Chapter Eleven:
“Nice jail. Looks strong.”
-H. HOUDINI
VILHELM was right about one thing. The streets were nowhere nearly as crowded as they had been the times we navigated their length well after sundown. Only a few stray beings wandered here and there, mostly making deliveries or sweeping down the sidewalks in front of their shops prior to opening. Except for the lack of light, the streets looked just like any town preparing for a day’s business . . . that and the red eyes of the citizens.
We hugged the light as we picked our way across town….
That’s right. I said “hugged the light.” I try to only make the same mistake a dozen times. In other dimensions, we would have “hugged the dark” to avoid being noticed or recognized. Here, we “hugged the light.” Don’t laugh. It worked.
Anyway, as we picked our way through the streets of Blut, most of my attention was taken up with the task of trying to map a good getaway route. Getting Aahz out of jail I would deal with once we got there. Right now I was worried about what we would do once we had him out . . . a major assumption, I know, but I had so little optimism that I clung to what there was with all fours.
The three of us looked enough like vampires in appearance to pass casual inspection. There was no way, however, that we could pass off my scaly green partner as a native without a disguise spell, and I wasn’t about to bet on having any magical energy left after springing Aahz. As such, I was constantly craning my neck to peer down side streets and alleys, hoping to find a little traveled route by which we could spirit our fugitive colleague out of town without bringing the entire populace down on our necks. By the time we reached our destination, I was pretty sure I could get us back to the Dispatcher’s by the route we were following, and positively sure that if I tried to take us there by the back routes, I would get us totally and helplessly lost.