A Song of Spiders

Chapter 6 - Underground

They stopped running as they reached a quiet spot on the river and hid in a small maintenance shed by the river wall. Dex slowly ran his open palms down his face.

‘What do we do now?’ he said as he looked at Karma. ‘I mean, they actually tried to kill us, over a book?’ He took it out of his jacket and examined it. 'Controversial Concordats. What does that even mean?'

A slip of paper fell out of the book, Dex scooped it up from the damp concrete floor.

'Hm, a Par-King Golf flier and SS 33  written on it. That's Rachel's handwriting. I remember this old golf be-movie too. No-one has used in in years. Was Rachel just using this as a bookmark? It does have a voucher code to get a free game though. Might be our next clue. Any idea what SS 33 is?'

Karma was just about to respond when her dragon swirled up close to her face. ‘M'lady, I have a message from Rachel’. It took them both a second to react then they said at the same time ‘What!’. Karma said ‘What is it Tatsu, tell me.’

The dragon swirled in the air as it said ‘She's passed on a missive through an untraceable intermediary to say that she is hale and hearty and looking forward to what she referred to as a Rachel Special in Charlie's Cheeses.’ Karma and Dex laughed together. Karma said 'That's her all right! Can we get a message back to her Tatsu?’ 

The dragon paused a second then said ‘I humbly beg your pardon m'lady but her whereabouts is unknown to me. I will persevere in endeavouring to locate her, but she appears not to be on the grid.’ 

Dex considered this. ‘How could she not be on the grid Tatsu? Is she in a be-movie?’ he asked. 

‘No m'lord, she is not in the Virtual Realms. Her location is unknown. I will persevere in endeavouring to locate her, but she appears not to be on the grid, as I spake unto thee a moment anon.’ 

‘OK Tatsu, thanks, I can guess where she is. She's alive and safe that's the main thing.’ Karma stood up folded her arms and began to pace up and down. Then she said. ‘We have to get out of here now and get underground, they will know we're back in the land of the living if they are watching for activity from our smart phones. C'mon, your life is about to get a lot more interesting Dex.’ She grabbed the book from Dex and threw it far into the river. She tore up the piece of paper and scattered it on the wind.

‘Where are we going did you say?’ said Dex. 

‘Do you ever listen? I told you, underground. Let's go.’

He shrugged, jumped up, grabbed his rabbit by its ears, put it in his pocket and followed her as she stepped out of the shed. 

They stepped out onto the cold, dank street. It was now raining and had grown dark. The orange streetlights made the slate paving slick and oily looking.

Karma looked around to check no-one was watching them, then abruptly ran across the road and vaulted over the wall and into the river. Dex took a second to absorb this, then ran to the wall and looked down. The turbulent water was black and swirling, maybe fifteen feet below him. She was nowhere to be seen. He looked downstream, searching for her. Then he heard her voice directly below him, echoing a little. ‘Jump you numpty, before someone sees you.’ 

With no other option he could think of, there was no ladder, he decided to just do it. He swung his legs over the wall sat for a second, took a breath and dropped fast and heavily into the churning river. It took  what felt like forever to surface. It was cold and shocked his senses for a moment. Then he looked all around and saw her. Karma was in an arch in the river wall her dragon glowing gold and green to offer a beacon for him to see. He swam towards her then she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him into the arch.