“No matter.You got friends out here still.You and Goldilocks, both.”
“Good to know.Bandit out.”As she clicked off again, Cha reflected that it was indeed good to know that.Dy had rightfully and logically pointed out that they’d have no local support once they crossed into Moonstone.However, they hadn’t taken into account the longstanding support of the countryside they’d moved through all these years.
‘Support’ might be a strong word for the ragtag alliance of the various oppressed communities of the human principalities, but there was a conviviality in the boat of misery they all found themselves in.Though no one had much, what little they did have, they shared.That included information.It wouldn’t be the same in the fae realms, but it could come in useful on this side.
The path-box lit up.“Bandit, this is Goldilocks.Come back.”
“Bandit here, but word to the wise is that marcasite is the new gold.”
“Gotcha.”Dy clicked off and Cha switched the box to the new channel, silver-white light reflecting the color of iron pyrite.The underground path-channels had nothing to do with their alchemical symbol nicknames.They were just intuitive and convenient code for the colors the box took on when set to a particular wavelength.
“Goldilocks on marcasite.Anyone listening?”
“Bandit here.Go ahead.”
“I’ve got a hound giving me the hairy eyeball.Human law.There’s nothing to color me on the wrong side at this point, but I’ve had to slow down, and any fuss could lose us time.Besides…”
“Besides, this is good opportunity to warm up the old ties of partnership.I was just thinking we could stand a bit of practice.On my way to be the bogey.Give me a little goose?”
“On your signal, Bandit.”
Cha spun Katu around, finding the reverse flow of the ley line to carry her in the opposite direction, back toward where Dy and Big Betty cruised down the commercial traffic groove of the Thirteen.She stayed at the speed of the rest of the line for the moment.She wanted to call attention to herself, but not so much so early in the game that she got herself flagged or, worse, ticketed.They’d budgeted for fines and bribes, of course—that was a function of doing business—but no sense racking up too much too early in the game.More than a few amateur smugglers had found their profits significantly eroded by bribes, and the fines when the bribes didn’t work.
So, tempting as it was to weave through oncoming traffic, Katu seething to test his mettle in a real-life scenario again instead of on a carefully plotted racecourse, Cha jumped to the ley sideline, the jag juddering at the drop in speed and growling a little with impatience.Cha patted the dash comfortingly.“Just for a bit, baby cat.You’ll get to stretch your claws eventually.”
The traffic on the ley sideline plodded along at speeds more suited to the draft-carriages the bulk of people could afford to own or hire.Cha threaded her way through, just to get a feel for the line.With the exception of the commercial lines, every ley was different, created with varying amounts and compositions of pixie dust, even within the basic black category, and infused with the idiosyncratic enchantment of the magic worker who created it.Cha wasn’t a sorceress by any stretch, but—like most of the top ley riders—she had just enough magic to give her an intuitive feel for the lines.They spoke to her in harmonies of color and texture.That sense allowed her to find the sweet spots in any line, the smoothest and speediest currents, and to avoid the inevitable bog holes.
She’d been on this ley sideline before, but it had been years ago, so she took the opportunity to assess.They’d be coming this way on the return trip, unless something went terribly wrong, so any opportunity to grok the currents of the main avenues was effort well spent, particularly the ley sidelines as they’d need those for evasive tactics.
Once she reassured herself she had a fix on the line, she pinged Dy.“Heads up, Goldilocks.Bandit’s ready for a lighter shade of zoom.”
“Lightening up, Bandit.In three, two, go!”
The ley line beneath the jag bunched with a burst of gray as Dy’s magic boosted the pixie dust one energetic level up.The ley line surged to a higher key, and Katu shot forward with a delighted growl.Cha whooped with sheer accelerating joy and fought for her new footing.Riding a boosted ley line in the wild was nothing like the manicured variety on the racetrack.Katu bobbled and slid sideways as Cha shot him around a slow-moving wildebeest carriage.The driver cursed her roundly, which she deserved, so she didn’t respond in kind.
Close one.Too close.Dy had goosed the line far too much.No doubt all that bottled up energy she hadn’t been using lately.
Done was done, though, and Cha shot up the ley sideline in nothing flat, flashing past Big Betty over on the main line and nimbly catching the attention of the rural law-hound pacing the big rig like a bloodhound on a deer.
Sure enough, as Cha flaunted the speed limit, the law-hound, a sleek and expensive-looking greyhound, shot to the ley shoulder, barely staying within safety margins as the rider braked, then found a side loop to carry them off the main and onto the side.Spinning a U, the law-hound coursed up behind Cha’s jag.
She grinned to herself, slowing Katu by steering out of their personal current of gray, back into full black, the jaguar bridling in his impatience at being reduced to the stickier flow.Cha allowed the law-hound to close on her bumper, the scintillating fae-made lights flashing crimson, shrieking like banshees, demanding that she surrender to the law and pull off the ley line.
“Not today, asshole,” Cha muttered under her breath, and she released Katu’s leash, slipping back into the line of Dy’s juiced white current.A round of hoots echoing from the marcasite channel on the path-box demonstrated that she had an audience, so she added a bit of flair to the maneuver as Katu leapt ahead like an arrow from a high-tension crossbow.
Cha yodeled with delight, thrilled at the very real speed, leaving the law-hound choking in the silver-gray dust swirling in the wake of her accelerated passage.The cloud unfortunately billowed over the folks on the ley sideline, too.Oops.
Keeping an eagle eye on the slower traffic she wove around and through, Cha risked tapping the path-box back to the gold channel.“Bandit here, for anyone with ears on.I’m stirring up a bit of pixie dust on the side loop of the Thirteen.Sorry for the mess.”
She tapped off, listening to the replies coming in, the side-chatter like a group of old friends at the neighborhood tavern.None of them angry—or, at least, not so much that Cha standing a round for the house wouldn’t sweeten their tempers.Tucking her chin and smiling, she and Katu led the law-hound on a merry chase.Practice was always a good thing.Fun, too.
~11~
Picking up Prince Charming
It was almosttoo easy shaking the law-hound, and Cha said as much to Dy, back on the marcasite channel.
“Don’t get cocky, Bandit,” Dy warned, and Warg added bark-growl of agreement.“That was a local hound, a human with shitty skills looking to blow off the tedium.It’ll get uglier from here.”
