, heading for the gate as if she walked this road every day.

The moment they were through, the tension in Tia’s arms relaxed, but she froze when a voice shouted, “Hey, you! The girl in the cloak!”

Maria could feel Tia’s muscles tighten as the girl gathered herself to bolt. If she did, however, she would have to change into Felis-form to escape, and leave her clothing and their hard-won food and money behind. They could still try stowing away on a cart heading for the capital, but that hadn’t turned out particularly well last time she tried it.

Hooves pounded the dirt behind them, and Maria laid a paw on Tia’s arm. “Hold,” she hissed. “They have no reason to keep us.”

Slowly, Tia turned, looking up into the closed helmet of the mounted knight who had called for them. Maria recognized the insignia on his armor, and realized that they had forgotten that the trio of guards would also be traveling to Minitaw in order to buy more provisions. Of course they would be suspicious of a ragged girl of about the right size and age to be Maria.

Sir Grogas reached down and flipped the hood back away from Tia’s face. All around them, people gasped audibly as they saw her black skin and fluffy ears. Tia blinked, shocked, then scrambled to yank her hood back up, dropping Maria in the process. Maria landed on her feet, back arched, hissing and spitting furiously at the boorish knight.

Sir Jenna, who had followed Grogas and seen everything, hit him hard on the back of his helmet before he could say a word. Metal clanged loudly before he reached up and flipped open his helm. He swayed, glaring at his companion.

“But she’s-”

Jenna smacked him again, and his eyes crossed. He clamped his mouth shut as the female knight turned back to Tia. “Excuse me, lass, but you look as though you’ve been, ah, traveling, for a while?” She ended as if on a question, but she clearly knew the answer.

Tia nodded, slowly, and raised a hand to cover her cleft lip as she answered. “A while,” she agreed.

Sir Baylin had approached by now, as well, and his calm voice helped keep Grogas silent. “Perhaps you haven’t heard, then, that we’re looking for a missing girl.” He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a familiar scroll. Unrolling it, he showed it to Tia. “Have you seen her, or anyone even similar to her?”

Tia shook her head, hand still half-covering her face. Maria leaned against her leg, fur still standing on end as she glowered at Grogas. Slowly, Tia took her hand away, allowing the three guards to see that she looked nothing like the girl pictured on the scroll. “Haven’t th… seen her,” she said firmly, correcting her small lisp.

Sir Jenna nodded, looking back at Sir Baylin. Both knights ignored Grogas, who seemed to be pouting. “That’s all, then,” Jenna said, kindly. “There’s a reward for information leading to her return, so if you do hear or see anything…” She trailed off meaningfully, and Tia nodded. Jenna turned a dark look on Grogas, who scowled.

“Yes, well,” the knight muttered, “make sure you do report it. If we find that someone lied to us, then-” He broke off as Jenna’s gauntleted hand rose threateningly, and he cleared his throat. “Get on your way then.” His nose wrinkled. “That carnival cleared out yesterday, if you’re looking for them. Headed to Triven.”

Tia just nodded again, and turned away. Maria padded along behind her as they walked deeper into Minitaw.