Manon and Belle

Melissa and Belle were both dressed, with sturdy boots on, and perhaps an extra layer of clothing that wasn't really necessary for a fine autumn day, but not so much as to be obvious.

Melissa fussed over Manon, clearly already taking her job as lady's maid seriously, even if she really didn't know what that entailed. Not, Manon had to admit to herself, that she did either.

Belle was carefully helping Janine dress. She already had got her into a pair of black stockings, and then had cut the legs short on a pair of her own trousers, so that they came loosely to Janine's knees She secured them with a belt, so that they didn't look too bad at all. The belt had the small holster on it, for the small calibre Webley. There was no underwear for Janine though, nothing they had would fit, but Manon made her blush prettily by suggesting she liked her that way.

Belle had found a white blouse, and ripped the left sleeve open so that that it didn't chafe on Janine's arm and hand, and a waist coat that also went on easily without causing Janine more than a minimum of extra pain. A jacket, draped loosely over her shoulders gave her a top layer with more warmth in it, and with the same scruffy shoes as she had arrived in during the night, she was done.

Manon handed Janine the revolver, noting that she immediately broke it open and checked the chambers, that the cylinder spun properly, and that the barrel was clean, and then she holstered it. Doing it all one handed with no difficulty.

"Sorry miss, old habits," she said when she looked up to find Manon smiling at her. "Good old habits Janine, never apologise for that," Manon told her. "Slaves aren't usually armed my lady?" Janine ventured.

"No, but mine are when I tell them to be," Manon answered. "Now, I know it's horrible to look at for you as well as suffer, but I want to leave your arm uncovered. The antiseptic will protect it from infection for a while."

Janine just nodded, and tucked her arm carefully inside her jacket, so that it was mostly out of sight.

Manon led them out of the hotel then, Melissa and Janine in the middle, with Belle bringing up the rear as they walked across the lobby. There were constables everywhere, several of whom immediately started to follow as they left, heading for the market district. Another constable ran off, no doubt to report in to someone Manon thought.

Manon led them at a steady pace, so as not to tax Janine more than she had to, which unfortunately meant they all got plenty of time to look at the now complete scaffold and the three metal stakes in front of it.

Shandinski was standing on the scaffold, sadly without a noose around his neck Manon thought. The constable that had run out of the hotel was standing next to him, and the Count stared fixedly at Manon and her little party as they walked past.

By the time they left the square, Manon saw they had 8 constables following them, and there were another two groups of four in front, who occasionally peeled off in pairs into side roads or alleys, presumably so that if Manon were to turn off the road to the market, they would still have eyes on her.

"They aren't being careless," Janine muttered beside her. "No, sadly not," Manon said, "how are you doing?"

"Ah, the best I can say miss is I haven't fallen over yet," she said a brief grin lighting up her face, which was pale and sweaty. From the look on her face Manon thought she didn't have much stamina left."

When they got to the market, Granny Foster was at her stall, watching as they approached, and their unwelcome escort fanned out around the market, taking post at all the exit points.

Manon was taken aback when the angry faced Gran started to shout and wave a fist at her as they got close. Her confusion dissolved quickly when Gran said, "you have a talent for trouble my lady. Forgive the theatricals, it's for those buffoons stalking you."

Manon kept Janine close by her side, as Belle took station up behind her, keeping Melissa between them as she deliberately surveyed the knots of constables watching them.

"You know what is happening?" Manon asked thrown off guard.

"Some, not all. Your girl there was spotted getting into the hotel last night, and I got word this morning saying that Polish inquisitor had arrested you all."

"Seems that word wasn't quite right. I'd best start selling you something, reluctantly of course, so you'll have to pay over the odds to make me overcome my reluctance at dealing with you," Gran said, straight faced.

"I'd expect no less. I need clothes for Janine here. Decent, that will stand some travelling without being too obvious that's what they are for. What I need most though, is to get her a doctor." Gran hissed angrily when Janine showed her hand briefly.

More arm waving and gesticulation from Gran was followed by her selecting a woollen skirt, in a nondescript brown colour, and a blouse and a thicker hip length jacket than the one Janine had on. She also made another big pile of clothes, of all sorts, and whistled loudly as she tied it into a bundle with string.

Her smaller grandson appeared again, "Get your brother and his cart, you've another delivery for my lady's hotel, and don't dawdle fetching him."

"They'll be a mite less twitchy if they see you having stuff delivered. I take it you aren't in fact going back there."

"Just who are you?" Manon asked, as she couldn't contain her surprise any longer. "Never you mind that my lady, just say I have a long business arrangement with Eric, and I owe him a few favours." That didn't answer Manon's question at all, but it was clearly all she was going to get.

The older grandson appeared, and Belle tipped him again, as the larger bundle of clothes was put on his hand cart. "You can go a bit slow with that boy, circular like, see if that gives those fools something to think about. You be careful boy, they give you trouble, you bolt for it," Gran told him.

He gave her a perfect eye roll, muttered "Yes Gran," and set off in completely the wrong direction for the hotel. After a short delay several of the Constables set off after him, following him from a little way back. Gran was in the meanwhile whispering a set of instructions to the younger brother, who ran off quickly with a clip around his ear to send him on his way, which just made him laugh as he went.

"Now time for you to pay me," Gran said, and named an absolutely enormous price for the clothes. Manon settled in for a good haggle, and in between shouting at each other and dramatic arm waving, Gran explained what was going on.

"So, I know a doctor who will treat you. She's, ah, using my services to get out of the city, as being a female magus seems to be unhealthy and certainly unemployable now."

"What you'd rob me blind you foreign harlot!" Gran shouted. "So," she said resuming talking normally while sorting clothing on the table in front of her. "When you leave here, go to my son's restaurant. Sit, rest have a coffee or breakfast, but spend an hour there. There will be cloaks for all of you when you leave, put them on, hoods up, and turn right out of the restaurant."

"I wouldn't pay that much for the Duke's own jacket," Manon shouted back getting into the swing of this charade. Janine though was leaning ever more heavily on the table for support, so they didn't have long.

"Not long now girl," Gran muttered to her. "You'll see my scamp of a grandson, follow him and do what he says, your friends there will be kept busy but it won't work for long, so don't hesitate. Once the doctor is done with her, we can get you out of the city, without the fool gate guards interfering."

"Oh very well, it's not like I have a choice!" Manon said, counting out and throwing a small fortune in coins on the table. "I'll need horses and a wagon, Janine can't ride now, let alone later."

"Oh well thank you, high and mighty one," Gran said, grinning happily as well she might. Manon had just paid about three times what the clothes were worth. "Of course you do, well the horses you hired from the livery will shortly be on their way to a meeting point outside the city, I'll have the boys find you a wagon from somewhere. It will be waiting for you."

Gran waved them off, but only after softly saying, "Janine, Melissa, Eric cared for you both, still does the old fool, and I'd hug you if I could, but it would ruin this little drama. Go safely, go well children."

Gran turned her back then, waving her arms and shouting insults, but not before Manon had seen the tears in her eyes. Extraordinary woman, Manon thought.

"To the restaurant," Manon said. "We could all use a breakfast. Melissa take that bundle please," and they set off, but Manon linked arms with Janine, to support her. "Thank you miss, this is harder than I expected," she said quietly.

At the restaurant they were obviously expected and led to a table at the back of the room, where Janine slumped into a seat looking very weary. Melissa sat opposite her and Belle and Manon took the outside seats, Manon facing the front door, and Belle facing towards the kitchen area at the back.

They were brought fried eggs and ham, and lots of good bread and jam, as well as tea and coffee. Manon made Janine eat a little, despite the fact the girl would clearly rather have just gone to sleep. Two groups of constables loitered opposite the restaurant, Manon could see them through the window, and had no doubt that there'd be more covering the back of the building as well.

Janine brightened up a little for eating, but then they were told by the young waiter that it was time for them to leave, as "everything is ready now", whatever that meant. He'd also brought them each a black cloak which from the size of the bundles were going to be floor length even on Belle, the tallest of them.

Payment for the meal was refused, and so they set off, turning right down the street as instructed. They'd all put the cloaks on and the hoods up. In the distance, where the street got even narrower, they could see the small boy leaning on a wall, by the entrance to an alley.

They no longer had constables in front of them, presumably they had not expected Manon to turn this way, but still had a little gaggle of them following, about 30 yards back. Manon knew they were not far from the City wall now, so maybe the constables didn't feel the need to box them in so thoroughly.

As they got close to the boy, he walked into the alley, throwing a glance at Manon, and then Manon heard a rumble and crash from behind, as two men crashed a heavy hand cart into the wall of the building just behind them, spilling barrels all over the narrow street and blocking it.

Belle like Manon had stopped and turned at the noise, drawing her pistol, but Manon called her, "Quickly into the alley here, that's meant as a diversion."

As they turned into the alley, they found that it opened out into a courtyard, which was a dead end, but there were four figures walking towards and past them, all wearing identical black cloaks to those Manon and her girls wore.

None of these four bore any resemblance to them, but Manon grinned when she realised they were very similar builds, so from the back in the cloaks they would probably pass for them until someone got quite close. They kept going in the direction that Manon had been, and Manon laughed to herself, both at the clever deception and at how it had been so swiftly organised.

A whistle from over her shoulder made Manon turn, as the boy was waving her over urgently. He was standing over a hole in the ground, a manhole cover Manon saw as they got nearer, and pointing down it, handing Belle a small lantern as she went down first.

Two men were leaning on a heavy wagon laden with bales and barrels, waiting next to the hole. Janine went down the hole carefully, followed by Melissa who shinned down the ladder like a monkey, so Manon followed them down into the dark.

A squeaky child's voice said "Bonne chance," as the light disappeared from above Manon as the cover was replaced, and Manon heard the rumble of wheels briefly, and thought that the wagon must have been rolled forward over the cover to hide it.

"Come, quickly, my sister is waiting," an unknown female voice said, and Manon turned to see who it was. Belle was standing by a girl, no more Manon guessed than 13 or 14, who she had obviously decided wasn't a threat, as she was quite relaxed.

"Your sister?" Manon asked. "The doctor," the girl answered impatiently. She was carrying a bright lamp, allowing Manon to see her and their surroundings clearly. They were in some sort of circular tunnel, with brick lined walls and ceiling, with broader heavier bricks for a floor. It was obviously very old, and dry, though the drainage channel cut in the middle of the floor suggested it wasn't always. Manon could smell the river, damp and muddy smelling cold air was moving in a very gentle breeze along the tunnel.

"Ah miss," Manon heard Janine say, as she sank to the floor on her knees, breathing heavily.

"I'll take her," Belle said, and picked her up in a cradle carry.

"Come, it is clear your friend needs my sister," and the girl set off. She had long light brown hair with a slight curl to it, that came down almost to her waist, but it, like her long blue dress, was a little untidy. As they walked along behind her, Belle in an awkward crouch as she was just too tall to stand even in the very centre of the tunnel, Manon watched the girl carefully.

Her dress was good quality, and probably quite expensive, and the English she had spoken to them was unaccented, if not quite native. The sleeves and hem of her dress were dirty, which Manon could clearly see as she held the lantern up.

She wasn't used to being barefoot either, Manon thought, as she walked like someone whose feet were slightly sore. All in all, she had the air of someone who had in effect become a fugitive or a refugee perhaps. Gran had told her that the Doctor, this girl's sister, was a Magus, and that fit a picture that Manon really didn't like. One that led to those stakes in the square.

"Almost there," the girl said. They'd been moving more or less in a straight line for a few minutes, always very slightly uphill, but then took a series of turnings as they met tunnels opening to their left and right, before they entered a bigger open space. The ceiling was lost in the gloom, but the area was lit by a pair of lanterns.

A woman, clearly this girl's sister from the resemblance alone, got up from where she had been sat on the floor, by a pair of makeshift beds.

"So is this my patient?" the woman asked.

"Yes doctor," Belle puffed slightly. Strong though she was, carrying Janine all this time would have been very difficult.

"Put her on one of the pallets. Felicity, bring the lanterns closer please."

"It's Fliss, I told you," the girl snarked back, but brought the lanterns anyway.

"So who is this, and dear god her hand! Beside the obvious, what is the problem?" the doctor asked.

"This is Janine, who became my slave a few hours ago, in order to escape the death penalty levelled at her," Manon said.

"She's in her early twenties I think, normally very fit and active. Some days ago she was badly wounded by blades in the upper left arm, her ribs under her breast on her right side and her left thigh."

"She received proper treatment initially, but then was beaten and questioned under torture, when her left hand was broken with repeated blows from a hammer, and then it was repeatedly burned through immersion in boiling water."

"All went untreated for I guess two days, until the early hours of this morning, when I was able to clean her and perform basic first aid, using antiseptic on her burns. There are no overt signs of infection that I could see, but she is as you can see weak, pale and feverish, so I fear that means something has taken hold, but it is beyond me to tell what. She last ate an hour ago."

"God, I need to examine her. Fliss," she said shooting her sister a look, "bring my bags please."

"You have some training I think madame? That was most helpful." the Doctor said to Manon. "Doctor Christiane Durand," she said, "well I was anyway," unusually holding a hand out to Manon, who shook it.

"Manon de Gaillard et des Trois Lacs, but please, Manon will do, and I believe you still are a doctor madame."

She smiled at Manon, "well not according to some, but thank you anyway, and I am Christy."

Many magus practitioners didn't finish their studies until their late twenties or even later, but this woman had an air of independence about her that suggested she was a long way from the lecture halls and apprenticeships like the ones Manon had seen in Padua a few years before, even though Manon was beginning to think she might not be as old as she had first thought.

Like her sister she looked a bit worn about the edges, her pale green jacket and the white blouse underneath it were both good quality, but now a little grubby and creased, and the dark skirt muddy and stained where it trailed on the ground.

Like her sister, the Doctor had long brown hair, though hers was shorter and darker, and it had been pulled back and tied in a pony tail with a strip of cloth. She was a little taller than Manon, but not much, with a fine thin face, dark eyebrows looking slightly startling against her fair skin.

"Christy, your bags," Fliss said, putting down two heavy leather bags next to the pallet where Janine lay. Belle and Melissa had sat down on the floor, a little way off, but Fliss sat next to Janine, studying her.

"Tell me what you see Fliss?" her sister told her. "Manon, she will one day be a better doctor than me, if we get past this lunacy, she is very strong, and very stubborn, but if you and Janine permit, I'd like her to examine you too."

Fliss ignored that jibe, bar the briefest of glances at her sister, and went on studying Janine. Manon, more than a little surprised given how young the girl was, nevertheless nodded her agreement, and Janine had just closed her eyes and nodded as well.

"Well, she's a mess, begging your pardon," the girl said.

"I think we can all tell that my angel. Now properly, and wash your hands," Christy told her.

The girl, absorbed in her study of Janine's wounds, opened one of the bags, almost without looking at it, and pulled out a glass bottle of spirits, as Manon could immediately tell from the smell as she poured some over her hands and rinsed them thoroughly. Christy knelt on the other side of Janine, opposite her sister, and took the bottle from her, rinsing her own hands with the cleansing spirit.

"Manon," she said quietly, surprising her by holding the bottle out to Manon, who took it, and rinsed her own hands, kneeling down at Janine's head.

"So?" Christy prompted her sister.

"Starting at the bottom, her thigh has a severe laceration, partly and inadequately healed. It wasn't stitched. The wound has closed poorly as a result, but there is mild infection present now, causing significant swelling. Treatable, but left unchecked dangerous. The existing scarring might need further treatment to reduce it later?" Fliss looked up, and suddenly seemed more like her true age than her manner had just suggested.

"Good, I agree, go on," her sister said. Manon saw that Christy was clearly doing her own diagnosis even as she listened to her sister. She had placed the tips of her fingers gently on the thigh wound in several places and nodded to herself as she went along.

"The cut to her chest is shallow, not dangerous and not infected. It would have benefited from stitches to heal more neatly, but that is too late now. Best left to heal, and for treatment later to reduce the scarring to something less unsightly."

"The arm, sorry" the girl said suddenly looking upset, "the arm is badly injured. The upper arm has a severe laceration, again only partially treated, and there is some evidence of tendon damage. I can't see deep enough to be sure."