Toofy Ch. 08

He awoke early, before the sunrise.

His ninth day in this luxurious prison cell. Eight days since his little neko was used by the emperor, and demonstrated an aptitude for political wrangling that no one had expected of her.

Four days since the last assassination attempt on his life. That one had probably been Castelle, outraged at how easily the cat was becoming a part of life on the estate. The little furball sowing chaos and discontent everywhere she went.

"Tyre." Sai greeted the man leaning stiffly against the far wall. "I must confess, I didn't expect anyone would send you to try and end me."

The man smiled, "Still haven't, Thunderstep. From what I hear, the emperor is more than happy to let you rot so long as your cat makes things difficult for everyone else. He likes her."

"For now." Sai replied hesitantly, "So what brings you to see your former lord, gamekeeper?"

The man rubbed at his face, "My gamekeeping duties. I am afraid I don't know quite what has to happen, but something does. Castelle had me trap a beast plaguing a village near the border. Cage it, and drag it back to his estate."

"A new plaything for the hunter." Sai nodded, "So, what has you concerned?"

"It's a neko."

Sai swallowed nervously, "A neko. They're ambush predators. You and I know that. It shouldn't have been attacking entire villages... Oh, shit. Fuck me. It's a bucktooth, isn't it?"

"It is. It's also of the same clan as the woman you wish could be your bride." Tyre said with concern.

He winced, "Nothing we can do. She'll just have to deal with it, Shifter."

"Like she dealt with the succubus? That play won't work here, Thunderstep." Tyre shook his head, "You can't fuck a tomcat into submission. She's going to be out of her depth. She didn't grow up with her people. She grew up in the temple."

Sai shrugged, "I can't break my confines without making things worse. I can't even send her a message, without making things worse. You can't protect her, this time. We have to let this one play out."

Tyre nodded grimly, "I know. That's what I'm terrified of."

"Stop worrying about the bucktooth, and start worrying about Twenty Four. You don't want to be anywhere near her if she loses it." Sai said honestly, "I've seen some of her creativity. It comes out when she gets angry. Trapping something like that... She won't lose control. She will get even."

The assassin cum gamekeeper scoffed, "Do you remember fighting them, Sai? That time we kidnapped one of their buckteeth to interrogate? We didn't make that mistake twice. Not with what followed."

"I remember." He replied, looking grimly down at the ground, "The smell of blood and burning sand. The wailing. Soldiers flailing around in the dark and fire, screaming as they died in fear. Those golden eyes in the shadows. We never stood a chance."

"I could tell the emperor."

Sai shrugged, "For what purpose, Shifter? Castelle caged an exotic beast that was a plague on the land. He is well within his rights. Our glorious ruler never came to see the exotics as anything even approaching human. Just dumb mutts to be put down."

Tyre breathed out heavily, "Did we see them as anything more than that?"

"I chose an exotic mistress on purpose." Sai replied quietly, "It might have taken me a while to admit it, but I am soaked in the blood of my sins."

The gamekeeper nodded slowly, "For what it is worth... I am terrified of your mistress. She sees through people like they're made of glass. Knows just how to manipulate them. I wouldn't say that Lord Castelle's life expectancy is very high, just now."

"Really."

"She's been working with his wife, healing both their respective handmaidens." Tyre reported what he had already scried. "Even got to the point where if the cat calls for the lady, it isn't the cat who has to go to her. They idle in the gardens, sometimes, as well."

Sai smiled slowly, "That's my Twenty Four. Breaking hearts wherever she goes. Has she made a move against Isaac, yet?"

"Not that I can see." Tyre shook his head, "But I don't envy that one. The scars he's left on the handmaiden's back aren't going to be forgiven, or forgotten. Especially not when they share a bed most nights."

"Only when it isn't Elia's turn." Sai mused, "Has Toofy realised that you watch her, yet? That the two of you are involved?"

"Always. She can smell the animals on me from an impressive distance."

The lord nodded slowly, "We've done what we can, Tyre. What happens next... Is on her."

"As you wish, Thunderstep." The man disappeared.

Sai leaned back on the bed, pausing as he heard a rattle. He looked over, his green eyes flashing, as he saw a scorpion in the bed. The creature skited away under his glare, but left him questioning where it had come from.

--

She skipped happily into the greenhouse, dragging Arina along by her hand as she did. The cat purred happily, and rubbed her face onto the other woman who was already present.

Liz batted her away, "Not right now. Don't go getting your fur in my work."

Toofy glanced down at the alchemical substance being mixed, and cocked her head. She sniffed and then planted both her hands over her nose and recoiled. "Vile! Evil!"

"Isn't it?" Liz said in amusement, "However, I do believe it to be quite the effective poultice. Arina, strip, if you would please. It is time your bandages were changed."

The handmaiden curtsied, "Yes, Lady Castelle."

Toofy had to restrain her usual hiss as she saw the marks left on the delicate skin. Had to stop herself reaching out to Arina with tears in her golden eyes.

Liz, of course, noticed the pain and fluffed the top of her head, "Don't worry. She's nearly healed."

"Don't touch Toofy's fucking head!" She spat, and then looked back to the handmaiden. "She will make this right. She will."

Liz ignored her, continuing to pat her, despite the protests. And despite her anger, the neko couldn't help but admit that she did like it. Made her feel like a loved little kitten, again.

The lady frowned, glancing around, "No slave shadow, today? Did you have another fight with Elia about her tail?"

"Toofy put it in her mouth in her sleep." Her ears went flat, "She didn't mean it! But... Little Saia needs to recharge. So she's run away to hide."

Liz laughed softly, "To think that I once feared what you would do to me, if I afforded you the opportunity."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She glowered.

The woman shrugged, "Oh, just that I underestimated you. Fearing that you might sexually satisfy me was foolish. I should have feared that I could not satisfy you."

She purred and rubbed on her again, "Toofy is as satisfied as she can be, without her master."

"With how many sharing your bed?"

The cat giggled, "Liz and Arina and Little Saia. She hasn't taken any others. Didn't even touch Liz's Xivian. Only helped to fix her."

"I despise that pet name." The lady shook her head, "Yet, you will always insist upon it, won't you?"

"Mmm." Toofy nodded, her bell ringing with the motion.

She scooted closer as Arina finished undressing, and removing her bandages. Gentle hands delicately touching the still-healing welts from where the belt buckle had carved through her flesh. She leaned forward, and her rough tongue flicked out.

Arina shivered in pain, but made no other outward signs as Toofy began to kiss across each of the wounds. The handmaiden had got used to this part of the process.

Lady Castelle leaned her chin in a hand, considering her, "You've made rapid progress, considering the depth of the attacks, but I'm concerned that some of these are still blackening. Twenty Four? How does it taste?"

She made a face but tasted at one of the black spots, before recoiling and spitting violently. She heaved and coughed a furball up onto the ground, before wiping her mouth. "Gangrene."

"Damn it. I am almost at my wits end. It may be in the hands of the gods, soon." Liz said with frustration. "We keep cutting it out, and cleaning it, and it isn't enough."

Toofy frowned, staggering upright, "Isn't spell. Isn't curse. Checked for those. Has to be natural. Maid job is too dirty."

"If she didn't work, then my husband would simply kill her. We can't hide her away." Liz shook her head. "I'm already in trouble for favouring Xivian."

"And when he caught Toofy in the garden." She reminded the woman how they had recently been caught with a certain cat tongue between certain legs by a certain husband.

She sighed, "I really thought he would be kinder, after his indigestion problems stopped. It seems he is worse than ever."

"He is irritating. But he did want her to be interested in his son, not his wife." Toofy agreed, "Not long, though. Not long. We just need to help the Arina until then. Hm. Toofy was reading in the library. Read about elf who used to grow poultices."

Liz turned her head, "Oh? I do not believe I am acquainted with that particular volume."

"Written in high elf." Toofy shrugged, "A present for his lord stinkypants. All pretty pictures. The elf... What was his name? Can't remember. He was killed in the war. Volume published posthumously."

The lady sighed, "So, how does this help us? Did it have a list of ingredients or castings required to create these magical poultices?"

"Not magical." Toofy shook her head, "Natural. Grow and eat the bad things. Easy to grow. Need a cold and dark place to grow. Damp is better."

"Worth an attempt." Liz shrugged, "I suppose I could ask for a corner of the dungeon for a small experiment. My husband is likely to extract a price, however."

The cat smiled cheekily, "She could lend him her succugirl."

"He doesn't like exotics. Especially dehydrated ones." The woman replied flatly. "Do you even consider Elia's feelings, before you offer her up like bait?"

"Toofy doesn't consider the worm. She only eats the fish before it can get the worm." She replied with a twinkle of excitement in her eyes.

Liz sighed, "She loves you, you know. In her own way."

"Toofy knows. She is considering freeing her." The neko said quietly, and returned to licking at the less gross parts of Arina's scars.

The woman chuckled, "If you removed the slave collar, would it change how Elia reacts to you, at all? Would she stop calling you, mistress?"

"No. Toofy bit her." She said between licks.

Liz sighed, "Do you think Elia might be feeling... A bit overused? Maybe that is why she has retreated from you."

"It's the tail." The neko paused and sighed, "Toofy... It is private. Delicate matter. The Liz isn't allowed to say it, if she knows it."

"I am listening, my little cat."

She rubbed nervously at one of her ears, "Toofy... Wants more than just tongues. She misses her master. So she wants Elia's tail. But Elia doesn't do things like that. Thinks it is gross. So if she notices Toofy looking, she gets mad."

"Have you tried cucumbers?" Liz asked, voice full of humour.

Toofy shot a glare at her, "If the Liz had to choose, would she take vegetable, or dick?"

"You are as uncouth as ever." The lady shook her head, "Yet, the choice seems rhetorical. The answer is obvious."

"Yes. And tail is alive and moving. Can reach all the good parts." The cat shrugged. "Meant to feel good for both. It would touch Little Saia in new ways, make her into a waterfall for Toofy's tongue. Drown her. Reach deeper into Toofy, than little fingers. More flexible, too."

Liz laughed softly, "Always an education, speaking with you, Twenty Four. A sexual education, often on other species, but always an education to be had."

Toofy paused, and then wrapped her hands around the timid handmaiden and purred, "Somebody else likes it."

"M-mistress." Arina jerked in surprise.

"I'm fairly certain she's just reacting to being licked from head to toe." Liz rolled her eyes.

"Share?" Toofy suggested, gleefully.

The lady sighed heavily, "We are attempting to heal your handmaiden. Not to engage in carnal activity every time you get a slight whiff. Incorrigible cat."

Toofy laughed and skipped over to the woman, kissing her nose, "Liz loves her, for it."

"No." The lady said firmly and flicked her bell.

Just like Sai.

The neko's throat caught, and she fought back her tears. She spun away, delving deep into her anger instead. At the men and women who had stolen her Sai from her.

The list of people that she would have killed, so that she could save him, bring him back to her.

She hadn't taken the time to enjoy her last time with her master. They couldn't have afforded it at the time, but it still hurt. She wanted to feel his hands on her.

Hear his voice, gently chiding her.

"Twenty Four?" Liz said apprehensively.

She shook her head, tail dragging on the ground, "Misses him. Nothing that the lady can do to help Toofy. Not until the lord is no longer irritating."

"Should I send for you, tonight?" Liz asked cautiously, "Or would you prefer, that I do not?"

The cat shrugged, "It is always a distraction to play with her ladyship. Toofy would be happy to always share her bed, until her Sai is returned to her."

"Arina might feel a little disappointed if that were to take place." Liz replied, looking at the servant in question with amusement.

Toofy shrugged, "We could always share."

"Now, now." Liz cautioned, "Arina is not so corrupting an influence as you are. She has her heart but for one. She does not partake in dallying with any who might give her attention."

The cat gave a playful hiss, "Keep it up. Toofy will steal the Xivian from you."

"You simply assume you can take anyone by the heart and draw the strings to control them?" Liz said with irritation.

She shook her head, and kissed the woman's cheek, "No. Toofy never tries to steal the heart. She only ever tries to offer desire. Her own heart is her master's. Not fair to steal without giving."

"So, you did not set out to seduce me?" Liz said pointedly, as she crossed the room to Arina and began to apply the vile-smelling liquid to the servant's injuries.

The cat backed away, covering her nose with both hands, "She set out to seduce the lady. But sex is not love. Also, Arina no share bed tonight."

The handmaiden gagged, "I... Comprehend, m'lady. Can I even serve inside the house, with this perfume of hellspawn?"

"I am assigning you to my altar and gardens for the day." Liz said with a roll of her eyes, "It truly does not smell as bad as all that. It is but a tincture of sulphur."

"Blegh." Toofy blepped her tongue.

"If it is so offensive to the senses, then you may assist me in bathing to wash clean of the smell." Liz said in irritation.

"Can't." Toofy's ears drooped, "She has a meeting with Lord Yu in the library, soon. He may be offensive to the senses as the smell, but Toofy cannot be late."

"Lord Yu? I was not aware my husband invited him."

She shook her head, "He did not. He comes for Toofy. She has not just been reading about cures for the maidens in the library. There is something she is trying to prove. Needs his help."

Liz's face fell, "Oh, no. Oh, what political wrangling are you thrusting upon this household? Endangering us, all?"

"Mmm... Toofy is looking to bribe the one who hired Elia, so that they won't try again." She shrugged, "Isn't that bad."

Lady Castelle was unconvinced, "How is reading a large number of books going to preserve you against one that sends assassins?"

"Not many books. Just one." Toofy replied, "She has to find it first. Having problems, but she doesn't read High Human. Lady Efina used to beat her for that."

"High human?" Liz was confused, "Do you mean... Enteric?"

"Mmm."

The woman frowned, "What legal documents could our little neko be hunting for in the library? That she doesn't want us to know about, Arina?"

The handmaiden swallowed, "She did not tell me, m'lady. I merely wrote her invitation to Lord Yu."

"Isn't secret, just a secret." Toofy said, "She looks for records of a secret. People always hide things. Heraldry lists who we wish was family, but Toofy had no family. She knows family has other records, harder to hide. Birthmarks, servants present at birth who shouldn't be. Other things."

Liz looked at her very carefully, appraising her innocence, and she saw more than a slight hint of disapproval there. "This is the path you are choosing for our way forward?"

"She is sure she doesn't know what the lady means." Toofy replied, blinking her golden eyes.

Arina seemed to try and shrink as the two women faced off against each other. Liz seemed like she had before Toofy had catapulted into her life and upset it. High and haughty, looking down at her with utter derision.

Toofy raised an eyebrow, daring the woman to say or do anything. The stubborn cat that had been unbroken as a slave of the temple, despite being raised for that very purpose, to be a meek and obedient creature.

"It seems you know precisely what it is that I mean." Liz said with a hint of anger, "However, as you will not take my counsel on this matter, then perhaps you will show some caution with presenting this information to Lord Yu. He may be a drunk, but he is also a senior representative of the temple, and would find such information of... Practical use."

The neko rolled her jaw in irritation, bristling, "Toofy is quite certain that the lady isn't making sense. Perhaps the smell has overcome her. She will fetch the Xivian to help her bathe, and recover."

She spun on her heel and left the greenhouse, and cursed herself under her breath as she walked into a familiar and solid chest.

The man looked down at her as she stepped backwards, "Ah, just the young lady that I was looking for."

"Toofy is late for an appointment." She said firmly, stepping passed him.

Castelle the Younger sidestepped to remain in her way, "Is that any way to treat a friend and noble? What appointment is of such import that you would snub me in this way? I do not believe my father has called upon you, as I requested that he would not."

She smiled tightly, "If the little Castelle insists upon it, he may, of course, accompany Toofy. She goes to the library. Shall he join her?"

"But, of course." He offered his arm to her.

She couldn't find an appropriate excuse, and so took it in her own, and the two of them began walking in the direction of the library at a brisk pace.

He smiled in amusement at her, "If I did not know better, I would believe that you hated my very existence, my dear Lady Twenty Four."

"His attitude has been improving, of late." Toofy acknowledged his effort to be polite to her, "However, he must remember that she lives under the knowledge that her master is awaiting the gallows, as petitioned by his father."

Castelle the Younger nodded, "Yes. I am afraid that there is quite a spat of bad blood between those two. The House of Sai was not always a thing, it was created for the one you call master. Carved out of my grandfather's estate by the emperor, following one of the many wars with the barbarians."

"There is no need to be circumspect." She replied, "She is well aware that Lord Sai was granted his title and land for butchering her own kind."

"Was it the neko tribes?" Castelle the Younger said off-handedly, "I'm afraid I wasn't aware. I find the matters of war to be extremely boring and distant. I was not attempting politeness, though it does appear to be a sensitive topic to approach."

Toofy smiled in amusement at how pervasive his laziness was that he didn't even know who his father had picked a fight with. "The services of Lord Sai during those wars are state secrets, which she is sure does nothing to assuade the jealousy of his lordship."

"Mmm. My father is quite the stubborn bastard, sometimes." He said with a breath of fresh air. His lack of decorum might be the only thing that Toofy could stand about him. "So, tell me of this important appointment."