Fleck crept back into the guards’ den as silent as a shadow. It had been at least an hour since she’d left, so she didn’t really want to announce her arrival. That would lead to some tricky and uncomfortable questions, and she wanted to avoid that. The best that she could do was to pretend that she had been here the whole time, even though that alibi was a trifle unbelievable. She did, of course, have a plan b.
Fleck looked around the expanse of the hollow tree, trying to figure out what she had missed. Sparrow was now conscious and was sitting up, looking a bit dazed. All of the other guards were gathered about his bedside, so he must have recently woken up. They were asking him about how he felt and if he needed anything and other appropriate questions of the such.
Soon, Fleck was spotted by Sparrow, who peered over the heads of the other guards to spot her. As not to draw to much attention to herself, Fleck had hidden herself behind the other guards.
“Fleck!” Sparrow cried gleefully. “Hi!”
“Hi. You feeling all right?” Fleck inquired with polite concern. For the most part, Fleck didn’t have to act to express her care for the young tom, but she was feeling in a rotten mood and did not want to reflect that through her voice to her injured apprentice, especially as seeing as she was the one who injured him.
“Never better!” her apprentice chirped happily. “What have you been doing? The other guards said that they haven’t seen you.”
Fleck trust out a thrush and a vole. “I was just doing some hunting for you. I thought that you might be hungry what with that nasty conk on your head. Anyway, I felt really bad, so I got you these.”
“Thank you!” Sparrow squeaked happily.
Fleck deposited the prey at Sparrow’s bedside. He hungrily gulped down huge bites, proving that Fleck’s hunch had been correct.
“That was a long time to be hunting two pieces of prey,” Jade said suggestively, raising her eyebrows.
“Well, you know, I had a lot of things on my mind,” Fleck answered, feeling perspiration gathering on her brow, by trying to keep her voice calm and even. “I had a hard time finding prey out there.”
“Okay,” Jade said with an indifferent shrug.
“That was delicious!” Sparrow cried, licking his lips and closing his eyes to show his bliss.
“Wait. Hold up, hold up,” Ginger said, raising a paw. “What about Slate and his fancy-pantsy prey stores? Didn’t he see you catch that stuff? Didn’t he tell all of us that he would kill anyone who caught any prey and didn’t put it in the stores?”
“Oh,” Fleck murmured with realization, releasing a small puff of breath. Then her voice picked up a bit, “But who knows? He might have not been watching at the time, right? If I were him, I would rather rest in my plush bed then watch nothingness outside of my window, waiting for something to happen.”
“I guess so,” Ginger agreed. “But let’s not do this again.”
Fleck nodded. “You’re right,” she said, sighing grudgingly. “But one time won’t hurt, will it?”
“I... I don’t think so,” Ginger agreed hesitantly. “But I don’t know. I sure hope that Slate didn’t catch you. We’d better cross our fingers and pray that he didn’t.”
Ginger was right. Fleck knew that it had been risky hunting, but that was the least of her worries. What if Slate had caught her leaving the kingdom for no apparent reason, heading in the direction of Ember’s kingdom, and then returning shortly afterwards, in a span of time just long enough to arrive to Ember’s kingdom, report to him, and come back? Had Slate spotted Ember and her talking in his territory? Did he know about her being a spy?
No, Fleck told herself. If he had, he’d have already announced it to the rest of them and had me killed. But what if he does?
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Exercising extreme caution, Fleck slipped soundlessly away into Ember’s empire. She carefully kept to the shadows and tried to hide beneath trees and under bushes as to avoid being spotted by unseen eyes from above.
“Hello, Fleck,” Ember greeted her warmly, but with the weariness appropriate for one with a great weight on their shoulders. So saying, you could not blame the king for his weariness.
“Any updates on the three victims' murderer?” Fleck inquired with obvious interest, getting straight to the point.
Ember shook his head with regret. “I am sorry, Fleck, but there are none. I could try to give you some information on a couple of characters in my kingdom that might be suspects, and we could discus possibilities for murderers. But that is truly all I can do for you, as of now.
Fleck shrugged impassively. “That’s okay with me. Honestly, I didn’t really expect much. Oh, and by the way, I’m going to have to come only at night from now on. I realized that King Slate could spot me if I come during the day, and that is far to much of a gamble to risk. Plus, it’s easier to come by night, anyway.”
“That’s fine with me,” Ember agreed, still sounding extremely tired. “Follow me to my chambers. We don’t want to be overheard.”
Fleck nodded and followed her king in the direction of the neat little house in which he lived. She knew the way to go having had come before, but let him lead her there, anyway.
Once they were there, they took their seats on the deep purple cushions by the low bistre-colored table. Today, Fleck found that there was a midnight blue tablecloth placed upon the table in such way so that t appeared diamond-shaped, like the pillows. Small scarlet napkins folded into neat bishop hats were placed at each side of the table. In the middle of it, there was a hand-painted red-violet ceramic bowl, overflowing with a great verity of fruit.
“You could have some, if you like.” Ember gestured to the large fruit bowl. “Shall I call to the maid for some mint tea with sugar served with oat-and-poppy cakes? They’re quite delicious.”
“That would be wonderful, thank you,” Fleck replied politely with a friendly smile.
Ember began to tell Fleck about possible suspects. “So there is FireClaw. I really don’t know much about him, other then the fact that he is a bit arrogant and thinks that he’s a real charmer and that he can get any she-cat by just asking her. He is also often jealous of the more strong cats and just adores the idea of being popular.
“Another one if Smokey. She’s and odd cat who has lots of fun during battles and is the only one who actually does gun practice. She enjoys shooting and apparently enjoys killing, too. She could be the cat you’re looking for.
“Tyla is a cat who could also be a suspect. She’s always miserable, ever since her brothers died in the latest battle. She threatened to ‘do something about my terrible leadership skills’ more then once after that. She’s always been a bit violet, but now that her temper’s swelling, the violence is increasing.
“Mink is a young cat that really doesn’t spend much time around here. I think that the whole thing’s suspicious. He hangs out at the very edge of the kingdom and never speaks to anyone but the other crooks around those parts. I can’t begin to tell you how many cats have complained to me about Mink stealing from them. Mixing with the bad cats probably isn’t helping him, and he could be an innocent-looking spy for Slate.” Ember finished with a hefty sigh.
Fleck sat there for a long moment, mauling things over.
Ember broke the silence by speaking warmly to no one in particular. “Ah, the tea and tea cakes have arrived.”
The waitress set down the delicate little silver plates, purposefully chipped on the edges, with the oat-and-poppy cakes on them first, then went back to what was apparently the kitchen to retrieve the mint tea. The tea cakes were formed as neat rounded shapes, and each of them was served one. The tops were sprinkled with maple sugar and garnished with a small pile of fresh-picked raspberries. Tucked underneath the little pile was a fresh duo of mint leaves. The plate was also sprinkled with maple sugar and beside the cake were three more raspberries.
Then the mint tea was also served in chipped silver cups complete with silver saucers. The tawny-colored liquid had a sprig of fresh, fragrant mint. On the plate was a beautiful wedge of lemon.
“Mm,” Fleck murmured as she breathed in the healing sent of the tea. “This looks--and smells--delicious!”
Fleck began with the tea cake, which had hints of lemon in flavor. The juicy raspberries were gone far to quickly, in Fleck’s point of view, and as was the tea cake. The tea was minty and refreshing with the potent flavor of freshly squeezed lemon juice and the mellow sweetness of the white crystals of sugar that had just been stirred in.
After she had finished the tea and poppy cake, Fleck heaped the beautiful fruit, all ripened to perfection. The strawberries were soft, sweet and full of flavor. The raspberries were deep red and each was more delectable then the last. Each and every bite of the crisp ruby-red apple was one to savor. Once Fleck was done, she felt pleasantly full and so content that she almost forgot about the war and the recent murders.
“I will speak with all four of them, try to find out if they truly are liable suspects,” Fleck told Ember, words slightly drawn out from the content sleepiness that was often brought by good food.
“Who said that they weren’t?” Ember retorted hotly, raising from his seat on the cushiony violet pillow. “After all, I picked them out from all of the rest myself! I would think that that is good enough for you!”
Fleck raised her tail as a sign of surrender. “I never said that you were in the wrong. It’s just that I’m going to make sure that we get the right cat in the end.”
Ember nodded and settled back down in his cushion. “Yes, of course.”
“Anyway, I’d better get back,” Fleck told him awkwardly.
“No! Don’t go,” Ember insisted good-naturally. “Please stay. You could have some more mint tea. Or, if you wish, white or hibiscus. I have several other verities, but I recommend those three most highly.”
Fleck considered this for a while. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline. Every second away from Slate’s kingdom for to long, even at night, the risk of my being missed or caught increases.”
Ember looked truly crestfallen. “I’m sorry that you must go. Will I see you tomorrow night? If you arrive in time for dinner, my chief makes a fantastic scallion, potato and cayenne pepper soup with blueberry pie and homemade chocolate raspberry ice cream. But I must say, if you arrive any later and there may be no food left.” Ember chuckled at this remark.
“That does sound tempting,” Fleck said, licking her lips at the mere thought of it. “I’ll try to come early, but I might not be able to make it. Keep in mind that I’ll have to interview all four of the cats you mentioned beforehand. By the way, could you give me the locations of the possible suspects?”
Ember obliged and Fleck set of for the rival kingdom, thoughts of delectable blueberry pie and ice cream already filling he head.
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-KittyLover8
© 2013
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