Ribbontail: Enter Emalia
Chapter 31: Suspicion Arises

Author's Note: Please read my artist's comments before continuing. :3
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Early night was cold and silent. The sun had dipped far below the desert horizon, and in its place hung the pearly moon. Like a ghostly incarnation of the sun, it glimmered its light down across the barren land and illuminated Ribbontail as she emerged from Nde cave. Grim-faced and sullen, she padded into the moonlight with PuppetRibbontail in her shadow.

Ribbontail’s eyes had barely adjusted to the outside world when she was suddenly whisked off her feet by Infin. The merchant had been waiting for them right outside the cave mouth, and as soon as she saw Ribbontail she had snatched up the young goddess in an unexpected embrace.

“Ribbontail deary, you’re alright!” she cheered, setting the wolf back down on her paws. As the three turned and walked to the caravan line, Infin threw a string of questions at the girl. “I heard this terrible rumbling and... oh dear, what happened? Did you get whatever it was you needed? Moreover, are you alright?”

Gulping and staring up into Infin’s worried red eyes, Ribbontail forced a nod. The masked trader seemed to smile, and with a little chuckle she gave the wolf a pat on the head. She turned and gestured to a low fire that was burning nearby. “I’ve got a fire going there, with some warm soup already prepared. Do help yourself to it if you’d like, Ribbontail, as I’ve already had my share. Over supper you must tell me what happened!”

Her ears drooping, Ribbontail gulped and found that she was too nervous to move. Infin took this as a sign of humility, and she chuckled and gave her another pat on the head.

“Ah PuppetRibbontail, it is great to see you also well,” Infin said as she noticed the little spirit, “Ribbontail is so lucky to have a guardian like you. I’m certain that you and Arhil...”

The merchant’s voice trailed off there and she turned to stare back at the cave entrance, standing silently for the longest while. As she did this Ribbontail’s heart dropped. So did her stance; she looked pitiful, crouching there on the sand looking up at the merchant with apologetic eyes.

Swiftly Infin turned back to Ribbontail. “Wh...where is Arhil?” she demanded, her voice flat, “Where... is she?!”

“She fell down and was lost to Nde cave,” Ribbontail wanted to say, yet when she opened her mouth she could utter no more than a little squeak.

Infin did not wait for a reply from the wolf. Her eyes swarming with a mix of terror and disbelief, Infin let out a little cry. Then in a swirl of black robes she spun, lit a torch, and tore off towards the cave. Ribbontail could hear Infin’s voice, down within the black cave, calling frantically for Arhil. She sounded almost like a mother who had lost her child, yowling out the same name again and again.

Ribbontail shuddered. She would soon find out just what had happened: Arhil was gone...

“Ribbontail? Hey dude you’re back! How’d your little adventure go?” came a voice from behind. The goddess turned to see O’liday there, standing in the doorway to the caravan, nibbling on a piece of bread. But when he heard Infin’s cries from within the cave, he abruptly changed the subject. “Dude what’s up with her? Did something go down?”

Lost in her nervousness, Ribbontail shifted her paws and looked to the ground.

“Let me guess...” O’liday ventured as he looked up and down along the remaining camel train, “something happened to that camel she lent you?”

With her ears tucked Ribbontail nodded. She was totally stuck for words and could not get her thoughts straight, so instead of explaining the situation she crawled forward and clambered up into the carriage. PuppetRibbontail quickly followed suit, and as soon as the three were back together O’liday flashed a quick thumbs up.

Yet the feliulf’s smile quickly faded as he glanced back over at the cave, then inside the carriage where Timothy sat. The ferret businessman was sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring down and fiddling away at a little handheld device he had. “Hey dude, something’s up with Infin,” O’liday called to him, “Ribbontail lost one of her camels!”

Much to Ribbontail’s dismay, O’liday let the carriage door swing shut. “But I should really go and comfort her...” she thought as she almost crawled back outside. She paused, let out a little whine, and turned to her friends.

Timothy’s voice snapped her out of her haze. “What happened?” he inquired to O’liday, not bothering to look up, “And how do you ‘lose’ a camel in the middle of the desert?”

Ribbontail gulped down the knot in her throat. Before she said anything she flung herself at the window, looking out through the darkness. Infin was still not there; she must have still been in the cave.

“Nde cave...” Ribbontail stuttered distractedly, “I had to go in there to get something. But when I got that... thing... the floor of the cave suddenly collapsed. P-PuppetRibbontail and I got out okay, but Arhil... didn’t.”

“Harsh. I bet she’s gonna be pissed with you,” murmured Timothy as he looked up from his electronic device. His tone then, however, quickly changed from sarcastic to authentically worried: “But... that’s not good. Not at all.”

Hearing the change in the ferret’s tone, Ribbontail tipped her head to the side. She glanced over at the businessman. “I think it will make her sad more than anything else,” she said, “Of course that’s not good- she’s probably devastated.”

The ferret swished his black-tipped tail and gave Ribbontail a long, solemn stare. “It’s not her we should be worried about, it’s us.”

Ribbontail’s ears lifted. “What? Why?”

“Dude, dude,” huffed O’liday, sliding up to his wolf friend, “We found out something, like, totally creepy about Infin. You’ll never believe it.”

Her gaze filled with puzzlement, Ribbontail watched as O’liday padded over to the carriage bench. From underneath the bench the feliulf pulled a large roll of parchment. Ribbontail recognized the item instantly: it was the large map that Infin always carried around. She must have left it indoors somehow.

“So I was just showing O’liday my PDA,” began Timothy as he waved a paw at O’liday, “and suddenly we see that map under the bench. So we figure that since Infin was out there worrying about you and all, we could give her map a peek. We just wanted to check it out, right, but when we looked at it we noticed something else...”

Timothy nodded to O’liday, who promptly unfurled the map. The young goddess knew just how secretive Infin was about the map- the merchant had wanted nobody to get a good look at it. And so, out of courtesy, Ribbontail averted her eyes.

“That’s unkind,” Ribbontail said vacantly, not bothering to look back at the two, “Infin is helping us out by giving us a free ride, and you guys just rifle through her things. That’s not right.”

“But Ribbontail, dude, this is like... important. Totally!” O’liday hopped up to Ribbontail and grabbed a hold of her shoulder, jostling her lightly. Swiftly PuppetRibbontail separated the two, putting herself between her master and the worried O’liday.

Still Ribbontail shook her head. “I don’t care,” she said yet again, “we should be respecting Infin, not going through her stuff.”

Before O’liday could say anything further Ribbontail turned and gazed out the window. Outside, finally, she saw Infin. The merchant was standing at the head of the caravan line, leaning against the lead camel with her head resting against the flank of the ghastly beast. She simply stood there, perfectly still and looking quite forlorn.

“I’m going to go talk with her,” Ribbontail sighed as she got up and made her way for the door, “PuppetRibbontail and O’liday, please stay here. This is between me and her...”

Ribbontail unlatched the caravan door and slipped out. Just as the door fell back shut, she caught the last sentence Timothy threw at her: “Kid, come on! She spells nothing but trouble!”

The ferret’s words did not dampen Ribbontail’s trust in the slightest bit, yet as Ribbontail’s paws hit the ground she felt her sudden anguish return. In the short time she spent back in the carriage, it had grown colder and darker outside. Infin’s fire was burning itself out and the nighttime insects had hushed. To say the least, Ribbontail was unnerved.

At the front of the caravan was Infin of course, but Ribbontail heard now that she was not silent after all. She was mumbling something to the lead camel. Very voice, low and almost inaudible, was hoarse with wretchedness. Her shoulders shook as she sighed, shivered, and pressed the cheek side of her mask to the camel.

It was then that she saw Ribbontail.

Her red eyes swimming with unshed tears, Infin blinked and turned from the wolf. “Go away, leave me be,” she rasped, “I don’t want to speak with you.”

Ribbontail pressed her ears back and approached slowly. Sure to keep herself low to the ground and her face apologetic, Ribbontail stopped at Infin’s feet and looked up. “Infin, please, I didn’t know that Nde cave would’ve done that. I’m... really sorry,” she whispered.

The merchant slowly tilted her head back down at Ribbontail and gave her a long, sorrowful look. Her eyes were filled with a fiendish mix emotion; they were windows of sorrow and hatred both gazing down upon Ribbontail, cutting gashes in the wolf’s confidence.

“Please, please forgive me,” Ribbontail pleaded, not knowing what to say. She bowed her head and half-crouched, showing her full respect and sympathy for the merchant. “It was an accident, I swear, I couldn’t do anything to help her.”

“That doesn’t bring my Arhil back,” muttered Infin after a long pause, “nothing will. She has been lost to darkness. My little pretty, she could never survive a fall like that.”

Finally the emotions in Infin’s eyes subsided. Ribbontail cocked her head curiously as Infin stepped back, took a deep and shaky breath, and dusted herself off.

“There’s naught we can do, I’m afraid...” she said with an unsteady voice, “but keep on moving. Things like this happen...”

Infin was mumbling to herself as she slowly grasped the rein of the lead camel, looking much less miserable now as she adjusted the harness. Ribbontail smiled. Of course Infin would take it well: she was used to creatures dying. She could shake off any loss.

“Well we’d best get going... come Kayur,” sighed Infin. She rubbed a sore spot on her back, flicked the lead rope, and began walking.

The camel did not move.

Jerked back by the strain of the lead rope, Infin halted and spun around to face the creature. The lead camel- Kayur- was simply standing there, legs locked, eyes bored. Infin gave the lead a tug and commanded, “Kayur, come. Follow!”

The large camel refused, looking right at her master with unresponsive and blank eyes. Infin pulled the Summoning’s rope softly, again commanding the beast to come. “What’s wrong with you, sweets? Come! Follow!” When at last there was no response, Infin prowled to the rear of the camel and gave its behind a hard shove.

“This must have to do with Arhil,” thought Ribbontail as she watched Infin poke, prod, and tug at the camel, “Maybe all the camels need to be together in order to listen to her.”

Again and again Infin tugged at Kayur, and after a good fussing she finally threw down the lead rope. Then suddenly her composure fell to pieces, and with an anguished cry she crumbled to her knees and began sobbing despairingly. Her claws shot up to grasp her mask, shaking her head and rocking back and forth.

“Hopeless, it’s all hopeless,” she sobbed, “we cannot go on without Arhil.”

This time Ribbontail knew what to do. She hurried to the side of the merchant and reached up to give her a comforting hug. Yet when she did Infin turned, grabbed a clawful of sand, and tossed it at the wolf.

Ribbontail fell back coughing and choking, sand burning her eyes and tongue.

“This is your bloody fault!” Infin shrieked in anguish, “I give you my trust and my aid and you go and ruin it all. Get out of my sight!”

Without question Ribbontail turned and hurried away, almost tripping over herself in her desperation to get back into the caravan carriage. A sympathetic look back told Ribbontail of Infin’s misery: the merchant sat on the ground sobbing woefully, like a mother who had lost her child. Ribbontail's heart sank as she clambered back into the stagecoach.

Halfway into the carriage, however, she collided with Timothy. He was on his own way outside, and the two animals fell into the carriage in a heap of fur and confusion.

“Hey watch where you’re going. Geez...” Timothy coughed and scrabbled after his PDA, which he had dropped after crashing into Ribbontail. After making sure that he hadn’t harmed the device, he got to his paws and dusted sand off of his suit. “What’s going on out there?”

Ribbontail shook the last bits of sand from her fur, quickly closing the door behind her. She readjusted her halter. “Infin’s just really sad and frustrated right now,” she explained solemnly, “For some reason the camels won’t listen to her, and they refuse to move. I think we might have a problem on our hands.”

Sliding up to Ribbontail with the map still in paw, O’liday huffed and tilted his hat at her. “Wow ‘a problem’? You think?”

“What do you mean by that?” Ribbontail asked, cocking her head.

“Well it’s what we were trying to tell you earlier, dude...” O’liday began, rubbing his chin.

Before O’liday could go on Timothy swished his long tail and blurted out, “We were trying to tell you that we think Infin’s some kind of raving homicidal maniac!”

A disagreeable moan rumbled from her when the feliulf once more shoved Infin’s rolled map in her face. This time- however- Ribbontail accepted it, more out of inattentiveness than curiosity.

Timothy settled down on the floor of the caravan across from her. Quickly O’liday and PuppetRibbontail sat down along with him, all three staring at Ribbontail with much intensity.

Sucking in an allaying breath, Ribbontail took the crumbled map and rolled it out on the caravan floor. For the moment she put Infin’s anguish in the back of her mind, and she peered down for the longest while at the parchment. It was just like last time: a complex map of the land of Emalia, complete with etchings of trade routes, a list of names, Xs, circles, and arrows.

“I don’t see it...” Ribbontail murmured, “What are you two so worried about?”

With a grunt O’liday rolled forward and brushed his paw along the right hand edge of the map, where numerous names had been inked. “Take a look at THAT, dude,” he said.

Ribbontail blinked down. The list was an expansive one, with at least fifty or sixty names written along the right edge. At the end were the names she recognized:
Timothy Brownville – ferret – biped
Scumtrot the Fighter – hog – biped
O’liday – feliulf – quad
Ribbontail – hybrid? – quad
Most curiously, most of the names along the list had been crossed out. Some had notes alongside them, such as ‘stole from supplies’ and ‘Tintonian priest’. Among the plentiful annotated names was Scumtrot; his note said simply ‘uncivil’.

It took Ribbontail come some before she realized that her own name had a note by it. ‘special- priestess/seer?’ it said.

Ribbontail looked up slowly, Infin’s own misery now totally lost in her confusion. “What do you think it means?” she whispered to the three across from her.

Timothy and O’liday seemed to exchange worried glances before finally saying something. It was Timothy who spoke. He leaned forward, ran his paw across the map, and tapped Scumtrot’s name.

“Died last night. Scumtrot right there was clearly not on her good side, as you can tell,” the ferret clarified slowly, “I think that somehow Infin killed him. I don’t know how or why, but clearly Infin felt some need to kill this guy. Maybe she poisoned him or used some type of magic. I dunno. The point is, we think she murdered him.”

Now O’liday approached the map. He gestured with a furry paw to the other names. “Yeah and dude, a ton of these names are crossed out just like his. Check it: we’re all alive and well and our names aren’t crossed... right?”

Ribbontail sat silent for a moment.

That can’t be true,” she thought to herself. Then she turned to PuppetRibbontail, frowned, and sent the little creature a message. “Do... do you believe this? Do you think Infin could be a killer of some sort?”

To Ribbontail’s dismay, the spirit guardians head sank in a definite ‘yes’.

“That CAN’T be true,” Ribbontail once more thought as she bit her lip, “ “I know Infin’s a nice soul. This is all just a big misconception.”

“Ribbontail, and she’s got one of those bogus scribbly notes by your name!” yowled O’liday, this time smacking Ribbontail’s name with his paw, “Look at that. I dunno why, but you’re on her hit list!”

“I...don’t believe you,” Ribbontail objected as she shook her head. Her mind would not take in this suspicion at all. “You two are just being paranoid. I trust that Infin’s a good person. Maybe she just crosses out the names of people who leave or are dropped off early? And those notes could just be about special people. She might want to remember some of her passengers.”

Silence reigned in the caravan carriage for the longest while. A thick cloud of nervousness and intense confusion hung over the heads of the four, sitting there with the map unfolded before them.

Timothy was the first to pick up on Ribbontail’s anguish, and he tucked his PDA into his suit with a great sigh.

“Listen kid- Ribbontail was it? I can tell you’re a real softie for sweet people. But in this day and age you can’t really trust anybody, no matter how nice they act. People nowadays will scam you, trick you, steal from you. And if you don’t keep your wits about you, you could even end up like that Scumtrot guy. Seriously, believe me: I know that Infin’s up to no...”

But the ferret businessman didn’t finish his sentence. Instead his mouth snapped shut and he jerked suddenly, throwing himself back up as though he had seen a ghost.

Ribbontail turned. There, barring the doorway, her eyes filled with shock and dismay, stood Infin. When she saw the map unfurled upon the floor the leadrope fell from her trembling claws, and her distressed eyes burned with a sudden unspoken fury. She looked as though she had heard the entire conversation.