by Power, P. S.
"Who knows? I've been thinking about it and it might be anything. You could have been sent along just to keep me company for all we know. Or, and this is my best guess, so take it to heart, it might be that we're supposed to be delayed in our research of the High Council. Why? I don't know the situation on the ground there at all, so I couldn't tell you. If you're out here however, then you can't magically show up without me. It isn't the most brilliant idea that I've ever heard, but we can't know what Saran and Clarice have going on."
She decided to stop asking. After all she was going to have all that whining to do later and pushing Clark into annoyance now wasn't a great plan. Not that she was really going to complain all that much. It wasn't going to help after all. She adjusted the way her instruments were sitting on the horse. That part was funny, but everyone had suggested she bring them along. Including Bard Benjamin and First Mate Paul. Even Mara had suggested she be ready to play.
In a way, that was kind of reassuring, since it was at least something she could do, and if they needed a disguise, they could pretend to be traveling Bards, seeking employment. That happened, right?
As it turned out, it was part of how they were paying for the inn. The owner had come to meet them, and suggested that, if the young man could play at all, that a room could be traded for the service. Pran rolled her eyes.
"Girl." She waited for the man to blush a bit and then wrinkled her nose at him, smiling cutely. After all, he hadn't meant to be insulting. He'd just lucked into it. "As for playing, well, would you like to hear for yourself?"
It was nearly the first thing that they'd done, going into Humboldt and this was the second person they talked to, but already Pran was making music. It was kind of rewarding, even if she had to play standing up, the pain from having ridden for hours already taking her.
After three songs they had a room, and an offer to stay for the winter. The whole thing. Just on the condition that she play every night for them there. Before she could say no, the man, who was older and a bit grizzled, clapped twice.
"It comes with meals. We don't need a guard here, but the village could use one, for the whole thing. We've had some shifty sorts in lately. A few days ago we had two men traveling together, what didn't even know where they were going! Just going, they said. Like that makes any sense?"
Pran nodded, and started to finger a light tune, while Clark asked a low voiced question.
"Two men you say? One with a full beard, in dark color and the other with a bit of stubble?" Stroking his cheek he got the idea across well enough.
The man in front of them actually clapped twice.
"That's right. Friends of yours? They didn't say they were waiting for anyone in particular."
Pran shrugged.
"Did they still have that ridiculously heavy wagon with them? We both figured they'd go to horse back as soon as they could, but they aren't well traveled, I don't believe. It might not have occurred to them." The whole time she kept playing a relaxing little ditty, the guitar strings barely whispering. It wasn't that complex, but it made good background music for the conversation. It seemed less sinister that way, like they were really just asking after some friends.
"That's them! Still had that wagon too, last I seen. Left, oh, three days ago? So, do you want the place for the winter?" He seemed hopeful, as if she might say yes.
"It's a kind offer. We need to find our friends, but perhaps in a week or so? Provided no one else comes along that can fill the position, I mean?" Pran said it gently, and the man shook his head.
"Doubtful that will happen. You're good, for one so young. Better than we normally see around these parts. Do you need to run out right at the moment? You could stay the night... We have a nice mutton stew and a berry pie for desert?"
It sounded very nice. For one thing, Pran was nearly certain that the chairs in the place wouldn't be moving, shifting side to side painfully, but Clark had to go and ruin it, laughing and pulling her out without saying much more at all. The only thing he asked was which way the wagon headed. The inn keeper didn't know, but they asked on the way out of the tiny village and two people pointed the same way. Out to the West. The opposite way to what they came in by, on the same stone street.
It hurt a lot worse now, riding. They did it, and Clark didn't mention being in horrid pain, so she kept her mouth shut and kept going. It was another several hours later, nearly four more, that Clark held up a finger to his mouth and pointed off to the side of the road, into some woods. There were cart tracks. Except they weren't from a cart at all, being far too wide for that. It took a few seconds, but Clark signaled that he wanted her to get off the horse, and wait for him there, while he moved into the woods.
At least she figured that was the case. She liked the sound of it better than her going to get the men herself. Not that she was afraid of them. They were, after a fashion, known to her and while they might not be perfect, she didn't think they'd hurt her just for sport. To escape? Oh, that they'd do. Anyone might. Not just for fun. Not that she knew about at least.
Clark was off his steed and into the brush silently, vanishing instantly, but she managed to catch the reins of his huge beast, and was down herself quickly enough, by the simple expedient of falling from her own mount. It was a bit awkward, but she mainly landed on her feet and the searing pain from her crotch was only that. Pain. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle.
She really expected Clark to just come back, probably in a few minutes. After about half an hour she started to wonder what he'd found. Maybe there was a road that led onward? Or the men had built a camp? She just stood there, holding the horses in place, hoping it would be ended soon enough. As it was, they were going to end up camping out, which was a thing she wasn't looking forward to at all. Not compared to a relatively toasty and clean looking inn.
It wasn't until dark that she realized something had gone wrong. The Guardian should have been back by then, but he simply wasn't. Tying the horses to a bush, Pran set to follow along with where the tracks led. It took longer than she thought it might, since once she worked past the brush and a few bends in the undergrowth, there was an actual road of sorts. More like a dirt path. Something real though, not just what animals might have made.
Following it by feel as much as sight, she found the small camp. It was interesting, in that it had clearly been set up for a while. There were three small buildings, and while they didn't have the feeling of being lived in, there was smoke coming from one of the chimneys. That and voices from that general direction.
Pran took a deep breath and then hid under a bush on her stomach. There was a clearing between her and the tiny shack, made of dirt with a few rocks strewn around for affect. She couldn't make out what was being said particularly, and she really sort of wished that she'd been allowed to bring a weapon with her. Clark had his kinetic pistol, but the air rifle belonged to The Lament, so she hadn't been able to bring it along. Since no one had figured on them getting this close to anyone...
Really, it was a mistake, wasn't it? She didn't even have a stick with her. There was nothing in the underbrush where she was either and no rocks to use as throwing weapons.
Suddenly the activity from inside the dwelling picked up and became louder.
"Damn it, Will! We were told that the Guardian would be coming with Pran. If she's out there, then we need to go and get her."
The voice was familiar enough, being Zeke. He sounded concerned at least, instead of angry. Will, when he answered, did too, as far as that went. Why that was however was hard to tell.
"I know. It's dark out there, and that kid freaks me out. We never did figure out if she was a spy or not. Whose side is she really on? I can see that taking her and doing a Download makes sense, just like with her friend here, but if the one came in alone... Well, how likely is it that he brought a little girl with him for backup?"
There was a long pause and Zeke did something, changing where he was standing it seemed, since his voice changed.
Pran got the idea, though there were no windows on the little dwelling to peek in to. They had Clark, and were planning to replace him with someone else.
That...
Wasn't going to work for her. If she had the idea right, it wasn't going to work at all. His brain should be different than most people's from all those years of Guardian training. Moving without rhythm and all that. The other mental disciplines that they'd only hinted at to her. They weren't just going to find someone else that thought like that in their network, she didn't think. Even if they did find someone, they wouldn't have the needed skills at all.
That meant, she realized that they weren't going to have the High Guardian either. Or the High Judge, since those skills were ones that you couldn't fake very easily. So, when they got to the capital, they might be able to trust them. Being a Bard just took an artistic person though, didn't it? That was probably a thing that people from the past might be able to fake. Singing had been around for a long time after all, and so had playing and storytelling. So Clarice might be one of them.
That was less than grand to figure out, but it did give her an idea. After all, she had no weapons to speak of, and doubted very strongly that she was going to beat two grown men in a fight. So what could she do that they wouldn't expect? What would be so off center and without rhythm that they couldn't counter it easily?
She stood up, brushed her dark clothing off and walked to the little door, and then...
Knocked. Politely.
"Zeke? Will Butcher? It's Pran. Go ahead and let me in. We have you surrounded. There's no possible escape." She made her tone sound nearly giddy, as if she were joking around with them.
"What?" This came from Will, who sounded scared. Really frightened, almost to the point of panicking. She didn't want that, since he clearly had some kind of weapon in there. They had to have something good, if they took Clark alive.
She knocked again.
"Yep. The horses and I have you covered. Open up now. We don't have all day for this, I have news for you."
She did too. Oh, it was all made up, but they didn't know that. Not yet.
The door made a small scratching sound, scraping as it opened, and a weapon pushed out at her. It was like a kinetic pistol, but had a strange closed end on it. She stepped to the side and grabbed it from Will's fingers as it hummed wildly, making her feel faint. It was in his left hand, and while not broken, he was still too banged up to fight her very well. Probably right handed too, but that arm had a splint on it. If he knew how to fight at all, it didn't show as he gasped in pain from the sudden action.
Then, almost as if by reflex, she turned the weapon and tested it on the bearded man. It worked pretty well, this bit of old tech. He went down like a sack filled with potatoes.
When she stepped into the small room, it was well lit, electric lights hanging from the ceiling in several places. It was nearly too bright, to be honest. Zeke was standing there with another of the sound making devices in his hand, pointing it at her, but he was polite enough not to use it yet, so she didn't either.
"Now that's a fine hello, isn't it? After all that work I did getting him free too. You know what? I'm keeping all his stuff. He still has a house and a barn mainly full of meat." She moved past Will, and then turned her back on the other man, carefully pulling the downed one into the room, so that she could shut the door. It was chilly outside and all the heat would be escaping. "My hands are still tingling. Anyway, there's been a change of plans. You and Will are supposed to go to that base thing, because both Clark and I are immune to the Download thing. I mean, we could go inside the Network, but not get out? I don't know all of it, so don't ask, but it has something to do with how our brains are built?" She shrugged, waiting for Will to groan or try to get up. He didn't move at all however. She had to check to make sure he was breathing, which he was.
To her left there was a table set up, with Clark strapped to it. Those were made of thick leather, with large buckles on them. He was looking right at her, but had a gag in his mouth, his right hand working, trying to undo the bonds still. She turned away from him, her new weapon pointed at the ground.
"Do you know where that is? The place you need to go?"
"The Utah compound? I suppose, who told you all this?"
She looked at the man, who needed a shave, she realized. That or to let his beard grow all the way out. Right now he looked like a bandit.
"I got word from Doctor Millis. Where he got it from I don't have a clue. For all I know he made it all up, because he likes us." She looked at the man, who was still pointing his strange looking weapon right at her. It had a nice bluish silver sheen to it. Decorative. She liked it, though it didn't seem much like a real pistol at all, now that she had a good chance to look at it.
"I... We were told to take both of you, to control the investigation into us. No one mentioned the conversion process not working on you." Zeke looked at Will, and noticed that he hadn't been fired on yet, it seemed, since he relaxed a bit. That didn't get the thing lowered at all, but a bit of tension left him. "Was there a code given for this?"
That nearly got her to freeze up. Was there supposed to be a code for things she was just pulling from her behind like that? She sighed and shook her head.
"Not exactly. Doctor Millis did say that I should let you know that Michael Morse is a Jackass? Does that mean anything to you?" She didn't let herself hold her breath, but still jumped when he laughed, since it came so suddenly.
"Oh, that sounds like the Doctor at least. Well, when the others get here they can help with it. I can't do the processing anyway and Will won't wake up for a bit. I can offer you a meal? Dried meat and some fruit. It's mainly what you got for us."
He turned, so didn't notice Pran lifting her weapon and shooting him. Or at least he shouldn't have. He moved to the side, dropping to a knee and fired back. Pran wasn't half as elegant, tripping over Will like she was, but she kept spraying the room with invisible sound. The hum was deafening, but enough of it caught the man in front of her that he went limp, and after a second, more head on blast, he dropped like Will had.
The problem there was that the man had also hit Clark, who was just as asleep as the other two men. Pran wanted to curse, her left hand side numb, she noticed, now that it was all over.
"I must have taken a partial hit." She said it our loud and then sighed. If there were people coming, she wasn't in any position to fight them. Not alone. "So... What to do?"
Technically, at the moment, she had two prisoners. That wouldn't do her a lot of good, depending on who was coming, if anyone really was. Zeke had seemed pretty certain they were, but she would have lied about that, if she were him. He might have too. What she could do was try to get Clark out of there, and at least hidden. She shot Will again, so he wouldn't wake up, and had to just hope that it wouldn't kill him. Then, slowly, over the next half hour, she managed to get Clark free and slowly, with one hand, drag him outside. It wasn't all the way to the horses or anything, but after a while he opened his eyes, and while he couldn't help much yet, he did a little, as the feeling slowly started to return to her left arm.
By the time they got all the way back to the giant and shaggy war beast and her far more proper horse, he was able to nearly walk. She still had to help him get up on the horse, and then lead them both, on foot, down the road, as fast as she could. It wasn't a good pace at all, given everything. Mainly it was the dark, and
her own limping. She didn't hurt, but her leg wasn't working totally yet, either.
There were lights, eventually, that came from the sky, along with a roaring sound. She moved the beasts, the still loopy Clark and herself off the path, and hid under an evergreen tree. The bright light seemed to be looking for them, so either they'd been told to search, whoever these new people were, or they really just liked to look around when they had a chance.
Either way, she huddled there, trying to calm the horses, and not moving for a very long time. In fact, Clark was nearly recovered when she felt ready to leave, though not walk. She wasn't riding a horse at night, but the light from the sky vanished and had a while before, seeming to move further away. She walked them, silently, not even speaking to her friend.
Not until morning.
When light came, she rested the horses and he slid off, all signs of shakiness having left him, finally.
"Well, that could have gone better. Did you see the weapon they used? I don't recall ever having heard of that before. I couldn't move."
She pulled the one she had from her waistband.
"I got one. That and some information is about all I have to show for this. What are we going to do, Clark? Someone on the High Council set us up to have our lives stolen! I don't know if you heard Zeke, but that part seemed pretty real. This whole thing was a trap for us. What do we do?" She could hear the panic in her own voice now. It had been a feeling that had grown while the giant light searched for them, like an eye from outer space, searching for them without end. Oh, it had finally left, but it could return at any time, couldn't it?
There may not always be a tree handy to hide under either.
She nearly asked what they could do again, when Clark smiled and shook his head.
"What can we do? Add some confusion to the whole thing. You and I will stay out for the whole two weeks, and come back... acting just a little different. Then we head to the capital. They might have word that we're still us, or they might not, but we can see if faking it might just loosen things up. We can find out more about where they're hiding their main base. If we can get that, then we stand a chance of ending this, once and for all, finally." He seemed serious about it, as a plan, which left her feeling just a bit scared.
