They arrived in the city of Suychet well after midnight, but everyone was wide awake, as was the city itself. Agadart was impressed by how busy the train station was, as supplies were unloaded from trains coming in from the north and south. Sadly, there were also passengers boarding to head back, most of them in stretchers or using canes to walk. There was at least one dragon slumped on a platform, bandaged and too badly hurt to transform back into their human form. They would fill up a whole train car, and Agadart wondered who would help them as they traveled, since the Isle of Watt did not have anything like a Dragon Maids Corps. Other dragons, perhaps? She would have to ask Doctor Worthan.
The man himself was in the middle of a clutch of people welcoming his arrival. She stayed behind him, sorting out his luggage and her own, as well as the precious medical supplies he had put in her care. The people Worthan was talking to all wore the deep red robes and jackets of the Wattish military medical branch, and loudly expressed their relief that he had arrived. Agadart tried to contain her surprise when two of them, one man and a woman, shifted to reveal that they had dragon wings printed on the backs of their jackets.
“Maid Aegirine!”
Teri turned to see Maid Pyrite marching up the platform, scowling at her. Directly behind her was a young ensign who looked awkward in his starched uniform, glancing nervously between her and Agadart as they approached.
“Maid Pyrite. May I help you?” Agadart said as perfunctorily as possible, while giving the ensign a quick, hopefully reassuring, smile.
Instead of replying, Maid Pyrite turned to the ensign. “Well, this is her. Go on! Go on!” She shoved at the poor boy’s shoulder.
“Maid…Maid Aegirine?” he asked. Maid Pyrite rolled her eyes.
“Maid Aegirine. That is me.” Agadart nodded. He looked unreasonably relieved.
“Oh good. I mean, uh, thank you? That is, I am here with a message.”
She nodded for him to continue, but he didn’t. They looked at each for a long moment before Maid Pyrite shoved at him again. “Go on!”
“Yes! Of course. Uhm. Admiral Leonteinparre the Younger sent for you. I believe it is about the ledger?”
The ledger he promised to return before they arrived at Suychet, but had not. She refrained from rolling her eyes in turn, wondering why he hadn’t just given it to the ensign to deliver. Although, on second thought, she figured the information it contained was too sensitive to just send it around with any low-ranking staff, even one chaperoned by a dragon maid.
She nodded, resigned to the detour. “Very well. Let me inform Doctor Worthan first.”
The ensign nodded vigorously as she stepped away. “Doctor?”
“Yes? Oh, everyone, this is my new assistant, Maid Aegirine.”
“Maid Aegirine?” a tall woman with the patches of a full doctor on her chest said with surprise. “So they did bring over their Auxiliary of Maidens?”
“Dragon Maids Corps,” Agadart corrected before she thought better of it.
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To her credit, the doctor simply nodded. “Oh, right, thank you. It is a pleasure to meet you. I’m Doctor Thorrein.”
“Likewise, Doctor Thorrein.” She bowed slightly then faced Worthan. “Doctor Worthan, Admiral Leonteinparre has requested my presence.” She gestured to where the ensign was standing. She was surprised to note that Maid Pyrite was nowhere to be seen, but Worthan glanced over long enough to notice the ensign’s uniform and nodded.
“What the admiral wants, the admiral gets. I’ll be setting up in Gerrinaux Hospital, so find me there. Likely they will have your dorm bed already set up as well.”
“Yes, Doctor. Would you prefer to carry this?” She indicated the satchel of valuable medicines, but he shook his head and waved her off, already returning to the conversation she had interrupted, so she walked back over to the ensign. He had turned his back to them to watch the unloading of supplies, and startled when she came up to him.
“Are you ready?” he asked politely. He was younger than the youngest maid Agadart had trained with, and she felt terrible that he was stationed at the war front at his age. She smiled encouragingly.
“I am. Lead on.”
They walked off the platform and into the bustle of the train station. He took them through the throng of people to a side stairwell, broad but less busy, that led downwards. Two flights down, he veered off to a narrower hallway that had a few switchbacks to it. A chill ran down Agadart’s back, but she assumed it was due to being underground. They passed very few people as they walked on.
“I would have thought the admiral would be at the military headquarters?” she asked when they went through yet another door into an even emptier, even narrower hallway.
“Oh! Yes, he will be. Eventually.” The ensign stepped up his speed a bit and finally stopped at a plain door. The area they were in was very empty, and she instinctively stepped backwards, clutching the valuable medicines to her chest.
“Just through here!” the ensign said with a broad, forced smile and stood to the side as the door swung open. They both stood there as she stared into the room beyond, which looked more like a storage room than an admiral’s office, but it was hard to tell since there were no lights on inside.
“Are you sure?” She looked over at the boy again, but this time he didn’t smile back.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” He swiftly stepped behind her and shoved her forward. She was so shocked she did not have time to react, and her arms pinwheeled for balance as she stumbled into the room. The door slammed shut and she heard it lock behind her, taking what little light had been coming in from the meager gas lamps lining the hallway.
“What are you doing?” she yelled as she got her bearings and turned around. She slammed her fist against the door. “Open up!”
No one answered.
After a few more minutes of yelling, she stepped back from the door with a deep breath. She was not getting out that way, but there were clearly no windows in the room. There might be other doors, she thought, and moved forward to reach for the wall. The tiny bit of light coming in from around the door was just enough for her to see the outline of furniture around her, but no detail. As she moved, she felt the bag she was holding bounce against her hip.
It had to be the medicines, she realized. They wanted whatever she was carrying for Doctor Worthan, enough to lure her away and lock her where no one would stumble over her. Chances were good that whomever masterminded this kidnapping was not the nervous young ensign, and would probably be looking to kill off any witnesses to their theft. Although why he had not just knocked her out and grabbed the bag, she couldn’t figure.
Walking around, she felt that there were a couple of filing cabinets in the room. One was unlocked, so she pushed whatever files were there in one of the lower drawers forward and shoved the bag behind them. It wasn’t much of a bolt-hole, but it might buy her time to try and make an escape when they came to retrieve them.
She quickly discovered that there was another door, which probably led to a similar room but was also locked up tight. She fumbled over one very fancy chair, if the feel of the brocade was any indication, so she sat down to wait, trying to channel the steel nerve of her father and the dignity of her mother while her heart pounded in her chest. She had no doubt that the situation was grim and no one was going to rescue her. Her only bargaining chip was the hidden bag of medicines which the thieves could easily find if they threw the place over, so she hoped that she would be able to make a run for it when the time came.