She found the places she rode through either pristine and unpopulated, or peopled by nervous men and women. The ribbon of beach gave way to a wider, rockier shore, the cliff rose sharply and then fell back to gentle hills. Days passed. Robin almost stopped in a town, but the guards at the gates would not admit her. She traveled further, changing their tropical island into a forested coastal island. The breeze changed from sultry to summery to cool and the forest on the island (it may not have always been an island, but it probably was) changed as well.
A short way outside of a large port city, Robin sees a tavern. The sign over the door is an Osprey, gray and somewhat malevolent looking, with flat colored eyes and wings spread. A military man is brushing down a horse in the tavern's courtyard.
"Whuf." Robin's breathe husks out wearily. Enough of this riding stuff. Time to get a hot meal and the Osprey intrigues her, even if it looks as cranky as she feels.
Guiding her horse into the courtyard, the young Ranger gives a friendly nod to the brushing guy as she rides to the hitching post. Robin stretches once in the saddle before lowering herself gratefully to her own feet. A fond thump is given to her mare's coal black side.
Carefully Robin slips the horse's bit, loosens the girth, attaches a feed bag and does other appropriate horsy things. "Thanks, Idiot." She murmurs fondly, rubbing the mare's forehead. "Don't go anywhere without me, okay?"
Robin finishes with her horse and enters the tavern. A woman pokes her head out of a back door and says "just sit anywhere, the boy will be with you shortly," and disappears. The Ranger sits and takes in the Osprey. It is not brightly lit and looks as if it has seen better times. The place doesn't feel overly friendly, but perhaps that's a result of the emptiness. It seems strange for an afternoon, but perhaps it is not.
The soldier walks in a few moments later and the kitchen boy is coming over to Robin as well. Before they reach her, the man says to the boy "Two ales, Squint, and find out from your mistress what she proposes to feed her customers this e'en." He comes to her table and confidently sits. "May I join you?" He smiles lightly as if he is not sure if he is on business or pleasure.
The man gets a raised eyebrow from Robin as he places the order and sits, but she's just too tired to make a fuss right now. A wry chuckle goes through her, "Well, you seem to be able to -- so you might as well give it a shot."
The young woman sends back an equally light smile as she tips her chair back wearily against the wall behind her.
The boy is very, very fast and does not ask the man (or Robin) for money. He says he'll go to the kitchen to find out about dinner and departs.
As he sips his ale, the stranger says. "My name is Hartwell, by the way. You're very interesting. You're not a witch and you're not a local. What are you?" Robin notices that his eyes shade from brown to green.
Robin lifts her mug in a thank toast to the man before kicking back an enormous swallow, taking more than half the tankard in one shot. Three days on the road and nothing but water. Eeek!
Grinning she wipes her lips with the back of her gauntlet. "I'm called Robin. And nope, I'm not a witch or a local. What I am is passing through and not looking for trouble. Hartwell." The young Ranger smiles her best 'what posted speed limit, officer?' smile.
Hartwell smiles ruefully. "There's trouble all around, Robin, and not looking for it won't make it go away. You didn't come from Mothersport, so you must've come up the road from the peninsula: It's hard to miss the signs of war down there. The other possibility is that you just landed here, by ship or by magic. So, where are you passing *to*?"
He takes another drink of his ale, more solidly this time. Robin thinks he's a passable fighter, but she could take him, if it came to that.
A rueful nod of Robin's blond head acknowledges Hartwell's point about trouble, especially since she seems to carry it in her back pocket.
Hartwell's conjectures about her arrival are met with a non-committal shrug, yeah, it was probably one of those. A teasing secret smile finds its way to Robin's lip. She's enjoying the game.
"Dunno," is the Ranger's answer to Hartwell's final question. "I'll know when I get there. My turn. You seem a little... hefty to be stationed at an out-of-the-way tavern. What are you waiting for?" That smile opens out into a full-up grin.
"I am Lord Commander of the Brotherhood of the Stag, and we serve the Mother as her priestesses see fit. The Chancellor herself told me to come here today. I know not what signs and portents she saw, but she asked me to be here. She wishes to meet you."
"Hmmm..." Robin takes another large swig from her tankard and plunks the empty down on the table. "This meeting. Gonna take long? Or end up with a cell or an execution block?" The Ranger's attitude is one of frank curiosity.
"Depends, I think. A cell, probably. It depends on how long it takes that potion to knock you unconscious."
"DamMIT!" Robin swears. Not at Hartwell, but at herself. In the meantime, she kicks the table as hard as she can into the seated man from her braced position against the wall.
Not as hard as she would have liked, but harder than he expected. He rolls to his feet, grinning.
Robin sees stars and bulls her way to her feet. She feels woozy and slow, but she's Julian's daughter and he's a shadowman. She notices both the woman and the boy, peeking out behind her, in the kitchen door, watching.
"Nice move," he says, "but you should be out." She sees the punch coming and starts to dodge, realizing only at the last moment that it's a feint. His other hand brings the tankard down on her head, bringing velvety blackness.
* * *
"Do you want to tell me about this?" The woman asks, mildly. She holds in her hands, the back towards the girl, a familiar playing card. Robin can see the Unicorn design on the back.
The girl can't stop the stab of panic that goes through her at seeing what she guesses is her Trump of Julian in someone else's hand, and she surges forward (as much as she can). Not in an attack but in the desperate desire to get back what she feels may be her last strand to sanity.
As she surges forward Robin feels as if she is tied to the chair. The adrenaline rush overcomes the lingering effects of whatever drug Hartwell gave her.
"Give it back!" Robin yells.
The woman smiles and puts the card on the table, face down.
"Who is the man pictured on it? How many of you alien spies did he bring here?"
"Hunh??" Robin says intelligently. And her dumb-founded expression backs her up.
Then the Ranger starts laughing and shaking her head. "Look... ma'am." Not sarcastic at all, oh no. "If he wanted to bring alien spies here, he'd certainly do better than me. There's no invasion going on. I'm just..." and here Robin begins to struggle with her bonds, "passing through. On my own. Like I told Hartwell."
"Better than you? Perhaps. You're no witch. But you are a foreigner and you do have the Unicorn Sign on this Magical device. I dislike signs and portents I don't understand."
"Very well. If you won't tell me who he is and why you carry his talisman today, perhaps you will do so tomorrow."
Robin is lifted by magic a foot off the ground and is carried like a balloon on a string down a short hallway and down a dark stair. The paralysis and the odd angles prevent Robin from grabbing shadow to shift. She hears a door open and she is put into a small dark room. The door is shut and she is in total darkness, somewhere underground. After she hears what must be the lock being shut, her invisible bonds fall away and she falls to the packed dirt floor.
"Shit!" Robin shouts as the fall jars her aching head. And grabs her head as the echo make the pounding worse.
"Great. Just great." The Ranger pulls herself to her feet and starts patting herself down in the faint hope that her captors have overlooked some things. Most notably her tinder and a candle.
Nope. Not thinking about it. Not! Robin mutters to herself angrily, letting her ire push back the shadows... the darkness, the sense of the walls closing in. It was bad enough beneath the crumbling ruin of Amber's halls, but here!
Locked in. Underground. Robin finds that her breath is beginning to race and her hands shake.
"Avis? Is that you?"
Robin reflexively looks around to see who is speaking and whom is being addressed. Then snorts derisively at herself. Robin, it's dark! You idiot!
"Uh. Don't think so." Is the Ranger's rather tentative answer. "Who's there?" Still patting, but not so much incipient panic right now.
"It's Siege. I'm in a cell."
Robin cocks her head, listening carefully in the darkness for the direction, distance and tenor of the hoped for reply.
She thinks it comes from the direction of the cell door, which is metal and has no openings. It doesn't even have a handle on this side.
"Well, dung." The Ranger mutters to herself, then raises her voice. "I think I am too." Don't think about it. Just don't. Robin decides that being infuriated is better than being... NO, don't think about it.
"Hey! Siege! Where is this place? And who is Avis?"
"I suspect it's the dungeons of the Chancellery. Avis is my... best friend's sister. Who are you? Why'd they lock you up?"
Robin suspects he was going to say something else about Avis. "I'm Robin. I'm locked up cause I've got bad portents. Or something or other."
"Well, given her tendencies, I can see how she'd lock you up for that. The Chancellor is a radical conservative these days."
"Heh." Robin chuckles grimly to herself.
The Ranger feels around the door. You know, a place like this. Underground... brrr. On an... island? Didn't the snake - no wait, that spider! -- up there say something about an island? Yeah, underground, salt water in the air, metal... not a good mix. Robin starts working the probabilities. Surely one corner or other of this door isn't as sound as it should be.
"Keep talking to me, Siege." Robin hopes that her commanding tone of voice will hide the need behind that order. "What're you in for?"
"Declining to compromise my principles. You never said if you were a witch. Can you get us out of here?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?!" The question is only half rhetorical. "No, I'm not a witch. And yep, I'm hopin' I can get us out of here. Your job, Siege, is to keep talking. Or making noise. Whistle. Sing. Anything. Make sure I can hear your voice. Cause... silence would be bad."
"Real bad," the Ranger whispers to herself.
'Fear not, Lady."
"I am Lord Commander of the Brotherhood of the Stag and have served the Lady in three wars: that against the Witch Queens when I was a knight, that against the black warriors, and her current war against Chancellor Vianis, who has betrayed the Mother and the church and reverted to olden ways.
"The civil war has lasted a decade, and many brave Danu have died fighting each other for a heresy that we would have said was all but eliminated when I was a child.
"My troops have been harrying the Dark Ones around Lady's Town, which is what we used to call this port, before they took it. Avis, the Lady's daughter, is keen to recapture it. She is convinced that if we do, we can contact her brother Vere and gain the aid we need to turn the tide of this war in our favor."
Robin continues her examination and manipulation of the stuff of the door. Particularly in the lower corners where the abrasion against the floor has scraped and dinged the metal, letting the corruption and rust in. And really, really not paying attention to the fact that she's probably white-faced and shaking.
Work, kick, scrabble. Robin tries to get through the door. After a few moments of concern she finds that she succeeds. She is rewarded with a small corner of the door kicked out, enough, perhaps for a mouse to get through. But it does let in light from the corridor.
[*Clang!*]
"Robin?"
A rueful laugh is his answer. "Well, I'm going to have to lose a little weight before I get out that way." The rue goes along way to disguising the relief in Robin's heart as light filters into the room. The young Ranger resists the urge to drop down and just breathe through the mouse hole.
"I'm still good, Siege. How you doin'?"
"Cross, hungry, and in the dark."
"Brotherhood of the Stag, hunh? Think I met someone else from that."
"Hartwell. My trusted Lieutenant. A man who, if he has caused Avis to come to harm, I will see dead." The last is said with equanimity, as if he is discussing killing a mosquito.
As she keeps up her questions, Robin glances around the room, blinking away the... sweat -- yeah, that's it -- the sweat from her eyes.
The room is small and dank and apparently they don't care if one falls in the privy in the corner. There is a stone platform that may be a 'bed'. This is not a place one would like to stay for long. The amount of light and air are only satisfying relative to the total lack that went before.
"Heh. Can I thump him first? I owe him a thumping." There's no real malice in Robin's voice. In fact, she kind of likes Hartwell. But she still needs to thump him. Badly.
"Of course. He always did have a way with the ladies."
"Shit! Not a lever to be found." But lots and lots of wet stone. Wet underground stone. The girl shivers again and her hands start to flutter. Okay, enough of that. The door it is.
"Owww." Robin murmurs in advance as she looks speculatively at the mouse hole. Bending down, she shoves her fingers through the hole, attempting to gauge the thickness of the door.
Thick enough that the strongest mortal man could not break it down. That is to say, not thick enough. The door is sheathed in metal but is made of wood. There is definitely some rot, but Robin's best guess is that she might be able to force it, with enough violence.
"Lady Robin," Siege says, remembering her request for a steady steam of conversation, "I have told you of myself, but I am drenched in curiosity about you. This place tends to be used for political prisoners. Why are you here?"
"Really, Siege. I have no idea. I was just passing through. Stopped in to get a hot meal. Wham! Portented, omened, drugged, and hit on the head with a tankard." Robin chuckles as she gets into position, snaking her as many fingers of one hand as far as she can through the mouse hole. "He really does have a way with women, you know."
"Next thing I know, I'm talking to the boss. Annndd, I guess my headache and the fact that I was all... paralyzed and restrained made me a bit testy. So she threw...." Robin's voice trails off and she shakes her head. No! Stay focused.
"Okay, this next bit may be a little loud. But... please..."
Robin gets as good a grip as she possibly can on the door via the mouse hold. Then the girl wraps her other hand around her wrist. With light steps, the Ranger braces both of her feet on the wall beside the door, so that the tension of her own arm holds her 'crouching' parallel to the floor. A couple of deep breaths and the Ranger 'stands' out from the wall, letting her powerful thighs do most of the work.
Robin strains mightily and at about the point at which she thinks she may break before the door does, something gives way. Robin lies back and determines that the door took more damage than she did, but not by much.
in one particular, however, Robin is incorrect; breaking the door is not merely a little loud, but rather a lot loud like a gong is a lot loud. Robin's fingers are damp with sweat and the slick door, but she has bent the door enough in it's hinges that she can get to the bar outside it and open it.
She does so and exits. The corridor is only dimly lit, and there are several cells. At one end is a door, at the other, a stairwell. From behind one, Siege says "Lady Robin? How went that phase?" Other than her own breathing, it is the only sound Robin hears.
Robin is panting in the corridor, but a grin dances around her lips. Okay -- deep breath goes in -- still underground -- deep breath goes out - but not trapped anymore.
"Ohhh," Robin's voice comes back to the Lord Commander. "Better than not, I suppose. Hang on there." The Ranger stretches and rotates her aching shoulders and arms. And tiptoes, in an attempt to straighten out her back, over to Siege's door.
Once there, she lifts the bar free and sees if she can open the Danu's door with less soft tissue damage to herself.
Siege's cell door is easily opened and Robin peers into the darkness. "It's a feeble light, my lady, but it will still take me a moment to adjust to."
"It's okay. Take your time." Robin leans back against the wall near the door, concentrating on just getting her breathing back under control after the exertion and the... no, still can't think about it. It's getting better but she's still... buried in the earth. The walls seems to lean a little forward in the Ranger's vision and she swallows nervously a couple of times.
Shortly, Siege walks out, blinking and looking the worse for his time in a cell.
He bows. "Thank you, Lady Robin. I think my grandmother must have miscalculated when she decided to capture you."
Robin snorts a little. "I doubt it. I don't think she misses much. I figure that she's got me right where she wants me." But the relieved smile on the girl's face takes any sting out of her words.
He is recovering and reorienting himself as she watches. Robin suspects that he is a formidable fighter, or will be when he gets back in shape.
"We need a plan, and the only one I can think of is a bad one, involving ambushing our gaoler when she comes to bring us food. The problem with it is that it won't get us past the spells at the top of that stairway." He abruptly changes the subject. "Let me see your hands."
Robin looks down at them herself and decides he's probably concerned about the blood. Apparently the slickness wasn't because the door was wet.
"Oh." The Ranger is non-committal about the damage to her hands, but she holds them out for Siege's inspection from where she is leaning against the wall.
"This will need looking at. Later." He rips a bit of his shirtsleeve off and does a quick wrap and tuck with it for bandaging. Robin could probably hold a sword, but a bow might be problematical. And she hopes this shadow doesn't believe in microbes.
He also looks at the door.
"Hysterical strength." Robin volunteers. Then holds up her bandaged hands with a crooked smile. "Thanks."
"Look, Siege, we don't really have a lot of time here. I wasn't quiet. And if your... grandmother has an ounce of sense, she'll have had me watched."
"And now is when it gets especially dangerous for a nice man like you. We've got to get me out of here as quickly as possible." Robin's smile is a little shaky, but she's trying. In the back of her mind lurks the worry of what she could do to this shadow and her jail-mate if she - a pattern weilder - loses it.
He smiles. "In the Brotherhood, we lead by example, my lady. If we were to win this war and I were to retire, then perhaps I would be a nice man. Now I am a warrior captured in the heart of the enemy's citadel. I do not fear to cause them harm or that harm may come to me."
Robin smiles at this misunderstanding and decides that maybe she had better not tell the nice man who's helping her that he's standing next to a powder-keg.
"Is there somewhere other than the front door that we could try? Other things than guards and prisoners have to come in and out of here, right?"
Yes, I expect so. I did not spend time here...before." _before they betrayed us_." But if this were my dungeons, I'd at least have some storage behind that door. Shall we look, my lady?"
For such a confident guy, he's surprisingly deferential to your lead.
The young Ranger is used to having men defer to her lead in combat situations, but it does strike her that this man is not one of the Rangers.
"Yeah. Well, since these others will probably be just more of the same. Let's give it a try."
Robin strides forward and opens the door. Quickly and ready for anything on the other side. If she surprises the linens, so be it. Dignity is not her priority right now.
Behind the door is a room with supplies both mundane and disturbing. Shelves along one wall include folded and stacked towels next to thumbscrews of assorted sizes. There are whips and braziers and mops and buckets. The floor slopes slightly downward towards a grate at the far end. There are no elaborate tourturer's devices (no strappado, no iron maria, no rack), but there are enough tools to make someone wish she hadn't been brought here.
"Well, well. I see they've been getting creative in here." His mouth is a hard, thin line. "Your pardon, Lady. This is barbarism that my people should be well beyond."
As Robin opens the door, she is taken aback for a moment. By what, it's not exactly clear. But Siege gets an sad sympathetic smile and an understanding pat on the shoulder at his comment.
Steeling herself, the young Ranger enters the room. Picking a couple of the longer and stronger pokers, she tosses one to Siege. Not great, but better than bare hands against a sword. Then she turns her attention to the grate, big enough for a plush ranger? Or a big guy like Siege? She measures consideringly.
Big enough for a wookie, if need be. If it's not too deep and the water at the bottom doesn't flow too quickly, they may be able to walk along whatever is at the bottom. Siege gets the idea and grabs the bars and begins to heave. Robin thinks it's held in place by tradition and time (and gravity) more than by bolts.
It is as he is straining with it that Robin hears footsteps.
The Ranger's head cocks like a falcon at the sound, and she looks to Siege. "We're getting company. I'll handle the grate. You hold the door."
She shoulders the Lord Commander aside, sets her feet, gets a grip (hah!) and heaves. All the while Robin is trying very hard to avoid the fact that she's leading them into WATER! UNDERGROUND WATER! Oh, Great Green Darkness!!! The Ranger swallows nervously several times.
"Our gaoler won't come in here. She'll be back up the stairs as soon as she sees your cell door. Then it'll be a witch that's after us."
"Hmmm. Smart girl." Robin nods. Everything about this place seems well-thought-out and organized.
Siege is tying the ends of two whips together as Robin is heaving at the grate. The grate complains, but like the door is no match for Julian's child. As soon as she gets the grate open, Siege, poker in one hand, is wrapping his makeshift rope around the remains. He can shimmy down a rope fast enough to be a ranger, that's for sure. From the bottom, he calls out. "All clear! Come down; Lady Robin!"
She can't help the moment of hesitation. "Unicorn be with me," Robin murmurs quietly under her breath.
With a fierce grimace, Robin grabs up her poker and slides down after Siege. A low moan escapes Robin's lips as her boots touch and sink into the water and, to her embarrassment, she finds herself clutching at Siege. Hard.
"Oh, Green. Oh, Shit. Oh, Unicorn." The low litany of curses remains steady and Robin can only hope that Siege thinks that her rapid pants are caused by her exertion at the doors and grate.
She grabs furiously with desperate and pattern-sharpened claws - there will be bio-lumeniscent moss on the walls down here.
"S-siege? T-t- oh, green... Witch. How..." Robin shakes her head, "How w-will she track us?"
"They will have several excellent options, including, unfortunately, your blood. We should move. Right now they'll track us by listening to us talk down here."
Robin nods her understanding and, though her heart is beating in her chest like thunder, she keeps her teeth clenched and does not utter any more curses, moans or ask anymore questions.
Siege snaps the whip to free the end he attached at the top and coils it quickly, handing almost all of it to Robin.
She grabs it gratefully and holds on tight, knuckles white, as Siege moves forward.
He leads the way through the tall, dark sewers under the city, eventually leading to a spot where the water deepens in the middle and there are walkways on either side. "When they built Mother's Port, they just built it over some of the smaller rivers," he explains.
"This is a very old city. I can try to lead us out of the city or try to come up inside it. I don't think we should try to go any further down. It might help us lose the trackers, but we might not get out again. What shall we do, Lady Robin?"
"The city for me, Siege. The Chancellor has something - well, two things -- of mine that I've got to get back. But if your Avis needs you... just point me the way out. And I'll wreak havoc on my own." Robin grins weakly as she scrabbles furiously onto one of the walkways.
"You won't last 10 minutes on your own in Lady's Town, Robin. You don't look like the people here. I mean there's nothing wrong with yellow hair, but it's not natural."
The young Ranger resists the urge to pat her blonde locks and settles for an 'oh' look.
"I'll go with you, but if you want to sneak back to the Chancellery, it may not be easy."
A grateful, quiet smile wavers to the girl's lips, then falls away suddenly as she glances past the man.
Robin sees what looks to be a manta ray, gliding a foot or so above the water, hovering behind Siege. She hears a rumbling noise as well, but it comes from behind her.
"Behind you!" Robin calls as she whirls around to check her own six with the poker ready.
Robin whirls, finds nothing immediately threatening, and turns back to find that Siege has knocked the ray down hard into the water with his poker. It comes up again and she swings down and brings it down to the platform. Siege kicks it in the face, twice, and it stops moving.
"Magical construct, that. They know where we are, at the very least." He looks at the walls of the tunnel. "They're messing with the water works, probably trying to flood us out. I suggest we run and figure out where we've ended up later."
At the mention of an underground flood, Robin goes pale. Quite pale indeed. Tongue-tied and with whites showing around her eyes, she mutely nods her agreement with Siege's plan.
He takes her hand and starts off, moving more quickly and always choosing anything that looks like it goes up. The water is running faster now, although in some places it's lower, as if it has been diverted elsewhere. They go though water that is waist deep in places, and cold like a spring runoff.
Eventually they find themselves in natural caves, still lit by the strange moss. There is no water here, and Robin suspects that whatever used to run through here was diverted to provide the cloaca maxima of the port.
They are no longer running. Siege leads on, spelunking in the dim light, and eventually stops and points up. It takes Robin a second, but she sees, some 100' up, a rent in the cavern wall through which a sliver of a moon can be seen. "That's a good sign. We should be able to find an exit soon. Do you need to rest?" She is convinced he does.
"Please. I could... just stay here for a moment." Robin says, her eyes fixed on the rent, the air, the moonlight beyond. She drinks in the sight as though it were water to a parched soul, and yet, the frame of the scene - the earth, the moss, the distance - makes her plight so much more evident.
The young Ranger sinks to a seated position and settles her head upon arms resting on upraised knees. She looks over to Siege, a little embarrassed. "Thank you, Sir."
"Hmf! Without you, I'd be in a cell, or a hallway, or with a tracker ray wrapped around my neck. I should be thanking you thrice over. In fact, thanks. Women are not generally warriors in these Isles, but if there are more like you in your homeland, then I would not want to meet you on the field. I've only ever met two people in my life with strength and stamina like yours."
"It's a pity they took our gear. I'd be happier if we had something to carry some water in."
Robin chuckles into her arms. "There are more like me at home. But not many, I'll grant you that." She shakes her head ruefully.
The young woman looks around the caves with green eyes. "Something to carry water in. Hmmmm."
A soldier, she thinks, as the fire of the Pattern begins to flow along her nerves. Someone who was fleeing the battles that have wracked these Isles for the last ten years. Doesn't matter which side. Injured and on the run. Found the crack in the ground and climbed in to hide. But lost their footing and fell to their death. Body slid through there, bounced off of that outcropping and fell behind that boulder. There it lay and desiccated for years, before being stumbled upon by the fortuitous Robin and Siege.
Standing, the young Ranger brushes her bandaged hands off on her slime and yuck covered trousers and walks over to the suspect boulder curiously. And peeps behind it.
....into the hollow dark eyesockets of a man with no sense of how to fall. Well, he used to be a man. He has a canteen and a short sword, a badly made one, but definitely a weapon.
"Poor bastard." Robin tchhs, but at least he died quickly. Which starts the shivers again, so the Ranger quickly gathers up the canteen and sword and heads back to the spot under her sliver of sky.
"Now don't go getting tricky with the wishes, okay, Siege?" She says wryly, her pale lips cocked in a game smile, as she hands him the sword and canteen and returns to her seated, legs drawn up, position.
Siege opens the canteen, sniffs, and blows out the contents. He fills it from a nearby catchbasin, drinking his fill. He offers it to her and says "I suppose a ladder is out of the question? A very tall one? If he got in, we could get out the hole. If we could get up there. If not, we should try to find an exit by more conventional means."
"If you're ready, my Lady."
Siege is clearly not used to dealing with women. Or at least women who are fighters. Robin has, she suspects, confused him. But not, perhaps, in a bad way.
Robin accepts the canteen with a smile and drinks. Not enough to founder, just enough to wet her whistle. "Thanks." The girl hands the canteen back and gets to her feet.
"Let me think about this for a moment." Robin stands there, under what little open sky there is, and daydreams.
Unconsciously she turns her face into the breeze, the ever so faint breeze coming from their right. On it, the delicate whisping scent of green. Where there is one crack, there are others. This one not quite so high up. A fall of rock. A bit of a scramble true, but near the top, the crack where the rock fell after a particularly heavy rainfall. The type of rainfall that originally built this cavern.
And covering the crack, a fall of ivy, hiding the moonlight and the stars, but allowing the faint green wind that tickles Robin's face like a baby's hands.
The Ranger's emerald eyes open and she points the way out to Siege. "There."
At first he misses it, but he sees it when she points it out to him. He clambers over to investigate and looks up. "It's a narrow chimney, but I think you're right. We might be able to get out it. Can you climb, or should I go first and drop the whip back down for you?"
Robin grins as she trots over and scrambles lightly up the rock fall. "Climbing I can do, Siege." And proceeds to do so.
The smaller Ranger worms her way up into the chimney, free-climbing carefully - making sure that desperation doesn't make her do something foolish. Like drop a rock on her companion's head or something.
The feel of the stone closing in around her, brings a new bout of paleness and shakes. And at least twice Robin has to stop to wipe away sweat from her eyes. But the green breeze, growing stronger, drags her onward and upward.
And outward. Moonlight! Probably early evening. In any case, Robin doesn't think it's near morning, but it could be. She sits at the base of a hill, looking into a dark, slightly overgrown forest. The trees are not very tall, and they are a mix of temperate-to-cool types. Oak and Maple predominate. Siege climbs out after her. He offers Robin some water.
"Well. Not good, not bad. We didn't come up inside an enemy encampment, but we're probably well back into the woods. At least they won't hit us with tracker rays right away. They're too slow for country work."
Robin stretches her arms above her, breathing deeply. Slowly she spins, just feeling the air and the life around her. A bright grin creeps to her lips and her green eyes seem to glow for joy in the darkness. "Aaahhhhh." She sighs in relief.
When she accepts the canteen from Siege, it's though a weight has been lifted from her. The young Ranger's movements have become spry and whimsical, confidence dances through the lines of her shoulders and back, and she fairly sparkles with energy. The smile she treats her companion with is dazzling.
"Ooooh. I think it's pretty darn good. For being unarmed, deep in hostile territory." She chuckles. "Okay, there's a stream that way. Let's get cleaned up while you tell me how the tracker rays and whatever else you think they'll send work. I can't jinx 'em if I don't know where to nudge." Robin grins and starts trotting around the hill toward the cheerful burbling of running water.
"They're magic. I really don't know much more about them. The High Priestesses can summon them. If they're smart, they'll use dogs instead. Or hawks."
White teeth flash in the night to Siege. "Dogs or hawks, hunh? Let's hope your people are as efficient as they've been so far. Dogs and hawks are a specialty of mine."
As she jogs, completely at ease in the dark forest, the Princess of Amber lets the fire in her veins flare and spread. Comes the distant sound of thunder. A spring rain, warm yet steady begins to drizzle down, obscuring scents, washing away tracks, hindering flight.
Robin moves through the rain, allowing it to wash away the scent of the sewer until she comes upon the expected stream. Stepping in, the young Ranger begins to scrub away the filth on her boots and hands, all the while looking around for the astringent fresh-water weeds she would expect to grow in a place like this.
Vere can scold her all he likes about the marks on his land later. For right now, necessity outweighs politeness.
She finds exactly what she is looking for and Siege joins her. He is also, she feels, more comfortable in the woods than in the city. "It's been a few years since we've been here, but it's nice to know that they haven't touched this wood. Avis...Avis was fond of it."
He changes the subject. "The rain is a lucky break. It'll slow the dogs. Do you hear them?"
Robin does.
"A-yep." The Ranger nods. "Here. Rub this on your boots, sleeves, hands. Anything you think will touch something." Robin hands Siege a wet gloopy handful of the weeds, while proceeding to do the same to her own boots, etc. The girl knows from a variety of runs with the Hounds of which these are mere reflections, that this particular weed not only disguises the scent of man, but it is also unpleasant in canine sinuses. Causing a variety of sniffles, sneezes and allergic reactions.
Robin looks up the culvert as the water starts running faster with the rainfall. "Siege? You got skunks on this island?"
The rainfall fights you a bit, as if it halfheartedly wants to quit, or as if it was being affected by a pattern user. It doesn't take much effort to keep it going, though.
Which Robin does, she needs this rain. Warm, with lowering misty clouds, to keep the hawks in their mews. If it is another pattern user, she'll explain - not apologize, of course - but explain later.
"Two-legged, like Hartwell, you've met. Otherwise, no. I think they have them on the mainland. We have a base camp. It's not far from here. I need to check it."
"Think we'll get to your base camp before... silly, of course we will. Lead on, man." She grins. And cranks up the Pattern fire. While Robin and Siege's path is easy, the one behind them is not. A few well-place slashes with a sword - even a poorly made one - bring the brambles down over the path. A grunt and a heave from a plush looking Ranger dumps the log they have used as a bridge down into the culvert to wash away. The rain washes away the series of handholds they used to clamber up the embankment. Etc, etc. etc.
It takes a bit of time and they go deeper into the woods, but eventually the two come to a clearing next to a rocky outcrop. There is what is clearly a shallow cave, with more emphasis on 'shallow' than 'cave.'
"No guards, no magic barriers. This is bad."
Robin sees signs of a fight here. A broken arrow. A score in the stone. The rain has eliminated any tracks, of course. Surprisingly, she still hears the dogs. Although they haven't made any gains, she would have expected them to be further away.
"Hunh." Robin looks around, checking for subtle 'we retreated this way' messages that may have been left by the crafty woodsman.
There are some marks in the cave, they mean something to Siege. But he doesn't have a chance to mention what.
The sound of the dogs makes the Ranger lift her head and her eyes narrow. "Shit," she murmurs, "I may be having kin trouble here." The rain, the dogs... someone is working against her.
"Siege?" She looks over at the man, emerald eyes considering. "Listen, I know you got this code of honor thing going... but I'm not a nice person. And if that's one of my kin after me, they're not nice people either. It starts getting hairy, please... I want you out of here and back to your Avis. That fight is more important than this one. Understand?"
"See those marks? They didn't get out of here. Two of my brothers died here three days ago. As to Avis and the rest, if they're alive, they're prisoners. They weren't in the cells with us, though."
"My condolences." She pats the man's arm sadly. "On the positive side, I don't think Vainis would be stupid enough to kill your Avis outright. So there's still hope you can help her." Robin's voice is both sympathetic and grim, the practicalities of the situation offer hope where wishful thinking won't.
"No, she's far too valuable as a hostage or sacrifice. You're right. She'll be in the Temple."
"In the meantime, what do you have on this Island that would give those hounds pause? Badger? Wolverine?" And really hopeful, "Bear?"
"If they're still after us, they've got a witch or a priestess with them. I'm not sure I could follow you if you didn't want to be followed, even if I had half the brotherhood with me. Boar might give the dogs trouble, but we might find it witched back at us. Unless your magic is stronger."
Robin tcchs her tongue in exasperation. "I'm not trying to lose you, you silly man. I'm trying to protect... Oh, all right! Stick around, then. And pray to your Lady that it's only a witch or a priestess after us."
The Ranger laughs grimly as she tightens her grip on the poker and turns to face the woods. "There's nothing stronger than my magic," the confidence in her voice is absolute, "but it takes time and concentration. And energy to wield. Things I'm running in short supply of right now." She starts reaching for the boar, roused by the baying of the hounds and angry at the wet night. And not in a mood to charge into a 'shallow' cave. But certainly of a mood to stop that infernal racket.
There are people sneaking up on them, trying to take the two by surprise. At least four, maybe more. Good, but not great woodsmen.
Robin's green eyes dart out into the rain and darkness, then dart back to Siege's. "Incoming. Four. The white tree. The flat rock. Left cliff side. Above us. Maybe more."
She turns so that her back is to Siege's and hefts her poker meaningfully. There's going to be some skulls split before they put her back in a hole. The rain begins to pound down out of the sky, a spring deluge. Robin and Siege in the shallow cave manage to avoid most of it, but the rainfall strongly limits the use of ranged weapons.
They're holding back. Either they've been in the cells and seen the door, or they're waiting for something. It's pretty clear they know that Robin knows they're here. The bad part is that the guy behind the white tree has a horn, and he's blowing it, loudly.
"Shit." says Siege.
Also, someone's messing with her weather. Mist is blowing off and the rain is lessening. It's coming from the east.
The mouthpiece of that horn is having trouble in this weather and slips off. If it falls down the throat of and chokes that enterprising musician - so much the better.
The former, yes, the latter, no. Robin does this, but it's too late. She hears two answering horn blasts from the north and the northeast.
If someone is messing with her weather, fine. Blowing off indeed. Robin lets the rain lessen and nudges the wind to an increase. Fitful night gusts from the sea are becoming gales.
And where the heck is that boar?!
The young Ranger stands near Siege and lets her anger build. Dammit! These shadowlings are really starting to piss her off. And if Vere is backing them, he's going to be eating wrought iron! With his ass!
Robin's green eyes narrow to slits and an unconscious snarl twists the girl's lips. And blue fire begins flowing through her veins like lava. The clouds begin to rumble ominously and the air starts carrying a charge.
Robin's not sure, but she thinks more of them are coming up. They may rush the two, soon. Or the guy above them may just start dropping rocks.
"Okay. I'm about jinxed out, Siege. And they're just getting charged up. Now it gets fun." Robin readies herself for the incipient charge.
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