Session Twelve, Part Three: The Great Escape
"I found a demon," Dru informed her partner.
Di'Fier paused, his mouth open, his own news momentarily forgotten. "A
what?"
"A demon...rat...man." She waved the question of what exactly it was away. "It was trying to get out. It looks unhealthy."
Di'Fier struggled bravely with Dru's rapid train of thought, then gave up and let it race past him. "Where is it?"
"In a wagon. Come on. How was your book?"
"Forget the book," Di'Fier said. "I was walking around the wagons, and I overheard Captain Lydon talking to someone..."
"...get yer money," Lydon said. "But ye should have told me ye were hirin' help! Girl nearly killed me..."
"But, Captain...I didn't hire anyone."
There was a long moment of silence. Then, quietly, "She damn near ended my sailing days...did you hear that? Someone's coming. Go!"
"Hey! You can't go back here. We're setting up."
A glint of moonlight on silver. "City Watch."
"...oh. Is there a problem?"
"Probably not."
Dru and Di'Fier strolled past the worker and into the knot of wagons. "That's the one the demon is in," Dru commented loudly, and heads swiveled to look at her.
"Demon?" Di'Fier asked.
One of Lydon's guards hurried over. "That's for the rat chase, you don't want to go in there."
Dru sniffed. "I've already
been in there. This is for the rat chase, you say? Nothing...nefarious? Not going to...take over the world with it?"
The guard's mouth opened as he struggled with what to say. Di'Fier stepped in to rescue him. "I'm not going to be in the rat chase. Do you mind if I have a look?"
"Well..." The guard rubbed the back of his neck. "Seeing as how you're the ones who saved the Cap'n, I guess it's OK." He pulled back the flap, and followed the two Watchmen into the tent, turning up his lantern so the trio could see.
The ratman huddled in the corner of its cage, looking warily up at them. Dru could see that its paws - no, hands - were carefully folded over the section of wood it had been scratching away at, hiding it from the guard's eyes. "Where did you get it?"
"The Captain bought it from some traders, said it came from way out west, across the ocean."
"...semis tau..." The rat-thing looked at Dru as if its words could be conveyed by the sheer intensity of its gaze - but the language was none she had ever heard. The guard didn't seem to notice.
"What did it go for?" Di'Fier asked, digging in his pouch for some jerky. He tossed the dried meat in front of the cage, and it promptly vanished.
"A couple of hundred in gold, but the Cap'n wanted something
special for the chase this year. Something unique, yeah?"
Dru looked it over. "You got that right. What happens if nobody catches it?"
The guard shrugged. "Nobody gets the prize."
"Huh. Well, thanks." Dru led the way out of the wagon, with Di'Fier just behind. After they had vanished into the maze of alleys, she leaned closer to him. "It tried to talk to us, Di'Fier. It's intelligent."
He nodded. "So it's against the law to enslave it like that. But it's not on the books as intelligent. So..."
"...we free it. Him. I'll buy a cloak to put over it, then you can turn me invisible and I'll slip inside and let him go."
"All right. I'll make a distraction."
A drunken sailor staggered through the Freeport night, his parrot on his shoulder and a bottle in his hand. The moon was a mere sliver above his head, but he seemed to know his way despite the drink, as he weaved through the collection of wagons.
"Hey! You're not supposed to be back here..."
"Ah, ish all right...I jush, just brought some rum..." Most of it on his clothes, judging from the smell. Even the parrot seemed to be swaying a bit on its perch. "Have a drink."
"Well, if you insist."
The sailor passed over the bottle, belched once, and broke into song. A surprisingly clear baritone rose over the docks in an old longshoreman's shanty that soon had the guards grinning and clapping along.
I didn't know he could sing, thought Dru as she darted across the alley. Even if she was invisible, there was no point in taking chances. Without a sound she boarded the wagon, as the disgused Di'Fier attracted even more attention with his lusty ditty.
As she approached the cage, she could see the rat sniffing the air, looking around to see who was producing this new odor. "Shh, it's me," she said, trying to reassure him.
Hopefully he recognizes my voice. "I've come to set you free."
The darkness made picking the lock all the more difficult, but within a few moments it was open, and she swung the cage door wide. As the creature crawled from his erstwhile prison, she handed the cloak to him. He nodded, and draped it around his shoulders, pulling the hood up to discuise his features.
Well, almost disguised. But he's definitely intelligent.
As she peeked out of the wagon, she saw trouble. Di'Fier had exhausted his knowledge of dockside shanties and was making a rather miserable attempt at a hornpipe. The guards and workers were drifting away, and one of them was heading straight for their wagon.
"
Run," she said, and even if the rat did not understand the word, the urgency in her voice was clear. He darted out the door, Dru pelting along behind him - barely able to keep up, even with the creature as ill as was.
"Hey...HEY! The rat's out! It's loose! HEY!" Footsteps began to follow them: jogging, then breaking into a run.
She reached out, grabbed the rat's arm, and swung him around a corner. "This way!" A few steps took her to one of the grates set into the ground. She knelt and heaved, and with a squeal of protesting iron, it opened. "Down here. Come on."
Dru and the rat-man descended into darkness.
Di'Fier staggered into an alley, looked about to assure himself that nobody was watching, and let the magic lapse. On his shoulder, Ampiel too resumed his normal appearance. "Well, they got out of there," he said. "Just in time, too. I thought I was going to wet myself." He stepped over to the side of the alley.
As he finished up, an odd odor struck his nose. Freeport - especially the Docks - was full of odd odors, but this one seemed wrong somehow. He peered around the darkened alley, finally calling a globe of light into being to hover above his hand.
From a doorway, a thick, dark trail of liquid ran into the street. Di'Fier stepped forward, the light illuminating what had once been a woman.
She was dressed in gaudy red and gold, such as a performer might wear, but her face had been mutilated beyond recognition. The jacket had been torn asunder along with her chest.
Her ribs were cracked and spread apart.
Her heart was missing.
