The Woman Of a Thousand Faces
2.On the Run

By the time that 12-year-old Alexandra von Fenelle arrived at the tiny town of Aiden, night had long since fallen. The sky was cloudy; Alex's dim lantern and a few illuminated windows were the only things stopping preventing the town from being pitch black.

The young girl cautiously pulled her long cloak further over her face as she walked into the town, shivering a bit; it was a rather cold night. She continued down the dirt road, eventually arriving at the train station-- the fact that Aiden was at the most eastern town that had a train station, and the end of the train line, was the only really interesting quality of the town.

A sign at the ticket counter informed her that she wouldn't be able to buy a train ticket until the morning. She hadn't planned on that; she wondered what she was going to do, and was about to turn back, when she noticed another poster put up at the train station.

"WANTED: ANY INFORMATION ON THE CURRENT LOCATION OF THE FUGITIVE PRINCESS ALEXANDRA VON FENELLE," the poster read, below the line of text, a rather accurate image of the girl. "IF YOU ENCOUTER THIS GIRL, DO NOT APPROACH; CONTACT LOCAL AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY."

"Oh hell," Alex muttered to herself. This wasn't the first time she'd seen a poster like that. "Here, too?"

I can't be seen around here looking like this, she thought to herself. She hurried into the shadow of the nearest building, and glanced around nervously, making sure that there wasn't anybody watching. There wasn't.

Alex put her lantern down, and took a notebook out of her bag, flipping past a couple pages until she found her list of names.

Let's see... how about... Mary Kess looks good, she thought. She was exceptionally careful with how often she used any given alias; she was trying very, very hard to stay well hidden from the Mauvorian army (who were also responsibile for policing the nation).

She put the notebook back, and took a moment to orient herself-- making sure once again that there was nobody looking-- and swung her arm out, a few circles glowing in the air in front of her face. After a second, she dropped her arm; a girl who looked 14-- and very different from Alex-- walked out from the shadow of the building, still wearing the same cloak.

Alexandra wandered off, looking for a place to sleep until she could catch the train in the morning. She'd planned on being able to just doze off on the train-- it was a whole lot cheaper that way. She hoped she had enough money to find somewhere to sleep and still buy a ticket.

When she finally came across what seemed to be the town's only tavern, it had gotten to be incredibly late at night. She stared at the door for a minute, working up the nerve to open it. When she finally did, only a handful of people were inside; even fewer looked up when she opened the door. She blew out her lantern, and slipped inside.

Behind a few dirty tables and to the side of the staircase at the back of the room, a tall man stood behind a bar, idly cleaning the small kitchen at the very back. Alex assumed that he was running the place, and quietly walked up to the bar.

"Holy shit, girl," the man said, seeing her face only when she got close. He glanced back at the time-telling candle for a second. "What's a little girl like you doing in here at this hour?"

"E-excuse me," she stammered, "I saw the sign outside... h-how much is it for a room for the night?"

"Twenty rens... are you travelling alone?"

Alexandra nodded.

"Alright, I'll let you stay for fifteen, then," he said, generously.

"Okay," Alex said quietly. "Thank you."

She reached into her cloak, taking out the pouch she kept her coins in, quickly counting her money to be sure. "Five, ten, twenty, thirty, thirty-five, fifty-five... okay, that should be enough," she thought to herself. She put two coins on the bar in front of her.

He took the coins, then pulled a key from under the bar and gave it to her.

"Here you go. Just go upstairs, it'll be room 4," he told her.

"Sheesh, what is it, runaways week?" he added, muttering to himself.

Alexandra had already left up the stairs. It didnt take long before she found the room with the four on the door, unlocked it, and went in. The room was smaller than she'd imagined it'd be; there was barely enough room for the bed at the end and the small table with a chair nearby. The table was bare, aside from a candle and a small book. She put her bag at the foot of the bed, and placed the lantern on the table; it only took her a moment to magically relight the lantern.

She'd barely been in the room for five minutes, had just taken off her cloak and was just about to lie down, when she heard a knock on the door.

Who the hell could it be? she wondered, starting to worry. Whoever it is, there's no way that's good.

"Hey! You still awake?" a male voice, that she didn't recognize, asked.

She grumbled as she got up, and opened the door a crack. A boy carrying something was standing outside; he looked maybe a couple years older than her.

"W-who is it?" she asked.

"Hi," he said with a friendly tone to his voice. "My name's Seven. I couldn't help but overhear that you were travelling alone..."

"Do you want something?" Alex said flatly.

"No, nothing really," he answered, still smiling. "But I just thought you looked rather travel weary when you came in. You want something to eat?"

"Uh..." she paused. She hadn't been able to eat all day, but she wasn't at all trusting of some random stranger approaching her for no reason. "I don't really think that'd be a good idea."

"Oh..." he frowned a bit, and whispered a word that sounded like "rust" under his breath.

"What was that?" Alex asked, wondering what he said.

"Sorry, nothing," he replied quickly. "So... are you sure about that? I've got a whole plate of ayits balls here, I'd be happy to share some; if you're hungry."

Why is he so persistent? she thought to herself. But she was starting to have second thoughts. Free food... well, maybe it is worth it.

"Sure," she said with a sigh, opening the door fully. "Come on in."

Seven walked in, putting the small plate on the table. Alex nervously closed the door behind him; as she did, he took a seat on the one chair. She got a better look at his face when he walked in. He was rather attractive, but had a large scar on his face-- she'd have to ask about that later. She sat down on the bed.

"Wow, you're even cuter in the light," he told her, passing her one of the red balls from the plate. "So, what's "your" name?"

"Er, th-thanks," she stammered. She almost blushed, but then she remembered: "He's not even looking at my real face... and of course the girl I'm disguised as was cute. Not much of a compliment, jerk." "My name's, uh, Mary. Mary Kess."

"So, I gotta ask... what's a nice little girl like you doing way out in Aiden in the middle of the night?"

"Catching a train," she answered. If there was one thing she had learned about lying since she'd been on the run, it was that it was best to stick to the truth as much as possible; it always made it easier to get her story straight when she did have to lie. It made it even easier that nobody else was ever visiting Aiden for any other reason, anyway.

She took a bite of the food he gave her. After not having eaten all day, it tasted like the best thing in the world.

"Ha, touché," he said with a grin. "Where're you heading to, then? The capital? Some big city?"

She shook her head. "Mirielle."

"Ah," he said with a snicker. "You don't consider Mirielle to be a big city? Man, you sure ain't a country girl."

"Oh no", she thought to herself. Mirielle certainly wasn't larger than any city in the region; but there weren't any Mauvorian cities in the north-west, period. Many small towns, but the largest Mauvorian cities were in the southern part of the continent; that was how they'd managed to avoid most border disputes. The only large cities in the north-western part of the continent were Fenelle's.

Alex said nothing; she smiled weakly, hoping he'd move on. She was starting to realize that this was more and more a bad idea; what the hell was she thinking letting him in?

"There's a pretty big prison there, ain't there? Got a lot of political prisoners. Big military town." he noted. He then said with a laugh, "Surely someone like you can do better than that."

She just shrugged and took another bite. This isn't going anywhere good, she thought to herself. Change the subject. I can't be having any trouble in a small town like this.

"Er...," Alex said, looking for words. "Where are you going?" She didn't really care, but it was better than talking about herself.

"Dunno yet," he said with a grin, leaning closer to Alex. "After the war, I was planning on going back to what used to be Fenelle... but, well, apparently it ain't too safe anymore. You hear what happened?"

Alex had not, in fact, "heard" about it.

"You mean what happened a few months back? With the Witch Princess escaping?"

"Witch Princess? That's awfully nasty," he told her disapprovingly. If Alex wasn't too busy worrying about seeming suspicious, she might have found that funny. But she was, so she didn't. "But yeah, that."

Okay, that didn't work so well, she thought.

"So where now?" she asked.

"Well, I was thinking of going back south... maybe to Mirielle," he said, grinning. "I hear that cute girls like that city."

Alex started to nod. Wait, is he... flirting with me? she just began to realize.

"I... uh...," she tried to interject, not sure of how she was going to get him to leave now.

"What is it?" he asked, leaning in a bit closer. Alex edged back.

"Well, uh... it's... rather late, and I've been walking all day..."

"Oh! Of course, of course, sorry," he said. "I should let you go to bed, then."

Seven stood up, and started to leave.

"Pleased to meet you, Mary. Sleep well," he told her with a wink. He walked out, quietly closing the door behind him.

Alex got up and locked the door. I didn't need that. I so didn't need that. I hope I don't have to deal with him again. Maybe I should just leave town with a totally different disguise, she thought to herself, grumbling.

And then she went to bed.

***

Nobody ended up noticing when a completely unfamiliar looking girl left from the room upstairs, gave her key to the woman working behind the bar in the morning, or left the tavern. Not one person.

It didn't take Alex very long to arrive at the train station; she got there just ten minutes after waking up. She was very relieved to find that the ticket booth was indeed open, with a woman a few years older than her sitting in it.

"Excuse me," she said to the woman. "When's the next train to Mirielle leaving?"

"You have great timing," the woman answered. "The train's in the station, it'll leave in... probably less than half an hour. One ticket to Mirielle, I assume?"

"Yes, thank you."

"That'll be 32 rens, please." She took a slip of paper with some writing on it and signed it.

Alex went into her bag and pulled out her coin purse, carefully counting them out, sliding them to the woman in the ticket booth. The woman handed her the slip of paper and the change. "Good thing I didn't decide to sleep in," she thought.

"Just go straight through, it's the train on platform 1," she said with a smile. "Have a nice day."

"Thanks," Alex replied quietly. She walked off, ticket in hand.

The platform was empty of people; several vacant benches adorned it. The train sat there, and Alex couldn't help but be amazed at the sight of it. Two cars stood attached to the huge black engine, with welcoming doors open and the faces of people filling several of the windows. She'd never seen a vehicle like it before; it was much bigger than she had imagined it as.

After taking in the sight for a moment, she quickly went through the closest door, the conductor barely glancing at her ticket.

The inside of the train was just as amazing to her. The walls were painted, with a carpet on the ground; it seemed more like a hallway on wheels than like any of her horse-carriages. Alex wandered down the aisle, glancing for an empty compartment. Most had one or two people in them already; she'd nearly gotten to the end of the train car before she found a seat she could have all to herself. She sat there with her bag close beside her, and pulled her cloak down slightly, staring out the window at the empty train station.

Alex sat there, thinking to herself for a while. Eventually, a man's voice yelled out, "Now departing westbound! All board!" Not long afterwards, she heard footsteps in the hallway, eventually getting louder; and a familiar face appeared in front of her.

Damn, she thought to herself. Him again? At least he won't recognize me... this time, I'll just tell him off.

"Why hello," Seven said with a smile. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

The doors slammed shut loudly, and the train started to move along slowly.

"I'd uh, far rather sit alone," she replied.

"Now, couldn't you use the company?"

"R-really, I want to sit by mysel--," Alex started, getting cut off.

"That's a nice bag you have there," he interrupted, his smile suddenly disappearing. "Your cloak, too."

Oh hell.

"Thanks," she stammered. She needed to get him gone now. The train started to move a bit quicker, slowly gaining speed. I can't just take on another disguise while the train's moving, she thought to herself. "If you'd please excuse me--"

"I don't think I will," he announced to her. "They look awfully familiar."

He sat down across from her, and slammed the compartment door shut; Alex stared in disbelief, starting to get very, very worried.

"Where is she?" Seven demanded, pulling out a rather large knife.

"Wh-who?"

"Mary. You know, the girl you stole those from! What did you do to her?" He leaned in, putting the sharp edge of the knife close to her throat. Way too close to her throat.

Alex tried to think of something to say, trying hard to keep herself calm. Should I scream? she considered. No, I can't draw attention to myself. Not while I'm on the train, too risky. And he could cut me anyway. She also, however, considered that trying to deal with a man with a knife to her throat on her own was also very risky.

"I don't know what you mean!" Alexandra stammered. "P-please, put the knife back."

"Nuh uh." He shook his head. "Where is she now? She never left her room, and she's not on the train... just tell me what you did with her after you stole her stuff."

"I... I didn't steal anything." Come on, she told herself, think of something. Anything!

She couldn't think of anything plausible to respond with.

The boy who seemed so friendly to her just the other night pressed the blade against her throat, and seemed to be getting more upset. The train continued to pick up speed.

"I'm serious." Somehow, she already believed that. "I don't want to hurt a pretty girl like you; just tell me what you did with Mary."

"I...I'll explain!" she stammered. "Just, please put the knife away."

The truth, then..., she thought, trying to figure out what to do. It seemed like the best available option. I just need to stay safe until we get to the next town; no way of disappearing until then.

He slowly lowered the knife.

Alex sighed, and with a single thought, her disguise started to fade away; after a few seconds, her disguised face had gradually changed to her real face.

"Holy...," Seven said in amazement; expecting Alex's revelation to be something far different. "How...?"

Alex glanced out the window to figure out her orientation, and quickly magically changed her appearance to the woman she'd met Seven as.

"Does that explain it?" she asked dejectedly, having revealed far more than she'd ever wanted to.

"Holy shit... yeah, I'll say," he answered, amazed. He put his knife away. "So, uh... which one is really you?"

She let the disguise disappear again, her appearance changing back to her normal self. Okay, just keep honest..., she reassured herself. Don't lie to him, just disappear at the next town. Nobody'll ever believe him even if he tells anyone.

He stared for a moment. Realizing why he recognized her face, he asked, "You're the princess?"

Alex nodded, and despite her situation, couldn't help but smile just a bit. Nobody had addressed her as the princess in a while... and in spite of the obvious implications of having her cover blown, it felt nice to have that acknowledged.

"Wow." He stared at her, everything starting to click together in his head. At the same time, he also realized how young she actually was-- and how distant that was from how old he thought Mary Kess was, back in her room. "Aw, man... I'm sorry about last night. Man, I didn't realize, you're just a kid..."

She shrugged meekly. "That's okay." Alex glanced around nervously; despite the closed compartment door, she didn't like sitting around without wearing a magical disguise, or at the very least, shadowing her face with her cloak. Escaping capture was hard enough the first time, when the soldiers holding her had been caught off guard. She went through the neccesary hand movements and put on the face of the older girl that she'd came in as.

He shook his head, amazed at the sight. They awkwardly sat there in silence for a while, neither knowing what to say. Finally, Seven asked, "So you wanna tell me what a nice little princess is "really doing going to a city like Mirielle? Or are you just really passing throu--" He stopped midsentence, as he yet again realized what was going on. "Of course... the prison. For political prisoners," he said with a huge grin.

Alex felt panic start to creep over her; while it was bad enough that she'd been discovered by someone, she knew if she got to the station in Mirielle safely, she could just disappear, pick up new clothes, and never be recognized by him again. But if he tipped off the army to her plans, it wouldn't matter if anybody recognized who she was, heightened security at the prison would stop her from doing anything. So the instinctive urge to panic-- one that had so far, done a very nice job at keeping her alive and out of the army's hands since her escape-- immediately rushed over her.

"Hey, relax. I ain't gonna tell anyone... even if I wanted to, you think they'd believe me? The army doesn't treat people who piss them off well, and man, if I told anyone, they'd just think I was crazy," he told her.

"I... guess you're right," she said quietly, calming herself.

"The Mauvorian army and th' Ravans' government haven't done a damn thing to make me like 'em, so I'm hardly about to do them any favours, anyway. Dunno if I hate 'em as much as some people do, but still."

Alex nodded, although curious about what he meant by his last statement.

"So c'mon, what's the deal with going to Mirielle? Just busting out all the political prisoners to make a statement, or what?"

"Err...," she muttered, deciding to believe what he said earlier-- it couldn't backfire on her to tell him. "No. It's not just political prisoners-- there's all sorts of criminals in there, the dangerous ones... besides, it'd cause too much attention. I'm just going for one person."

"Who?"

"Isabella...," she said with a sigh. "She used to look after me all the time when I was a kid...." Alex glanced away, at the scenery going past the window, frowning; thinking about the last time that she'd seen Isabella's face-- or at least, the last time she could remember, before they got split up, trying to flee the city. Seven didn't bother to point out that she was still very much a kid.

"Man, I can't imagine how hard that's gotta be for you."

When Alex turned back to look at him, she realized that her eyes were damp with tears. "Yeah...," the little girl responded quietly. "But," she added in a soft voice, "it'll be okay."

Copyright © 2005, Chris Love