Journeyman Cat

by Virginia Ripple

  As he began dusting he thought back to the times he’d done library research. He’d been fortunate to be allowed into the High Temple Library once. Dragon librarians guarded those books. Dragons guarded the books at the King’s Academy of Mages as well, though the academy dragons were less likely to be seen. Perhaps these books are guarded as well, but then why so much dust? No dragon would have allowed so much as a speck of dust on their precious books.

  Toby tried to ask Harold about the books during their lunch break, but the old tom had told him to just dust them and mind his own business. He was still thinking on the state of the books, when the bell for day’s end rang. He ran down the miniature stairs, hung up the feather duster and raced out of the library, intent on telling his partner what he’d discovered and wondering what the human had learned.

  “I don’t know,” Lowrance said, sitting down carefully on the cot. “Something is strange here. The kids working in the garden were like broken mules at a grain mill. They just went from one task to the next without so much as a smile or sigh of relief. I think if the day’s end bell hadn’t clanged, they’d still be there working until they dropped from exhaustion.”

  “Did you get to talk to any of them?” asked Tobias. The gray tom stared at his filthy paws, wondering if it were worth trying to lick them clean.

  “I tried. The biggest problem was being watched all the time by the guard cats.”

  “Guard cats? There weren’t any human overseers?”

  “Not a one. And it was pretty clear from their body language that talking was strongly discouraged.”

  “That’s interesting. So you didn’t get to speak with any of the humans there?”

  “I managed to strike up a conversation with one boy, but it gave me the creeps. He just smiled and spouted some gibberish about the lord’s blessings and turning away his wrath.”

  Tobias looked up at the human, whose face was scrunched up as he massaged his arms and shoulders, and cocked his head.

  “I realize religious talk is over your head, but what’s so strange about smiling?”

  The boy stuck his tongue out at the gray cat.

  “It was the way he did it,” he said, placing his hands on his lower back and stretching. He sighed and leaned forward, arms on thighs, staring into the tom’s eyes. “Have you ever been to a puppet show?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well this kid could have been a life size puppet, minus the strings.”

  The gray cat’s skin shivered. “That is creepy. Any ideas what’s making them into puppets yet?”

  The human shook his head.

  “My best guess is the supplements Janelle told us about. Problem is, how are they getting it? I’m pretty sure it’s in their food or drink, but I can’t be positive. I ate the bread for lunch and it didn’t taste out of the ordinary. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it’s in the tea stuff they gave us. It tasted rather weedy and smelled kinda like flowers.”

  The tom looked up from washing his paws, his ears flattened to half mast.

  “Please tell me you didn’t drink it all.”

  The human scowled at his partner. “Do I look like I’m becoming a marionette?”

  Tobias squinted at the boy, raising up and leaning forward, almost touching the boy’s nose. The human’s lips trembled as if he was holding back a smile. Tobias widened his whiskers and sat back on his haunches.

  “No, I guess not, but if you begin turning, would you mind having the decency to lie on your side at night? You snore.”

  Lowrance snorted and lie back on the cot, folding his arms under his head.

  “You should stay awake and listen to yourself some night. So what did you discover?”

  The cat glared at his paw. He’d barely touched the grime on it. He stood and shook himself like a dog. Dust puffed away in a cloud, making Lowrance cough and wave his hands in front of his face.

  “Where the devil did they take you?”

  “Believe it or not, to the library.”

  “You got all that from the library?”

  Tobias flattened his ears and drew his lips back over his teeth in a pained expression.

  “Those books are disgustingly filthy. I spent all day on one aisle.”

  “What’d you do, use your own fur as the duster?”

  “Ha. Ha. No, I used a feather duster — in my mouth.”

  Lowrance raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you use magic?”

  “I suppose for the same reason you didn’t to carry those buckets. I was being watched by Harold.”

  “Who is Harold?”

  “The librarian. Janelle says he’s okay once you get to know him, but I didn’t get any more than a grunt and a pawful of glares during lunch when I tried to ask about the condition of the books.”

  The human nodded in understanding and laid his head back on his arms.

  “Other than becoming a dust ball, did you find out anything else about this school?”

  “Not much. I did find it odd, though, that not only does it seem these books are never used, they aren’t chained to the bookshelves either.”

  “So?”

  Tobias rolled his eyes. “If you ever set foot in a library to do more than accost the pretty girls, you might learn a few things.”

  The young human smirked and rolled onto his side, propping his head in his hand. The gray tom sometimes thought he should have become a teacher, given how many times he had to brief his partner on things that should have been obvious.

  “All books are chained to library shelves because they are expensive to reproduce. The only books that remain loose are those in libraries like the High Temple Library or the academy because they are guarded by dragons.”

  “I don’t remember there being dragons at the academy library.”

  “Probably because you were only there when you had to be or when you knew that red-head was working. If you’d done the research for our papers you’d have met Olga or Perri. Very nice dragons, by the way. Lots of interesting stories.”

  “What about being able to borrow the books for research? You can’t very well borrow books that are chained.”

  “True, but the books at the academy have a special security feature, so you can’t take them off campus.”

  “Really? What is it?”

  “They transport themselves back to the librarian and scream “thief” until she uses the reversal incantation,” Tobias said, his ears swiveling backward in irritation. “You would know that, too, if you’d read the student handbook.”

  “Yeah, yeah. What about the books here?”

  Tobias shook his head in consternation. His partner was clever, for sure, but it was good at least one of them chose to read.

  “Well, as I said, they aren’t chained and, based on the layers of dust covering them, they aren’t used either. And I’m sure even you remember how fastidious the dragons at the academy were. If there were dragons guarding the books here there wouldn’t be any dust.”

  “So what do you think that means?”

  “I think the only living being in this school who uses the library as a library is the librarian.”

  “That makes me wonder about the classes. What are they teaching, then?”

  “Good question.”

  “Maybe you should see if you can get into one. Find out what their lessons are,” Lowrance said.

  “I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”

  “Why not?”

  “According to Janelle, Father Hanif is the one who chooses the ministries for each person or cat. And based on what I’ve seen of him, I doubt he’s likely to change his mind. Although….”

  Tobias stared at the closed door, playing his introduction to Harold back in his mind. Lowrance cleared his throat.

&nbs
p; “Although, what?”

  The gray tom turned back to stare blankly at the human, who raised his eyebrows and shook his head slightly.

  “Huh? Oh! Something Janelle said to Harold about me being a real asset to their ministry. When the old tom asked what Hanif thought, she said he’d chosen the library as a “suitable” ministry. She didn’t say he’d said I’d be an asset.”

  “Hmmm. Makes you wonder if maybe she had something to do with your placement.”

  “And maybe yours, as well.”

  Lowrance rolled back onto his back, pulling a stiff brown blanket up to his chest.

  “Well, if that’s the case, maybe you can sweet talk her into a better placement for both of us. I’d really like to find out how those kids are getting these so-called supplements and what they really are.”

  Tobias curled up in his nest and placed his head on his paws, sighing at the amount of dirt that still clung to his fur. He doubted he’d find anything more of value in an unused library. Like his partner, what he’d really like is to find out what made the cat’s able to keep control of their human charges. He had an idea where the real learning took place and he didn’t think it was in the classroom.

  Tobias woke up thinking about ways he could get out of doing library duty. They ranged from begging his case with Father Hanif to making himself a nuisance to the librarian and getting kicked out. The click of the door lock brought him out of his latest absurd idea. The door swung open to reveal Janelle and Mother Hazel.

  Lowrance, who had already dressed and was sitting on his cot, had been so quiet the tom had forgotten he was there. The boy startled Tobias when he stood to leave. He wondered if the human had been so silent because he was thinking of ways to circumvent his own situation. The gray tom followed Janelle toward the library, still trying to come up with some way to be re-assigned to the area where the supplements were mixed.

  “Harold said you did a wonderful job dusting the books yesterday.”

  The tom stared at her, eyes widened in surprise. “He did?”

  “Well,” the she-cat said, her tail twitching, “he didn’t say wonderful, exactly, but he was satisfied nonetheless.”

  Tobias nodded. That sounded more like the querulous old tom. He cast a side-long glance at the brown and black mottled feline, wondering how much she knew about what was going on here. How many questions of his would she answer?

  “He clearly loves reading. I never saw him doing anything else. If he loves books so much, how could he let them get in that state?”

  The she-cat’s whiskers clamped together and her pace faltered.

  “He’s been doing a lot of research lately.”

  “What kind of research?”

  “Nothing interesting,” she said hurriedly. “You know how queer old cats can get. Anyway, he’s let the rest of the library go while he’s been reading his old books. I thought — I mean His Excellency thought Harold could use a little extra help. I usually help the old cat, but I’ve been a lot busier now that His Excellency appointed me as his aide.”

  They rounded the corner to the library entrance. Tobias glanced at the she-cat as she turned to leave.

  “Aren’t you going to come in and say hello?”

  “Not today. His Excellency has requested I attend him as soon as I drop you off.”

  She gave him a brief smile and trotted away. The gray tom walked toward the cupboard holding the feather dusters. Three questions. Not a lot to go on, but more than he’d had yesterday. Based on Janelle’s reactions, Harold was researching something important. Unfortunately, it would be easier to convince his partner to read the daily reports than to pry open the old cat’s paws so he could get a peek at what was so important. Still, he could keep his eyes open while he continued his chores.

  He leaped up the miniature stairs of the book shelf he was to start on today and swung the feather duster back and forth, kicking up a whirlwind of dust. He blinked and coughed, letting the feather duster fall to the floor. Okay, so I won’t keep my eyes open. Good thing that’s just a figure of speech.

  Climbing back up the stairs, he considered using magic to sweep the dust away. He was staring at the line of books on the shelf when his fur began to prickle and stand on end. He looked further down the aisle to see the surly old tom staring hard at him with his piercing yellow eyes. The young tom sighed and got back to work.

  Dust layer by dust layer, the day inched forward until the gray tom was dusting books close enough to the old cat that he could almost read over his shoulder. Amongst the stacks of books by the library cat were books on archeology, geology and magical properties of stones. Beside those was another stack of local histories and folklore. Tobias stretched as far as he could without falling off the shelf to peer over the old cat’s head at the two books he had open. Harold had his paw on a book of maps and his head bent over what appeared to be a journal of some kind. At least, Tobias thought it might be a journal given the handwriting he could see whenever the old cat moved his head.

  Harold jerked his head, peering over his shoulder. The young tom, scuttled backward and fervently dusted the books beside him.

  “Go dust the shelves in the back,” growled the old tom, “You’re getting dust bunnies on my books.”

  “Yef, fir. Forry,” said the young cat, the feather duster slurring his words.

  He scurried away to the back of the library, as far from the crusty old cat as he could get. When the day’s end bell rang later, Tobias was in a hurry to talk to Lowrance about what he’d seen. Perhaps turning himself into a giant dust ball was going to be worth it after all. The book of maps had looked similar to the ones they had seen weeks ago and something about the handwriting in the journal looked familiar as well.

  And what about those other books? Was Harold comparing something in the journal to information he found in the volumes he had stacked around himself? There were so many questions twisting about his mind he could hardly wait to bounce them off his partner, let alone show up for work tomorrow. As he twisted his neck to hang up the feather duster, he heard soft paw steps behind him. He turned to stare, wide-eyed, into the piercing glare of the old librarian.

  “I won’t be needing you anymore. You can tell Janelle she can arrange for you to work somewhere else.” Without another word, the old cat turned and stalked away.

  By the time Tobias had gotten back to their room, Lowrance was already asleep. He’d tried to wake him, but the boy was out like a burnt out candle. There was no raising him. There was no time for them to talk about what he’d discovered in the morning either because Janelle and Mother Hazel came earlier than usual to get their charges. The gray tom’s whiskers clamped together as he watched his partner slog away.

  “He’s fine. They’re always tired after a few days of working in the gardens. He’ll be back to normal in a couple days,” said the she-cat, sitting close enough for their fur to rub. Tobias tried not to inch away.

  “He’ll be back to normal? Are you sure?”

  “Better, if he’ll accept our teachings.”

  The she-cat smiled. The gray tom forced his whiskers to widen. So far he’d seen little to make him think accepting anything from anyone at the school was a good idea. He squared his shoulders and pretended to be happy for his friend. What he needed to know now was what they had planned for him. Might as well find out if Harold had any say in whether Tobias was reassigned or not.

  “So, are you here to take me back to the library?”

  “About that.” The she-cat’s whiskers drooped as she looked at her paws. “Harold told me about the dust bunnies.”

  “I’m really sorry about that. I should have been paying more attention to what I was doing. I promise to do better today,” said the gray tom, his heart beating hard in his chest. The brown and black mottled cat looked down the hall away from him.

&nbs
p; “I’m afraid he’s refused to let you back into the library. You’re being reassigned.”

  “Where to?”

  “His Excellency suggested housekeeping.”

  “Housekeeping? You mean dusting furniture and mopping floors?”

  Tobias steeled his expression. He remembered having to scrub floors a lot as a kit. The floors had been so clean you could see yourself in them until he’d learned to bite his tongue.

  “It’s more a supervisory position watching humans do the work. It can get rather boring if you enjoy more intellectual pursuits.”

  The gray tom thought about Lowrance’s description of the students working in the garden and shuddered.

  “Isn’t there something else I could do?”

  The she-cat looked back at her paws. Tobias considered where he had hoped to be assigned originally. He still wanted to know more about how they made the supplements and where they came from. He considered it for a moment, then gave a mental shrug. The worst that could happen is she’d say no.

  “What about helping mix remedies? You said you make everything you need here and I know that your hospital wing needs remedies, so it makes sense that you’d make those here as well.”

  “I don’t know,” Janelle said hesitantly. “Do you know anything about doing that? We can’t have just anyone making medicines.”

  “I trained with a master mage to work with the sick during the plague.”

  “You practiced magic?” hissed the she-cat. Tobias’s ears flattened as he mentally kicked himself. He’d forgotten the unspoken hatred of magic at this temple.

  “No. No, I helped pulverize the plants and sift them into containers and I did some memorizing of recipes so I could recite them to other herbalists.”