Enter Abyss

Chapter 14; Punching first is NOT lady-like... but it IS effective

It felt close to mid-day when Cogs finally dragged himself out of bed, his eyes still blurry from sleep.

 Upon glancing around the room, he found that Pip and Archer were gone, which was no surprise, really; they were no doubt visiting with the oh-so-fantastic-king-Galen.

Sighing, Cogs wondered if he really WAS jealous of the King of the Abyss. For it certainly seemed like he was at times, and he had a rather good reason to be. Why, now Archer would be spending all his time with HIM rather than Cogs, and Galen was handsome enough that Pip may begin to fall for him instead.

It was a dismal thought and Cogs pushed it from his mind as quickly as he could, opting instead to change and go for a walk to clear his head or to find Pip.

There was no telling what sort of trouble she might have gotten herself into.

Once he was fully dressed, he headed out of the room and into the musty corridors of the stone palace, turning right then left then right again, only somewhat sure that he knew where he was going. Thus, it was of little surprise when he found himself completely lost. Here, the hallways all looked the same; dark and confusing and, worst of all, completely empty. There was no one to point him in the general direction of an exit and no one to tell him where Archer might be.

Yet as much as Cogs considered, say, screaming for help, he did not think that what little dignity he had left was ready for such a blow. So instead he did the only other logical option and wandered deeper into the corridors of the palace while trying to look like he knew where he was going.

 However, this did not work for very long and just when he had nearly given up hope and was about to yell for help, he spotted a girl walking briskly down another stone corridor.

His heart leaping to his throat in relief, Cogs called out, "Here now, wait a moment!"

The girl continued walking.

Running after her, Cogs called out louder this time. "I say! Stop! Please! I only need directions out of here."

Immediately, the girl stopped walking and turned to him, her pretty face holding a look of confusion and as Cogs neared her, he slowly began to make out more details of her person.

Mainly that she was very pretty.

She was short and slight in build, her body nearly drowning in the simple dress she wore, the pale fabric contrasting starkly with the deep, elegant darkness of her skin. Her hair was long and a rich black colour that matched her eyes, warm and mysterious.

 She was beautiful in the way that a lilly was beautiful; delicate and sweet. And beautiful girls had a way of making Cogs feel uncomfortable when he talked to them. (Pip was the only exception to this, but he was really the only one who found her beautiful in the first place.)

"Yes?" she asked, titling her head slightly to the left.

Cogs cleared his throat and decided that, instead of trying to sound like he had wandered here on purpose, he might as well tell the truth. "I, um," he began hesitantly, "I'm lost."

"You are not from the Abyss, are you?" the girl said in a voice as soft as flower petals, her gaze resting just left of Cogs' face.

Cogs shook his head, "No, I'm from the surface. How could you tell?"

She smiled-- gods, even her smile was delicate and lovely-- and replied, "Your accent is different."

"Ah."

There was an awkward pause while Cogs tried to think up something else to say. Something suave to make him sound dashing and attractive like Archer. Or rather, NOT like Archer since most girls found him attractive until he started talking mechanical nonesense.