It took some doing, but I eventually managed to pick the lock. It was the only option left short of breaking the window. That lacked class and I had a reputation to protect. Sometimes you can’t help getting your paws dirty. I took a moment to pack my tools up and slip my satchel and pack back on.
I carefully cracked the door open and pressed an ear to the opening. It was quiet inside. Good! Time to get things moving! I pushed the door open just wide enough for me to slip in and closed it quietly behind me.
It was dark inside, which was only natural given the lack of windows. I had to take a moment to let my eyes adjust. There’s a rabbit now who sells goggles that let you see in the dark. Boy would those have come in handy that night!
On top of being dark, it was also musty inside which disturbed my keen sense of smell. Judging by the dust build up, I figured it’d been months since anybody had been in here. That was odd. Had the house been abandoned? It didn’t matter. I had a scroll to find. I looked around for a scroll rack.
There was one by the window ledge in the next room. I crept over to it, being careful not to expose myself to the window. What was that? I paused, ears twitching. There was a soft scratching noise coming from upstairs.
I slipped the dagger out of its sheath on my hip and held it in front of me as I skulked up, trying to make as little noise as possible on the creaking stairway. Nothing! But yet, the scratching continued. I looked around. The second floor was just one room with no place to hide. Not for a normal-sized fur anyway. Where was the sound coming from? Could it be a threat? It didn’t seem likely.
Furs joke all the time about curiosity and cats. I feel that my curiosity has kept me alive on several occasions. I needed to know if this was going to be one of those times. I strained my ears to try to locate the source of the scratching. It was coming from a dresser cabinet.
With my dagger ever ready, I slipped over to the cabinet. Standing to one side of the dresser, I reached across the front for the handle. Slowly I pulled on the little knob to open it, prepared for anything that would come out.
Except a tinker. I exhaled as the critter walked out into the open room. It was a cute model, ankle high and walking on four legs. It was fast too. It zipped around the room several times as I watched. Most likely, it was a child’s pet model-type. But if it belonged to a child, why had it been left in a cabinet…for months? An interesting question, but not one that would help me find the scroll.
I let the tinker roam freely. It might only be a gadget, but it seemed cruel to lock it up again. It reminded me of one a childhood friend of mine had, though the face was mousier. Satisfied that it posed no threat, I sheathed my dagger and went back downstairs
towards the scroll rack.
There were at least fifty scrolls in the rack. My instructions said that the one I was looking for would be sealed, with no clue given as to the contents. But these ones had all been opened. I opened one to read. If someone was willing to pay so much for it, it had to special. Maybe one of these would stand out.
The first was a recipe for nip: Interesting for me, but unlikely to command a lot of coin. I tucked it into my satchel. The next three scrolls were even less interesting. Mostly news of someone’s Aunt Petunia. This was going nowhere.
I was in the middle of my eighth scroll when there was a crash. I jumped into a battle-ready position, pulling my dagger out in the time it takes to blink.
It was only the tinker. It had had a difficult time navigating the stairs and ultimately fell down them. I quietly cursed the tinker for scaring me. It stopped its scurrying to look at me, tilting its mousey head to the side.
“You don’t happen to know where I might find a sealed scroll, do you?” I asked the tinker. It was beyond a long shot, but morning was coming. I needed to get moving.
Not surprisingly, the tinker started to run around the room again. I rolled my eyes and started to turn back to the scroll rack. But then I noticed something funny about the tinker’s movement. While it would scurry about the room wildly, it always stopped in front of a particular brick in the wall before starting up again.
It couldn’t hurt to look. I stepped over to the wall and crouched down next to where the tinker had been pointing. It stopped running and remained at my paws. I examined the wall and lo and behold! One of the bricks was loose. I pried it out to find a hollow space and in it was the sealed scroll!
“Thanks!” I said to the tinker, as I stuffed the scroll into my satchel. There was no way I would have been able to find the hiding place on my own. Not without tearing the place apart, which would have taken too long for the time I had. I pushed the brick back into place and stood up.
With my quarry now safely in my satchel, I headed towards the door. The tinker followed. “Where do you think you’re going?” I asked the tinker. It looked up at me and tilted its head. I frowned. “Ohhhhh no! I’ve got no time for tinkers!” It kept looking up at me with its blank eyes, looking so cute. I caved.
“Alright…” I sighed before crouching down to let the tinker climb up on my shoulder. “Hold on tight, Mouser. We’re leaving.” With that, I slipped out the door with my next destination being the Coven.