In a New Babbage park, one cold spring
morning, two women were conversing. One, a tall dancer, with the most
amazingly long and slender legs, brown haired with glasses. The
other, slightly shorter but larger and more muscular in build. Red
hair and dress, with body language suggesting she could handle
herself. They were discussing the local climate, which mostly
consisted of soot and grime.
A local street urchin bounded past and
off down an alleyway, looking for someone with unguarded pockets.
There was a lull in talk of the
weather, and the conversation turned to why the dancer was in the
city.
“I escaped from some pirates.” She
stated nervously “They seemed to think I would fetch a high price.”
The woman in red smiled coldly. She did
not seem surprised by this revelation.
“I know” She replied “A
panther and a man with a wooden leg wasn’t it?”
The dancers eyes widened as she
recognised her recent tormentors. “You know them?”
The red womans eyes glinted. She
reached into the folds of her dress and pulled out a pistol with some
kind of electrical coil running down its barrel.
“I know them.” she answered, her
voice full of menace “And they are offering quite a reasonable sum
for your return.”
The dancer looked around frantically
for help, but it was a cold morning and the park was empty. She
turned back to the dangerous woman with panicked eyes, started to say
“please”, but was cut off as a lightning bolt arced from
the pistol and through her body, throwing her to the floor and into
unconsciousness.
The red lady walked over to the prone
dancer and nudged her with a booted foot. No movement. She reached
down, easily hefted the limp figure onto her shoulder and headed off
into the fog.
Be First to Comment