Elise Runs and Dorothy Falls

Chapter 18

A soldier was murdered late last night, and even though Chapelure had a good idea who did it, he spoke not a word. He simply used his power as a state investigator to get aboard the Empress Ogre where he would take down the culprits himself.

The clear and present danger of an infiltrator notwithstanding (although it probably should!), the Empress Ogre had taken off on schedule and just reached its cruising altitude. That morning, Chapelure stood with his hands behind his back, peering out of the window of an on-board café into the troubled purple waters of the Horrocean, southward over which they flew. For its part, the sky looked like rain. To the west lay the impenetrable Wall Cloud that manifested all these storms. Fortunately they wouldn't go near it. No vessel of land or of air had ever entered it and returned.

Chapelure would have to be discreet. He had a distinct advantage over the flyboys in that he already knew who did it; however, they had a lot more on the case. No matter. Brains and tenacity would bring him success. They always had. Leaving the café that did its best to mimic the comfort of Unum, Chapelure strode into the cold aluminum hallways of an airship. This is where he would be spending most of his days, in search of reclaiming the man he had been.

"The briefing room is just down this way."

Chapelure hunched his shoulders and looked at the ground. Casting his eyes from beneath his fedora, though, he caught sight of a woman and a goblin walking toward him down the hallway. The woman had dark hair and a spiffy white uniform. The goblin had wispy white hair and a bald crown; wore rugged leather armor and, naked on his waist, such an intimidating sword that it made even Chapelure shudder. As the goblin passed him, the investigator could not shake the feeling he had brushed shoulders with a legend.

Of course George Goblin was a legend. It was this very fact that kept Alexis Striper, for the first time in a long time, entirely on point as she showed him around the Empress Ogre. Of all people she had to be the one! Being the lowest ranked admiral, of course, it made sense. None of her superiors wanted the pressure of the job, and they could hardly send a mere captain. Beside her, the little man who stood no taller than four feet walked without a word. His solid yellow eyes looked straight ahead. His face betrayed nothing.

So what made George Goblin a legend? Well, he was a great warrior, though never part of any army, and had pioneered Eastern Unum, including the province of Lageroc. He founded Lager Hall, scoured Gurbundy of the Sever Six pirates, and slain several terrible monsters just as bonus. He had a reputation like few other heroes, and among those greatest was the only one still living.

And now Alexis walked him around the ship.

"So back this way are the crew quarters... Yours of course are a level up. You've already seen those."

They walked toward the next bend. It felt like forever.

"Around this corner are some maintenance closets, utility rooms, and the bathrooms for this sector."

What the hell was she saying? She was talking to THE George Goblin about bathrooms! Bathrooms and utility closets! His quarters weren't even near here. She glanced at him. Nothing. Frankly, she wanted to kill herself.

As they rounded the corner, the Commodore changed topics.

"If you go to the end of this hall and turn left, then go all the way down to stairwell C, you have pretty much a straight shot to the hangar bay. That's where your son's ship is. If you'd like—"

"I wouldn't. Wasn't there a murder last night?"

Flustered, Alexis stopped in her tracks. "Um, yes sir. There was—"

"My name is George."

"Sorry—George. Yes, one of our security guards was killed."

"What killed him?"

Alexis struggled to describe it. "The slash of a five fingered claw... a deep wound from the left side of the neck to the right hip... like some kind of monster killed him."

"It seems to me you have a problem."

"Yes, sir—George."

As George began to walk again, he looked across his shoulder at the maintenance closet nearby. His eyes lingered on the vented door for a moment, but then he turned again and continued on his way.

Elise let out a rattling breath. In that very closet, with an unconscious Dorothy lying prone behind her, she stood stunned. She couldn't be mistaken. George Goblin had looked her right in the eyes.

He knew they were there.

Once he and the woman disappeared, Elise opened the door; she had no choice now but to find another hiding place. Her heart beat so quickly she could hardly hear anything else. Stumbling around the corner, she couldn't have imagined a more frightening sight.

"There you are!"

At the end of the hallway, already facing her, stood the steely-jawed inspector who had almost caught her twice before. With a raw 5 o'clock shadow and a frock coat kept as well as muddy sneakers, he had fallen far in a couple days. He looked strung out and sleepless, but that didn't stop him from charging at her as fast as he could.

Elise could think of nothing else to do. She couldn't outrun him; she couldn't hide. So, as he tore down the hallway at her, she stepped behind the wall and did her best to hear him over her own coursing blood. Then she staked her future on the oldest trick in the book.

When he came around the corner, she stuck out her foot. Bang! And with a force that could have slid all the way home, the inspector hit the floor.

Running the way he came, Elise bolted for a stairwell. She wanted more than anything to turn around and go back for Dorothy, but she knew she couldn't. The inspector would see her in an instant if she did, and then they would both be done for. So she rushed this way and that, taking every confusing passageway through the stair and catwalk system that she could. They branched everywhere, and after a few breathless minutes she lost him.

However, she had also lost Dorothy. Running down all those tunnels and stairs without the slightest thought as to where they led... without even trying to remember where she went...

Elise slumped onto the floor. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't know the way back.