A quick glance over the shoulder revealed a heated discussion between Reel and Janet. Both stayed quiet, they body language utilised to convey their frustration, anger and panic. Valentina's fingers slid into holes of the intricate marble design as her eyes swept across the room once more.
Now the woman on the throne rose majestically. A wide, long-sleeved dress unfolded, lined in black and white. It hugged her torso like a corset and flared out. A remnant of Victorian ball dresses as it seemed. Black hair tied into a bun behind her head, silvery earrings, a long neck. She assumed the Empress had to be quite beautiful. Yet a mask hid her face. One resembling the captain stripes on Captain First Grade Garton's uniform. Finally she made the connection, one half of the mask showed a white jester and the opposite a black executioner or justice. Quite the depiction of power and responsibility of a ruler, thoughts of Louis the Great and Napolean came to her, thoughts she pushed away into the distance again.
Additional military personnel, armed and scanning the room intently, entered through a side door and spread out in the room. Some guards glanced up, sweeping the balconies. Her hand pulled back, scared that her fingers could be seen, despite the thick balcony railing.
Reel and Janet no longer argued and waved her over. The group cowered in a circle. "We'll use the confusion to sneak out. Aegis emergency protocol dictates to secure and lead out civilians, but by now they may have noticed us missing. We have no identification, all we can do is trust our luck. Stay close, make no sound and let Janet and me handle this", Reel explained quietly. His gaze lingered on everyone in turn, only moving on when he could see determination and a nod.
The Uppersiders hands were trembling now, heart thumping in her head, pearls of sweat glittering on the forehead. Janet squeezed her hand, a pull back into reality, into the here and now. Their eyes met and Valentina shifted uneasily. "Trust us. We'll get you out!", the woman with those fascinating blue eyes reassured her.
Click. It barely could be heard when Reel opened the door through which they had entered. He peered through the gap, stuck his head out and opened it fully. One by one the group left the throne room, ducked, hidden from the guards below. She was last and just to be safe, glanced left and right before following the others. Down the balcony, near another door, the Empress stood and look at her. Valentina almost shrieked in surprise, both hands trapped the sound inside her mouth. Averting the eyes from the ruler of French Sicily felt impossible. Her eyes peered at the woman, through the woman even, as what she thought was a person shifted slowly. Morning fog felt quite as dense as the apparition floating at the end of the balcony. Thin strands of mist leaked and dissipated. The ghost stared back at her until it suddenly tilted its head, a mockery of the jester.
With a final swirl, a shallow breeze carried the apparition away and nothing remained. The Uppersider blinked and ran her hand across her face. Was she dreaming? Had that been real? Irritated, she stood up and peered down at the throne. Again their gazes met, except this time she faced the Empress herself, who had not needed to turn her head, expectant and certain that Valentina would appear behind the railing. Long seconds passed until something twisted in her stomach. Something was wrong and to survive, she needed to run.
"Shoot her, you fools!", the Empress screamed. It echoed through the large room, bone shattering pitch and volume. She twitched, ducked and ran into the hallway as a hail of bullets crashed into the marble balcony and wall tiles where she had stood a moment ago. She ran. Down the corridor that Janet and Reel had gone. Multiple hallways created intersections, she just passed them in the hopes of finding the others. Down the stairs, was she on the ground floor now? Uncertain she decided to run into another corridor. In the distance was movement, people crossing from left to right. Hadn't the throne room been on the left? Gritted teeth drowned the frustration of having a crappy sense of orientation. Another group rushed across the hallway, her back pressed against a closed door to avoid anyone seeing her. Unfortunately she had lost the others.
Eventually she decided to follow the direction that every group had taken. On the next turn right at an intersection she followed the corridor. While other intersections had provided a way left, this one didn't. Maybe no one would come at her from behind. If someone did, she wouldn't be able to hide quick enough, she was sure of that. With quiet steps the Italian made her way into the building complex. Silence spread, only the sound of shallow breathing was left. Soldiers, guards, officials, everyone must have left. It also seemed that the alarm had stopped. Did they find and catch the others?
Another stairwell. Up, down or turn back? Sounds echoed behind her, so she dashed up, around the corner and crashed hard into a person. Despite her momentum, she stopped dead and even fell backward onto her ass. "Ouch!", she complained and looked up. "What an interesting surprise, Miss Neubauer", the Inspector had both his arms behind his back and stared down at the woman with an amused smile on his lips, "I had thought you'd escape with the others, but this is indeed a surprise. Maybe we can use this". His musings were hard to follow, especially while her mind sought for a way out. Downstairs more noise and shouts appeared, this option had to be discarded. She tried to peer past the man, since the way up seemed to be free. Yet she had to get past the Inspector, who had managed to read her mind on the coach before.
Uncertainty and fear all over her face, she hissed, "Just let me go! I didn't do anything to you!". "Oh, Miss Neubauer, I already know that you're no spy. Don't take me for a fool", the man calmly explained. Valentina pushed herself up. The pain from falling down two stairs onto her bum made her wince. "Why take me then! I didn't ask for this, I don't want to work in the mines!", curiosity and anger burst out from deep inside. "I think we can use you. You're not as dumb as the ministry assumed. And her majesty, the Empress, I think she noticed, too. Yes, I think we can. Come, walk with me", the Inspector left her dumbfounded and turned on the heel, step by step ascending the stairs to the next floor. His hands cracked as he clenched them into a fist. The Uppersider flinched and followed, keeping her distance. That man could choke her in an instant. And he knew it.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
***
Their path lead them down a hallway that looked exactly the same as every other. "You must wonder what I want from you. Don't fret, my dear Miss Neubauer. It is indeed quite simple, you see. The others, the group that tried to rescue you, at least one spy is amongst them. Possibly more. They threaten the Empire, they are even the reason why we went to war, you see", he said, beside her as they kept walking. "You want me to find out who it is?", she wondered, eyes keen on finding a moment to escape, but scared of what he might do if she tried. Ever since seeing the ghost of the Empress, cold sweat stuck to her forehead and her heart beat audibly inside her ears. Signs of adrenaline.
The Inspector chuckled, then placed a firm hand on her shoulder, squeezing it through the thick jacket. The soft voice felt more threatening than ever before, "That, and what they are after. You see, the Empress thinks de Borst sent them, that fool. I am not so sure". He scratched his chin and gave her some space, then continued, "The more we know, the earlier we can end the war. Oh, we are here!". To their left a door like every other swung open when he turned the handle. It was his office. Under a dim ceiling lamp that turned on with the flick of a switch, she found a messy desk, barely enough room to squeeze to the other side and sit on the chair. Everything drowned in stacks of papers and books. The man was a true master of chaos, if that was how he liked to work efficiently.
Luckily the desk lamp was brighter than the miserable lamp above them. His hands dug something from a drawer and he placed it in front of her. "What's that?", her hand reached for the coin but his hand covered it fully. "A Duality Coin. A special one", he explained, but it hardly explained anything. The frown seemed to convince him of her ignorance, so he sighed and leaned back, holding up the coin into the light.
"The Uppersider story wasn't a cock-and-bull story then. Very well, Miss Neubauer. Duality Coins are our currency", he showed the two faces of the coin, "It shows the Empiric Duality, but this one is special. Special enough to identify you as the Eye of Clarity". Slowly Valentina caught on, but tried not to show it. The longer the explanation went, the more annoyed the Inspector got. Payback was a bitch, and she'd deliver justice. At least partially.
While rubbing his temples, he groaned, "We are the Eye of Clarity", hands gestured around him, "We uproot the threats, prevent wars and calm the tempers. We are the quiet hand of Hess, deliver Gredfall's touch and bask in Manjet's Kismet. We are the first and last defence of the Empire!". The Uppersider blinked. Did he just quote their manifesto? Somehow she expected the Freemason to be part of this. The thought curled the corners of her mouth upwards, but before he could complain, she nodded, "So basically you're the secret service, the coin is your badge and you want me to join your gang of spies to figure out who wants the Empire and Duchy at war?".
Silence laid on the room while the Inspector considered her response. Finally he chuckled, "I like you, Miss Neubauer. And in case you might wonder, we pay our employees handsomely. After a probation period, which when completed, will allow you to be employed fully and receive your pay retroactively". "Of course, you're not even taking a risk, since I am no spy. The others have gotten away, I am your ticket into the group, should I succeed you win, should I fail you lost nothing. Is that about right?", she concluded and leaned back. This conversation reminded her of work, of handling management, of negotiations with third parties. Experience allowed her to calm down, both of them needed something and if she played this right, this would go well for her.
The Inspector seesawed his hand and grinned, "Except that we both win. I might prevent many soldiers and civilians from meeting Gredfall in person, you will not see the mines and get to travel the Underside. So what's your answer? We cannot dabble forever or your escapees will be too far to catch". In response she reached with her right hand to shake his, but he frowned and shifted his gaze between the hand, which arguably was quite dirty, and her face. "You shake it! It's a contract. Where I come from, you shake hands on making a deal", Valentina laughed and he smirked at her when he shook her hand.
***
Three coins in her pocket, Valentina walked through a side entrance used to deliver supplies into the ministry. Which ministry exactly, she didn't know. With the help of the Duality Coin, the guards behind the door, preventing an escape, had allowed her to pass through without a fuss. How everyone knew what to look for was a mystery, especially how this coin wasn't a security risk.
After some inquiries, the Inspector had figured out that her group's lead was barely five minutes. They had taken a long time to find a way out. Her senses told her, it was no accident that they managed to leave. Especially with her joining the ranks of the spies. To the question as to how she was supposed to contact the Eye of Clarity, the Inspector had a brief and effective answer. Write and seal a letter with her coin and put it into a postbox. If a meeting was requested, leave a contact address and within a day someone would visit her. Simple. Still begged the question why these coins weren't stolen often, it couldn't be a secret if even she knew about it.
Around the corner of the building she found her bearings and dashed into the night across a rocky field. Adjusted to the darkness, her eyes scanned the ground for obstacles. In the distance rose the town of Dinard and behind it, hidden behind the dark silhouettes of its buildings, Dinard's port. Hopefully her new employer had guessed right, under the cover of darkness and night where the town's lights were dimmed and buildings unlit, a boat awaited them. To take them out into the ocean. Valentina had to catch the boat before it left, or she would have to find passage off Sainte Monique on her own.
Panting and exhausted, the woman reached the outskirts of town. A short slope carried her up to the hilltop and the descending street down into the harbour area. Three boats, dark shapes floating at the pier, could be made out. Luckily the streets were quiet. She made haste and forced herself to carry onward. Bloody hell, she should've spent more time training back in Italy. At least the aching wounds from her fall from Glint's Gate had healed.
The closer she came to the dark shapes on the water, the more certain she grew that the smallest boat was being made seagoing. Multiple shapes moved on deck. This was her way out. Unfortunately the ropes had been untied and the gangplank removed. Desperate, she yelled over, "Janet! Janet! It's me, Valentina!". "Manjet's Kismet, you fucking made it!", Janet spoke in relief as she leaned over the reeling. "Let's get you on board!"