Apprentice Cat: Toby's Tale Book 1 (Master Cat Series)

by Virginia Ripple

  “All right, ladies and gentlemen, the head masters and I thought it would be a great idea to bring you to the Temple library for a little project, just to see how well you’ve been paying attention in class,” said the instructor with a smile. “I’m sure you all remember your lessons on what the past can teach us about the present and how both will affect the future. To that end, each of you will be assigned a specific topic for a research paper. Keep in mind you will only have the run of this library today, so take advantage of this opportunity. Temple librarians and dragon aides will be available to assist you.”

  The students formed a line and filed past the history masters to get their assignments. Lorn darted down a nearby aisle so they could read it in relative privacy.

  How are heraldric symbols, poetry and magical incantations related? What were their past and current uses? How could those uses be modified for the future?

  “Clever,” said Toby.

  “I wonder how they made sure we got this assignment and not something else.”

  “Who knows. Let’s get started.”

  “Fine. Where would you like to start?” asked Lorn, waving toward the expansive library.

  “Did you bring a list of those symbols?”

  “Yeah,” Lorn said, patting his pocket.

  “Then let’s start with those, then move on to poetry.”

  “Sounds like as good an idea as any.”

  Catching the attention of a nearby dragon, the apprentices requested volumes on symbols, specifically those used in secret messages, and commandeered a secluded table halfway down the hall. They’d only made it through one stack when another dragon quietly exchanged the candle stub on their table for a new candle, breathing a small flame onto the new wick. Lorn sat back from the large book he was searching through and rubbed his eyes. Toby stretched his front legs, then his back ones.

  “This is ridiculous. I’m not finding anything helpful and we’re running out of time,” said Lorn. “It would help if we could ask for references on just those words we’re interested in.”

  Toby’s ears perked up

  “Why can’t we?”

  “We’re not supposed to let anyone know what we’re doing, remember?”

  “Yeah, but what if we simply ask for a cross-reference of those words within poetry, magical incantations and prophecy?”

  “That would certainly narrow the search.”

  “We could also expand that a little and ask for references within religious numerology, couldn’t we?”

  “If we did that, we’d be sure to catch the number three and maybe something we missed in the documents.”

  Lorn flagged down a passing dragon and explained what they needed. In a matter of moments, their table was swarmed with small dragons who took away most of the books they had and left a new pile of books in their place. A larger, green dragon, hovered over their table. With a voice like tiny chiming bells, the dragon began singing at the books. Toby watched in fascination as one book after another floated into the air, pages turning in a blur of motion. They gently drifted back into separated piles on the table, each open to the pages the apprentices had asked for information on. After every book was back on the table, the dragon disappeared with a pop.

  “Well that was easy,” said Lorn.

  Their pens raced across page after page of clean paper as they took notes on the treasures they discovered in each book. Just as Toby closed the last open book, a dragon popped in to tell them their class was gathering at the door to leave. Lorn rolled their notes into a thick cylinder and shoved them into his robe pocket along with their list. Toby jumped to his shoulders.

  “From what I read, I think the number three means picking out the third word in each line or something like that,” said the orange tom.

  “But is that the first thing we’re supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I say we compare our notes to the documents as soon as we get back, then decide what to do.”

  “Agreed.”

  As Lorn hurried toward their building with Toby riding on his shoulders, they saw several students scurrying out the door covering their mouths and noses. Yellow smoke billowed from the top windows.

  “What happened,” demanded Lorn, catching the arm of a fellow student as she stumbled by.

  “Explosion,” she said. A coughing fit stopped her from saying more.

  “Top floor,” gasped the feline at her feet.

  Toby stared wide-eyed at the smoking building. The front lawn was becoming crowded as more students gathered to watch. Dragon grounds keepers zoomed around the building, darting in windows and out again carrying smoldering furniture. Scanning the crowd, Toby spotted head masters Jalen and Meredith speaking to a medium-sized blue dragon who could only be the head housekeeper. As he watched, the dragon turned and pointed directly at them. Master Jalen glanced at them, nodded to the head housekeeper and walked in their direction.

  “It seems, gentlemen,” said the head master mage, “that the explosion came from your room. Do you have any explanation for this?”

  “Our room?” asked Lorn.

  Master Jalen nodded, the she-cat on his shoulder looking at the partners through slitted eyes. Toby’s fur raised at the implication.

  “Head masters, I know we’ve had problems in the past, but –”

  “Like setting off fireworks in your room?” asked Master Meredith. Master Jalen raised a questioning eyebrow. Lorn stared at the ground, nudging a pebble with his foot.

  “That was an accident.”

  “As I’m sure this was,” said the master mage.

  “That’s just it, though,” said Lorn, looking up at the head masters. “We didn’t do this.”

  “We weren’t even here,” added Toby.

  “That’s true,” said Master Jalen, rubbing an index finger across his chin. “Still, it is possible to leave a potion brewing for an extended time, causing it to explode.”

  Lorn’s shoulders slumped. Toby dug his claws in to catch his balance, making the young mage flinch. Master Jalen grasped the young man’s arm.

  “We believe you.”

  “There will have to be a formal investigation, however, so I would suggest you go through everything you own carefully. If there’s anything missing or anything amongst your things that doesn’t belong to either of you, let us know immediately.”

  The head housekeeper trumpeted the all clear from the front of the building. Toby stretched to look over Lorn’s head, then turned back to the head masters.

  “Won’t it be suspicious if we go through our stuff and find something that doesn’t belong?”

  “The housekeepers cataloged everything as they did a search and clear. We’ll have a list shortly of everything each student in the vicinity had in his or her rooms.”

  “They’ll most likely include diagrams as well. They’re very thorough.”

  “Better get to it,” said Master Jalen, patting Lorn’s arm.

  Toby watched the head master mage stroll away, Master Meredith perched on his shoulder. As he looked over Lorn’s head at their building, he felt the young man take a deep breath. Wisps of yellow smoke were still escaping the windows. Scattered across the lawn where the dragons had left them were their belongings. Toby looked down at his companion, who blew out the air he was holding in a large gust. Together the pair made their way to their room. Lorn pushed the door open.

  “By the One that stinks,” exclaimed the young mage, clapping a hand to his nose.

  Toby wished he had hands to cover his nose, too. It smelled as if someone had thrown a basket of rotten eggs into the room during the summer break and left every window sealed tight. Sulfurous tendrils of yellow smoke drifted up from a blackened star burst shaped hole in the center of the work t
able. A handful of ingredient bottles lie scattered on the lopsided shelves across the room, the rest laid shattered upon the floor.

  The young cat’s eyes were drawn to the fireplace. Chunks were missing from the large mantel. Some had lodged in the ceiling beams, while others lay in fragments on what was left of the hearth. All but a couple hearth stones were smashed. Toby heard Lorn suck in his breath. The young mage was staring at the hearth, too. He darted to the hiding place. The stone was missing. A pile of ash and paper fragments were the only things in the hole. Toby leaped down and sniffed the ashes. A familiar lemony scent drifted from the scattered remains. Lorn looked at the orange tom who shook his head. The mage collapsed onto the floor. He picked up a stone fragment.

  “How?” Lorn asked, turning the fragment over in his hand. “How could someone get in here and do magic? We had a dampening field.”

  The young cat paced slowly away, alternately pushing his nose into cracks in the stonework and lifting it into the air.

  “They didn’t get in. They rigged it from the outside.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “It’s something Terence told me. As long as you’re outside the field you can move whatever you want inside.”

  “Great. So whoever did this probably used our stuff to create the explosion.”

  “Most likely.”

  The smell of sulfur permeated the air. Hidden underneath, Toby could just make out a few scents he recognized from Lorn’s personal stash of special ingredients for spells he wanted to try. The young tom squeezed his eyes shut. Thinking about what those combined ingredients could do made the hair along his spine stand on end. Can’t think of that now. He lifted his nose again, opening his mouth to let the air filter over his glands. Nothing.

  “We’re doomed, then. All an official investigation is going to turn up is that everything used in the explosive came from our supplies.”

  Toby stuck his nose in the small space under the cupboard by the door. A hint of something exotic tweaked his curiosity. Sleek gray shadows padded through Toby’s mind, disappearing into ribbons of smoke, as he let the smell wash across his scent glands. Reaching as far as his paw could go, he snagged something small and stick-like.

  “Maybe not,” he said, batting the little stick across the floor to Lorn, who picked it up.

  “It’s a stick.”

  “Not just any stick. Notice anything odd about it?”

  Lorn peered at the pinky length piece of wood. He rolled it between his fingers, a frown on his face. His eyebrows rose as he gaped at the orange tom.

  “This is an incense stick. We don’t have any of those.”

  “Exactly.”

  “You don’t think…”

  “I don’t know. Master Jalen seemed to think she might be involved. What matters most now is that we have something to show the head masters that could at least throw doubt on us being responsible for the explosion.”

  “Let’s hope they see it that way, too.”

  Toby and Lorn searched off and on the rest of the week between classes, hoping to find anything that would point to who created the explosion. Toby discovered several odd scents he was positive were not there before, but nothing else. They brought the scant evidence they had to the head masters who now sat frowning across Master Jalen’s massive desk. The master mage’s eyebrows were furrowed as if he were in pain.

  “I’m sorry, Toby, but unless one of those smells leads to an object we have to assume it was either there prior to the incident or was introduced into the room during the evacuation.”

  “But why?” complained Lorn. “With Toby’s sensitive nose, wouldn’t he have smelled those things before now?”

  “Unfortunately there is no way that we know of to test smelling abilities as there are to test magical abilities. As far as the other arbitrators are concerned, Toby’s unique talent has been exaggerated. Any mention of them now would cast even more doubt upon your credibility,” said Master Meredith.

  “All we have is this,” growled Lorn, waving sharply at the offending stick laying on the desk.

  “And that is even questionable, am I right?” asked Toby, kneading the stool he sat on.

  “I’m afraid so,” said the head master mage. Master Meredith sighed.

  “Had you found it out in the open, it might be a different story. As it is, anyone could dismiss it as a piece of flotsam missed by housekeeping.”

  “It looks as if whoever did this wanted to make sure you were both expelled and to destroy the documents. It’s just a good thing you left them with us.”

  Toby’s fur prickled. He hoped neither head master could feel the heat emanating from him as he looked at his companion.

  “Um, yeah.”

  Lorn’s lips compressed and his eyes widened. The young man gave a tiny shake of his head, but Toby ignored it. He turned back to Master Jalen who raised an eyebrow. Master Meredith’s slitted gaze raked the orange tom’s hide.

  “What are you not telling us?”

  “We made some copies,” said Toby.

  “But they were destroyed in the explosion,” Lorn added in a rush.

  “Are you sure?” asked the head master cat.

  “Yes. There’s nothing left but ash,” Lorn said.

  Toby’s pads felt sweaty. He wrapped his tail around his toes to still its trembling. Was this the kind of thing Master Kiyoshi had dealt with with Master Ribaldy? Was this what his mother had worried about? Toby glanced at the human he’d been partnered with. The young man sat on the edge of his chair, leaning forward in apparent earnestness. Only he could see the slight tremble in the boy’s hands. The tom looked back at the head masters, wondering if they noticed Lorn’s odd behavior.

  “That could work in our favor. If our adversary believes the documents have been destroyed, it may give us more time to decipher the code,” said the head master mage, tapping the desk.

  “Were you able to find anything useful in the Temple Library?”

  “We did a cross-reference between all the symbols, ancient prophecies, poetry and codes and came up with a lot of information, but we still don’t know where to begin.”

  “Did you bring your notes with you?” asked the tortoiseshell she-cat.

  “It took us most of the day to hunt down the right books. This is everything we could get in the time we had left.”

  Toby watched Lorn produce a cylinder tied with purple ribbon from his robes and drop it next to the stick. The boy clasped his hands in his lap, his knuckles going white. Toby looked back at the notes. When had Lorn had time to tie the ribbon on it? Master Meredith pawed the notes closer.

  “Master Jalen and I will take it from here. You two have done more than we could have expected in the short amount of time you’ve had.”

  “In the meantime,” said the head master mage, “it’s going to be up to you to clear your names. If you can bring us some solid physical evidence, we may be able to forego a hearing. Otherwise you’ll be facing the arbitrators with just your word against apparent facts.”

  “How much time do we have?” asked Toby, his voice quivering.

  “We’ve managed to delay the hearing until after mid-winter break, but that’s all.”

  “Will we be able to stay on campus during break so we can search?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “But, that only gives us a few days,” gasped Lorn.

  The head masters nodded. Toby watched the young man’s face pale, knowing if anyone could see his skin it would be doing the same. A few days to search their old quarters. That’s it. And if they couldn’t come up with more evidence, who would believe they weren’t responsible? No one. The young tom’s ears lowered to half-mast as he thought about what his mother had said about Master Ribaldy’s relationship with Master Kiyosh
i. He glanced at his companion and wondered if he’d made the right decision.

  Beads of sweat coursed down Lorn’s face, dropping onto Toby’s head. The orange tom scarcely noticed as he concentrated on focusing the young mage’s will upon the pile of ash on the table in front of them.

  Ash motes drifted into motion, swirling into a miniature tornado. Piece by minuscule piece, the tornado grew until every bit of ash and paper fragment whirled in a blur. Carefully, Toby spun out his own will, forcing the tiny motes to combine until they resembled blackened shadows of the papers they had been.

  Minutes ticked by as Toby fed his memories of the documents into the magic they were creating. Each paper took shape with agonizing slowness. Lorn’s hands on either side of Toby began to tremble. Toby wished for just a little more strength, just a little more endurance. Almost there, he thought. A gasp. The papers disintegrated. Toby sighed and closed his eyes.

  “Did we do it?” asked Lorn between heaving breaths.

  “No.”

  “Blast!” Lorn pounded the table with his fist and rose from his stool. Toby arched his back, watching as Lorn began to pace the room they’d been temporarily assigned.

  “Okay, so what happened?”

  “The same thing that happened last time and the time before that and the time before that.”

  “Anything different?”

  “I’m getting faster.”

  “All right, so that’s some progress. Just give me a couple minutes and we’ll try again.”

  “Lorn, we’re both exhausted. There’s no way we’ll be able to do any better in a few minutes.”

  Lorn spun around, glaring at the orange tom.

  “Are you just going to give up?”

  “I’m not giving up. I’m being reasonable.”

  “You’re being a wimp.”

  Toby’s hackles raised in an instant. Stalking toward Lorn, he lashed his tail and hissed.