Operation Ludendorff: a Leviathan fanfic

Chapter Nine

"Aren't you done yet?"

"Almost." Alek ruffled the threadbare towel through his hair a third time before wrinkling his nose at his reflection. The yellow pigment had colored a significant portion of his forehead a horrid shade of yellow, as well as the tips of his ears and the collar of his shirt. He frowned at himself and washed the lingering yellow stains from his hands in a bucket of water as the door opened behind him.

"What's taking you so long?" Deryn's loud footsteps echoed around the bathroom before she appeared beside him, fully dressed and tucking her rigging knife into a boot. It was terribly apparent at how much she wanted to get out into the city again.

He really couldn't blame her though. It'd been three days since they took refuge from the soldiers looking for them, and Armbrust forbade them from even looking out the window for fear of being seen by the neighbouring building owners. The arrangement left them with a rather small list of things they could possibly do during their stay; which consisted of memorizing the information written in the letters, fencing practice using a pair of brooms they'd found in a spare closet, knife throwing, and gathering rainwater that leaked from a hole in the roof.

"The dye's making my ears turn yellow now," Alek explained, punctuating the statement by rubbing vigorously at his ears, leaving the skin red instead. He sighed.

Deryn snorted a little before saying, "No one's going to notice your barking ears in the middle of the night, Dummkopf. Oh, and hurry up, Armbrust's waiting for us downstairs." With that, she gave him a chaste peck on the cheek and slipped out the door, the oil lamp Alek had balanced on the small side table rattling.

A dark blush still managed to spread across Alek's cheeks as he picked up the jar of pigment from the floor. Armbrust was almost always in the same room as them during their stay, and that was the first time Deryn broke through her disguise. Alek had to admit that he rather missed it.

He was pulling on his clothes by the time he arrived downstairs, his eyes adjusting to the dim light enough to see Armbrust and Deryn waiting for him in one of the moth eaten couches. It smelled like mold and left the same odour on your clothes, but it was better than the parlour chairs, which sported holes from the numerous times Deryn and Alek had knife throwing practice.

"Took you long enough," Armbrust said when Alek had sat down beside them. The man was in a much better state than when they had arrived three days ago, and could walk without support. But his limp was still painfully obvious, and running was almost impossible.

"You had something to tell us?" Deryn asked from where she sat, her eyes still trained on the large windows.

"Give, actually." Armbrust said, shuffling through the stack of letters and checking their dates before pulling one out. Alek recognized it as the only one coded differently. "You'd better take this one with you. She mentions her location in this one, and if she doesn't move, you'll be able to find her there." He handed the letter to Deryn, who promptly tucked it into the pocket of a coat Armbrust had given her. It was too long, but between the both of them, Deryn looked the least suspicious. And it was getting colder.

Alek looked around the room one last time, gathering his bearings and wracking his brain for something he'd forgotten before standing. Nothing, it seemed, before he felt the familiar chill of the gun's handle brush against his side. No, not just any gun, it was his Father's. He didn't know what to feel about that yet, but he'd had enough free time to know the questions he would be asking Count Volger when he'd gotten back.

"I reckon it was nice meeting you, Armbrust." Deryn's voice brought him out of his thoughts in time to see her smile and shake the man's hand, her eyes flickering to the messily tied bandages on his leg. "Take care of yourself."