Millet Field [Cearlan, aine, DSIGFUSS]

[Cearlan]

Renwick chuckles when the Admiral says the thought of Arashi and Santiago makes him feel faint. However, he is also aware that loss of blood could be a factor here, but he is professional enough to cover his fears up.

"Anger, I have found, is a great motivator providing it is used correctly. Don't let it eat you up my friend, but here am I a humble doctor telling a Tsarist Russian Admiral on how to motivate himself. Either way I am glad you have the taste for life once more, for I am sure that the world would be all the worse should you fail."

Edit - Change allegiance of Admiral Kolchack

[DSIGFUSS]

Tatsuo squints off in the distance across the rice patty fields. He then suddenly picks up his mother Arashi and looks to his new companions.

I hear a motor! Perhaps they have found a car! I saw lights.. We must hurry if we are to catch up to them. Come quickly.

With that, Tatsuo charges into the rice fields in the direction he thought he saw the lights. Arashi curses in Japanese as her oaf of as son treats her with as much care and finesse as one might give a sac of rice flour.

[Tabs]

[ooc: Kolchak is a Tsarist, not a Bolshevik. ]

"I commanded the Battleship Potemkin, but that was 15 years ago. My title of 'Admiral' is purely for show: it seems to impress the Chinese! I'm a businessman now, Henry, the head of a security firm employing White Russians--ex-Imperialist soldiers: we are all middle-aged men now.

"Your words are very kind. I'm afraid the world will forget us." Kolchak doesn't sound too morose.

"You said that 'Anger is a great motivator.' Are you referring to your banishment from England?"

• ~

Tatsuo charges into the paddy fields and promptly sinks in the watery gumbo, and becomes stuck.

[Cearlan]

"Aye, the world will eventually forget us as individuals, but is it not more important what we do rather than who remembers us. I have seen, still see sometimes ..." Henry smiles ruefully to himself "... such horrible horrible things from the Great War, things that the world will soon forget. Only someone who has lived through such things can understand. You can see it in other people's eyes if they have been there or not. You have the mark my friend."

"Is it not funny how the bad things tend to get glossed over when we look back. Yet does the memory of the individual sacrifice mean any more or any less than the collective whole? People with the mark tend to know how to channel their anger quite well, though there are some who do not. Was I referring to my banishment, perhaps subconsciously I was, though at certain times I see that there are direct threats upon the underdog ... like when the Japanese officer came at us with his sword. However impressive it may have sounded the way Santiago told it, I had only one thought in my mind, survive ... it was him or me. I used my anger to get me through that, and again in the hut back there."

[DSIGFUSS]

Tastuo curses in Japanese as his mother flies over his shoulder and lands in the muck dirtying her already spoiled robe even further.

Damn you Tatsuo! You stupid lummox!!! You pea brained goat!!! You moronic half wit!!! You dim witted Slob!!! You...

Arashi continues her assault on Tatsuo's intelligence as she thrashes in the shallow water of the rice field.

Tastuo flops over and begins to drag himself out of the watery gumbo back towards the rest of the group.

[Cearlan]

Renwick risks looking at the tirade unfolding before him as Arashi launches into Tatsuo before giving the Admiral a sideways glance. He swallows hard before cutting into the old woman's tirade in mid-flow.

"Arashi, is it? Madam. Please excuse my interruption but I really must insist that you cease your berating of your son. Here we are trying to escape from your countrymen, the very people who were trying to kill us, both back at the station and again at the mill. The noise you are making, may be heard by the very people we are trying to get away from, thereby alerting them to our whereabouts."

His mouth dry and his heart pounding, he continues unabashed. "So could I please ask that you either save it for a more convenient time, or preferably to stop it altogether as I quite like the idea of us all coming out of this alive as opposed to being spit on one of them swords or shot."

[Tabs]

"Hear, hear," says Kolchak.

[DSIGFUSS]

Arashi scowls at Renwick as she waits for her son to pull himself free of the muck. She does as she is told and keeps quiet while the men come up with a plan for escape.
Arashi glares through angry squinted eyes at Renwick. He cannot help but think as though the old woman were adding him to a list of some sort, written deep in the unforgiving shallows of her cold and twisted mind.

Tatsuo finally pulls himself back out of the rice paddy waters and the sumo wrestler points across the field. In a hushed whisper

Did you see the lights? Did you hear the vehicle running? I do not know how we can get to them through the field, but something is happening out there.

[Cearlan]

"I think it might be best if we were not placing too much trust in whoever has the vehicle, at least not until we know who they are. We need to find the others first, agreed?" Renwick tries to ignore the glares he is receiving from the aged crone. "If we can wait here a while I can sneak up and see what lies over yonder." He gently lowers the Admiral down and heads off towards where Tatsuo indicates, keeping low and moving as slow as he can.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4059723/ Sneak - 30/10 - fail

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4059724/ Spot Hidden 88/45 - fail

[Tabs]

[ooc: The vehicle which Tatsuo saw was on the other side of the paddy fields, 200 yards from the track. I'll try a "text" map, imagine the characters are at the word "TRACK." The arrow shows the direction of the vehicle according to Eichelstein.]
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P A D D Y F I E L D S

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX T R A C K XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Water Mill



"I saw its head lamps as well. The vehicle is heading away from us . . . "

[Cearlan]

As Renwick steps into the paddy field he totally misjudges the depth of the water and crying out he falls head-first into the mire and flounders until he can right himself, coming up gasping for air. He eventually manages to drag himself back onto the track once again, deeply embarrassed by the incident. He looks at the group one by one and apologises for his clumsiness, but when his gaze settles upon Arashi, he is sure that she somehow was behind his misfortune ... "Is the old hag really a witch?" he thinks to himself as he shivers in the cold.

[Tabs]

Cearlan,You've changed your avatar. Who is it?

Professor Eichelstein, with his good arm, helps the doctor out of the paddy field. "Deeper than you thought?"

[aine]

Santiago hides his irritation at all the noise and turns back to Tatsao. "Senor, you must stay quiet whatever happens. Please try to think before you act." He is alarmed to see the old woman's robe becoming loose again as it hangs heavy with muddy water. "Senora, your robe; please try to keep warm." Then he helps Dr. Renwick out of the mud with Eichelstein. "Two baths in one night Henry!" He grins, "Let's follow the track, it ought to lead somewhere useful (unless we are following it the wrong way!) and at least it does not involve swimming. We'll get to the road carefully and spy out the traffic before we make ourselves known."

[Cearlan]

Cearlan,You've changed your avatar. Who is it?

Got it from the gallery of male avatars in the user control panel. Who he is / was I have no idea

Professor Eichelstein, with his good arm, helps the doctor out of the paddy field. "Deeper than you thought?"

"Thank you Professor - yes both deeper and a lot colder as well!" chuckles Renwick, his nerves starting to play up a little at what originally started out as a pleasant night's entertainment has so quickly devolved into this sorrid state of affairs.

Santiago hides his irritation at all the noise and turns back to Tatsao. "Senor, you must stay quiet whatever happens. Please try to think before you act." He is alarmed to see the old woman's robe becoming loose again as it hangs heavy with muddy water. "Senora, your robe; please try to keep warm." Then he helps Dr. Renwick out of the mud with Eichelstein. "Two baths in one night Henry!" He grins, "Let's follow the track, it ought to lead somewhere useful (unless we are following it the wrong way!) and at least it does not involve swimming. We'll get to the road carefully and spy out the traffic before we make ourselves known."

"Sorry Santiago, that did not help much after all I'm afraid - let's move on then." Henry sighs, disappointed with himself and embarrassed at malking a bit of an ass of himself - though he is not so sure the Japanese witch may not have played her part in that before he dismisses the thought as unworthy of his professional status.

[Tabs]

He is alarmed to see the old woman's robe becoming loose again

--as is Admiral Kolchak.

They arrive at an embankment of shale, crowning it is the train line which shines in the moonlight of the--now--cloudless night. The track they have walked upon stops, but the stream beside it runs through a waist high tunnel. The Golden Pumpkin--unlit and silent--is a quater of a mile away to their left, and to the right the train line disappears, en-route to Chengchow.

[aine]

Santiago's spirits drop when he sees how close they are to the Golden Pumpkin still. He's tempted to head back there to look for clues but realises it's a bad choice with the wounded in the party. But he smiles to himself at the thought of Tatsao sleuthing through the restaurant. "Well Senors, it looks like this is the wrong end of the track after all. We could follow the rail line towards Chenchow; we'll make faster progress on the rails but we'll be lit up. Does anyone know how far it is? We could go back to the restaurant, hoping the soldiers have gone; or we could pick up that road where we saw the car." He shrugs.

[Cearlan]

"Either way, we cannot just abandon the women and head off in a new direction. But I do agree that this plan may not appear to be as good as we first thought it was. I am open to any and all suggestions, and am happy to fall in with the rest of the group" Henry says. He looks at the wounded in the party and realises that they cannot go on much longer without resting. Catching Santiago's eye he tries to convey his concerns to the Spaniard, but sees what he believes are the same thoughts reflected there.

[Tabs]

"Chengchow is a major city," says Kolchak, who is sat on a tussock of grass, "it must be four hundred miles away; but there are towns and villages on the way . . . Whatever, I cannot make it too far: my thigh is leaking blood, again."

Professor Eichelstein gasps: "Look! Look behind us." Back along the track two glowing headlamps are moving towards them. "Hold on, they appear to have stopped."

"Beside the water mill, I bet," answers Kolchak.

[aine]

"Everyone down! Keep in the shadows. Can you see what is happening Professor? If there is any sign of them coming this way we'd better get into the water tunnel and hide." Santiago wonders if Tatsao will fit and isn't happy with crawling into the dark with the old woman. For several reasons. He looks at the Admiral with concern. "We need to get you somewhere dry and clean where you can recuperate, old friend. You must be worried about Senora Kolchak too. I wish we knew where the mission was." Chenchow was much further than he had ever thought.

[DSIGFUSS]

Tatsuo is at the height of his discomfort on this perilous journey and does not like the idea of walking to the nearest city.

He whispers to the others, careful of taking Santiago's advice to be more quiet during these dangerous times.


Perhaps we could take that vehicle... If we snuck up on the driver while they were inspecting the Mill... I fear that my poor mother will not make the journey and the admiral is need of skilled medical attention.

Arashi seems distant, wet and cranky..