The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 50: Return of the Mage

"Stripey! Stripey! We're in trouble! Big trouble!"

The duck demon assigned to sell siphoned-off food at the market this morning came flapping and squawking into view overhead. On the ground, Stripey, who'd been overseeing the unloading and displaying of today's shipment, lifted his head, assessed the duck demon's flight pattern in a flash, and waddled a few steps to the side.

It was a wise move.

The duck demon crash-landed right where he'd been a moment ago. Feathers stuck out all over her body, making her look like a cat that just spotted a wolf.

Taila giggled. "Miss Ducky! Your feathers are aaaaaaaall messed up!"

After weeks of concerted effort, I'd finally managed to teach her that animals came in more than one gender and that not all of them should be addressed as "Mr. [Animal]." One more step towards training her to be a natural philosopher! Not, of course, that any of the duck demons appreciated or even noticed the improvement.

"If you don't practice your landings, you're going to make me think you're Anasius," Stripey remarked.

The duck demon shook herself to resettle her feathers. "No, no, you don't understand! We're in big trouble! Really big trouble!"

Something about that panicky phrasing rang a bell in my mind. If you took away the duck and replaced her with a frog spirit, if you took away the backdrop of Honeysuckle Croft and replaced it with the audience chamber of the Black Sand Creek Water Court....

I already knew what her next words would be.

"The mage is back! The same mage! The one who came to bring rain last time!"

Where is she now? I demanded a split second before Stripey did.

"In the marketplace! She was buying a roasted sweet potato from Mistress Khun and asking about jobs in the area!"

The effect on the bandits was instantaneous.

"We have to disappear!"

"We have to hide everything!"

"Quack! Quack quack quack quack!" shrieked a bandit who was so upset he reverted to Duck.

The first duck demon spread her wings and waved them, sending more loose feathers flying. I lumbered over and inspected the smaller ones, thinking that maybe we could stuff a pillow with them. Alas, they were all too hard.

"And that's not all! She didn't come alone this time! She has a cat with her this time!"

Considering that we had a cat colony right in town, that didn't seem like as big a deal as the mage herself. Master Gravitas would keep any cat outsiders in check. That was his whole job as the local alpha male. But maybe bird types saw things differently.

I glanced at Stripey to check his reaction, only to find that he'd pulled up one leg and was standing on one foot in a thinking pose. Oh no! If the duck demons went into hiding, who was going to deliver food every day?

Are you sure the mage is here for you? I soothed them. Couldn't she be here for something else? After all, she didn't bother you last time, did she? Maybe the baron hired her for agricultural reasons. Like last time.

Although – if the mage were here not to stamp out the bandits but to harass Yulus on behalf of Baron Claymouth again, would the dragon king discontinue the food shipments? We were far enough into spring that the Jeks would no longer starve to death, but the dietary improvement was having a noticeable effect on their energy levels and overall health. I was unwilling to give those up.