The Winding Alleys

Beryl turned looking towards his only escape from the Dobermans that had caught sight of him.  The back alleys behind the elegant shops of Palisades were filled with frayed cables along grimy cobbled paths and hanging off of the side of buildings and fences alike.  

The path was treacherous, but it was his only hope.  He ran towards the alleys that rose and fell like the curved lane behind the Gangplank carefully watching his every step and wishing he had a pair of insulated shoes.Arnold shouted, “Drop me!  You can’t outrun them on two legs!”

“I’m not going to leave you behind!”Beryl could hear the dogs barking, accompanied by the sound of steam engines and dogs howling in agony, “Not until I know why you’re here!”

The uneven path Beryl fled down bent and curved treacherously and he had to watch his footing as he made one perilous leap after another to his next safe step.  

“This is pointless,” Arnold yelled, “They’re not going to give up now that they have your scent!”  

“They haven’t lived in New Babbage for years, they probably can’t smell anything but the air!”  Beryl countered, hoping that was true.He paused in his escape as he came to a wall that created a two way turn, a large factory laid behind it with a massive chimney, almost two-hundred fifty meters high, billowing dark black-green smoke into the sky.  

He turned around, expecting to see his pursuit growing closer, but he saw nothing.  The sounds of his pursuit had gotten farther away, not closer.  The Dobermans weren’t following him on their strange flesh covered vehicles he had seen at a distance.

Arnold was just as surprised as he was, but he started to speculate soon enough. “Maybe those steam-cycles can’t make it and they don’t want to risk going on foot.”  

“You could be right.”Beryl remembered the Dobermans prefered to travel in packs, and they didn’t have to risk coming down here. Beryl could already imagine the Dobermans barking orders to block every side alley in and out of this area and calling for Sanderson, if he lived.  

“We’re going to have to find another way out of here.”

“How?”  Arnold asked. For a moment Beryl couldn’t answer, then purred as he got an idea.  He told Arnold to hold on for a moment, which made the head growl as he was lifted to see over the wire covered wall just in front of them.“What do you see?” 

Arnold sounded annoyed as he replied, “A factory!”

Beryl sighed and asked him to be more specific.  Arnold added shortly, “The place smells less like a factory and more like what would happen if raw sewage and rotten eggs had a baby!”

“Ah!  I know where we are then!” Beryl cried triumphantly.

“You do?!”

“Of course,” Beryl said as he found a place for Arnold’s head on the wall. “That must be Popplefot’s!”