And then they were fal ing.
The last time they had traveled through a Gate they had been total y enclosed in an elevator-like box. This time they were simply flying. There was the light, and there were the two of them, and they were so blinded that somehow speaking didn't seem possible. There was only the bril iant, fluctuating, beautiful light -
And then they were standing in an al ey, so narrow that it just barely al owed the two of them to face each other, and between buildings so high that there was almost no light down where they were.
No - that wasn't the reason, Damon thought. He remembered that blood-red perpetual light. It wasn't coming directly from either side of the narrow slit of al ey, which meant that they were basical y in deep burgundy twilight.
"Do you realize where we are?"Damon demanded in a furious whisper.
Bonnie nodded, seeming happy about having figured that out already. "We're basical y in deep burgundy - "
"Crap!"
Bonnie looked around. "I don't smel anything,"she offered cautiously, and examined the soles of her feet.
"We are,"Damon said slowly and quietly, as if he needed to calm himself between every word, "in a world where we can be flogged, flayed, and decapitated just for stepping on the ground."
Bonnie tried a little hop and then a jump in place, as if diminishing her ground-interaction time might help them in some manner. She looked at him for further instructions.
Quite suddenly, Damon picked her up and stared at her hard, as revelation dawned. "You're drunk!"he final y whispered. "You're not even awake! Al this while I've been trying to get you to see sense, and you're a drunken sleepwalker!"
"I am not!"Bonnie said. "And...just in case I am, you ought to be nicer to me. You made me this way."
Some distant part of Damon agreed that this was true. He was the one who'd gotten the girl drunk and then drugged her with truth serum and sleeping medicine. But that was simply a fact, and had nothing to do with how he felt about it. How he felt was that there was no possible way for him to proceed with this al -too-gentle creature along.
Of course, the sensible thing would be to get away from her very quickly, and let the city, this huge metropolis of evil, swal ow her in its great, black-fanged maw, as it would most certainly do if she walked a dozen steps on its streets without him. But, as before, something inside him simply wouldn't let him do it. And, he realized, the sooner he admitted that, the sooner he could find a place to put her and begin taking care of his own affairs.
"What's that?"he said, taking one of her hands.
"My opal ring,"Bonnie said proudly. "See, it goes with everything, because it's al colors. I always wear it; it's casual or dress-up."She happily let Damon take it off and examine it.
"These are real diamonds on the sides?"
"Flawless, pure white,"Bonnie said, stil proudly. "Lady Ulma's fianceLucen made it so that if we ever needed to take the stones out and sel them - "She came up short.
"You're going to take the stones out and sel them! No! No no no no no!"
"Yes! I have to, if you're going to have any chance of surviving,"Damon said. "And if you say one more word or fail to do exactly as I tel you, I am going to leave you alone here.
And then you wil die. "He turned narrowed, menacing eyes on her.
Bonnie abruptly turned into a frightened bird. "Al right,"she whispered, tears gathering on her eyelashes. "What's it for?"
Thirty minutes later, she was in prison; or as good as.
Damon had instal ed her in a second-story apartment with one window covered by rol er blinds, and strict instructions about keeping them down. He had pawned the opal and a diamond successful y, and paid a sour, humorless-looking landlady to bring Bonnie two meals a day, escort her to the toilet when necessary, and otherwise forget about her existence.
"Listen,"he said to Bonnie, who was stil crying silently after the landlady had left them, "I'l try to get back to see you within three days. If I don't come within a week it'l mean I'm dead. Then you - don't cry! Listen! - then you need to use these jewels and this money to try to get al the way from here to here; where Lady Ulma wil stil be - we hope."
He gave her a map and a little moneybag ful of coins and gems left over from the cost of her bread and board. "If that happens - and I can pretty wel promise it won't, your best chance is to try walking in the daytime when things are busy; keep your eyes down, your aura smal , and don't talk to anyone. Wear this sacking smock, and carry this bag of food. Pray that nobody asks you anything, but try to look as if you're on an errand for your master. Oh, yes."Damon reached into his jacket pocket and pul ed out two smal iron slave bracelets, bought when he had gotten the map. "Never take them off, not when you're sleeping, not when you're eating - never."
He looked at her darkly, but Bonnie was already on the threshold of a panic attack. She was trembling and crying, but too frightened to say a word. Ever since entering the Dark Dimension she'd been keeping her aura as smal as possible, her psychic defenses high; she didn't need to be told to do that. She was in danger. She knew it.
Damon finished somewhat more leniently. "I know it sounds difficult, but I can tel you that I personal y have no intention whatsoever of dying. I'l try to visit you, but getting across the borders of the various sectors is dangerous, and that's what I may have to do to come here. Just be patient, and you'l be al right. Remember, time passes differently here than back on Earth. We can be here for weeks and we'l get back practical y the instant we set out. And, look" - Damon gestured around the room - "dozens of star bal s! You can watch al of them."