by T J Trapp
“Another thing. Once you cross the obscuring field, the weather may become cold. It is late fall in the Elf Mountains, although it seems like summer here in New Haven. The powers that control the obscuring field also keep the weather mild within the elf lands. I don’t know if the first snow has yet fallen in the mountains, but it will soon. That means it will be cold. Very cold.” Some of the Theland riders had experienced traversing the mountains in the past, and knew what Alec meant. “We will get as many sets of winter clothes and walking boots as our house drones can find, but that may not be enough for everyone. If you are wearing your drone tunic, or even your clutchman garb, you cannot linger in the cold – you will freeze if you stay in the mountains very long. Do not wait for us to catch up – instead, keep going until you get to a village on the other side of the Elf Mountains where they can take care of you. Any spare clothes and boots that we have can be hidden in packages of fake farm supplies that some of you can carry, but you can’t wear the boots and clothes until you are across the obscuring field. That is very important.”
“Consort Alec, we will you follow your plan. When do we start?” a rider asked.
“We are planning on making our attempt six days from now.”
“Why six days? Why not tomorrow, or even tonight?” she asked. “I am ready to leave this place.”
Erin snapped, “I will show you why.” She suddenly raised her hand in the manner of the Drone Master. “Down on your knees,” she barked.
Every one of the seventeen riders immediately fell to their knees and reflexively assumed the proper drone position waiting for the Drone Master’s directions. It took almost a minute before Reuben sheepishly looked up and started to rise. Another rider raised his head and looked at Rueben, now standing, and after a hesitation, also rose. Slowly more of the riders got up from their kneeling position. Several of them struggled to not punish themselves for disobeying a mother’s command.
Reuben cleared his throat. “You are right, Princess, we responded as drones. Not as riders. The elf training is embedded more deeply in our minds than we can imagine.”
“We need to let you spend a few days recovering from the training, so that you are not so easily controlled. We also need the time to obtain supplies and as many pairs of boots as possible,” Alec said.
“You also need to be aware of other dangers, here in the city, as you pretend to be clutchmen and drones and move about. Drones often becoming confused and forget their task, especially if they have been partaking of the purple mushroom, so elf mothers sweep the city at night to find and collect stray drones. At night, there are checkpoints throughout New Haven where mothers and their clutchmen routinely check all passing drones. We need to avoid those, so we will leave here during the daytime to start our raid on the Domestication Facility. We desire to find a time when the mothers are thinking of something else. In six days, the elves will have a fall festival. It will have many diversions and entertainment for the elf mothers. The mothers will be attending the festival, and not out on the streets. It will provide an opportunity to leave the city without encountering any mothers.
“If we do encounter any,” he added grimly, “you may find yourself as part of their entertainment – as they direct you to hack each other to death.”
The riders nodded, and as the house drones brought them a hearty meal, the riders discussed among themselves the part that each of them would play in carrying out the plan. Alec explained how field drones and clutchmen would look and act, and the riders started practicing their parts.
Erin expected she would need all of her strength over the next few days and realized that would be her last opportunity to be treated with the luxury afforded an elf mother. I’ll miss that, she admitted to herself.
19 – Straplines
The morning of the fourth day dawned like any other morning in New Haven. The house drones fed and tended to the new arrivals. Erin picked out four of her male riders – Reuben and three others – to play the role of the ‘clutchmen.’ Arming them was not a problem, as Suva’s drones had divulged the location of the cache of weapons that Suva kept for her clutchmen.
Alec and Erin left early to determine the best way to get to the building that housed the controls for the obscuring field.
“So there’s the control building and there’s the main entrance,” Alec said, after they had ported to the area and located the building.
“Good – we have found the building – now we can go back to the residence,” Erin said. Walking long distances over the cobblestones was still hard on her feet.
“No,” Alec said, walking down the alleyway on one side of the building. “We need to scout out the area around here, in case we need to come up with a contingency plan.”
“A what?”
“A backup plan in case our first plan doesn’t work out,” Alec replied.
“Why?” she asked, but Alec ignored her.
I don’t understand this ‘contingency planning’ the Great Wizard talked about, she mused to herself as they walked. Why would we make a plan that wasn’t going to work and then plan for how to fix our bad plan when it didn’t work? Why wouldn’t we just make a good plan? Every time my Great Wizard explains the reasons to me, it just seems more confusing. We should just make a plan that feels right and then make it work.
After their venture, as they returned to Suva’s residence a passing mother interrupted her reverie, but only took one glance at Erin as she sped by in her chair. Everything is quiet this morning, Erin thought. However, as they neared the residence, Erin could sense turmoil.
Something is wrong, she thought to Alec. They hurried the rest of the way, Erin’s brightly colored robes blowing in the breeze as she hastened down the street. They went directly to the storehouse in the back. The riders were agitated.
“What is the matter?” Erin asked.
One of the riders pointed to the door to Suva’s dungeon. “Your captive is missing.”
I do not detect any sign of Suva, Erin sensed, as they crossed the courtyard.
“The door is ajar,” Alec said, pushing open the heavy door to the room where Suva had been kept. “Not there! She’s not there, and the chains have been released,” he said dejectedly.
Reuben had followed them and spoke up. “We noticed mid-morning that the door was left open after her morning feeding. We looked around – we think that two of the house drones are missing, and your sedan chair seems to be gone. I think that the drones helped her to escape in the chair. It couldn’t have been all that long ago, because she was here at the morning feeding. We heard something of a commotion a little while ago when we were doing our training stances. Perhaps that’s when she left.”
“How would she have gotten free?” Alec asked Erin.
“We let two of the house drones take food in to her every morning,” she answered, shaking her head. “She must have gotten them to free her and take her away. A clever person can subvert the bands. She must have found a way around our instructions and made one of the drones touch her. Then she could control them and have them free her.”
“This is bad news. It won’t be long before she is in contact with other mothers, if she isn’t already, and have them looking for us. Unless we want to fight our way through all the elves in New Haven, we had better try to leave now.”
“How do you intend to do that?” Erin asked in a low voice.
“Well, the closest gate is the main front gate that we intended to sneak through while everyone was busy with the fall festival, but today it will have mothers attending it. Even if we can force our way past the mothers, they will know what we are doing and restore the obscuring field before we can get across it,” Alec said, thinking out loud. “I think that our best chance is to head for one of the back gates. There shouldn’t be any mothers attending them, just the regular guys watching the field drones go in and out with their food baskets and stuff.”
“Do you know where these back gates are?” asked Erin.
“Yes – that’s how I got into New Haven,” answered Alec. “Only problem is, the back gates are on the other side of the city. We will need to use a portal to get us across town. And we need to do it right now, before they catch on, while you and I go disable the obscuring field controller.”
“That won’t free my other riders. And my people. We need to get them all!” Erin protested. The voice of the Pome elder still rang in her mind: ‘Our Princess was supposed to save us, but – she did not.’
“We can still do what we planned, and free them all,” she said to Alec, “just do it today, instead of during the festival. I agree, now that Suva is loose, by tomorrow we will be discovered.”
“Tomorrow?!? By this afternoon we will be discovered!” Alec snapped.
“We must rescue our people,” Erin insisted.
“I don’t think our plan is going to work, if we try to carry it off today.”
“Do you have another plan?” Erin said defiantly.
“No,” Alec said glumly. He thought for a few moments. “It’s the only plan we have, so I guess we’ll have to do it. But – we will probably have to modify it as we go along. And hope for the best.”
✽✽✽
Erin assumed her traditional role as leader of her Theland riders, even though she was still garbed like an elf mother.
“Get ready. We will leave as soon as everyone is assembled,” she said, striding into the storehouse. “Our plans have changed. We must leave now. We do not have time to eat or obtain any more gear. Now that Mother Suva is free of her shackles, and starts talking, this is the first place the clutchmen will look for us.”
The four riders who were now acting as ‘clutchmen’ quickly dressed and armed themselves accordingly; the other riders dressed as ‘training drones’ and lined up on a strap line that was led by one of the ‘clutchmen.’
“Come on, we have to go,” Alec said to Erin. “You don’t have time to change out of your ‘mother’ costume.”
Erin agreed. “Our travel clothes are already packed in one of the fake ‘farm bundles.’ Good thing you were preparing for this ‘contingency.’ We will change when we catch up with our riders outside of the city.”
Erin addressed her riders as they started out the door. “Remember that the mothers can sense you through their rings. They will know if you are feeling uneasy. When you are near them, try to think as a drone would think – think about pleasing them, as you learned during your drone training.
“One more thing – try not to talk. Try not to speak to anyone, and if you do, remember to speak in Dronish.”
The riders lined up in formation and Erin surveyed her troops. She stopped in front of one. “Think ‘please the mother,’” she chided. “Your fear is going to give you away. And, everyone else. Remember: ‘the failure of one drone is the failure of all the drones.’” She looked them over one last time. “Good journey,” she said. “I will see you in Theland.”
✽✽✽
Erin led the way down the street; Alec walked close behind, followed by the ‘service drones’ – the ‘clutchmen’ and the strapline of ‘drones’ completed their entourage. At the first intersection, Erin indicated for them to turn down an alleyway. There are clutchmen and a mother on the main road. I think it is best we don’t encounter them.
They walked down the side streets and back alleyways to avoid detection. Erin could sense the intensity of the emotions from her riders, and knew that the supposed ‘drones’ would not fool any mother they encountered. At each intersection, Erin sensed ahead and directed her group down paths where they would not meet any mothers. The area was busy with drones, as always, but the drones they came across moved out of her way; Erin sensed the drones, but none of them revealed any feeling of alarm.
Their round-about path took them a lot longer to reach the Drone Domestication Facility than they expected. At the facility they marched in unannounced; the Drone Master immediately came from her building looking surprised to see them. Erin did not wait for the elf woman to react; she immediately started twisting the lines around her. Alec focused and fed dark energy to Erin, and the Drone Master collapsed in front of her.
A clutchman came running out of a side building to help the mother. One of Erin’s ‘clutchmen’ stepped forward and stuck his spear in the assailant’s side. The other two clutchmen came out of the same building; these two were armed only with whips and truncheons to handle training drones. Erin’s other three ‘clutchmen’ engaged them. Well-armed riders against ill-armed clutchmen was no match and the other two clutchmen were quickly down.
“Start assembling the captive drones,” she directed her riders and they quickly fanned out towards the training pens.
Erin sensed around. Several drones were huddling in a supply bay. “Come here,” she commanded. Three drones came out in the open and stood in front of Erin. “Are you the training drones?”
“Yes, Mother, we are,” one of them said.
“Get every one of these wild cull drones onto straplines. Get your other drones to help. We are moving them to a different place, and we must move quickly. The city is under attack by those who have come to steal these drones. Have them leave their tunics here.”
The training drones avoided looking at the Drone Master laying on the ground. Drones knew to stay away from mother business. Erin didn’t want them to have a chance to think, although she knew they saw the woman sprawled before them. “The Done Master is unable to work at the moment. I have taken over for her.”
“Do you require assistance to revive her?” one of the drones asked cautiously.
“Not now. Do as I say,” Erin answered brusquely. “When we are finished, punish yourself for interfering in mothers’ business. Now do what I told you to do. And hurry!”
The training drones conspicuously did not look at the downed mother and moved to comply. Two of them grabbed straps and the others started down the line of pens to help Erin’s riders collect the drone trainees. The drones lined the captives up in groups of two dozen and the captives complied without question.
To Alec, time seemed to move with agonizing slowness. It seemed that it was taking far longer than he could stand before all of the drones were in lines.
This would have been a lot easier if we had been able to follow our original plan – when the mothers would be at the festival and the front gate closed and not attended by mothers. Now we have to do something else that will be harder.
“We need to hurry to the portal,” he fretted, “before someone notices us.”
“‘Drones,’ move out! We are going to one of the portals that the elves use to travel from one side of the city to the other,” Erin called, and her false ‘clutchmen’ led the straplines of newly-trained drones out of the training facility.
Erin resumed her position at the front of the group and they reached the closest portal with only one near-encounter with another mother; however, that mother’s drone saw the extended straplines of hundreds of ‘field drones’ and redirected the mother’s chair so that she didn’t have to be affronted by the sight and smell of the raw drones.
Good thing it is still early in the day and many mothers are not yet out and about, Erin thought.
The first group stepped on the portal and Alec focused. He collected dark energy and fed it into the portal controller. The light around the portal dimmed, went black and then returned. First group ported.
Erin and her four rider-clutchmen were in the lead group. Erin watched the light return and looked around for any potential threats. Our luck holds: only drones around. She motioned and the group cleared the portal platform. Erin counted out the agreed-on interval and watched as the portal went black and the second group appeared. After the fourth group, Erin returned to Alec.
“It is clear at the other portal and our people are starting down the alleyway to the city wall,” she said. “You can pick up the pace.”
Alec and Erin ported in the last group. They moved quickly down the narrow alley to c
atch up with the first groups, led by their false ‘trainers’ and ‘clutchmen.’ They headed for one of the small side gates used mostly by field drones to bring foodstuffs to the city and to return to their labors in the fields. The alley led to a slightly wider street leading to the gate; as they turned onto the street the gate came into view. Three straplines of field drones were already lined up before the gate.
“What’s the holdup?” Alec muttered to Erin. “They are just stopped in front of the gate. Nothing is happening.”
Erin sensed two clutchmen guarding the gate. “Bad luck. I was hoping for a drone to be operating the gate. We could control a drone. Instead, two clutchmen are here and the gate is closed. I don’t sense any mothers around and those three straplines are led by drones. I will try to bluff our way out, but – be ready to fight.”
“‘Bluff’ is always better than ‘fight’ if it works, but I am ready either way.”
They came up behind the straplines of drones waiting for the gate. The drones were typical field drones – dirty, naked, and smelly. Most of them had loads of supplies that they were carrying to the fields.
They don’t look that different than our guys, except that our guys are cleaner, Alec observed. And don’t smell quite as bad.
Alec bustled to the front of their group and came up behind the straplines waiting to exit the city. In his best clutchman imitation he intoned, “Make way. Make way for the mother.”
The straplines of drones scrambled to the sides of the street as best they could to open a passage for Alec and Erin, silently letting the ‘mother’s’ many straplines of captive drones follow her. Alec and Erin proceeded to the foot of the gate. Stout metal bars covered the opening, reaching to the ground and locked into place. One of the clutchmen at the gate stepped in front of Alec; Alec stepped to the side and stood respectfully while Erin came forward. Erin could sense that the clutchman was unclutched. Probably assigned this duty as a punishment for some clutch transgression.