Chapter 196: Chapter 171: Soulless

“You’re distracted.” Kirti rolled a smooth, red stone along the backs of her knuckles, watching Cailu with her intense orange eyes. They reminded Cailu of the autumn leaves of his previous world. “Well, you’ve been distracted for a while now, I believe.”

“Just let him take his turn,” Naeemah growled.

The Party sat around a polished stone table in Cailu’s San Island residence. It was a two-story house decked with furniture and trophies he and Naeemah had collected over the years from different islands. It was more cost-effective to live with the members of his group, though at times, the house still felt empty. Like it was always missing something.

“I admit, I’m worried about Matt,” Cailu said. He lifted the Priest from the board and studied it. I hadn’t thought this favor would lead to a pilgrimage. “This is the closest we’ve ever been to working together. And if something happens to them—”

“You’re back where you started,” Kirti finished for him. “You tire of this world and your time in it. It’s etched in your face and your words.”

“Kirti,” Naeemah hissed a warning.

Cailu held up a hand. “Naeemah, Let her speak her mind.”

Kirti awarded Naeemah a sly smile and flipped the stone into the air with her thumb. She caught it between her pinky and ring finger, and the rolling continued. It glowed with a dim aura, charged with the soul of an Encroacher. “Why don’t we look for him?”

“That would take time,” Cailu countered, setting the Priest back down on its square. The Queen’s Gambit was a favorite of his in this otherwise repetitive existence. He preferred to play it in peace, without the din and whispers of catgirls in taverns. 

“We lose more time waiting for him, I believe,” Kirti said. 

“What about the queen? If she should call on us?” Naeemah asked, leaning back in her chair and lifting her goblet of wine.

Kirti’s fiery gaze shifted to the [Assassin]. “You place so much value in the queen’s requests. Vicarious living, perhaps? You do so yearn for your throne, don’t you?”

“That’s too far,” Cailu said. He picked the Saboteur from the board and replaced it on a square that disadvantaged Kirti.

Kirti shrugged and chuckled. Still rolling the stone with ease, she sipped her wine. “I am in the business of souls, Cailu. Is it a fault to read aloud?”

“The ability to speak and read, as you say, is not as powerful as knowing when,” he replied coldly. “You lead the point astray. I do agree that finding him may be our best option. In a favorable scenario, he could use our help. In a less than favorable one, well, at least it would put an end to my wondering.”

Naeemah sighed, moving her Enchanter piece to flank Kirti’s Arbiter with Cailu’s Saboteur. A silent partnership to defeat one opponent before facing off with one another was a common strategy. Especially if you believed you had the upper hand on the last person standing. “If we do this, we should begin searching with his home island. Ni, was it?”

“Yes. I think so, too. One of the girls should know where he went,” Cailu agreed.

“There, now. Wasn’t that simple?” Kirti lifted the Myrmidon piece and charged it diagonally across the board, pinning Naeemah’s Queen between it and the Assassin. “That’s game for you, sweet.”

Cailu raised a brow. Kirti’s set-up was masterfully executed. It was a play that neither he nor Naeemah had foreseen—Cailu’s advance had caught her off guard. 

Naeemah tipped her queen and snatched her goblet. “An early night for me, then.” It was customary to leave your pieces on the board as they stood, and the last two players had to maneuver around them like dead soldiers on a battlefield. “Let me know your decision in the morning.”

She marched up the stairs without another word. Cailu and Kirti silently watched her until she vanished.

“Why do you beleaguer her so?” Cailu asked.

Kirti’s wry smile returned. “Do I need a reason beyond self-satisfaction?”

Cailu frowned. “That’s sadistic.”

“My, that’s interesting. Coming from you, I mean.”

He felt his face flush. How much could this woman read into him? His past? His thoughts? Kirti was terrifying. “Let’s finish this game.” 

Cailu couldn’t say whether he was referring to their conversation or the board game.

---

Ni Island was as empty as ever. The dock where the single sailing catgirl usually kept her boat was vacant, allowing Yǔ xī and her crew to easily make port. Yǔ xī’s catamaran took the entire length of one side, and navigating around the ramshackle canoe while the green-haired yokel howled profanities was not a memory he wanted to relive. 

Once they’d docked, Cailu instructed Yǔ xī to wait with her crew on the boat, as he didn’t expect his investigation to take long. At least, he hoped so.

According to Cailu’s iPaw, Junonia was the closest city to the port, meaning someone would have had to see Matt leave or return at some point. The iPaw didn’t relay anything beyond major cities and known landmarks, which left them knocking on doors and scouting businesses themselves. 

As the white-washed homes and buildings came into view, Kirti smirked. “Has a Defiled ever set foot on this place?”

“The Defiled threat is notoriously weak on Ni Island,” Naeemah said. “We have not been here in years.”

“The island went without a man for over a decade. It’s a wonder that it still stands,” Cailu murmured. “There is a strong possibility that the number of citizens in one place correlates to Defiled sightings. A theory yet unproven.”

“What you’re saying is, Matt got off easy.” Kirti snatched an insect from the air, crushing it between her forefinger and thumb. “Or, that’s what you’re thinking, anyway.”

Cailu worked his jaw but said nothing.

Precious few catgirls roamed what seemed to be Junonia’s marketplace. A handful of wooden stalls were set up for business alongside more white buildings with colored awnings. Smoke billowed out of a chimney at the far end of the market, and the building’s wooden door was held open by a leather strap around its handle.

“The blacksmith, I would wager,” Cailu said, pointing toward the smoking chimney. “Let us begin there.”

The catgirls that made their afternoon shopping rounds spotted him and stepped aside, staring and leering with wide, curious eyes. One bold enough to approach tip-toed to his right.

“I wouldn’t,” Naeemah warned beneath her mask, eyes piercing into the young woman’s.

The girl turned and bolted, her tail between her legs. 

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The blistering heat inside the smithy was overwhelming as soon as they stepped inside. Caliu felt trickles of sweat dribble down his skin from beneath his armor while beading at his hairline. A woman with cropped black hair and a tail cut short worked at an anvil, whistling in time with her swings against the axe she refined.

“Excuse the intrusion. I have a few questions,” Cailu called over the hiss of the coals and beating of metal.

She turned to face them, her features half-masked in the dim light. Cailu noticed a large chunk missing from her ear as if something had bit it free. Her whistling stopped.

“I’m not open for new business,” she said, her voice sharp with anger.

Cailu chuckled. “I assure you, if I wanted anything made, it wouldn’t be from here.”

The blacksmith crossed her toned arms across her dark sleeveless top. “The hell do you want?”

Kirti sauntered up to the counter, then leaned forward. Her glowing eyes narrowed, studying the smith’s face in the darkness. Her mouth parted in a brilliant grin, her expression one that made Cailu wary. “My, my. What a coincidence.” She licked her lips.

“Your tail’s on fire,” the woman said darkly, pointing to the end of Kirti’s ember-tipped tail.

“As is your heart,” Kirti replied evenly. “Though mine isn’t any cause for concern.”

“Um, excuse me?” a soft voice called from the door.

Cailu turned to find a short, very pregnant young woman with brown hair and bright blue eyes. She blushed beneath her freckles and pulled one arm over her chest.

“I-I was just wondering if you had any news of Matt,” she murmured, barely audible.

“That is exactly why we are here. Let us speak outside.” The thick air was stifling. Cailu glanced over his shoulder, irritated by the blacksmith’s lack of manners. “It seems etiquette is not all lost on this island.”

The smith made a strained sound between a chuckle and a cough, then returned to her work.

“What’s your name, child?” Kirti asked as they stepped back into the sunlight.

“S-Saphira,” she replied, touching the long braid wrapped over her shoulder. 

“When was the last time you saw Matt?” Cailu asked.

“He was here just about a week ago.” Scooping her hands beneath her stomach, Saphira’s blush deepened. “I know that’s not a long time, but when I saw you come into town instead of him, I was afraid something bad had happened.”

“Was anyone else with him?”

“Another man. From Shi Island, I think? The girls with him were dressed like Ceres.” She shook her head. “Sorry, you probably don’t know Ceres. They wear really cute black dresses with aprons.”

“That sounds like Shi Island,” Cailu colluded. Which meant that Matt had at least found one man. Good.

“His last stop would be Ichi, then,” Kirti summarized, more to Saphira’s benefit than anyone else’s.

“Magni,” Naeemah growled. “It’s a five-day ride from Kandota to Rājadhānī. Potentially a week if they traveled on foot.”

“Surely he wouldn’t be so foolish as to do that, would he?” Kirti asked, amusement glittering in her gaze. “Navigating the desert without a knowledgeable guide is suicide.”

“I can only hope not,” Cailu admitted. Matt’s approach to Nyarlea still had Cailu wavering on his reliability. But it was a risk he’d poured too much time and effort into to stop now.

“Assuming they reached Rājadhānī, the next step would be speaking with Magni. It’s too early to say whether he’s run into an issue with the king, as travel alone would occupy ten to fourteen days.” Naeemah used ‘king’ as if it were profanity rather than a title.

Saphira flushed, and her eyes filled with tears. “He’s not in danger, is he?”

“Only one way to find out,” Kirti said with a shrug. “Nae and I could lead us to Rājadhānī in a fraction of the time. We know many tricks to traveling the sands.”

“Do not call me that,” Naeemah hissed.

The sound made Saphira jump. She took a half-step back, then looked at Cailu. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Cailu shook his head. “That will be all. Thank you, Saphira.” Giving her false hope that they would bring Matt back would do little to improve her situation, so he ended it with a curt goodbye. 

As they made their way back to the boat, Kirti took one more look at the shrinking Junonia and shook her head.

“You leave footprints and scars in more places than you realize, Cailu,” she said. “You would do well to tread lightly.”

Cailu was unable to hide his grimace, so he hid it behind a hand brushing the sweat from his forehead. “Your myths and riddles are not becoming, Kirti.”

She tilted her head toward her shoulder in a half-shrug. “Better than the venom Nae spits.”

“Once more, and I will cut you to shreds,” Naeemah snapped, unsheathing her daggers from the belt around her hips.

Kirti laughed, stretching her arms high into the sky and yawning, like a housecat in the afternoon sun. “Our reunion on Ichi Island will be most interesting indeed.”