Disclaimer: Don't own Tortall...or any charecters/stuff, dam it... oh well.
(Roger&Allana don't exist... it's kind of an alternate universe)
pairings Laura/George...
The Treasure of the Golden Locket
Dark
Cold
Alone
Scared
She lifted her head, trying to make sense of the outlines she saw before her. Who am I? Where am I? Lifting herself up and wrapping the blankets tighter around her, and the small package that was clutched to her breast, she looked around. Moonlight filtered through a dusty window, making the room shadowy and mysterious. She sat on the lumpy mattress and tried to think of what had happened, why she was here. She drew a blank.
Suddenly she heard footsteps, and panicked, what had happened, she felt an urgency to remember before it was... too late? The door swung open and at that exact moment she remembered. She screamed at the man entering the room and leapt to her feet, still clutching her precious parcel to her breast. She glanced around and saw the open window. In a flash she leapt out it and ran down the bottle littered streets of Lower Corus, desperately searching for a friendly, sober face. She heard her follower's footsteps pounding loudly, coming closer, and ran.
Finally, she saw someone, a tall man, his face shrouded in shadow. She dropped at his feet, panting, but careful not to damage the bundle in her arms. Breathlessly, she told her story, hoping like hell the guy was sober, and could understand her plea. She looked up and gasped. The man had one cold, red eye. She screamed into the empty night as a blade came down on her head, and then, nothing.
The child in her arms slept silently, only the moving of its chest showing its living state. The other man finally caught up.
"Took you long enough, Leave the kid here, you search the body, then throw it in the sea..."
"Boss, I searched her while she was knocked out, this ain't the one, it wasn't there."
"Fine, check again anyway, then burn the body, no one will miss another worthless whore!"
"Got it sir, will do."
(30 minutes later)
Solom was wandering outside the Dancing Dove when he heard the wailing of a child. Following the sounds, he strode around the corner and almost stepped on a.... a baby? "Whacha doing all by yourself littlun" he questioned, as he picked up the bundle, cradling it with care. Carefully unfolding the blankets, Solom looked for any signs that would tell him who this baby was, and who it belonged to. Apart from an extreme amount of pink clothing, Solom found a scrap of paper, and a locket, concealed in one of the blankets many pink, silky frills. Examining the piece of paper, Solom sighed, it bore the orphan mark, a red cross surrounded by a diamond, her parents were gone. Looking from the paper, to the baby, to the locket he scratched his head. No common-born child had a locket as fine as this, or pink blankets for that matter, dye was hard to come by, and very expensive. Placing the child at his feet, Solom opened the locket, and found an engraving; L .R. Sighing once more, Solom picked up the baby and headed back towards the dancing dove. "I guess you're with me now kid, I think I'll call you Laura."
(21 years later – in the upper side of the City of the Gods.)
Laura Parish crept silently along the side walk, careful not to step on uneven ground, for fear of the noise giving away her position. She slinked stealthily behind a young man, and was about to pounce on him when he said, "You needn't bother pouncing Laura, I know you're there."
"Dam it Tom-Tom, how do you always know!" she said, trying to sound annoyed, although her eyes showed her amusement
"Because, firetop, I am older and wiser then you, I have known you all your life, and never once have you been able to sneak up on me, face it, I am you're superior, the unbeatable, the wise, the great, you'll never bet me, just face it!"
"The unbeatable huh?" Laura replied "say that again with a dagger in your hand, then we'll see who's "The greatest""
Sighing, Thomas conceded, "Must you always rub your fighting skills in my face, can I not have the satisfaction of being superior to you in something other then height without you ruining it by bragging about you knife skills, I know you're the best, must you remind me every day!"
Laura grinned and grabbed Thomas's arm, dragging him towards the Jugged Hare, thieving headquarters, and her home for the past 21 years.
Leading Tom through the door, and instantly dropping his arm, Laura waved a greeting to her surrogate father, Solom, and grinning, led Tom upstairs to her room, ignoring the bar patron's whistles and Solom's warning about being alone with boys. They all knew Tom, and her relationship, but that didn't stop their teasing.
"So," she asked, once they were in her rooms, "did you hear, 'his majesty's paying us folks a visit, to "check" on things here, make sure no one's holding back, or contesting his rule." "I was thinking of getting him a welcome gift, to show good faith, whaddya think?"
"Have anything in mind," asked Tom, "no wait... don't tell me, you want to raid the Eldornes' don't you?"
Laura nodded eagerly and said" Lady Eldorne has much too much jewelry, she won't miss what I want to take, and besides, after their treatment of their maids, they deserve to be stolen from!"
"Lori, you know how many guards they have, and besides, what can you get from them that hasn't got a thousand copies on the street... wait, you don't want the... the necklace do you? Laura Parish, you know as well as I the mysteries of that opal, and besides, everyone knows they guard that jewel with their lives, and I'll be your head if you try to take it!"
Frowning, Laura said" You and I can take any guards, and besides, Millie says I've gotten really far with my gift, I'd be ready to take the masters if I were a noble, as it is I already know more concealing spells then the rest of the rouge court combined. We can take them, I know we can, and with a gift like the opal, Majesty may even consider taking me with him back to corus, where the real money bags live!"
"What is with you and corus...? I mean, it's not like your relatives ar..." Tom stopped, he'd hit a nerve, a big one.
"Laura, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to men... are you ok?"
Laura sniffed, blinking away tears. Tom was right, she didn't know why she was so eager to leave the people she loved, and the idea that her relatives lived there... well it gave her a plausible reason to need go to corus, after all, the streets of corus had been her home for the first moments of her life, or so Solom had told her. But that wasn't it, there was something, more, something bigger drawing her there.
"Hello? Anyone home, Laura, are you there?" asked Tom, breaking her from her thought filled trance.
"What, oh Tom, sorry, I got carried away. I dunno why I want to go to corus, I guess my... sniff family is part of it, but there's another thing, like I'm drawn there or something... like its fate." She said fate with such feeling, that Tom almost jumped, startled at her conviction, she'd never been one to use fate as a reason for anything, thinking things like fate and higher beings as a excuse and not to be used lightly, or without proof .
"Wow Laura, coming from you, that's convincing. Fine, we'll get this silly jewel, and your chance at getting to corus, ok?"
Letting go of the breath she didn't really she was holding, Laura nodded and started heading towards the dove.
"Come on Tom Tom, if we're to be ready before dark, we have to start now!"
"Tonight, Lori, you're not suggesting we do it tonight, what about a plan, supplies, an idea of how many people we're battling?!"
"Taken care of, come on!" Laura shouted, running towards the Dove, grinning with a malicious glint in her eye.
"TAKEN CARE OF!!! How, when... YOU PLANNED THIS!!! You knew I would agree... you... you... minx!!!"
They had reached the Dove by now, and Laura stopped at the door, showing him her annoyingly white teeth.
"I didn't know that you'd go, I would have gone alone if you had said no, I have to do this! Now come on, Solom will want to wish us good luck, and most likely try to stop us from going through with it, honestly, you would think my life was in danger or something!" Not waiting for his answer, she traipsed into the Hare and up the stairs to her rooms, paying no heed to the greeting shouts of the bars occupants and the bellow of Tom as he came up the stairs behind her.
Twenty minutes later, they were out of the room and on the porch, a small pouch contain a crow bar, lock picks, and anything else they couldn't find space to conceal well on their person.
"Let's go-oo," said Laura impatiently grabbing at Tom's arm, "we haven't got all night!" "Lori, are you sure you want to do this, it going to be very dangerous."
"Have you not listened to a word I said, I need to do this!!! Gods Tom - Tom, lets just go ok!"
"Fine, fine, I was just making sure, let's go then," Tom said, finally realizing that he may as well give in, she was obviously serious about this.
The tiptoed down the street, looking out for the provosts men, and went towards the Eldorne manor. A grin crept on to Laura's face, she was in her element! This was what she was born for, the stealth, the treachery, the adrenalin pumping. It didn't matter about the prize, getting it was the fun part.
They finally reached the house, and were rather surprised that they had had no resistance from the inhabitants, but what they found was even more shocking. The floor was littered with dead bodies, all rotting and stinking to high heaven. She and Tom moved through the bodies and made there way to the door that led to the master's bedroom. What was in the other room was nothing compared to the sight that greeted them here.
The bodies of two women and three children, all boys, lay in a terrible way, twisted, mutilated and dead. The women had numerous bruises and showed signs that they had been treated terrible, and probably raped. One child's head was severed.
"What kind of monster would do... could do this to children!" gasped Tom
"I don't know," replied Laura, her face hardened in horror, "I don't know." Looking around at the bodies, and holding in the vomit that threatened to spill, Laura noticed a coin lying on the ground. Closer inspection revealed that it was a two-faced coin, the symbol of..."Jackson," Growled Laura "Tom, help me move the bodies on to the beds, we'll leave them in a respectful position, till someone can give their bodies a proper burial. I can't believe anyone would do this."
"I know," replied Tom, as he started to move one of the boys, trying not to vomit. Laura started with a woman, but as she was carefully moving the body, she heard a moan coming from the body, she was alive!
"Find my baby girl, my little Adeline!" she gasped, then slumped in Laura's arms. She was dead.
Laura thought quickly, there was a child, a girl baby, somewhere here. None of the dead children were girls, so she must be somewhere, alive or dead.
Laura walked towards the door and went into the next room, a stair room. Tom followed her.
"Tom, I know this may sound strange, but bare with me, I need you to find baby stuff, dresses, clothes, and diapers, anything to do with babies, bring it all top side and wait for me there, Ok?"
"Sur-e Laura, but..." replied Tom, but Laura had already gone. Sighing, he started his search.
Now, to find this kid, Laura thought, as she walked down the hallway and into another room. As she got to the door, she heard a soft cry, which, as she walked further in to the room, and towards the opposite wall, got louder. Wrinkling her brow, Laura glanced around the room for the origins of the noise. In the middle of the room, the wails were quite loud and clearly coming from... under the floor? Frowning, Laura examined the floor. On her third sweep of the proximity, she realized she was standing on a rug. Pulling it up, she found a trap door which, low and behold, revealed a hidden hole, and a very upset child!
Laura sat there, gaping at the child, that is, until its loud wailings broke her trance and bought her back to earth. Laura picked it up and carefully cradled her... or was it he, in her arms. Realizing she still didn't know the baby's sex, she unwrapped it from it's blankets and undid it's nappy. As she unfolded the last piece, a horrid smell hit her nose and she reeled backwards, her eyes tearing from the waves of stench.
"Someone's been busy," she said and she began to remove the diaper .Thanking her lucky stars she was trained as a healer, and knew how to deal with something like this, she wiped its bottom with the corners and threw the diaper into a corner. After checking you know what (she was a girl) Laura placed Adeline back in her crib and picked it up, crib, baby, blankets and all.(A/n this is the child the dying woman mention earlier) As she pulled the crib out, she noticed a something stuck to the bottom of it, the black opal, and a note. She picked them up and unfolded the note. It read. To whoever finds this, if the baby is still alive, please be sure to deliver her to corus, and the palace. The letter under her blankets will explain the situation the crown, and you will be rewarded. Thank you, Mary Delia of Eldorne.
So, she shoved the note in her pocket, picked Addie up again and left the cell.
At the end of the hall, Laura remembered what was in the other room, and quickly covered Addie's face with a blanket, to hide her eyes from the carnage. That done, she opened the door and stepped inside. All the bodies had been moved onto beds in a dignified, respectful manor. Laura placed Addie down and walked over to the bodies, hunting through her pockets on her way. She finally found what she was looking for and knelt down to them. She placed a coin on each of their eyes, for the boat keeper on the way to heaven. You see, apparently, if you don't pay him, your soul is doomed to purgatory. She silently whispered a prayer, kissed each forehead, picked up Addie, and walked towards the door.
Out of the master bedroom, the scenery was a lot worse, bodies were still littered over the floor and the stench was disgusting. Thank god she went to sleep, thought Laura as she carried Addie to the other side of the room. There she saw Tom, leaning on a wall, laden down with a huge trunk, supposedly filled with baby stuff. I hope there are diapers, thought Laura, as she carried Addie over.
"Ok Laura, I got this stuff, I don't understand why would you please Te...Laura, is that a... baby!" Exclaimed Tom.
"Yes, why, do you have a problem with that, Mate...(Tom makes garbled sounds, obviously trying to take it in)...I thought not, so don't comment, Ill tell you when we get back to the inn, now come on."
"Laura.... Baby... gahng" replied Tom, as he followed her out of the house and down the street, towards the pub.