After opening one eye carefully and listening for humming gears, Alowishus Bligh gingerly pushed himself up and leaned on his side, counting limbs and spitting out a bit of blood.
“How could I not have known that she would never allow me to finish?” he thought to himself as he came fully to. “She’s gone off to slay an innocent who is utterly uninformed of any of her nasty secret, the crucial bits of which she hardly possesses herself. If only I had gotten to the point sooner. Then not only would she see that Addlebrass is unaware, but she would finally know the truth herself…”
Having satisfied himself that he was largely intact, Alowishus sat up and surveyed his surroundings, noting by the sky that he had been out for some time. Deciding it would be safest to take his time about standing, he began to sense another presence nearby. As his eyes cleared a bit more and he saw the figure approach, he recognized one of perpetrators of the Addlebrass Kidnapping looking down at him.
“You look a roight mess, you do,” blubbered Noddy Vin Klaus.
“Well,” retorted Alowishus, “you hardly miss a thing, I see. It’s hard to believe the old man got away from the likes of you.”
“Yore clockwork’s gone all on a rampage, don’ it look loik,” came the criminal’s smug answer.
“My clockwork, is she? Or your executioner?” wondered Alowishus studying Klaus, not expecting to get another chance to do so.
“Oy ain’ afraid of ‘er. Oy’ll catch ‘er an’ find that ol’ man. An’ e’ll lead us roight t’ that gold sheep.”
“Ah, the Quest For the Golden Fleece. A shame it is that you’ll comprehend too late the true nature of what it is you seek,” lamented the old man shaking his head carefully.
“Oh, oy can spend gold same as any man, can’t oy?” spat the oaf indignantly.
“I hardly doubt you can,” came the older man’s sage reply, “yet can you spend dreams? Delusions? Tragic blunders?”
“Oy dunno what yore on about, ol’ man. But you’ll see, won’ ya?”
“Oh yes, I shall see indeed,” agreed Alowishus coming to his feet. “But I do wonder if you will…”
Klaus shook his head, having long ago exceeded his cerebral aptitude and not coming to grasp with any of this. “Off oy go, to catch meself a dolly.”
Alowishus grinned, “Yes, my good man. You go do that.”
Klaus lumbered off down the alley leaving the old man to collect himself.
Alowishus dusted himself off, preparing to make his way toward the Asylum, popping first into Ruby’s for some required replenishment. It would likely be a spectacular All Hallow’s Evening festival this year; quite probably a good ways more extravagant than anyone was expecting…
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