"I found him by the bog." Mac spoke up quickly.
"Ah, and you are?" The man asked walking to Mac with his hand lazily outstretched. His face scrunched up as he looked her up and down obviously displeased at her ragged condition. He blocked his nose with his upper lip upon approach as if she was the foulest smelling creature that had ever been in his presence. In his defense, she thought that was not entirely untrue.
"Mackenzie Blackburn, sir." Mac said with a bow like the ones she had seen women give kings in movies. Her arms stretched out as if they were holding the sides of an invisible dress. The man stopped quickly wide eyed and stared before looking to Kris and back to Mac. After several seconds, he closed his gaping mouth, pulled a pipe from his pocket, lit it, and took long drags while staring at Mac, then he composed himself back to his pompous assed self and stepped to Ed's side.
"Wiley." Ed said in a quiet grunt of acknowledgement.
"What exactly happened to him?" Wiley asked.
"His camp was burned" Kris replied as she mixed some chemicals in a small glass jar. “I’ll bet it was filthy assassins."
"It certainly wasn't any of the royal assassins or Sentry Guards." Wiley said. "They usually brag about their kills while draining my supply of dragon water. None of them have seen any action in some weeks. I suppose it could have been a group of those rancid dregs; though, under the circumstances,” he looked at Mac then to Kris. "I am thinking there is more at play than dregs trying to gain favor with the duke. Maybe our shadow assassin is back."
"I'm sorry,” Mac said looking up at Wiley. “but what's a shadow assassin?"
"A filthy story told to children to keep them inside at night." Kris said rolling her eyes.
"Tell that to his victims." Wiley said before turning his attention back to Mac. "No one really knows who he is, but every now and then rumors come in from the camps that some of their people have gone missing. The ones that are found are nothing more than burnt remains. He has wiped out camps before, why should we think he hasn't done the same now."
"Maybe because he doesn't exist." Kris shrugged.
"Suit yourself." Wiley said. "Well, as I said before, there isn't anything I will be able to do for him. The guards are on high alert looking for these two and are to report any suspicious activity they stumble across. I would prefer my pub not be riddled with bullets, thank you very much. I will on the other hand can provide passage to the forest by morning. The tunnels will be cleared and ready for you to get them out of here. I suggest you all get some sleep; it will take much time to get to an outlying village for further help. I will try to find out more information from the guards. I foresee myself having to buy more dragon water." Wiley shook his head and headed back up the stairs.
"He comes down here and talks about shadow assassins and guards coming to get me and then expects me to be able to sleep." Mac said. "How could I possibly sleep with that looming over me?" She turned to look at Kris who had her answer waiting.
Kris pressed a moistened rag over Mac's face. The smell of rot filled her nose and she was immediately disorientated, the few sounds in the room became muffled, and finally everything spun until she passed out cold. Kris caught her before she fell and dragged her to a straw bed laying her down.
"Do you plan on telling her?" Ed asked now standing next to Kris.
"Of course," Kris replied "but this is way more fun. Now, let's talk about what you did to that guard."
7.
Mac woke with a throbbing headache, room spinning slightly, and the feeling she had taken part in a major kegger the night before. She lay on a pile of straw with a fluffy feather pillow under her head, eyes closed, and waiting for the spins to stop. After several long moments, they finally calmed and nausea took over causing her to lurch to her side and spew. The lack of food in her stomach was a saving grace since all that came up was stomach acid, but the smell was still off-putting and she cringed, tears running slowly from her eyes.
Kris stood from her seat and placed a cup next to Mac before stepping over to William and starting to apply some pasty substance to his wounds. Mac took the cup and sipped slowly not wanting to upset her stomach any more than she already had. Ed slept in a corner of the basement, snoring soundly, and unaware of the commotion taking place on Mac's side of the room.
"What happened?" Mac asked finally being able to speak. The room started to spin again, but she was sure it was from the lack of food and throwing up. Her stomach growled loudly in agreement.
"If I had to venture a guess" Kris replied "I would say the lack of food, all the smoke from the explosion, and the lack of sleep finally caught up with you. You passed out and almost hit your head off the table." Mac had no reason not to believe her since she certainly was both hungry and tired. "There is bread and gruel on the table, but I suggest you eat slowly as to not throw it all up. I am not sure when we will be able to eat again."
"I'm not sure I will be able to keep any food down even if I do eat slowly." Mac said quietly.
"Eating will help you regain much of your energy." Kris said. "I'm sure you are past your nauseous stage and will be able to keep the food down, so please eat something." Mac gave in and stood slowly, steadying herself, then stumbling to the nearest chair, and flopping down. The smell of gruel would normally have turned her stomach, but Kris was right and the sight and smell of food made her stomach yell loudly enough to wake Ed.
"Morning." Ed grunted.
"Hmff." Mac replied face already filled with slop soaked bread.
Kris finished caring for William's wounds before taking a seat next to Mac and playing with a hunk of the bread. She peeled pieces of mold from it and placed them in a jar she had pulled from her pack.
"I do hope my supplies survived the blast." Kris said quietly. "If I need to find new supplies all over again many people will suffer, and that is something I will not stand for." Mac noticed Kris was much more worn down than she had been the evening prior. Her eyes were not sunken in like a sleep deprived person, but they still showed a darkness that had not been there before. The confidence that intimidated Mac was lacking and it was obvious that she was extremely worried.
"I'm sure everything is going to be fine.” Mac lied.
"What do you know?" Kris spat. "It is because of you all of this happened. You should have stayed where you were and left us alone."
"I didn't ask to be here!" Mac yelled. "For that matter, I don't even know where here is. One minute I am reading a book, and the next I am fighting a mechanical menace on some throwback to the turn of the century planet."
"See, this is what I'm talking about. Where do you think, you are? Maybe you time traveled back into the Middle Ages where knights on white horses are going to come save you, or better yet, maybe you teleported to some distant planet where the alien life forms are like yourself, but just not quite the same." Kris was standing now and waiving her hands around like a mad woman. Mac was unsure how to respond to the verbal tirade being thrown at her.
"Well, how do you know I'm not from this...uh...planet."
"HA! Have you seen yourself? You're half naked and wearing a piece of ragged cloth and pants like none I have seen around here. Even if I didn't know you weren't from here, it wouldn't be hard to figure out."
"If you have all the answers then how about you explain where I am and how I got here."
"And waste my breath. You are clearly not intelligent enough to understand what you've done." Ed stood next to Kris laying his hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly at his touch before looking up at him and calming slightly.
"You keep telling me I'm not intelligent enough to understand anything, but you are clearly not able to explain any of it. You just belittle me and hope I won't ask anything you would be forced to answer because you clearly don't have all the answers you claim to have."
"How dare you!” Kris started in a low dangerous tone. Ed gently squeezed her shoulder and she calmed again taking several heavy breaths. She gritted her teeth before resp
onding. "This is Earth, and we are in the twentyfirst century just like you are."
"So, did something happen to my planet?"
Kris reddened slightly and let out a sigh. "Imagine pointing two mirrors at each other."
"The image keeps going."
"Good, now imagine each image is Earth."
"So... we are in a different dimension?"
"There is no word for what we are, but we are not a perfect copy like in a mirror. This 'dimension' is vastly different from your own and yet, the same. If a person is born in your 'dimension' they are not also born here. Think of it like a different planet born with lifeforms like your own, including humans."
"You're right, I don't understand."
"At least she can admit it." Kris said shaking her head and throwing her hands into the air. "The science doesn't matter anyway. What matters is how you got here and why you are here."
"So can you at least explain that to me?"
"No."
"Let me guess, because I am not smart enough to understand it so you don't feel like wasting your breath."
"I can't explain it because I am not sure how you got here or why you are here." That news was unsettling to Mac. She had hoped to get some answers from Kris and possibly find out a way back home.
"Isn't there some way for me to travel back?" Mac asked quietly.
"There are some ancient ways, but they have been lost. Anything of magic and machine was lost or destroyed during the purge." Mac thought of the coin in her pocket, but before she could show it to Kris, the door opened and Wiley came down the stairs.
"It is good to see everyone awake this morning." Wiley said. He was wearing a flashy gold and white suit and could have been Elvis' twin brother. "It seems there are rumors circulating in which a group of wanted fugitives may have been spotted by the aeroship docking stations. I imagine the guards will be looking for the next several hours around the docks for those dirty criminals. I also imagine fine upstanding folks like yourselves will have no trouble reaching your destination without the bother of set guards."
"Oh, thank you, Wiley." Kris said taking his hand into hers with a squeeze. "There is some reeta root in my shop which I know you love to use for your reeta wine. Feel free to help yourself to it. Though, if you wouldn't mind sending some of your boys down to box up the rest of the shop and store it away, I would be appreciative."
"You always do know the way to my heart, dear,” Wiley said. “through a nice barrel of wine. Consider your belongings cared for. Now, if everyone has eaten we best be leaving."
Before the conversation ended, Ed was already wrapping William up in a thin sheet and heading for a side of the basement full of wine barrels and racks. Kris gathered up the packs and handed one to Mac who was shoving more of the bread into her pockets. Being without food for two days, she wanted to make sure to be more prepared.
"Before I forget," Wiley said. "you should probably wear this before going out into the forest." He held out a green over-bust corset with small silver hooks down the front.
"You're kidding, right." Mac said.
"I suppose you could continue to wear next to nothing." Wiley said. "You can come work for me. There are several of my patrons who would take a liking to that tight little body of yours." He grinned gently licking his lips and looking her up and down.
"You sicken me." Mac said, snatching the corset out of his hands. She looked around finding several large boxes stacked in the corner and ducked behind them. After removing her torn up wife beater and black bra and tossing them in the corner, she wrapped the corset around her and snapped the silver hooks in place. It was far more comfortable than she would admit to Wiley and she took a mental note to pick some up when she was finally back home.
"You're sure you don't want to come work for me?" Wiley said, again looking at Mac as she came out from behind the boxes. Mac scowled and walked past him heading towards where she saw Ed go.
A rack of dusty old wine bottles was pulled to the side and the luminous glow of fire lit torches led the way down into another set of tunnels.
"How many of these secret doors are there in this place?" Mac asked.
"Now, if I told you it wouldn't be much of a secret." Wiley replied. Kris let out a small snort. Mac heard Ed a few feet into the tunnel let out an odd noise which she took as his amusement also. She simply shook her head with a small crooked smile of her own.
"There are many passages within the city." Kris said. "Undercity is a city within a city."
"Within a city." Mac said thinking of a movie.
"What?" Kris asked.
"Nothing." Mac said, cutting off the conversation, then headed down to where Ed and William were.
"Pretty." Ed grunted looking at Mac before starting down the tunnel. Mac looked down at her dirty beaten body which now blushed red and regarded the corset for a second before thinking he was right and it was nice looking on her. She started to follow with slightly more confidence than a second before. Kris caught up quickly taking the lead and navigating the tunnels like they were second nature to her. Mac was surprised to see Wiley following in the distance with what looked like a small revolver in one hand and a torch in the other.
The walls were roughly dug out of dirt and felt as if they would crumble and fall at any moment. Off shoots of the main passage were every thirty feet or so and went in all sorts of different directions. Some were simple left or right turns; others were diagonal or even sloping up or down. Stone, metal, and wood doors showed themselves as they walked past, some covered in cobwebs having been not used for a very long time.
Being curious about the tunnels Mac snatched up a torch that had been pressed into the wall and lit it off Ed's. She slowed waving it down a long off shoot as she passed, looking for others that may be wandering around. Though she could see shadows moving around, most of the people scattered whenever the group approached. It was only when they walked past a small pile of bloody bodies at the end of one tunnel that she decides to stop being nosey for the rest of the trip.
The group walked for miles through the musty smelling tunnels and Wiley eventually joined them and started talking quietly with Kris at the front of the group. They were far too quiet to hear, but every now and then he would look back at Mac before continuing his talk with Kris who made no gestures and simply headed towards their destination. Her head moved back and forth every now and then, but as hard as she tried she could not make out what they were talking about.
Finally, after about an hour the tunnel became more lively and several people moved around uncaring. Wiley holstered his pistol and walked more loosely than before. The sounds of music and laughter could be heard through some of the secret doors as they passed. The tunnel forked and they began to take the left passage, Mac noticed a young man and woman stark naked making love while a well-dressed older man openly rubbed himself as he watched. They paid no attention as the group passed. Mac was sickened at the sight. This part of the tunnels was filled with bright colors and gold. It couldn't be any more different than the surrounding area.
Several minutes later the passage widened. Plant and tree roots peeked through the walls. A distinct breeze began to flow making the torches flicker and dance. The dry air moistened and walls shined with the water clinging onto them. Light illuminated the tunnel and the end of the man-made maze came near, a flowing stream of water covered the opening of the cave.
"I must leave you now." Wiley said with a bow."If they do not find me at the pub soon, I am afraid the next time you see me will be at the end of a hangman's noose. Such an uncivilized city we live in. Please be safe on the rest of your journey."
"And you, my friend." Kris replied "We shall bring back some honey mead on our return."
"In that case, please hurry back." Wiley smiled before turning to Ed and placing his hand on the large man's shoulder. "Keep them safe." Ed grunted with a slight dip of his head. Finally, Wiley stepped close to mac and pulled a small revolver from the side holster hanging loos
ely off his suit. He looked her deep in the eyes and slid it down the front of her pants making her shudder from the touch of cold steel. As she started to move away he grabbed her arm and pulled her close. His warm minty breath came in a whisper. "When they come for you; don't hesitate to use every bullet on them." Without another word, he disappeared into the darkness.
8.
Mac stared into the darkness where Wiley had disappeared. His words to her were cryptic and unsettling giving her more questions than answers. She ran a finger down the back strap of the newly acquired revolver and hoped she would never have to use it, but being hunted made her glad she had it.
The group stepped through the waterfall and the refreshing sun beat down on them. Even with a fresh stream flowing close, the trees seemed dark and almost unhappy to be so close to the city. A water made stairway led them away from the falls and to a small open patch of grass. Kris stopped to check on William and let their clothes dry off a little.
The city was farther than Mac had expected it to be. She could barely see the massive unkempt walls or the guards who were now tiny and in no way, a threat. The cities buildings towered over the walls and were even more engulfed by a huge copper kettle at the cities center.
"Where are we?" Mac asked.
"The outskirts." Kris replied.
"Where?"
"The capitol surrounds a giant steam pot in the middle of the city, which is why it is called Steam City." Kris gave Mac her 'you're an idiot' look and continued. "To the north of that is the golden uppers. You may have noticed the politician making his slaves do unspeakable things while he watched. He is one of the many wine drunk aristocrats living the high life in the golden uppers. The Undercity tunnels on the other hand is where less than savory people go to not be noticed. It is dangerous and murder occurs there regularly. The Undercity below the golden uppers is primarily crime free since any criminals that have tried to commit crimes in that area are caught and tortured. Also, their families, friends, and acquaintances are forced into slavery or tortured and killed. The people there tend to not take notice of others which is why we could walk through without issues. They also don't dare wander this far out since dregs like to wait for rich little princesses wanting to take a dip in the falls. I won’t even tell you the atrocities which happen to those ignorant girls."
City of Steam (Blackburn Chronicles) Page 6