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Back Down Station Save as PDF
Chapters (35)
  1. Contents
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. Copyright

Mary looked again at her map, at the tiny amount of land it actually covered. There was so much more to explore, but she still felt the urge to at least try and rescue the others.

‘Can we go and look at her castle? Just to see what it’s like?’

Crows looked up. It was clear he didn’t want to.

‘You know where it is, right?’ she asked.

‘Yes, yes. I know it, but it is too dangerous. If she catches us, then she will kill me and enslave you.’

‘Crows, my friends need me to help them.’ She felt the first stirrings of irritation. ‘And I need you. You can’t say no.’

‘It is too dangerous,’ he repeated. ‘There is nothing to gain by going, and everything to lose.’

‘You’re scared.’

‘Yes, and you should be too. Her power is terrible. She is far stronger than me, and that is that. I have run from her once, and I am not so great a fool as to confront her again. I will do what I can around the margins, saving those who escape from her, but if they are within her walls, I can do nothing.’

‘I can’t do anything, either.’ She let the map drift to the floor. ‘I’ve only just got here, I don’t know how anything works. I thought,’ she said, ‘you were going to help me.’

‘I am helping you. And I am helping you by telling you that we cannot stand against her. We would be throwing our lives away, and in doing so make her stronger still.’ Crows shied away from her, rising on his thin legs and going out on to the pavement. ‘There is a time to fight and a time to hide. Perhaps when her fortunes are reversed, we can help your friends. Until then, they will come to no real harm – they are too valuable alive.’

‘They’re fucking slaves, Crows! It’s not the fucking Ritz they’re staying in. If it was the other way around, and they’d got me instead of Dalip, I bet he’d be thinking up some sort of way to get us out of there, no matter how long it took.’ She looked up at the man, how his black skin glowed with the orange of sunset, and remembered the fire of the tunnels. Yes, she’d been terrified, but that had been no reason to abandon everyone else. They’d saved each other once before, the best they could. ‘We have to try.’