The third part of A Pearl Before Swine is here! I have most of act one written, and I am working on making sure the story ramps up properly. This is just the calm before the storm. (Just wait for Chapter 16). I am just sort of writing this as I go, but I do have lots of ideas planned for our heroes and villains.
Table Of Contents:
Parts 1-2:
Prologue: Moonlit Jellies on a Restful Night
Chapter 1: A Ray of Sunshine
Chapter 2: It Stirs
Chapter 3: A Day of Confusion
Chapter 4: Tracks Revealed on a Peaceful Evening
Chapter 5: It Beckons
Chapter 6: A Search for Meaning
Part 3: (You are here)
Chapter 7: Hypnotic Dances on a Hidden Stage
Chapter 8: A Descent to Despair
Chapter 9: It Searches
Chapter 10: Hazy Dreams on a Lucid Tide
Part 4: (Coming up)
Chapter 11: It Speaks
Chapter 12: A Rite of Passage
Chapter 13: It Plots
Chapter 14: Dark Secrets on a Twisted Path
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Chapter 7: Hypnotic Dances on a Hidden Stage
The fog was thick and dreary that night. Usually, the cool northern winds were dry, but tonight, they billowed with moisture before fading away. Maintenance at several power plants and pumps had left most of the large streams at a standstill. Not a ripple disturbed the eerie stillness. Not a sound penetrated the deafening silence. Not even the moon blessed the marble stone, as the streets hid in pitch black for the first time in months.
It was a poor night for a hunt. The fog muted all echoing footsteps, but without the constant babbling of the creeks, every sound stood out. This was the one night where black clothes truly blended into the alleys. The one saving grace for staying hidden was the dense cloud touching the dirt.
Not a soul ventured out of their homes past the hour of the wolf. The midair vapor wrapped every building in a cozy shroud and nearly turned to tiny crystals in the evening chill.
Slowly, a pair of small buds poked their way out of the silky smooth contours of a hidden form. Her opalescent curves dimmed nearly as dark as the night. Standing in a nook of a street corner, a vigilante observed the silence. Noticing her protruding nipples, she took off into the air to warm herself up.
In three short pulls, a Pearl stood atop the nearby marketplace. She needed no more than a patchwork of bricks to leverage herself up that vertical interface. The fog was thicker at roof level, but her steps were quieter here.
Suddenly she heard a sound. Like a quiet mix of rustling leaves in the breeze and the soft scrape of a cloth over wood, the sound was nearly indistinguishable. On any other night, it would have gone unnoticed, but this was no ordinary night. At last, Pearl danced over the sector like a acrobat. The hunt was on.
Due to the fog, it had to be close, but every street lay deserted. Pearl paused to take in the sounds again. One soft latching of a padlock later, and she was back on the trail. It came from down a narrow alley, but she inferred from the muted sound that it was covered up. The alley looked like it was meant for crime. The way the streets bent around it caused it to see virtually no traffic at all. Every door was closed, and there were no discernable exits.
Hopping down into the muck of the rarely cleaned asphalt pathway, Pearl examined every corner. Finally she looked at a large dumpster along the side. It stood on wheels but failed to budge when pushed on. The lid was a makeshift piece of wooden plywood, and it would not open. Examining the back, Pearl found it to be fused to the wall of the closed down bar and grill place. Moving back to the plywood, she lifted it an inch, and located the padlock.
"Strange that you would be on the inside" she muttered. "Here goes nothing." She reached a finger under the lid and deftly snapped the flimsy obstruction. She winced as the broken lock banged loudly on the floor of the dumpster.
Slipping the lid open, the hidden passageway was revealed. The back of the dumpster opened into the wall, and a rather spacious walkway ran down the length of the alley. Pearl stepped into the brick passage, and began to follow the trail. Layers of dirt were scrapped away in patterns that showed someone or multiple someones had recently traversed here. The passage continued for a couple hundred feet, far beyond the alley, and sloped downwards before exiting into a sewer.
Bricks bled into dirt and stone, and the sewer itself was clearly cut into the ground and not built like the rest of the city. The grey water was murky and still, and while it did not look to be sewage, Pearl decided to avoid it at all costs. A rusty series of rungs was cut into the wall up to the passage, and Pearl make a split second choice to continue on her path. No trace remained of her prey, but a distant echo sent Pearl down the right-most path.
After a quick jaunt, she could make out three figures sauntering down the lane holding a torch. They had abandoned their secrecy, believing themselves to be far within the hidden bounds of safety. They made no effort to disguise their steps. A bend in the waterway gave Pearl a chance to narrow the gap. She was now just a dozen meters behind them, and she slowly crept closer. She could make out their appearances now, even in the torch mottled darkness.
Two ordinarily dressed goons carried some sort of boxes, and Pearl noted the high end pistols on their hips. "Definitely illegal" she thought to herself. It was the central figure that interested her the most though. A large overcoat disguised the form and contained a tall collar that went halfway up the hood underneath as well as long and pointed tailcoat features on the bottom. The walk was distinctive. The figure almost looked like they were swaying side to side, and even under the coat, the movement of the torso seemed fluid and smooth.
Suddenly the central figure stopped dead in their tracks. The two goons nearly tripped in their haste to avoid crashing into them. Pearl froze and silenced her breathing as the central figure lifted their head and paused ... then hissed.
"Sssomeone thinks they are sssneaky, don't they?" The figure turned, and her appearance could only be described as snakelike. Her forked tongue flicked out of her upraised mouth and continued to smell the air. Her voice lay somewhere between a hiss and a whisper while being loud enough to hear. "Sssomeone thinksss we are ssstupid."
Her shoulder long jet-black hair lay matted to her skull and neck under the grey hood. Her face was long and narrow, and every facet of her face ended in a smiling point. Despite the extended points, her eyes were not slits, and brilliant green irises shone within. She smiled revealing a row of small perfectly aligned pearly white teeth. Of course her upper incisors extended into dainty fangs that Pearl assumed were much deadlier than they looked. As she smiled, the snake-lady began to laugh, a merciless but joyful exhale only distinguishable as laughter do to the inflections of the hiss.
