by Drae Box
“Do not get too comfy,” urged Pedibastet almost as soon as she had done so. He stood up, his white paws pressing into the side of Aldora’s knee.
Aldora looked in the same direction as Pedibastet and saw a man looking back at them, smiling. She turned to Raneth. “Do you know him?”
Raneth nodded. “Yeah. He’s a weapon smuggler called Burgth. Your sister needed my help finding him in 2006, not long after Cray’s kidnapping. And it looks like he just told that kid to go and tell somebody.”
Aldora swept her gaze back to Burgth and saw a small boy running away from him towards a different exit. “We’d better go then.” She pushed Pedibastet off her lap and walked briskly down the tunnel, heading back the way they had come. Raneth and Pedibastet fell into step beside her.
“How are we going to get ahead of this if we can’t even lay low?” she asked.
Raneth wrapped an arm around her waist. “We adapt. How do you feel about rooftops?”
That I’d probably fall off and break my neck. “I’ll manage,” she promised, keeping her concerns to herself. No point making him more worried about me. “Do you want to go up first?”
Raneth slid his arm free from her when they reached the ladder. “Yeah, I’ll peek out and take Pedibastet up. He can keep lookout as we climb out.”
Aldora sat down at the side of the ladder whilst the boys headed up it. While she waited, she dumped her bag next to her and rolled her shoulder to relieve some of the tension building in it from carrying the bag and the day’s events. If I can just talk to my uncle, I might be able to save Raneth. Light spilled in from above and Aldora focused her attention on Raneth and Pedibastet. The Prince of the Cats was scrabbling out of the sewer manhole as Raneth gripped onto the rungs. He wasn’t waiting for the cat, though; he peeked out before he climbed up and joined the cat on the side street. He looked down and gave her a thumbs up.
Aldora stood and shrugged her bag back into place before speeding up the ladder.
“All we need is a drainpipe,” stated Raneth as he slid the manhole cover back into place. He wiped his fingers on the sides of his trousers. “A metal one, preferably. They’re better at taking our weight.”
Aldora grabbed his hand again and led him down the side street, examining both sides for a drainpipe. Reluctantly stepping clear of the side street and into another main thoroughfare, Aldora spotted one on the front of a house two doors down. She felt a pressure on her hand as Raneth gently tugged her back towards the side street. Without a word, Aldora backtracked and snuggled close to the edge of the building.
“More weird uniforms,” whispered Raneth, pointing to the left. “That side. Brown jackets.”
Aldora rested a hand against the wall and snuck a glance around the corner. A group of ten men and women, walking in two lines side by side, took up the centre of the street. The jackets they wore that had attracted Raneth’s attention were brown but only went to the waist, unlike the black ones; these ones also had a small emblem of a crown broken in two on the left breast pocket. Each member of the group had at least one sword on their weapons belt, and three of them had the handles of large crossbows sticking proudly from their backs. Aldora tucked herself back out of sight.
“What now?” she whispered.
Raneth shrugged. “When I’m tracking a criminal, they normally find somewhere else to hide until I leave the area.”
“And if that was Thane?” asked Aldora.
“I’d be running back the way I came before he and his guys could spot me.”
Aldora grabbed his hand and yanked him into a sprint.
“Oi! Stop!”
Aldora glanced over her shoulder to see that one of the men with the brown jackets had spotted them as they came in line with the side street. She hissed a profanity and she, Raneth and Pedibastet ran back the way they had come and erupted into the street they had been on earlier. It still wasn’t as busy as the others. The Dagger Bearer darted across the street and into a new side turning. A sharp yank on her hand from Raneth was the only warning she got before she smashed into a brown jacket. A second tug from the royal official’s hand drew her out of the brown jacket’s reach.
“How?” she murmured as the brown jackets looked her and her friends up and down.
“Different group,” stated Raneth.
Aldora gave the brown jackets a nervous smile as she tiptoed backwards, still clutching Raneth’s hand, and drew the Dagger of Protection with her right hand.
“Everybody stay back,” she urged, lifting the gold blade of the Dagger and pointing it at the ten brown jackets slowly advancing on them. “Don’t follow us.”
“Release the royal official’s hand,” urged a voice behind her.
This time Raneth took the opportunity to swear. He slipped his hand free from Aldora’s and splayed his hands palms out towards the two groups of brown jackets that had fenced them in.
“Back off or I’ll kill the lot of you,” he growled.
“Raneth, that’s not exactly helping to clear your name,” stated Pedibastet.
“Shut up, Prince.”
I have to help us out of this. Pedi’s right – I can’t have it going around that Raneth used his Common Gift of Ice to kill twenty people. Aldora pointed the blade of the Dagger down towards the floor. A blue tear slipped free from the tip of the blade and splashed onto the ground in front of her feet. Aldora closed her eyes as she heard the familiar pop, accompanied by a bright flash of light. The blue tear expanded outwards as she opened her eyes, sweeping through her, Raneth and Pedibastet and turning into a semi-transparent blue dome that bashed against the brown jackets and flung them out of the street. The buildings either side crumpled against the blue dome, their bricks cracking and giving way as they tumbled down.
“Aldora,” warned Raneth.
“I know,” she grumbled. “But I don’t know how to move the dome with us.”
The brown jackets were climbing to their feet, except for three of them who stayed on their backs. It must have knocked those three out, reasoned Aldora. Maybe from direct contact or from hitting their heads when they fell.
Raneth moved to the back of the dome, back in the direction they had just come from. “I can use my ice gift to push them back without killing them.”
“Do it,” instructed Pedibastet. “We cannot allow you two to be caught by them!”
Aldora stepped to Raneth’s side as he inched a palm near the blue dome. He inspected the damaged buildings either side of them, then looked at Aldora.
“You ready?” he asked.
Aldora pointed at his raised hand. “You’re not. Make your mist now so you can just fling it.”
He grumbled in his throat as he eyed the brown jackets either side of them.
He’s nervous because they’re already getting up. “Just do it,” urged Aldora softly. “Please, Raneth.”
He nodded and held his hands palm down in front of his chest. White mist seeped from the centre of his palms, rushing at the ground and crashing outwards, hiding their feet and all but Pedibastet’s head and tail in the white smog.
“Done.”
Aldora pressed a hand to the blue dome and it gave at her touch, the blue wall racing away from her hand as if eaten by acid. Raneth jerked his hands forwards and his white mist swept out and smashed into the brown jackets, knocking them out of the alleyway and against a building. They slumped to the ground as Raneth twirled on the spot, spinning his palms out towards the brown jackets behind them. The mist crept upwards, crackling as it solidified into an ice wall between the three friends and the brown jackets.
Aldora ran to the left and Pedibastet fled past her. She looked over her shoulder for Raneth and saw that he was still misting as he walked briskly behind her. She slowed and turned to face him.
“What are you doing?”
In answer, Raneth turned his back on her and spread his arms either side of his shoulders, before sweeping his hands together and up. The extra mist swept up into a second wall, bl
ocking off both units of brown jackets behind them. He jogged up to her.
“Figured that might give us a little more time.”
They rejoined the swamped street and Raneth pulled up his hood to help hide his face.
“I don’t know if this’ll work with me still wearing the trousers,” he stated. “I should have changed them in the bazaar. I have a civilian pair in my bag.”
Aldora glanced down at his royal official trousers. The hard-wearing material was made of different splodges of blue, with pockets on the outside of each knee, as well as more at the hips and on his rump. Looking quickly at the other trousers she could see in the crowd, she nodded her agreement. Nobody else was even wearing plain blue.
“But we don’t have time to change,” continued Raneth. “Look for another street we can duck into that has drainpipes.”
Eventually, after some more dodging of men in both the brown uniforms and the black ones, Aldora, Raneth and Pedibastet found a rooftop they could access. Aldora set her bag down next to her, far enough away from the edge of the mostly flat roof that she was safe from being seen from below. Raneth carefully changed his trousers next to her, and Aldora steadied him with a hand on his butt as he wobbled.
She watched his face redden at her touch. They’d finally slept together in Newer so Aldora couldn’t help the slight smile that she gave him. It seemed he was still a little shy. He did turn away when I changed, she reminded herself. She cleared her throat. “So we just sit up here until either someone figures out we’re here or it gets dark?” she asked. She looked out at the city and frowned. There was a narrow, long flag just visible past the rooftops of Wisner. It was black and across its centre was a purple crown, broken into two parts and outlined in silver.
“Yeah. I used to sit on rooftops all the time to wait my criminals out, and Thane.” He zipped up his flies and sat down next to her, grabbing his weapons belt from her lap and fastening it quickly around his waist, before relieving her of the lighter he carried around that sometimes proved helpful to his duties. “Thanks.”
“You will do all that again,” stated Pedibastet. “Do not talk in the past tense about your royal official activities, Raneth. You will fix the kingdom.”
Aldora watched Raneth glare at Pedibastet. What’s that all about?
“We should eat something,” she said gently, slipping a hand into her bag and pulling out the first two royal official ration bars she found. She held them out to Raneth. He took the smaller one and reached into his own bag for a bottle of water.
Pedibastet snuggled into Raneth’s lap. “Some water would be good.”
Raneth cupped a hand and poured some of the water into it. As the water dripped free, the Prince of the Cats lapped up the small amount still in his hand then purred his thanks. Raneth wiped his hand on his hoodie, took a swig from the bottle and handed it to Aldora.
“We’ll try for the south gate once it’s dark,” he said.
Aldora chewed on the ration bar, noticing that the so-called raspberry flavour tasted like paper. Better than nothing.
“I’m going to try and get a bit of sleep in after this,” she told her friends. “Will you wake me when it’s time to go?”
“Always,” replied Raneth.
Aldora smiled and kissed his stubbled cheek. “Thanks.” She lay on her side, curling her legs close to her and folding his arms. She pressed her back against Raneth’s leg to steal some of his warmth but it was also so he wouldn’t be able to see her face. He was too good at reading her expressions, too caring not to ask questions. She need to think. How could Uncle Denzel do this? She gritted her teeth. That’s the wrong question. We know this has been in motion for years. They kidnapped Cray to brainwash him and somebody attacked my village and stole the Dagger the year before that. Four years. Was that all it took to somehow build enough power to take the kingdom, to have men ready and willing to patrol the streets in those brown jackets, to turn people against Raneth? How had her uncle done it? She frowned, remembering Ulger Denman, the murderer Raneth had been ordered to kill when she and he had met for the first time. Denman been helped by Reinette, the woman that kidnapped Cray, in return for the Dagger. Uncle Denzel’s a bookseller, thought Aldora. He might not have visited me and Dad much, but he wrote to us both every month and he always gave me books. How did he even fund this?
A faceful of white and brown fur woke Aldora. She shifted her head away from Pedibastet as he purred at her, continuing to rub his white cheek and then his brown cheek against her.
“Time to play,” stated Pedibastet as he moved back and curled his tail around his back legs. Aldora looked at the sky. It was night.
Aldora sat up and rubbed her eyes before looking over at Raneth. He doesn’t look like he slept at all. He was easing slowly closer to the edge of the roof without standing by moving on his hands, feet and butt to slide down the slight slope near the edge. Aldora mimicked his movements, easing off the flat part of the roof and joining him on the slope, noticing that she could look down onto the street below, which was lit by three gas-powered lampposts.
“Looks safe,” he stated as he looked at her.
“Good.”
The Dagger Bearer slid herself closer to the drainpipe they had used to climb up and shuffled until her legs dangled off the side of the building. She turned onto her stomach and lowered herself onto the drainpipe, clasping it between her hands and knees. She shimmied down it, grimacing as the cold moss from the back of the metal pipe clung to her fingers. Raneth jumped down, rolling on immediate impact and standing up in one fluid movement.
“You need to teach me that if we’re going to end up on rooftops a lot,” said Aldora.
A small thump came from a bin next to Aldora as Pedibastet jumped down and poured himself onto the ground at her feet.
“I will,” promised Raneth.
The streets were completely deserted, so the three friends walked side by side until they reached the widest street in Wisner, which went from the north gate to the south gate – the only two entrances to the city. They skirted around the glow of the gas lamps that lit the streets, squeezing into the tiniest shadows to bypass them as they drew ever closer to the south gate. The inner gate was lit with four electric lampposts instead of gas, allowing for a more reliable stream of light to illuminate the gate. The six men standing in the square of lights all wore black jackets.
“These guys again?” grumbled Aldora as she, Raneth and Pedibastet snuck into a side alley and peered out towards them. “If they’re guarding it, I bet both the inner and outer gates are locked. How are we going to find the keys without them killing us?”
“It might not be that hard,” replied Raneth, before turning and kicking at some newspaper pages scattered across the floor. He plucked a small stone from underneath one and flung it to the side of the black jackets.
Aldora didn’t see where it landed, but she heard three tiny taps as the stone hit and rolled along the cobbled path. One of the closest men moved away from the other five without speaking to them.
“They’re not trained to work as a unit,” noted Raneth, looking at Aldora and giving her a hint of his usual lopsided smile. “I can knock one out and take his jacket, if you’re OK with that, A?”
Aldora frowned and shook her head, watching the black jacket that had investigated the stone’s noise already returning. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said gently, taking hold of Raneth’s nearest elbow. “We will still need to get past the other five and they’ll notice their friend is missing after a while and go look for him. If you’re anywhere near them when they find him, you could get caught.”
“I don’t want to form into my griffin-self unless we have no other options. It’s best to use it only for emergencies for now. What do you suggest?”
Aldora watched the black jackets as she considered Raneth’s question. He had said it gently, without any irritation or anger in his voice. He simply wanted another idea to work with. I should be able to come up
with something, she thought as she chewed on the inside of her left cheek. I can’t leave everything up to him. He’ll burn out.
“We need to find a way over the city’s inner and outer defence walls that doesn’t involve going through the gates. Or I could just ask them to take us to Uncle Denzel.”
“Your uncle wants me dead. That won’t end well.”
“But, I…” Aldora observed Raneth’s irritated frown. “I want to try and talk to my uncle about you and other royal officials, and what he’s done to Giften. I want to try and talk him down.”
“No,” grumbled Raneth. “It’s too dangerous. He has all the power right now.”
“Says the royal official. Like I said in Newer, I’m not some delicate flower, Raneth. I’m the Dagger Bearer. I can do things too, just like you.”
For a moment, Raneth didn’t respond. “Can you shoot a crossbow?” he asked after the silence, his voice low.
Aldora frowned. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“If you could, you would have said yes. I know you’re not fragile but I’m the one with more training.” Raneth sighed as he scrubbed a hand down his face tiredly. “Sweetheart, I want to keep us safe, that’s all, and I don’t think your uncle is safe. Somehow he managed to get Cray to leave his kingdom in his hands. Do you understand how bad it is that that even happened? It would have taken a lot of pressure on Cray to make him do that, which means your uncle can lay it on thick, so he isn’t someone you want to test with the emotional strings of family commitment.”
Aldora chewed at the inside of her cheek. Maybe after we’ve gotten some decent sleep he’ll think differently. Cray’s like an uncle to him in the same way Uncle Denzel is to me, but Cray’s been there for Raneth more than Uncle Denzel’s ever been there for me. He might need some time. I definitely need some time.
“OK,” she murmured after a moment, loud enough for Raneth and Pedibastet to hear. “We need to get past those guys and get the keys to the gates, right?”