Grimalkin Chapter Five (Patreon)

When traveling long distances, be certain to find excellent companions. I find that dullards only make a boring journey even more tedious, while those high society might shun as odd make jolly company indeed.

-Lady Chatterwick

To Maria’s immense surprise, Tobias made his way directly to the public carriage station, and proceeded to purchase a ticket for Bremerton, which was a smallish town a day or so to the east of the capital. Maria had studied every settlement in her country as part of her (entirely too) extensive civics and geography lessons, and what she remembered of Bremerton was this: it was strange. Its lord paid his taxes promptly and in full every year, but other than that, had very little interaction with the rest of the country. As far as Maria knew, he had never even traveled to court.

As for the common people of the town, it was said that they followed a strange religion, which required odd rituals and habits. While the King was tolerant of different religions so long as they were benign, even the royal children’s tutor had admitted that this one was strange because not only did none of the members seem interested in converting others, but they flatly refused to speak of it to outsiders.

As a result of the peculiar and insular behaviors of its citizens, few people felt any pressing need to journey to the place. In fact, it merited its own stop on the carriage line only because the town produced almost magical fabric, which was always dyed in brilliant and beautiful colors. Maria’s mother refused to wear the stuff, claiming it was itchy, but Maria’s mother refused to wear any cloth but silk and satin, so there was nothing unusual in that. Unfortunately, since the Queen didn’t wear it, it wasn’t popular at court, and Maria herself had only seen it once or twice, and never had the opportunity to touch it.

Now, as the three cats dozed in the noonday sun (Tobias still looked like a human boy, but the way he lounged on a bench was positively feline) Maria found herself wondering if the ‘almost’ magical cloth might, in fact, be magical. After all, if humans could become cats, and vice versa, what other miraculous things could exist in the world? Might some of Lady Chatterwick’s wilder stories actually be true? Or perhaps all of them were true, and if Maria went looking, she would actually find a man with pink diamonds for eyes, and a winged half woman, half lion who spoke only in riddles.

Maria was jerked from her sleepy reverie when a large carriage came rattling down the cobblestones. Its large metal wheel made a terrible racket to her sensitive ears, and she wondered how she would bear it for a full day when she was actually inside the thing. Pressing her paws over her ears, she mewed pathetically until the carriage came to a halt in front of the depot.

Tia leaned around the back of Tobias’ neck and whispered, “It’s better once we leave the city. Dirt roads are quieter.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Maria exclaimed involuntarily, and both Tia and Tobias chuckled. All three looked around as the carriage began to disgorge its passengers. The higher ranking people came first, of course. There were ladies in wide skirts, with fluffy feathers on their hats. The gentlemen had cascades of lace nearly hiding their hands, and their tight jackets and breeches did the heavier set amongst them no favors.

After these lofty folk, commoners came pouring out. There seemed to be far more of them than could reasonably fit into such a small space, but they kept coming, until men, women, and even children stood blinking in the sunlight. A few hurried off about their business, as had the gentry and wealthy merchants, but most simply stood, looked awed and a little lost as they gazed about at the tall buildings and broad streets that stretched away into the distance in every direction.

Tia sniffed. “Rubes,” she mewed dismissively.

Tobias reached up and pinched her ear gently. “You were exactly the same when we got here. Be nice,” he murmured almost too quietly to be heard.

In spite of his efforts, a little girl nearby had clearly caught the exchange, though it had doubtless sounded like a boy talking to his pet cat. Strange, perhaps, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, the child looked fascinated, and her bright gaze was locked on…Maria?

The child slipped her hand from her mother’s loose grasp, and trotted over to stand near Tobias. She tugged the two fingers she had been sucking on from her mouth and lisped, “May I pet your pwetty cat?”

Tobias froze, blinking. “Um,” he stuttered, “I guess-”

Maria bit him on the ear. She didn’t mean to, but she had a great deal of experience with sticky-fingered younglings, and something inside her told her she did not want wet fingers in her fur. The kind young woman at the ice cream shop was one thing, but an awkward three-year-old was another matter entirely.

Fortunately, the child’s mother realized she had lost her offspring, and looked around, sudden fear driving out her previous expression of excited amazement. The look of relief that crossed her face made Maria’s heart shrink inside her chest, because she knew that at any time, her own mother would be missing her, but that no relief would be forthcoming. It made her want to jump down from Tobias’ shoulder and run back home, but she knew that even if she made her way through the city, no cat would ever be allowed to reach the Queen. No, she simply had to reach this Grimalkin as quickly as possible, and regain her human shape.

The child’s mother had reclaimed the girl’s grubby grasp, and was chastising the unrepentant imp for being rude. That done, she looked toward Tobias with a tentative smile. “I’m terribly sorry about her, lad. She’s never met a stranger, I’m afraid. Ah-” She hesitated, bit her lip, and plowed on. “By any chance do you know where the Lion’s Choice Inn is? We’re to meet up with my husband there, and he simply told me that it was on Falliday Street. I thought that would be enough, but now…” She trailed off, and her uncertain gaze spoke volumes of how worried she must be to be asking a boy who must seem little more than a child to her.

Tobias nodded. “He was right, ma’am. Just follow the sun west until you reach Falliday, and then go right. It’s a few blocks down, but you can’t miss it. They make the best meat pies in the city, so you’ll know it by the smell and the line outside, even if the Lion on the sign didn’t give it away.” He grinned, and the woman thanked him profusely. She scooped up her child and a heavy-looking canvas bag, and bustled away.

Tobias turned back toward the carriage, and was about to present his ticket to the coachman when another loud clatter broke through the hubbub of the crowd. This time, it was the distinct sound of horse hooves, and Maria could see Tobias’ jaw clench in frustration as the coachman turned to gape at the soldiers mounted on high-stepping steeds as they drew up to the carriage house.

“Ho!” The soldier in the lead raised his fist, and the three following him halted obediently. He flipped up his helm, and Maria gasped as she saw that it was Sir Baylin, one of her father’s favorite knights. Sir Baylin rarely left her father’s side when he was on duty, and she had a sinking feeling that her absence had been discovered sooner than they had hoped.

Sir Baylin looked around at the assembled folk, and motioned to the woman selling tickets. She hurried over, face a little pale but alive with curiosity, and accepted a scroll from the knight’s gauntleted hand. As she stepped back, Sir Baylin removed a second scroll from his saddlebag and unrolled it, holding it up so everyone could see.

It was clearly a picture of Maria herself. There was the stick-straight hair, and square, stubborn chin. Her brows were a bit too heavy to be fashionable, and her nose tilted up at the end, instead of reaching a delicate point. Pale eyes glared out from the image, and though it was black ink on cream paper, the startling contrast between dark hair and light eyes was easy to see.

The image was familiar. Two years before, when Maria was ten, and the littlest twins, Evangeline and , had been born, their exhausted mother had declared that she was done bearing children. The King (who definitely looked more relieved than disappointed) had ordered a family portrait, as well as individual paintings of each member of the family. He had had the final images made into printing plates, so copies could be sent to all the important members of the court, as well as the royals and nobles of the neighboring countries. After all, it was never too soon to begin considering good matches for his many children.

In order for Sir Baylin to be here, with several copies of this scroll stuffed into his bag, how long had they known she was gone? Usually, no one would even have questioned her absence until dinnertime. Her eyes narrowed. Jonas! It had to be! That little tattle-tale had ratted on her, even after promising he wouldn’t. Of course, all it would take would be for mother to ask him directly if he’d seen Maria, and he’d tell her everything. If he remembered seeing Maria duck behind the curtain, it wouldn’t take long to find the secret door. If they found the door, then they would find the courtyard, with Maria’s abandoned book, her pillow, and other things fallen from the tree. Would they think she was injured? Kidnapped? Run away?

Sir Baylin was speaking now, and Maria dragged her attention back. “-anyone has seen this girl, there’s a one hundred gold reward for her safe return!” One hundred gold! That was a fortune! Even a noble would be tempted by such an amount. Sir Baylin looked at the ticket seller. “Have you seen such a girl, good woman? Or perhaps another child of similar age and appearance, who might be this one in disguise?”

The woman looked straight at Tobias, her eyes calculating the likelihood that a fourteen or fifteen year old red-headed boy might be the missing ten or twelve year old girl, but quickly dismissed the idea. Tobias’ coloring alone might be the work of cosmetics and dye, but his face was far too triangular to be that of the girl in the picture. Reluctantly, she shook her head. “I’ve not seen her, sir. There was a woman with a little girl who just got off the coach. The child was too young, but-”

The knight’s expression tightened. “We will leave no stone unturned, madam. Which way did she go?”

Pointing east, the woman simpered, “If she’s the one you want, I’ll get my reward?”

Sir Baylin waved at the other three knights, who still sat, unmoving atop their steeds. The shortest one dug into her pouch and flickered the woman a coin that flashed silver in the air before being snatched into the ticket seller’s greedy hands. “If the information leads to the return of the girl, you’ll get the hundred gold. As a show of appreciation, you may keep this. Anyone else with information, find the nearest guard or soldier, and they will report in. Be certain that whoever succeeds in finding the child will find themselves very wealthy indeed.” He lowered his helm back over his face, and trotted off, leaving mayhem in his wake.

Everyone began speaking at once. The employees of the coach service rushed the woman, demanding to see the silver piece, which was likely a week’s wages for any of them. Everyone else started looking around with suspicious, hungry eyes, and Maria leaned into the comfort of Tobias’ solid warmth each time they brushed over her.

“Let’s go,” Tia hissed. “Before they decide a boy is as good as a girl after all. Everyone in the city will be looking for us now.”

Not us, Maria thought darkly. Me. I’m in so much trouble.