My heart almost stopped in its tracks as we rushed towards the ground. Ever seen one of them films that moves from a longshot of the world or a continent and zooms rapidly in to a specific place on the globe? That were how it was with us. I had nary a time to think much about it, though, before I was face flat on the pavement of some road or another.
It was dark except for the glaring street-lights all around. Fairuza was still out, but her weight held me down for a while as I debated whether to let her go or not. I looked round and figured that weren't such a good option.
I muttered something like "shit" as I realized the bright lights coming towards us were the headlights of a large truck, brakes squealing but much too late to stop in time, especially with the newly-created ice on the street thanks to our landing there. Fairuza was limp and felt heavy after all the exertion, but I somehow managed to push myself up by one arm and me knees and leaped backwards.
We fell into a muddy ditch in the middle of the country some ways away, and I had to think fast to keep the girl from drowning herself in the mud, still unconscious as she were. The mud was partially frozen after my landing there, though it were still fairly warm outside. It's the end of a "walk" that seems to suck all the kinetic energy not only out of my velocity but in the immediate place around me as well.
I knew we were still in England, and I could guess roughly how far I'd "walked" that time, and I knew we weren't anywhere near no Turkish embassy. Not that I had any idea where I could find such a place in London.
Another "walk" took us back into London, this time on our feet, and not in traffic, neither. There were a few people who looked spooked when they saw a young man carrying a girl, both covered in mud, suddenly appear from out of nowheres, but I'm guessing they just tried to rationalize it somehow. Only the children ever believe everything they see, even if it were all true.
Soon enough I had found a phone book and made my call, first to Austria to let the Turkish ambassador know his girl were safe and sound and kidnapped back from her kidnappers for him, and that I'd be much obliged if he were to wire the second half of the reward money to my bank account upon confirmation of my deliverance of the girl to the Turkish embassy in London (though he were rightly confused about how she'd gotten so far away so soon). I also asked if he'd want me to deliver the girl to him in person straightaway, to which he hastily told me not to bother, since he was already on his way to the U.K. for some other diplomatic reason. Can't say I have much patience with ambassadors or diplomatic types, but I was glad I didn't have to go all the way back to Austria with the girl. My arms were tired enough. Secondly I found the Turkish embassy and soon enough delivered her to their doorstep. They were expecting me and made things simple enough, but I didn't want to stick around for no nosy questions or nothing, so I took a walk to another part of the city.
Now, I'm not a man given to believing in coincidences or nothing like that, but when I appeared on a dark street elsewhere in the city, only to witness a ruddy-looking fellow with a rifle standing in the middle of the street looking fairly spooked, but not at me, then something like a big ape or dog jumping on the rooftops above where he was staring, I were rightly surprised. It was only when I saw some kind of knight in shining armor flying right through the air towards the creature that I began to wonder whether I were losing my senses altogether.
I wasn't interested in getting into a quarrel with the man who carried the gun, but the flying knight and the hairy creature looked right interesting to me eyes, and I ran after them for a closer look.
