James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

The sharp scent of Keritanima touched his nose, and he looked up from the gravel pathway. She was advancing towards him slowly, dressed a bit hastily in an Initiate dress but sleep still creeping across her features. She wasn't her usual perfect self, but then again, her Royal Highness wasn't accustomed to waking up before the sun. Tarrin had slid a note under her door, a note that her maid or one of her two bodyguards had no doubt given to her. Keritanima shared her apartment with her mink-wikuni maid, and during the night a pair of absolutely massive lizard-Wikuni guarded her door. The Keeper made Keritanima adhere to the Initiate codes, but she had been forced to make several exceptions, due to her royal lineage.

"I'm going to kill you, Tarrin," she said grumpily. "Do you have any idea how much I hate getting up in the morning?"

"You'll live," he told her. "I figured that this would be the best time to talk."

"The only reason I came out was because Jervis hasn't gotten here yet," she told him.

"Then it's best that we talk now," he told her.

"Where's Allia?"

"Still asleep," he replied. "I don't think that she's going to be a big help in what we need to talk about."

Her amber eyes gave him a penetrating look. "I take it something happened?"

He nodded. "Jesmind is gone," he told her.

"You-"

"No, nothing like that," he cut her off. "She had to go back home. But she said a few things to me that made me think, and it's something that concerns both of us."

"This master plan?" she asked, and he nodded. "Well, I guess I feel secure enough to get started," she announced. "Miranda has already made many friends among the Tower's servants."

"Miranda?"

"My maid," she replied. "Miranda knows about me, Tarrin. She's one of the reasons I'm still alive."

"You didn't mention her before."

"That's because she likes to keep it as quiet as I do," she told him. "If my father ever found out, he'd realize that Miranda would have to know the truth, and he'd probably have her executed for treason."

"I doubt that."

"You don't know my father," she said. "You said something about a Tiella?"

He nodded. "Tiella is a novice that came to the Tower with me," he said. "She can help because her daily task is to clean the Keeper's office."

Keritanima chuckled. "I think that that's definitely a help," she agreed. "But she can't rifle the Keeper's desk."

"I know," he said. "But she can pass along anything she sees in passing. Tiella has a good memory."

"I hope so," Keritanima said, tapping herself on the end of her snout with a clawed finger. "Allia told me the other day that she can understand you when you're a cat. Does that mean that you can talk to other cats?"

Tarrin blinked, and gaped at her. "How did you know that?"

"It's elementary, if you think about it," she said. "If she can communicate with you as a cat, then you must speak in some sort of language. And if you do that, then obviously cats can communicate with each other."

"I'm glad you think it's obvious," he told her.

"Then it's true."

"Without going into a long explanation, yes."

"Then why don't you ask some of the Tower's cats to give you a hand?"

"Because they're still animals, Keritanima," he told her. "Cats aren't stupid, but their intelligence isn't the same type as ours. I wouldn't know where to begin asking a cat to dig for information without guiding it step by step."

"Well, it was a thought. But it definitely means that I need a cat."

"What for?"

"Who better to send with information?" she asked with a smile. "All it takes is a hollow collar and instructions to find you. Assuming, of course, that I could make it understand to come find you."

"Now that, I could help you with," he said. "I can ask it to come find me when you say something specific to it. They don't understand the common speech, but they can learn a few words."

"Good enough," she told him, leaning back and looking at the sunrise. "Just keep it low, Tarrin. Let me handle it."

"I was planning to," he assured her. "But I'm still going to see what I can learn."

"How so?"

He extended his claws and showed them to her. "These let me get into alot of open windows," he replied calmly.

"Just be careful," she replied.

"I'm always careful, Keritanima," he replied soberly, looking at the rising sun.

"Good, because I may need your help."

"How so?"

"The fastest way to find out what someone knows about someone is to make them talk about that someone," she explained. "If you want me to find out why they're so interested in you, you have to make them talk about you. And nothing can make that happen faster than when you make them angry."

Tarrin smiled slightly. "I think you have a plan."

"Oh, I have a very good plan," she replied with a roguish smile. "It involves all three of us. It's certain to drive the katzh-dashi crazy. That's just an added bonus, because what it's going to do is make certain that alot of people talk about us. That's information that'll be easy to gather up." She put her feet on the bench and drew up her knees to her chest. "The Princess Brat has been doing that for quite a while, so she can easily incite the Sorcerers into conniptions, but can you and Allia do it?"

"What would we have to do?"

She licked her chops absently, thoughts obviously forming behind her eyes. "The quickest way for the two of you to make them angry would probably be to become defiant," she reasoned. "That should be easy for you. But the problem is going to be coming up with a reason for you to rebel that makes sense. Plus it will make them show us just exactly how valuable they think we are."

He could understand the logic of that. By seeing how much they would take before they finally took action, he would understand how valuable he was.

"Since I've established the fact that the Brat Princess likes you two, she would probably join in the rebellion," she continued. "I'd rather not, but unfortunately, it's the way things are."

"Why is that?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you," she said with bright eyes. "I touched the Weave yesterday!"

"Congratulations," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "What's it like?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you that, but I loved it!" she said in wonder. "Now I understand why I've always detested the idea of being Queen. Sorcery is what I was born to do."

"I'm happy for you, Keritanima," he said, then he chuckled. "Why did your father give you such a long name?"

"It's something of a custom among female aristocrats," she sniffed. "My sisters have names just as long as mine."

"Well, I'm in danger of biting my tongue off every time I say it, so I'm going to call you Kerri," he told her. "Not because it sounds nice, but because I don't want to go around sounding like an idiot."

She laughed. "Kerri, is it? Well, I guess I can live with that. We'll discuss my fee for being so gracious some other time. Anyway, since I've just managed to make a touch on the Weave, rebelling would mean refusing lessons. I'd rather not do that, but I may not have a choice."

Tarrin's eyes narrowed. "Maybe not," he said. "It's not in stone yet, but let me see if I can't organize a bit of covert instruction."

"That short one? Dolanna?"

He nodded. "She's a very good friend. I may convince her to teach us secretly."

"We'll spend our time in rebellion in the library," she continued. "If we want a real chance at getting away, if it comes to that, we'll need every advantage we can get our hands on."

"How?"

"Tarrin, the Ancients wielded power that would make the katzh-dashi look like Novices," she said. "If we could somehow learn just one or two little secrets, we could maybe use them to make good on any escape. Don't you forget that if we run, they'll just use magic to find us. We have to find a way to stop that before we try anything."