Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 91 – What Did You See?

*Crash!*

My attention was immediately torn away from the artefact as the noise echoed up from down beneath us. But it didn’t stop at just that loud crash; it was immediately followed by the wailing of wooden beams, the shouts of people and the unrelenting splash of the waves.

“Is that another one?!” Cattleya immediately shouted as she sprinted over to the railing.

“Another what?” Ava asked as she walked up beside Cattleya to get a look down at wherever the noise was coming from.

I did the same, carefully looking over the railing at the scene that was unfolding down at the bottom of the sheer cliff on the other side of the lighthouse.

It was a massive ship bearing the red fox emblem proudly on its main sail. It was much larger than the one I had seen before, maybe even double the size.  Somehow, it had found its way onto the rocks only a little more than a stone’s throw away from shore and was in the process of having its hull viciously torn apart.

“How did they end up all the way out here?” Cattleya asked out loud, “This is not anywhere close to the dock.”

Fortunately, the ship wasn’t in any danger of sinking, even with the large gashes throughout, as the water simply wasn’t deep enough. But that didn’t mean that they were in the clear, as even the calm waves were enough to force the ship even further onto the rocks, threatening to topple it and the crew onboard into the waiting bed of spears.

“Should we-” Ava spoke up.

“Shh!” Cattleya put a hand over Ava’s mouth, “Just watch. This is perfect. I need to hear your opinions on this, so watch closely.”

“But-”

“Shh!”

…

What do you want me to look at?

It already hit the rocks.

What could I even do?

Despite my thoughts, I continued to look down at the ship as it rocked back and forth. It was definitely a much worse crash than what we had seen only a few days before, to the point where I wasn’t sure if it would even be possible to repair it. Most of the hull, or what used to be the hull, was strewn out across the sea, stray boards bobbing up and down along with the tide, yet somehow, there wasn’t a single crate in the water with them.

As soon as I noticed that, I looked back at the ship to see how that was possible; with the amount of damage that had been done, it just didn’t make sense for everything to still be onboard. But as my eyes tried to focus on the breaches in the hull, something strange happened. I couldn’t quite pinpoint where any of the holes were or even how many there were. Every time I focused on one specifically, it almost seemed to move around as if it were alive, the broken edges changing shape at will, sometimes even appearing to close completely.

I gradually moved my attention up to the crew on the main deck, but the same thing seemed to happen. The crew would fly up and down the ship in unusual patterns and loose ropes were waving around in the air as if it were a desperate cry for help.

It was quickly getting to a point where it hurt my eyes to continue looking at whatever was unfolding before me.

What is-

I looked over at Ava and Cattleya, yet neither of them reacted in the slightest. Cattleya was still staring intently down at the ship, whereas Ava was just looking a little frustrated as she rested her head on her hand.

“Do-” I was going to ask them if they were seeing the same thing; however, that was short-lived.

“Shh. Not yet,” Cattleya immediately interrupted, “You just need to keep watching. You need to understand.”

There simply wasn’t any room to argue with her… So I continued to watch the ship, but nothing changed; it was still the same blurry mess that I had seen before. But that’s when it happened. There was something that caught my eye darting away from the ship, but as my eyes tried to follow it, there was nothing. I wasn’t even sure if I had actually seen anything. Maybe it was just a feeling instead? But whatever it was, it somehow caught my attention, even if only for an immeasurably brief moment.

I thought that would be the end of the surprises, but as my eyes drifted back towards the ship, I immediately noticed that something had changed. Unlike before, I was suddenly able to focus on the ship without any issues. I was easily able to follow the path of a single person as they ran up and down the ship.

It was as if everything I had seen before was nothing more than my imagination playing a trick on me.

It wasn’t much longer after that before people started lining up across what little shoreline there was down at the base of the cliff, dragging ropes and other equipment along with them.

“Did you see it?” Cattleya immediately asked.

“What are you talking about?” Ava asked in response, “The ship floated into the rocks. We didn’t even see it happen. You just made us watch as it bobbed around a bit.”

“I-” I tried to say something again.

“Exactly!” Cattleya interrupted me, “There was nothing! That is the thing that makes these crashes so strange! That is what I need help with!”

What?

Both Ava and I just stared at Cattleya in silent disbelief.

“Do you not understand?” She pointed down at the ship again, “You saw nothing happen, but somehow every time a ship has crashed like that, cargo has gone missing. So where did it go?  They used to think that it had just sunk to the bottom of the sea as it fell out, but there was never anything down there when they went to look. I have watched many of these crashes happen, but I have never seen any cargo fall into the water… But at the same time, I do not have another explanation.”

That… is strange…

“But that is not all!” Cattleya didn’t seem like she was going to slow down any time soon, much like when we had first met her in the restaurant, “There is a pattern! Not every ship that comes into port crashes, but the ships that do all have something in common. They are carrying artefacts or food, sometimes even both! Most of the ships that crash are from Volpe Rossa, but that is only because they move almost all of the artefacts coming into the port. Whatever is happening is targeted. It is not random. I just do not know why… or how… it is being done. That is why I need help!”

…

How does she know all of this?

“I already told you that we’re not getting involved with all of this,” Ava said, “I really don’t know how else to tell you… Y’know…. I don’t really dislike you, but this is just ridiculous, hey? Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t help; we saw the same thing you saw, nothing.”

But I didn’t.

“… But…” Cattleya looked off to the side as she seemed to struggle to find her words, “I… um… You do not have a choice!”

As she spoke, she pointed down at one of the people below us. It was almost impossible to make out fine details, but the dark black hair and lop rabbit ears were enough for me to at least make a good guess as to who they were. They were pointing back up at us and shouting, although, even with my hearing, I couldn’t make out what they were saying over the wind.

“I’ll see you at the bottom!” With that last remark, Cattleya quickly left the two of us, running back down the staircase.

…

“I’m sorry Kierra…” Ava put her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, “I really thought she’d be less… disruptive.”

“It’s alright,” I replied as I leaned against her.

It was the truth; Cattleya was certainly a lot, but I didn’t really mind for some reason. It was definitely annoying when she interrupted me, but that was all… compared to before…

“Are you sure?” She asked.

I nodded.

“If you say so,” Ava said as she walked with me towards the staircase, “Just… tell me if it gets to be too much. I promise I’ll do something about it.”@@novelbin@@

“Mm.”

The two of us made our way down the lighthouse in no rush. Once we arrived at the bottom, the old man waved over to us from a stool in the corner of the room, but before either of us could say anything back, he quietly pointed to the door where Cattleya was already standing.

“You’re just in time,” Cattleya said, “He’s almost here.”

“Who’s almost here?” Ava asked.

We had to wait no more than a few seconds to see who it was as Tybalt gradually came into view as he was walking up the hill, his ears swinging back and forth under his chin.

“Of course… it just had to be you again… Why is it always you?” He grumbled as he looked up at Cattleya. However, as soon as his eyes fell on me, his demeanour completely changed, and he picked up the pace a little.

We just waited inside the doorway until Tybalt came up in front of us with a clipboard in hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you again so soon. If only it were under more… fortuitous circumstances.”

“Hello Branch Manager,” Cattleya responded.

“Hello… again… Miss Cattleya…” Tybalt reluctantly replied.

“Should I-”

“No. No, you shouldn’t…” He said as he jotted down something on his clipboard, “I’ve already written down your account of the events today. You don’t need to worry.”

“You’ve gotten better at this,” Cattleya puffed her chest out as if she had just done something impressive.

…

“Now… I hate to have to ask the two of you this,” He turned to Ava and me without saying anything more to Cattleya, “But I happened to notice that you were on top of the lighthouse just now. Did you see anything related to the recent crash while you were up there? If not, then you can get on with your day, but it would help both me and the Guild Master more than you know.”

“Alright,” Ava sighed.

She recounted the events both quickly and plainly, although, on more than one occasion, Cattleya tried to interject with her theories about what was ‘really’ happening, but neither Ava nor Tybalt paid her much attention.

Before I knew it, Tybalt had turned his focus to me, “I assume your story is much the same?”

…

“No…”  I admitted quietly, “It looked… strange.”

As soon as the words left my lips, everyone’s expressions changed; Tybalt looked confused, Ava was shocked and Cattleya… It might have been the first time I had seen a genuine smile on her face.

“It was hard to focus on…” I tried to ignore everyone else and get what few words I could out, “Everything kept moving around… but then it just stopped…”

My response was definitely less elegant than Ava’s, but Tybalt noted it down on his clipboard all the same.

“… I’ll pass that on to the Guild Master,” He said, the gears clearly already turning in his head, “… Now, I don’t want to hold you any longer than I have to. So, thank you greatly for answering my question. I’ll just ask the lighthouse keeper here if he saw anything, and then I’ll be on my way again. Please do enjoy the rest of your day.”