106 – Running, swimming, and running some more

  As Karen held Rox’s arm, she quickly touched Rox’s mind with the thought to trust Karen, at least until this trouble was over. She then started to a different door, keeping the crowd between then and the guards. At the same time Karen was actively shrouding herself and Rox.

  Roxanne followed Karen, the brown haired woman, through the crowd while tucking the inactive staff against her arm. Somebody behind them finally yelled some kind of alarm and some guards were moving across the room toward them. Even shrouded, Rox was not hard to spot, being taller than nearly everybody else here.

  The brown haired woman pulled her skirts up to run better as she got clear of the dance floor and to a different set of doors than Rox had been going toward originally. Without stopping, the woman leaped into a flying kick that bounced her from one guard to land on the other. She got up, holding a knife purloined from one of the guards as Rox pulled the door handle to unlatch the door and push it open.

  The woman did some quick tailoring to her own dress, splitting the hem of her right side to allow more freedom of movement for her legs. She then tossed the knife into another guard’s leg, and slipped through the door. Once on the other side the two women leaned against it, and heard it latch.

  “Let’s go.” Karen grabbed Rox’s arm, starting to run.

  They ran along the hall, as people looked around wondering what was going on.

  The magic of the illusion was finally getting on Roxanne’s nerves. She grabbed the amulet as she ran, and pinched it, turning the magic off. The dress faded to her apprentice drape, and her spandex. She wished she had worn her gi instead.

  The brown haired woman grabbed Rox’s arm and pulled her around a corner and into a side room, closing and baring the door, as a squad of guards turned another corner ahead of them. This room was full of stacked munitions an stored equipment that would normally festoon the various balconies, particularly if the fortress had to fight off attackers.

  “Can you swim?” The brown haired woman was quickly divesting herself of the heavier fabrics of her costume, her dress was already off and her petticoats were following.

  “Yes. Where’s the water, and what’s in it?”

  The brown haired woman nodded across the room. “The balcony, then about four floors down. You don’t want to meet what’s in it.” The brown haired woman was down to her shift and corset. She had placed all her jewels between the petticoats and that onto her dress, and rolled the mass into a roll that she bound with the sash. She then used the sleeves and tied the bundle across her back.

  Rox ran for the outer doors as the inner ones started echoing the pounding of the guards on the other side, the brown haired woman a few steps behind. They burst through onto the balcony as the guards broke in the inner doors. Rox jumped onto the balcony railing and pushed hard off it, the brown haired woman a step behind.

  They cleared the balconies below them by very little, and plunged into the river feet first. The cold water was a shock that took Rox’s breath away. Rox spread her legs and arms to slow her descent feeling a bit of instinctive magic pass through the staff held in her right arm, and she landed in the silt at the base of the island hard enough to end up sitting in it, with her hands in the mud. She stroked forward, the lanyard tied to the staff keeping it with her, and pushed off the bottom in the direction she had been going. She soon broke the surface with a gasp, but could not quite catch her breath for the coldness of the water.

  The current was already carrying the women past the west end of the island the fortress sat on. Rox quickly looked around and could see the north bank, where she wanted to go, but the brown haired woman was pulling for the south. Something in Rox said to stick with her. She started pulling as hard as she could to catch up. Quickly the temperatures grip on her eased, and she was able to breathe in rhythm. The brown haired woman was a little bit away and swimming strongly, but doing most of her swimming under the surface. An arrow pierced the water next to Rox, and she decided that submerging would not be a bad idea.

  She heard a few more arrows hit the surface, and felt one flow past in the current, but none came any closer than that to hitting her. The brown haired woman was swimming down stream. Rox decided it best to follow for the moment. But she would need to find her way back to Steven and Caspian quickly. Rox surfaced and followed the brown haired woman into a sewage drain hole, in the wall that was the south bank of the river, crawling in the shallow water. A short way in they stood up in the less than knee deep water. Both were puffing hard, from the cold and exertion. Both were dripping water, each drop seeming as loud as a bell telling the world where they were.

  Rox was about to move farther in, but the brown haired woman took her arm and stopped her.

  The brown haired woman was shivering a bit from the water running off her, and out of the soaked dress wadded and tied to her back. Her shift clinging transparently to her muscled legs and sculpted butt, corset still in place on her athletic frame. Her muscular arms showed that she did some physical conditioning. The formal set of her hair was a loss, as was her makeup. But she looked the type not to really need any. The dim light made it hard to tell for sure. Rox then realized that again she could see the heat being put off by their bodies and the things around them, as both waves and coloration. She had not had opportunity to fully recognized this before, as there was always a fire to see by.

  They stood opposite each other, against the tube sides, catching their breath. The odor from deeper in was going to be nasty, but right here it was bearable. Roxanne gathered what she could of her skirt and drape and started to wring it out. She then realized the noise it was making and stopped. As she looked at herself she could see steam rising. Between the new sensory experience and her lack of magic use experience Rox did not consider how she might use it to help just now.

  The brown haired woman seemed to be listening like a trapped animal, as she caught her breath. She then looked back out of the tunnel, and up along the wall that was the bank of the river.

  “There is an access stair right here. In a moment we will climb it, then run for a safe house. Stick close, and you won’t get lost or caught.”

  “Why not deeper in this way?”

  “Too easy to get lost.” She did not even turn to give a considering look.

  Rox thought the answer, while sensible, came too quick. “And why should I follow you?”

  “Because if you don’t, the guards will catch you. And killing a guest at a Royal Ball is not a very endearing thing to do. My name is Karen.”

  “Roxanne.”

  “You’re the mother of the two kids, aren’t you?”

  “What two kids? How would you know?”

  Karen turned to look at Rox. “Two kids in irons paraded through the streets tend to make a spectacle. And half-breeds your size aren’t common around here. The rest is just guess work.”

  “How long ago were my kids here?” Roxanne put more concern in this then she wanted to share.

  Karen could hear the concern, and brushed it aside with her professionalism. “A bit over two weeks. They did not stay long.”

  Karen looked around the edge again, and then pulled back quickly. “Be as silent as you can. Think as empty as you can.”

  Roxanne could see a slight increase in the heat from Karen’s head. Then she cleared her head, and focused on the emptiness of space. They stayed this way for a long instant. Karen then relaxed, and blew out a breath.

  “The constables above have passed. But we have to move quickly.” Karen ducked around the corner, and was gone.

  Roxanne went to the opening, and looked out. A small platform that she had missed on her way in was right there, with a slim stair going along the wall to her left up to the top. Karen was slinking up the stairs in utter silence.

  Roxanne followed, her staff in the crook of her right arm, keeping her left hand against the wall on her left as she went. Karen crawled the last few steps, keeping herself pressed down. Then she looked over the wall, checking all directions. Roxanne stopped two treads below and waited. She then realized that Karen was not dripping, though still damp. Karen looked back at Roxanne in slight annoyance. Then she put her hand on Roxanne’s head. Suddenly Roxanne felt as if a squeegee were being run over her, pushing most of the water out of her clothes. It ran down her body, and off her feet.

  Roxanne was still marveling at this when Karen turned back to the wall. In an instant Karen was up and gone through the walls opening for the stairs. Roxanne followed, looking all around as she went.

  Karen was sprinting across the concourse that ran along the river front. Roxanne followed and they wove their way through several blocks of buildings before slackening their pace. The streets were empty, save for shadows. Roxanne did her best to stay in them. Karen seemed to attract them as she went.

  After many twists and turns, and what felt like four miles, Karen stopped running and scrambled up a wall at the back of an alley. From the top, she vaulted onto a balcony, and into a window. Roxanne followed, and just glimpsed a guard crossing the end of the alley as she went in the window.

  “Where are we?” Rox whispered.

  Her legs bumped against something and she almost fell over onto it as she backed out of Karen’s way. Karen paused a moment, looking out the window. She then reached out and closed the shutters.

  “Safe. For now.” Karen moved across the room with the ease of familiarity.

  Roxanne looked briefly around, marveling at the things she could see. She would have to ask Caspian for more explanation about this.

  Both were nearly dry, thought Karen’s dress was a soggy mess. Karen dropped it on a table, then moved to a gas lamp on a wall and unmasked it, letting light into the room.

  The two beds on either side of the window, and a table in a third corner with a door in the last were the contents of the room. Karen unrolled the dress on the table, and pulled her large jeweled collar and other pieces out of the petticoats. She laid the jewelry out on the bed, then took the dress and petticoats in hand and went to the door.

  “Stay here. There are traps everywhere, and you don’t want to get hurt.” Karen pulled the door by its edge, and closed it behind her as she left.

  Rox, sat down on the unused bed. She could feel it to have a down mattress, under the wool blanket. Then the exhaustion hit her. She had been exhausted by her magic lessons with the elves, but they had never pushed her quite as hard as the jerk tonight. That reminded her. She wanted to get back to Steven and Caspian. But with the adrenaline wearing off, she did not think she could do more right now than crawl into one of these beds. But she had one other need to take care of first. Until then, she fell over sideways her staff beside her, and curled up on the blanket, realizing that she was longer than the bed.

  Karen came back, wrapped in a course robe. She tossed another one to land on the bed Rox had collapsed onto. “Your clothes must still be damp. You can wear the robe until they dry.”

  Rox pushed herself back up. “What I really need is the necessary.”

  “Right. Follow me.”

  Karen turned to leave, and held the door as Rox picked up the robe and followed into the hall. Several doors lined it on one side. At the end was a stair that turned left halfway down. They traveled another hall, and Karen opened a door at the end. This went into a small courtyard. Rox recognized it as being on the other side of the wall they had climbed. There was a small shack under the shade of several small trees in one corner. Rox went right for it. Relief waited inside, despite the smell.

  While in there, she stripped out of her wet clothes, except for her thong briefs the elves had given her to wear under the spandex. Each had a magic pouch. Pull a tab on the top of the seam of the front panel and the pouch opened. Within was an elfin silk night gown all folded up, among a few other things. She put the close fit nightgown on, and the robe over top.

  She came back out with the robe wrapped around herself. The drape was over her shoulder along with her damp spandex, and her staff in hand. The jewelry she had put into the magic pouch in the back of her thong. Karen took her sideways into the kitchen, and put all her clothes over the drying rack there, and her shoes on their own rack.

  They then went back upstairs, and to a different room in the same hall. It was laid out the same.

  “This will be your room, for tonight. In the morning, we will try to find your companions. Also, don’t touch the door knobs.” Karen held the door.

  Rox felt too tired to reply. As soon as the door closed, she pulled the covers from one of the beds, put the staff across the table, and dropped the robe on the other bed. As Rox slipped between the silky sheets, she sent silent thanks to heaven for her safety and comfort. Whoever owned this place, they took good care of the guests.