Chapter 1: The Chase

The Chase

         

T

he night was cloudy and the moon hidden. A very tall figure moved silently and swiftly down the sidewalk on a street strewn with debris and broken vehicles. It clung to the shadows as it moved. At each crossing it paused, sniffed the air, then continued on. At one corner it paused, and the moon came out from behind a cloud showing the figure. It was a very large short-faced brown bear wearing a blackened ring mail tunic, dark brown trousers, and black calf high boots. On it's back was slung a dark brown backpack. There was a small leather bag hanging from a leather lanyard around its neck.
         It crossed two more streets before it ran out of buildings. There was a gap of a hundred yards before the buildings started up again. On the left side of the street the gap was a small, overgrown park. On the right was a paved courtyard in front of a tall, ornate building. The bear looked at the building, then at the park, shrugged, and crossed into the park. The trees grew haphazardly. Old trails were overgrown with vines and bushes. A few of the trees looked like they had been struck by lightning. The bear wound its way through the trees and bushes.
         On the other side a narrow street divided if from a building. The building was five stories and made of brick. There were no windows on this side, but there were two broken doorways near each end. The bear took off running, and two yards from the building, leapt into the air. As it leapt it unsheathed two and a half inch claws and drove them into the brickwork.
         Clinging to the side of the building he climbed by reaching up and driving his claws between the bricks then pulling himself up. In this manner, he swiftly ascended the building to the roof. He got his hands over the parapet surrounding the roof and easily pulled his eleven-foot form over the parapet. He sat on the roof for several minutes until his breathing was normal.
         A dog bark could be heard in the distance in the direction he had come from.
         "Damn dogs," it muttered, sighed, rose to its feet then walked to the other side of the roof. There were old air conditioning equipment scattered on the roof and a few antennas. Once on the other side it looked at the roof of the building next door. In this part of the city the buildings were pressed up against each other and there were three per block. The roofs were similar, with defunct machinery and other debris littered around them. He turned back and looked around the roof he was on. There was a small building with a door in it.
         It grinned and gathered bits of wood and debris. It placed them in a pile near the little building, and using a flint and steel from his pocket he set the pile alight. It made one more pass around the building and picked up a few more items to burn. It dropped the remaining pieces on the fire, then it returned to the far side of the roof.
         "That should give the gobbies something to focus on," the bear said as it stepped over the short wall separating the roofs of the buildings. The bear ran quickly across the second and third roofs. At the end of the third, it found a two lane street wide gap to the next building. It turned to the left and looked over the side. It found a fire escape attached to the building, reached over, gave it a tug. It didn't flex. It took the ladder down to the first landing and stood for a moment.
         "Well, Banu, time to trust the builders, I guess," it said, then carefully climbed down to the first floor, where he dropped over the side to the street below. He stood as much in the shadow as he could and observed the street for a few minutes.
         Behind him a series of distant dog barks could be heard. That seemed to galvanize him into action, and he sprinted across the street and down the street to an alleyway. He paused only a moment before he ran into the alleyway. He kept running, leaping over broken furniture and other debris in the road. At the other end, he paused again and studied the street. It was quiet and relatively free of broken vehicles. The first building looked like an apartment building.
         He sniffed, then muttered, "Damn, I stink."
         He turned and jogged along the street for half a block and found a narrow alleyway that led to a narrow stair going up to the second floor. It was just wide enough for him to pass, his shoulders rubbing both sides. He took the stair, three at a time, and on the landing in front of the broken door he leaped up and grabbed the edge of the roof. Once again, showing tremendous strength, he dragged his large frame over on the flat roof. He rolled to his feet and crossed that roof. Without stopping, he leapt up and grabbed the edge of the roof of the front building. Rolling out on to that roof, he crossed to the street side.
         There was a power line running between this building's roof and the building across the street's roof. The building he was on was three stories, the one on the other side of the street was two stories. He looked about and found an eight-foot length of insulated cable. He doubled it over and pulled on it. It did not stretch.
         He stood at the edge, then climbed up on the front facade, flung one end of the cable over the power line and grabbed it with his other hand. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, then leapt off the building using the cable to slide down the power line to the next building.
         The ride across was quick, and he managed to pull his legs up enough to clear the short parapet around the second building. He almost gracefully came to a stop, but not quite. He ended in a heap, sliding along the roof for a couple of yards, grunting when he fetched up against a post.
         He laid there for a couple of minutes then said, "Ouch, that hurt my dignity."
In the distance dogs could be heard barking, but they didn't seem to be getting any closer. Rising, he crossed the building to the apartment building. The backside had a fire escape that seemed to be complete. He wasn't going to be able to do the zip-line trick, as there were no power lines running from this building to the next. He climbed down to the street and stood in a deep shadow, studying the fire escape on the other building. He looked back in the direction he'd come. His pursuers were not in view. He quickly crossed the alleyway, leapt up and grabbed the handrail of the first floor fire escape. The whole structure groaned with his full weight on it, but it held. He climbed swiftly to the third floor and opened the window.
         That window led into a lit hallway that ran the length of the building. He squeezed through the window and crouched inside. He couldn't fully stand up, as the ceiling was not enough to accommodate his full eleven foot six inches. There were three doors on each side, along with an open stairway on the right in the middle. He walked quietly to each door and sniffed. At the other end, he turned and walked to the middle door across from the stairs, grasped the handle and twisted. The lock made a cracking-snapping sound, and when he pushed on the door, it opened.
         Once he slipped inside and closed the broken door, he looked around. He found a spied a China cabinet on the same wall and shoved that over to block the door. The room he was in was decorated like a living room with a couch chair, TV and some cabinets along the walls. There was a small dining table for two next to a door into a kitchen on the back wall. On the left were two closed doors.
         The floor groaned and creaked as he walked across it to the second door on the left. Opening it, he found a nicely appointed bathroom. He nodded, stepped in, closed the door, and stripped off his backpack and leaned against it the far wall. He tested the faucets and found there was running water. He turned on the faucet then quickly stripped off his ring mail, under tunic, boots, and trousers. He stepped into the shower-tub and hunkered down as the shower head only came to the middle of his abdomen.
         He used up a bottle of shampoo and half the body wash getting himself clean. Once he was clean, he then cleaned his mail, tunic, and trousers. He wrung them out as best he could, then took them back into the living room and laid them out on furniture to dry. He stood in the living room for a moment, then pushed the China cabinet out, so he could exit the apartment.
         In the hallway he stepped over to the stairs and took them slowly down to the first floor, pausing to listen and sniff on each floor.
         The stairway let out on to a wide foyer with doors on the right that let out on to the street. There used to be glass in the doors, but now they were just open. There were two eight-foot hutches on the wall opposite the stairs. They looked like they used to have knick-knacks in them. He pulled and pushed them both up to block the doorway. Anyone trying to get in that way would make a lot of noise.
         He stood admiring his handiwork for a moment, then turned and said, "You have no reason to trust me, but I can smell you and I can smell that you are wounded. I can help you. I don't want to hurt you, or anyone, really. I have done more than enough of that."
         He waited for several moments in silence then said, "There is a small gang of goblins and dogs tracking me. I think I've managed to give them the slip, but I don't know for how long. They are not going to treat you kindly. Why don't you come out and let me heal you with the crystals I have? Then we can find some food upstairs?"
         It remained quiet for several moments, then a bedraggled, brown furred, four-foot tall lagomorph hobbled into the foyer. Her clothes were torn, and she had bloody bandages around her head and left leg.
         "I ... I need help. Please," she said before she collapsed.