Lucky Rabbit

Quick as a flash, Augustus grabbed one of the metal bars Pandy had chomped out of the window. With a short, brutal thrust, he impaled the spider and twisted, prying it up off of Beau’s leg. The man gasped when the fangs slid free, falling back with his hands clamped over the bleeding holes. Pandy cast Minor Heal on him, which should repair the injury to his skin and muscle, but the real damage was done. He was now among those with the unknown venom ravaging his body.

Now wasn’t the time to think about it, though, because more spiders were pouring through the hole. Some were small enough to be stomped, and most of the prisoners had shoes, so they set to with a will. Augustus, Empress Glory, and an unknown third figure used the metal rods to kill the larger spiders, sometimes impaling them, like Augustus had, but as often simply hitting them like a home-run at the creepiest baseball game ever.

Pandy found herself on the sidelines, but with the unique perspective of a rabbit – low to the ground, with excellent peripheral vision. Each time a spider managed to scurry past those who were still capable of fighting, and head for one of the people lying in the darkness behind them, she used Hop to get to it, coming down with all four paws and a Bite. Most of these were no larger than a man’s open hand, but a few were larger, and took more effort to kill. She had to heal herself twice before she looked around and found that every arachnid she could see lay still and broken.

Panting and quiet sobs filled the old building as they all stared at the window, waiting for someone to respond to the uproar. No shouts or pounding footsteps reached their ears, however, and Augustus slowly lowered his makeshift weapon.

“Perhaps the spiders are the guards,” he murmured before shaking his head in disapproval. “Sloppy. Not what I would expect of-” He stopped, shrugged, and finished, “It works in our favor, though, so I won’t complain.”

Pointing with his rusty iron bar, he indicated that Empress Glory should watch the window and crouched beside Beau. He patted the man reassuringly and said, “You’ll have to stay after all, I’m afraid. We’ll get you out, and find an antidote, though.”

Beau stared at him, then nodded once, the tension in his shoulders visible even in the darkness. Removing the boards had allowed in a bit more light, revealing deeply shadowed lines of pain already bracketing his mouth.

“Who else is going, then?” the Empress asked as Augustus stood. The other person holding a bar stepped forward, a beam of light revealing them to be a middle-aged man a little shorter and wider than Beau. Even though he didn’t exactly look like a fighter, he also didn’t look like he was going to take ‘no’ for an answer.

Augustus didn’t even try. He just nodded toward the new man, and Pandy sent a heal in his direction, almost as much to find out his name as to actually help him.

Minor Heal successful.

Healed Albert Christopher for 20 HP.

Albert straightened, settling the bar firmly on his shoulder, though he didn’t speak. Instead, he moved closer to the window and waited while Augustus peered out, looking up and down the side of the building before actually attempting to swing a leg over the sill. Pandy winced as his heel thunked softly against the wall, but he didn’t jerk back or swing his weapon toward an oncoming arachnid, so it seemed to be fine.

Once all three of the intrepid explorers were through the window, Pandy Hopped through on her own, landing next to Augustus on what seemed like dirty stones. He gave her an approving glance, and gestured for Pandy and the Empress to move toward the rear of the warehouse, while he and Albert checked out the front.

In spite of the fact that no one had responded to the brief battle with the spiders, Pandy still expected to find someone guarding the building. She and Empress Glory – who seemed entirely unfazed at being paired up with a rabbit – found only more darkness, silence, and another building in significantly worse condition than the one in which they’d been held. The lack of battle-noises told her Augustus had probably found the same.

A few minutes later, they met back at the open window, and Augustus looked in at the worried faces of those who remained within. Several looked like they would climb out and flee at the first opportunity, but the spiders had frightened them badly enough that they were staying put, at least for now.

“There was one guard,” Augustus murmured to them. “Drunk. The waterway is that direction, along with a few buildings that have lights on inside.” Turning to the Empress, he said, “Do you know anything else about this place?”

She shook her head, but Albert finally spoke. “I worked here when I was just a lad,” he told them. “My da was a dockhand. When they decided to ‘reclaim the land’,” these words were thick with derision, “they closed off all the entrances and filled most of ‘em in. Once I get oriented, I think I can still find my way out, though.”

A noticeable flurry of hope passed through the crowd, and Augustus gave a dry smile. “You just became the most important person here, my friend. I take it just knowing which direction the water is isn’t enough?”

Albert shook his head. “It’s been almost forty years, and these buildings don’t look much like they used to. I need to find the old dock. I used to bring my da his lunch there most every day, and helped him in the afternoons when I got old enough. Put my feet on those old boards, and I think I could find my way home in the dark.”

“Very convenient, since it’s quite dark now,” Augustus agreed. Turning to Empress Glory, he said, “If you and this gentleman can find a way out, are you willing to come back and guide as many people as you can? Or do you think it would be better if you just go get help?”

Pandy liked how he left it up to her. It would be easy enough to press the Empress until she said she’d come back to help, but if she didn’t mean it, that would leave these people waiting for someone who would never come. This let her and Albert say up front that they just wanted to run, even if they left everyone else behind, but without making them out to be cowards. They were, after all, regular people, not soldiers, police, or whatever Augustus was, and in their shoes, Pandy would definitely just want to run away as quickly as possible.

Albert and the Empress exchanged glances, and Pandy could see a team bond already beginning to form. They were going to be in this together, after all. “We’ll come back an’ guide at least the people who can walk on their own,” Empress Glory said after a moment of silent communication. “Then we can all go for help. That should get someone back down here for the rest of us pretty quick.”

Augustus nodded. “Good plan. Meanwhile, the rabbit and I are going to go make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.” His eyes went briefly hard and his expression dark, but the look broke when a small voice spoke from within the warehouse.

“Why d’you have a rabbit?” Everyone turned to look at whoever had finally asked the question, but all eyes immediately swung back to Augustus, waiting for his response.

Augustus gave a very small laugh. “I think you could probably say she has me, actually. Now, let’s figure out how to get out of here.” And with that extremely unhelpful answer, he turned and moved away through the darkness, with Pandy close on his heels.

The chancellor was very, very good at being sneaky. Almost worryingly so, in fact. His feet made no noise on the filthy cobblestones, and he slipped from shadow to shadow so smoothly that Pandy would have lost him if not for her low-light vision. She, on the other hand, was stealthy only by virtue of the fact that she was small and weighed very little. Her rust-stained white fur made it easy for Albert and Empress Glory to keep track of her.

It was eerily still, other than the continuous sound of gentle waves, which they moved steadily towards. Pandy jumped several times when someone’s foot scuffed, or one of the two following brushed against something. The place was utterly empty of life, however, and eventually Pandy realized that the spiders must have eaten any rats or bats unlucky enough to make their way here. She could only hope that there were no more – what did you call a group of spiders? – no more scourges of spiders for them to stumble over.

Blobs of light gradually coalesced into windows lit from within. The buildings were painted a white almost as brilliant as Pandy’s fur when it was freshly washed, contrasting sharply with the broken down, moldering old structures they’d walked past. The only other structure that had been maintained at all was the warehouse prison, but even it looked weathered and any paint had long since peeled away.

When they were almost on the first of the two ghostly buildings, Albert hurried forward a few steps and grabbed at Augustus’s arm. Everyone stopped as the man caught his breath. They hadn’t been moving quickly, since speed and stealth didn’t exactly go hand in hand, but Albert was clearly struggling. Pandy healed both him and the Empress again, and they gave soft sighs of relief.

“I know where we are now. Those’re the central offices,” Albert whispered. “Where you’d go to hire workers, pay for a slip, or report your cargo.” His eyes were bright, but he swallowed hard before adding, “I think I can get us out. There’s an alley,” his finger rose, wavered, then firmly pointed off to their right, “I’m sure that was one of the last places they closed, because we used to sneak in here and play. Had no idea then how dangerous it was.”

“They didn’t fill it in?” Augustus asked softly.

The other man shook his head. “Had an Earth elementalist fill in the main roads, since that’s where they wanted to build. Needed a solid foundation, y’see. But that alley led out into the area where the workers lived. We couldn’t afford to buy new houses even if they built ‘em. They blocked it off, sure, but just enough to keep out honest folks.”

Augustus’s lips pressed together, but he nodded. Glancing between the two, he said, “You understand you may run into another nest of spiders?” Nest! That was the word Pandy was looking for! Or was it? Scourge seemed much more appropriate, given how horrible the sight of all those skittering legs and glittering eyes was. Or maybe-

“We’ll take the bars,” Empress Glory said grimly, lifting the one she still held. “And boots took care of most of ‘em. At least one of us will make it out and send for help.”

The chancellor nodded, then held up a hand as the other two started back the way they’d come. “You know…it may not be safe to go to the guards. People like these have contingency plans in place. You have to make a big enough racket, tell enough people, that someone has to come. If you can get to one of the noble schools, that would work. There are always Knights of the Royal Eagle there, and they’ll investigate, even if they don’t entirely believe you.”

Albert’s eyes grew huge. “The King’s Knights? You think this is big enough for them?”

“If these people really are intentionally sickening citizens of West Altheric, then yes, I think this is exactly what the Knights exist for,” Augustus assured him.

The Empress snorted softly, but shrugged. “I have no problem screamin’ at the top of my lungs. Maybe the Queen’ll give me a reward for heroism.” She gave a brief, flashing grin. “We’ll find out what happens when a queen meets an empress, eh?”

Augustus looked briefly puzzled, but obviously decided it wasn’t worth asking, so he just nodded and wished them luck, then watched until they vanished back into the shadows. Fortunately, the warehouse was large enough that it was still visible as a deeper darkness in the distance.

Once they were gone, Augustus turned back to Pandy, crouching down to look her in the eyes. He looked far too serious as he said, “I don’t want to ask this, but I think it makes the most sense for you to go in and scout it out. You’re small, fast, and,” his lips twitched, “surprisingly durable.” The flash of humor faded, and he sighed, moving as if to push up nonexistent glasses before letting his hand fall. “Pandora, have you ever had to…hurt someone? Intentionally?”

Pandy blinked up at him. She’d bitten Ms. Wellington, but that had been more instinct than intention. She hadn’t really tried to injure anybody. Not on purpose. Who did that? But she knew the answer. Bad people, and the people who were there to stop the bad people. In spite of the fact that she’d been wearing a shirt that said SECURITY when she died, Pandy wasn’t really one of those people. She probably didn’t count as ‘people’ at all anymore. She shook her head.

Augustus let his hand fall onto her head, stroking her ears with an almost absent gentleness. “If someone goes after you, don’t fight them,” he told her. “Just keep away from them, and I’ll do what needs to be done. All you have to do is survive until then.”

And wait for him to get hurt? Not likely. It was true that Pandy wasn’t a hero. She wasn’t even a fighter, in spite of the occasional free self-defense class she took, mainly because there were almost always free cookies. But she also wasn’t the type to sit around and watch while someone she…liked a lot was hurt or even killed. She’d known for a while now that the danger coming for Thaniel or Eleanor might be human in nature, and she wasn’t going to allow them to be taken. She wasn’t going to twiddle her paws while Augustus risked himself for her, either. After all, she was surprisingly durable.

She wasn’t going to argue, though, and not only because she didn’t think he’d be nearly as willing to let her go if he thought she wasn’t going to run away. She also didn’t want to turn into Ms. Wellington right now, because something about crouching here, in the darkness, with his fingers smoothing her fur while they stared into each other’s eyes was… Yes, she definitely wasn’t going to change shapes right now. Which meant she nodded her head and blatantly lied to Augustus for the very first time.