Puss in Boots (Timeless Fairy Tales Book 6) (23 page)

“Well…” Gabrielle said.

“You doubt me still?” The ogre stomped up to her until he was so close she could have poked him with her shovel. He bent over her in a leer before he inhaled and reeled backward, covering his nose. “Gabis must be made of rotting flesh,” he snarled.

Gabrielle ignored the insult and swallowed. “There is a rumor about you that I find even
more
unlikely.”

“What?” the ogre demanded.

“I heard once that you are able to transform yourself into the smallest of animals, like a mouse,” Gabrielle said.

“A mouse?” the ogre frowned. “Why would I want to be a mouse?”

“Oh, I see. It’s quite impossible, is it? I didn’t
think
you could manage such a feat,” Gabrielle said.

The ogre was silent as he scrubbed at his eyes with a hand. Finally, he rumbled, “You are puny and stupid, Gabi. I shall show you just how great I am!” The ogre crouched.

As he shrunk, Gabrielle moved towards him and—bit by bit—raised her shovel. As soon as the ogre transformed, she would smash him.

Her body tensed.

There! The ogre scurried forward as a rat-sized mouse, pale gray with beady, red eyes. Gabrielle sprinted the remaining distance, her shovel in the air—

The stray cat lunged forward, pouncing on the ogre-mouse.
Squeak!
Too late. Before the ogre-mouse could transform back, the cat snapped his neck.

Gabrielle stared, mouth open and shovel still in the air.

The stray cat purred and tossed the dead mouse around for a few minutes. Then, it placed its prize at Gabrielle’s feet, nudging the dead ogre-mouse forward until it touched one of her boots.

“To be outdone by a cat.” Gabrielle put the shovel down and leaned on it. She shook her head as the cat rubbed against her legs. “A
normal
cat. Puss is going to have a conniption.”

She walked away from the dead ogre-mouse, shivering when she heard the cat crunch on it, and seated herself in a rickety chair.

“What now?” She stared out the windows at the gray sky. She hadn’t thought beyond her plan to off the ogre. What was she supposed to do now? “How about I rest?” she muttered, sagging into the chair.

She must have sat there for an hour, mindlessly staring outside while the little cat investigated the room, pounced on cobwebs, and shattered an expensive vase.

Outside, the sun began to peek through the clouds, and as Gabrielle stared, it seemed like the shadows of the place shrank. The oppressive, domineering aura slowly disappeared.

“So this is how a newly saved land rejoices—” Gabrielle ran her fingers across a carving of a cat on her chair. “With a quiet gasp of relief.”

The door to the hall exploded from its hinges—terrifying the orange cat, who immediately deserted the silk cushions it was playing with. Twenty feet into the hall, the door hit the ground and skidded an additional thirty. The open doorway filled with a cloud of steam and smoke, masking whoever made the flashy entrance.

The orange cat clawed at Gabrielle’s legs in an effort to reach her lap. She winced.

“Gabrielle, you ungracious—ugh—
foul-smelling
child!”

At the sound of that feline voice, Gabrielle jumped from the chair, her heart singing with joy.
It wasn’t my ears playing mean tricks on me—it can’t have been! That was—

“I am gone for one day, and you
replace
me with that orange-haired interloper who has not a lick of sense.” The handsome black and white cat with the ridiculous half-mustache strolled out of the smoke and into the room.

“
Puss
!” Gabrielle shouted. Her legs almost gave out before she scrambled across the room, picking her beloved cat and companion up and snuggling him to her shoulder. “You’re alive. You’re
here
!”

Puss rubbed his cheek against her chin. “Of course. You doubted I would survive such trivial wounds?”

“They weren’t trivial,” Gabrielle said, some of her relief exchanged for ire. “You almost died! I didn’t know if you would make it, or if you would be the same afterwards.”

“You feared I would be dim-witted?” Puss said, twitching his whiskers.

“Well, blowing up doors in a castle occupied by an ogre is not the most intelligent thing to do.”

Puss leaned back in her arms. “You are scoffing at
my
intelligence? Good heavens—what little cleverness
you
had has been beaten out of you. Coming here alone? What were you thinking? Now hush. We must flee and regroup. We’ll take the ogre out when I grace us with a fresh plan. Angelique, have you successfully pin-pointed that vile creature’s location?”

The beautiful Lady Enchantress who had taken Puss to heal him, Angelique, walked gracefully through the smoke. “No. I must have performed the spell wrong.”

Puss slipped from Gabrielle’s arms and joined the enchantress. “What has you drawing that conclusion?” he asked.

Gabrielle consciously beat down envy as she watched Puss twine his tail around the Lady Enchantress’s dress.
Yes, they must be
very
good friends.

“I can’t find a sign of him anywhere,” Angelique said.

“You won’t be able to. He’s dead,” Gabrielle said with complete nonchalance. She smiled in satisfaction when Puss whipped around to address her.

“What?” Puss thundered. “How?”

“I tricked him into becoming a mouse, and your
feline
lady friend ate him,” Gabrielle said, retreating to her chair and picking up the orange-colored stray.

“You’re certain the ogre perished?” Angelique asked.

“Oh, yes,” Gabrielle said, feeling a little green around the gills as she sat down, hard, still holding the orange cat. “I heard her crunch on his bones.”

“Are you well?” Puss asked, sitting down next to Angelique.

Gabrielle’s throat tightened, and sadness joined envy in plaguing her heart. Puss was alive, and he was back, but it seemed Gabrielle was no longer his beloved “Mistress.” She cleared her throat. “Of course. I just…I haven’t gotten much sleep for the past two nights.”

Puss meandered up to Gabrielle’s chair. “Beat it,” he hissed at the orange cat before jumping onto Gabi’s lap. “Ugh—you smell like you’ve been cavorting with fox cubs.”

Gabrielle crushed him to her chest in a tight hug.

Angelique politely looked away, and Puss didn’t even squirm as Gabrielle clung to him. “It’s alright, Gabrielle. Angelique fixed me up quite nicely, even if her bedside manners are poor,” Puss said, his voice gentle.

“Now I remember why Master Evariste and I always left you behind,” Angelique said.

“How do you two know each other?” Gabrielle released Puss, uncertain whether she wanted to know the answer to that question. Their banter made it difficult to breathe. She forced herself to stand, again.
I will take this change graciously. Or at least, I’ll try to.

“She was my original mistress,” Puss said, leaping from Gabrielle’s grasp. His words froze Gabrielle momentarily.

“Master Evariste—the Lord Enchanter to whom I serve as apprentice—gave him to me for my birthday many years ago,” Angelique said.

“You were her pet?” Gabrielle asked, ice forming in her chest.

“Assistant!” Puss snapped. “I was given to her because Angelique has the focus of a child being lured with a sweet.”

“Magic cats of any age are hard to come by,” Angelique said, “but Master Evariste somehow found Roland…er…Puss when he was still a kitten. He was supposed to be a companion and a reference, as he is quite knowledgeable in casting magic—even charms that are beyond his abilities.”

“You must have been expensive,” Gabrielle said to Puss.

“Yes, but that man squanders money on Angelique all the time,” Puss said, swatting at the orange cat when it ventured too close.

“I see,” Gabrielle said, miserable because she didn’t. She didn’t know who this Master Evariste was, nor did she understand Puss and Lady Enchantress Angelique’s relationship as reference and apprentice. Their history made her feel like an outsider.

“Where have all the humans gone? I haven’t seen any scurrying about—mind you, Angelique and I blew through the city, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“They’re hiding,” Gabrielle said.

“Perhaps we should find them and inform them of their new master,” Angelique said.

“Their what?” Gabrielle said.

“Their new master. They have a right to know the despot-ogre was ousted and to be given a chance to follow you willingly. Though, mark my words, if they refuse to acknowledge your leadership, they deserve to be chopped up into mincemeat!” Puss said, padding from the room.

Gabrielle took a staggering step towards the wrecked doors. Exhaustion made her feel weighty and clumsy, but Puss was right. The citizens—and not just the castle servants, but all of those held captive in Carabas—deserved to be notified that they were
free
. “Why would they follow me?”

“Because you’re the new Marquise of Carabas,” Angelique said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. She joined Puss.

“No, I’m not.” Gabrielle followed the enchantress and magical cat down the empty hallway.

“Save your breath, Angelique. Gabrielle can be as stubborn as a mule,” Puss advised.

“So you’ve met your match then? I can see how you enjoy yourself,” Angelique laughed as they opened a set of doors and slipped outside the inner building.

“It has been a refreshing change,” Puss said.

Gabrielle held the door open so the orange cat could follow after them, and wavered between responses. She could argue her case against becoming the new marquise later, but she couldn’t deny the camaraderie shared between Angelique and Puss, and it stirred up questions…and worries. “What made you two decide to part ways?” Gabrielle began as they walked across the courtyard.

“We didn’t decide,” Puss said. “It is more that our lives were torn asunder.”

“Oh?” Gabrielle asked, her voice polite even though her heart cracked again.
Will I lose him again, even though I just regained him?

“There was an attack,” Angelique said, her voice shadowed with sorrow. “Late this past winter. Master Evariste and I were home—”

“Which was something of a rarity,” Puss inserted, although his voice lacked its usual impudence and know-it-all tone.

“And we were attacked,” Angelique said.

“Two enchanters were
attacked
,” Gabrielle repeated.

“In Master Evariste’s home—perhaps one of the best guarded places on the continent,” Puss said, his voice soft as they reached the outer circle of the castle.

“The attackers tried to…to capture me,” Angelique said, speaking the words with obvious difficulty. “They would have gotten me if Master Evariste hadn’t thrown me halfway across the continent with a transportation spell. I wasn’t able to return home until spring and…” She raised a hand, unable to find any more words.

Puss jumped on a windowsill and peered inside before he nodded at the door. “They ransacked the place and carried Evariste off. I don’t know where to—I was thrown unconscious before they left. It was no matter; I couldn’t have done anything. Angelique had placed my silencing collar on me earlier in the day, cutting off my means to cast magic.”

Gabrielle opened the door and slunk into the empty building, her companions behind her.

“I’m sorry,” Angelique said, her exquisite eyes brimming with tears.

“You couldn’t have known,” Puss said, his voice the most warm and gentle Gabrielle had ever heard. “I left, hoping to track down a mage. I never found one—although I narrowly missed the craftmage Rumpelstiltskin when I met Gabrielle and resolved to embark on an adventure with her,” Puss said, giving Gabrielle his version of a cat smile.

She returned a wan smile, but her heart twisted in her chest a bit as she asked, “You thought we would eventually run into a mage, and then you planned to return to Lady Enchantress Angelique?”

“I hoped to find a magic user, yes, but that wasn’t why I chose to travel with you,” Puss acknowledged, failing to address the second half of Gabrielle’s question.

Faced with Puss’s non-answer, Gabrielle fell silent as they started down the hallway, their footsteps echoing.

“As I have already alerted the Veneno Conclave to Master Evariste’s capture, and located Puss, I am free to follow my leads,” Angelique said, some of her joy returning to her.

“So…you will travel with the Lady Enchantress now, Puss?” Gabrielle asked, her heart aching.

“What? No!” Puss said, glaring as the orange cat rubbed her head against him.

“I would understand, if—” Gabrielle said, the words stabbing her throat before they spilled from her lips.

“I have my own free will, Gabrielle. I choose with whom I stay,” Puss said, sounding quarrelsome.

“Yes, but if you were a gift to the Lady Enchantress—”

“Please, Lady Gabrielle, you don’t understand,” Angelique said, placing a warm hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder and stopping their progress forward. That, combined with the gentle smile Angelique wore, were enough to addle her wits. “Roland—Puss, that is—has been, and will continue to be, my dear friend. But it is clear you are his true mistress.”