Suggested by: Olivia C.
The List:
-Avelyn
-The 1800s
-a train station in London, England
-a parasol that conceals a short blade
The Result:
"The Things Within"
"London station!" Called the conductor as the engine puffed its way
under the massive steel canopy. "London station, right on time!"
A
mother and her young son glanced warily toward the window, where a
young woman in a green dress and a funny hat pressed her face against
the glass.
"Oh, Laws, it's so big!" She murmured. "An' lookit all the people!"
The
mother pulled her son just that much closer. Their seat mate prattled
on as if speaking to someone who cared what she thought.
"I
ain't never been to London afore, y'know; but when Old Mister Glory gave
me this chance, I knew I was set! I only hope I can find him in all
this muddle. Where I come from, they's hills and trees and whatnot,
perfectly all over the place; I ain't much used to the big city with
it's tall buildings 'n' hard streets. Well! I could probably holler as
loud as I please in that station out there, and no one would hear me
over the noise!"
By the time she finished, the young lady was
quite alone in her portion of the carriage. The conductor ambled his way
over to her.
"Beg pardon, miss—"
"Oh!" The lady
bounded to her feet, grinning at him. "Miss Avelyn Rose, and I am here
to find Mr. Abraham Glory and spend the summer at his house out in the
country, although I am not at all sure I will find any kind of country
around here, it's all just so big and wonderful and crowds and smelly
and noisy—"
The conductor practically had to tug her by the arm while she talked. "That's all very well, Miss—"
"Oh, do call me Ava! Everybody does!"
"But you really need to get off this train; we have a schedule to keep, and we would not want you to miss your friend!"
Avelyn
blinked as she now stood at the top of the steps. Just as many people
still milled about the platform as before. She descended into the
waiting hand of the porter who had long since unloaded her luggage. She
accepted the two carpetbags and nodded to him. With her purse dangling
off one shoulder and a little green parasol tucked under the other arm,
she picked up her bags and headed for the bench under the great clock in
the middle of the center platform, to wait for Old Glory.
Trains
coasted through, taking on passengers and unleashing fresh faces into
the crowd. One woman in particular caught Ava's eye, singular in her
plainness amid all the flounces and feathers. A simple blue dress,
exquisitely stitched and mended, adorned her far more richly than the
flounces and fussery of the Victorian peacocks about her. A small smile
played about her lips as Ava reached into a pocket in her bodice and
pulled out a crystalline monocle. She placed it against her eye and
gazed again at the crowd. The details of the crowd sharpened, but not in
the typical manner of a seeing-glass. A particularly stuffy woman
covered from chin to toe in fine fabrics might have been scandalized to
discover that, through the young girl's monocle, she wore little more
than underthings, flaunting her sanctimonious self before any and all
who would answer her calls for attention. Still another, who contrived
to spend all she had on the latest fashions on the surface, wore only
tattered rags on her inner character.
Even so, the sight of
the milling, unsuspecting crowd was not all ugliness and depravity; a
young man in a bespoke tweed suit transformed into a noble adorned with
fine fabrics and a gold crown on his head. The girl in the simple blue dress became a queen
in glittering robes. Ava smiled and sat back to watch her while she
waited.
The clock struck four in the afternoon, and few
people remained. There were no trains chugging by at the moment, so Avelyn's ears could catch the
low rumbling of a roar, even as people in the crowd cried out at
someone making their way through. With her naked eye, Ava saw a big
brute of a man shoving his way through the public. Through her monocle,
though...
She gasped, tensed, and shifted her
grip on the parasol. Through her monocle, the slithering, smoking form
of a dragon advanced upon the innocent princess.
The young
woman in the blue dress had the same response to the oncoming threat, no
matter what her eyes saw: she feared him, and drew back, cowering and
hiding to escape capture.
"Here now, Lou!" He growled. "Where
do you think you're going? I told you not to leave; don't be foolish,
come back with me, girl!"
"No!" The girl cried. "Don't touch
me! Stay away! Oh, somebody help!" She turned and pulled down a pile of
crates behind her and tried to run, but the press of the crowd was too
thick.
The man was bigger, stronger than she; he pushed aside
the broken crates and kept coming, heedless of the people as he focused
on his prize. "I can touch you all I like, fool woman! Don't you see
that I can't stay away from you? I want you back, precious!"
The spunky traveler leaped into action, dashing between the two of them and raising her parasol, pointing it at the man.
"I believe the lady said no," Ava warned him.
The
man glared, as the dragon within prepared his fire. "Well now, what
have we here? A little champion?" He scowled when Ava didn't move. "Out
of my way, meddler!"
"Who are you?" Gasped the trembling young woman.
"I'll
explain in a moment," whispered the girl in the green dress, watching
the fire build in the dragon's throat; any second now... "But for now,
you'll want to stay behind me." Ava pressed the lever on her parasol and
it flew open just as the dragon spewed his fire at them. The parasol
flew open, creating a shield in front of the two women that protected
them both. Carefully, Ava drew the short blade from the shaft of the
shield-parasol and gripped it firmly with her free hand.
"Right then," she murmured. "I have a dragon to kill."
Previously In This Series:
Continuous Stories:
Crossover Parts: (Soul Mates Part 6/Serenity's Light Part 2)
Single Posts:
#26 "The Tides of Battle"
#1 "Red of Morning"
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