Chloë (10 page)

Five
minutes later, they reached their stop and exited uneventfully.  Well,
mostly uneventfully: the two men did approach the trio and proposition
them.  Heather offered them Raymond, but that wasn’t quite what they had
in mind.  A quick flash of Raymond’s sidearm, and the pair went about
their way.

“And
how, precisely, is that different from what Father was trying to do with me?”
growled Chloë at Raymond as the others departed.

“Um,
it was to be a proper wedding, my lady,” offered Raymond timidly.

“Proper
wedding, that I have no say in?  At my age?” she snarled back.

“Hey,
it’s not just a bad idea, it’s a cross-canton felony!”  beamed Heather.

“Everyone
was hoping you’d like the man,” replied Raymond somewhat flustered.

“Who
cares?”  asked Heather as her teeth flashed in the streetlights. “Chloë is
how old?”

“An
emancipated minor is permitted to marry at that age.”

“An
emancipated minor is also permitted to leave the canton without reprisal and
with due compensation.  And don’t give me crap about customs in your
canton—that is universal across the entire Altshea Confederation,” replied
Heather with an increasingly sinister grin.  “Then there is the fact that
she was lied to about her rights in that situation.  Are you certain you
are
actually
on the side of law and justice?”

“I…
I’m following orders.”

“And
what are your duties when presented with an unlawful order?” countered Heather.

“To
refuse such orders and…,” murmured Raymond.

“And,
what?” asked Chloë.

“Strive
to prevent others from performing such actions as well.”

“And
to stand in council…,” prompted Heather.

“And
to stand in council and publicly refute those who issued such orders and bring
them to justice,” finished Raymond.

“So
how is all of that going for you then?  I mean, the whole publicly
refuting those who gave you illegal orders and all?” asked Heather.

“Poorly,”
Raymond admitted.

“Something
to think about when you get back home then,” offered Chloë.

Raymond
grimaced, “Yes, my lady.”

“Are
you going to do a better job protecting her than following protocol?” asked
Heather.

“Yes,
ma’am.  That is far less confusing…”

“You’re
a good man, Raymond, you are just in a terrible situation,” consoled Heather.

“Thank
you, Lady Heather.”

 “How
does a girl from the country know so much about protocol?” asked Chloë with a
broad grin.

“Maria
and my older sister were excellent teachers,” grinned Heather.  “Enough
chit-chat; we’re here.  Five minutes early too.  I wonder if they are
going to be punctual.”

Punctual? 
No, not really.  What exactly constitutes “fashionably late” when you are
on the seedy side of town?  But show they did, finally.  The young
man Chloë had met before at the dance and three others, each larger and even
gruffer looking than the one before.

“You
were supposed to come alone,” barked the young man in the Tisamarir tongue.

“A
girl, like me, alone on this side of town with a mountain of cash?  Are
you serious?”  replied Chloë in the Gamehra language.  She was
nervous, but the question was an honest one more so than mock bravado.

“Who
are the other two?” he fired back.  Well, at least he changed languages…

“Heather,
who is from the Highlands and helped me make it here.  The other is
Raymond who was tasked with carrying the money and keeping it safe.”

He
sneered, “Doesn’t smell like a local cop at least.  You really think that
your hired thug will keep you safe?”

“The
roughness of your chosen rendezvous dictated a professional of some type if
only to make sure the money actually arrived,” replied Raymond diplomatically.

The
man just sniffed, “Yeah, whatever.  Hand over the cash, pretty boy.”

“I
could really do with seeing Anna,” replied Chloë evenly.

“You
think we are fools?  We didn’t bring her here!”

“Can
you even prove she is alive?”

The
man seemed caught off guard, “Uh, sure.”

“Good!” 
Chloë nodded to Raymond and he slid the case over to the thugs.  “There is
half a million.  We’d like to see proof of life before we hand over the
rest.”

“Half
a million?  Where is the rest?”

“Bring
all of it here at once?  Do you think we are fools?” came the familiar
echo.  “No one buys anything sight unseen.  Prove she is even still
alive,” replied Chloë with her most practiced voice.

The
four murmured among themselves and Heather rolled her eyes. 
“Amateurs.  Raymond, if shooting starts, shoot to wound.  We need
them alive to find out where Anna is.”

“If
my tail is in a knot, I’ll shoot to kill to protect Chloë.”

“Understood. 
Hey, maybe they were able to find one clue amongst the four of them,” grinned
Heather.

Indeed,
the younger man approached carrying his phone.  “You have five minutes.”

Chloë
took the phone and looked at the display and bit her lip as she fought back the
tears, “Oh, Anna…”

Heather
grimaced as she looked over Chloë’s shoulder.  “Ouch, she looks bad. 
Talk to her.”

Chloë
started blubbering at the phone; adding to the pain was Anna’s feeble
response.   She was there, but just barely.  She was feeble and
in pain but lucid enough to talk.  Anna immediately warned Chloë to run,
escape, as the men were certainly using her as a trap.  Yet every time
Chloë started to break off the conversation, Heather egged her on, trying to
get them to talk longer.  It took all of Chloë’s strength to talk as long
as she did and her fur stood on end as a brilliant flash engulfed the screen
and then the phone went dead.

Chloë
reached out to hand the phone back to the thug but he grabbed her arm instead
and snarled, “We did our part, now where is the rest of the cash?”

Heather
went for the thug, but Raymond was there first, pressing his pistol into the
temple of the assailant.  “Let her go and we can skip the lobotomy.” 
Raymond’s voice was even and steady; it wasn’t a threat.

He
let go and started to back away as the other three thugs brought their weapons
to bear.  Suddenly there was brilliant flash as the briefcase exploded and
the cash scattered into the air.  The explosion bowled over the largest of
the three thugs.  Heather grabbed Chloë, tucked her head, and spun the
pair of them to the ground as the sounds of high power rifles erupted from all
around them.  It was unclear if any of the thugs were going to be getting
up.  Heather was pretty sure the one closest to them wasn’t.

From
over their shoulder came an ‘all clear’ and Heather helped Chloë back to her
feet.  “Sorry about that.  Hope I didn’t hurt your knees.”

Chloë
just looked around confused and relieved. “I… I’m okay…”

Raymond
stood there in shock as the thugs all dropped. “What happened?”  His
professionalism was completely lost as he shrieked and his fur stood on end as
someone spoke behind him.

“Special
Agent Nate Carter, Diplomatic Security Service.  Are you two okay, Lady
Heather and Princess Chloë?”

Heather
was impressed; she hadn’t noticed the man approach at all.  It was just
like her father back at home, only this was a man in full conventional armor
and weapons.  He had been
very
fast and quiet to close like he
did.  “We’re okay.  Scared and tired; it’s past our bedtime. 
But the real question is, how is Anna?”

“It
was easy enough to trace the phone to its source.  The lady was being held
in an area not far from a deployment point.  Thank you for keeping the
phone busy as long as you did.  It helped pinpoint her precisely and was a
perfect distraction for the… person there.  Anna is being moved as we
speak; she is in very poor shape, but we have excellent people at her side, and
she is less than ten minutes from a top notch trauma center.”

Chloë
playfully poked Heather. “So that is why you wanted me to keep talking.” 
Chloë took a deep breath.  “Thank you.  Thank you all so very much.”

“You
are very welcome.  We have a second repulsar airship inbound in less than
ten.  We’ll be able to evacuate you both to a better side of town and a
proper hotel shortly.  What do you want us to do with this individual?” he
asked gesturing to Raymond.

“He
is palace security from Bervik III.  If you could arrange transportation
for him as well, it would be greatly appreciated,” suggested Chloë
diplomatically.

“Considering
the current state of affairs with Bervik III and your situation, we will
transport him to their embassy.”

Raymond,
finally grasping everything that had just happened nodded. “Either the embassy
or consulate would be more than acceptable.”

“What
about the cash you blew up?” asked Heather back to being her normal curious
self.

“That? 
Oh, it was fake.”

With
no small amount of persuasion, Heather convinced Chloë to actually go to the
hotel and sleep rather than heading straight to the hospital.  Anna was
going to be in no condition to take visitors, and the medical staff was going
to need to work undistracted in order to stabilize the wounded lady. 
Chloë feared a cascade of nightmares as she went to sleep, but sleep came
quickly and mercifully, and it was much to her chagrin that it was actually
Heather who woke her up the next morning.

“How
late is it?” asked Chloë as she scrambled to get cleaned up.

“Nine
thirty.  They have room service coming up as we speak.”

Chloë
offered her own raspberry as she ran to the shower, “No time for food!”

“You
eat your breakfast, or I won’t tell you which hospital!”

Chloë
glared at Heather, or at least tried to; it was hard to glare at someone who
was actually looking out for you.  “Evil!  You are evil!”

“Little
old me?” asked Heather in mock despair. 

Chloë
knew it was no use, so she showered, dressed, and ate like a civilized
person.  Well, a civilized person in a serious hurry!  The pair of
them soon made it out the door and across the street.

“We
were next door to the hospital the entire time!  You fink!” laughed Chloë.

“Fink? 
Is that better or worse than evil?” asked Heather with a broad grin.

 An
armed guard met them at the receptionist and led them up to Anna’s room. 
“Raymond has asked to see your governess as well.  But we were waiting on
you before we let him up.  He’ll have an escort the entire time.”

“That
should be okay,” laughed Chloë.  Her laugh fell silent as she looked
through the window and into Anna’s room.  Anna was laid out with tubes and
wires everywhere.  It actually took Chloë a minute to sort out which parts
were Anna and which were machines.

Chloë’s
look most have spoken volumes as an attendant greeted them.  “I’m PA
Alexander Madison.  Just call me Alex.  I’m one of three PAs, two
doctors, an army of nurses, and a team of specialists taking care of your
governess.”

Chloë
took a deep breath, “Tell me as it is.”

Alex
nodded, “She has several compound fractures as well as massive second and third
degree burns.  Additionally she had secondary infections from improper
care.  She is also severely dehydrated and suffering from mild
malnutrition.  The good news is she is now perfectly stable.  In our
opinion, she is well out of the woods in terms of real danger.  The concerns
are not whether she will recover, but rather how long it will take.  We
have some human burn specialists who have already started the process of
recovering her skin.  It will be slow, but we believe we can minimize the
scarring, and she should not be physically disabled, but she will have some
disfigurement due to the egregious delay in treating her.  Even that won’t
be as bad as your first impression might lead you to believe; we had to shave
large sections of her fur and that is part of what you are looking at.”

“As
naked as a human,” murmured Chloë.  “Never thought that fur could get in
the way.”

“Burns
are always nasty.  That is just a simple fact.  With the fur shaved
back, burns heal faster, and with a lower risk of infection and less distortion. 
It will take a year for her fur to grow back to full length.”

“She
is alive.  That is the important part,” nodded Chloë.  “Can I talk
with her?”

Alex
nodded and smiled.  “Just don’t reach across the air curtain.”

Chloë
offered a feeble smile of thanks back to Alex as she turned and just stared at
the door with trepidation.

“Come
on,” urged Heather.  “We’ll go in together.”

Chloë
nodded as the pair of them entered the room.  Chloë had feared she was
going to be overwhelmed by the putrid smell of burnt fur and flesh, but the
room was mercifully clear of any such smells.  Heather gagged slightly at
the medicinal smell, but Chloë was quite happy for the chemical smell: it was
far better than the alternative.   “I’m here, Anna,” Chloë half whispered.

Somewhere
from the mess of wires and tubing came a smile.  Chloë needed that. 
“Hey, my little princess.  You shouldn’t have come back for me.  But
I’m proud that you came with friends.”  A pained but honest laugh trickled
up.  “I was lying there in despair talking to you on the phone, certain
that they were going to grab you next, when the room exploded in light. 
The next thing I knew, I was being loaded into a medical repulsar
airship.  I was wonderfully relieved to hear that more of the local troops
had taken out the rest of the… thugs and that you and your friend were safe.”

Chloë
suddenly realized they were talking in the Tisamarir language again. 
Chloë turned and looked at Heather.  “I’m sorry.  You didn’t get any
of that did you?”

Heather
just smiled, “It’s okay.  I’m just here to make sure you are okay.  I
don’t need to be part of the conversation.”

“Old
Tongue?” asked Anna as she shifted languages.  “Does that mean I was
correct and got you to the Highlands of Afon?”

“Yes,
yes indeed,” replied Chloë with a smile.  “Right in the middle of
it.  This is Heather.  Her First Mother, Ivy Stratford, has agreed to
take me in.”

“Delighted
to meet you, ma’am,” offered Heather with a smile.

“Heather,
what a fitting name.  A pretty name for a pretty Highland girl,” replied
Anna with what she could muster for a smile.  “I’m hoping Chloë has not
brought any danger upon your house.”

“Not
a chance of that,” beamed Heather.  “Excitement, yes, but danger? 
Nope.”

Anna
tried to laugh but doing so hurt quite a bit.  “You are full of life and
energy.  Chloë needs that.  I’m glad that fate saw it fit that you
two would be friends.”

“What’s
going to happen to you?” asked Chloë. 

“Well,
they are going to try to patch me up and…”

“Not
about the hospital, Anna.  Afterwards.  Are
you
going to be
safe?  My father is most assuredly angry right now.”

Anna
just smiled and shook her head. “Don’t worry about him.  If he does
anything at all towards you or me, the other cantons will jump down his
throat.”

“But
he is
mad!
  People like that do stupid things…”

Anna
just shook her head again, “Don’t worry, sweet Chloë.  I’m already on
borrowed time. You, you need to be looking forward not back.”

Chloë
smiled and nodded.  “I’d hug you but the doctors would yell at me.”

“I
understand.  Honestly I doubt I could feel it there are so many drugs in
my veins, but it is the thought that counts.  I do appreciate that.”

“Anna,
can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,
dear, anything.”

“What
happened to my mother?”