Chloë

by Marcus LaGrone

  Raymond just stared at Heather in shock.

  “What? Can’t you sleep with your ears still going?” asked Heather with a serious grin.

  Raymond quickly recovered. “Yes, Lady Heather, I can shallow sleep like that. I just didn’t expect you to do that.”

  “Stranger in a strange town? You bet I am!” laughed Heather. “I do hope none of your family was mixed up in all of that.”

  Raymond nodded politely. “I lost two uncles that night.”

  Heather frowned, well, mostly. “Ack! I’m very sorry for that.”

  Raymond shook his head. “No need for you to apologize. The very idea of trying to overrun the peace keepers was ill-conceived and ran counter to the whole wisdom and reason of why they were brought there. Both sides had requested peace keepers; to then turn on them was… well, to be blunt, cowardly and stupid.”

  Heather nodded. “You are a professional. I appreciate that. Still, sorry about your uncles.”

  Raymond nodded. “Thank you. How does your father remember that night?”

  Heather shuddered. “That was the beginning of the end for his time in the service. Second Mother said he used to have nightmares about it all up until I was about five or so.”

  Raymond nodded. “Part of me is glad to know that he had nightmares. It lets me know that behind all the stories, the tales, and the legends, there was a man just fighting to stay alive and protect his friends. It makes him seem far less sinister.”

  Chloë shook her head. “That just all sounds so far removed from the Llewellyn I met.”

  “He works hard to make it that way. Speaking of working hard, you two have been paying attention to the people in this car, yes?” asked Heather.

  “The two individuals at the far end? Yes, ma’am. I’ve been observing them. I just did not want to alarm Chloë.”

  Chloë’s fur suddenly stood on end and Heather laughed. “That is why he didn’t tell you!”

  “Don’t worry, Lady Chloë, they primarily appear to be riff-raff and not organized thugs.”

  “Then what do they want?” asked Chloë nervously.

  “They are probably trying to buy a date for the night,” offered Heather with a knowing grin.

  Chloë shuddered. “Okay, you two were right: I really didn’t want to know what is going on.”

  20

  Five minutes later, they reached their stop and exited uneventfully. Well, mostly uneventfully: the two men did approach the trio and proposition them. Heather offered them Raymond, but that wasn’t quite what they had in mind. A quick flash of Raymond’s sidearm, and the pair went about their way.

  “And how, precisely, is that different from what Father was trying to do with me?” growled Chloë at Raymond as the others departed.

  “Um, it was to be a proper wedding, my lady,” offered Raymond timidly.

  “Proper wedding, that I have no say in? At my age?” she snarled back.

  “Hey, it’s not just a bad idea, it’s a cross-canton felony!” beamed Heather.

  “Everyone was hoping you’d like the man,” replied Raymond somewhat flustered.

  “Who cares?” asked Heather as her teeth flashed in the streetlights. “Chloë is how old?”

  “An emancipated minor is permitted to marry at that age.”

  “An emancipated minor is also permitted to leave the canton without reprisal and with due compensation. And don’t give me crap about customs in your canton—that is universal across the entire Altshea Confederation,” replied Heather with an increasingly sinister grin. “Then there is the fact that she was lied to about her rights in that situation. Are you certain you are actually on the side of law and justice?”

  “I… I’m following orders.”

  “And what are your duties when presented with an unlawful order?” countered Heather.

  “To refuse such orders and…,” murmured Raymond.

  “And, what?” asked Chloë.

  “Strive to prevent others from performing such actions as well.”

  “And to stand in council…,” prompted Heather.

  “And to stand in council and publicly refute those who issued such orders and bring them to justice,” finished Raymond.

  “So how is all of that going for you then? I mean, the whole publicly refuting those who gave you illegal orders and all?” asked Heather.

  “Poorly,” Raymond admitted.

  “Something to think about when you get back home then,” offered Chloë.

  Raymond grimaced, “Yes, my lady.”

  “Are you going to do a better job protecting her than following protocol?” asked Heather.

  “Yes, ma’am. That is far less confusing…”

  “You’re a good man, Raymond, you are just in a terrible situation,” consoled Heather.

  “Thank you, Lady Heather.”

  “How does a girl from the country know so much about protocol?” asked Chloë with a broad grin.

  “Maria and my older sister were excellent teachers,” grinned Heather. “Enough chit-chat; we’re here. Five minutes early too. I wonder if they are going to be punctual.”

  Punctual? No, not really. What exactly constitutes “fashionably late” when you are on the seedy side of town? But show they did, finally. The young man Chloë had met before at the dance and three others, each larger and even gruffer looking than the one before.

  “You were supposed to come alone,” barked the young man in the Tisamarir tongue.

  “A girl, like me, alone on this side of town with a mountain of cash? Are you serious?” replied Chloë in the Gamehra language. She was nervous, but the question was an honest one more so than mock bravado.

  “Who are the other two?” he fired back. Well, at least he changed languages…

  “Heather, who is from the Highlands and helped me make it here. The other is Raymond who was tasked with carrying the money and keeping it safe.”

  He sneered, “Doesn’t smell like a local cop at least. You really think that your hired thug will keep you safe?”

  “The roughness of your chosen rendezvous dictated a professional of some type if only to make sure the money actually arrived,” replied Raymond diplomatically.

  The man just sniffed, “Yeah, whatever. Hand over the cash, pretty boy.”

  “I could really do with seeing Anna,” replied Chloë evenly.

  “You think we are fools? We didn’t bring her here!”

  “Can you even prove she is alive?”

  The man seemed caught off guard, “Uh, sure.”

  “Good!” Chloë nodded to Raymond and he slid the case over to the thugs. “There is half a million. We’d like to see proof of life before we hand over the rest.”

  “Half a million? Where is the rest?”

  “Bring all of it here at once? Do you think we are fools?” came the familiar echo. “No one buys anything sight unseen. Prove she is even still alive,” replied Chloë with her most practiced voice.

  The four murmured among themselves and Heather rolled her eyes. “Amateurs. Raymond, if shooting starts, shoot to wound. We need them alive to find out where Anna is.”

  “If my tail is in a knot, I’ll shoot to kill to protect Chloë.”

  “Understood. Hey, maybe they were able to find one clue amongst the four of them,” grinned Heather.

  Indeed, the younger man approached carrying his phone. “You have five minutes.”

  Chloë took the phone and looked at the display and bit her lip as she fought back the tears, “Oh, Anna…”

  Heather grimaced as she looked over Chloë’s shoulder. “Ouch, she looks bad. Talk to her.”

  Chloë started blubbering at the phone; adding to the pain was Anna’s feeble response. She was there, but just barely. She was feeble and in pain but lucid enough to talk. Anna immediately warned Chloë to run, escape, as the men were certainly using her as a trap. Yet every time Chloë started to break off the conversation, Heather egged her on, trying to get them to talk longer. It took all of Chlo�
�’s strength to talk as long as she did and her fur stood on end as a brilliant flash engulfed the screen and then the phone went dead.

  Chloë reached out to hand the phone back to the thug but he grabbed her arm instead and snarled, “We did our part, now where is the rest of the cash?”

  Heather went for the thug, but Raymond was there first, pressing his pistol into the temple of the assailant. “Let her go and we can skip the lobotomy.” Raymond’s voice was even and steady; it wasn’t a threat.

  He let go and started to back away as the other three thugs brought their weapons to bear. Suddenly there was brilliant flash as the briefcase exploded and the cash scattered into the air. The explosion bowled over the largest of the three thugs. Heather grabbed Chloë, tucked her head, and spun the pair of them to the ground as the sounds of high power rifles erupted from all around them. It was unclear if any of the thugs were going to be getting up. Heather was pretty sure the one closest to them wasn’t.

  From over their shoulder came an ‘all clear’ and Heather helped Chloë back to her feet. “Sorry about that. Hope I didn’t hurt your knees.”

  Chloë just looked around confused and relieved. “I… I’m okay…”

  Raymond stood there in shock as the thugs all dropped. “What happened?” His professionalism was completely lost as he shrieked and his fur stood on end as someone spoke behind him.

  “Special Agent Nate Carter, Diplomatic Security Service. Are you two okay, Lady Heather and Princess Chloë?”

  Heather was impressed; she hadn’t noticed the man approach at all. It was just like her father back at home, only this was a man in full conventional armor and weapons. He had been very fast and quiet to close like he did. “We’re okay. Scared and tired; it’s past our bedtime. But the real question is, how is Anna?”

  “It was easy enough to trace the phone to its source. The lady was being held in an area not far from a deployment point. Thank you for keeping the phone busy as long as you did. It helped pinpoint her precisely and was a perfect distraction for the… person there. Anna is being moved as we speak; she is in very poor shape, but we have excellent people at her side, and she is less than ten minutes from a top notch trauma center.”

  Chloë playfully poked Heather. “So that is why you wanted me to keep talking.” Chloë took a deep breath. “Thank you. Thank you all so very much.”

  “You are very welcome. We have a second repulsar airship inbound in less than ten. We’ll be able to evacuate you both to a better side of town and a proper hotel shortly. What do you want us to do with this individual?” he asked gesturing to Raymond.

  “He is palace security from Bervik III. If you could arrange transportation for him as well, it would be greatly appreciated,” suggested Chloë diplomatically.

  “Considering the current state of affairs with Bervik III and your situation, we will transport him to their embassy.”

  Raymond, finally grasping everything that had just happened nodded. “Either the embassy or consulate would be more than acceptable.”

  “What about the cash you blew up?” asked Heather back to being her normal curious self.

  “That? Oh, it was fake.”

  21

  With no small amount of persuasion, Heather convinced Chloë to actually go to the hotel and sleep rather than heading straight to the hospital. Anna was going to be in no condition to take visitors, and the medical staff was going to need to work undistracted in order to stabilize the wounded lady. Chloë feared a cascade of nightmares as she went to sleep, but sleep came quickly and mercifully, and it was much to her chagrin that it was actually Heather who woke her up the next morning.

  “How late is it?” asked Chloë as she scrambled to get cleaned up.

  “Nine thirty. They have room service coming up as we speak.”

  Chloë offered her own raspberry as she ran to the shower, “No time for food!”

  “You eat your breakfast, or I won’t tell you which hospital!”

  Chloë glared at Heather, or at least tried to; it was hard to glare at someone who was actually looking out for you. “Evil! You are evil!”

  “Little old me?” asked Heather in mock despair.

  Chloë knew it was no use, so she showered, dressed, and ate like a civilized person. Well, a civilized person in a serious hurry! The pair of them soon made it out the door and across the street.

  “We were next door to the hospital the entire time! You fink!” laughed Chloë.

  “Fink? Is that better or worse than evil?” asked Heather with a broad grin.

  An armed guard met them at the receptionist and led them up to Anna’s room. “Raymond has asked to see your governess as well. But we were waiting on you before we let him up. He’ll have an escort the entire time.”

  “That should be okay,” laughed Chloë. Her laugh fell silent as she looked through the window and into Anna’s room. Anna was laid out with tubes and wires everywhere. It actually took Chloë a minute to sort out which parts were Anna and which were machines.

  Chloë’s look most have spoken volumes as an attendant greeted them. “I’m PA Alexander Madison. Just call me Alex. I’m one of three PAs, two doctors, an army of nurses, and a team of specialists taking care of your governess.”

  Chloë took a deep breath, “Tell me as it is.”

  Alex nodded, “She has several compound fractures as well as massive second and third degree burns. Additionally she had secondary infections from improper care. She is also severely dehydrated and suffering from mild malnutrition. The good news is she is now perfectly stable. In our opinion, she is well out of the woods in terms of real danger. The concerns are not whether she will recover, but rather how long it will take. We have some human burn specialists who have already started the process of recovering her skin. It will be slow, but we believe we can minimize the scarring, and she should not be physically disabled, but she will have some disfigurement due to the egregious delay in treating her. Even that won’t be as bad as your first impression might lead you to believe; we had to shave large sections of her fur and that is part of what you are looking at.”

  “As naked as a human,” murmured Chloë. “Never thought that fur could get in the way.”

  “Burns are always nasty. That is just a simple fact. With the fur shaved back, burns heal faster, and with a lower risk of infection and less distortion. It will take a year for her fur to grow back to full length.”

  “She is alive. That is the important part,” nodded Chloë. “Can I talk with her?”

  Alex nodded and smiled. “Just don’t reach across the air curtain.”

  Chloë offered a feeble smile of thanks back to Alex as she turned and just stared at the door with trepidation.

  “Come on,” urged Heather. “We’ll go in together.”

  Chloë nodded as the pair of them entered the room. Chloë had feared she was going to be overwhelmed by the putrid smell of burnt fur and flesh, but the room was mercifully clear of any such smells. Heather gagged slightly at the medicinal smell, but Chloë was quite happy for the chemical smell: it was far better than the alternative. “I’m here, Anna,” Chloë half whispered.

  Somewhere from the mess of wires and tubing came a smile. Chloë needed that. “Hey, my little princess. You shouldn’t have come back for me. But I’m proud that you came with friends.” A pained but honest laugh trickled up. “I was lying there in despair talking to you on the phone, certain that they were going to grab you next, when the room exploded in light. The next thing I knew, I was being loaded into a medical repulsar airship. I was wonderfully relieved to hear that more of the local troops had taken out the rest of the… thugs and that you and your friend were safe.”

  Chloë suddenly realized they were talking in the Tisamarir language again. Chloë turned and looked at Heather. “I’m sorry. You didn’t get any of that did you?”

  Heather just smiled, “It’s okay. I’m just here to make sure you are okay. I don’t need to be part of the conversation.”


  “Old Tongue?” asked Anna as she shifted languages. “Does that mean I was correct and got you to the Highlands of Afon?”

  “Yes, yes indeed,” replied Chloë with a smile. “Right in the middle of it. This is Heather. Her First Mother, Ivy Stratford, has agreed to take me in.”

  “Delighted to meet you, ma’am,” offered Heather with a smile.

  “Heather, what a fitting name. A pretty name for a pretty Highland girl,” replied Anna with what she could muster for a smile. “I’m hoping Chloë has not brought any danger upon your house.”

  “Not a chance of that,” beamed Heather. “Excitement, yes, but danger? Nope.”

  Anna tried to laugh but doing so hurt quite a bit. “You are full of life and energy. Chloë needs that. I’m glad that fate saw it fit that you two would be friends.”

  “What’s going to happen to you?” asked Chloë.

  “Well, they are going to try to patch me up and…”

  “Not about the hospital, Anna. Afterwards. Are you going to be safe? My father is most assuredly angry right now.”

  Anna just smiled and shook her head. “Don’t worry about him. If he does anything at all towards you or me, the other cantons will jump down his throat.”

  “But he is mad! People like that do stupid things…”

  Anna just shook her head again, “Don’t worry, sweet Chloë. I’m already on borrowed time. You, you need to be looking forward not back.”

  Chloë smiled and nodded. “I’d hug you but the doctors would yell at me.”