Acts: Cain and Abel, #4

By Magus Tor

Cain seeks out Ruth and Abel in Singapore when World War 2 is about to break out in the region.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Magus Tor
• Release date: May 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386955412

Magus Tor

Magus Tor is a dreamer who enjoys dreaming varied dreams of being a doctor, a lawyer, a police officer and a teacher but never in the wildest dream to become a writer. Since starting to write in 2007, Magus continues to explore creating worlds in his imaginative mild. Although he wishes to specialize in writing fantasy but his mind twisted his will and he ended up writing more Science Fiction than Fantasy. So far, his only fantasy novella is D-Nine: Protectors of the Crown.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The smell of fish permeated the air and became stronger as they approached the harbor. Gabriel pranced back and forth across the bow of the ship with all four of his siblings. They were becoming impatient with hunger and purring with anticipation.

Get below deck! Esmerelda yowled at them. Even though her children were over a thousand years old, she still treated them as kittens. The captain can’t see over your tails and you’re making him nervous!

All five tails dropped in a reluctant surrender to their mother’s chiding. One by one, they slinked through the open hatch and curled up on the bed below.

Thanks, Ezzie! Cain called from the wheel. What can you see?

It looks as though there aren’t any open docks. You’re going to have to moor and take the dinghy! She called back.

It was a crowded fishing hub. The huge crescent-shaped bay was a tangle of ships, men, and nets. Seabirds hovered and squawked at the fishermen whose voices started to carry across the water in various languages. None of them sounded happy or friendly.

Once Cain lowered the anchor, he went below deck to talk to the cats already asleep in a pile. I want you all to stay here, he said to the bleary eyes looking back at him. I will bring you back plenty of fish, but I want you to stay here. In many ways they were still like kittens. At least Michael, Raphael, Mary, and Sarah were. This voyage was their first from their home in Portugal. All they knew before setting off with Cain was life in the castle with their mother. But Gabriel was a seasoned adventurer, due to his restless spirit, and had a little more experience and maturity than his siblings, even if their mother still babied him like the rest.

I’m going with you, Gabriel stood and stretched and the others followed suit.

Me too, they all mewed.

I can’t take six cats with me to shore! I have to keep somewhat of a low profile.

They should stay, Gabriel motioned to the others. But if there is a chance that Ruth-my Ruth-is here, then I want to look for her too. I insist!

Cain could not argue this request. He knew the longing Gabriel felt to find her, and his guilt over escaping when she and Cain’s brother were captured by the Chinese pirates. Okay, Gabriel. You can come, he surrendered, then looked to Esmerelda.

I’ll stay here, she said. Somebody has to keep these cats in line, she said with irritation, but Cain knew she would stay behind just to watch over and protect her children.

Cain and Gabriel lowered themselves into the water on the dinghy as Esmerelda watched over the side of the ship. As he rowed towards the harbor, Esmerelda’s silhouette shrank in the distance. Do you really think she is here? Gabriel asked.

It’s as good a place to start looking as any, Cain answered. There must be so many ports in China.

But the mermaid said the ship she was on was headed to China, right?

As far as she could tell, but she lost sight of the ship in a storm. None of the other mermaids have seen her since. At this Gabriel shuddered thinking anything could have happened to Ruth, especially in a storm at sea. Don’t worry, Gabe, Cain said sensing the cat’s thoughts. Ruth is an experienced sea woman.

Sea wolf! Gabriel corrected.

Sea wolf, Cain chuckled. And if Abel is with her, she is in good hands. My brother was one of the most notorious pirates around the world at one time, and he would protect her with his life, even if they are in chains. Don’t fret. They may be held in iron and silver, but mortals have yet to take down that vampire and werewolf. They are strong, Gabe.

Gabriel nodded at the reassurance. He hoped with all his heart she was alive and okay. He had been sent to watch over her and had let her slip away, handed over by Christopher to Chinese slavers.

THE AIR BECAME A STAGNANT soup of fish, humans, and smoke as they pulled up to a dock and tied the boat to a slip. A man stood on the wooden planks watching Cain crawl onto the dock with the black and white cat on his back. The man narrowed his already narrow eyes at them though the smoke that curled around his face from the cigarette in his mouth.

Hello, Cain said to him. Could you tell me what city this is?

The man did not speak to Cain, but yelled over his shoulder in a language that sounded like breaking sticks and clinking silverware. He spoke to another man who approached and together they exchanged words that snapped and clinked in Cain’s ears.

The new man looked at Cain and said, laden in accent, You speak English?

Yes, Cain said relieved. I do. Where are we? Shanghai, the man answered.

At this, Gabriel’s claws dug into Cain’s shoulder. In what sounded to the others as a low growl, Gabriel said, Shanghai. The men who captured Ruth and Abel said they were being ‘Shanghaied.’ They must be here!

Yes, I have heard of it. Cain stroked Gabriel’s neck to calm and quiet him. "I am looking for a ship named, The Reefer. Has it harbored here?

Both men seemed to recognize the name and looked as though they had been slapped. They looked at each other and started chattering in a universal nervous fashion. Then the English-speaking one turned to Cain and said. Why do you look for it?

All his senses told Cain to find a good story. Gabriel felt the danger too and dug his claws in deeper. I know a crew member. He had sailed to America to pick up some goods and was supposed to return here with them. When neither man spoke, Cain went on, He is a friend of mine.

What is your friend’s name? The man asked. Cain took a stab in the dark, Christopher?

The men looked to each other again, and after they discussed for a moment the man said, The ship is not here. It left. Then they turned to walk away.

Where did it go? Cain asked.

The man said over his shoulder, We do not know. And they hurried on.

Gabriel whispered in his ear, They know him, Cain. They know Christopher.

I could tell, he said watching them go. Come on, let’s look around. Maybe we can talk to someone who knows something, anything.

Cain pushed through the crowds of men on the street lining the dock. There were so many ships bringing in everything from fabrics to fish, and many people lined up to welcome the goods and put them to use.

The street was lined with buildings with sloping tile roofs and red pillars with gold inlay of swirling beasts and birds. The smog in the air changed from cigarette smoke to the steam of cooked food and then back to cigarettes again. Every street they turned down had people milling about and men pulling other men in carts. There were motor cars that added to the noise with shrill horns. At the end of one crowded street, Cain spotted a tall building. Each story had its own sloping roof, leading up to the sky as the tallest structure around.

Cain jostled his way towards the building, stepping out of the way of rickshaws and running children. Standing before the many steps that led to the building’s entrance, Cain looked up to see something familiar. Along each pillar was the image of dragons. It made him think way back to the beginning of his life and the dragon Eve, who raised him and made him into a vampire. He also thought of Amos, the dragon that killed his brother’s baby and would have killed Ruth, had he not turned her into a werewolf.

The dragons before him were more serpent like, wingless, with short legs rather than the large majestic wings that bore his dragon friends into the air. As Cain climbed the steps to look closer, the smell of sweet smoke filled his lungs and the sound of chanting filled his ears.

As Cain walked in through the open doors, he found himself inside a large room that was the entire bottom floor of the building. There were about forty men draped in robes of red and gold. They kneeled on the ground, their eyes closed and they said words in unison, over and over again, in time to the drum that one of them beat with a mallet. Although Cain did not understand the words they were saying, they affected him nonetheless.

He stood still behind them and listened. It was like entering a trance, and he felt like he could have stayed that way for years. It felt as though everything disappeared and all there was was this room, and this sound, and these men kneeling before a giant golden statue of a man sitting cross-legged with eight arms, each hand making a different gesture. The statue was so shiny and large, its head reached to the ceiling.

A voice in his ear called Cain from his reverent mood. He turned his head, and a smiling face repeated the words Cain could not understand.

I’m sorry, Cain said. I do not speak Chinese. English? The man said. Yes.

I can speak your English. May I help you? You seem curious.

Yes, Cain answered. I am curious. Who are you all and what is this? Cain said as he swept his arm about the room.

Ah, the man said and took a moment to stroke Gabriel from the top of his head to his tail. Gabriel arched, pushing himself into the man’s caress.

I like him, Gabriel said.

Meow to you too, cat. The man said, his smile never fading. He looked to Cain and said, This one has a lion’s heart.

Gabriel looked pleased and Cain agreed. Yes he does.

But you have questions. My name is Xiou. We are Buddhist monks. This is a monastery.

Are they praying? Cain asked. Their song: it’s odd, but affects me, he said placing his hand on his heart.

Ah, yes. They are not praying, chanting and devoting themselves to The Law.

The laws of China?

The laws of the universe.

Oh, was all he could say. Cain was entranced. We follow the laws of Karma. And what is that? Cain asked.

Karma is the result of your actions. If you make bad action, you get bad life. Now or when you are born again in your next life.

Born again?

Reincarnated. It means when you die, you come back in another body again and again until you achieve enlightenment.

So you never really die, Cain said.

That is correct.

I can relate, Cain said

Xiou cocked his head to one side as he studied Cain. You have had many lives, he said. Many lives full of excitement.

Yes, Cain said. I have.

I like excitement, Xiou said.

Cain chuckled and said, Not all excitement is good.

But it is life being lived. When you are excited, you are living in the moment. So often we live in the past and the future.

Cain thought about this and was just about to ask about the dragons that were not only on the pillars, but on the interior walls as well, when through the door Esmerelda came running, followed by Mary, Sarah, Raphael, and Michael.

Ezzie! Cain gasped. What are you doing here? Xiou threw up his hands in delight. More lions! Cain, Esmerelda panted. Hurry! The Reefer just pulled into the harbor!

Cain looked to Xiou and said, It was very nice meeting you, but I have to go now. And he ran down the steps following six cats.

Excitement, Xiou whispered to himself. Then he gathered up his robes and ran after them.

Chapter 2

H ow did you find me ? Cain called behind the cats as they dodged their way down the street, barely avoiding a rickshaw that would have taken one of the kittens’ nine lives.

I know you, Esmerelda called back. I just looked for the most amazing place on the block!

How did you get ashore? An empty litter box floats!

They all screeched to a halt as they came into view of the harbor. There was a massive ship, with two masts and a large underbelly cargo hold, that was docked and starting to unload. Cain and the cats watched from behind a stack of barrels.

Do you think they’re still on the ship? Michael asked.

I doubt it, Cain answered. But we can see what they unload and where they take it.

That would give you a good clue for what you seek, Xiou’s voice chimed in.

Cain turned to see the monk huddled behind them. Xiou? What are you doing here?

He gave Cain a mischievous smile and shrugged his shoulders. I was living too much in the past and the future.

Here! A voice commanded from the dock. A long ramp was placed at the open door of the cargo hold, and slowly, people emerged. They were dressed in soiled, tattered clothes and their hands were bound with rope. Their eyes squinted as they entered the sunlight, seeing it for the first time in weeks. Most of them were men. A few were women.

Why is no one stopping this? Cain wondered out loud.

Because there is much money in slaves. Everyone here benefits. Except for the slaves. Xiou answered.

Where do they take them, Xiou? I do not know. Not many do know. Then we’ll have to follow them and see.

Cain and Xiou kept a distance and followed casually, stopping once in a while to inspect some fabrics from Madagascar or some spices from Morocco. They stepped from stall to stall, remaining inconspicuous as they followed the train of slaves down the harbor road. When Cain stopped to inspect some fish, Xiou became uncomfortable. Let us move on to the apothecary next door, he said.

Cain noticed the fishmonger eyeing them suspiciously, and alternatively glaring at the cats and smirking at Xiou as though he were some sort of clown. Cain agreed, and as they walked away, he whispered to Xiou, What was that all about?

He sees I am a Buddhist monk. Everyone knows we do not eat meat.

Oh, Cain said, casually glancing back at the train of slaves as they turned down a side street. Why not? Because we believe life is sacred and we should not kill. A fish could be my ancestor who had returned as a fish, Xiou answered. "Or my Grandfather could