Dragon (S)Layers Ch. 30

Volume 4: Dereliction of Duty

Chapter VI: Devotee by Necessity

There were benefits to a keen long term memory, a fair few of them involved remembering names and faces and, as was the case at the moment, trying to find a particular rock in the cobble lining of an exterior wall. With the village of Laleah built in a series of concentric circles, there was little chance that someone could sneak up on Sarah, but she was still hyper vigilant of the encroaching shadows.

While the village prepared itself for night, Sarah crept up to the southern side of a home near the third ring of buildings, stealing a quick glance around before she crouched into a thicket of shade. Her fingers delicately traced the conical shaped cement and cobble accent that bound the corner until she found a particularly wide stone. With a little coercion she managed to loosen the rock and pry the key from underneath the compartment inside.

"Always options," she whispered to herself as she prowled away in search of her second fall-back, the West End Warehouse. Flickering torches burned at the fringes of night still trying to choke out the ambient starlight, giving every shadow a warped appearance. Sarah wasn't sure if they were people moving about, or just shadows from the central ring and she quickly found herself ducking from place to place in hopes she'd get where she needed to be sooner rather than later.

Sarah crept along a thin rail of darkness that separated a pair of shops from a group of houses clumped together haphazardly. The flickering lights from coaches moving around played across the dirt like fingers waiting to strangle her if she should misstep and for just a moment Sarah considered heading back to the inn- it was suicide, of course, but there were some things that couldn't be left behind. Not now. . .

She'd get her papers and then she'd decide what way to head next; she'd fostered good relations in Cheawood and with a few coins in the right pockets, she could probably get herself set up in a position of importance. One with several thick walls between her and the outside world. Just for a little while.

Just for a little while.

Sarah peeked, ducked back and peeked again. No one was going by so she sprinted for the opposite side. Into the darkness, further and further. In no time at all she was panting, practically heaving air into her overworked body. She was too old for this. Much too old. By the time she eventually did find her old warehouse a sinking feeling punched her right in the stomach.

It'd been ten years since she'd seen Laleah, a lot had changed in that time and a lot more hadn't. What had changed was the decrepit shell of the building; it was clean plaster and what appeared to be several layers of white wash! The double doors facing the main street were closed and barred with good timber and a new truss held a small overhang that hadn't been there when she bought the building. Coming around the rectangular building she found that the back door had been widened into a double door frame and a chime hung over it. Above that was a small wood sign shaped like a couple of sprockets.

Curious.

Curious and irritating.

Very irritating.

Sarah took a deep breath and edged around the building to the side 'office'. Her key slotted in smoothy and turned the mechanism. She ducked inside to find the wide building separated into two distinct parts with one side of a divider strewn with piles of scrap wood and metal atop a thin layer of straw dust and chaff. The front of the building held a stone mill with bags of flour packed on pallets ready to be taken out.

As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she made out several features in the middle of the room, including a rudimentary wood floor and some of the struts that had been re-enforced with metal plating to keep the roof from collapsing. Wise, really; it'd been sagging when Sarah bought the place. What was less wise was the fact that the wood flooring covered her steel box. She stood up slowly, taking in the room with fresh eyes. A few small work benches were pushed up against the side wall, lined with all manner of jewelers tools and tinkering equipment and a scale big enough to weigh bullion. There was even a set of springs hanging from one of the boards that punctuated the wall beside a few woodworking tools.

Sarah pushed up her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. It might not have been so bad but she wasn't going to cut through the floor with a damned scorp. She walked over to one of the benches looking for something she could use. "Come now, what've we here-"

Something clicked. Nails on wood. Sarah wheeled on the noise, finding a broad shouldered dog staring right at her. Tawny coat, brown muzzle. Jaws as big as her head. Ears perked forward, bushy tail wagging slightly. It had to have been up to her stomach at the shoulders. They stared at one another. Sarah felt her body go numb.

It snarled.

Sarah leapt for the bench. She scrambled over the tools, banging her knee painfully into the drill she was looking for seconds ago. The dog barked loudly, sharp thunderous barks that echoed like gunshots through the warehouse. She felt teeth nip at her calf as she climbed higher, bracing her foot on the hanging tools and reaching for the cross member. Then a tugging when she finally grabbed it- the dog grabbed her coat, trying to yank her down. But fear lent her strength and Sarah wrapped her leg around the thick timber. She clung to it tightly, trying to swing her body weight around.

Again the animal yanked on her coat, pulling at her shoulders painfully. The older half-elf let out a strangled grunt and pulled herself tighter, silently praying that the wood had been replaced. After another attempt, she pushed to the side and rolled her weight around, freeing her coat- and herself- from the dog's grasp. Much to his frustration.

The dog barked furiously, lowering his body while Sarah rolled herself around to sit in the tiny alcove between the beam and the roof. The dog looked up at her, shoved up off its fore paws and tried to snap at her feet. She jerked her leg up out of reflex but relaxed when she was sure he couldn't get to her. Her heart slammed against her ribs hard enough that she felt dizzy looking down at the animal. She grabbed one of the supporting beams, looking down as she tried to convince her body to relax.

The dog kept barking, louder and louder. He'd pause for a moment and then start again while Sarah tried to get her senses about her. This was going horribly wrong already, but Sarah clung to her perch for all she was worth, seconds pounding through her veins between strangled sips of air. "You. . . .how very uncouth." Sarah managed around a sigh. She leaned against the beam with closed eyes. Just a moment longer was all she needed. She looked down to see the dog staring up at her, he was hunching down a bit in preparation of another barking fit.

"Sonofabitch. . ." Sarah clenched herself against the beam, considering her options and finding none available. If she used her ability to entropy the roof, it might've come in on her. If she tried to set something on fire, the dog might've been hurt and gods knew what other kind of undue attention it'd bring to her. No. . . .there really was no easy way out of this. Sarah looked at the dog, frowning. It barked at her. "Yes, yes. This isn't pleasant for me either."

The two of them sat, such as they could in their respective positions, looking at one another while minutes dissolved into the ether, with Sarah occasionally peeking for spots she could exploit and ways she could get out. She was about to try the roof when the office door clicked loudly. Sarah crunched herself into the shadows as best she could- already knowing it was a lost cause.

A young man opened the door with a small lantern and what, Sarah was sure, passed for a grimace across his lips. "What is it?" He belted out, faltering when he saw where the dog's attention was focused. He squinted, raising his lantern. "You're not Erbin. Who the hell are you?"

"The truth is stranger than fiction, I fear!" Of course, truth was the last thing on Sarah's mind. She tried to shout over the barking animal. "I saw your sign out front, I thought this might've been a local shrine to the Great Engineer!"

"You thought wrong, miss."

"It's not the first time I've been mistaken on matters of my own faith!" At least that much was true. The man eyed her a moment and slowly made his way across the room. When he was close, the dog acquiesced his control of the situation but never stepped out of sight, tracking his 'catch' like a hawk. With the two looking up at her Sarah flashed a winning smile. "A face as lovely as the voice that accompanies it. Tell me, good man, since this isn't a temple, what is it you do here?"

"I think I should be asking the questions, don't you? You're trespassing-"

"For purely benign purposes! It was never my intent to break into a building I'd be unwelcome in, forsooth, I'd sooner have walked in on two people making love than that!" Sarah dampened her lips. "My name is Sarah, dear. Engineer Kettar if you prefer."

He looked at her skeptically. "You're an Engineer. . ."

"I am!"

The man looked around. "Wait here." He turned away and checked the most obvious points of entry for signs of damage, finding none he looked back up at her. "Why don't you come down here and we can talk about it."

"Gladly! Be so kind as to ensure your friend there doesn't take a chunk from me, would you?"

"Yeah, get down here. . ."

Sarah carefully made her way across the beam to the bench and eventually climbed down. The moment her boots touched the floor the dog started growling again and she backed up, reaching for her pendant. "Here we are, dear." She managed a surprisingly calm voice as she held the three interlocking gears aloft for the young man to see. The most recognizable form of the Engineer's power and priesthood, it didn't take long for the boy to relax his suspicions and calm the animal down.

The awkward silence that lingered in the wake of this was enough to grate on Sarah's nerves. She was no closer to getting her paperwork than she had been an hour ago and now she had to figure out how to keep from being arrested, or worse. . .

"You've quite the workshop, I must say! I haven't seen many coils this fine outside of the Free States, but I'm curious what you use them for. Nothing here seems geared towards machinery outside of the mill, and even that's a bit simple, isn't it?"

"Well, ah-" he looked away. "It's a work in progress. . . .I've been trying to- well, my father." He started to pace absently, wearing a thin line in the straw while his dog watched Sarah's every breath. "I uh- well." He cleared his throat. "My father owns the place. I begged him to let me set up shop here, but it's kind of hard to turn a profit when no one has any need of what you make- Oh, Chac, relax. She's a friend."

The dog looked up at him, then her. Then, to her surprise it started panting as though nothing had happened.

"Sorry, he's a Mawik breed. I'm Taris, that's Chac. This is my workshop and, uh, it's kind of a wreck. . . Sorry about that."

"Not at all!" Sarah eased into her usual persona with a confident smile, offering her hand. "Engineer Kettar, originally of Almoor, if you can believe it."

"I noticed the accent. . . .do you need a moment? I mean, can I get you something to drink? I mean-"

"It's fine, dear. Really, just a case of mistaken identity. I should probably be going, though, I've already taken up so much of your time! Terribly sorry to have woken you." Sarah stepped around him and headed for the door. As she neared the door, a flicker of light caught her attention through the crack. In the space between a pair of buildings. Men on horses were trotting through the rings of buildings wearing light armor with crossbows on their belt and short blades close at hand.

At first Sarah was ready to write it off, then she saw the signet embroidery on the cloak; that of the Sorash militia. There was no question, they had to have come for her. She could have dared to hope they'd come for the Ace of Diamonds girl, but the likelihood of that particular venture bearing fruit was next to nil. She was a professional, these men were commoners.

Sarah turned away from the door, ducking away and easing it closed as the man trotted past. Taris was rearranging his bench. He had no idea what was going on with her and the guard and he didn't need to- but she needed a place to hide out for a while and so long as she had access to the building she might be able to get to her paperwork. . .

Yes. This was going to be how it'd have to be.

"So, tell me, young man! Have you any exciting projects in the works?"