Shadow Puppets chapter 10
Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.
Shadow Puppets
Chapter 10
"Mom, please, just stop and listen to me for a second.… Mom! Stop…. Of course I care that she's missing. I'm trying to find her. I have friends out looking for her as well…. No I can't come round, I'm stuck somewhere…. No, I'm fine…. I. Am. Fine…. Yes. Is that a bottle I can hear?… Okay, sorry, just forget I asked…. Yeah, I promise. Bye Mom."
Stephanie put the phone down, scrambled down from the couch and renewed her pacing around the living room of the seventh floor apartment. "My Grandma's still missing. Mom's going crazy."
"We'll find her," Ranger said.
"I'm scared. Do you really think she might have followed the guys?"
"We found Lula's car parked behind Tank's at the entrance to the trail. I'm willing to bet that your Grandma's with her. We'll find out."
"You mean your men will find out while we carry on hiding in your apartment."
"Yes," Ranger said levelly.
"That sucks."
Her constant pacing was starting to grate on his nerves and it put an unwanted edge into his voice. "Where else would you suggest? Pino's? The mall?"
Stephanie threw her hands up in the air. "All right. I'm sorry. I get it. I'm just worried." She dialed Lula's number for the tenth time that day. "It's still going to voicemail. She always has her phone with her. Always."
"I'm sure she's fine."
"Nothing about this is fine. Doesn't any of this bother you?"
"Worry is unproductive. We'll do what needs to be done."
"Oh, well I'd hate to think that my feelings were being unproductive."
Ranger started to grind his teeth together before he remembered that he didn't have any anymore. "You need to try to stay calm. Over-reacting isn't going to help."
"Fuck you, Ranger." Stephanie stormed over to the front door, heaved at it until a small gap opened and disappeared out of the apartment.
"Shit." Ranger dialed Bobby on his cell. "Steph just ran out of the apartment. Check the cameras and tell me where she goes. Don't let her leave."
o0o o0o o0o
He found Stephanie sitting on the roof parapet of the RangeMan building with her legs dangling over the edge. He walked over to her and leaned on the wall. At his reduced height he could just about see over the edge to the street below.
"I need a donut," she said.
"I know."
"I bet you just wish you could eat a nice crunchy salad."
Ranger was silent.
"With extra radishes."
He ignored the barb. She probably thought he wouldn't even get the Fraggle Rock reference.
When he didn't rise to the bait she started watching the street below instead. People walked on the sidewalk in a constant Brownian motion of human activity, coming and going, walking in and out of buildings, occasionally crossing between the toy cars that passed, all of them completely unaware of anything going on above their heads. "They look like ants," she murmured.
"They do."
"I was just wondering what would happen if I fell. Would it kill me? Would I just be some kid's toy dropped on the sidewalk?"
"I'm sorry, Babe."
"What for?"
"This." He seized a handful of the long dark wool that fell down her back and dragged her backwards, down off the parapet and across the rooftop toward the access door.
"What the fuck are you doing? What are you, a three foot high caveman? Let me go!"
He threw her through the open door and, straining, heaved it closed behind them. When the safety bar finally engaged he let his back slide down the door until he sat on the floor leaning against it.
Stephanie came at him in a towering rage, dark wool flying and fists swinging. "What, am I the only one left you can overpower? Are you missing being a badass that much? You lousy, bullying son of a bitch."
He ignored the rain of weightless blows that landed around his head and shoulders. "Go ahead and hate me," he said roughly. "Just don't jump. I don't want to find out if you'd survive or not."
She faltered, and the flurry of slaps and punches slowed until finally they stopped altogether. She sat on the floor next to him, closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the door.
"I'm so scared. They're out of contact, and I'm scared for Lula and my Grandma, and Mom keeps calling me, and I'm tired of lying to her about knowing where Grandma is and why I can't come over, and I'm just tired. I want this to be over."
He knew she was breaking. A few days ago she was handling this, the way she handled all the shit that overwhelmed her life on a regular basis. She could handle anything until her Grandma and Lula disappeared. He wondered what the hell he should do with her until the team reported back.
For now, he settled for pulling her close. "It'll be okay. They're with Tank, and that means they're as safe as anyone can be."
o0o o0o o0o o0o o0o
Edna was with Tank, but Lula wasn't nearly as confident of her safety as Ranger was. He still hadn't forgiven the old woman for the wolf incident and was steadfastly ignoring her. Lester was still talking to her, just about, but Lula suspected that that was down to his naturally sunny disposition rather than him approving of Edna staring down a talking timber wolf. She also noticed that Morelli always just happened to be walking between Edna and Tank. She didn't doubt for a second that he was keeping himself strategically placed between Edna and Tank's simmering anger, just in case.
The overall mood couldn't have been more different to their surroundings as they picked their way through the woodland. The landscape was continuing its transition from forest to parkland, and they were currently following a small path that wound its way through a thick carpet of tiny white flowers. There had been no more wolves, talking or otherwise, and Lula might even have started to enjoy herself if she hadn't been primed to bolt at the arrival of another talking predator.
Her stomach was starting to complain that it was time for lunch when they encountered the only other talking creature that they had seen that day. At least she hoped to God that the rabbits that she had seen Lester eyeing speculatively couldn't talk. The bird had been bad enough; there was no way that she was eating something that begged for mercy. This crazy, twisted place was the best diet ever.
The figure in question was short, man-shaped and trudging along the forest path ahead of them with his head down and a heavy tread. He appeared oblivious to the carpet of flowers under his feet and the bars of brilliant sunshine breaking over the forest floor around him, and also to their steady, not particularly quiet, gain on him.
After a couple of minutes they were almost on top of him, and Lula couldn't believe that he still hadn't noticed them.
"Hey buddy, where you goin'?" Lester called out cheerfully.
He leapt off the path in shock and spun around, pulling a brutal-looking axe from his belt as he did so. He swung it from side to side in a continuous figure-of-eight movement of imminent violence as he faced them. "Get back! I'll take at least one of you down with me!"
"Whoa!" Lester raised both palms in front of him and took a step back. "Relax, man, we're harmless."
He continued to swing the axe. "What do you tall bastards want? And I'm warning you, keep the giant under control."
Tank raised his eyebrows at the comment and took an exaggerated step back.
Lula's eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to let the little man know exactly what she thought of his suggestion. As she took a breath to start speaking, Tank caught her eye and shook his head firmly. He took another step back and caught her hand in his, drawing her away with him. "Not now," he murmured. "You wanna take this one?" he asked Morelli as he continued to move backwards with Lula in tow.
Lester followed Tank's lead and grabbed the back of Edna's red coat, pulling her back protesting all the way.
Morelli nodded and stepped forward alone to talk to the stranger, careful to stay in earshot of the rest of the group.
He held his empty hands out in front of him. "I'm Joe. Can we talk?"
Lula briefly wondered how often Morelli had to calm down crazy and frightened people; it was like he put on a new face and suddenly he was Officer Morelli, public protector and voice of reason. Even she was calming down, and her track record with cops mostly consisted of running the other way or getting busted for prostitution.
Morelli pointed in the direction of a fallen log at the side of the path, walked over to it and sat down.
The stranger watched him suspiciously for a moment before sitting on the other end of the log. He lowered the axe to the ground but kept his grip on the handle, and his eyes were watchful above his thick beard. "What do you want?"
"We're hoping that you can help us. We're on a… quest. We need to find a witch."
The man goggled at him. "Are you mad?"
"No, desperate."
"Why are you desperate about anything? You travel with a giant."
Morelli flicked a glance over to where Tank was waiting patiently. "He's not a giant, just a man. A big man, I'll grant you, but–"
"No!" the man yelled, diving behind the log. "No granting!"
"What?"
"No granting!" he repeated from behind the log.
"Granting?"
"Granting wishes. You were going to curse me with wishes."
"I didn't say anything about wishes."
The man's bearded face emerged slowly from behind the log and looked hard at Morelli. "You aren't from round here, are you?"
Morelli shook his head.
"Well, trust me, if anyone offers you three wishes, run. It never ends well. And why do you want to find a witch? Don't you know what they do to people? There's a girl hiding at my house right now thanks to witches. Witches destroy people's lives, and they do it just because they can. If you see a witch, I suggest you set your giant on her before she sees you."
"He's not–"
"Or even better, just run. And tell the girl to take that red cloak off and burn it. There's only one thing that happens to girls in red cloaks around here."
"We already found out about that one," Morelli said.
Listening to the conversation, Lula wondered how bad the little man's eyesight was. If Edna heard him call her a girl, she'd probably stay here and marry him, axe and all.
"You've seen the wolf?" The man asked.
"Seen it, talked to it, shot it in the gumpy." Edna had broken away from Lester and come to join in. "Now, what's this I hear about you harboring a witch victim? It's time to take me home with you, hot stuff. You can show me your big weapon on the way."
He peered at the wrinkled face poking out of the red rain poncho and swallowed. "Yes, ah… Miss."
"You can call me Edna. Can I touch it? And you'd better tell me your name if we're going to be on axe touching terms."
"Hapnir Skull Crusher. It's this way."
o0o o0o o0o
Hapnir led the way to a picture-postcard pretty cottage in a clearing in the middle of the forest. White roses twined around the blue front door in classic style and other flowers grew in a riot of color and scent between the house and the low, rustic fence that surrounded it.
Another short, bearded man was working in the garden by the front gate. He was gripping a pair of pruning shears and viciously dead-heading faded yellow blooms from a large shrub. He was muttering under his breath as he worked.
Snip. "…little tramp..."
Snip. "…middle of the night..."
Snip. "…lazy…"
Snip. "…no better than a common…"
Hapnir looked embarrassed and cleared his throat loudly as the team waited silently for the gardener to notice them. He didn't.
Snip. "…know any better…"
Hapnir cleared his throat again. "Glumr? We have company."
Glumr looked up, startled, and yelped as he caught a finger with his shears. "Damn!" He put the finger in his mouth and glared at Hapnir. "More strays? Because if any more tallers move in, I'm moving out. Living back in the mines with my mother would be better than this."
Hapnir winced. "They're here about Snow."
Glumr brightened. "Have they come to take her away?" He beamed at the team. "Welcome. Can I offer you all some tea? A biscuit? Dinner? Snow might be a while, you know what teenage girls are like. Let me tell Dopmar we have guests for dinner. Are any of you vegetarian? Please, come inside and–"
"Glumr!" Hapnir cut in. "They're not here to take her away. They just want to talk to her."
Glumr visibly wilted. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"But we'd love that cup of tea," Edna said brightly. "We've been walking for days."
Glumr forced a sickly smile onto his face. "Of course. Where are my manners? Please, come in." He looked up at Tank. "You might need to bend down to get through the door. We've never had a giant in the cottage before."
"I'll be fine," Tank rumbled. "Thank you for your hospitality."
The team ducked their heads as they followed Hapnir and Glumr through the front door and into the gloom of the cottage.
Lula promptly stumbled as a pair of discarded woollen stockings caught on her shoe and tangled around her ankles.
She lurched forward, only saved from a headlong fall into the room by Tank grabbing her hand and catching her.
"Thanks." She looked around at the scene of devastation in the small sitting room. It looked a lot like she suspected Macy's would if it was hit by a tornado. The floor was strewn with women's clothing and shoes, along with hairbrushes, various tiny pots and jars that she suspected contained cosmetics, and a brightly colored tangle of hair ribbons. Blankets and a pillow were bunched up on the couch. A pair of panties were draped over the back of the sofa and a white cotton bodice was hanging from a candlestick on the mantelpiece.
Glumr followed Lula's eyes to the bodice and he blushed to the roots of his beard. "Not mine."
"No shit."
"It's a… strange time for us right now. Please, come through to the kitchen."
They picked their way through the chaos on the floor and followed Glumr through another doorway.
This time they emerged into a spotless, airy kitchen. There was no sign of the clutter overwhelming the first room. Instead, seven chairs were neatly pulled up around a scrubbed wooden table in the center of the room. Two of the chairs were occupied by more short men seated with their backs to the door.
Lula could hear the rhythmic tap of vegetables being chopped as they bickered quietly.
"…don't see why I should have to touch it. It's a bloody health hazard, that's what it is. If my mother saw it she'd have my beard for it."
"Oh, change the song for the love of Gold. It's not my fault. All I said was, if she's not going to keep it tidy, someone else will have to, before we get rats. Did I say it had to be you? Did I?"
"Well who else would you mean? Glumr's hiding in his precious garden again, Hapnir just walks in the woods all day sulking and Docrim, Sleipnor and Snezfred are pulling double shifts at the mine rather than come home in the evening. It doesn't take a genius to see who's left: me, Dopmar the sucker. Well, tough. I'm not going in there. You can't make me."
"You are such a drama queen, I swear."
"Oh just shut up, Bashak, and watch what you're doing with that knife. I refuse to boil fingers in with the carrots. It's unhygienic."
"I know how to use a knife, so you can give it a rest, Mr Last-place-in-the-axe-wielding-tournament. I hear your mother was so embarrassed she shaved her beard off and resigned from the Mothers of Miners Committee."
"Ceremonial axes are an outmoded tradition and completely unnecessary to modern day dwarfs. Who cares whether or not I can take the top off a boiled egg with an axe? I have a sharp knife for that. And shut up about my mother."
"I hear she had an affair with a taller, oh, about nine months before you were born. In fact, aren't you taller than all your brothers?"
Dopmar picked up a saucepan sitting in front of him, dumped the sliced carrots it contained out onto the table and smacked the other dwarf squarely across the back of the head with it.
"Ow!"
"You asked for it."
"Tall bastard!"
"Axe hugging old fart!"
The two dwarfs launched at each other, sending slices of carrot flying across the kitchen. The chairs were knocked to the ground as they started rolling around on the floor scratching and pummelling each other.
Glumr sighed from his position in the doorway. "Ever since she moved in it's been like this."
He skirted around the edges of the room and picked up a saucepan of water from the stove top, which he threw over the pair of brawling dwarfs on the floor.
"Break it up, you idiots. The next one will be full of hot water."
They separated, coughing and spluttering.
"We have guests," Glumr went on. "They want to talk to Snow when she gets back, so clean this mess up and try to stretch this to feed five more. Gold knows how long she'll be."
Dopmar sheepishly started collecting the scattered carrots while Bashak opened the pantry, pulled out more vegetables and started chopping.
o0o o0o o0o
They were polishing off the last of the chicken and vegetable stew with slices of buttered bread when the sound of hoofbeats reached the cottage.
Hapnir got up and looked out of the window. "It's her."
They crowded around the window with him to watch a shaggy brown pony galloping towards the cottage with two riders on its back. As the pony drew nearer the figures resolved themselves into two teenagers, a thin boy sporting a shock of brown hair and a bad case of teenage acne with a pretty girl sitting behind him, arms wrapped around his waist and her long skirts pulled up around her legs. Her long dark hair streamed behind her in the wind of the pony's passage.
Glumr edged around Morelli to stand in front of him and look out of the window. "That's her. I see it's young Thomas this week."
"Of course, if he's got himself a pony," Hapnir replied.
"That's Snow for you," Bashak called from the table where he was mopping up the last of his stew. "No-one could ever call her deep. He'll last until one of the other boys gets something flashier."
They ducked reflexively, expecting the worst as the pony hurtled towards the garden fence at full speed. Instead, at the point when it looked like a crash was inevitable, the boy hauled the pony to a showy stop with a turn that nearly plaited its legs.
"His father'd tan his rear if he saw him yanking that pony around like that," Glumr commented, watching steam rise from the pony's heaving flanks.
"Too bloody right too," Hapnir growled. "Idiot's just showing off to impress her."
"Looks like testosterone is the same anywhere," Edna breathed in Lula's ear, forcing her to choke back a laugh.
"Shame it works on featherheads like Snow," Bashak said, heading for the door. "I'm going to make sure they let that pony cool off properly and give it a drink. I don't suppose they'll think about it."
The boy slid off the pony and held his arms out for Snow to jump into them. As she did he pulled her into a deep kiss.
"Who does he think he is, Prince Charming?" Hapnir muttered as he watched them through the window. "That boy's been watching too many travelling plays."
"I think we might need more than one bucket of water," Morelli said wryly as they watched the two teens progress to groping each other without breaking the kiss.
"Don't tempt me," Glumr said dourly.
The boy's hand was creeping towards the bodice of Snow's dress when Bashak walked out of the house with a bucket of water. Snow broke away from the boy laughing and ran indoors.
Snow clattered in through the front door. "What's for dinner?" she called as she kicked off her shoes in the middle of the cluttered sitting room. She walked into the kitchen and threw herself into one of the chairs at the table, flicking her eyes over the team disinterestedly.
Dopmar slammed a bowl of stew onto the table in front of her and stalked away without saying a word.
Hapnir cleared his throat. "Snow, these people are here to talk to you about something." He nodded to Tank. "We'll give you some privacy." He walked into the sitting room, grimacing at the mess.
Glumr and Docmar followed him and closed the door behind them.
Snow glared at the team. "I'm not going back. You can't make me. Not while that witch is there."
"There's a witch where you come from? What does she look like?" Lester asked urgently.
"She's a vile old harridan," Snow hissed, hatred contorting her beautiful face. "She got her claws into my father and drove me out of my own house. She's an evil hag and I hate her."
"If she's the one we're looking for, we might be able to help each other," Tank said.
Snow looked evasive. "I don't know. I'm safer here."
"Are you kidding?" Lula burst out. "A girl your age living with seven men? That ain't right. Trust me, I know what I'm talkin' about. In a year's time, maybe they'll be talkin' about how times are hard and askin' you what you can do to pay for your keep. Give it a couple of years and you'll be suckin' their cocks to keep a roof over your head. Five years and they'll be sellin' you to any man with the money to pay."
"I'm not doing that!" Snow declared. "Anyway, they love me. They just want me to be happy."
They ignored her.
"Not all men are like that," Lester objected.
"Enough are." She met Tank's steady gaze defiantly and kept going. "Maybe not all, but enough. It ain't right. Maybe they ain't like that, but what if they kick her out and she thinks everybody's good people? We gotta stop her makin' a mistake. Next thing she knows, she'll have a john she can't get away from and it'll be her turn to be found cut up and bleeding somewhere.
"Lu, I know you–" Tank started.
"She's right."
Lula whirled in the direction of the unexpected support.
Morelli continued, "I picked up enough teenage runaways when I was in Vice to know that she's got a point. I think these guys are okay, but she needs to go home if she can. If it's safe."
Snow remained silent, brow furrowed as she listened to the debate about her welfare.
"If we can help her as well as complete the mission, we will, but we ain't here to set the world to rights," Tank growled. "We've got two people counting on us to save them. Or did you forget about what's back in Trenton."
Lula and Morelli both rounded on him.
"Don't you dare suggest I've forgotten about my best friend," Lula snapped. "I was never supposed to be on this mission, remember? I was supposed to be with her, but I'm here and I'm tryin'. We have to be able to save this kid from herself and help Steph and Ranger."
Morelli's tone was icy cold in comparison. "I'd do anything, anything, to help save Steph, but I'm not the kind of man that can walk away from a child in trouble. Are you?"
"I'm not a child!" Snow objected, again getting no response. "Will somebody listen to me?"
"This argument stops here." Tank's tone left no room for dissent. "Right now we need someone to take us to the witch. The kid is going to help us. If we can fix her problem we will, but our primary objective is saving our people back home."
"I haven't said I'll help you. I like it here." Snow quailed at the glare that she received from Lula and Tank. "Of course, it couldn't hurt just to show you the way. Then I can come back."
"Tank." Lester had been standing by the door to the sitting room while they argued about what to do with Snow. Now he put his index finger over his lips in the universal gesture for quiet before pointing towards the door.
Tank joined him by the door, where they both listened carefully to the heated conversation going on in the other room. After a few seconds Lula walked over quietly to join them. When Tank looked at her she just met his gaze and didn't move. He continued to stare at her for a moment, then finally turned his attention back to the conversation the other side of the door.
"I'm telling you, she isn't going to leave." Hapnir's voice was clear. "She just said she's coming back afterwards. Gold help us, she likes it here."
"No." Glumr's voice was sharp. "I can't go on like this. This might be our only chance. She has to go with them."
"What else did they say?" Bashak asked.
"That eventually we'll all expect to have relations with her," Hapnir muttered.
"What? With a taller? And she's only fifteen. That's just… just…" Bashak's voice trailed away.
"Disgusting," Dopmar finished for him.
"She has to go," Glumr declared. "If I wanted to live with a woman I'd still be at home with my mother or asking her to arrange me a wife. And look around you. In a year's time this room will be full up and we'll be climbing through the window to get to the kitchen."
"Agreed, but how are we going to make her leave?" Hapnir asked.
"I may have an idea. But you aren't going to like it." Glumr's voice dropped to a low murmur.
o0o o0o o0o
Finally the dwarfs filed back into the kitchen. Glumr, Bashak and Dopmar all clustered behind Hapnir, who stumbled forward courtesy of a hard shove from Glumr.
"Ahh, Snow, we have something to say to you." He looked back helplessly at the others. They all nodded firmly and Glumr waved at him to carry on.
"Snow, I know you thought you'd found a safe place to stay when you wandered into our cottage–"
"And made yourself at home," Dopmar muttered before being shushed by the others.
"–but the fact is, it's time for you to earn your keep."
"What?" Snow asked in confusion.
"If you want to stay here you're going to have to suck our chickens, whenever we want."
Glumr closed his eyes and sighed.
"Chickens," Snow repeated. "You want me to do what to the chickens?"
Dopmar leaned forward and whispered into Hapnir's ear.
A pained expression flitted across his face. "Cocks. I meant cocks."
Bashak shouldered forward. "And housework. You're going to have to do all the housework… naked! Yes, naked housework, and…" He stopped when he saw the others staring at him. "What? I was just trying to help."
"Well don't," Glumr said shortly.
Lester was fighting to keep a straight face. "I think you're coming with us, sweetheart."