The wet towel wrapped around his head was drawing some looks, but Gloe didn’t seem to mind. He was obviously much more focused on shielding his eyes from the blinding sunlight of the early morning. Walking up to the stationmaster he winced at the other’s loud friendly greeting. “Right, yes, good morning. Listen, Lady Emokha has a ticket for the first train this morning. She was wondering if she could board early?” As he clutched his head for a moment a bag of coins appeared on the counter. “The festivities at the academy beach trip ran late into the night and she’s a trifle…indisposed.”

“Ah yes, of course” the stationmaster boomed. “We see this every year. The academy students are honored customers, and her suite is ready. We would be delighted to accommodate her.” Gloe couldn’t prove the man was deliberately talking loudly, but his amused mien suggested this was the case.

“Great, thank you. Her party consists of herself and two servants, including myself. Here are the tickets. I’ll go fetch everything.”

A few minutes later a heavily hooded Emokha appeared. Apparently she was taking no chances with the malicious sunlight. “Thankh you” she hissed softly as she passed.

“My pleasure Lady Emokha. Have a pleasant journey.” His volume was much lower now.

For several minutes Oresus and Gloe staggered back and forth at irregular intervals, carrying in loads of luggage. None of the porters moved to assist them, instead amusing themselves watching the wobbling routes and inefficient trips. Eventually everything was aboard and safely in the suite.

Securing the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign to the exterior door Gloe breathed a sigh of relief. That had gone better than he had expected. As hoped hangovers had served to justify quite a bit. No one had peered too closely at ‘Lady Emokha’ or wondered why she was wearing such an excessive cloak. The lurching motion had been attributed to the same cause.

Carefully he snapped the stilts he’d used, grinding the wood into small pieces. Once the train was moving he’d toss them out the window, along with the cloaks he’d worn to disguise himself as the others. There would be no evidence left behind that they hadn’t been on the train all along. Gloe could imitate their voices and eat or dispose of the meals provided along the way.

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And if everything went according to plan the conductors would be left with a mystery when the train stopped near Felsora’s estate. The luggage would still be here, the beds would have been ‘slept in,’ but the room would otherwise be empty. At first they’d have to think that the group had disembarked at another station, but quickly they’d realize that no one had seen Emokha’s distinctive form doing so. Besides, they would have heard her voice and delivered meals to her.

It didn’t really matter if someone eventually figured out the ruse, as long as it delayed them. On the same principle Rogany had arranged for one of the other few Viluota in the duchy to travel to the beach and book passage on a large merchant vessel heading south. Once out of sight of the shore she was going to vanish without a trace one night by simply flying clear. The idea was to muddy the waters without leaving a clear trail that could be proof of purpose or easily debunked.

Someone would be looking for Emokha. They wanted that group confused, not only concerning where she was but as to her intentions. That’s why they’d passed on plans that would have left a clearer and more compelling false trail. They wanted their pursuers uncertain. Had something happened? Had some rival group kidnapped her? Had she drunkenly wandered off-track? Was she running? Where?

Hopefully it would work. Gloe flopped across a bunk and stretched out luxuriously. Either way he got to rest and stuff his face for a while. Oh, and jump from a moving train. He was really looking forward to that part.

...

The periphery of the deep wyld felt almost nostalgic. Terrifying, but nostalgic. Hopefully this turned out better than the last couple times. At least he wouldn’t be facing it alone. “How did your family take it?”

“They w-were upset, but I think they understand. I h-hope they do.”

“They are lovely people. I khan now see why Ori turned out so well. How did things go on your end?”

“No real problems. Everyone else was hungover too, so the ruse was not overly scrutinized. I jumped in between stops, so hopefully they’re still baffled.”

“Exhcellent.”

“Now we g-get to the hard part.”

“Ori, if I’ve learned anything it’s that basically everything is the hard part.”

“No my friends. We have many, many diffikhulties ahead of us, and that is if we’re fortunate. But we are all resolved to die before being khaptured again. So, for better or worse, it is likhely that we have exhperienced the worst time of our lives.”

“Here’s hoping. Ya’ll got any of that booze left to drink to that?”

“N-no. Someone drank all the real stuff along with all the d-decoys.”

“That was you Ori. You khannot obfuskhate that point.”

“Well, at l-least it didn’t go to waste, right?”

“I think we’re all going to need a drink before this is over. Do the Viluota brew anything good?”

“We did. Now I khannot say. Let us proceed and find out for ourselves.”