Kaya Stormchild (4 page)

Several cats
eyed the newcomers from atop various cupboards and a magnificent
green and gold parrot sat chattering on a perch next to the window.
At the far end of the room an ancient gramophone played music from
the Big Band era. The Duchess sat in a wooden rocking chair next to
it, knitting and humming along.

As soon as she
caught sight of the two visitors, she put down her knitting and the
cat that had been curled up in her lap and hurried to greet them.
She moved quickly, despite her advanced years. She was tall and
slender, though a little stooped, with white hair swept into an
elegant bun and soft blue eyes like cornflowers. She was wearing a
faded, lilac-colored dress, which looked as if it had once been
costly. A string of pearls draped her throat.

“
My dear, how
delightful!” said the old woman in a crisp English accent. She held
out her arms, smiling with pleasure.

Kaya hugged
the old woman and handed her a bundle of greens, which had been
tied carefully with twine.

“
I brought
you some fresh dock leaves. I just picked them this morning, and
they’re young and tender. I think you’ll like them. They taste
lemony. You said you’d been feeling tired lately. These will give
you energy.”

“
Oh, thank
you,” said the Duchess, smiling. “Just what I need! I’ll put some
in my salad for supper.”

She caught
sight of Tike. “You’ve brought a friend with you. Please introduce
us.”

The Duchess
bent to examine the otter. She looked him in the eye, with a steady
and penetrating gaze, which disconcerted Tike greatly. He resolved
not to make a fool of himself again and remained stonily
silent.

“
Duchess,
this is Tike, the otter I told you about. He lives next door to me
on Tangle,” said Kaya. “This is his first time in town. I don’t
think he likes it much so far. Too noisy.”

“
And people
here don’t know the difference between an otter and a dog,”
muttered Tike sullenly.

“
Really?”
said the Duchess. “I would never think you were a dog. You’re much
too, well, gentlemanly.”

Both Kaya and
Tike stared at the old woman.

“
You - you
can understand him?” breathed Kaya.

“
Of course I
can. He speaks quite clearly, “ said the Duchess. “Very pleased to
meet you, Tike.”

She gave the
otter’s small front paw a gentle shake. Then she turned to Kaya and
put a hand on her shoulder.

“
Don’t be
surprised, my dear, if you are not the only one with the Speech. I
used to think that about myself, and it felt rather lonely. But
there are a few of us about. Though not so many in recent
years.”

The Duchess
paused for a moment, her eyes soft and distant. Then with a quick
smile she said, “But come! I’ll just go in back and make us a cup
of tea. I think I have a tin of sardines that will please Mr. Tike.
You two mind the store for me until tea is ready.”

The Duchess
lived in the rear of the old house. When she had left the room,
Kaya and Tike exchanged astonished looks.

“
I never
knew, all this time!” said Kaya excitedly. “ I should have guessed,
the way the cats all love her. She rescues all the strays, and can
coax even the wildest cats to come to the vet for treatment if they
are hurt.”

Kaya gazed out
the window smiling. “She’s right. I always just assume no one else
is like me. But I’m so glad she is!”

Tike opened
his mouth to reply, but just then the front door to the shop burst
open and a thin, wiry, man entered. He stood on the threshold for a
moment, his eyes darting nervously around the shop.

Kaya didn’t
like the look of him. He had a gaunt, poorly-shaven face, and a
mouth that twitched restlessly. His clothes were greasy and
stained. A shiver of shocked surprise shook Kaya as she noticed the
object hanging from a thin leather cord around the man’s throat: it
was an eagle’s talon.

The stranger
stood for a moment scowling around the room. Then he noticed
Kaya.

“
Got any
coats?” he barked. Kaya nodded and pointed out the rack of jackets
and overcoats hanging on the far side of the window.

Lunging at the
rack of coats, the stranger pawed through them rapidly, muttering
under his breath. Then with a low cry, he pulled a long, shabby
black duffel coat from its hanger. He plunged his hands first into
one deep pocket, then another.

“
What the -?”
he growled. He groped in the pocket again. “Where is it?! Dammit!
This is the coat. So where is it?”

The man
dropped the coat to the floor. His eyes searched the room for a
moment with a wild and desperate look. Suddenly he lunged at Kaya,
grabbing the neck of her T-shirt.

“
Did you
empty the pockets? Where is it? It was in the pocket!”

“
I don’t know
anything about that coat,” gasped Kaya. “Let me go!”

“
You lying
brat!” seethed the man. “I’ll - aah!”

Tike had sunk
his teeth into the man’s ankle.

“
Ow! Ow! Get
off me you filthy little cur! Help!” the man screeched. He had let
go of Kaya and was now leaping and lurching around the shop with
Tike attached to his pant leg.

With a final
kick, the stranger freed himself from Tike’s jaws. His pants were
torn and bloody at the ankle. The man stared in horror at his leg
for a moment. Then, with a curse, he ran from the shop. Kaya rushed
to the window to see his gaunt figure limping quickly off down the
street towards the dock.

“
Whatever is
going on?” asked the Duchess. She was standing in the doorway,
wearing an apron and holding a teapot in one hand.

Everyone in
the room began to talk at once.

The parrot
babbled incoherently.

The cats,
disturbed from their mid-day siestas, circled the Duchess’s legs
complaining of the intrusion in high-pitched, indignant
voices.

Kaya and Tike
shouted the loudest.

“
He grabbed
her!”

“
Tike bit his
leg!”

“
He was
trying to find something in one of the coats!”

“
What a
creepy, nasty man!”

The Duchess
went to the front door of the shop, locked the door, and turned the
sign outside to read “CLOSED.”

“
Why don’t
you keep watch, Jeremiah?” she said to the parrot, who immediately
flew to perch on the front windowsill. “And, you my dears,” the
Duchess continued, stooping to stroke each of the cats, “you can
stop fretting. He’s gone now.“

The Duchess
gently steered Kaya through the back of the shop into the brightly
lit kitchen that lay beyond it. Tike followed close at their heels.
Kaya sat down at the kitchen table and quickly described what had
happened. Once she heard the story, the Duchess went back into the
shop, found the duffel coat and returned with it, her expression
puzzled.

“
This just
came in yesterday. Mr. Janson said he spotted it on one of the
smaller islands, Heron, I think he said, while he was out fishing.
It was just lying on the beach, apparently. Which is odd, because
no one lives there at this time of year. I remember checking in the
pockets to see if I could find some identification. But they were
empty. Whatever could that man be looking for?”

“
Whatever it
was, he wanted it awfully badly,” said Tike, rubbing his jaw. “If
he hadn’t called me a filthy cur, I would have let go sooner. But
he deserved what he got!”

Kaya looked at
the little otter and her face began to twitch. Suddenly she burst
out laughing.

“
That was
just about the funniest thing I ever saw, Tike! You stuck to his
leg like a barnacle while he hopped about yelping!”

Tike began to
laugh, too. But the Duchess was worried.

“
I get a very
odd feeling about that man, my dear,” she said shaking her head.
“One thing about having the Speech, as you may have found, Kaya, is
that sometimes you can know people’s thoughts. I hardly caught a
glimpse of him, but I sense that he is dangerous. I think we have
to find out what he is up to.”

“
And did you
see what he was wearing around his neck, Tike?” said Kaya, suddenly
remembering. “It was an eagle’s talon,” she turned, explaining to
the Duchess. “It was a real one. Big too!”

The Duchess
pursed her lips, thinking hard for a moment.

“
That’s
disturbing,” she said at last. “A raven friend of mine told me some
strange news the other day. Eagles have been disappearing
mysteriously during the past two weeks. One young fledgling
returned to his nest over at Horton cove recently complaining that
he’d been shot at by men on a boat.”

“
But eagles
are protected aren’t they? It’s illegal to hunt them!” said Kaya,
aghast. She thought of someone aiming a gun at Grandmother and her
heart tightened in her chest.

“
Yes it is,
my dear,” said the old woman grimly. “But that doesn’t stop bad
people from breaking the law.”

The Duchess
served herself and Kaya tea and cookies. For Tike she placed on the
floor a bowl of water and a china plate upon which five sardines
were elegantly arrayed. They ate in silence for a moment, worried
expressions on all their faces. Then Kaya got to her
feet.

“
If we need
to know what he’s up to, Tike and I had better get going. Tike,
your good nose will show us which way he went. Let’s try and follow
him!”

“
Do be
careful, my dears,” said the Duchess anxiously. “And come and let
me know whatever you discover. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open here
in the meantime.”

Chapter 3:
Rex and Spencer

They said
goodbye. Kaya and Tike hurried down the street towards the dock.
Tike paused every now and then to scent the air.

"He headed
this way," said the otter as they paused in the trees at the top of
the stairs above the public dock.

"Look! That's
him down there. See those two men in that boat tied up next to our
canoe? One of them is the guy from the store!”

"Go quickly,
Tike!" urged Kaya. "He won't notice you. Find out what they're
saying. I'll wait here where they won't see me."

Kaya stood
among the trees at the edge of the road and watched as Tike crept
down the dock and slipped into the water. Otters are such graceful
swimmers they barely make a ripple as they move. Kaya lost sight of
Tike for a few minutes, but then she spied his small black head
next to the boat in which the two men were standing, facing each
other.

It was an old
wooden boat, not much longer than the canoe, painted a dirty white
and bearing several deep scratches in the hull. Kaya could hear
even from this distance the muffled sound of the men’s voices. They
were arguing. She could see the thinner man gesturing angrily
towards his companion, who was taller and very fat. The bigger man
stood with his arms folded and a sneering expression on his red,
pudgy face.

At last, the
bigger man turned his back and began pulling at the rip chord on
the small outboard motor. The motor started, then sputtered and
died. Kaya watched the man attempt to start the engine several more
times. At last, with a curse, he gave the motor a kick before he
pulled the chord. It started up with a roar and a sudden lurch that
threw the thinner man backwards against the side of the boat. Tike
got out of the way just in time as the boat jerked away from the
dock and headed out to sea.

Kaya ran down
the stairs. “Well, Tike? What were they fighting about?” she asked
eagerly.

“
What a
horrible pair!” said Tike with disgust. “They said the nastiest
things to each other. The big one even told the skinny one that he
would kill him if he couldn’t find it, this thing they’re looking
for. Sounds like the skinny guy left his coat somewhere and it was
in the pocket. The big guy is the boss, I think. And the little guy
is scared of him, though he shouts a lot. They talked about going
back to their camp and looking again.”

“
Let’s follow
them and see which direction they’re headed in. Maybe we can find
out where their camp is,” said Kaya.