Page 32 of A Skirl of Sorcery (The Cat Lady Chronicles #3)

Chapter

Twenty-Five

If I’d been under any illusion as to how seriously the trows took their problem with Tobias Hollow and how much trouble and angst that shit had caused, I wasn’t now. A mass of trows of all ages, sizes, genders and creeds were standing in front of Thane and me, every face anxious and expectant.

Even Tanavantia looked nervous; she was twisting her fingers together and occasionally reaching up to touch the heavy gold chain of office around her neck.

The burden of responsibility lay heavily on her and I was genuinely pleased that I could ease it.

The satisfaction I gained from helping people was even greater than that from stroking a sleek cat or executing a perfect kill.

Of course, I mused, being able to kill effectively was a large part of what enabled me to help.

‘Nobody is perfect,’ I whispered under my breath.

Thane glanced at me. ‘Tiddles isn’t far off.’

‘I wasn’t referring to cats.’

The corners of his mouth tugged upwards.

Tanavantia cleared her throat. She was keen to get down to business. ‘You have news?’ she asked.

‘Yes. Very good news.’

Thane held up the parchment. ‘The next two hundred years at Green Humbleton are guaranteed as long as you maintain rental payments, which will return to their previous rates. Your rent can only be increased every five years and only in line with inflation. And it is clearly stated in magically binding ink that rent negotiations with future generations beyond the two hundred year mark are to be favourable and fair.’

Several of the younger trows couldn’t contain themselves and gasped aloud, clutching at each other. One of them shouted, ‘How? How did you get that wanker to agree to that?’

Tanavantia gazed at me then nodded slowly. ‘It is better to avoid questions to which one does not wish to hear the answer.’

A dozen cheering trows crowded around Thane and I stepped backwards, out of their way.

‘I never thought a wolf would be our saviour!’

‘Thank you, sir! Thank you so much!’

‘I didn’t do anything,’ Thane protested. ‘It was all…’ I glared at him and his shoulders dropped. ‘It was all in a day’s work,’ he finished lamely. I smiled and the trows’ rousing cheers grew louder.

‘Thank you,’ Tanavantia murmured. She’d sidled up and was now standing beside me, watching the celebrations.

There was no point in pretending Thane had done all the heavy lifting so I accepted her words. ‘You’re welcome.’

‘We owe you far more than information.’ She drew in a deep breath and I had the appalling notion that she was about to present me with her first-born. There was only one thing I wanted and I was determined to walk away with nothing else.

‘It’s only information that I need,’ I said before she could speak again. ‘We had a bargain and I expect you to stick to it.’

Something flitted across her eyes but she nodded and gestured to Bin, who was ignoring the ongoing celebrations around Thane and standing close by. ‘Binhamatin,’ she intoned. ‘You must speak freely now.’

The trow shuffled forward. If anything, he was more scared of me now than he had been the first time we met and I felt a flicker of irritation.

I wasn’t trying to be scary, not here; I was trying to be their friend.

But maybe you could take the cat lady out of the assassin but you could never completely take the assassin out of the cat lady.

Perhaps Bin was right to be afraid; perhaps I had to learn that I would never be viewed as harmless even by those to whom I meant no harm.

‘I took the bone box from a house in Danksville,’ he mumbled. ‘I don’t know the address – I don’t understand your system of numbering.’ He sniffed. ‘City folk do things in a daft fashion. All those buildings, all tightly packed together. It makes no fucking sense and…’

‘Binhamatin,’ Tanavantia cautioned him, gently.

He stopped his complaint in mid-sentence and wiped his nose with the back of his hand, then lifted his head and met my eyes. ‘I’ll have to show you where it is.’

That worked for me. ‘Great,’ I said, smiling at him. Unfortunately he only flinched. ‘There’s no time like the present.’

It took far longer than I liked to extract Thane from his adoring fans, and it also took far longer than I’d anticipated to travel back to the heart of Danksville.

Bin was more terrified of the tram than he was of me, and after nearly ten minutes of trying to persuade him that it was the fastest and safest way into the city, I gave up.

Sometimes you had to know when you were beaten.

‘Fine, we’ll do things your way,’ I said. If we walked it would be dawn before we got close. There was no chance that Bin had walked into Danksville on his previous visits; he had to have another mode of transport.

He grunted and scurried off, leaving Thane and me to follow.

‘Is this a good idea?’ Thane asked in a low voice. ‘Maybe we should meet him there. We can take the tram and he can travel in a way that suits him.’

‘We don’t know where we’re going,’ I pointed out. ‘And Bin doesn’t understand our system of addresses. Sticking close to him will be easiest.’

Thane nodded. ‘Uh-huh. Especially now that he’s just disappeared.’

I blinked and looked around. Shit: a moment ago Bin had been in front of us and now there was no sign of him.

Thane frowned. ‘He wouldn’t run off. This is part of our agreement.’

‘He’s scared of me,’ I muttered. ‘Maybe…’

There was a shrill voice to our left. ‘I have not run off! I am right here!’

Thane and I exchanged looks and turned. Neither of us had spotted the concealed trow hole only a few metres away from which Bin’s head was poking out.

And he was furious. ‘Of course I’m scared!

’ His high-pitched voice bounced around in the darkness.

‘I know what you are! I know what you’re capable of!

If I wasn’t scared, I’d be fucking stupid! ’

‘He has a point,’ Thane murmured.

It was my turn to flinch.

Bin wasn’t finished. ‘Scared or not, I’m still here.

I won’t run away from you. I know what I did was wrong and I know I scared people by breaking into their homes, but I had my reasons.

I’m not a monster and I don’t wear a mask – I am what you see.

But you are not what you appear to be, and that makes you more terrifying than me.

We’re grateful to you for what you achieved with Mr Hollow, but Mr Hollow told us who he was from the start and we always knew what he wanted. Who are you? What do you want?’

Thane’s eyes glittered. ‘You need to take this down a notch.’

‘Or what?’ Bin demanded.

I put a hand on Thane’s arm and thought of Keres.

This was only a flavour of what she experienced on a daily basis and she managed it with considerable grace.

‘It’s fine.’ I met Bin’s angry gaze. ‘I’m Kit.

I’m many things to many people, but all I want as far as you’re concerned is help.

I wanted to help you, and now I want your help for someone else. Nothing more, nothing less.’

Bin bared his teeth in a semi-snarl. He didn’t trust anyone from the city, but he had specific reasons for not trusting me in particular. ‘I don’t like cats.’

‘Okay.’ He was lying; he’d been friendly enough when he’d first met me and I’d been in a cat’s body.

‘And I don’t like you.’

‘That’s okay, too.’ This time he was telling the truth. That was alright; I didn’t need him to like me.

He huffed loudly then his head dropped back into the hole in the earth. When he reappeared, he was carrying something. ‘This is better than any scummy tram,’ he declared.

I gazed at the rickety bicycle that appeared to be made out of wood. I dreaded to think what its suspension was like. ‘Fabulous,’ I said.

‘Take it, then.’

I did as I was told.

‘Wolf!’

Thane started. ‘Yes?’

‘This one is for you.’ Bin produced another bike, slightly bigger than the one I was holding though it didn’t appear to be any sturdier.

‘Wonderful.’

Bin managed a smile. He pulled out a third bicycle, heaved himself out of the hole and smacked his lips in satisfaction. ‘Now we can go.’

I gazed at him. ‘What?’ he asked. ‘I thought you were in a hurry. The faster this is over and done with, the better.’

True. I sighed and clambered onto the bike. It was designed for trows and I was far too large for its wooden frame. Thane didn’t look any more comfortable. ‘The Three Damned Stooges,’ he muttered.

I stifled a laugh. ‘It could be worse.’

‘Could it?’

Bin was already cycling, pulling away from us and gaining speed with each turn of the heavy wooden wheels.

‘It’s all for a good cause, Thane.’

‘Tell that to my arse when we finally get to Danksville.’

I started to pedal. There was no doubt in my mind that we would both be rubbed raw in that tender area before we got close to my home suburb. ‘Play your cards right,’ I told him, ‘and I’ll kiss it better.’

Ninety or so minutes later, when we finally trundled into the dark and empty riverside market, I felt even worse than I’d expected.

It was bad enough when we were cycling along paths and grassy walkways, but when we reached the city streets and the uneven cobbles it became a genuine nightmare.

I was no stranger to pain but my bottom felt as if it were on fire and I wasn’t sure there was any skin left on it.

When I climbed off every muscle screeched and even walking was painful.

‘This way!’ Bin chirped, pirouetting off his bike and dancing up the slope that led away from the market.

‘Torture,’ Thane whispered, his horrified expression a mirror of my own. ‘We should have taken the tram.’

‘Indeed.’ I certainly had a newfound respect for the hardiness of your average trow.

I stretched my legs as best I could and set off after Bin, though it took several shuffling steps before I managed anything that approximated a normal stride. It would have been galling if Thane hadn’t also been struggling.

We heaved ourselves up the narrow hill and away from the market. Once we reached the summit and the network of dark cobbled streets, I realised that there was no sign of Bin. Goddamnit. I kept my voice low and called his name. There was no answer.

Thane tried, his baritone penetrating further through the darkness than my voice. ‘Binhamatin! Where are you?’

Given the way he’d spoken to us at Green Humbleton, I didn’t think Bin had run away. It probably hadn’t occurred to him that our longer legs would require recovery time after so much painful cycling. I swivelled on the spot, trying to peer into the darkness and identify which direction he’d taken.

‘I think…’ I began, then froze.

Thane glanced at me. ‘What is it?’

‘Something’s wrong.’

‘What do you mean?’

I swung my head from left to right. It wasn’t anything specific but there was a definite sense of wrongness. The air was shifting in a way that suggested encroaching evil and I knew that if I’d been in cat form, every single hackle along my spine would have been raised. ‘You can’t feel anything?’

‘No, Kit.’ Thane frowned. ‘There’s…’

I didn’t find out what he was planning to say because that was the moment my whole body was wracked by searing pain. The bone-crunching agony was like nothing I’d ever felt before.

My knees gave way and I fell forward. Thane was by my side in an instant, trying to help me up and calling my name but I was only dimly aware of his presence. The trauma of what I was experiencing was too great for me to focus on anything but myself.

Violent shivers shook my limbs and I gasped for air. I choked and spluttered and writhed. There was a growing pressure in the centre of my chest, as if a hand had reached into my heart and was squeezing it, but this was far more than a heart attack.

A scream clawed its way out of my throat.

Dark magic – the darkest magic. Suddenly I knew exactly what was happening to me: it was what had happened to Keres, a harpy, a leprechaun, a druid and quite likely several Barrow werewolves.

Something – someone – was ripping the magical essence out of my body and it hurt like fuck.

I rolled to my side. With the market to our left, there were few places this magical killer could be hiding so they had to be on the rooftops. I was in no state to go hunting – I could barely do anything beyond twist in pain – but Thane would understand if I could just communicate with him.

I gritted my teeth and forced my eyes open.

His face swam in front of mine. His lips were moving and he was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him through the roaring in my ears.

I raised a hand to the roofs opposite and tried to point, then touched my chest to indicate through the blasting pain that my cat sith soul was being ripped from my body.

Another jolt surged through me and I was unable to continue.

I would rather have been stabbed by any number of parasol tips than experience this.

I’d rather have had any number of witches perform rigor spells upon me.

I’d rather have been shot, stabbed, drowned, strangled and burned than go through this.

I was powerless. I couldn’t fight this enemy, couldn’t defend myself, couldn’t do a damned thing.

The magic inside me was being ripped away and I couldn’t stop it.

Don’t forget what you are.

Trilby’s last words to me echoed around my head.

Don’t forget what you are.

Cat sith. I was nothing without that part of myself. It was me: I was it.

Don’t forget what you are.

Cat sith. My heart burned. Cat sith. Cat… I drew in a shuddering breath. Cats weren’t just cats and I wasn’t just a cat lady. Cats were from the netherworld; they were demons – and that made me a demon lady. A demon wouldn’t allow its essence to be stolen and neither would I.

I bared my teeth. I was stubborn and hardy and strong – and my roots were in at least some people’s version of hell.

A strangled whisper escaped my lips. ‘I am a demon lady,’ I gasped. ‘You … cannot … take … this … from … me.’ And with that, I curled my hands into fists and clung onto every shred of what was myself with claws and teeth and fur.