Journeyman Cat

by Virginia Ripple

  Old didn’t begin to describe this cemetery. Some of the stones were almost ancient, their writing worn away by wind and weather. Several old graves had sunken. The further away from the school he walked, the older and less cared-for the graves became. Soon, he was walking in tall weeds, their dry stalks whispering against his sleek gray coat. They were so tall he found himself needing to rise on his hind legs from time to time to see where he was.

  In the distance he saw an old stone building. As he got closer he identified it as a chapel that had fallen into disuse. Wooden shutters, secured against the elements, were planting beds for lichen and moss. Its ancient door hung open a few inches. Tobias sniffed at the door. He filtered through the scents, tossing aside the stench of decay as part of being in a cemetery and focusing on the faint scent clinging to the door of a young person. Was it possible Lowrance’s missing child sneaked in here to hide? The gray tom edged his way between the door and its frame.

  “Hello?”

  His voice echoed around the small room. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light coming through the breaks in the shutters, he saw the undersides of several rows of pews. He paced toward the front and went up the chancel steps toward the altar. When he reached the large wooden table, he sat down, swiveling his ears in every direction, hoping to catch the sound of a child’s breathing. Silence. Not even a mouse. He sniffed the air again. There was the trace of a human child, frightened, but it was stale, perhaps months old. It came from a small alcove to his left. He decided it must have been the hiding place of the child Lars found.

  The gray tom sighed. It had been worth a look, even if it hadn’t yielded clues. He stood to walk back out when he heard a moan. The young tom’s hair stood up in a ridge along his back and his pupils widened. His ears swiveled to catch the sound, but he didn’t hear it again. He padded toward the door, his ears still swiveling in every direction. He peered around the door into the weeds. They gently waved in the mild breeze. He waited, half expecting some specter to float past. When nothing else happened he shook his head until his ears popped, chiding himself on letting his imagination run wild.

  Still, he knew it hadn’t been the wind. A breeze wouldn’t have made a sound like that. As he trotted away from the dilapidated chapel, he tried to think of all the possible things that make moaning sounds besides ghosts and injured humans. He doubted it was an echo of voices from somewhere else. He’d seen a few maps of the area and was positive there wasn’t a cave system anywhere nearby. A wild animal, then? He didn’t know what other animals called the forest home besides the pack. For all he knew he could have disturbed some creature when he invaded its home. That made the most sense.

  His next paw step found him tumbling tail over head. When he looked up he found himself staring at the sky from the bottom of a ragged hole. The stench of decay filled his nose. As he leaped to get out of the hole, his mind rebelled at the squishy sensations under his paws. He rolled around in the weeds and dragged his paws over fresh moss, trying to rid himself of the smell. His breath came in short gasps. He wanted to run far and fast away from that hole. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and concentrated on a breathing exercise he’d learned at the academy. He was an agent. He could deal with an open grave.

  Tobias took a final deep breath and opened his eyes. He paced back toward the ragged hole and peered in. The shoulder and upper part of a human arm was visible. The arm was torn, as if ripped open by a large animal’s teeth. The puffy flesh did little to identify the arm’s owner. Tobias swallowed the bile rising in his throat. He had a suspicion, but he’d have to uncover more of that arm to see if it were true. He turned away from the body and took a deep breath of the sweet smelling breeze. Before he lost his nerve, he jumped into the hole and dug away the dirt covering the rest of the arm, thankful, at least, that the grave was shallow.

  A moment later, he jumped back out of the hole, taking several more deep breaths to clear his nose. He stood at the edge of the widened hole and stared at the lower part of the arm. It was bent at an angle that no human arm would bend.

  Chapter 8

  The boy is dead,” Tobias said as soon as they were locked into their room. “I found his unmarked grave on the far side of the cemetery this evening.”

  “Are you sure?”

  The gray tom’s eyes widened. “Am I sure he was dead?”

  “Are you sure it was Adam?” asked Lowrance, glaring at him. Tobias narrowed his eyes, his whiskers clamping shut.

  “Unless they’re burying a lot of people with arms that bend at the wrong angle, I’m pretty sure.”

  The young man leaned back on his cot, his hand going to his chin to stroke the nonexistent beard.

  “So how’d you find the grave?”

  “I fell into it.”

  “Metaphorically?” Lowrance asked, tilting his head down and scrunching his eyebrows together. Tobias shook his head.

  “Literally.”

  The boy grimaced. “That sucks.”

  “I’ll say,” Tobias said, ears flattened and nose wrinkled. “I don’t think I’ll ever get that stench out of my nose.”

  He shook himself from ears to tail wishing it would rid him of the memory of being in Adam’s grave. Lowrance patted the bed beside him. The gray tom jumped up and settled in beside his friend, letting him massage his shoulders with one hand. He let out a rumbling purr of gratitude as he shut his eyes and enjoyed the moment. Lowrance shifted beside him.

  “Got any ideas how we can find out who did this?”

  The gray tom opened his eyes and rolled onto his side so he could face his partner. “I read somewhere that the scent of decay stays on someone handling a dead person long after the deceased has been buried. I could see who around here handles dead things.”

  Lowrance gave him a lopsided smile. “So you’re going to sniff everyone here? You’re going to look like some sort of weird dog.”

  “You have a better idea?” asked the gray tom, flattening his ears and sitting up.

  The human shook his head, a frown on his face. “I was just thinking that if these cats can brutalize and kill children then they’d think nothing of ending your life. And if they did capture your father and are still torturing him for information after all these years, whose to say they wouldn’t do the same to you?”

  “Or you?”

  The partners stared at each other in silence. The number of dead on this mission was increasing. The thought brought back the memory of the spectral moan in the chapel, raising the hair along his spine again. Lowrance cocked his head.

  “What’s up?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You don’t go ridge-backed about nothing.”

  Tobias sighed and closed his eyes.

  “Don’t laugh,” he said, opening his eyes again to look at his human. Lowrance nodded.

  “I heard a moan in the cemetery while I was searching for signs of Adam. It scared the devil out of me.”

  The boy slid a hand over his mouth, his eyes twinkling, but he didn’t laugh. The young tom’s whiskers twitched.

  “I know. It sounds ridiculous now, but at the time I almost expected a ghost to fly out of the weeds and snatch my soul away.”

  “Any idea what it was?”

  Tobias shook his head. “No. I only heard it once, so there was no way to track the sound.”

  “Probably nothing, then,” Lowrance said with a yawn and a shrug.

  As the boy made himself comfortable on his cot, Tobias jumped down into his nest, kneading it into a comfortable bed. Once he was settled, he curled his tail around to cover his nose and closed his eyes.

  “Toby,” Lowrance said, “I’m glad your soul wasn’t snatched.”

  “Me, too,” said the gray tom. A soft snore was the only reply.

  The next evening, as Tobias sauntered toward the cemetery entrance
on the pretense of taking his meditation walk, Father Hanif and Janelle met him by the door. The young tom forced his fur to lay flat as he looked from the old cat’s face to the she-cat’s grim expression.

  “Good evening, Your Excellency, Janelle.”

  Hanif raised his head in acknowledgment.

  “Our aide tells Us you have finally chosen the path to enlightenment.”

  Tobias glanced at the brown and black mottled cat. She looked away, staring out the narrow window beside the door. The gray tom looked back at Father Hanif.

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  Hanif’s upper lip lifted as if smelling something distasteful.

  “Janelle has mentioned your desire to walk in meditation amongst the ancestors of the ancient Brotherhood, son. That is often the first place one goes when one is ready to discover truth, is it not?”

  “I suppose so.”

  The old cat’s eyes narrowed. “And did you find that which you seek?”

  I found more than I expected. The gray tom sat down and curled his tail around his toes. He would have liked to confront Father Hanif on the things he had overheard as well as the open grave, but he kept Lowrance’s warning in mind. The human was right. Now was not the time for confrontation. He opted for guile instead.

  “I found a deserted chapel and I heard a low moan. I understood the One’s message, then.”

  Hanif’s nose lifted a whisker width higher. “And what message was he sending you?”

  Tobias stared at the old tom for a moment, holding the silence. He sensed Janelle’s unease in her shifts from paw to paw.

  “When we turn from our Master’s will, our hearts are empty and our souls cry out to be filled.”

  The brown tabby’s whiskers splayed. Tobias gritted his teeth and refused to let his claws slip out, though he would have loved to slash the smile from the older cat’s face.

  “Indeed. This is true. You are so close to being ready to enter New Eden, son. Our Lord lifts us from what we are and shows us what we will be. We only need to open our minds to see the truth He shows us.”

  Hanif turned toward Janelle, laying a fatherly tail over her shoulders. “Show young Tobias to his new room.”

  The gray tom blinked. “New room? You’re moving us?”

  “Oh no, son,” said Father Hanif, looking back at the young tom. “The human will remain in the quarters you’ve shared. We are allowing you to move into Brother Bartholomew’s room so you may continue your journey to New Eden unhindered by human contact.”

  The brown tabby dipped his head toward Janelle, giving her the silent direction to show the gray tom to his new room. The she-cat padded past him without looking up, expecting him to follow. As he walked away with her, he glanced back at Hanif, catching a self-satisfied smile creep across the old tom’s face.

  The process of sniffing every cat and human in the temple school seemed daunting. Tobias hadn’t considered how many individuals that was. It had taken all day just to catch even a faint whiff of every cat that came and went from the herbs room and Mother Hazel. The only humans he’d come in contact with were the patients in the hospital wing, which seemed very unlikely candidates, but he sniffed them anyway. He’d had to invent a reason to do so, though, when Mother Hazel accused him of pestering the patients. So far, all his efforts came to nothing. No scent of decay anywhere.

  As he lay in his nest, listening to Brother Bartholomew snore, he wondered how he was going to get access to anyone else. The humans had, for the most part, been removed from his paws. He could sniff at the cracks in their doors as he passed by, but that wasn’t much help. They slept at least two to a room and he wasn’t allowed to see them in the daylight. He’d been denied access to the classes and it was useless to try to get to the isolation chambers. Every time he ventured that direction he’d been turned back by another Brother cat who was just on his way to see to the needs of the isolated.

  He’d even attempted to see Hanif, hoping the old tom would have the scent of decay on him, but he’d been turned away there as well. The young calico she-cat standing at the entrance to his office had said Father Hanif had left early that morning to visit the temple school’s most important benefactor and wouldn’t return for some time. When Tobias had asked about Janelle, the she-cat had said she was unavailable.

  Unavailable? The gray tom’s tail tip twitched. Hiding, more like. It hadn’t escaped his notice that she wouldn’t look at him the whole time Hanif was spouting his ideas about separating him from Lowrance. Since then she’d been scarce. He caught a few glimpses of a brown and black mottled tail disappearing through doorways and around corners but she’d never allowed herself to be cornered. The gray tom’s claws slipped out and he scraped them against his nest, relishing the sound of tearing cloth. Brother Bartholomew snorted and rolled over. Tobias laid his head on his paws and continued staring at the door.

  A thought occurred to him. He didn’t remember hearing the slide of a bolt outside the door when they tucked themselves up for the night. There were two buttons, one on either side of the door, to open and close it. Was it possible that the Brothers weren’t locked in at night? Tobias got up and padded toward the door. He closed his eyes and inspected the entryway with his mind as he had the mirror in the mirror room. Nothing. Not even a small alarm spell. He pushed outward, searching the walls next to the door. He felt the pulleys and gears waiting to open the door, but no magical signatures. The tom let his mind return and tried to remember what it sounded like when the door opened: a hiss and a click, followed by the quiet rattle of chains. Nothing that should carry to anyone beyond the room.

  The gray tom opened his eyes and looked back at the sleeping Brother, trying to decide whether to try using the button or open the door by magic. If he pushed the button and the Brother woke up, he could claim he needed to use the facilities. He’d probably have to endure having the cat tag along, but at least his cover would be intact. If he used magic and Brother Bartholomew woke up, he’d have to come up with a better story. Right now he wasn’t sure he’d be able to come up with a story to cover his tail. Besides that, although he hadn’t detected any alarms, that didn’t mean there weren’t any.

  He pushed the button. When he heard the click, he turned back to stare at the Brother cat, praying he’d remain asleep. The cat continued to snore as the door opened on silent hinges. He padded out and pushed the button to close the door, listening for any changes in the other cat’s breathing. When the door was closed, he slipped away down the hall, making up his mind to get past the guards at the entrance to the isolation chambers. He was still curious about how those contraptions worked.

  Belly to the ground, he raced through the hallways and down the stairs, hiding in the shadows any time he heard voices. At one point he had to hold his breath to keep from sneezing from the dust under a low couch as he hid from two large cats stalking past. Apparently the housekeeping overseers weren’t interested in cleanliness. It made him remember dusting the library shelves. He shook his head, wondering at the human notion that all cats are fastidious.

  At the bottom of the stairs he peered around the corner toward the isolation rooms’ hall. Two large cats he’d never seen before sat on either side of the hall entrance. Both looked hard muscled with sleek dark brown fur and angular faces. The one on the right looked like a smaller version of the one on the left. The gray tom guessed they were twins. He watched them for a while. They didn’t move and rarely blinked. The likelihood of either of them falling asleep on duty or leaving to use the facilities seemed minute.

  Tobias sat down and stared at the wall across from him. He tried to imagine what his father would have done, but failed. There had been no kittenhood stories about evading two burly guards. He was about to give up when he felt the familiar whisper of fur across his mind. For an instant he wondered what the sensation was, then forgot it in the wake
of an idea. The gray tom brazenly stepped out and approached the two feline guards. They glared at him.

  “State your business,” said the one on the right.

  Tobias bowed his head. “I am here to see to the needs of the isolated.”

  He felt the heat of the guards’ gazes. He snatched a glimpse of them from the corner of his eye, seeing them look at each other. The other looked down at him.

  “This is irregular. Do you have your orders?”

  Tobias knew he should feel panicked, but the soft furry presence never left his mind. He continued to bow to the guards.

  “I cannot read, sir, so the overseer told me what to do. I am to come to the chambers and check the level of the drums, then report back to him.”

  The first guard growled softly, lashing a long tail. The gray tom held his breath.

  “Outrageous to leave these young toms ignorant,” the guard hissed over his head.

  “Quiet, brother,” said the other one. “The Master has his plans for each of us. If he deems it prudent to leave a few of us in ignorance, then he has a reason. We just do as we’re told. We’re not here to think, remember that.”

  The first guard turned to stare down the hall Tobias had come from, his tail thumping a rhythm on the floor. The gray tom felt a paw nudge him from the other side.

  “Go on about your business.”

  Tobias nodded and walked past the guards, hearing them whisper to each other as he left. He looked into each room as he passed, ignoring the empty ones. They were all identical, so he knew what he’d find if he went in there. He didn’t want the guards to wonder what he was doing looking into empty rooms. Muffled sobbing came from behind a closed door at the end of the hall. He hesitated for a moment, trying to steel himself for whatever lay beyond.