“What other three?” Wufei followed him numbly, bemused by this sudden reversal of fortunes. Out came the mysterious ring of keys, but this time, he seemed to know which one would work, since he wasted no time in unlocking the door and easing it open to reveal a steep dark staircase. “The other three that I brought in and then helped escape, of course.” As soon as they were in the stairwell, he pulled the door closed and locked it behind them. “Careful, Wufei -- the steps get kinda slippery sometimes.” “Oh, of course!” Wufei had to save his breath for climbing the stairs -- they were, indeed, slippery, and steep as they were it was actually safer to use hands as well as feet. From the sound of Duo’s breathing and cloth scraping over stone, Duo was doing the same. When they reached a landing, and rested, panting for a minute, Wufei could speak again. “What’s going on?” Duo sighed, it sounded as much from resignation as from exertion. “We have to wait here awhile anyway,” he said. “When they find your cell empty, the alarm will go up, and for a moment everyone will run downstairs to see if it’s true. That’s when we’ll have to make a break for it.” “Make a break for what?” “To the docks. There’s a ship docked there, owned and piloted by some friends of mine. They’ll take you somewhere safe -- the Five Kingdoms, maybe. They’ve never been friendly to Oz.1 “ “But,” Wufei tried to make his mind work properly. “But you said that the bounty hunters would follow me. You said that there was nowhere I could run to that I wouldn’t be branded a criminal --” “Ah, but that’s the beauty of it!” Wufei couldn’t see Duo’s expression, in the dark, but he could hear the grin of it. “As of your trial and sentencing, this morning, you are no longer a criminal. You’re a dead man in the eyes of the law, and since the law has never particularly cared what happens to dead men, it doesn’t care where you go.” He heard Duo sigh blissfully. “I love bureaucracy.” “Merquise will still want me dead,” Wufei began uncertainly. “He can still hire...” “Trust me on this.” Duo sounded amused. “He’s already put a price on your head once. If he tries to do the same thing again, no bounty hunter in the country is going to take him seriously.”
Re: THE DRAGON AS AN OBJECT OF PREY (cont.)
Date: 2006-02-21 10:13 am (UTC)Out came the mysterious ring of keys, but this time, he seemed to know which one would work, since he wasted no time in unlocking the door and easing it open to reveal a steep dark staircase. “The other three that I brought in and then helped escape, of course.” As soon as they were in the stairwell, he pulled the door closed and locked it behind them. “Careful, Wufei -- the steps get kinda slippery sometimes.”
“Oh, of course!” Wufei had to save his breath for climbing the stairs -- they were, indeed, slippery, and steep as they were it was actually safer to use hands as well as feet. From the sound of Duo’s breathing and cloth scraping over stone, Duo was doing the same.
When they reached a landing, and rested, panting for a minute, Wufei could speak again. “What’s going on?”
Duo sighed, it sounded as much from resignation as from exertion. “We have to wait here awhile anyway,” he said. “When they find your cell empty, the alarm will go up, and for a moment everyone will run downstairs to see if it’s true. That’s when we’ll have to make a break for it.”
“Make a break for what?”
“To the docks. There’s a ship docked there, owned and piloted by some friends of mine. They’ll take you somewhere safe -- the Five Kingdoms, maybe. They’ve never been friendly to Oz.1 “
“But,” Wufei tried to make his mind work properly. “But you said that the bounty hunters would follow me. You said that there was nowhere I could run to that I wouldn’t be branded a criminal --”
“Ah, but that’s the beauty of it!” Wufei couldn’t see Duo’s expression, in the dark, but he could hear the grin of it. “As of your trial and sentencing, this morning, you are no longer a criminal. You’re a dead man in the eyes of the law, and since the law has never particularly cared what happens to dead men, it doesn’t care where you go.” He heard Duo sigh blissfully. “I love bureaucracy.”
“Merquise will still want me dead,” Wufei began uncertainly. “He can still hire...”
“Trust me on this.” Duo sounded amused. “He’s already put a price on your head once. If he tries to do the same thing again, no bounty hunter in the country is going to take him seriously.”