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From: [e-mail] (Alan Schwartz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives
Subject: STORY: Riverworld, Chapter 7: I Spy
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Date: 25 Oct 1995 16:51:34 -0400
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Riverworld Turn #7: I Spy
Day 31

            *  *  *  *

Shaka freed the imprisoned men, gesturing to the spears and knives
lying atop the fallen guards. Glenn, Tjar, and Friend armed themselves
while Shaka stood guard, watchfully. The other prisoners cowered in
their cells, shaking their heads.

At Maria's scream, Shaka raised his spear, as though to strike. His
eyes narrowed as he gazed to the northwest.  Charles inclined his head
in the same direction and spoke to Shaka in Bantu.

Charles: "Freedom, Women, fight."

Charles looked around at the other men, and switched to German.

Charles: "We have freed you, help us free the woman and escape these
      barbarians."

Shaka gestured toward the two-story hut to the northwest and shook his
head. He pointed to the northwest and then down at a dead guard, and
gestured "many".

Tjar tested the weight of his spear and looked alertly toward the hut.
His eyes flared, and he spoke in a harsh whisper.

Tjar: "That could be Hypatia or some of the other lasses! We must save
       them!"

Even to Shaka, his protest that they could not leave without the women
was evident.

Tjar: "I shall go alone if need be, but they shall not remain captives
       of this brute Temuchin!"

Glenn and Friend shrugged. Charles looked first at Shaka and then at
Tjar. Shaka was shaking his head resolutely, and Tjar was just as
fervently motioning toward the northwest.

Of the two, Charles thought that Shaka would make the better
companion, and indeed, that Shaka's plan was probably more sensible.
But he did not want to leave without the women unless he had to.

Charles nodded and Tjar, and looked at Shaka for his reaction. Shaka
frowned, but nodded reluctantly. He stood before the Chinese prisoners
and motioned for them to arm themselves and come along. They shook
their heads and dropped to the ground. Shaka kicked one, prompting an
exclamation of protest from Tjar that was silenced by Charles.
Finally, Shaka fell in beside Charles. Together, the men led Glenn,
Tjar, and Friend to the northwest.

Charles walked confidently but warily, emulating the carriage of the
guards. The other men followed his example, and received a nod of
approval. They slipped between two rows of huts against the north wall
of the compound, and moved west toward the two-story structure,
preferring darkness and shadow where they could.

            *  *  *  *

Josephine turned to her two companions, a look of abject horror on her face.

Josephine: "This doesn't bode well. Perhaps we weren't as swift as we
        should have been."

Jeanne: "Do you think that was one of our companions? I hope not."

She murmured a soft prayer, and joined Josephine. Together, the two
worked feverishly to find gaps in the bamboo while listening carefully
for further sounds.

Testing the strength of the bamboo of the spear, Josephine slipped one end
into the small gap between two poles about halfway between the binds at
the top and bottom.

Pausing in her work, she spoke in a very low whisper, her words rushed,
confirming the plans already set about.

Josephine: "Once our scout enters, we will maintain the escape hole
        until a knock on the bamboo, at which point we will try to
        observe with our ears and, if possible, our eyes, without
        compromising the safety of any of us. If there is a double
        knock on the wall, we will maintain the escape as our
        scout rejoins us and we will assume our presence has been
        detected and we will follow the plan already devised by
        Florence for our escape."

She took a deep breath.

Josephine: "Does that cover all contingencies?"

Jeanne: "I think that if one of us is to go alone it ought to be me. I
     might not be as graceful as Josephine or as learned as
     Florence, but I'll be able to protect myself better than
     either of you would if caught alone. You should stay together
     to protect each other."

Florence: "Josephine, you would be better here to guard our
       escape. Besides, Jeanne's skin will probably be less
       noticeable than yours amid the villagers."

The two turned to Josephine, who looked Jeanne over.

Josephine considered the women's words, and as her glance passed over
Jeanne's body and her own, she decided that the smaller and more slender
Frenchwoman would pass through the bamboo more easily. Moreover, it
might take Josephine's considerable strength to wedge apart the bars.

After a moment, Josephine nodded at Jeanne. She motioned for Florence to
help her, and the two women strained to pull the bamboo apart using
the spear as a lever. They had little success in forming a sizable gap
until Florence singed the upper ropes with her firelighter.  They
quickly formed a narrow gap between the fence poles, and Jeanne
wriggled into the fortress. Once she was completely within, Josephine
and Florence released the poles and looked at one another.

Staying close to the ground, Jeanne slipped behind a small hut to the west of
the two-story edifice. Flattening herself against its rear wall, she
eased her head around the corner to observe the compound.

The sound of the scream had brought the camp to life, and a dozen
guards were running toward the northwest corner of the compound.  The
two-story building, a bamboo mansion of sorts, was the site of most of
the activity.  Modeled after the villager's huts, but on a grander
scale and with considerable, if crude, ornamentation, the building had
a single entrance on the south side. From the entrance, a short man
with a pronounced scowl emerged into the collection of soldiers who
had formed up about the place.

The men recognized the man as Temuchin. They watched him quietly from
their post, seemingly unnoticed in the commotion.

The man spoke in a harsh growl and a rapid voice. He was clearly
angry, but not with the guards, to whom he nodded approvingly,
clapping each on the shoulder. He pointed to two of the guards and
directed them off to the south, and motioned another two to join him
as he re-entered the mansion. The remaining guards returned to the
covered dock against the River to the east, muttering.

After a moment, the two guards left the mansion again, carrying a
woman's limp body.

            *  *  *  *

When the sun had set, Cleopatra had paced catlike along the front of
her cage, reaching out every few paces to tug on one of the bamboo
bars as if to test its strength.

She glanced at the still dormant Hypatia, and spoke aloud to herself,
smothering a yawn.

Cleopatra: "I always thought being a captive would be a little more
        exciting, it is almost worth the risk of using one of your
        half-formed ideas of escape just to have something to do."

After a moment's thought she added sardonically: "The thought of
        boring someone to death never occurred to me."

Her eyes peered into the gathering grayness at the sound of Maria's
scream.

Cleopatra: "Ahh, it would seem that our little bird is chirping
        again...."

Shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head slightly she returned
to pacing. After a few laps along the front of the cage, she spoke
again.

Cleopatra: "At least it means MY turn at the Great Temuchin will be that much
        sooner."

As if in answer to her words, two soldiers approached the women's cells,
and pointed to Cleopatra. The prison guard, leering, moved to unlock
her cell.