Day 15, Afternoon
Galen, Cat and Alex

<snip>
"Ready Cat?"

"More than ready."

"Alright, let's get going then."

Anthra lifted off, Alex and Prayer right behind them.  They winked out
.

. and appeared above Voldora, ready to start their first real
assignment.
<end snip>

Bringing the dragons down a discreet distance from the village, the
riders and Galen slid to the ground.

"What now?" said Alex, looking to Galen for guidance.

"I don't think it's a good idea for us all to go in," said Cat, not
even looking at the other two, but instead towards the flickering
lights of Voldora in the distance.

"If you two go in and ask questions, and I stay out of the way, that
leaves one of us in reserve that no one knows about," she continued.

Turning around, she noticed a somewhat surprised expression on Galen's
face, and a shocked one on Alex's.

"It makes sense - two riders go in after people have seen two dragons
landing nearby, nothing suspicious. Then you can question people, and
I can ... have a look around."

Galen nodded, somewhat reluctantly.

"Just be careful, Cat," he said.

Cat nodded and grinned. "I'll be watching you," she said, then melted
into the undergrowth.

"I suppose we'd better take her word for it," said Alex, staring after
her.

Cat kept her wordas far as keeping tabs on Galen and
Alexandria, for a little while at least . She watched as they entered
the Inn, and through a window she caught a glimpse of them attracting
the
attention of the innkeeper.

They seemed to be doing alright by themselves, so Cat decided to check
out the stables, and see if she could find that stableboy who'd
brought the note to Norwall.

Sure enough, the lad was there, grooming one of the horses. Cat
watched from the shadows for a while, before stepping out into the
light.

"That's very good, you know" she said, making the boy jump and drop
the brush.

"You're doing a good job on that horse," Cat continued, walking up to
the animal and giving it an approving pat.

Picking up the brush, the boy glared accusingly at Cat. "You made me
jump!" he said.

"Sorry," she said, nonchalently, "but I had to make sure there wasn't
anyone else here. Because it was only you I wanted to talk to..."

"Me?" said the boy. He rather liked the idea of that - it made him
feel important, and important wasn't exactly a feeling stableboys get
often.

Then suspicion kicked in. "What about?" he asked. "Who sent you?"

"Don't worry," said Cat, steering him towards a bale of straw and
sitting him down. "I'm a friend. I saw you when you came to Norwall
warren when you brought that note to the warrenlady. You did very
well, you know,"

The boy swelled with pride. "It was nothing," he said with a grin.

"Still, the fact remains that one of our riders is still missing, and
everyone seems to be ignoring what could be the crucial bit of
evidence..." said Cat.

"Which is you," she added.

"Me?"

"Yes, you're the only one who actually got to talk at any length to
these riders who took Link away. You're the only one who got a really
good look at them, not just at their backs as they rode away. But did
anyone talk to you at Norwall?"

Cat didn't wait for the boy to answer.

"No, I didn't think so," she said, "just said 'thank you boy, we'll
take this to the warrenlady' did they? Gave you something to eat and
then brought you back here?"

The boy nodded.

"It's a tough life," said Cat, sympathetically.

"Those men who took the dragonrider away put something in the food I
was giving to the dragon," said the boy, eager to impress the
black-clad girl with his knowledge.

"Oh, did they?" she said. "Why did they do that?"

"Well, they said it would make it taste better to the dragon," said
the boy. "And how was I expected to know they were lying?"

"They said they were his friends, they did," the boy continued. "Said
they were waiting to meet him here."

"Did they stay at the Inn at all?" asked Cat.

"No, they arrived kind of sudden. Just asked me to look after their
horses, and said they'd just hang around for a little while until
their friend with the dragon turned up."

Pity, thought Cat. She'd been looking forward to breaking into some
rooms in the Inn to search for evidence. Maybe another time...

"What did the men look like?" she asked.

The boy frowned in concentration, then described Link's kidnappers.

"And what happened to the bottle with the drug in it?" she asked.

"The bottle?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, one of the men put it in his pocket. But then when they left in
such a hurry, it fell out."

"And?" Cat asked eagerly.

"I put it over there. It was empty, but it's a nice bottle. Could be
worth a bit" said the boy, pointing to a shelf arrayed with grooming
equipment.

Cat walked over and examined the small, blue bottle. Removing the
stopper, she tilted the bottle and saw a few drops of liquid left in
the bottom. She sniffed it delicately; it smelled slightly sweet.

Replacing the stopper, Cat grinned at the boy. "I think I'd better
keep this," she said.

"But it's mine!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Cat. "After all, your
employer might not be very pleased if you kept it for yourself. He'd
probably take it away from you anyhow."

"But *you're* taking it away too, so what's the difference?"

"Listen, kid, I'm here, and he's not," said Cat, with a feral grin, as
he slipped the bottle into a pocket. "Want to argue about it?"

The boy shook his head, nervously.

"Smart kid," said Cat. "Now, I'm leaving now, but you're not to go
telling anyone I've been here, okay?"

"Sure," said the boy.

"Oh," said Cat, as she was walking out the door. "Take this for your
trouble."

Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a shiny object and threw it to
the stableboy.

Catching it deftly out of the air, the boy examined it. A ring, set
with a blue stone.

"In return for the bottle?" he said.

"What bottle?" said Cat. "You never found the bottle, did you? Those
men must've taken it away when they left."

"Umm, yeah," said the boy, thinking quickly. "Must've done,"

He turned the ring over and over in his hands. He'd never had anything
like *this* before.

*********

Cat smiled as she slipped quietly back to the Inn where Galen and Alex
were hopefully making some more conventional enquiries.

The stone was made of cheap metal, and the stone was a fake, but the
boy seemed pleased with it, which had been her intention. Cat wouldn't
miss the ring. It had come from a large collection of that kind of
thing that she'd accumulated over the years before she came to
Norwall.

<Tag Ben and Dianne. I figured she'd hang around to see if Alex and
Galen came out of the Inn.  Feel free to dive in at the middle of the
post as well - I wasn't sure how Galen and Alex would react, so I left
things pretty vague :)  >

Respectfully submitted
Carina Norris
carina@norris25.freeserve.co.uk

Cat <& Anthra>












 

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