Lily Ripper 20

Agonycrust

Agonycrust, or 'Crust' to her sisters, was faster than any of the bandits had ever seen. Tho barefoot, she ran through the fields and over rocks without a thought or care to the rough terain. She was also hard to see, wearing her blue hooded cloak with black veil and gown underneith. Very hard to spot in an overcast night.

She jumped bounced off a tree and dove on top of one of their boys. He rose his hand to protect himself, but a long cruel needle jammed through it and staked him to rush's home. Two other boys surrounded the black thing, now that she was against a wall. "Get 'er! She's only a girl!"

Crust turned to smile at the bandits. Her grin made them ill. It was sick with sadism and madness. "Er...you first, Bill." Bill didn't hesitate. He swung his sword hard at the black thing who ducked effortlessly under and came up between his arms. She grabbed his skull and sent horror after horror into his borc brain. He stopped screaming the morning after next.

The bandit leader stepped forward with another two boys. "I don't know what she is, but I think we need ta' kill her just to keep her from killing us!" He yelled over Bill's screaming.

"Yesss." The girl hissed. "I like this idea. Let's play some-" She was interupted. The house had a front door to the side of their fight, and that door was kicked open from inside by a heavy leather boot.

"What's going on here?!" It was Bliss. She was wearing a night gown and a sleepy grump's face.

"Ah shit," The Bandit leader snapped a couple of times and everyone scattered. Everyone except for the boy pinned and Bill who was busy wrestling with demons.

Crust smile gleefully. "Something new to play with?"

"Shut up, black thing." The womume stepped up to the boy and pulled the needle out of his hand and Grush's wall. "You, take you friend to a doctor or something."

"Was it those boys again?" Grush leaned out of the house. His hairy head was barely covered by a night cap.

"Go back inside, Grush. They've run away." Most of them, in any case. The boy was trying his best to drag a screaming friend away. "You," Bliss looked Crust over. You look alright. Did they hurt you?" Crust smiled and turned her head. It was hard to see, but it might have been what she was looking for. So hard to see in the retched light of Grush's torch light. "You better come inside. I'll patch you up, don't you worry."

"You. You're..."

"Yeah yeah." Bliss got behind the girl and pushed her. "Inside, Cemetery Girl. We all know what's going on."

Fields of Silver Wheat waved in the nights wind when Agonycrust was pushed in. "Grush, turn down the lantern. Owr guest doesn't like too much light."

Grush obeyed. "Looks like they got 'er good, they did. Nasty cut there. What...er... What exactly is she, Bliss?"

Bliss shrugged. "She's a thing from the city." She sat Crust down at the table and uncovered a pitcher of Leaf-juice. "Get the bandages, Grush."

"Oh..uh...I think they're out in the shed, Bliss. You know, for the effees in the field and that lot."

"Right right. The bandits won't return tonight, I think. Take the lamp with you. We won't need it yet."

"Right, then." Grush picked up the Lantern and left, leaving the moon's faint glow to light the room.

Bliss sat down across the table and pointed. "They cut you, black thing."

"This wound..." Crust reached to her side. There was a cut bleeding badly. "I cherish it."

"I'm impressed. I've only been gone for two hands of days and Nara Nakki already tracked me down. Red Guard couldn't do that."

"This name you have."

"Bliss. It's what I felt when I saw this farm."

"It's stupid, Plaything."

"Did your Queen tell you to call me that?"

The blackened girl frowned. "Why? Don't you like it?"

Bliss scratched the back of her head. "You people. I'll never understand you. How did you do it?"

Crust smiled again. "Oh, we only trade information for pain, Plaything." She winced as Grush came back with a basket of bandages, salves, and the like.

Bliss took it from him. "What's your name?"

"Agonycrust." She covered her eyes, still unused to the light. "Crust to my sisters."

"Take off your top, Agonycrust."

Grust blushed. "Oop. Don't think I'm meant to see this."

"We'll be fine, Grush. Go back to sleep. I'll see you in the morning before I get back to finishing the fence."

"Right-o." Grush couldn't leave fast enough. The Cemetary girl was doing as told and stripping, leaving just her skirt and belt on. The wound was thin, but went all the way to the ribs. The rest of her body seemed already covered in healed gashes and cuts.

"Now, Agonycrust," Bliss starting working on the girl's wound, applying herbs and wrapping it with bandage, "if it were I looking for me, I would try and track down the post. You were told that my friend, Felfkin, has unusual ways for delivering the mail, but I don't. Somehow, I have a guess to how, Nara Nakki followed the post from me to Drate, back to me, then you just started searching the general neighborhood. How am I doing?"

Crust frowned again. She had hoped ths Mume would call her "crust." "How would we have followed your friend's letter? There is Magic we don't know..." She hissed.

"I used to have an alchemist as a friend who once told me that a flower exists for every race's magic. Magic was used to deliver me my post, so alchemy is used to trace it. Which probably means you have a letter from my alchemist friend, as the Cemetery girls have little interest in alchemy. Interesting because I don't think my friend knows about Effee Magic. Perhaps a hand of people in Mash'ta do."

"A letter, no." Bliss made a noise. "A message. Yes. She just says 'Please come home.'"

"Madeline doesn't know the word 'please.'"

"I was given the message directly, Plaything." Bliss was silent. She finished tying the bandage and began to put away all the healing items. "I see why my Queen craves you so." Bliss didn't respond. She put the basket away and poured herself a drink. "She sends her regards and requests your presence with...different terms." Bliss laughed. "Different terms. Not in her realm. She wishes to meet you outside the city, at the plateau's edge."

"Why would I do that? I've severed all ties with Annalow, Agonycrust."

"Well, how about..." But Bliss knew what she was going to say and held up her hand. "Ah, good."

"I sent a question to Nara Nakki before. This was just before I left. Did she send an answer?"

Crust turned her head on it's side. "I have no knowledge of it." The two sat there. Bliss in her night gown, Crust in her veil. Both said nothing for a long time. Crust, after studying the womume for a while, broke the silence. "May I ask you a question?"

"I'll trade if you will."

"Oh, I would gladly suffer for you."

"No." Bliss poured another drink. "Information for information. I don't care if you hurt, Agonycrust."

Crust thought about it and nodded. "Fine." Bliss waved on. "How are you alive?"

"When a mommy mume and a daddy mume find each other atractive-"

"I mean with the edge of the city, Plaything. How did you live through the fall?"

"It wasn't hard. The walls of the Plateau aren't straight up and down, they're just steep. Very Steep. I ruined my cloths, and got a scrape here and there, but otherwise just took care when sliding down. It took about an hour to drop. A traveling merchant thought I was an escaped slave. Pretty funny, now that I think about it."

"Why did you leave like that?"

"Hold on. One deal at a time. How did you become a Cemetery girl?"

Crust smiled her crooked teeth. "I was sold as a child."

"A slave then?"

"It isn't always the way, Plaything. All my sisters are different and come by different means. I was sold when I was 20 seasons old. I was first trained to love our currency, then I was trained to read minds. Then I was trained to control my body. Then I was training others."

"Of course they trained you to love your currency."

Crusts smile broadened. "Pain is an acquired taste."

"I disagree, but go on with your question."

"Why?"

"Why did I leave the City?" Bliss shrugged. "Figured you would know. I was demoted from nothing to nothing in the Red Gaurd."

"No, that is why you left the Red Guard. Why did you leave the city?"

"I told you."

Crust crossed her arms. "That's not a popper answer, Plaything. You left your town, your friends, your office, and everything. Why?"

Bliss stared down into the moonlit tumbler of leaf. "Well, I," It was still there. It had only been two hands of days and Crusts coming meant nothing had been resolved. Lily hadn't been caught, her friends hadn't forgiven her, all that research probably still slept in her office. "I don't know."

"That's not an answer, either." Crust shimmied back into her top and her cloak.

"Who was Applebone?"

"I'll not give an answer for nothing." Crust walked to the door.

"Look at me." When she did, Crust smiled wide. Bliss was wincing as she drove the needle in and under her finger-nail. She spat out the words like bad bread. "Who was Applebone?"

Crust returned to the table and sat gently down. "We each have different ways we enter the Queendom, Plaything. Applebone was one of the rare ones who were born into it."

"Was she your daughter?" Bliss pulled the needle out.

"Can I get another figner?"

"No. It's part of the same question."

Crust sighed. "She was Agetha's, the gate keeper. But we all raised her. Queen Nara Nakki is our protector and ruler, but we are all sisters and daughters of each other, Anna Goldeyes." She stood up again. "She was the daughter of us all. Look, I was going to put this a place you could find it, but..." From out of her cloak, Crust pulled loose a set of black gloves with the eye of Mandra on them. She placed them on the table and walked away. "If you wish to speak with Nara Nakki, come to the east edge of the Plateau three days from now, where the cliffs meet the sea. Come at night. And," She opened the door, "You're friend truly misses you."

"Cherry?"

"Fallbringer. Her message was to me and not through my Queen. We trade in information..." She looked at Bliss. "And pain." And she was gone.

Anna sat in the dark for a long time, focusing on the gloves. She had wondered if Madeline hurt herself for that message or if it was another trick. Agony crust never explicitly said how she was paid, but Anna believed she wasn't lying.

The light brightened. Grush was there, turning up the flame in the lamp a bit. He hung it on a metal hook that jutted out of the stone wall in an awkward way. "Well, that clears up a bit, I think. Makes sense, it does."

"Seems my life was laid bare, Grush."

"S'aright, Bliss. We all 'ave are worries and problems and such."

"You know," Anna laughed, "she probably started that fight outside to see what I would do. I've no doubt she was testing to see if she found the right house."

"Did us a service, then. If they got this close then they were threatening ta' start somethin' else. So," Grush sat down, "anything else you been lying about?"

Anna motioned him to calm. "Just the name, Grush. Just the name."

"Anna, is it?" He nodded. "I sort of like that better than Bliss. Thought you Mumes were creative types. Bliss. My word." He held his hands out. "Welp. You gonna meet this queen person or no?"

"Meet the...Ha." It wa a genuine laugh. "No, Grush. No. There's no way I would meet Queen Nara Nakki on her own terms. She's so dangerous you wouldn't believe."

"I think after tonight you could convince me of anything, you could. But it ain't right what your do'n here, Miss Anna."

"Just Anna is fine."

"Still ain't right. You got a task 'ere that needs tending to, sounds like. And a friend that need ya'."

"And a fence that needs mending."

The Borc laughed it off. "Fence. My word. I can have the slaves tend to the fence." He pointed. "But you're no slave, Anna, Bliss, or whatever. You're a Red Guard, you is. Someone told me they were elite."

Anna smiled and stirred her Leaf. "You have no idea what that means."

"Maybe not. But I know how ta' farm like a Borc, I do. And I like to think I know when somethin' that needs do'n is done. But Bah, Miss Anna-Bliss-person. You should know all this. Ya' started somethin' and, like it or not, you know you ought ta' finish it. 'Specially if it involves friendship and all that muck." There was silence again in the room. "Also there's that bit you said about the City fall'n apart, you did." Again, nothing. "Well, I figure I can't make you mind up for ya'. I'll either see you in the morning, Bliss, or I won't. Either way, if'n you work an keep them bandits away, I'll still give ya' room and board."

He left for the night.

He didn't see her in the morning.

Lily Ripper 19

Bliss

The lasting effects of Lily Ripper on Annalow are clear in retrospec. One has only to ask the parents of the city or listen to the bonfire stories of children. Lily moves on, a ghost of fear told under the breath of the mume capital to frighten or impress. Dares will be made to visit the torture garden or the rubble that once was the killer's home, soon to be replaced by the familiar statue of children in memorial of those lost.

Also, the Red Guard would put strong faith in the research of deduction that Master Drate and Anna Goldeyes created. Because after Anna quit the city, true pandemonium began. A chaotic dance of fear and Mob mentality started with the orders from Captain Erick Crateshift.

A speach was made in front of City Hall that the Captain, thanks to the efforts of guards at the Docks, had found the location of the Lily Ripper killings. Though the perpatrator was unknown, he was certain it would not be long before the killer was caught. This, of course, didn't work for two reasons. One, from the account of Madeline Fallbringer, Lily had already been scared off, and two, from the account of Miss Goldeyes herself, this move by the captain was "Comically and poorly thought out."

"Why in the world would you warn your prey you're waiting for them?" She once told me on a visit here in Alexture. "He wasn't thinking about catching Lily, and so missed the point of the hunt. I wasn't the only one to see this, Quill. You heard about the riots."

The riots started a hand of days after the announcement. It was true that the guards had found the torture garden (as it was designated), but of course they failed. Day after day, the guards kept watch over the entrance to the legendary balcony, and each day nothing happened. At the same time, Madeline, Cherry, and Peter would hold meetings to try and figure a new way to track down Lily. Madeline created potions of deviation in order to find clues her own way, Cherry kept the entire academy on watch and account for all children upon entering or leaving the schools, and Peter woke earlier int he morning and spread word with the morning guard as to what they were looking for topside. And then Lily left a message for the whole city.

It had been the first killing with blood since the first killing was found four seasons prior. The girl was hung by the neck from a statue of Carr'dine near the schools. Many children whole left their homes to meet with teachers saw the poor dead creature and screamed. A memory they would never forget. She was naked except for the rope used to hold her and her bleeding body held a single Borc rune carved deep. It translated into Ixxar as "Mothers." The busing and battering shown on the rest of the girl's body was so severe that the strongest of Guards, Red and City, retched at the sight.

Citezens stormed City Hall demanding justice, swift and sure. The fuel of fear ignited and the Captain of the Guards was brought to question as his men fended off Mume, Borc, and Marf alike from bursting through the gates of the building. Politics, as well, were thrown out the window as the Council also held the Church, and therefore Coincil-Effee Pindrop the church represenative, responcible for the false information. Only the Ixxar remained silent durring the proceedings, an oddity given the fiasco's nature.

In essence, mid-spring of 2005ADZ was teh month Annalow went mad.

The traders and merchants were thrown from the city and the borders closed up. A quarentine put in place more by the citezens than the guards. The docks were sealed entirely off from the city. Word was now that Lily Ripper was an outsider sent to test the mettle of the city. Word was that Lily Ripper was the demon sent by the Dread Lord Ipskin as revenge for his fall hundreds of year ago. Word was that Lily Ripper was a group of mad cultists worshiping with the Dread Wolves from the south.

Mumes put to their faith would trust the church over the state and gathered into the safty of the Ebony tower. Red Guards would only allow Mumes and their children. No other race. They locked off the outside world.

Upstairs, in the organized hallways of the Red Guard Offices, Harri Eleanor held her head at her desk next to a bottle of starshine liquor, a kind of gold-wheat ale with the ale removed. Her blured gaze never moved from the jacket she hung next to her own. She couldn't understand why she held such thoughts in her head. It doesn't matter, she thought. The city is lost.

===

To my dear friend, Anna Goldeyes,

Quill and I have thought long about your plight and, if you would have us, would welcome you to our household. Quill, as you know, is annoyingly disposed to serve me, still, despite being free from the confines of her slavery. I think you'll find she's an excellent assistant when it comes to filing or finding certain information. When not in the service of my household, she volunteers at the Library of Alexture and I feel may have fully absorbed every book in existance. How much can one Effee hold in her head, I wonder. It would surprise me if she quoted the world, now.

But I do worry about your status as a rogue Heart Mage. This may follow you far beyond the cliffs of Annalow, my friend. You should return and face your foes head on. If not in physical combat, I know you are more than a match mentally, and politics is little more than a fanciful game of chess. If you should ever tire, you have a place here in Alexture.

Your friend and colleague,

Drate Felfkin

===

"That's absolute madness." Bliss said, wrapping wire around heavy wooden post. The fence was made to keep wolves away, so had to be narrow. Bliss finished her work and wiped her brown. "Alright, Wheatsoil, that'll do, I think."

The tall womume smile at her new friend, Crystal. "They wouldn't even let Mister Bonish in when he showed personally! Can you believe it?"

"The city's a crazy place, girl." Bliss said, patting Wheatsoil, a short but strong Effee, on the shoulder. "Wheatsoil, go fetch Crystal and I a glass of Leaf, would you?"

"Yes, Miss Bliss."

"Take a break after that. I'll need you for later when I fetch the wire." The Effee nodded and hopped off. He passed a large Borc dressed in heavy green cloth walking toward the two womume. "Hey, Grush! What do you think?"

"Looks fine. Fine, I think. Who's yer' friend, Bliss?"

The other womume nodded her head. "Hi there. I'm Crystal, from the city."

"Pleased ta' meet'cher aquainting, Miss Crystal fromt he city."

Crystal threw her gold curls back and laughed. "Just Crystal, Mister Grush. I'm sort of kicked out, right now, from Annalow. I was helping this fellow next door. Mister Bonish."

Bliss elbowed her in the ribs. "Don't say the 'B' name, Crystal." Grush frowned at the neighboring farm, just in veiw from the top of the hill. "B and Grush don't get along."

"Well, that don't matter much none." Grush tried to shrug it off. "As long as he didn't send you here."

Crystal threw up her hands. "Oh no! No, sir. Uh...Sorry, i didn't realize there were rivals out here in the fields."

Bliss took her turn to laugh. It was harty and friendly, like a Borcs. "Don't worry about it. Grush here is as sweet and honey. That's Grush." Bliss put her hands on both of her friend's shoulders. "Grush I can vouch for her. Besides, I'm interested in the city."

"Well, if she's sure about you, Miss Crystal, I supposed that's fine with me. Oh, Wheatsoil, that's mighty fine of you." Grush took the glasses from Leaf from the Effee and gave one to Crystal.

"But...uh..." Wheatsoil started, but Bliss motions he should drop it.

Crystal took a long draw from the glass. "So, are you a work hand here, Bliss? Or..."

"HA!" Grush nearly spit out his drink. "She's my security, she is! We been have'n bandit trouble lately and they're afraid of her, they is."

Crystal shock a look at Bliss who was knotting her dress to her side. Bliss waved it away. "I have a knack for fighting. Men are men, Crystal, and this lot are barely boys."

Crystal finished her drink and asked, "Then why are you-"

"Oh, the fence. I gotta keep in shape, you know?"

"Well, I have my own work to do. This gloomy weather has to greak some time, yeah?" She handed the cup back to the Effee. "Thank you for the drink. Miss Bliss, Mister Grush, I hope I'll see you again."

After sending the Effee off to rest Grush and Bliss walked back to the house. It wasn't just a house, sitting next to a grove, it was a home. Borc Design, meant to keep out the cold, but did just as well keeping it in. Bliss shook her head the first time she saw it. Borc home in the tropics of the Annalow country-side. Imagine.

"You're from the city too, Ain'cha? Might nice know'n someone from the same place." Grush stretched his thick hairy arms. "I knew a guy from Cavefall, once. He was the son of a friend of mine. See I used ta' live up north before. He said it was Borc Cross territory, now. Rebellion took it over."

"Sounds like something like that might happen at Annalow."

"Nah." Grush waved it away. "That city has seen worse than this, you'll see. She'll pop right out the other side o' this storm and be all the better for it."

Lily Ripper 18

Giant Bird Racing

The next bits of story were pieced together roughly afterwards, so my apologies to Miss Fallbringer and Miss Wondermume if I wrote this down incorrectly.

During the eastern light, Lily's garden fades and quiets. The wind calms as it shifts from landward to seaward, but the rain had just started. Madeline took it all in as she focued on breath sitting just to the side of the cave. First fallen drops of rain water nearly shook her awake, but control was one of her better features.

She was listening.

Patience paid off. It first sounded like cracks of stone pepples falling from above, but only one of her ears burned with sound. Someone was coming. Quietly, she rose and flattened against the wall. Her gloves pulled away. She would shock the killer into unconsciousness and burn his mind away right then and there. Problem solved. No more killing.

The steps grew louder. Focus. Focus. There was no way she knew Madeline found this place. It was too secret. Focus. A bare hand came out and grabbed the side of the opening.

"All too easy." Madeline grabbed Lily, bare hand to bare hand. Shock and fire burned. The screams of child after child lined up in their own garden with different designs of blue lines. Needles grew from the ground and drilled through feet and legs and hips. Madeline was on fire with pain.

She stumbled back, completely dazed by the visions. Something horrible fell backwards as well. Back into the darkness of the passage. It got up and ran. NO!

"Stop! Get back here!" The Red Guard stumbled on her feet, still shaken, but in control. One foot in front of the other turned into a full force run. Who ever the damn beast was, she was faster. Madeline found herself putting her boots on the walls to push herself around corners. Leaping out into the back allies, she tackled for Lily's feet. Blast and blazes, she cursed her failure.

A heavy boot struck hard into her face, breaking her nose and sending electric shock of pain into her face. He Scrambled...He? Madeline scrambled as well, onto her feet, she wiped the blood spattered into her eyes and stumbled forward. Lucky Lucky Lily, she thought. you're going nowhere.

And he wasn't. She blinked her eyes open long enough to see a thick clay pot break her skull. The cobble ground rose to meet her and she crashed hard. The distant sound of boot steps running away was accompanied only by the sound of her last words before oblivion claimed her senses.

"Disgusting black thing."

===

Not all research is done underground in the dungeons. For the longest time, the Mume's have been trying to find a good mount creature that could run faster than themselves. Mumes rely almost entirly on Ox for cart pulling or tilling the land or the like. But Ox are not fast creatures, just strong, so a joint effort was made between the Red Guard researchers, lead by Major Melony, and the Annalow Territorial Army. Together they bred a new kind of beast and, on that particular day, was showing off over 4 generations of work at the schools.

===

"GOLDY!" Cherry couldn't believe it! She watched in terror as her friend slid, stumbled, and rolled down the side of the city. Before she knew it, Anna was a black spec, nothing more than an ant rolling down the side of the plateau. She could climb down to get her friend, but she'd be too late. What to do! What to do!

Cherry realized she had been watching and pulling her red hairs out. Down. She needed to get down. Trying to straighten her eyes, she took in all the land marks she could. It was be hours before she would get there and who knows what state her friend might be in.

She ran. Ran harder than she ever had before, back to the church and ducked into a little room where the white maidens keep sandles. Someone said something to her passing by. She turned to see another maiden and a red guard talking to each other. "Sorry. I have to go! Anna jumped the cliff!"

"What?"

Cherry didn't stick around. She rushed into another room where there were three baskets of healing salves and ointments and rags. By habbit she started playing Eenie Meenie, but slapped herself out of it and just grabbed one.

When she burst out of the medicine room, one fo the white maidens grabbed her and pulled her out. "Blast you, Cherry! You don't have time to play in there!"

"I know that!" Cherry outpaced the other girl and they both jumped out of the window to the Rain soaked streets outside. There was this...thing that the Red Guard she saw was mounted on. "What is...?"

The red guard reached out and grabbed Cherry, pulling her up behind the guard onto the two legged giant bird-thing. "Shut up! Get on!" She said annoyingly. "Alice, fetch my platoon and tell them where we've gone. Uh." She turned to Cherry, "Where are we going?"

"East side of the Plateau!"

The guard nodded at Alice. "Do it!" And they were off. Cherry leaned close to the womume, gripping her hard in one hand with the basket in the other. The ride was not nearly as smooth as running, but the bird-thing was fast and nimble, dodging street-dwellers and hopping over carts and ox.

"What is this," Cherry shook up and down, vibrating her voice, "giant bird-thing?"

"Dire Emu!"

"Those aren't even words!"

"His name is Marti. Duck!" Cherry did, along with Marti, the Red Guard, and most of the citizens in the tunnelway that lead to the bizzar. Rain stung Cherry's eyes as they dove back out in the open.

"Can he fly?"

"Oh, Goddess no," the Red Guard laughed, "but he's smart as an Ibis and faster than Ox! That's for sure!" The Guard grinned, tightening her grip on the saddle hitch. "I'm Brandy, By the way!"

"Cherry! Uh...Pleased to meet you!"

"Cherry, Hang on! When Marti here hits the great ramp, you're gonna see some serious shit!"

It was like a mad play and the Ramp was the stage. When they got there, the morning crowd of merchants and visitors ducked and jumped out of the way, and they who didn't make it got a free emu foot print. Cherry heard one man behind them cry about his cabbages after Marti jumped on top of it and turned it over.

When they hit the bottom of the ramp, Marti took a sharp turn left toward the east and slid over sideways, panting. "Off!" Brandy cried, jumping and pulling Cherry with her. She leaned down and pet the poor beast. "He's not used to so much weight. You'll have to go ahead."

Cherry leaned down and pet Marti on the head. "Thank you, Marti. You did great." And Cherry was off.

"Don't worry!" Brandy yelled behind her. "They're coming!" Cherry hadn't the slightest idea what that meant, but she was grateful to the Red Guard because what should have taken an hour of running only took half as long.

Plateaus are not straight at the base. They slope at the bottom, makinging is hard to deturmin where Cherry should run. Too close and she would ware herself out, but too far and she would lose time. She poundered this, still running and trying to ignor the fatigue when she heard a rumbling behind her. When she looked behind, there were five more mumes, Army, it looked like, riding five more Dire Birdy-Thingies. "Oh, THAT'S what she meant."

It was an hour still before they got to the location Cherry recognized. The thin grass and wild wheat was green with rainfall, which you would think would make Anna's red trousers easier to spot, but they saw nothing and no one. The troops spread out, later joined by Brandy, and searched with Cherry for an hour more.

Cherry took it on herself to climb perhaps a hundred feet up the rock face. The most she got was a scrap of cloth that she couldn't be sure of. Bit of her gown tore as she half slid, half fell down the side. Anna was nowhere.

She planted herself aside the rock face and drew her knees in close. Her friend was gone. Anna was gone.

"There's no body, Miss." One of the soldiers rode up, sheilding his eyes from the rain. It looked like a salute. "There's every chance she's still alive." Cherry didn't answer.

They never found her.

===

Madeline sat at the corner table of Merick's Mug, nursing a lunch beer. It was think with gold-wheat and bitter, but a it helped numb the pain. Her nose was full of cotton and caked with blood. The church doctor and been rough with her, upset with the "Bar Fight" wounds Madeline collected from the Docks. Cherry soon showed up and waved down Glassneck for a pint herself. She sat with Madeline and neither of them said a thing.

"Rough day." Cherry said, leaning on her elbows. She was wet from head to toe, thin linen glown so soaked there was nothing left to imagine behind it. She rung her veil dry and put it aside the beer before drinking.

"Oh, you have no idea." Madeline touched her nose. Still tender.

Peter walked up and sat down. "Hi." He said, meekly. He looked at Cherry. He looked at Madeline and winced. Then he looked down at the table. "Where's Anna?"

"She hopped off a cliff." Cherry sunk lower in her hands, now hunched over her mug. Madeline chuckled behind her brew. "I mean it, Maddy."

Madeline's face froze. She shook her head. "You're strange, Wondermume. I'm sure she's in some dark crowded dungeons hovering over the traces of Lily Ripper right now. Maybe she went back to the Docks."

"She just hopped and slid down the side of the city." Cherry could feel the tears burbling up her nose and into her eye holes. "And left me... And you... And you... And the rest of..." The tears poured forth. Sobs of a lost friend, a sister even, tumbled forth into Cherry's hands.

"Not possible." Madline stood up. "I don't believe it!" She looked at Peter who was turned away, hiding his face toward the ground. "No. No no no. Show me a body." Her gloved fist pounded on the table like a roll of thunder. "Show me a body and I'll think twice."

"Shut up, Maddy. She's dead, okay? I saw her jump myself." Cherry's angry face looked unnatural.

Madeline shut her eyes. "Stay in control, Cherry." She sat down quietly. "Let's all control ourselves. Now, what happened?"

"She said she went rogue and..." Cherry snotted over her beer. "And then she said she was done and..." Snotty beer, she thought. That's gross. "And then she tumbled off the side of Annalow. And that was it."

"I... I mean. Sorry." Peter bowed over the table. "I was... I mean, I didn't know. I was going to ask her about something and thought she'd be here."

"Well she's not!" Cherry put her head on the table and cried. "She's not."

Madeline folded her arms. "Alright. Let's go down there and look-"

"We already did."

"We?"

"Me and some army guys on birds."

"Oh yeah. The bird troop. Stupid idea." Madeline muttered under her breath about the idiocy of chicken-riding. "Did you find her?"

"No. There was nothing there but...stuff. Dumb stuff." She grabbed her hair and pulled. "Stupid Goldy! Stupid stupid Goldy!"

"Cherry, you moron."

"What?"

"She's not dead. There's no body, remember? Anyway, she left us with a task."

Peter looked up. "What do you mean?"

Madeline smiled. "Idiot. We're going to catch us a murderer."

Lily Ripper 17

When Red Guards Argue

Uneasy slumber tormented Anna. She dreamed of black clouds. Not dark gray as with rain, but black as pitch and raining glowing blue paint. She ducked under the awning to avoid the crackling of raindrops spark behind her. When she turned around, to her horror, everyone in Annalow was writhing in agony. Nara Nakki stood in the window across the street, smiling that sick mad smile, unable to break eyesight with Anna.

Anna jerked up in bed to scream, but a dry cold hand covered her mouth. "Shhh...Plaything. Be at ease." It was Gravedust... in her bedroom?! "Shhh... I deliver a message from her holy majesty."

Anna knocked the pale hand away from her face. "Leave, black thing. It'll be morning, soon."

"More that I need to speak quickly." Her voice, low and scratchy from screaming annoyed Anna. It reminded her of what she'd done yesterday. "Queen Nara Nakki sends me to warn you of machinations against you. Subtle, but evil." That yellow smile shown in even in the dark. "She wishes you know that there is a place for you with us, when you wish it."

"That will never happen, Gravedust."

"She did not say 'If,' pleasant Goldeyes. She said 'When.' Her words to the syllable."

"Leave with my reply, then. Ask her if she knows Lily Ripper and HOW to catch him, why not have you lot do it? After all, Lily is her creation."

"Believe what you will, Anna Goldeyes."

Gravedust turned to leave, but Anna grabbed her hand. "You don't think so?" Gravedust turned back around and knelt to eye level. "I'm exhausted, Cemetery Girl, but I've a mind that still wonders. What is Nara Nakki's motives? She's seen the same memories as me. She knows the same if not more than I do. Why send me away to catch Lily Ripper and bring him to your queen?"

"We do not question such things. We suffer in safty. Nara Nakki looks after her own and guards us closely so we've no reason to second guess her."

"But that's it exactly, Gravedust. You trade in information, so I'll give you this for free. You already know why she wants me..."

"Your mind is beautiful. Even I see how you would be an asset to us. Yes."

"Has it ever occurred to you that she wants to protect Lily Ripper, but not let you know?" Gravedust turned her head awkwardly to the side, as if trying to look at Anna differently. "You said it yourself. You lot fight and fuck and birth and eat." The dark girl drew away, pulling backwards into the shadows. "And Nara Nakki protects her own. And doesn't kill." Gravedust hissed at Anna. "And never lies." Morning light placed it's sliver of sunshine on the barracks floor. The black thing was gone.

===

A letter was taped to the outside window that Madeline meditates under. It read "No one would believe us. Went to guard the garden." Anna folded the papyrus and stuck it in her jacket. She wouldn't want to be Lily this morning. Soon, word would come of his capture, and then the real trouble would begin.

Unbeknownst to Anna, it already had. A Red Guard in full uniform stood behind her. "Anna Goldeyes, please attend." Anna spun to see the womume. They saluted each other. "You've been summoned by Major Eleanor. You're to report immediately."

"Ma'am, Yes Ma'am." They saluted again and Anna followed the Guard upstairs into the tower. It was quite a climb, because the Reguard hold their offices and high ranking quarters above the White Maiden's shared quarters. Up stairs was clean and organized. There was some decor, such as well kept candles and vases on pillars next to the windows. Red Banners and tapestries stood out on the white marble. And Eleanor's "office" was a small library of scrolls and tombs, all in order, with a table and chair pushed against the walls.

The Major was doing morning katas. She followed complex routines of movements for fighting. Eleanor had been a dance fighter in her youth and she kept in shape, both in mind and body, in case she ever had to proove it again. Her mind was like her office, smooth and clean, but no decoration. The escort saluted Major Eleanor, turned in place and left.

"Privet Goldeyes. Kind visit."

"Ma'am. You wish to reprimand me?"

Eleanor didn't stop her motions. she continued her slow movements, retracing techniques in dance. "Well guessed. You've never failed me before, Goldeyes. Why now?" Anna had no words. She looked down and thought of how to explain to her superior. "Let's be sure. What are you confesing to, exactly?"

"You..." Be careful. Don't reveal too much, she thought. "I assume you mean the investigation."

"It was inevitable, wasn't it?" Eleanor stopped and turned to her soldier. "You found the body of Beatrix Mellowond, after all." Ealeanor didn't have normal eyes. Mume eyes can be any color in the full spectrum of light, but Eleanor's were piercing silver. When she looked at a person, she looked through that one's head into their brain. She never smiles and rarely frowns. It's unnerving. "MY guess is you want to prove your research is more than philosophy, but you were given orders, Goldeyes."

"I...No, it wasn't for that."

"Orders I specificaly laid down for you." She reached at her desk and read dirrectly from a scroll. "Privet Anna Goldeyes of the Annalow Red Guard, you are not in anyway to investigate the murders of the so called 'Lily Ripper' or give any means of support to the City Guard of Annalow beyond consultation if help is sought through either your superior," Eleanor turned to Anna for enfasis, "ME," and back to the scroll, "or yourself directly. Signed Major Harri Eleanor, 2nd of first summer LAST YEAR!" She slammed the scroll back down on the table. Her anger was clear, but controlled.

Anna could do little more than look at the floor. Angry herself, her face glowed red and she could feel the heat in her ears. "It's...not just a city problem."

"Do not second guess my motives, Privet Goldeyes. You were given a simple order which you disobeyed. Shall I tell you the storm you've started?"

"It's for the city's good!" Anna burst out. "This isn't just a city guard problem, this is an attack on the city. As a military force, isn't it our job to protect the city AND it's citezens?"

"No, Goldeyes, it ISN'T! You will remain in control, girl, because you have VERY few options before you. Right now, word has begun to spread that the Red Guard is hunting for this Lily Ripper and the city council is getting nervous! They think we're returning to a marshal state and have already sent such concerns to my generals! If this gets to the High Priestess, it could start a power struggle between the church and the state."

"That's stupid. This isn't an everyday criminal, this is a terrorist. That's military consern! If anything, the council should worry why we've never offered help before!"

Eleanor walked quickly to Anna's face, poking her with a strong and stout index finger. "You don't get to decide what they think, Goldeyes. They do." She pointed to the ground. "Kneel." Anna did as she was told. Eleanor paced for a bit, trying to calm down, then knelt five feet in front of Anna. "Alright, the damage is done. Let's see how this can be fixed. Report."

"About what?"

"Everything. Bring me up to speed from when you found the body. And Goldeyes," Eleanor crossed her arms and shut her eyes. "I already know about you and the Petal, so don't leave that out."

So Anna talked. She told about her visit to the morgue and Cherry's help with the grieving mother. She talked about Madeline and her guilty conscience. At that point Eleanor put her hand up to stop Anna. "Who is Fallbringer's superior? Do you know?"

"I thought it was you, Ma'am."

Eleanor waved it by. "Don't matter. I can' find out. Continue."

And Anna continued. She got to the point with Sarah and stopped. Eleanor made a noise and rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Gringill. Go on." Anna finished the story right up to the previous day when Madeline and her found the garden. She left out Nara Nakki's direct help and the Madeline had left this morning to guard the balcony garden at the docks.

"Questions, Goldeyes. One, what is your opinion of these Cemetery girl? Can they be trusted?"

"I don't know, Ma'am. They are not unknown to us, I feel. Gringill seemed to know about them and Madeline claims all Priestesses in the Red Guard have met them."

"I'll have to check with Martri." Martri was Eleanor's superior Priestess, but she's not important to the story. "Could they have tricked you? How are you sure you actually read a dead mume's mind?" Anna held up her fingers. She had been unconsciously picking at them this morning, but they were still burned dry and dark on the tips. "I see. Do not tell anyone else about that. Not even your friend, Cherry. Explain to Madeline, too, if she doesn't already know. Hmmm..." Eleanor shut her eyes. Her lips pushed out and pulled back in over and over as her mind started working.

"We can catch this Lily Ripper, Ma'am." She wasn't listening. Her lips went in and out, working working working.

Finally her eyes shot open. "Alright, do not repeat this story to anyone else, do you understand? We'll leave it to the City Guard and take no credit. The council should like that." She got up. "Goldeyes, you are no longer Research class. As of now you are on soldier detail."

"WHAT?"

"It's too dangerous to keep you in research, but for the Red Guard and for you. I'll give you three days to clear out your office and donate it's contents to the Library of Annalow."

Anna shot up on her feet. "That's not fair, Major! This research has lead us to two, count them, TWO killers that would have vastly damaged the city!"

"It does not matter, Goldeyes. You're dismissed."

"The City Guard could not handle this kind of criminal! If my research is abondoned, there could ealisty be OTHER council impostors! Or Lily Rippers!"

"Goldeyes! Dismissed!"

"This is wrong, Eleanor! Just because of your polotics-!"

Eleanor screamed "MAKE SILENCE!" And Anna obeyed. "Privet Goldeyes, I will make you understand. You're research is remarkable in apprehending two unique cases, and more of such cases may occur, but both Church and State are not ready for the free theft of information as you're able to precieve it. The world is a map, to you, and you can read just fine the traces of lives. That is remarkable. Do not, however, think that it is not also extremely dangerous. Twice you've succeeded and both times has put this city in political peril, threatening to rip apart a delicate balance of power between the Church, the State, and worse, the Ixxar." She took her time drawing in two breaths before continuing. "I know you need, yes NEED, to find justice and reason in these things, but we are not ready for it. For all I know, i may lose my position just from knowing these 'Cemetery Girls' exist. Children may die, the city might be run by importers, but power will remain balanced and the city will endure as it has for two melenium."

Anna was so angry she could feel sweat burn down her forhead.

"Privet Anna Goldeyes, remain in control. The is unjust, perhaps, but it will ensure our race doesn't plummit into another war. What's more imprtant, a few deaths or an all out slaughter?" Anna took off her jacket and threw it on the floor. "What are you doing?"

"Quitting."

Eleanor narrowed her eyes. "You can't. Now pick that up."

Anna stepped over Eleanor and leaned over. She had just realized she was taller than her former Major. "No."

Eleanor didn't even blink. "I'll grant you your tantrum, Goldeyes, but think on what it means to leave this place."

"Without my research, Harri Eleanor, you won't even be able to find me." She turned and left. Ears still burning, she heard Eleanor say something but didn't want to make it out. How long was she walking? She didn't know. The idea of letting more Lily Ripper's go, more killers getting away with it. More children dying, it made her float on hot coals.

Cherry said something. Anna didn't make it out. She kept walking. All the pain she had endured. Seeing all the dead and mutilated children, seeing one of them die from the inside. Her hands hurt. She didn't know why. Her face burned. She didn't care.

When she finally noticed where she was, she had been sitting on the edge of Annalow looking down at the country below. It was a patch quilt of roads and farmlands. Even on the outside, live went on. Annalow wasn't just the city atop or the Docks below. It spread out. Anna looked beside her. Cherry was there. They were holding hands and she hadn't noticed.

Anna pulled away. "It's over now. I'm done with this."

"What happened?" Cherry leaned over and wiped the tears from Anna's eyes. Was she crying? For how long?

"I guess I'm a rogue Heart Mage. I'm done with the Red Guard. I'm done with this city. Cherry?" Anna grabbed her hands. Both of them. "I'm leaving Annalow."

Then she straightened her legs and slide down the side of the city.

Lily Ripper 16

A Garden of Pain

"I..." Anna felt her insdies pull apart. She covered her face. "I can't go there."

"You can and will, soldier." Madeline finished her beer and put 1 bit on the table. The pub had stopped taking notice of the two womumes, which is how Madeline preferred it. Pulling Anna behind, she left, patting the Marf doctor on the shoulder as she went past. Once outside, out of the crowd, Madeline pushed Anna against the wall. Her eyes were gold on red. Aching from crying and snotting. "Privet Goldeyes, attend to me, now!" Anna stood up straight. Still snivalling, much to MAdelines disgust. "Eyes forward, Soldier! Head up!" Madeline paced in front of the wounded Red Guard. "Where are your gloves?"

"Uh..."

"Answer clearly, Privet!"

"Back at the Cemetery, Ma'am!"

"My GODDESS! You've lost them! Is this the way a Red Guard presents herself? Don't you look away from me! Eyes forward!" Anna felt like she was back in basic. "I've been told that the Red Guard repelled the armies of Fargo Ipskin! Is this true, soldier?!"

Anna clicked her boots together. "Ma'am! Yes Ma'am!"

"Someone told me the City Guard were equal to the church Military Branch! Is THAT True, soldier?!"

"Ma'am! No Ma'am!"

"And why not?!"

"Ma'am! Cuz' Red Guard are elite, Ma'am!"

"What was that word?"

"Elite, Ma'am! Best of the best!"

"What are the three principals of the Red Guard, soldier?!"

"Control, Tactics, Action!"

"Tactics, Action, and WHAT?"

"Ma'am! Control, Ma'am!"

Madeline slapped her. Hard and firm, she slapped her. "Then CONTROL yourself!" She stepped back from Goldeyes and yelled, "Who's in control of you?"

Anna stood straight. Eyes forward. "I am."

"I asked WHO is in control of you, soldier?!"

"Ma'am! I am, Ma'am!"

"At ease." Anna relaxed and fell against the wall. "Now, Anna. This is your research into...whatever it is your suposed to research."

"I'm learning about a method of thinking, Ma'am."

"I'm not your superior, Goldeyes. At ease." Anna felt herself focus again. Her head was clearing, like coming out of the purple fog. "Now, soldier," Madeline held her hands forward. "What's to be done?"

===

The Docks is a strange place. It's not like Annalow Above where everything is in sunlight. The city above thrives on showing itself to the sky. In the morning, curtains pull back from windows and doors open to let the breeze in. In the Docks, especially in the back caves, there's no night or day, just high and low tide. The dark there is soft and blue and made of syrup. It's cold and moist, but not wet. And the docks thrive on hiding themselves from the darkness. The only reason to have windows is for pubs and shops to show their wares. Homes have no such privilege.

I mension this so you can picture what the back allyways and inbetweens of the Docks is like in the back caves. There are no windows, just smooth walls and doors with trash bins around them. It was in such a place that Anna picked up the scent of memories not her own.

"She was stealing from this place." Anna knelt down and searched behind a bin. Madeline sneered at the stick of rotten vegtables near by. When Anna stood again, she held a thin book in her hand. "Here."

"What is it?"

"The girl's name was Applebone, I think. She was stealing this book, but...I don't know why." Anna leafed through it. "It's a diary. Borc writing."

"She was learning to spy, then." Madeline crossed her arms. "That's what the Cemetery Girls are for. They're the spies of the church."

"Makes sense." Said Anna, tapping her chin with the volume. "Someone came from behind her..." She mimics the movements of Applebone. "Someone who scared her...but I can't see who."

"This girl didn't see them?"

"Yes, she saw...but... I can't explain it, Madeline. There were missing chunks the further back I saw in the Memories."

"Assuming the whole thing wasn't a fabrication by Nara Nakki. As far as I'm conserned, SHE'S Lily Ripper."

"Until we know better, we'll assume the vission was true." Anna truned slowly, looking behind her. "Applebone was scared, but not the kind of fear for her life. I don't think she was afraid to die..." The Redguard burst into a run down the street. "She bolted this way, looking for somewhere thin to squeeze into." Madeline followed Anna. "But she didn't know this area. She looked." Anna twisted her left arm in the air in a kind of dance move. "He caught her by the wrist and twisted it. She was mad at herself. Mad at him. In that order. Mommy's going to be angry. Something something punishment. That doesn't make sense." Goldeyes fell to the ground, face first, then twisted her wrists behind her, as if being tied. "Ow. That was dumb."

"Oh, it looked dumb." Madeline quipped.

"She's frustrated. She feels stupid for not casing the area first. Something cold and metal on her wrists."

"Past tense, Anna. It's not a good idea to..."

"She's being dragged." Anna got up and snuck down the ally. "She sees a place she remembers as home..."

"Past tense."

"Here." Anna pointed down a small opening in the stone wall. "This was escape. If only I could have made it."

"'She,' Anna. You're not Applebone. Also, remember, past tense."

"Someone sees us...someone down this ally. A bandit? He's waving. The one who has me. No, that doesn't make sense." Anna turned to Madeline. "Why wouldn't the mume down the ally come to help. Applebone was an urchin, yes, but still a child."

"How would I know that? When you say dragged, you mean the girl was scrapping agains the cobble?"

"No, it was more like she was being ushered. 'Dragged' was her word. Then..." Anna winced. "Sorry."

"What's wrong?"

"The ideas and memories are all fragmented. I have to keep working backwards from..." Anna teared up again, but wiped her eyes, determined to keep in control. "It's nothing. She's being pulled this way." Anna lead down another Ally, turned down another, then another, and so on. A long stretch of street put them beside raw rock at the edge of the cave. "She doesn't know what's going on. This isn't where she thought she'd be."

"Where did she think she was?"

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense. But he's no borc. And he's wearing..." Anna stood up straight. "Oh." She slapped her forhead. "Oh, of course."

"What is it?"

"Nothing. Something someone said earlier. I..." Anna shook her head. "No. Nothing i can do about it now. I have no evidence and I'm not even sure if I'm right." She put her hand on the rock wall. "Besides, this comes first. If the memories were right, then..." Her hand seemed to sink into the stone. Madeline did a double take to make sure what she saw was real. "Here. It's an illusion."

When Madeline got closer, she could see from another angle that the stone actually opened up into a passageway, but from the other angle it looked like solid rock. "Clever. Marf trick, no doubt."

"At this point, Applebone knows something is wrong. She was taught different ways to get to the City above, but this isn't one of them."

"What about you? You used to play in these tunnels as a child."

Anna smiled. "You make a lot of Marf Friends in the tunnels. Ask Cherry about it, sometime. Anyway, no, I don't recognize this, either." She went in deeper, trying to force her eyes to adapt to the new deeper dark of the cave passage. "I can smell it, Madeline. Not Applebone, me. We both smell it."

"Smelled. Past tanse. I keep saying. Look, get out of my way." Anna was pulled backwards. Madeline pulled a small wooden stick from her jacket and hit it against the wall. A blue spark later and the stick caught fire. "Larger version of a tender stick. My own invention."

Anna complemented her companion and the two search into the caves. It wasn't long before the flame of the stick drew forward. "That means air." Said Madeline.

"I know what it means. Keep going."

There were not twists or turns or splits in the pathway. The cave slowly curved northward until a dull light could be seen up ahead. Eventually, the two Red Guards were forced to cover their eyes. The sky was bright gray, overcast but still so much brighter than the Docks.

"Oh...Oh god, Maddy." Anna could not take her eyes from in front. She left the cave, then backed up against the wall. Covering her mouth, she whimpered "This is it."

It was a small cliff, perhaps ten by fifteen feet. A balcony looking over a drop of 100 feet of grass below. On the balcony was a small garden of sparkling blue Flash Blossoms and dark blue lilies, all lined around it were yellow stones from the rock wall.

"Wow. i can see some of the farms from here." Madeline found herself impressed by the view.

"Maddy..." Anna whispered and pointed at the garden.

"Don't ever call me that in front of people."

"Are those chains?" A flood of horror filled Anna. Fragmented memories of waiting under the raining sky, but the pain was there. Constant and cruel. And then he showed up to cover her with the blue paint.

Madeline tugged at a cuff and chain. "Pretty small. I guess they've have to be. Here's another." She pulled a new chain from the opposite corner. "Oh, I see, to hold the girls in the flowers."

"How can you be so calm?!" Anna was getting fed up with this. The dead memories, Madeline's apathy. The killers. This place.

"Why? You idiot, because I'm happy." Madeline's smile was uncharacteristic. "There's no child here, Goldeyes. That means Lily is bound to return." She dropped the chains and cracker her knuckles.

===

A long time passed. The two sitting under a natural awning and listening to the rain fall. No Lily. No Child. And it was starting to get dark.

"You said," Madeline wondered, "that the electricity didn't kill them."

"You would ask." Anna had calmed down significantly, but she would rather not remember anything else. "You see that wooden box over there?"

"I figured it was gardening stuff."

"Open it."

Madeline did as she was told. Inside was a covered pot that crackled slightly when she opened it. Blue glowing paint. Beside that were different paint brushed, a small sack of fertilizer, and seeds and bulbs of different types. "I've never dared to test how much flash blossom it was take to kill someone." The alchemist picked up the pot and smelled its contence. "This is potent, tho."

"She was chained there, in the flash blossoms where they could brush against her." It's not your memories, Anna. Read them like a book. You are separate. "She was naked and he would come and paint her with that."

"Did you see his face?"

"No. After a while, she didn't see anything when he was there. It was always too bright for her."

Madeline shrugged. "Cave people."

Anna wiped something off her forehead. Was that sweat? "The flowers tormented her. Kept her awake. I guess even Cemetery Girls sleep. Durring the mornings, when it was brightest, he'd come and paint her. That's when the pain really sets in." Anna squeezed the bridge of her nose. Need to focus, she thought. "The flower's can't kill you. The pain does it. It was so great that her mind couldn't escape." Yes, that was sweat. There's more of it. Come on, Anna, pull it together. "You know how, when something is bad enough, the soul pulls away from the body and runs away?"

"Soul sickness. I know it." The Alchemist put everything away. "We all know a little of it."

"She couldn't. Something about this place attracts the soul back. She came from a place where they hurt each other for fun, but this was more than her soul could take. The pain was so bad, the Keb snapped loose and she just died." Anna waved at the garden. "The body just gave up. Everything stopped." She pulled her knees in close. "And then he drained her into the garden."

Madeline knelt over the garden and checked the earth. "Yup." She showed wet red on her gloves to Anna. "There's your evidence."

"I want to be gone from this place, Madeline."

"Then lets." Madeline stood up and dusted herself off. From her jacket, she pulled a small glass vial, took a sample from the pot in the wooden box, and capped it. "I think we should have someone wait here tomorrow morning."

Anna agreed and the two took a long trek back to the barracks. It took about two hours of walking.

Anna had bad dreams that night.

Lily Ripper 15

Where Memory Lies

**Note: When writing this, my internet was down, so I was unable to do the research I usually do. The five parts of the soul, specifically the 'Keb" and the "Tha" are not the correct names. I may return and fix this later.**

"That's not..." Anna fumbled her words. She had heard this question before. Where? She barely noticed Nara Nakki's burnt and skeletal hands smooth the sides of her face. "You can't read the minds of the dead. There's no soul there."

"Can't?" Nara Nakki felt Anna's hands. "Or shouldn't?" Anna realized the Queen was pulling her gloves off. She jerked away and jumped backwards once she realized both gloves lay on the floor.

"Stop that! There's nothing to read! It would be like trying to talk to a leg of lamb! No soul no mind!"

"And what is the soul?" The Queen drew back her robe and knelt in front of the dead girl's body. Lifeless, yes. Soulless? "What does the heartbeat of the mind look like? You're a Heart Mage, Anna Goldeyes. You should know."

"It's...five parts. Akh, Ib, and Ka wrapped in the Tha and held with the Keb." Anna realized she was explaining the basics. "But I assume you already know this. Having so much experience with the Heart Magi yourself."

"Did Madeline Fallbringer not tell you?" Nara Nakki shrugged. "She will, I supose. After you escape."

"What?"

"Now," the Queen said, ignoring outburst, "What are the three things a soul does?"

"Again, you already know."

"Remind me."

"It sees outward. That is consiousness. It chooses. That is will. And it remembers things backward in time. That is memory."

"Of course, my plaything. Now, where do those qualities lie?" Anna furrowed her brow. "Come now, you've been trained in this. Where are the soul's eyes? It's strength? It's knowledge?" Again, Anna could not give an answer. "I see. You're merely a pawn after all. Fine, I shall educate you, only because I plan on keeping you."

"You'll do no such thing, Nara Nakki."

The queen waved it aside. "We'll discuss it later. The eyes of the soul are in the Tha. The Will IS the Ka, Ib, and Akh and their struggle with each other. That leaves..."

"...The Keb. The umbilical that connects our hearts to our soul."

Nara Nakki smiled. "Our brains, Plaything. The soul connects to our brains."

"No it doesn't. I've seen it. It connects to the heart."

Nara Nakki waved it away, then stopped in mid wave. Her eyes went wide and her insane smile returned. "You say you've SEEN it?" Her eyes rolled back in her head. "Oh, this is delicious."

"Look, none of this matters."

"It does to us, Anna Goldeyes. We would keep you. OH, we would keep you. Such a brain, fine and beautiful. Sharp as a blade. One we would have you cut yourself with." She shook her head and returned to the now. "To busyness. When the life leaves, so does the soul, but the soul lives longer than our breath. It severs from the brain by the Keb. That is what death truly is."

"And then what."

"Even we do not know. We have asked Mandra many times, but this secret should would not reveal. Reguardless, the Keb doesn't sever cleanly, Anna Goldeyes. There is something left." Queen Nara Nakki motioned to the child's forehead. "Have a look."

"This..." Anna frowned, then knelt before the child. "This won't do anything. It's just a body. There's nothing left to see." Nara Nakki pulled Anna's hands to the girls' head. "There's nothing there." Anna probed and poked with her mind. Trying to imagine if the girl was still alive. "Nothing is..."

"Shhh... Concentrate. Look deep, as if at the back of a cave."

Anna did so. She tried to imagine the girl was still alive, just asleep and cold. Cold. That was the right word for this mind. Cold like a cavern deep in the earth. Somewhere there was just something...

Anna screamed and pulled away. She shuffled backward again the closed iron doors of the Throne room. Eyes wild with pain, she found she was hyperventilating. Control? She lost control. How long she was like this, she didn't know. It was worse than the room full of dead children. Worse than looking through Duffworm's tombs of horror. It was worse than the first time she saw Beatrix for the first and second time. So much worse.

Queen Nara Nakki was laughing. "What did you see?" Her voice tumbled and mocked. "What did you see?!" She crawled closer to Anna. Tears of joy streamed down her face. "Tell your queen."

"You...You keep away from me!"

"Oh, Anna Goldeyes, I would keep you and teach you suck things like this."

"KEEP AWAY!"

"Because I have lived and lived longer than the world has ached, and I have never seen a mind like yours! Never anyone who's looked at what you've looked at!" Anna swung her chained hands hard, striking the Queen on the temple and throwing her across the room. She was laughing. Laughing still while her blood drizzled tot he dirt.

Must get away. Must get out of here. Anna fumbled with the chains, pulling at them and twisting her hands to get to the old latch that held them in place. "This is a trick. A reality of your will and I deny it." The latch broke away and one manicle came loose. "I DENY IT!"

"You've already taken the first step, my plaything." The Queen hadn't moved. She smiled playfully, chest heaving with mirth and giggles. "And we made a deal."

"I'll not deal with these LIES, Nara Nakki!" The last cuff came off. Anna threw the set at the Queen. "And I am not your plaything." While Nara Nakki picked up the chains, Anna was well on her way out, pulling the doors open wide.

As she twisted the heave wheel that pulled the crypt gate upward and open, she heard Nara Nakki in the back room. "I do not lie, Anna Goldeyes, and we made a deal!" Nara Nakki was in the doorway, holding the chains. The gate was open behind her. "Your submission for your safety."

"I'm a Red Guard, Nara Nakki."

"Look at your hands."

"What?" Anna did so. Her finger tips were burnt. Just like Gringill's. She looked up and Nara Nakki was holding her burned hands up. "What do you think I was before all this?" She waved outside. "What do you think any of us were?"

"Right." It was a sound of determination.

Anna planted a firm boot into Nara Nakki's skull, slamming her out of the doorway and into the wall behind. She gave the Queen a salute before bolting out of the crypt and taking in the surrounding. There were about 40 to 50 surprised looking Cemetery Girls. All dressed like Gravedust, pale in black with black veils worn in mockery of the White Maidens.

"GIRLS!" Cried Nara Nakki behind Anna. "NEEDLES!" The crown smiled and chuckled and squeeled. They all had long thin sheethes, as if for daggers, but drawn out was not a blade, but a thin and sharp looking needle. 40 to 50 needles. Anna wished she kept the chains, now.

The girls rushed forward and Anna heard Nara Nakki rush from behind. As the crowd lunged with there painful weapons, Anna turned, grabbed Nara Nakki by the rope, spun, and flung the Queen into the needles in front. Nara Nakki screamed as Anna ducked below eye level, and came back up, uppercutting on of the girls at the edge of the crowd, knocking her into the arms of another behind her. Anna sidestepped the group and tried to run around. Not far ahead was the gates out.

Passing a crypt, Anna saw the girl too late. She was hiding around the corner and stepped out just at the right time to plan her needle just below Anna's right shoulder. Anna turned with the movement and, doing her best to ignor the pain, pulled the girl forward on her way past and used that momentum to pick her up and throw her head first against the wall. All in all, the girl had done little to slow Anna down.

She pulled the needle out of her shoulder with a yell and stepped up to the Cemetery gates. They were locked. Of course they were locked. Nara Nakki didn't give the order to keep Madeline out, it was to keep Anna in. "Anna! Behind you!" It was Madeline, pointing.

Anna turned and saw the on coming crowd. One girl stepped in, aiming her needle at Anna's gut. Anna was out of the way too soon and pulled her needle back and into the girl's wrist. "Anyway you can help with the gate?" She asked Madeline. The crowd was nearly upon her.

"Idiot!" Madeline put her hands through the bars and grabed each other. "You don't go through, you go over!" Anna took the hint, put one boot on Madeline's hands, and was flung over the gate. The top was covered in blunt arrowheads that hurt as Anna strattled the edge. She leaned forward and rolled her body over to the otherside where Madeline caught her. The two quickly rolled back and away from the gate as pale hands and needled reached out to stab and grab the two.

Nara Nakki walked slowly behind the crowd of black things. "You cannot change what you saw, Anna Goldeyes!" Blood poured down Nara Nakki's nude body. She had been stabbed in the breast and one needle pierces her side through to her back. No mortal wound, but she looked like death, especially with her mad smile. "Now go and find us a Ripper! We want him next!"

"Let's get away before those things remember they have a key to that gate." Madeline was the first up. She pulled Anna along with her toward the docks, and into the light of day again.

===

A Marf doctor was wrapping Anna's Shoulder. "Don't know what got'cha, Lady, but it ain't that deep. Stop yer cry'n already." Marf made bad conversation, but great doctors.

"Anna." Madeline had found them a ship's doctor at one of the pubs. He was willing to help, but his crew crouded around them. Anna could barely hear Madeline over the murmur of the crew or the waves of the ocean. Once she sat down next to a window and felt the3 sun again, she took the time to collaps into sobs.

"Did ya' here?" the sailors told each other. "Says they came from the old cemetery." "Old Gods! Is she still sane?" "Ghosts must'a got to 'er. My mate Philben once went there and went mad." "What's that? The Docks Cemetery? HA! Ain't nutt'n there!"

The patch job was finished and the crowd of sailors disperse. Madeline ordered two heavy stouts and sat next to Anna, putting an arm around her. Anna leaned in and let it all out. The pain, the fear, and the visions. It wasn't just hers. She told Madeline of the last moments of that child's life. A child that was already used to pain, and more piled on. "She died like none of them, Maddy." Anna felt the beer in her hands, but couldn't stop talking long enough to drink. "It was crawling over her! The paint was cruel like nothing else! I thought it was the electricity of the flowers, but Maddy, it was..." Anna broke down again.

Madeline wasn't used to comforting people. She patted Anna on the shoulder and said "uh...there there. It'll be okay." In a flat voice. She wished a White Maiden, even Cherry, was around, but they tended to avoid the docks.

The head on Anna's beer Shrank by half by the time Anna was able to compose herself again. Little wimpers snuck through her as she tried to gather her mind in one peice. There was pain and there was fear and then there was what Nara Nakki had shown her. She drank the beer and wiped her mouth, eyes red and purple, puffed up from sea water pouring out. "That damn bitch, Nara Nakki."

"What ever it was, you can't trust it."

"That's just it, Madeline." Anna swallowed hard. "Nara Nakki doesn't lie. I saw it in that...That souless thing. That corpse."

"What are you talking about?" Madeline shook Anna by the shoulders. "Snap outta it! That's impossible and you know it."

Anna shrugged off the grip. "Shut up. I know where the murders took place, now." She looked hard at Madeline. "It's important you know that Nara Nakki knew what was going to happen. Her motives weren't clear, but she knew what I would see, she knew what I was going to do, and she planed for it." Anna wiped more snot from her nose. It still ran from the sobs. "And if she knows it or not, she's going to help me with a little problem I've been wrestling with."

"You're saying you saw...what? Into the mind of that little girl she brought you?" Madeline's next words were carefully pronounced so there could be no mistake as to their meaning. "Ibis shit."

"Madeline, is there a third branch to the church?" Madeline didn't answer. "One where the Magi go mad? One where they experiment with things we're told not to go through." Madeline looked into her empty mug. "Maybe they found a way to do something impossible. Andyway, it doesn't matter. I can't use the vissions dirrectly."

"Did you see who Lily Ripper was?"

"No, but Nara Nakki had." Anna held up her finger tips. "It burned this much just to get a glimpse. The womume must have looked over and over again into dead minds. You saw her hands?"

"I had wondered about that."

"But I can't use it, you see. I know where the killing happened, I know mostly how the killing is done, but I can't use any of it!"

Madeline waved down a beer. "Meh. Use it to find Lily Ripper and burn out his mind. That's what I'd do. Not sure why you're worried about it."

"That not how Drate and I do things. You see, we decided that if there must be proof, it must be something everyone can see. Physical. Simple. Enough that I could explain it to a child borc."

Madeline shrugged. "Burn his mind away, Justice is done. No problem."

"Is it justice if no one else knows? To be clean, there must be understanding by anyone. And evidence. This is how my research works. It's not like Heart Magic, Madeline. Everyone must agree to what they see as proof. Something, by the way, that could be presented to the City Council."

Madeline drank half her beer. "Alright." she said after wiping her lips. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"The Red Guard pulled the other out of her seat. "You said you saw where the murders happen. Let's go."