Ivaris - Chapter 2 by Jennifer Raney

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I will not elaborate further on the details of my begging, but I ended up with one Officer Seroan Pron'tesh, who had just gone off duty and overheard my plea.

The office manager was very sympathetic, "I'm sorry, miss, but we don't staff for inner-city escorts, I wish I-"

"Ma'am?" I heard from behind me.

"Ah, Seroan, have a good night."

"Thank you, ma'am," he actually touched his forelock (in the absence of a cap) like a real gentleman. I would have laughed out loud had I not been so frantic in general.

He turned to me, "Miss, if you don't mind an amateur, I will take you to the Ministry. This is no night for a lady to be out alone."

"Uh, yeah," I managed to say, and he held the door for me. It crossed my mind that I might actually be in more danger with this man, who seemed to be a bit simple and who undoubtedly should have had better things to do with his day right after work. I, however, did not feel that I was in any position to be picky, and so I nodded at him sullenly and went out the door.

It was still raining and cold, so again I whispered my water barrier and at least kept us dry for the journey. We didn't talk much, but his silence was sympathetic and protective. He was armored in standard chain and carried a standard short sword and buckler - nothing special, but he carried them with authority and duty, and a somewhat inflated sense of importance, and I accepted him gratefully.

"Do you know where the Ministry of City Defense is?" I asked, trying not to sound like I didn't know.

"Yes I do, shouldn't take us long, if we hurry."

I nodded as though I already knew that. "Thank you for coming with me," I said.

"You're welcome," he answered, and we continued on without speaking further.

This brings me to my second encounter with a professional killer. The shortest route to the Government District of the city led us through a somewhat darkened street, darkened further by the grey sky and drizzly rain. It was late afternoon, but you couldn't tell. We were in an industrial area, warehouses and the like, with very few people in or near the street. On a few of the darkest corners the arcane street lamps flickered on, laughably innocuous against the grim weather.

Gusty wind occasionally whipped the rain here and there, assaulting the relatively dry areas under the warehouse eves. We walked close to the buildings, trying to stay out of the wind, and my water barrier kept us somewhat dry, but our pace was quick, nonetheless.

We took a small side street to cut across to a main byway, and I suddenly realized we were alone. I had no way to know if a pursuer was nearby, but I could only assume. I was scared out of my wits already, so the worst possible scenario was the only thing in my mind. I encouraged Mr. Seroan to quicken his pace, to get to busy Malbus Street as quickly as possible. I could already see the wagons and people walking brusquely up ahead, and though they were all intent to get to their destinations as quickly as possible, I was as intent for us to lose ourselves in their refuge.

Unfortunately, my fears were confirmed when the wall next to me was rudely assaulted by a razor sharp shuriken.