Chapter 20: The White Cat of Mistral
SOMETIME after they set off, the carriage came to a halt and one of the guards said to Olivia, “Ms. Olivia, there’s a large man with gray hair chasing after the carriage. Would that happen to be your husband?”
“Arthur’s here?” Olivia opened the door and stepped out to see what was without a doubt Arthur astride a horse coming their way.
“Good, I finally caught up with you,” he said.
“Arthur, what’s going on? What about work?” asked Olivia.
“Duchess Louise was kind enough to purchase a cartload of stuff from the pharmacy. Freddy told me to go with you since he’s already made the whole week’s worth of profit.”
“Oh, I’m always causing Freddy so much trouble.” Olivia stroked Annie’s neck, who was huffing from the exertion. In a low voice so the guards couldn’t hear, she said, “Annie must be tired, too. You should ride in the carriage with me.”
Not tired! No! I run! Annie stamped a hoof, sounding angry.
“Oh, really? Well then, if you don’t mind helping Arthur a bit more…” said Olivia. She felt bad about accidentally wounding Annie’s pride as she got back in the carriage, and then they set off again.
Arthur was where she could see him from the window. He was such a familiar sight, but astride his horse, he looked even more gallant and brave than usual.
No matter how many times I see him, he’s still so incredible, she thought quietly. Oh, drat. She saw his expression and realized he must have heard that. He was still looking forward, but he had an embarrassed smile on his lips. Sometimes this ability is convenient, but other times… she thought, her face going red.
She regained her composure and began thinking about what they’d do when they arrived at the Mistral house. If the man is drunk when we arrive, the only option is to have the guards and Arthur deal with him. While they do that, I can work on freeing the confined family members.
She had her medicine to give the lord, and it was her grandmother’s recipe. She was certain it would work as expected. After taking the medicine, it made alcohol taste horrible for half a day.
I’ll keep having him take that medicine, then we’ll just have to keep a close eye on him until we can bring him to Louise’s mansion.
The lord of Mistral house was an old man in his seventies, though Olivia heard he was a soldier active in the war thirty years ago. They must not let their guard down.
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THE next afternoon, the group arrived at the home of Count Mistral without any issues along the road. The vast gardens had grown wild as no one had tended to them, and there was no one there to open the gate despite the fact that someone had arrived in a carriage.
“I’ll open the gate, Olivia,” said Arthur.
“Thank you.”
Arthur put a foot on the tall iron gate and quickly scaled it. Once inside, he removed the heavy-looking cross bar and opened the gate. They approached the entrance to the manor with Olivia still in the carriage, and only then did someone come out.
“Hello. I received a white messenger pigeon,” said Olivia. “This was where it came from, right?”
“Ah, yes! Yes, it is! You came to help? Thank you!” The young maid looked exhausted and spoke in a quiet voice as she constantly glanced over her shoulder. “Please help us.”
Olivia lowered her voice, too. “We will. You go hide somewhere safe outside the house. Can you do that?”
“Yes. Yes, I can.”
“I’ll call for you when everything’s over and it’s safe. Wait and stay hidden until then.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Arthur led, the three guards following and staying in a formation that kept Olivia protected. There were no signs of other people in the huge mansion.
“Hello!” called Olivia. “Is anyone home?”
There was no reply.
They strained their ears for any sound, moving slowly onward, first looking for the lord. They moved along the hallway in the direction they thought might be the lord’s study, keeping an eye out, and that’s when they heard the meow.
Olivia looked around, wondering where it came from, and saw a pure-white cat face pop out from around a corner farther down the hallway. She tried to move towards the cat, but Arthur stopped her.
“I’ll go first,” he said. “You follow behind me until we’re certain it’s safe.”
“All right.”
They proceeded, on edge at the thought that the mansion’s master may attack at any moment. The cat joined their group and began walking beside Olivia.
They eventually came to a particularly resplendent door. Everyone exchanged glances, assuming this was the study.
Arthur knocked on the door, but there was no response. He gently pushed, and the tall, heavy door swung quietly inwards. The room was a disaster and filled with the stench of rotting food.
“There’s no one here,” said Olivia.
“How’d it get left like this? Where’re the maids?” Arthur wondered.
The three guards searched for the owner of this room while they listened to Olivia and Arthur, but they found no one.
“Shall we prioritize saving the captives over finding the lord?” asked one guard.
“I think so. I don’t want to waste time,” said Olivia.
The white cat, who had stopped at the study’s doorway, finally came in. It seemed wary of the men, constantly on edge and prepared to flee at any moment, but it looked at Olivia.
“Hi, kitty,” she said softly. “Do you know where the lady of the house or her daughter is? If you do, could you show us the way?”
This way.
To everyone but Olivia, it sounded like the cat simply meowed, but its tail went tall and it started to walk off. It walked a short distance, then turned back to check if the humans were following.
This way.
“Let’s go,” said Olivia. “The cat will show us the way. Cats are smarter than humans think.”
“Uh, is that so?” said one of the guards, all three of them looking perplexed. Their minds were leaking thoughts like: Is this person all right?, A cat lead the way?, or I know Her Grace ordered us to do as this woman said, but…
The five people kept walking with the cat leading. They went downstairs and followed the basement passageway until they caught whispers of people talking.
Arthur immediately called out. “Is someone there?”
“Help! Oh, please help us!”
Arthur ran towards the panic-stricken woman’s voice. Olivia and the guards followed, and the white cat raced ahead to overtake them all.
At the end of the passage was an iron grate door and six women on the other side. Several of them let out almost shrieks of relief when they saw Olivia and the men, their hands over their mouths.
Their hair was disheveled, and they wore expressions of exhaustion. Based on their clothing, the older woman in the back, the woman in her fifties, and a young girl were likely the members of the lord’s family.
There was a heavy iron padlock on the door. Arthur asked the women inside, “Where’s the key for this lock?”
“The master has it.”
“We haven’t been able to find him,” Arthur said. “We’re going to try and break the lock. Stand back.”
At that, the three women in front of the door fell back. The men took turns slamming the lock, but it was so large and sturdy it just wouldn’t give.
“Agh, it’s stubborn,” said one guard.
“And where the heck’s the person who put such a massive lock on this door?” said another.
Hate him.
Olivia heard a quiet voice. It was the white cat. She crouched down and quietly spoke to the cat. “Do you know where the man who put this lock on is?”
He has clinky clinky.
“Where is he now?”
This way.
“You’ll show me the way?”
Hate him.
Olivia felt a powerful disgust coming from the beautiful white cat.
Man this way. Clinky this way.
“Clinky” must be the key for the lock.
Arthur and Olivia followed the white cat, leaving the three guards to continue bashing at the lock. The cat walked quickly. The three of them went upstairs, went down a hallway, then, eventually, they stopped outside the kitchen.
He here.
Arthur gently pushed open the kitchen door, and he and Olivia went in to find the place a mess. They went around the prep table to make sure the lord wasn’t lying on the floor behind it. Just as Olivia moved close to a double-door shelving unit, the cat screamed and Olivia heard, There! He there!
She didn’t have time to run. The door of a large pantry near Olivia burst open and a man came flying out. He was a large man, muscular with white hair, and wielding a butcher’s knife as he came at her.
Olivia fell to the ground, trying to avoid the swinging blade, regret shooting through her mind as she thought, Why did I imagine a frail old man?!
The cat was shrieking, its fur standing on end, and threw itself at the man’s face. Arthur also threw himself between the man and Olivia.
“Gah!” the man screamed, doubling over, a hand pressed to his right eye. The white cat sprinted away after having scratched his eye. Arthur’s fist crashed into the man’s side.
When the cat was a decent distance away, it stopped and turned back to face them. Its back was an arch, its tail as puffed up as a bottle brush.
I break eye!
“Wait!” said Olivia. “We’ll take him away.”
Hate him.
“He’s sick! Just wait.”
I break eye!
“No!” Olivia stood in front of the cat, her arms spread out.
The lord tried to swing his knife at Arthur again, but Arthur hit him with another punch, and he went down. Arthur bound his hands behind his back.
The white cat circled the lord, hissing and spitting, shouting the whole time, Hate him! Hate him!
Having heard the man’s cries, the guards came running.
“Is everything all right?!” cried one.
“We’re fine. I think he may lose his eye, though,” said Olivia.
Behind the guards were the women, tottering, with the servants helping them walk. The three ladies of the house saw the lord, bound and on the ground, and looked relieved.
The girl, only in her early teens, hid behind one of the guards, her face poking out just a little as she looked at her own grandfather.
They carried the lord out and left two of the guards to watch over him.
Olivia quickly threw a soup together in the disaster of a kitchen. There weren’t any decent ingredients, but she managed to make a barley, egg, and onion soup with cheese. They called the maid hiding in the garden back in and they all became engrossed in eating the soup when it was placed in front of them.
They could finally ask what happened when they all calmed down.
The white cat sat on the girl’s lap, purring the entire time.