Murder, Magic, and Moggies

by Pearl Goodfellow

  In the end, I wonder how much good we actually did with all the demonstrations and Town Halls. What ultimately killed the proposal was less my group’s efforts as it was the fallout from Mari Falk’s arrest for Millicent’s murder. Whatever mine and David’s suspicions of Gideon’s involvement in the crime, he was officially cleared of all links and suspicions when he produced additional vocal recordings between Mari and him. Only innocent requests were heard. It was reasoned, albeit reluctantly, that Mari Falk had been operating under her own volition.

  But the fact remained that she had been the Governor's loyal right hand, intimately involved in every detail of running Cathedral and indeed even his personal life. The secondhand taint of this association proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Ministry of the Interior cited the possibility of corruption as the main reason it ruled against the airstrip being built. The environmental side effects were a mere afterthought. Gideon never called on me again for that dinner. I have to say it was a relief in light of what I’d uncovered.

  Meanwhile, Ravena carried on the other main fight that Millicent had been involved in at the time of her death. She lobbied Cathedral’s government on the Rock Grumlin bill and used the recorded testimony of the Grumlin’s themselves to bolster the campaign. Luck would have it that she steered well clear of the Godmarsh Toad campaign and consequently Portia's property in the Gorthland Swamps. We didn't need another murder on our hands. With regards to the Grumlin affair, though, the esteemed doctor had somehow managed to get testimonials linking their ill treatment by the now-disgraced Ms. Falk. Gideon Shields was never mentioned. He was so squeaky clean it was almost frightening.

  In an effort to mitigate the bad press, the bill for Fair Treatment was passed near-unanimously and signed by Gideon the very next day. As the new public face of the bill, Ravena attended the signing ceremony. I could see the stress lines on her face as she shook Gideon’s hand for a photo op. I wondered if her hands would have been around his neck under the right circumstances. I started making regular visits to her isolated home just to talk. We have become good friends and we both look forward to the visits.

  A week after the arrest, I made a quick detour to Cathedral on an unusually slow day for deliveries here on Glessie. The hidden rope that I’d used to get up to the cave was gone. Though I was unable to fly close enough to confirm this, I had a suspicion that the cave entrance was barricaded in some way as well. But, my Rock Grumlin guide had been waiting for me in the underbrush. I fancied that I even saw a smile as he came out in the open. He gave me a black diamond sculpture of The Infiniti. He scuttled off before I could show my true appreciation. I'd never seen something so beautiful. The cats immortalized in the hardest gem on the planet. Okay, so I know they're already immortal, but you get my point. It was a beyond-kind gesture on the Rock Grumlin's part. Once Maude had confirmed the gem was harmless, I put it in pride-of-place on the main counter at The Angel. The cats were tickled pink.

  Two days before my Cathedral scouting trip, there had been a headline that talked about how the black diamond mines had been shut down by the Ministry of the Interior over “safety concerns.” But a quick chat with David had confirmed that the sort of teams that had gone into the mine had come from the Ministry of Defense. Hopefully, they were taking steps to shut down that gate the Grumlins had accidentally created.

  I was still stuck on the matter of motive. Oh, not of Millicent being killed…it was obvious that she’d found out something she shouldn’t have with that gate and gotten a little too vocal to remain alive. But I didn’t understand why the black diamonds had been so important to Mag Mell in the first place. That was, until Dilwyn dropped by later that afternoon. He came on a house call to check on Carbon’s health. After confirming that my heat loving kitty was very much on the mend, he spotted the black diamond sculpture behind the counter.

  “Ahh, a little gift from our mutual friend in Cathedral?” he asked with a weird expression.

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “Apparently, I rate about as much as Millicent with them now.”

  Dilwyn tried for a smile but didn’t make it. “Yeah, well…might not have been the best gift they could have given you.”

  “How do you mean?” Millie chimed in as she came from the back. “It’s beautiful and I know that Hattie had it checked with Maude to make sure it was safe. Jet knocked it off the counter yesterday, and it didn’t even crack.”

  Dilwyn shook his head. “Ahh, it’s nothing. Just some old tales of Tiamat’s heart I heard from my gram on Phlange.”

  Tiamat. That name again.

  “What kind of tales?” I asked.

  “Well, any black diamonds that come out of the Glimmer Mountains are supposed to be part of the Faidh Coch.”

  “Which had been part of Tiamat’s heart before it succumbed to calcification. Or at least that’s what I heard.”

  Dilwyn nodded. “That’s how Gram told it. But, whenever I was playing up, you know acting like one of my boys do now, she also added: ‘you best pray that there’s some black diamond ‘round to account for yer misbehaving!’”

  Millie scratched her head. “What does that mean?”

  “Just that they say that even a sliver of Tiamat’s heart can awaken the dragon within her.”

  “But all the dragons have been dead for a thousand years now,” I pointed out, doing my best to ignore the dread in my heart.

  Hic Sunt Dracones. I thought the strange phrase had just been some kind of red herring. Now I wasn't so sure.

  “Even so, all it takes is to be near to a piece of the Faidh Coch to also awaken the mighty Wyrmrig: the dragon that will walk the earth once the 'Elder Code' is found.”

  Bast, he's freaking me out. First the dragon Tiamat. Then he brings up Wyrmrig. Although there'd been quite a lot of talk of Wyrmrig of late. I'd put these stories down to the old wives tales of Nanker and Phlange. And now this 'Elder Code?’ I wasn't even going to ask. Both Millie and I were unsettled enough. Goddess, didn't we have enough to contend with with the mischievous Fae?

  I thought back to those burnt corpses Portia and I had found on Crow Isle while I was hunting for Druida Stone’s killer. I thought about all the diamonds that had already found their way into Mag Mell and what they were doing with all that powerful energy contained in the gems. And what if the Grumlins had inadvertently given the Fae the Faidh Coch? What then?

  Fairies and Dragons and Fear, Oh my!

  The End

  Dying to know what happens next? Read on for a sneak preview of the next in the Infiniti’s adventures!

  A sneak peek of book 5: A Sense of FURboding ….

  I refused to open my eyes until the third time the kitty paw pressed my nose firmly. Was a peaceful sleep too much to ask for? Apparently, some little fuzzball had different ideas. I cracked open my eyelids slightly to a dim, hazy half-light. Dawn was just about to break. “What?”

  My cat, Fraidy, was sitting on my chest in his usual state of freak-out. “He’s still awake.”

  I groaned and tried to turn over. “So? Why do I have to be awake too? The sun isn’t up yet.”

  “Didn’t you just hear me?” An edge of panic creeping into his words. My timid cat’s wide yellow eyes expanded even more. “Midnight…is still…awake.”

  “And thanks to you, so am I,” the cranky voice of Gloom muttered from the other side of the bed. “At least Midnight is quiet about his insomnia.”

  “You mean aside from the noise he was making attempting to knock himself out?” Onyx’s cultured tones queried. “By ramming his head against the wall repeatedly?”

  “Hey, I was desperate,” Midnight’s voice drifted up to me. My night-wandering moggie had commandeered Fraidy’s usual hangout; the Fortress of Cashmere under the bed. “Besides, the coyote spirit I ran into last night swore it’d do the trick if I did it enough times.”

  “And you believed him?” Gloom asked incredulously. “Do you have any idea how hard that sly old dog is laughing right now,
fur-ball?” She turned her ample rump to us all in indignant disgust at her brother’s stupidity.

  Well, so much for blessed sleep. If I were Unawakened, I would merely hear a series of mewing and meows, which, don’t get me wrong, is distracting enough. But, now imagine understanding all of those feline murmurings. It’s impossible not to get dragged into the topic of conversation, I tell ya. I groaned and swung my feet over the edge of the bed.

  “Are you sure you drank all of Grandma Chimera’s sleepyhead tea I gave you last night?” I asked Midnight, running my hands over my face in an effort to wipe the grogginess away.

  “Every drop,” Midnight swore as he came out from under the bed. “It was pretty mellow. But, a night with a musical pixie would get the same results. Sorry, boss. I wanted it to work.” Midnight’s shoulders slumped as his inky face stared up at me with pleading bloodshot eyes.

  My irritation gave way to compassion almost instantly. I ran my hands through his coal black fur and massaged behind his fuzzy ears. He purred loudly at my unsolicited attention.

  “This is not helping ME get back to sleep,” Gloom growled.

  “Oh, shush, sister,” Onyx said as he padded around the foot of the bed. “It is hardly as though our dear brother wanted this dastardly insomnia in the first place.”

  Fraidy hissed and arched his back in a display of tufted fur, his tail fuzzing-out and as erect as an exclamation point. “So whose idea was it?” He demanded, darting his head from side. No doubt he was trying to catch sight of the imagined evil entity that had cursed his night-owl brother with daytime insomnia.

  “Relax, Fraidy,” Midnight muttered between purrs. “It’s probably nothing. But, I think there might just be some certain someone’s who have a problem with me picking up valuable information on my night prowls.”

  “And, when he says valuable information, he means gossip,” Eclipse chuckled from the foot of the bed.

  “That was my line,” a bored tone came from Gloom.

  Midnight huffed. “Look, all I’m saying is maybe someone thinks I know too much.”

  “About what?” Eclipse asked in between licks of his nether-regions.

  “About something, okay?” Midnight shouted hotly. He was deadly serious when it came to his self-importance in the gossipy night realm.

  He pushed his head into my hand, demanding more petting. I obliged, of course, and my sleep deprived cat began making circles on my lap, trying to craft a bed that would help him fall asleep, and make him oblivious to his annoying siblings. Apparently, he was utterly oblivious to the fact that I might feel the need to move at some point. Cats. They never think to ask what your schedule looks like before they sleep on you. To them, it’s just: ‘I need a power nap for however long I feel like, and you will be my bed.’

  “Is it the Fae? The Mag Mell Fae?” Fraidy asked, his voice a high-pitched squeak.

  My timid cat’s query stopped Midnight’s purring dead in its tracks. Like a phonograph needle getting jerked from an LP record. Onyx shot me a look. A worried one. Even at the best of times, the Fae are never invoked lightly in my household. Mag Mell was an even touchier subject, given the recent strange events which have been seemingly emanating from the enchanted isle.

  My clowder of kitties — minus Shade; he was overnighting at Ms. Poof’s — gathered around my feet at the side of the bed, Midnight still trying to find a comfortable niche on my lap. I looked down at a sea of loveable black fur and fourteen golden eyes. Each of those shining orbs had questions for me. Questions I couldn’t answer.

  “Your suggestion is far too premature, Fraidy,” Eclipse said gravely, trying his best to help me out.

  “I’m dead serious,” Fraidy asserted. “We’ve possibly interfered with some Unseelie Court business at least once, maybe more than once. Getting that last portal closed at the Rock Grumlin site on Cathedral probably wasn’t a good idea. They’re not going to forget about that. Why else would Midnight have this daytime insomnia? Something's not right, I’m telling you!”

  “Still, it doesn’t quite follow,” Onyx said, in a careful tone. He tried to soothe my most cowardly kitty’s wild imaginings. “While Fae enchantments — or the blowback of same — is certainly a possibility, we have no reason to believe that they are making it so personal and messing with Midnight’s sleep patterns. Queen of the Faeries, Hinrika Jonsdottir, is due to arrive here next month. Someone of her power and stature may well be causing nervous ripples throughout—”

  Fraidy hissed again to cut off his brother’s verbal wisdom. “It’s the Mag Mell Fae, Onyx! It’s always personal with them when you get in their way! Especially if the person who’s hampering their efforts is a fairly beautiful, if somewhat reluctant, witch.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or offended by Fraidy’s shorthand descriptor of ‘fairly.’ The little chap had spoken the truth, though. I did come from a long line of witches. Yes, I was ‘fairly’ attractive. My wavy auburn hair framed a reasonably pretty face, I guess. And, yes, I was definitely reluctant. The closest I liked to get to magic was making potions based on my beloved herbs. I owned The Angel. An apothecary serving Gless Inlet’s community for four generations now. Granny Chimera Opal passed the business, and the cats for that matter, down to me before she went to the Everworld. I adored mixing balms, elixirs, lotions and remedying teas. I had full control over the ingredients and knew exactly what went into my concoctions. Magic, though? Well, let’s just say a childhood trauma had put me off for using magic for life. I felt I had no control over my powers, and trying to harness them on that fateful day of my lost childhood. Well …

  “Fraidy might actually have a point,” Eclipse interrupted my painful memories. “Or has anyone here forgotten that time last century when I had to purge Robin Goodfellow of all memories of that lady love of his?”

  “Well, I wasn’t exactly around to remember it with you, so…” I teased, hoping a note of levity might keep things from getting too serious. My cats, even though immortal, and usually not too concerned with the everyday ups and downs of life, could get wound up pretty quickly when it came to Faery mischief.

  “Oh my Goddess! Yes, yes I do!” Jet said in his usual excitable patter. My zippy cat always looked as if he had springs attached to the bottoms of his paws, the way he lifted off the ground whenever he got worked up. “I had to spend days out in the open, trying to steer that little lovesick fairy just to the right ambush spot for you, ‘Clipsy. And, did anyone thank me after it was over? Noooooooo…I was merely told that I hesitated too lon—“

  “As fun as all this reminiscing is,” I said, holding up a hand to discourage any more meaningless banter, “I’d like to get back to this century’s problems. If I brewed up double the dose of the tea I gave you last night, Midnight, think it might mellow you out enough for you to get some rest?”

  Midnight licked his lips. “Maybe…but get me some more water to chase it with this time, alright?” His small face contorted in wrinkled disgust. “Tasted like wet dog.”

  “Midnight…that’s no way to talk to our human,” Onyx said with disapproval. “Particularly given that she’s doing her level best to help you get some sleep.”

  “Ahh, it’s probably because I haven’t gotten any sleep that I’m this way, Brother O,” Midnight sighed. “Sorry, Boss.”

  I gave his forehead another scratch. He was way past forgiven. He was my charge, and I loved him dearly. And the poor, sick, kitty fur-baby needed my help.

  Midnight wasn’t the only one who was having trouble with his sleep cycle. About an hour and a half after I’d given Midnight some more of the tea (which eventually resulted in cute little kitty snores…score one for Grandma Chimera’s recipe book!), my assistant, Millie Madge, stumbled in the back door of the shop.

  The Angel Apothecary had been in business for over one hundred and fifty years now. One of the side perks was the upstairs apartment that made going to work a matter of just getting dressed and walking downstairs. Another was the back d
oor that never needed to be locked. The enchantments on it kept out any unwelcome visitors, whether it was business hours or not. That last was probably a good thing. If poor Millie had had to unlock it this morning, she probably would have never gotten in. My usually bubbly assistant looked nothing like her usual self.

  If you were looking at Millie for the first time, you wouldn’t necessarily notice anything was wrong. But, it was the little details that got my attention. Her dyed black hair was a little messier and more tangled than usual. I admit this new Raven Black color that Millie sported wasn’t my favorite look for her. I preferred her rainbow colors, if only because she was so bright and, er, colorful herself. Her pale face stood out in stark contrast to her blue-black locks. Her lipstick, usually applied with the same care you’d expect from the brush strokes of an artist working on his masterpiece, was slightly smudged. Her drooping eyelids did nothing to cover the bruised looking bags under them. Only half of her fingernails were painted. Then there was her gait. You could tell she was trying to stay steady, but she was barely succeeding and rocked alarmingly with each step.

  “Morning, Hattie,” she said with a cavernous yawn. Being contagious, as yawns are, I immediately joined in.

  A blur of furry motion halted my gaping mouth, as Jet zoomed around the room in a fit of worry. “Oh, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad.”

  Millie momentarily perked up. She snatched up the spray bottle under the counter and made a pinpoint accurate shot at Jet with it.

  “Chillax, Jet. You’re freaking everyone out,” she managed, on the verge of another yawn.

  “Ahh, my eyes!” Jet squealed as the water smacked him in the forehead. “It burns, it burns!”

  “It’s just water, silly,” I admonished him from the counter.

  “No, really, it’s burning my eyes!” Jet shrilled as he ran straight into the tea display. Boxes of Hawthorn and Hibiscus rained down around my confused kitty, as he brought up his two front paws to swipe at his peepers.