The Lead Crown: Ch 1c, Steam-Punked (pt 5)
Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 1-5, Steam Punked
It had taken Alarice a few minutes to recover from her uncouth lapse in professionalism but she still needed several blocks of travel until she trusted herself enough to say anything more than "Follow me." Inigo had remained by her side the whole time, creating enough of a scene with composing himself to take any attention off of her; she knew that he was doing it entirely for her benefit, which she reminded herself, was worthy of a review for a pay increase... thank god for Inigo, she acknowledged.
"The den on Market Street." Alarice explained to the bat without him having to ask. He nodded silently in acknowledgement. Over the decade plus the woman had been active in Newport she'd had the opportunity to secure a number of safe houses and, if what the Order of Blades had already shown themselves capable of was any indication to the danger they posed, that was a very good thing.
"Ah." Inigo acknowledged casually, "I like the basement... hard wood floor's a nice touch and the--" the bat paused, the neutral tone leaving him immediately. "never mind." Alarice didn't have to ask why the sudden change in the conversation; Geoffrey had been the one to insist on the new flooring, and the otter's loss had evidently hit the bat hard.
"No... left... left..." Roland's wheezing voice insisted. Behind her, the injured wolf-dog was still carried by Joshew.
"You only need to tell me once." the blind human countered with no small amount of frustration in his voice.
"Well if you'd listen and--" his passenger began, but he was cut off.
"He meant right." Alvis spoke up, "You're facing backwards, Roland... your left is his right... he was going to walk right into a--"
"Stow it." Roland growled, "I don't do INVALID well."
"He always got in trouble whenever he was sick as a pup." Joshew responded with a light-hearted chiding tone.
"Only because my father considered it a weakness. He never got sick, so it became my fault whenever I did." the wolf-dog snorted, then winced.
"Your father always DID sound like a tooth-grinding problem in need of a very heavy handed solution." Joshew added.
"I take it your father is the wolf and your mother the husky?" Inigo spoke up from beside Alarice. She shouldn't have been surprised by the way he inserted himself into the discussion; he was a natural conversationalist after all.
"Uh... yea?" the wolf-dog responded after a moment with the acknowledgement as much a question as a confirmation.
"Well that explains a lot." the bat nodded thoughtfully.
"How's that?" Joshew inquired, following the party as he was led along by Alvis.
"In my experience, wolves are heavy-handed, overbearing, socially aggressive, and, more often than not, vain sons-of-bitches." Inigo offered with a smirk.
"Hmm..." the human nodded in thought, "Half wolves inherit those traits too, I suppose... all that sounds like someone I know."
"Sounds like humans too... if my experiences taught me anythi-- OW!" Roland had obviously had a point to his counter comment, but it was cut short when Joshew jostled him.
"They make for some great, high quality fucks though." Inigo offered with a wide grin. Alarice rolled her eyes at the bat's pandering.
"I've heard that too." Roland acknowledged; Alarice didn't miss the follow up sigh of exasperation from Joshew.
"We... we aren't safe yet, you know." Alvis spoke up, doing her warning for her, "Should we really be chatting like we're taking a stroll down the--"
"Precisely." Alarice interrupted him, "We're all in danger, gentlemen... do please try to remember this, and act accordingly."
"Alvis already pissed himself once today... isn't that good enough?" Roland spoke from his place over Joshew's shoulder. She stopped to glance back and shoot the scholars a dirty look; they all got the idea-- even Joshew, who took his cue from those around him that she meant business despite his inability to see her displeasure.
They continued on for a time in silence until she found a particularly suitable alcove in a dark alley. It was deep and wide enough to hide them from view, but also had a doorway at the far end, providing them a quick exit if absolutely necessary, "Alright... take five minutes, and then we continue on to the next safe house."
Joshew let out a grunt, and slowly lowered Roland, to a sitting position, propped up against one of the brick walls, "Unnh..." the human noted, rolling his shoulder, "Must've gone numb... feels like I have blood caked all over it.
"Or maybe you have blood caked all over it... jackass." Roland replied, "or did you forget I'm bleeding."
"Fuck... THIS much?" questioned Joshew, pulling at his sopping tunic, "Alright... we have to stop... I've gotta treat that."
"Last time I checked, you weren't a Water Scholar, Shew." the wolf-dog countered.
Alarice left the scholars to their own devices as she took some time for herself, moving to the back of the alley near the door as she took stock of the situation. Her base had been razed and her team murdered. She was on the run against a secret organization who could apparently be anyone, anywhere. Alarice didn't particularly like the playing field but she realized that she was limited by not being the one to choose the game.
"They had come and gone by the time I arrived." Inigo spoke up from behind her.
"I assumed so." she answered, not bothering to turn around, "That's why you're still alive, I would guess."
"They rigged the building to explode." the bat further explained, "It went off while I was inside."
Alarice nodded, "And now it's just you and me... and three unarmed scholars..." she gripped a loose brick in her hand, squeezing it until her fingers hurt; it was always easier to mask loss and sorrow behind frustration and anger.
"Three scholars, anyway." Inigo offered, and she heard the sound of him chuckling lightly. Alarice turned around to see the bat with his vest open, revealing several small scabbards, "You know how Geoffry was always talking about reinforcing his room?"
The human woman blinked, dumbfounded at the bat's quick-thinking, "You took cover there and raided his weapon stash on your way out?"
"The way I see it, Geoffry would probably want us to extract a little revenge..." he offered one of the scabbards to her, "...right?"
"Very right." the woman confirmed, and accepted it, quickly stowing the small blade holder next to the other in her sash, "But first, we reorganize... and plan our next move." She was just about to start talking basics with the bat when they were interrupted by Alvis.
"Yes?" Alarice asked the mongrel.
"Joshew wanted to make sure you had a chance to treat your wounds." the student suggested, offering up a small unguent bowl, "Injuries in low town especially are more likely to get infected..."
"Then it's a trade." the woman acknowledged, and nodded to Inigo, who immediately pulled out three blades with their scabbards, and dumped them into the surprised arms of the mongrel.
"I... I don't think he was asking for something in return..."
"Well I don't like owing people favors, Alvis..." Alarice responded flatly, "Plus, if everyone has a weapon then we'll probably last longer." and, with that, she ushered the mongrel off back to his fellows before turning to Inigo, "Market Street." she acknowledged to the bat.
"Market Street." he affirmed with a nod. They continued talking quietly between themselves as the scholars finished getting sorted and divided the weaponry.
"I'm not exactly sure what I'd be doing with a sword." Joshew's voice was prominent among the scholars' discussions.
"Wave it back and forth in front of you to fend off an attacker..." Roland announced, "and hope they delay long enough that I can get there to save you... obviously."
"What've you got there?" Joshew changed the course of the discussion immediately, turning to focus on Alvis.
"Got where?" the mongrel questioned.
"You were messing with some paper." the human responded, "I heard you unfolding it."
"Not sure." the young university student responded, "Just some weird piece of parchment I found while I was... uh... when I was taking cover."
"So... you were rooting around in that trash pile?" Roland chided.
"No!" Alvis objected, then lowered his voice when it started echoing off of the buildings, "I mean... it was just... kinda there on the top." he fidgeted, and Alarice heard him opening it up, "It looked out of place."
"How exactly does a piece of paper look out of place in a pile of garbage?" Joshew inquired.
Alarice paused, understanding the blind human's question. Glancing back over her shoulder she watched Alvis raise a clean piece of fabricated parchment to his nose and take a sniff, "Remember how Professor Baas said that there are different kinds of paper and how most people on the street get rolled parchment?"
"That paper is a little too high quality to find just anywhere." Alarice finished his thought for him, and approached the mongrel, whose tail tucked a little.
"It... uh... it's a list." Alvis announced, holding the paper up for her.
Inigo intercepted it and began looking it over. She didn't miss the way his nose turned pale and the color left the pink portions of his ears, "Spirits--"
Alarice deftly snatched the paper from the stunned bat's paw and began looking it over. Mist's End, Manor Hill, Market Street... it certainly read like a list, and it didn't take long for her to realize exactly what the significance of the locations were. "How?" she murmured the word, not bothering to keep hold of it as Alvis took it back from her.
"How what?" asked Joshew, "Why have we stopped?"
"This is a list of all of our safe houses." Inigo was the first to speak up.
"That's a LOT of safe houses." Alvis confirmed, looking at the list, "You have..." he paused, "Eleven?"
Alarice shot a glance at the bat, who was already looking back at her; they were obviously thinking the same thing: they had twelve.