Reed and Bayce were entirely onboard with me befriending Logy for the sake of escaping this ruined castle. We followed her on foot—she’d been about to warp us out with a wave of her arm and a dash of powder scales, but when I yowled and insisted she hold back, she was happy, or at least mildly content, to take us the normal way.
image [https://jmassat.com/wp-content/Catgirl%20System/Map/Map113-1.png]
image [https://jmassat.com/wp-content/Catgirl%20System/Map/Map113-2.png]
As if the place were normal. Logy first led us up from that pool-bath basement room to a hatch in the southern reaches of the castle, then to the southeast column stairwell. Here we climbed. Bayce lit the way for me and Reed with another Fireball on her wand, which looked dented in places but burned just the same as before. Logy seemed to be lighting the way with, um, headlights in her eyes. Whatever kind of eye-glow laser-beam Skill she had.
Bayce shared a few of the wilder details about our journey down here. Even though nothing happened that would anger or bother Logy (we assumed), best not to share many details when we were right behind her. Likewise, Reed shared a little bit, saying, “She didn’t hurt me…too much.”
Then we’d ascended to the top, and finally a window showed the slightest hint of light. The atmosphere was as rock-cold as it’d ever been, but with the faintest whisper of a breeze.
Technically, the way forward was blocked. It seemed that window was big enough only for me to crawl through, and some ancient rockfall closed off the stairwell’s path forward.
Bayce noticed this and shifted, her bracelets jingling. “Do we have to—”
One rock at a time, and silently, the avalanche disappeared, unblocking more air and a dim light. Logy looked over her shoulder and gave her a pointed stare.
Bayce winced, but tried to look tough, and Reed shared the tough look close by her side.
I let the Spirit Board slap itself loud against the wall. Everyone contorted their bodies to read it. “SHE SAYS YOU WONT TOUCH ANY DUST SINCE SHE WAS EFFICIENT”
“I hope not,” Bayce said, standing on the verge of a snort. “I have a really violent magical allergy to flickering dust.”
That lie was almost not a lie. I was pretty impressed by my friends’ ability to lie fast under pressure. Then again, it wasn’t like Logy was some great lie detector.
As she turned forward again, seeming almost crestfallen, she sent me another message.
Why are your people so fragile?
Yep, she was taking the half-truth so seriously it hurt.
It took a bit of maneuvering to get ourselves out of the stairwell and through the roof. More rocks remained, serving almost as another flight of stairs to a hole in broken brick—only these stairs were, you know, rocks. Bayce’s shoes were not designed for it. But after a two-meter hike, we made it into the open air!
Of a massive cave! This was only “open” by contrast. What I had to guess was sunlight trickled in through cracks in the stone above, along with moss and tree roots. Around us, there wasn’t much to see, and seeing itself was difficult. Bats fluttered around in the meager light beams and into caverns about a hundred meters below.
Everyone but Logy looked back at the magnificent rooftops of the buried castle. Like this column, several sections were buried and crushed and half-destroyed. Some seemed to connect directly to the surface, becoming one with the tree roots and stalactites.
“Queen, you must be a great explorer,” Bayce said, staring off with hands on hips.
“LOGY,” I corrected.
“…How do you pronounce that?”
I don’t know, you’re the ones with mouths
“UM,” I said, “SHE SAYS U DECIDE.”
And they did. “Logy,” Bayce repeated, pronouncing it exactly the way you’d assume, “this is quite the location. I wonder if it has any lore that you might know.”
No.
“UM,” I said, “LOGY MAYBE YOU AT LEAST KNOW WHERE WE ARE IN THE WOODS?”
Yeah, maybe
I shared a look with Bayce and Reed.
“What a great view,” Reed said, with such a deep nod to Logy it was almost a bow. “Well, it’s been a long day, and I enjoyed being the…bait that…allowed my other friends Bayce and Taipha to come down here and make friends with you. Humans, um…require several hours of sleep to function.”
HA. You can’t fool me. It’s not nighttime down here, it just looks like it
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Taipha, I’m not here for them. They’ve served their purpose and I’d rather be discussing things with you one-on-one.
Inside, I cringed at her words. “THESE TWO ARE MY FRIENDS. NOT DISPOSABLE. AND THEY JUST WANT US TO HAVE A GOOD TIME TOGETHER!”
Why have a good time when my Maker is suffering?
I all but rolled my eyes. “UM BECAUSE FRIENDS DO THAT”
That seemed to convince her. It felt good to be on the side of the manipulator for once, not the puppet.
***
image [https://jmassat.com/wp-content/Catgirl%20System/Map/Map108-1.png]
Recalibrating…
Recalibrated!
BOOM. An eruption of rock, snow and soil signaled the coming of the Dark Butterfly—which was not what anyone called her but seemed apt. A bristling deep-purple aura streamed down from a tiny butterfly’s form and turned her into a dagger shooting up, shooting through the underground and now into the truly open atmosphere.
Two humans and one nekomata grabbed her by the nearly microscopic handholds that were her insect feet. The aura on her had spread away from them like an umbrella, keeping them unharmed and blasting debris away. Now, though, the three let go and tumbled off, rolling in snow.
image [https://jmassat.com/wp-content/Catgirl%20System/Map/Map113-4.png]
Current Location: ??? (S.A4)
If there was any consolation prize to this whole misadventure, it was this: I was now in that unexplored northern region of the Kaugs. Yaaay! Dust was stinging my eyes while the crunchy snow surrounded me like an evil inverse blanket.
Bayce flew upright like she was spring-loaded. “Ugh!” she said, in between spits of frost, wiping hands all over her top. Reed, similarly, was swatting herself with her arms, tossing snow in every direction.
Luckily, Morphing back to cat form was enough to get most of my snow off—it just fell into the vacuum where I used to be. Then I shook the rest off pretty daintily and darted to the nearest non-snowy, just-rock patch I could find. Still too cold, but bearable.
I looked up, still squinting the debris out of my eyes. The butterfly had almost winked out of view entirely, now that she no longer had the aura and was high up. But I guessed she’d be descending soon, and practically hunting for me.
Reed kneeled by me and said in a low voice, “Alright, what now? I’m thinking that if we can get Bayce going either back home or to the village—wherever she feels safest—I can stay here. A first line of defense.”
Two things about that statement stood out to me like glaring red lights.
“REED,” I spelled on a wooden board soaking up snow, “SHE WONT TEAR UP YOUR HOUSE AGAIN.” That wasn’t a promise—I, of course, couldn’t make that promise, with Logy as strong and wild as she was. But she had a respect for rules and hierarchy, and if I could keep her believing that her Arkmagus would rather she not destroy the house where her friends lived, or make her friend’s friends not live, then we’d be safe!
“AND I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOUR FEELINGS BUT SHE JUST KIDNAPPED U! U CANT FIGHT HER!”
“I know, but—” She caught herself, even shook her head at herself. “But I just wish. I had this fantasy where you and I could fight side by side, and I’d be just as strong as you. Instead, you keep getting better.”
What? I-I had no idea thoughts like that were whirling in her mind. I mean, deep down I’d been wanting to prove myself to her, and defend her from stuff the way she’d defended me. But now she felt like—like she was being left behind? But Reed didn’t even like fighting! She only did it because she had to, and then later because I told her to!
Before I could figure out what that truly meant, we were interrupted. Thank goodness, because the whole thing made me beyond nervous.
Logy had just come down to earth again with translucent, blue-purple wings. Now she looked disarmingly innocent. With a long, delicate comet-trail of dark hair, the fluttering, now-fading wings, and black slippers that touched ground with a softness that didn’t even compact the snow, she could have been a princess.
She looked straight at me and made a snapping movement with her arm. I only realized it was a come-here motion when she sent a message seconds later.
Well? Can’t you see me
I gave Reed a quick rub on the ankle, then my best cat-impression of a shooing motion. Bayce wandered over, and just as quickly was led away by Reed as she took her by the hand and whispered some things. Then they were both waving at me, tentatively.
“Be back this evening, alright?” Reed said, her voice a wobble.
“Please don’t bring Logy,” Bayce added. “We don’t have enough guest rooms for her, and it’s pretty messy ever since that time she came in and trashed everything.”
“Um, yes…I can confirm that.”
They stayed close in the Kaug-y cold, weaving between the lower mountains and mini-canyons that made up the northern end as they left.
Now I could get straight answers from Logy. Maybe? I mean, it couldn’t be that complicated. It looked like the core of this whole thing was a rescue mission. Huh, maybe I knew other people who could help with that.
Error: Sierra, the Goddess of Nekomata is unavailable. Please at least vaguely consider leaving a message. It’s the only real entertainment she has.
I fully expected that kind of result. It just left me numb at this point…numb and slightly fantasizing about all the actual good helpful stuff I would be doing if I’d been turned into a goddess and not an animalized human or…humanilized cat.
Logy turned back to me, no emotion on her face that I could decipher, nothing but a sense of expectation. I set my body due north, then began to saunter off. Several paces away, I turned back to see if she was coming. The least I could do while I was forced into this position was make it work for me—try to come at it from a place of power, and make all the smaller details work for me. That meant leading her on and being picky about what I shared, and using the chance to explore a little bit. Not too much to worry my cabinmates. Enough to take some tension off.
The butterfly girl started after me with stiff-legged steps, as if, now that she’d landed, she hadn’t adjusted to walking on snow.
Before she started to communicate again, I wondered why she had to end up in the Vencian Wood around the same time I had. Was it just convenience? Coincidence? Had she searched for me, had Sierra pulled out some cosmic Yellow Pages? Had she really just been any old butterfly with bluish-purple wings that perished in one world and was plopped down here.
That was such a nice pattern I’d seen on her wings. Very nice, shiny…oddly compelling, maybe even…delicious?
I involuntarily retched and stuck out my tongue.
Then I apologized to her, though I’d never admit it out loud: Sorry for…murdering you in our past lives?