Alexander Of Mars

Alexander

The streets of Nahnee Bahnee's slums were dead silent.

Guards patrolled most of the city at night but here, there wasnt much to protect. Even the wealthiest of the citizens in the slums barely had a hundred tacs saved so that meant no tips for a guard doing his duty.

Better to patrol the nice areas where even stopping to speak with a citizen might earn them a tac or two.

This kept most slum dwellers in their homes with doors and windows locked by sunset.

It was grossly unfair Marie thought as she peeked out of the crack of her front door. Seeing the dark streets deserted she stepped out and shut the thin wooden door silently behind her.

Oh well, better for her mission she rationalized as she inhaled the freezing cold air of a sleeping Mars. Pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders she stepped down the three steps in front of her very modest home and rounded the corner towards the back.

Her hand slid silently along the dark cold clay wall until she found the tattered tarp she was looking for.

It covered a small wagon that held six empty clay pots. She did a quick count to confirm none had been stolen and grabbed the wooden cart handle. Taking care to be as quiet as possible she pulled the cart to the front of the house and did another sweep with her dark eyes up and down the street.

All clear.

Marie pulled her wagon along the right side of the street as quietly as she could. The wagon was light for now so she managed her task easily.

She continued until the street turned sharply to the left and continued on. The street led to a guard house and beyond that the decent homes began.

Instead of following it, she took a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure she wasnt being followed and turned to the right.

This was one of the darkest areas of the slums and mostly avoided because it was one of the closest areas to the chain link fence that ran alongside the river.

The cold bit into her cheeks and fear into her heart but she stuffed the latter down quickly and continued on.

There was supposed to be a guard in the area to keep watch on the fence in case Valesk came from the water but most of the soldiers knew the Valesk to be cold blooded creatures and attacks at night were extremely rare to say the least.

Pulling her wagon over the expanse of small stones between the slums and the fence she continued on until she reached the tall green grass.

After another mental reminder of how the Valesk hate the cold she found the loose part of the fence that she had tied with a thin black cloth to match the links in the fence. Untying the cloth she pulled part of the fence away from its support post.

Now comes the hard part she thought, one by one she began carrying each clay pot to the waters edge and filled them with the ice cold liquid before lugging them back to her cart.

She was just securing her fourth full pot back into the cart when she heard crying.

She froze and instinctively ducked down beside her cart.
Scanning the area towards the slums with her eyes she didnt see anything and the crying seemed to be fading away, barely a whimper now.

Her maternal instincts beat out her fear and she stood back up, looking towards the water where she heard the noise.

There was a basket half stuck in the mud and half in the water about thirty meters farther down the river than her filling spot.