(continuation of scene from installment 86)

“Well, that's easy to answer," the Viscountess barged her way forward to stand next to Cat, "since I am the lord pro tempore of the Vogelberg and Vogeltal. This young man was visiting my father along with the Duke and Duchess of Valltol when my father told him that white bird flowers were currently in bloom in the pass. They are an essential ingredient for a medicine that helps with the dread Sun Disease. Are you familiar with that affliction? It causes the elves who suffer from it to break out in huge painful hives which then blister and burst. This poor boy can't go outside during the day without using this medicine and as you surely know, the plant only grows in the pass. That's one of the reasons it is protected under Nordweg law."

I was very glad cougars don’t laugh out loud because the real reason the law prohibits the collection of white bird flower is that it’s a powerful aphrodisiac. Were all Nordweggian nobles such good and inventive liars? These were amazingly-good lies with just enough truth to be plausible.

“You said there were four mages,” the Captain protested, sniffing something was wrong and fishing around to find it.

“Ah yes, Beaver Tooth nodded. “The gentleman in the black houppelande is Cat Rider’s tutor in magic, who is traveling with him.” Garshom nodded his head politely. The Captain did not recognize him. If the Captain was from Osterius, he may have never seen the notorious Father Garshom before now.

“You might find the last mage in our traveling party a bit odd,” Cat informed the Captain. “This is Lady Fuzzy, a magical creature who lives in the Greenwood and who travels with me,” he rested his hand on my head and scratched. “I believe she’s what you call a spirit beast in Nordweg.”

The Captain took a step back, “that’s a...a…I thought that was someone’s pet!”

* Yes, Captain, I am a cougar. I am no one’s pet.* Time was running by so I endeavored to steal the conversation and get back to business. *Fellow mages, we have a fire to put out. Shall we stop wasting valuable time? The fire should knock down quickly with this many of us on hand. Once it is out, we can start the search for any survivors. *

"About that," Willam stepped forward, "Captain Grieg, where is my family? Are my father, mother, and sister safe?"

“Highness!" the Captain and his men saluted. "Your mother is in the throne room. She refuses to leave. I have heard nothing regarding the whereabouts of the king and princess royal."

“Did you speak with the Queen yourself?” Duke Valgard demanded.

“Who are you?” the Captain’s tone of voice was clipped and arrogant.

“I’m your superior, ensign,” growled the old duke. “As the senior officer in the army commanding troops, I trump everyone here.”

“I answer only to the Regent and General Milates, the commander of the palace guard.”

“How by the ice of Helle did you get to be an officer?” The Duke shouted. “It’s in the first chapter of the army rules, under the trivial heading of ‘hierarchy.’ The penalty for insubordination is decapitation. In an emergency, the offending soldier may be executed immediately in the presence of three other nobles or officers as witnesses. Henri, Sven, Alianora, will you be witnesses for me?”

* CHILDREN! We are wasting time and the fire is not getting smaller. Quit squabbling. We need to put the fire out before it spreads in earnest into the city. We can arrange search parties immediately afterward. Come, to the middle of the square. *

I looked up at Cat, * you should ride. Your stamina is drooping. *

“Oh, I get it now," Captain Grieg smirked at my boy as he struggled to get his left boot into the stirrup strap. "Cat Rider: that makes perfect sense as a name. I guess a horse was too tall."

Why am I surrounded by idiots and lesser beings? My temper snapped. I walked up to the rude bastard and bit him through the calf. Then I stepped on his neck when he fell. I had already cast a barrier so the swords and spears of the Regent’s Guard did not bother me.

Growling and showing off my sharp and elongated cuspids currently covered in his blood, I got right into his face and once again regretted my lack of halitosis. I needed to stop chewing mint after every meal to keep my mouth clean if I was to spend more time attacking stupid humans needing lectures on manners.

* Look here, you pussified putrid pile of poo, insulting my prince is a good way to find an early end to the terminal illness called chronic human rudeness. You might want to leave town before then. *

Because giving people the runs was getting old as a petty retribution, I gave him an irritated urinary tract every time he drank alcohol instead. That would give him something to remember me by if he decided to escape home to Osterius.

I removed my paw from his neck and trotted into the square to get a feel for where the fire was burning.

* Could you tell which spell for rain Cloud Eye and Beaver Tail wanted to use? * I asked Cat as we came out into the open. There were a handful of spectators but they removed themselves as soon as they saw me.

“It felt like the invocation for crop rain to the wind god Enleel,” Cat remarked. “I don’t know how much good I can do to help because I spent a little too much of my stamina to cast the stasis spell.”

* I noticed, and I confess I would have done the same thing if I had not been driving the carpet. But I think I can put out the fire with a pre-existing storm. Can I please see the scrying stone? *

Cat got off and pulled it from his pouch, holding it up in its silk wrapping cloth so I could see into it. Dropping into my trance, I found Griselda hiding behind the king’s throne. The mini-blizzard was still going strong over her head. It was a strange tableau since the ghost of Queen Eleanor that I created and cast from Kizdangengar was circling the room. Griselda was trying to stay out of the fake ghost’s sight like a stray cat watching a potentially-dangerous prowling dog. What was odd was the fake ghost was staying inside the throne room. I had designed it to walk through walls and keep moving. It wasn’t supposed to stay in one room.

Regardless, it was the Regent’s blizzard I wanted to steal. I sorted through all the spells I knew and choose the one to speed up the growth of plants, substituting storm for crop. I cast it and had enough magic left over to increase the amount of precipitation. Cold moisture filled every room on the first floor and up. Snow and ice began to accumulate on every flat surface.

As I suspected, the storm stayed anchored over Griselda’s head. It grew up and outward until it covered all of the palace and temple and the neighborhood surrounding them. The fire was out in under five minutes. Then I ended the Queen’s own private blizzard. I cast a cold spell to keep the snow and ice as long as possible to prevent any smolder problems. The spell would last at least six hours or until I went to sleep, whichever was later. I was exhausted when I was finished.

Cat sat on the flagstones of the square and leaned against me. I think we both could have fallen asleep there from fatigue had it not been for Wren shaking us awake: "Get up, get up, get up! You can't sleep here, you idiots. Aren't you supposed to keep Cat from overcasting, Fuzzy! You've failed as a good example, mouser mange. Does either of you know how to exorcise a ghost? The ghost of the dead Queen Eleanor is haunting Queen Griselda. It's spooking everyone. People are gathering and they are blaming the Regent for the hunting lodge fire and the murder of Queen Eleanor's children. There's a mob marching up the rise right now to lynch the Queen.

Cat stirred from where he was leaning against my side, “and this is a problem?”