Chapter Fourteen: A Night Ride
Disclaimer: Hellboy characters do not belong to me. However, Erica and the stable boys are mine.
Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews Blu Embyr, Psycho Llama, Scorponis, and DarkCloudRider! I feel so loved! (Weeps tears of joy!) Ideas and suggestions are still welcome! Well, let me tell you, this is certainly an…unusual chapter. I threw in a little humor, General Von Krupt (that's the guy with the dark scarlet glasses from the movie) makes an appearance, mostly a frowning one, and an argument breaks out when Erica has difficulty concealing her true emotions. "Nein" is German for no, "Ja" is yes, "Guten tag" is hello, and "Danke" is thank you. Everyone review, pretty please!
Blu Embyr: The Shadow Man as a date? O.O Scary thought. And as you'll see, Erica isn't exactly being friendly to Kroenen and Ilsa.
Psycho Llama: You're welcome! And yeah, poor Kroenen. : (
Scorponis: Great minds think alike! I was working on this chapter when I got your review, and go figure, this chapter is about how she sends the letter!
DarkCloudRider: Awww! Thanks so much! And sorry about your toe. : )
"Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."—J. K. Rowling
The morning of October 5, 1944
Erica stood at the doors of her balcony, watching the sunrise. Behind her, a clock hanging on her bedroom wall chimed the hour and she glanced at it, knowing she'd have to go downstairs soon. Otherwise she knew Kroenen would come looking for her.
She turned away from the doors and picked up four very sharp blades that were lying on a nearby table. She slid the two baton swords into the sheaths strapped to her legs, and she put the long throwing daggers into the sheaths hidden in her trench coat's sleeves. You can never be too prepared, she thought, knowing that if her intentions of betrayal were discovered, it would be a good idea to be armed so she could defend herself. She knew she was walking on a razor's edge. If she strayed just a little, if she made one mistake, and it would all be over and very bloody.
I'm so nervous, she thought, absentmindedly putting her hand to her neck and toying with her cross necklace, It's going to be the first time I've faced Kroenen and Ilsa since making my decision to betray the Nazis and the Occult. God, I hope I don't mess this up. This is going to take all my acting skills, to try to pretend I'm with them when inside I'm planning to betray them. She sighed as she headed for the door. As she went she tucked her cross necklace into her shirt and readjusted the necklace Kroenen had given to her so that it was showing. The Shadow Man was right about one thing, she thought, I am playing a dangerous game.
She walked through the corridors and then down the stairs, pausing to glance through the door to the dining hall. The servants were already clearing the breakfast dishes away, which meant Ilsa was already in the lab, helping to pack the portal generator. Erica sighed, she should have known everyone would get an early start today, what with getting the portal generator ready for transport. She turned away and walked through the corridors, heading for the enormous lab the portal generator was in, trying to suppress the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. When she reached the door to the lab, she stood outside the door for a moment to get herself ready to face the various Occult and Nazi officials that would be there to assist in moving the portal generator. Her heart was beating very fast and she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. It's now or never, she thought, and then she opened the door.
As soon as she stepped through the door, she found herself in the middle of a stream of people all rushing back and forth. The majority of the people present were Nazi soldiers in full uniform, and the others mostly consisted of Nazi technicians and scientists. It was clear the Nazi soldiers had arrived only a few minutes ago, because some of them were still coming in though the huge door located in one wall of the lab. This door was more like a garage door and led directly outside and onto the mansion's driveway. The door was also big enough to back a large truck through, which was exactly what they were intending to do in a few minutes. But for now the door was open and a constant stream of Nazi soldiers were coming in, carrying crates, tools, and packing materials which they busily stacked into neat, ordered piles.
In the middle of all the hustle and bustle was Kroenen, who was standing by the portal generator, overseeing the soldiers work. Beside Kroenen stood Ilsa, and she was talking to a severe-looking Nazi general wearing glasses with round, dark scarlet lenses. Erica had to admit the scene was quite impressive, with all the uniformed soldiery and Kroenen, Ilsa, and the General looking very imposing while the enormous mass of the portal generator loomed up behind them. Erica was suddenly glad that she had gone to the trouble of wearing her full military uniform, which was basically a copy of Kroenen's. She was also glad that she had taken the precaution of bringing the baton swords and daggers with her.
"The Angel of Death," she heard a man in the crowd whisper.
Immediately the Nazi soldiers around Erica looked up and saw her. Their response was instantaneous—though they continued working, they all backed away from her as if she carried the plague. Erica pretended to be stern and scowled at the soldiers, with the result that they backed further away from her, looking very pale. Then she headed towards Kroenen and Ilsa, her boots tapping on the floor and the ends of her long trench coat sweeping after her as she went. Kroenen saw her approaching and beckoned her over. At his familiar, friendly gesture, Erica felt an almost overwhelming pang of guilt, but carefully kept her face neutral.
"This, as I'm sure you remember, is General Von Krupt," said Ilsa, introducing the General.
"Guten tag," Erica said politely.
Von Krupt merely nodded in response. Just as Erica remembered from the last time she had seen him, the acrid General had a frown on his face and seemed to disapprove of everything he laid eyes on. Von Krupt pulled out a gold pocket watch and glanced at it.
"Good," he said sternly in strongly accented English, "Everything is going according to schedule. At least, it is now."
Erica sensed Kroenen stiffen beside her, and she herself bristled at the General's comment and the judgmental tone in his voice.
"And what, General, is that supposed to mean?" Erica said, her voice tense.
"You took five years in constructing the generator, far longer than we expected," he said harshly.
"Do you have any idea how much work went into this project?" Erica shot back, startled at the feeling in her voice, "The work could easily have taken much longer. But no, we put more time and effort than we could spare into the portal generator's construction."
The General frowned deeply but he remained silent and turned away from them, striding away and shouting orders to the soldiers. Kroenen and Ilsa looked at Erica approvingly.
Erica mentally slapped herself. I have to get control of myself! she thought, Imagine that, defending the Ragnarok Project when I'm planning to betray the Occult and destroy their plans! Then she reconsidered. No, it would have been expected of me to be angry about what Von Krupt said. Still, I can't believe I spoke with so much feeling—I hate being torn in two like this! And it's only going to get worse.
"I see you're feeling better this morning." Kroenen said.
"Ja," Erica answered, wrenching herself out of her depressing thoughts.
"Good. We're going to move the portal generator onto the back of a truck," he told her, "but first we have to put it in a crate."
Erica nodded, watching as the Nazi soldiers surged around them, following the General's orders. Fortunately, the soldiers gave Erica, Kroenen, and Ilsa a wide berth, knowing that it would be very stupid and very dangerous to irritate them. Not only did the three's infamous reputation precede them, but the soldiers had clearly seen the various weapons Kroenen was carrying, as well as the baton swords strapped to Erica's legs. But of everyone present in the lab, Erica was the only one that knew she was no longer any danger to anyone unless she was threatened. She wouldn't just randomly kill someone for a minor infraction as she had in the past. I won't be a murderer, she thought, not if I can help it.
As Kroenen, Ilsa, and Erica watched, the soldiers responded to Von Krupt's orders and moved out of the way as a large truck backed up through the enormous door that led outside. When the truck had come all the way through, the driver cut the engines and Von Krupt appeared again, striding towards Kroenen, Ilsa, and Erica, who were still standing by the portal generator. The General was still frowning, but now Erica suspected that at least part of his frown was due to what she had said to him.
"Would you instruct the soldiers on how to pack the generator?" Von Krupt asked in a clipped tone.
"Ja," Kroenen answered.
Kroenen stepped forward and shouted orders to the soldiers, punctuating his commands with gestures. Within moments the soldiers had divided into several groups, and each group picked up what looked like a small wooden wall, but was actually a side of the huge crate that would protect the portal generator during its transportation. The portal generator was already sitting on what would be the bottom of the crate, so with a lot of sweating and cursing the soldiers moved the crate's sides into place and then bolted them together. After that was done, it was a relatively simple matter to use a pulley to lift the top of the crate into place. As the soldiers swarmed around the enormous crate putting the finishing touches on it, Erica, Ilsa, and Kroenen walked around the crate, inspecting the soldier's work.
Once they were satisfied with the crate, the Erica and Ilsa helped the soldiers fasten chains around it. Then they used a winch to slowly pull the crate up a ramp and onto the bed of the truck while the soldiers pushed the crate from behind. It was hard work, the generator's massive weight making the task both dangerous and difficult. Kroenen and Von Krupt stood on high platforms on either side of the truck, shouting to the soldiers when the crate wandered too close to the edge of the ramp. For a long while the lab was full of the clank of chains and the shouting of orders and the scrape of the bottom of the crate as it moved forward, inch by inch. It seemed it would never end, but after what felt like hours, the crate containing the portal generator settled into the back of the truck with a satisfying thud and the rattle of chains.
The soldiers gave a ragged, tired cheer, Ilsa smiled, and even Von Krupt's frown disappeared for a moment. Erica watched, a smile on her face, but she couldn't help but feel happy and dismayed at the same time. She had always taken pride in a job well done, but she was dismayed that the portal generator had been moved without it being damaged and without anyone being killed or injured in the process.
She watched the Nazi soldiers as they took more chains and secured the huge crate to the truck, and then pulled a thick canvas cover over the crate and tied it down to protect and hide what they were moving. The truck would be left in the lab until the morning of October 9 for safekeeping.
Erica looked at the small silver clock on her necklace and was astonished to see that packing the portal generator had actually taken several hours, it was now half past one. When she looked up again, she saw Ilsa coming towards her.
"Erica, we've decided that the soldiers will stay to pack the spotlights and some of the less fragile equipment. The rest we'll leave to ourselves and the technicians and scientists."
Erica nodded in response and headed towards the group of technicians and scientists at the other side of the lab, who were already starting to box up some of the equipment. The technicians looked at her apprehensively as she approached, but she ignored them and picked up a special crate and sat it on a table. Then she gestured to one of the scientists to help her move the enormous glove-like contraption that Grigory would use to open the portal. The next few hours were spent in a flurry of activity and the time flew by unnoticed. The Nazi soldiers were put to the task of packing spotlights and other less vital equipment like cables and tools, and even Kroenen, Ilsa, and the General helped with the work. But as Erica worked she couldn't help but feel apprehensive, it was very weird and very uncomfortable to be surrounded by people who were now her enemies, and who would kill her the moment they knew that she was planning to betray them. And every time she saw Kroenen or Ilsa she felt like she was walking on very, very thin ice. Fortunately she didn't have to worry about Grigory, she hadn't seen him for days, and she guessed that he was preparing for October ninth just like everyone else.
Slightly after five o'clock in the afternoon, Kroenen stopped working. A large chunk of the work had been completed. I wonder if I should talk to Erica about her vision, he wondered. He gazed over the people around him, looking for Erica. He finally spotted her on the other side of the lab, working with some of the technicians. She seemed to be in a pretty good mood, so he wove his way through the crowd towards her, intending to talk to her.
Erica glanced up from the cables she was packing and saw Kroenen coming towards her. Her emotions surged into a panic, and Erica fought to keep herself under control. He knows! A voice in her head yelled. No, he can't, she thought, it's impossible, he couldn't know. He probably just wants to talk about what happened last night. But that thought didn't stop her from feeling very, very anxious as Kroenen came closer and stopped in front of her. Erica forced herself to look calm and straightened up from the box she was packing.
"Yes?" she asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
"Erica, what did you foresee last night that upset you?"
His voice was level and very quiet, but it cut through the noise around them like ice. Erica felt her stomach clench in fear, and at the same time wished that she could tell him what she was planning, wished she could convince him to help her—but she knew she couldn't.
"I haven't foreseen anything." she answered.
He looked at her again, gazing intently at her. Erica found this very disquieting but she forced herself to stand still, making sure that she kept her arms at her sides where she could quickly reach her baton swords, should the need arise.
"Why are you lying to me?" Kroenen asked in a level voice, sounding both curious and hurt.
"I'm not," she said, "Why would I ever lie to you?"
"I don't know, but I know that you are." he said softly.
He came closer so that they were only a few inches apart. Erica forced herself to stand still, despite the fact that inside she was trembling in fear. I hate this, she thought, feeling angry and sad all at once, I hate being afraid of my closest friends! I hate having a reason to fear them!
Kroenen was so close to Erica that she could hear the soft ticking of the clockwork inside him. Kroenen looked at her. Why would she lie to me? he wondered. That was when he saw an expression of fear and sorrow flit across her face. Then it was gone and she stared back at him, perfectly composed. Behind his mask, his lidless blue eyes searched her face for any further trace of emotion. Why would she be afraid? Kroenen thought. It was while he was searching her face that his question from the night before was answered: it had suddenly occurred to him what was different about her. He could see his reflection in her grey eyes! It was a small thing that not many would notice, and it had been absent for so long that he had forgotten about it until this moment when it made its startling reappearance.
"I can see myself in your eyes." he said in astonishment.
He saw another look of fear cross Erica's face as she turned to face a shiny piece of metal lying nearby. As she gazed at her reflection in the metal she discovered that Kroenen was right! Her grey eyes no longer resembled the bottomless, reflection-less pits that they had been for the past six years. She didn't have any idea about what she should say, so she shrugged and then tried to change the subject.
"The soldiers have finished packing most of the thick cables we'll need—"
"Erica, don't try to change the subject," Kroenen said softly. Then he continued, determined to get her to admit to having a vision, "I know you had a vision."
"Nein, I didn't."
"If you didn't have a vision, then why were you so upset last night?" Kroenen persisted.
"I wasn't upset, I told you I wasn't feeling well." Erica said. Keeping her emotions under control was getting very difficult, and some of the anger she felt seeped out into her voice.
"You're still lying, my Angel of Death." Kroenen said with a sigh. He reached towards her and to his surprise, she recoiled from him. Kroenen wasn't the only one that was surprised, Erica thought she had a better grip on her emotions than to react in a way that would show she was afraid. Kroenen paused for a moment, and then he reached towards her again. This time she stood still.
"Why are you being so evasive?" Kroenen asked, as he gently touched her shoulder.
She half-smiled at the gesture of trust but the smile quickly faded from her face as she felt Kroenen reaching out to her mind. He was trying to discover what she was hiding and why she was lying to him! Alarmed that he might find out about her plan to betray the Occult, Erica hastily threw up a mental barrier and jerked away from him, knowing that if he was touching someone that it was easier for him to get into their mind.
"Stay out of my head!" Erica yelled angrily.
Hearing Erica's raised, angry voice, all work in the lab paused and the soldiers and scientists turned to stare at Kroenen and Erica. Kroenen and Erica didn't notice.
Kroenen was obviously bewildered by Erica's reaction to him.
"You've never minded before." he observed, watching her carefully.
"But you've always asked me first! You've never just intruded on my thoughts," she said, and then added as an afterthought, "Don't try that again!"
"Your vision has really bothered you that much? You know I should see it if it's affected your behavior."
Erica tried to think of a response, but her thoughts were reeling. Her conflicting emotions were making it hard to think straight— Erica suddenly realized that Kroenen was trying to get into her mind again, in her confusion her mental barrier had collapsed. She threw up another barrier and violently pushed Kroenen's presence out of her mind, desperately hoping that he hadn't seen anything.
"I told you to stop that!" she shouted, "I don't want you messing around with my mind! Is that so hard to understand?"
Kroenen looked very perturbed. "Erica, come with me," he said, "Something isn't right—"
"No! Just—Leave me alone!"
Erica couldn't take it anymore, she turned and strode away angrily. Kroenen let her go, gazing after her until the door of the lab slammed behind her. That was when Kroenen suddenly realized all of the Nazi technicians, scientists, and soldiers had stopped working and were staring at him.
"Get back to work." Kroenen ordered the soldiers. He forced his voice to stay level, but everyone present could hear the steely edge in his words.
The soldiers quickly returned to their work and Kroenen turned and approached Ilsa and General Von Krupt. Ilsa looked stunned, but Von Krupt simply frowned, his scarlet colored glasses flashing in the light.
"Ilsa, would you come with me for a moment? We need to talk." Kroenen said.
Ilsa nodded and Kroenen turned to address the General.
"General," said Kroenen curtly, "we will return shortly."
He didn't wait for the General to answer and turned away, heading for the door. Ilsa followed him quietly as he led the way to his study.
As soon as they were inside and the door was closed, Kroenen walked past the bookshelves and over to the fireplace. Now that it was autumn and it was starting to get cold, there was always a fire burning in the fireplace. But even the roaring fire couldn't banish the chilling feeling Kroenen had. He leaned against the mantel, trying to collect his thoughts as Ilsa sat down in an armchair facing the fireplace.
"Kroenen? What is it?" Ilsa asked.
Her ice blue eyes looked concerned. Clearly what had happened in the lab had upset her as well.
"I'm worried," Kroenen replied, "About Erica."
"About Erica?" Ilsa repeated, "Why?"
"Last night she didn't show up to play chess, so I went to look for her. I found her in her study. There was broken glass and books all over the floor and some of the furniture had been overturned. Erica was so pale that I thought she was sick. Anyway, after a little while I asked her what she had been doing, and she wouldn't tell me, but I knew she was upset. And I could tell she had had a vision, but when I asked her about it she completely denied that she had foreseen anything. I decided she just needed a little time to calm down, so I left it at that and decided to ask her today. And I did, just a few minutes ago."
"And?" Ilsa asked.
Kroenen sighed, his mask turning the sigh into a harsh, rasping sound. "She denied it again. But that's not all. I could see myself in her eyes, and when I pointed this out to her she tried to change the subject. Even I don't know what the reflection means. Anyway, shortly after that I tried to touch her and she backed away from me as if she was afraid. I was worried about why she was acting that way—"
"So when she wouldn't tell you anything or show you her vision voluntarily, you tried to get into her mind." Ilsa said, interrupting him.
"Yes. But as you saw, she wouldn't allow me to do that either," he said. He decided not to tell Ilsa what he had seen in Erica's mind, as he wasn't sure what it meant. He would sort that out later. He sighed deeply, "I'm worried that something is wrong with her."
"Maybe she is sick," said Ilsa, "Or maybe she's just tense because of everything that has to be done so that we're ready for October ninth. There's only a short amount of time left and a lot to do. That's enough to make anyone snappish and unfriendly."
"Maybe." Kroenen said. But he doubted it.
"If she does anything else unusual we'll talk to Grigory," Ilsa said reassuringly, "Now we have to get back to the lab, Von Krupt will be wondering where we are."
Kroenen nodded and followed her out of his study, deep in thought.
He still couldn't believe that Erica had denied that she had had a vision. And he knew that she had, he could see it in the way she acted, the way her eyes looked, never mind the mysterious reappearance of the reflection in her eyes. And beyond that, he couldn't believe she would lie to him in the first place. Kroenen knew she had been lying to him, no matter how hard she had tried to conceal it. What could this mean? Was she ill, perhaps? Or just stressed? He clung desperately to those ideas. Yes, that has to be it, he thought, that's why she refused, she's just not feeling well. And Ilsa is right, being stressed could be why Erica yelled at me.
But something sinister in the back of his mind was whispering something contrary to his thoughts. It was trying to get him to listen to it as it whispered about why Erica might refuse to show him one of her visions, but Kroenen refused to listen, the thought never entering his mind that the cause of Erica's strange behavior was that she had decided to betray the Thule Society and the Nazis.
XXXXX
Erica strode angrily through the mansion's corridors, gradually slowing to a walk. She had the vague idea that she was probably going to deeply regret her outburst later, but really, there had been no getting around it. Last night she had known that Kroenen was concerned about her, and that he would talk to her again. And because of what just happened in the lab, he'll be even more worried about me, she thought, I just hope he doesn't talk to Grigory about me, and he probably will if he catches me doing anything else odd.
She considered that thought and shivered. If Grigory gets involved— no, I won't think about that! She thought, her mind replaying the gory images that the Shadow Man had shown her in the fountain. She knew that she wouldn't be able to lie to Grigory for long, and with his powers it wouldn't take him much time to figure out what she was up to.
Erica suddenly realized what she had to do: she would have to send the letter today, before Kroenen or anyone else got more concerned about her. But how to send it? She couldn't use the postal system or send a telegram because of the chance of it being intercepted. So that meant she would have to take the message somewhere herself. It would be best to take the letter to the nearest Allied Force's military base, she thought, as she turned down one of the halls leading to her study, they're always sending news to each other, and especially to America. But then there's the problem of how I'm going to get out of Germany and back before morning. If I'm not, someone is sure to notice that I'm gone. Then she had it. She would use a transportation spell from one of the books in her study! Of course, if I do that, Kroenen or one of the others will feel the enormous amount of magic being used, and they'll know that I'm the one using it. But if I ride a few miles away from the mansion at least they won't be able to tell what I'm using the magic for, she thought, knowing that her plan involved taking a lot of risks. When I get back they're sure to ask me why I was using magic. I guess I'll just have to come up with an excuse. That's settled then. I'll leave as soon as it's dark.
By this time Erica had reached her study and opened the door. Her study was exactly the way she had left it last night: books, papers, and clocks were scattered all over the floor, and there was broken glass scattered among the logs and glowing embers in the fireplace. Erica closed and locked the door behind her before crossing to the fireplace and coaxing the embers into flames. She absentmindedly set a chair upright and, ignoring the rest of the mess around her, she went over to the nearest wall covered in bookshelves, searching the titles for the one she was looking for. When she didn't find the book on that wall of bookshelves, she moved on to the next, using a library ladder to get to the books on the very top shelves. And that's where she found the small book bound in red leather. Quickly she flipped through the pages and read over the transportation spell. She smiled. It was a relatively simple spell and required very few ingredients, all of which would be easy to find.
Erica closed the book and climbed down the library ladder, sitting the book down on her desk as she searched the floor for her writing supplies, which she had knocked off her desk the night before. At length she located some parchment paper, an envelope, a calligraphy pen, and a bottle of red ink.
I'll turn the tables on the Occult, she thought, I'll give the Allied soldiers information on Nazi troops instead of the other way around!
Then she sat down at her desk and began writing, forcing down any feelings of guilt or remorse that tried to interrupt her.
When the clock chimed six o'clock Erica barely looked up from her letter and didn't even bother to go to down to dinner. She knew that this would make Ilsa and Kroenen even more concerned, but she also knew that she had to finish the letter. On the other hand, Erica was hungry because she had missed both breakfast and lunch, so she stepped out into the hall and asked a passing servant to bring a snack up to her study. Erica then went back to writing until the servant returned with a sandwich. She thanked the servant, who turned pale and hurried away, afraid that Erica's politeness could only mean that she had some sort of hidden purpose in mind.
Erica ate the sandwich and continued writing, occasionally stopping to look over her work. Besides simply informing the President of the United States of the plan to release the Ogdru Jahad on October 9th, she also had to keep her identity a secret and provided enough details about the Ragnarok Project so that Professor Trevor Broom would know that her letter wasn't a hoax. She was also putting clues in her letter so that if she was captured by the Allied soldiers on October 9th that she could prove she sent the letter and, hence, prove that she was actually on their side. But even that might not save me, she thought, knowing the Allied Forces had a fondness for executing people for war crimes. It was quite a paradox: she didn't want to give away her identity, but she wanted the Allied Forces to be able to identify that she wrote the letter after October 9th, assuming that she survived. Needless to say, with such a difficult objective, the first few letters she had started had been unsatisfactory. As a precaution, Erica burned these letters in the fireplace and made sure they were completely reduced to ash.
By the time she was finished her letter, a clock she had tossed in the corner the previous evening was chiming eight o'clock. She looked toward the window. It was almost dark outside. Perfect, she thought, before she turned back to her letter. It was best for her to leave at night, it would be harder for people to see her. Erica signed her letter and then read over it one last time. She nodded in satisfaction, folded up her letter and then slipped it into an envelope, sealing it with a red wax seal.
Erica put the letter and the small red book in one of her pants pockets and then she quickly wrote a short note on another piece of paper, telling anyone that came into her study that she had gone riding. She left the note propped up on her desk and then left her study, purposefully walking through the corridors of the mansion she knew would be deserted. Erica wanted to avoid being seen, that way no one would know that she hadn't already left to go riding.
When she reached her bedroom, she closed and locked the door behind her. Then she opened her closet and took out a black satchel and a black cloak with a hood. She put these on her bed and then went over to her bookshelf and knelt down so she could unlock the small wooden chest sitting on the bottom shelf. She opened the lid, and gazed down at a bundle of candles and several small containers full of ingredients for spells. She took the book out of her pocket and flipped to the page she needed, quickly reading down the list of ingredients. As she read down the list she took each ingredient out of the wooden box. Chalk, she thought, a small mirror, five candles…She double checked to see that she had everything, and then she put the containers, the candles, and the red book into her satchel.
She glanced at a mirror, quickly evaluating the changes she would have to make to her appearance so she would blend in with the night. I have to pull my hair back, she thought, pushing a long piece of brown hair out of her face. She picked up a brush and put her hair in a ponytail using a black ribbon. She looked back at the mirror and felt a pang of guilt. Kroenen gave that ribbon to me, she thought, and here I am, wearing it on a mission with the purpose of betraying him. At the thought of betraying her friends she felt an almost crippling pang of guilt and tears came to her eyes. No, I can't cry now, she thought, blinking back her tears, it's too late for that, I've already decided.
But it's not too late, a cold voice in her head said, you haven't done anything yet. All you have to do is burn the letter and act like none of this ever happened. Your friends will never know—
No, she insisted, I have to do this. I'm the only one that can do it.
Erica took off her trench coat and then slipped on the black cloak, but for now she left the hood down. She turned to face the mirror, eyeing her appearance critically. Her hooded cloak, black military uniform and black knee-high boots would help her blend in with the darkness. Erica knew that if she was caught by the Allied soldiers it wasn't the best idea to be wearing a Nazi military uniform, but it couldn't be helped. She had nothing else to wear besides evening gowns, which weren't exactly appropriate clothing for gallivanting around the countryside.
Alright, she thought, Now I'll need weapons in case I run into trouble.
She decided that the baton swords strapped to her legs and the daggers in her sleeves would probably be sufficient, until she remembered that Kroenen had scolded her several times for not taking her handgun everywhere she went. Even before that enemy spy had shot at her and wounded her, Kroenen had been worried about her safety, because though she had a good aim with a gun, Erica usually preferred hand to hand combat. Not many of her adversaries were so inclined, and Kroenen insisted that she carry a handgun to deal with particularly aggressive opponents. Erica felt another stab of guilt. Kroenen taught me well and now I'm turning those skills against him, she thought as she picked up the loaded handgun sitting on her dresser. She put it in the pocket of her jacket and then glanced at the swords and knives scattered throughout her room. My parents would be appalled if they could see all these weapons sitting out in my bedroom, she thought. She slipped the satchel's strap over her head so that it lay diagonally across her chest and then glanced at her locked bedroom door. I should unlock it, she decided, otherwise someone that thinks I've gone riding will wonder why I've locked myself out of my room.
Erica unlocked her bedroom door, hoping that she would be back in an hour or two. Any longer than that and people would start wondering where she was. Then she opened the the doors to her balcony and walked outside, carefully closing the doors behind her. I'll climb down the columns supporting the balcony and go directly to the stables instead of going the long way through the mansion, she thought as she crossed the balcony to the railing, It's faster this way plus no one will see me or ask questions.
She looked up at the sky. It was a moonless, starless night due to cloud cover, and that made it very dark. And although that meant she would have to be very careful while riding, Erica was thankful for the darkness, because it would make it easier for her to sneak into the military base.
Erica looked down at the courtyard below, and seeing no one, she sat on the railing and swung her legs over the railing so that she was standing on the narrow ledge. She couldn't help but look down at the courtyard, and though she wasn't afraid of heights, she was very aware that if she fell from this height onto the cobblestones below that she would break several bones in her body. Erica turned around so the she was facing the railing, and holding onto the railing for support, she slowly lowered herself over the edge of the balcony until she was hanging from the edge of the balcony by her fingers.
I wish I had Kroenen's talent for climbing vertical surfaces, she thought as she tried to wrap her legs around one of the smooth stone columns that supported the balcony. Once her legs were gripping the column tightly, she let go of the balcony and grabbed the column. She stayed there for a moment, her cheek pressed against the cold stone, trying to calm her nerves. Once she was sure that she wasn't going to fall and break her neck, she slid down the column and landed silently on the ground. She readjusted the satchel strap lying across her chest and then walked towards the stables, the cold autumn wind whipping though her cloak and making her shiver.
When she reached the stables she lit a lantern to give her some light. The lantern threw a soft, flickering glow over the stable yard as she walked to the small cabin where the two stable boys stayed. She hesitated for a minute, and then knocked on the door. From inside the cabin she heard some scuffling as the two boys woke up, and then the door was opened by a blond haired boy that was half asleep—at least, he was half asleep until his sleepy eyes fell on Erica, who in the faint, flickering light of the lantern, resembled a ghost dressed in black.
"Good God!" the boy yelled, his blue eyes wide in fright.
At his cry, the other boy appeared beside him in the doorway and simply stood there staring at her, before he too yelled.
"Shh!" Erica ordered, "It's just me, Erica Schwarz."
This announcement was met with slightly more enthusiasm, but not much. Instead of yelling, the remaining blood drained from the boys' faces, giving her the impression that even if she hadn't meant to that she had thoroughly succeeded in scaring the boys half to death.
"It's alright," Erica said gently, "I just want you to saddle my horse."
The boys eyed her fearfully and slowly edged through the door of the cabin and along the wall, making sure not to turn their backs on her. When they reached the stable door, they quickly dashed through it. Erica had to stifle a laugh at the boys' antics, and then she followed the boys through the stable door. To her surprise, she nearly collided with the boys as she walked through the doorway. The boys backed away from her, their blue eyes wide.
"Calm down, you don't have to be afraid of me." Erica said kindly.
If anything, instead of reassuring the boys, they looked even more frightened and dashed away to fetch a black saddle and bridle for her horse. She watched them go. This doesn't bode well. Even when I'm being nice people are afraid of me, she thought, remembering the servant's reaction when she had thanked him for the sandwich. Oh well. I guess they have good reason to be afraid of me, considering what I've done in the past. She flinched as she remembered the carnage she had seen in her vision up in the attic.
While she was waiting for the stable boys to come back she put the lantern down and went over to her horse's stall and ran her fingers through her horse's black mane. A few moments later the stable boys returned and quickly saddled her black horse, occasionally yawning sleepily.
Erica watched them. One of the reasons she had woken the boys was because she knew that unlike Kroenen or Ilsa, the boys wouldn't ask her where she was going, and they wouldn't bother to wonder about it either, unlike the other servants. After all, it wasn't unusual for her to go riding in the middle of the night. And though the stable boys were probably concerned that her horse might trip in the darkness and break its leg, they were too scared to tell her. The other reason she had awoken the boys was because the stable hands would be useful witnesses if Kroenen was wondering if she had actually gone riding.
Once the stable boys were finished, she told them to go back to sleep. When she heard the door of the boys' cabin shut behind them, she looked around, making sure the stable yard was still empty. Since it was, she picked up the lantern and then grabbed her horse's reins. Then she walked beside her horse, leading it into the courtyard, its hooves softly clip-clopping on the cobblestones. Erica was overjoyed that so far everything had gone according to plan.
She could feel the letter in her pants pocket and realized that her plan actually had a good chance of working. And that was fortunate, because she knew that the consequences would be terrible if she were caught with the letter in her pocket. Compared to all the dangerous magical objects I've handled in the past, she thought, this letter is by far the most perilous. Suddenly, her horse snorted in alarm. Erica continued walking, but she looked back at her horse and murmured comfortingly to calm it—
THUD!
She stumbled backwards and fell, dropping the lantern with a crash and landing on the hard cobblestones directly in front of her horse. Fortunately her horse was well trained and instead of rearing and bolting, it simply snorted and whinnied to show its displeasure. Erica looked up to see what she had run into. It was Kroenen. Her heart stopped beating in her chest, and she felt like she was going to die. Oh no, she thought, With the exception of Grigory, Kroenen is the worst person I could have run into at a time like this. I pray he doesn't know what I'm doing. At that thought an expression of fear crossed her face as the frightening images from the fountain replayed in her mind. Fortunately the lantern had gone out when she dropped it and the darkness of the night hid her face, allowing her to calm down and compose herself.
Now I know what was scaring my horse, she thought wryly, it was Kroenen.
"You should be more careful," Kroenen said, his mask tilted down to look at her lying at his feet.
He offered her his gloved hand and in response she took his hand and he helped her to her feet. As soon as she was standing, Erica let go of Kroenen's hand and brushed herself off with one hand while her other grabbed her horse's reins.
"Danke," Erica said, looking up at him and thinking that he looked very frightening in the darkness.
"You're welcome," Kroenen said, and then glanced at her horse. "Where are you going?"
"Nowhere in particular. I'm just going riding." she said, which was half true.
"Don't you think it's a little dark for that?" he asked.
She shrugged, pretending to be casual to hide her fear. Because he was so close to her she was unusually aware of the letter in her pocket. "I'll be alright," she answered, "I'm a good rider. Why? Were you thinking of going riding too?"
"No, no, of course not. You know how much horses dislike me," he said, shooting a glance at her black horse, who was snorting angrily at him. "I think it must be my clockwork, or perhaps they smell blood and death on me."
Kroenen looked back at her and paused for a moment before he continued.
"Actually, I came to apologize for my behavior earlier," he said, "I should have asked before I intruded on your thoughts. I overstepped my boundaries. Forgive me."
"It's not your fault," she said, once again overwhelmed by guilt. Then she realized that she needed to explain what she'd said. For lack of a better idea, she told him a slightly twisted version of the truth. "I've just been a little off lately because I'm so stressed about the portal generator. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Forgive me."
As she asked him to forgive her, she startled herself by how much emotion crept out into her voice. I just hope you can forgive me, Erica thought, knowing Kroenen didn't know that she was really asking him to forgive her for betraying him, I only hope you'll forgive me when you find out what I've done.
Kroenen gazed at her through the darkness and nodded slowly in response to her words. Erica saw the glass eyes on his mask glitter faintly in the darkness. She felt tears come to her eyes and silently choked back a sob, turning away from him and swinging herself up onto her horse's back. She picked up the reins and turned her horse towards the open gates that led out of the stable yard.
"Erica, wait." Kroenen called.
She turned in her saddle and looked down at him as he came closer. As he approached, Erica's horse stamped to show its discomfort.
"What?" she asked.
"Here." Kroenen said, and held out something to her.
She reached down and took it, bringing it closer to her face so she could see it in the darkness. It was a black rose with a crimson ribbon tied in a bow around its stem. Erica clasped the rose to her chest, taking in the rose's sweet scent.
"Thank you." she whispered.
She felt tears coming to her eyes and knew she couldn't stay there with him any longer. She tucked the rose into the breast pocket of her jacket and then rode through the gates of the mansion, her cloak billowing out behind her.
Kroenen watched Erica ride off and disappear into the night. Within a few moments, the thunder of hooves faded into the distance and it was eerily silent in the courtyard. The cold autumn wind blew through the trees and whispered through piles of fallen leaves, making them skitter across the stable yard's cobblestones. Impervious to the cold, Kroenen continued to stand in the middle of the courtyard, gazing through the gates and into the darkness that had swallowed Erica. In his hand he held a scrap of parchment paper.
He glanced down at it, his lidless blue eyes just able to read the words written on it in red ink. It was the note Erica had left on her desk. When she hadn't come down to dinner, Kroenen had gone to look for her, worried that she was still angry at him or that that this was yet another unusual turn of her behavior. He had gone directly to her study, which was still a mess. She, however, hadn't been there. He had looked around the room, hoping to discover a note or something that would tell him where she was. Instead, his eyes had fallen on the fireplace, which had been burning brightly. That meant that she had left her study not long ago. But as he looked at the fire, he had noticed something else: an unusual amount of ash lying on the edge of the fireplace. He had studied it for a moment, realizing that the ash was all that remained of several sheets of parchment paper.
Why was she burning parchment paper? Kroenen wondered, interrupting his memory. But he couldn't think of an answer, so he allowed his mind to go back to her study. At some point while wandering around in her study he had found the note on her desk, read it, and rushed off to find her, hoping he could catch up to her before she left.
He still didn't know what had made him apologize to her, or why he had given her that rose. Force of habit, I suppose, he thought. Of course, what she had said about being stressed had confirmed what Ilsa had said, but he still wasn't sure if that completely accounted for her behavior. And then there had been that odd tone in her voice when she had asked him to forgive her…
He glanced down at the lantern Erica had dropped. It was a twisted, shattered ruin, its glass panes reduced to sharp fragments lying on the ground, glimmering slightly in the darkness. As he looked at the ruined lantern, he couldn't help but feel that the shattered glass resembled his thoughts: in the last twenty four hours Erica had done things that she had never done in the past six years, and her behavior was bothering him.
He looked back at the gate that Erica had ridden through. I wonder what possessed her to go riding on such a dark night? He thought. But he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to know the answer.
Kroenen started walking back to the mansion, still holding the piece of parchment paper. He would wait in his study for her to return. And while he was waiting, there would be plenty of time for him to sort through the thoughts he had found in Erica's mind.
Author's Notes: Ha ha! Cliffhanger! Well, sort of. Hehe, I loved writing about the cute little stable boys, I thought some comic relief was needed. And don't worry, in the next chapter there'll be more about how she sends the letter, and that rose Kroenen gave her will be showing up again. Chapter fifteen will have lots of action, after all, it's a requirement that every covert operation must be fraught with peril! BTW, do you all like the quotes I've been putting at the beginning of the chapters recently? Pwease review!