Plague Doctor

The fragrance of the catnip circulated inside the main tower. The Great Atal was seated on a large stone chair. Many cats surrounded him. They yawned lazily, their nose twitching occasionally. The smell of catnip was not observable to man but they were a great relaxing stimulant for cats. Many cats sat or laid on the two sides of the lobby. The amount of species would have startled any biologist. There were white cats, black cats, grey cats, mixed color cats, leopard cats, angora cats… Because there were so many cats, the Zoogs which were surrounded like criminals in the middle of the lobby shivered nonstop. Lucky was also captured and naturally the Evil Zoog was there as well.

The humans stayed at the door at the back of the lobby.

"Meow, the Zoogs have raised a war for no reason." An old leopard cat said, "Shattering the peace between us two races. They attempted to burn down our temple, the whole Ulthar. This is such a vicious intention! They should be punished!"

"What vicious intentions…" The Elder Zoog argued, "There was no harm done, was there? There was no injury between the cats and the Zoogs…" The evil Zoog quickly tapped against the ground, "No, leader, I'm injured. See…"

"That's no injury." The Elder Zoog countered, "That's just mere scratch marks when you were playing with our feline friends. Don't make a fuss." The evil Zoog's beady eyes widened. His body was bloody and one of his ears was missing… The Elder Zoog continued calmly as he explained. "Lucky learned from the humans a holiday called April's Fool and that is what we intended to do today. This was just a joke! Do you really think our whole tribe wouldn't have checked the explosives if this was not a joke? Ha ha ha… We intended to buy the secondary product from the Black Merchants to try to scare our feline friends. It's all in good jest." But the Elder Zoog's voice slowly dwindled from a lack of confidence and he eventually shut up. This was because the nearby cats started to look at him with warning. Even some of the cats who were enjoying the catnips opened their eyes at him.

"Smokes and mirrors, what is real?" The Great Atal commented slowly. The senior did fit Gu Jun's description of a wise scholar.

"I admit… our joke has gone a bit too far…" The Elder Zoog patted his stomach. "And caused some negative impact. It has frightened the citizens and cats of Ulthar, for that we apologize. As apology, we Zoogs will provide 1000 hens, 1000 chickens and 1000 quails as compensation." The cats in the lobby were unmoved, if anything, their gaze turned more vicious.

"Do you think we are Zoogs?" The leopard cat asked.

The Elder Zoog stumbled, "Then for our yearly tribute, we'll… double… no triple." Be it the Evil Zoog, Lucky or the other Zoogs, they groaned audibly. This plan had backfired horribly. Their life was already hard, if the tribute tripled, what else were they supposed to eat in the future? Seeing the Elder Zoog was about to raise the number again, Lucky turned to look at Gu Jun who stood by quietly. Lucky only had his own tribe's interest at heart. He hugged Gu Jun's leg and wept as he patted Gu Jun's thigh, "Doctor Gu, please help us… We've been to the house of Worm and fought at Mo Bei together… You won't want this tragedy to befall us Zoogs do you? Many young Zoogs will die of hunger if this tribute goes through…" Lucky appealed to their history together. He knew humans were sentimental creatures and the Nightmare Man had a softer side.

"But you planned to burn us alive earlier." Gu Jun countered. Lucky turned to Wu Siyu with his big eyes. Wi Siyu turned away. Well, the man was not wrong.

"But I had nothing to do with that plan, my task was merely to bring you here…" Lucky cried. "My kin have been yearning for the good life so much because we were raised in poverty. We thought only violence can solve the problem. Doctor Gu, I've always been on your side, please say something."

Realizing that the point had been made, while everyone inside the lobby watched, Gu Jun stepped forward to mediate. "The Zoogs will continue to provide tribute but we humans will offer the tribute on their behalf. The numbers will be several hundred thousand poultry…" He was only beginning when he was cut off by the leopard cat. "We've gotten tired of the poultry, plus we could have captured them ourselves. If the humans wish to offer the tribute on the Zoog's behalf, then give us these catnips. These things haven't disappeared. They are the perfect tribute."

The cat was right. Most of the items the human brought over had disappeared. Even the medical items had dissolved into nothing. The same went for the cat toys, only the catnips remained, not one sprig was gone. Gu Jun looked at his teammates and they all caught the meaning in his gaze. Catnips were cheaper and easier to transport than poultry.

Yu Chi thought about it and he paced anxiously. These catnips were treasures! Just like tea leaves and silks in antiquity, they were invaluable for the Dreamlands cats but the premise was humanity had to be the only party who had access to them. Yu Chi almost jumped forward to swallow all the catnips that carried roots and stems. If the cats or Zoogs started planting this plant, then it would lose its value. The plants' stem, roots and seeds had to be destroyed and future tributes would only provide the cats with the leaves…

"Okay, we humans will offer the catnips as tribute." Gu Jun agreed first but his eyes kept wandering over to the Elder Zoog who clearly was up to something. "In exchange, the Zoogs have to provide us with information and send out their tribe members to Earth to work for us."

"That's fair." The Great Atal said. "But that will strengthen the bond between Earth and Dreamlands, there might be consequences." This problem had been considered by the higher ups of both worlds before they departed. At this junction, this was inevitable.

At the same time, the elder Zoogs grumbled among themselves. They too thought the trade was worth it. They would be spared from giving up their food. While they were supposed to work for humans, they could have easily cheated out of their responsibility… After all, the humans wouldn't be able to find them… With this in mind, the Elder Zoog tapped his head seriously and agreed to the new contract!

From that moment on, the Zoogs would be the human's allies.

"Meow…" The leopard cat warned Gu Jun. "These Zoogs are very cunning, they might not live up to their promise."

"That is possible." Gu Jun raised his voice for everyone to hear. "We treat our friends with kindness but not so much our enemies. If the Zoogs do not live up to their responsibility, we will not provide even a single leaf of catnip to the cats in Dreamlands. And that will be all on the Zoogs."

The previously laying cats instantly bristled. The disgruntled meows crashed like waves. What does the agreement between humans and the Zoogs have to do with us cats?

"You're not even going to sell us the plants?" The leopard cat asked. They would even accept that the Zoogs continue with their usual tribute while the cats started a new trade with the humans.

"No." Gu Jun shook his head. "If there's any problem, blame the Zoogs."

Was it a better option to have an alliance with the cats? Gu Jun and the others had considered this already. The cats had unknown power and their divinity might be even more powerful but they were not as easily controlled as the Zoogs. Furthermore, in Gu Jun's previous probing, the cats showed no interest in any alliance at all.

"We'll give you wines in exchange for the catnips." The leopard cat offered.

"No," Gu Jun shook his head firmly. "The catnips are the Zoogs' tribute, not us human's."

Now, the Elder Zoog's expression shifted again.