BANE: avenge

chapter 18

Pippin & Simply Edward sighed at hearing this.

“I notice your hesitation. If there is another female, she may also enter. I sense another female presence."

Simply Edward looked regretful at these words. I suppose Blanche might have helped after all.

“There is not another female presence hence, I am afraid. I shall have to come in alone."

“Ah, well then, pretty good, pretty good. Please do enter."

I walked in, the door creaking, almost making me think it would crack at the weight I put upon it due to the oldness & shabbiness of it. I was exceedingly afraid that I would break it & have to pay even more bits to the awful maid. I am considerably sure that she simply charged me that because her mistress did not care if she got a few extra bits by means other than herself. All for bringing me down a hall-way, too. She could have simply pointed to the hallway & told us to go straight down & walk in to the door at the end of the hallway.

Also, seeing the shabbiness & awful condition of the home, I saw no reason for having such a maid here. What did she do? Simply show people to the end of the hallway? Fat lot of work she does! I should like to know who could possibly pay such a maid for that type of work. It would be much better to just have none at all, in that case!

I saw a fat, old woman sitting at on a mountain of pillows & blankets that looked as if they had once been very expensive & rich looking, but had now quite passed their prime, much as the impression given to me by the woman sitting upon them. I was quite disappointed by the appearance of her. She looked rather like any old fortune teller you could fine upon the streets or in a park. She rather reminded me of the gypsy peddlers that would come to the Bushy House once in a while.

“Hello, child. I have been waiting for you."

She had a slightly lilting accent, & I remembered dear old Tilly, but I quickly decided this woman was not as welcoming & motherly as Tilly. This woman quite gave me a fright & an awful feeling. The quicker I got out of there, the better. It was more of a sickly sweetness than aught else.

“I know you have, the maid told me so."

“Why have you come hence, darling?"

I recoiled at the "darling,” much preferring when Pippin said it jokingly to when the old woman said it.

“I have com--"

“I KNOW EXACTLY WHY YOU HAVE COME! DO NOT MOCK ME!"

I jumped, startled by the outburst.

“So, you are Gadaranine Eberneus, are you not?"

“Yes, I am her which you speak of."

“Indeed? Well, in that case, shall we get down to the details?"

“If you please. I am sure my friends are waiting."

She grinned, her wrinkles rolling about her face, & my insides sunk. She took out a parchment & unrolled it.

“This is you, is it not?"

I looked at it, & recognised myself when I was little & nodded, dumbfounded. Then, my eyes recognised what the parchment was. It was a reward poster. The old lady had a reward poster for 100,000 bits. I tried to move away, but by then, the old lady had grasped my arm & was not going to let go of it. Surprisingly, the old woman had a grip of iron, & as I struggled to get out of her grasp, I realised that was going to be extremely hard to do.

“Such an ugly thing you are, utterly disgusting! Look at that face & eyes & horrible SRDs!"

My Tesla! She had not noticed my finger! If I could just touch her with my left pointer finger! I used my right hand to swing a punch at her, due to her having grabbed my left arm & twisted it behind my back, but she ducked with incredible agility, but in the process, released me.

I jumped backwards & looked around, hoping to find an escape, but only seeing the door I entered through, which was blocked by her. Then, I saw the curtain covering the fenestre on the opposite side of the room.

We both bolted for it at the same time, & she reached it first, but I miscalculated on stopping & ran into her, which broke the window, & defenestrated her. I had thought that we were near the ground level, but it turns out I was mistaken. We were about 9 stories up from the ground. That hallway must have had an incline that we did not notice.

I looked down & saw the 'old lady,' now seeing a man about 30 years of age, & it was clear that he was completely dead. My head spun. I had bumped into the man & pushed him out of the fenestre.  I killed him. It was an accident, but all the same, he was dead by my hands. There was a crowd gathering around the man now, looking up at the window. As it seems, he was a great favourite among the people of East London, because they commenced yelling & futilely throwing things at the fenestre where I stood, looking out in a daze.

Some things they yelled reached my SRDs.

“Cyborg trash!"

“Murderer!"

“Bloody machine!"

I turned & ran from the window to the door, but found it was locked. Wiggling the knob, I hoped that I would unlock it by doing so, but it was futile. If the door was in tatters, the knob was most definitely not. The door was in tatters! I could simply break through it!

I took a few steps backwards & then sprinted, ramming my shoulder into the door, & it splintered easily under the blow.

I ran out into the hall, but found no one there.

Where could Pippin & Simply Edward possibly be?