The Witch and The Horseman

Leaves danced across the pavement as Eridis walked home from the tailor shop where she worked. The fall air had finally made itself at home, and Eridis was loving it. This was always her favorite time of year; when it would be cooler, the leaves rustling in the trees and dancing across the sidewalks, squirrels and other animals scavenging and storing for winter, the spooky chill that would tingle down your spine at night as you walked home from a late party. It was her season and the one she felt the strongest in. Maybe she was born in Autumn, or maybe she just adored all the colors that burst with life, or maybe it was the darkness that surrounded her.

Walking home after work in the afternoon gave her a breath of fresh air. Having the sun beat down on her, but feeling the chill in the air with all the children just about to get out of school. The tranquility of it was perfect. Just a few blocks more and she would arrive at home.

She got to her front door when she noticed a sickly cat sitting by the bushes. She watched it for a second before deciding to go inside and grab something for it. After fixing up some watery fish, she brought it back to the cat and set it down. It looked at the food and then at her, unsure of what to do or if the food could be trusted. She waited for what seemed to be forever, then went back inside to start her after-work routine.

Later that night, as she sat by the fireplace and enjoyed a cup of tea and a book, she heard a scratching at her door. She looked up from her book and wondered who could be bothering her at this time of night. Placing a pressed leaf between the pages, she set the book down next to her tea and got up to go to the door. The scratching continued until she opened it and glanced around before looking down. The same sickly cat she had seen and fed earlier that day was sitting there with its tail swishing back and forth.

“Sorry, I don’t take in strays. Besides, you're ruining my nightly ritual.” The cat stared at her. “Don’t you have an owner that is missing you?”

No response besides the hushed whoosh of the tail against the fallen leaves. Eridis sighed and stepped aside to let the cat in. It sauntered in as if it was entering into its own home as Eridis shut the door behind it.

It walked over towards the fireplace with ease and circled before settling down. Eridis sat back in her chair and watched the small creature. She could see the spine fairly easily through its dirtied grey fur and noticed a congested sound when the cat breathed out.

“Must be sick and the owner dumped it, how sad.” She thought for a bit, then picked up her tea and moved to her kitchen.

She grabbed a pot that was hanging over the small island counter and set it down before going over to a small door. She looked back at the cat, then opened the door and stepped through a ripple of magic. Inside was a garden that sprouted all the herbs and plants she could ever need. She found a few that she thought would work on a feline and came back through the ripple.

After rinsing the greens and herbs off, she pulled out a knife and cutting board, set the greens down, and waved her hand in an up and down motion. The knife moved through the air and started chopping the greens. The pot moved to the sink and filled halfway with water while she looked through an open cupboard for her healing book. After finding it, she turned back to the pot as the cutting board tipped the chopped greens in. While flipping through the pages, she swished a hand towards the pot and walked with it floating next to her over to the fire. A hook emerged from between the stones that lined the inside of the fireplace. With another wave of her hand, the pot nestled itself on the hook, which stretched until it had the pot hanging over the fire.

“Hm, not this, not that…” Eridis muttered to herself. Briefly, she would look at the cat, who was still curled up in front of the fire and making its raucous breaths before reading more.

Finally she found the right concoction, or at least she hoped it would be, and went to grab some spices from the kitchen. Coming back, she found the cat sitting next to the fireplace with snot coming out of its nose, crusts over its eyes, and strangled breathing.

“I hope you're not infectious,” she said with unease, not realizing the cat seemed worse than when it came in.

Adding the spices, she stirred the concoction and left it to simmer. Once she saw a dark-looking steam emerging from the pot, she took a small bowl and scooped some out and set it on the floor for the cat. The cat looked up at her, as if appalled at what she was offering, before lapping it up with hesitation. It then went to the door and sat next to it, staring her down.

“I don’t really want to let you out to infect others, but I also don’t know if whatever you have can be spread to humans…” She hesitated before going to the door and letting the cat out into the night. She watched as it ran to the house across the street and scratched at their door.

“What a mooch. But maybe that’s their owner. If so, they need to be taking better care of it.” She watched as the house door opened, letting the cat in and the woman cooed with sympathy towards the cat. The door shut and, she too, shut her door and doused the flames with what was left in the pot before heading to bed.

The next morning, Eridis woke to a banging on the door. When she opened it, there was a person with a plague mask on.

“Miss, we regret to inform you that your neighbor has passed away from an unknown sickness. We are warning everyone on the street to take this warning seriously and to keep your distance until we find out what this sickness is and if it can be passed from human to human. Thank you for your cooperation at this time.” They turned and walked away, heading to the next house to give them the same warning.

Eridis stood in the doorway staring across at the other house where the cat went into the night before.

“Could it have been that cat?” she wondered aloud. Still stunned, she shut the door and went to make herself some tea. Thankfully, this was a day off for her and she could just stay inside... Until she heard a scratching at the door.

She froze for a moment before going to the door and opening it a crack. There stood the same cat from the previous night, and it looked significantly healthier. It reached up with its paw and pushed on the door.

“No, no, you are contagious with something. I don’t need it, thank you.” Eridis went to shut the door, but it seemed to stop with the cat being halfway in. “Hey, you can’t just walk into anyone’s home.”

It meowed at her with irritation, as if to say that it didn’t care, it could go where it pleased. They stared each other down for what seemed like forever before Eridis gave up and let it in. It wiggled through and headed over to the bookshelves that lined the wall where the fireplace was at. It jumped up to the fourth shelf off the ground and walked along its edge as if looking for something.

Eridis came over to see what the cat was up to. It stopped just before an old, twine binded book and pawed at the top of it. Eridis panicked and went and pulled the cat away from the book, but was a split second too late when it caught one of its claws on the twine. The book slipped out of its place and fell to the floor with a soft thud.

“Darn cat! That’s an old, delicate book! I don’t need you to be ripping it up.” She glowered at the cat as she held it in the air by its scruff. It mewed at her and started to wiggle and kick its legs. One of its back legs caught her arm, leaving a long scratch. She dropped the cat with a sharp inhale from the sting. Blood started flowing immediately. She waved for a cloth to wrap around it to stop the bleeding.

Once she got pressure on it, she looked at the cat sitting with the book between them and it mewed as if on cue to start cleaning itself. Holding her arm against her, she reached for the book with her other arm. The cat swiped a paw at her, making her pull back. It went back to cleaning its paw off. She reached for it again and the cat swiped again. Eridis let out a huff and sat down, keeping the wrapped arm against her for pressure and used her other to open the book. If the cat wasn’t going to let her pick it up, she might as well pretend to look at it to ease and trick the cat.

As she flipped through the pages, she got to the mythical creatures section. Her great grandma had made this book and said most of these mythical creatures were real. Eridis didn’t exactly believe her, but played into it to learn the witch’s way. She flipped a page and stopped. It showed drawings of four different cats each having very distinct traits, but looking like any other cat outside of the book's setting.

She looked up as she saw the visiting cat settle into a laying position, as if like a loaf of bread, across from the second drawn cat. It took a second for her to connect the dots before looking back at the once healthy cat, now looking sickly and on the verge of death. It mewed with acknowledgment.

“You’re Plague.” she whispered. Plague purred back with approval.