Puppeteer

Hello dear readers!

New chapter. Took me a while, but yeah. You should be used to it by now :D Thanks to brilliantbean for betaing! Oh and if you missed it, there's
a smutty oneshot with Sorr'an and Niven; look at my profile for the link. I think it's worth a try!

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Eyes and Shopping

“Demoneyes!” I ran through a street,
people pressed their bodies against the house walls and staircases to get as
far away from me as possible.

 

“Your eyes are the gates to a murderer’s
soul.” A tall, dark haired man cried out, approaching my way boldly to spit in
my direction.

 

I stumbled and fell, scraping up my
knees, elbows and wrists and got up, scurried along the alleys and roads.

 

Reaching a green shimmering house I
opened the door and scampered through the rooms. A woman stood in the living
room and I throw myself into her arms, pressing my face into her bosom.

 

She sifted her fingers through my
strands and I felt at peace. Suddenly she fisted my hair and bended my head
back violently so that I was forced to look into her distorted and hateful
face. She hissed: “Your eyes! They remember me.” She started to scream. “Of
everything! They are your sin, your deformation.” Her grip got more brutally.
“These orbs are windows to hell, black pits of peccability. You shall hurt,
Niven!” My neck strained and tears rolled down my cheeks while hatred burnt in
her eyes. “You must live, Niven. You must live to ache, to feel the pain. Hurt,
worthless creature. Live, fight to survive. Receive the torture and punishment
you deserve for what you are, demonic spawn!”

I startled from my sleep, cold sweat
covering my body, my breath ragged. It took me a moment to focus my gaze and
realize where I was. ‘Damn, not again.’ I saw the first rays of sunshine filter
through the windows and tried to calm my breath. ‘You can’t lose you cool just
because of some random catboy.’

I got up and left the room. Entering the
bathroom I filled a basin with cold water and looked into a mirror. An
exhausted face looked back at me, tired lines around my mouth and dark bags
under my eyes – these eyes that were the cause for all the hatred and enmity.
Dark, planar orbs, no pupil, no white. ‘Demoneyes!’ Like black holes
they lay in my sockets, showing everyone who knows about Puppeteers what I am. ‘Windows
to hell, demonic spawn!’ I dipped my head into the ice-cold water and
stayed under the surface till my lungs burned and my face felt like a thousand
needles were piercing it.

I straightened myself, droplets of water splashing
against my bare chest and stomach, and went to open the window, breathing in
the fresh and cool morning air. Standing there I massaged my temples, calming
down and pushing aside the images and thoughts from former times. ‘It’s the
past, it’s not important anymore!’

After dressing I went down to the kitchen
where a yawning Elise fired the hearth and looked surprised. “You’re already up
Master Niven?”

“Yes Elise, I went to bed early. But don’t
let me disturb you, I’ll sit down and drink some water-thinned wine.” Grabbing
a jug with the red liquid I sat down on a bench in the corner of the room,
helped me to a mug of wine and leaned my head against the wall. I was tired,
nightmares made my sleep restless. I sighed and tried to empty my mind from
everything, sipping from time to time at my cup.

Gerald approached me and asked me in a low
voice: “Do you want something special for breakfast Master Niven?”

I shook my head. “A light meal is fine with
me. Some bacon would be nice, though.”

With fast and trained movements Gerald
prepared breakfast; gruel, bacon, roasted bread and a plate of fruits. He
placed a bowl of the slimy soup in front of me together with a slice of the
fried bread but I pushed it away gently, reached for some bacon and washed it
down with the thin wine and nibbled listlessly at an apple, staring at the
table.

A half scream, half squeal yanked me out of
my reverie and I looked up. Sorr’an stood in the entrance clad in only low-hung
trousers. Poor Elise didn’t know whether to back away or pounce on Sorr’an so
she decided for openly ogling his torso. She squealed: “Cuuuuute!” and then
added: “Cat ears?”

Sorr’an didn’t seem to notice her, sniffed
the air and then stalked to the table. When he passed Elise a bright blush
crept on her cheeks and she quickly averted her gaze. Sorr’an stopped in front
of the plate with bacon and tested the air again. His hand reached for a strip
of the fried meat and stopped midair, looking at me. “Can I eat?”

“Yeah, help yourself.” I got up, poured me
another mug, took another apple and then turned to leave the room. When I
walked past him I detected why Elise was blushing so madly. His tail pushed the
waistband of his trousers down and revealed the upper third of his wonderful
buttocks. I grinned a little and left the kitchen, walking to the library.

Not caring to knock I entered the bibliotheca.
I ignored the play of colors and searched for Arias and found him slumbering on
an opened encyclopedia. I took a seat across from and drummed my fingers on the
table surface. After a few moments Arias groaned, lifted his head and blinked.

Running a hand over his face and hair, he
asked: “What time is it?”

“Sunup.” was my short reply, sipping at my
cup.

He yawned and fixed me with his gaze.
“Awake that early and already drinking wine? Nightmares?”

I simply nodded. Arias got up, stretched
his back and walked to a window, looking out of it. “Did you have them often
the last time?”

I sighed. “No… First one in a long time…”

“What happened?”

I scratched my chin and thought about the
last night. I blushed a little but then frowned. “He asked about my eyes.”

Arias turned and focused his view on me.
“And? That’s a valid question. Your eyes are a little different.”

I rose to my feet, hit a flat palm on the
desk and snarled: “I fucking know that! All my damned life I was reduced to my
eyes and what they stand for!”

Arias’ eyes got hard. “Stop screaming at
me. I know your life.”

“But you don’t have to fucking live with
them, with these demoneyes!” I pointed at my eyes.

“Would you calm down? He simply asked. It
means he doesn’t know and perhaps he doesn’t care?”

“I don’t need him to know. Don’t need him
to hate me!”

“You don’t know if he would hate you.”

I laughed bitterly. “Don’t hate me? Don’t
make me list all the people that hated me after they got to know what I am!
Like…”

A knock on the door interrupted me. Gerald
opened it and entered into the room. “Good morning Lord Korondar. Master So-rr-an
is here, looking for Master Niven.” Said catboy stepped reluctantly into the
library and the servant retreated, closing the door after him.

The catboy looked tensely around and Arias
smiled at him, motioning to the chairs. “Let’s sit down.”

Sorr’an went to a chair, took a seat and
mumbled: “Good morning.”

Arias knit his eyebrows, then searched the
inside pocket of his coat, brought a little flask forward and uncorked it,
drinking its content. “Okay, now I should understand you little guy.”

Sorr’an snorted and looked a little
disgruntled – I guess because of the ‘little guy’ comment. I frowned. “You have
a potion to understand him but sent me to Belathia?!”

Arias grinned and seated himself on his
chair. “Relax. This brew only helps for about half an hour, so your visit at
Belathia’s had its purpose.” I muttered something intelligible under my breath
and plopped down at the last free seat at the table.

“Okay… Sorr’an?” The catboy nodded and I
blinked at Arias’ perfect pronunciation. “Niven will help you to get home.” Sorr’an
blinked and fixed me with a questioning gaze. I averted my view and nodded. The
kitten beamed and I rolled my eyes. What was I getting myself into here?

Arias got up and rummaged in a map-stand,
returned with a huge scroll and spread it on the table. It showed a detailed
map of the continent. “Okay Sorr’an, where are you from?”

The catboy looked puzzled at the map and
felt over the parchment. Then he shrugged. “Don’t know. What’s this?”

The Dhuran mage sighed. “I thought so.
Niven, where did you meet Sorr’an?”

I searched for the Versetzer that I
used to bring us here, estimated our position and circled a region. “Around
here.”

Arias tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I
don’t know exactly where Katze tribes are found… Sorr’an, how long were you on
your way till you met Niven?”

“Two moons” was the reply.

“Oh, that doesn’t make things easier.” said
Arias. He thought for a moment. “I know of a city about six weeks to the south
from there that… knows of Katze. I think you should go there and find out where
the next Katze tribe is.”

I nodded and got up. “We need clothing and
other things for a six week travel.”

Arias got up and said: “Thirteen weeks if
the weather is stable. No discussion Niven, I won’t let you use the Versetzer
again. Not with two persons to transport.” He stopped any comment by holding up
a hand. “No discussion! It’s too dangerous! And I will pay for your travel,
give you everything you need and in return you deliver two messages to two of
my partners – there will be a good payment for you, Niven!”

“What, you think I travel thirteen weeks into
the middle of nowhere and then what?”

My mentor grinned. “You have better things
to do?”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, okay. No Versetzer.
But why don’t you send these messages via magic?”

Arias lifted a brow. “I have my reasons.
Let’s say I don’t want to ask Belathia…”

I walked to the door. “Okay. We have to
shop. Come on Sorr’an.”

The catboy stood up and turned, but didn’t
follow me to the door. “Niven. I sorry for talking about your eyes. But why
were you so… weird?”

I stopped in my motions and glared coldly
at him. “Stop talking about my eyes!”

Suddenly Sorr’an’s fur bristled, his ears
laid flat against his head and he approached me with two fast, elegant strides.
Poking a finger in my chest he snarled: “I didn’t do anything. Why you so angry
at Sorr’an?”

I was taken aback and blinked at the
enraged catboy. He was right, he didn’t do anything, he didn’t know. But I
didn’t want to explain it to him, because… Because I hoped for… I didn’t know
what I hoped for. I sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. You did nothing, but I don’t
want to talk about my eyes, okay?”

Sorr’an calmed down a little and his
finger, that was quite sharp with a protracted claw, retreated. He still fumed
but accepted my request with a nod. I opened the door for him and signaled him
to step out of the room and was following him when Arias called me back with a
big grin on his face: “He’s kinda like you. You seem to be well-suited.”

I scowled at him. “Stop going down this
road, Arias. I don’t need something like this.”

The mage sighed. “Don’t keep punishing
yourself like this. Stop it all!”

I turned, suddenly feeling the tiredness
crawling back in my bones. “Please, leave me alone Arias. I have to go shopping
for a long travel.”

Surprisingly it was fun and relaxing to go
shopping with Sorr’an. The catboy was walking around with big eyes, pointing at
different things and asking about stuff that I took for ordinary and boring but
he seemed to find them overwhelmingly interesting. He was especially fond of
all brightly colored clothing. It took me a whole twenty minutes to explain it
to him that pink and blue dresses are for women and that a yellow, red and
green gleeman suite with a purple cape definitely is not a functional travel
wear.

This moment I looked at a display of
daggers in an armorer’s shop. Sorr’an was bored – weapons obviously didn’t
catch his interest. I took one richly ornamented poniard in my hand and
examined it.

“Mylord has exquisite taste. This one is
made of the finest and hardest metal of the north, sharpened with stones of
Morroar.” I rolled my eyes – of course this piece is treated with the whetstone
of the god of smith’s handcraft.

“How much?”

“Two gold coins.”

“Holy, I can buy the whole shop with only
one gold coin!”

“This is a real masterpiece! And Morroar’s
blessing is woven in the metal.”

He was right; the dagger really looked like
a masterwork. Sorr’an stepped at my side and took the dagger from my hands.
“Feels weird” were his whispered words. That was one of the first things I told
him, that he shouldn’t talk too loud so that people wouldn’t wonder about his
language and we wouldn’t draw unwanted attention. The catboy protracted a claw
and scratched over the metal of the grind.

Wonderful, so much for avoiding attention.
I cringed with the sound and hissed at him. “What are you doing?!”

He scratched once more and this time he
peeled a splinter of metal from the surface. I blinked and after a few more
scrapes the dagger shimmered and transformed into a simple wooden knife; the
kind kids play with. An illusion!

The armorer went pale and looked at Sorr’an
and me, screaming: “Witchers! You cursed my weapon, my beautiful and precious
poniard!”

I grabbed his shirt collar and shook him
several time to silence him. “I don’t know about cursing, but if you don’t want
me to call the city watch and tell them that you sell fake weapons in the name
of Morroar I highly advice you to keep your mouth shut and forget the both of
us this moment.”

With a click the man shut his mouth.
Selling forgery in the name of a god normally meant punishment from the watch
and then handover to the temple of the deceived god which meant torture and in
most cases a painful death.

We left the shop and the owner closed it
the moment we were through the door – I had the feeling he was going to pick
out his assortment. I looked at Sorr’an – he was clad in a grey cloak, a white        shirt
and black pants peeking out from it. He looked like a small, ordinary young
man. A hood over his head hid his ears and I had pushed his tail in one trouser
leg to keep it from swishing under the cloak. The catboy complained about it
being uncomfortable but better a minor discomfort than raising a ruckus with
parading a cathuman through the city. I was dressed equally to him so that we
appeared like merchants.

“Okay Sorr’an, no more claws please.”

Said catboy grumbled back. “You have weird
way of saying thank you!”

I smiled. “You’re right. Thank you. But
please, no claws anymore! By the way, how did you know?”

Sorr’an shrugged. “It just felt weird, like
it was not real.”

This was exceptional, because I wasn’t able
to see any signs of this illusion; even the texture and weight of the weapon
felt right. There was no time to ponder on this, though, because my catboy
sniffed the air and then walked straightly towards a booth that roasted fresh
fish over a fire.

I chuckled. That was another thing Sorr’an
was very interested in – food. Fruits and vegetables weren’t his thing and
sweets only caught his sight if they were colored – but if it was meat or fish
he was drawn to it like the moth to the light.

To his disappointment I didn’t buy any food
earlier but it was around noon
and I was getting hungry myself so I bought four fish on wooden spits. Sitting
down on a crate I gave the catboy two spits who placed one on his knees and dug
in, munching happily.

When I finished my meal halfway, a young man
stepped in front of me. “Hey Puppeteer!”

I looked up and froze. “Hello Kip.”

“Long time no see, Niven.” He fixed his
gaze on Sorr’an. “I see you found a new boytoy, hmm?”

I glared coldly at the man who I knew was
my age but looked younger with his boyish appearance and received the same
glare in return. “Shut up Kip. What do you want? I doubt you want to chat about
the good old times.”

“Good times with you?” Kip sneered and spat
out. “Anyway, give me a gold coin.”

I blinked and then snorted. “A gold coin?
Are you nuts? What do you want with a whole gold coin?”

Kip just shrugged. “What do you care? It’s
been long since last time. Just give it to me.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to Arias,
but I’m sure he would have paid you if you did a job for him.”

“Nah, no job. I just need some money and
I’m sure you need my talents again soon enough.”

“Don’t overdo it, Kip!”

The boy snorted. “Did I ever disappointed
you with a job?” He looked around to see if we were observed or raising
attention. “Come on, Lord Korondar hasn’t paid me while you where away.”

I furrowed my brows and searched for hints
of a lie but you could never tell with Kip. He obviously mistook my gaze
because he took a step back and grounded out: “No, I won’t hand over my ass or
let you suck me off! Never ever Puppeteer!”

I sighed and searched for a gold coin in my
pocket. Kip grabbed it, grinned at me and then looked at Sorr’an. They
scrutinized each other with an unfriendly mien and Kip addressed him: “Be
careful around this guy. He stuffs his dick into everything he finds. Even men,
so watch your ass.”

Sorr’an furrowed his brows but didn’t
reply, so Kip just turned and vanished behind the next corner. He looked at me.
“Who was that guy?”

“Kip? He’s a nobody.”

Sorr’an was… pouting? Yeah, he pouted at
me. “But he seemed to know you. And he wanted something and you gave it to
him.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and laid
my remaining spit on Sorr’an’s lap. I wasn’t hungry anymore. “Do you know the
saying: ‘Curiosity killed the cat’?” My catboy looked confused. “Okay, I’ll
tell you. Don’t know why, but yeah… Kip’s a thief, perhaps the best in whole
Arrandar. We met shortly after I arrived here. He saw how I stole some food
from a booth and when I was discovered how I… distracted the vendor. He helped
afterwards and taught me some tricks; how to survive in this huge city. We
became friends, best friends even, as much as it is possible between thieves.”

I closed my eyes, wallowed in memories for
a moment. “It was a fun and exciting time. He just accepted me and liked me.
Then, one day, he saw me kissing another boy and how we… well… we made out. He
freaked. We often shared a bed or slept together in the straw in winter,
sharing our body heat. He then thought I was trying to get into his pants and
that I was in love with him, wanting to… ‘stuff my dick up his ass’ as he put
it.”

“Were you?” asked Sorr’an.

“What?”

“In love with him?”

Smiling a little I replied: “Yeah, kinda. I
think I had a small crush on him. But I wasn’t acting on it; I knew how he
thought about love with other men from his talking and we were in a brothel
often enough to know his preference. But he thought I was going to molest him
and he didn’t want to deal with some cocksucker.”

“But you gave him something.”

“Yeah, I met Arias shortly afterwards and
yeah… Let’s say Kip’s talents were of use to me and Arias. So I pay him for his
work and even though he doesn’t want to be friends with a faggot my money is
good enough for him.” I relapsed in silence and sat there rapt in thoughts. I
jumped a little when a hand touched my shoulder.

Sorr’an looked at me and smiled, showing
his empty spits to me. “I finished.”

I nodded and we returned to Arias’ mansion.
Shortly before we reached the manor I asked the catboy: “Hey, can you ride a
horse?” He looked puzzled at me and I pointed to a rider on his horse who
passed us. “Do you know how to ride these animals?” Sorr’an shook his head and
I breathed in relief. “Good.”

We reached our destination and Gerald
greeted us. “Master Niven, Master So-rr-an,” he still pronounced every syllable
separately, “may I take these packages from you?”

I gave him the bags that contained
Sorr’an’s clothes and the supplies I bought. “Gerald, I need your help with
something. When we were at the tailor’s and when Sorr’an tried on some pants he
complaint that there was some pressure and discomfort around his tail.” Gerald
lifted an eyebrow. “His long one.” The servant’s brow wandered higher. “I mean
the furry one attached to his lower back. Anyway, I couldn’t ask the tailor for
help and I think Sorr’an is going crazy when I always push his tail in his
trouser leg. So could you cut holes at the right places?”

Gerald nodded. “Of course. Is Master
So-rr-an wearing underwear?”

I grinned while remembering how I tried to
explain to Sorr’an what boxer shorts are good for. In the end I didn’t know
myself why I wore them but my catboy put them on – I think only to humor me.
“Yeah, he wears underwear.”

“Good.” Gerald seemed thoughtful for a
moment. “Do they also have to… be adjusted?”

“No, I don’t think so. And if it becomes
necessary I will see to it myself.”

Gerald tilted his head in agreement and
turned. “Master So-rr-an would you please follow me?”

I called after them: “Sorr’an, be a good
boy, hmm? No attacking or hissing at Gerald, right?”

The catboy rolled his eyes and snorted, but
nodded nonetheless.

I went into the library where Arias sat
reading a book and nursing a goblet of red wine. He looked up at me when I
entered the room and invited me to sit next to him. I poured myself a goblet
and sat down. “We have everything we need, we can start tomorrow or the day
after.”

“You don’t need to hurry. Sorr’an was
heavily injured and poisoned and you need to replenish your energy.”

“Well, Sorr’an is mercurial and I am good,
too. Sorr’an doesn’t know how to ride so we have to walk and that’s going to
take us a lot more time.”

Arias lifted a brow and chuckled. “Too bad
he doesn’t know, hmm? But the thirteen weeks are on foot – I know you long
enough Niven.”

“Still, I want to hit the road as soon as
possible.”

The Dhuran mage looked at me with a
scrutinizing view and then nodded. “Good, I’ll prepare some elixirs for you two
this night.” I nodded my thanks and got up, when he raised his voice again.
“When I look at you two…”

I stopped dead in my motions and before he
could say another word muttered: “Don’t say it Arias. Please, just be silent.”
When nothing else came I passed the door and closed it. I could hear a deep
sigh through the wood…

 

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Next chapter: They start their journey... And meet a travel companion who's very interested in Sorr'an...