Lucky Rabbit

That single beat wasn’t repeated, and Pandy wasn’t certain whether to be relieved or disappointed. A glance at her stat sheet told her she’d gained yet another point of Life Force, bringing her up to ten. Was that it? Was gaining LF like gaining levels in skills? Was that one heartbeat the bonus for reaching ten points?

The man – Leo? – was swearing as he rubbed his eyes. The woman was silent as she stared blankly into the now-dark interior of the carriage, and Pandy’s hand was still dripping onto the floor. She really needed to do something about that, not only because she was down to negative six Life Force, but also because her blood was theoretically exactly like Thaniel’s blood at the moment. They’d worked much too hard to keep his actual blood out of these people’s hands to allow them to get it now.

Before the two… were they still kidnappers if Pandy had gone with them willingly? Before the two people could recover, Pandy cast a Spark on the floor, right where the blood was pooling. She’d been getting better at controlling her magic, rather than just letting it happen, and she made this Spark burn hot and bright, but short.

Unfortunately, even though the Spark itself was little more than a secondary flash of light, the floor of the carriage burst into flames, prompting Leo to shout another curse – Pandy wasn’t even sure what that one meant – and try to stomp it out. His foot went through the floor, his pant leg catching fire, and he howled as he grabbed onto the handle next to the door in order to pull himself back up.

After that, there was a brief kerfuffle as both man and woman used various objects to try to smother the fire, which didn’t work very well because the flames were still getting oxygen through the hole in the carriage floor. Pandy climbed up onto the nearest bench, acting as shocked and frightened as any Perfectly Normal Child would be. She did use the confusion to wipe as much blood as possible off her hand and onto the inside of her jacket pocket. Someone would definitely notice if she healed the wound, but now that it no longer had an elemental leech hanging off of it, it turned out that the cut wasn’t actually that bad, and it had almost stopped bleeding.

Eventually, Leo shouted something, and the carriage came to an abrupt stop, the horses neighing their disapproval of this change of plans. The woman flung the door open, releasing billowing clouds of smoke, while the man grabbed Pandy and hauled her out into the cold air. Both adults were coughing and waving their hands in front of their faces, eyes watering, as the carriage really got into the whole burning thing.

Running forward, Leo pulled out the same knife he’d used to cut Pandy’s hand – did that have her blood on it, too? – and cut the straps connecting the horses to the carriage. He fumbled with some buckles, but eventually handed one animal’s reins to the red-haired woman, who looked not at all pleased to receive them. She had a death grip on Pandy’s upper arm with her other hand, and the horse looked about as happy as she was with the situation, immediately moving away from the burning carriage, dragging both the woman and Pandy behind it.

Leo grabbed hold of the second horse, pulling its head around just in time to keep it from racing away from the growing conflagration. Apparently carriages were highly flammable. Who knew? He pulled ‘his’ horse over next to Ginger-Woman’s – which was an achievement in and of itself, given the size and terror-level of the equine – then stood and watched their conveyance burn.

All of this was bad enough, but the worst part was actually what the carriage driver did – or rather, didn’t do. He sat on the driver’s seat the whole time, not budging even when flames licked at his back. His milky eyes simply stared into the darkness, his hands still holding the cut lines as if prepared to direct the carriage to take off again at any moment.

“Get on,” Leo growled at Ginger, who stared at him.

“There are no stirrups, no saddle, and I’m not dressed for riding,” she protested.

With a curl of his lip, the man grasped Ginger around the waist and tossed her up onto the horse. Pandy was placed in front of her, with the woman’s arms bracketing her body, holding what remained of the reins. Under other circumstances, with another person, the position would have been fine, maybe even pleasant, but being so close to this woman made Pandy’s skin crawl.

Leo hauled himself up onto his own horse, not even sparing a glance back at the carriage or its driver, both of which were now well-alight. “Follow, and don’t fall behind,” he grunted, tapping his heels to his horse’s sides. The animal was happy enough to take off, leaving the fire behind, and Ginger’s mount needed no urging to stay on its heels.

The street down which they rode had been cold and quiet, but now windows were opening all around them. Doors banged open, and cries of “Fire!” pursued them, but no people followed. Their horses’ hooves pounded against the paving stones, the woman’s breath loud in Pandy’s ears, but they didn’t stop for what seemed like a very long time. Pandy kept her head down and her wounded hand in her pocket, trying to look like a small and frightened child.

It took a while for the sound of the river to register over the breathing and the hoofbeats, but it finally did. A short time later, the woman must have heard it as well, because her head went up and her body relaxed. “The river!” she called, but the man riding the horse ahead didn’t even acknowledge her words.

Onward they went, with Pandy taking note of the flags on the lightpoles. Most of the lights were out at this time of night, but the few that still glowed dimly in the rising fog revealed blue flags with yellow fish on them. In her nightly flights over the city and occasional forays out with Thaniel or Augustus, Pandy had realized that the different districts were marked by different flags. She hadn’t seen blue-with-fish before, but Augustus would certainly know where it was, even if he and Beeswick were unable to trace the false-blood sachet she carried.

Finally, Leo tugged at his horse’s reins, turning the animal to the right, and the woman’s horse followed obediently along. Both horses had their heads up now, their ears pricked forward rather than swiveling nervously. Pandy didn’t know much about horses, but she was guessing these two now knew they were close to home, wherever that was.

The man swung his leg over and slid down from his horse as they reached a tall, rather pointy gate set into an even taller, pointier wall. Whoever lived here definitely wasn’t interested in having visitors. Holding onto the horse with one hand, he pressed the other to the gate and murmured something Pandy couldn’t quite make out. The gate swung open, and he led the horse through, with Ginger and Pandy’s mount right behind him.

The grounds surrounding the road didn’t match the forbidding wall and gate. Bushes nestled together in neatly-trimmed rows, though no flowers remained in the beds beside them. A few trees had been cut into elongated teardrop shapes, and while the quarter-moon didn’t provide much light, it was enough to see that the vaguely humanoid objects were statues and not, say, proudly-displayed dead bodies. All in all, it was a singularly non-threatening lawn.

The road was the same kind of flat, tightly-joined stones that made up most of the roads in Knightmere, and it wound through more well-kept lawn and almost boring landscaping. Leo got back on his horse once the gate closed silently behind them, but there was no longer any urgency to his actions. Neither he nor the woman spoke, and Pandy had no idea what to say, so she also remained silent, even though she suspected Thaniel wouldn’t have.

A broad swathe of dark, well-groomed trees blocked sight of the house until they were almost upon it. Both horses pulled sharply to the side, and while Leo brought his horse under control right away, the woman took a bit longer. She had loosened her grip on her reins at some point, and had to grab for them before she could tug hard and bring the animal to a dancing halt.

The horse threw its head, whinnying angrily, and for a moment Pandy thought it might throw both of them off, but then a form separated from the darkness around them, taking the reins. It was human-shaped, and it took Pandy only a glimpse to recognize the same kind of skin-tight bodysuit she’d found in Ms. Wellington’s room. It hugged the figure’s shape like no other clothing she’d seen in the world, but she knew from experience that it was extremely comfortable and excellent camouflage in low-light situations like this one.

Once Pandy knew what to look for, she surreptitiously glanced around, her eyes catching a shadowy movement here, or a flash of a limb there. She counted at least five of the stealthy Shadows before they blurred into each other and she couldn’t be certain she wasn’t counting the same one twice.

Leo got down from his horse again, appearing to drop the reins as he did so. The creature walked sedately away, however, and Pandy suspected another Shadow Exchange operative was controlling it, though she couldn’t see how. Leo lifted Pandy down, then almost reluctantly did the same for the red-haired woman. Really, Pandy needed a new mental name for her, because calling her Ginger was a disservice to all actual Gingers everywhere.

As with all of the mansions or manors Pandy had seen here, this one had a few lights illuminating the front steps. Leo started up, then paused, looking back at the woman. She raised her chin, grabbed Pandy, and visibly settled her dignity about her. Taking the lead, she walked up to the door and laid her palm on it, just as Leo had done at the gate. Just like the gate, the door swung open, revealing a narrow hallway with a cream-colored carpet running down the middle and a door on either side and straight ahead.

The door to the right opened, revealing a man who somehow didn’t quite look like a servant, but also didn’t look like one of the fancy courtiers Pandy had met. He almost reminded her of Captain Reedsley, Clara’s father, who was definitely more of a military man than a lord, though he held both titles. His voice was mild when he asked, “What happened?” but both Leo and the unnamed woman stiffened.

“I’m not certain,” the woman answered, her tones clipped. “We checked the-” She broke off, glancing down at Pandy, then said, “We did as instructed, but Leo’s elemental wouldn’t leave the… Thaniel after completing confirmation. There was a flash, and the carriage caught fire. It might be some kind of built-in defensive magic.”

“A flash?” the stranger asked sharply, glancing at Leo. “Where’s the elemental?”

Leo shook his head. “Hasn’t reappeared. It’s either injured or banished. I lost the driver, too.”

The new man didn’t look happy, and his dark eyes were narrow and thoughtful as they landed on Pandy. His voice was gentle when he spoke, however. “Thaniel? Do you know what happened?”

Pandy had spent much of the ride thinking about what she would say if someone asked her this, but she forced herself to hesitate as if thinking, then shook her head and pointed at Leo with her uninjured hand. “That man hurt me, and then something was… was…” She clutched her wound to her chest protectively, preventing anyone from looking at it too closely as well as hopefully presenting the image of a hurt and confused child. “It hurt an awful lot, and then it stopped, and there was a fire.”

She looked over at Leo, opening her eyes wide and allowing her voice to shake as she asked, “Is the other man… the driver… is he all right?”

The adults exchanged glances over her head, and the new man cleared his throat before crouching to look into Pandy’s eyes. “We had to check on something, to make sure we could help you, and when we did, that fire started. The driver stayed to help put it out, and he’ll come here later.” Straightening, he forced a thin smile that looked unnatural on his stern face. “Now, I’m certain you’re tired, and you could use some rest, so we’ve got a room ready for you. But first, there’s someone who’s really been looking forward to seeing you.”

Again, the right-hand door opened, this time revealing a thin, stooped figure it took Pandy far too long to recognize. His hair was almost entirely silver now, even though it had been mostly dark the last time she saw him, and she was certain he couldn’t be much more than forty years old. In the end, it was the blue Conroy eyes that told her she was right.

“Father,” she whispered, then threw herself into his arms.