When she first heard the approaching footsteps, Claire did her best to slide her self to the edge of the crate that was furthest from the door. It was hard, without the use of her lower body, she crawled propelling herself with her forearms to inch herself along the top of the crate.
She had initially thought the approaching party was another group of sailors from the ship who were doing another sweep of the area, but she quickly threw this notion away when she noticed that the footsteps sounded heavier, and came with an occasional *clink* of metal on metal which indicated the owners of the footsteps wore armor. Her heart jumped when she heard the familiar voice of Hida screaming to be released.
As she inched along the top of the crate, doing her best to keep a low profile, she heard movement coming from above. She looked up to the catwalk and saw the boy looking down from the gridded mesh walkway. She put a finger to her lips to indicate for him to be quiet.
The footsteps stopped right outside the door and she heard a jingle of keys. Claire mustered as much strength as she could to pull herself to the far edge of the crate. She knew that if she didn't climb down to the other side before the group entered the building, she would be spotted right away.
She had just made it to the edge of the crate when she heard a key being inserted to the lock, she froze - she was too late! She knew at any moment the door would swing open and she would be caught.
"Huh?" she heard a man's voice say from outside of the door.
Claire glanced up at the catwalk. The boy was on his knees, holding out his two arms with the palms of his hands facing in the direction of the door, buying her time with metalmancy.
She heard the group outside begin to make a second attempt at the door. With a mighty heave, she pulled herself over the side of the crate, and dropped onto a heap of unused sacks that somewhat broke her fall.
At the very same instant she landed, she heard the door swing open.
***
Darren felt the drain of the metalmancy pull energy from his core and flow out of his arms as he concentrated on the lock. While metalmancers could affect metal from a distance, the further away one was from their target, the more energy it took to exert control over the material. This is why most metalmancers, including Darren, preferred to be touching the material they intended to manipulate.
His quick thinking allowed Claire to pull herself over the edge of the crate and out of the direct line of sight of whomever would come in through the door. He released his control over the lock and pulled himself back into the darkness of the catwalk as much as he could. He wasn't invisible, but as long as he didn't draw attention to himself by moving, he felt he could stay out of sight. He just hoped that the party that came through the door didn't spend a lot of time looking up.
The door swung open and the first figure that came through the door was Hida. Darren could see that her arms were tied behind her back. She stumbled somewhat as she was pushed into the building by one of the two guards that followed her inside.
One guard turned around and closed the door behind him. At that same time, the other guard escorted Hida to the very same crate that Claire had been sitting on just a little while ago.
"Sit," he said.
"No," Hida said defiantly.
The guard loomed over her. Reaching out, he placed one hand on each of her shoulders.
"Sit, or I will make you sit."
"You wouldn't dare. You said yourself that we were to be left "undamaged."
The other guard moved away from the door and approached her. He forcefully jabbed a pair of fingers into the right side of her chest, about two inches below her collarbone.
"Ow!" Hida shouted.
The guard shifted his stance, using his body weight to push in harder on the singular point.
"STOP!" Hida pleaded.
"That's what I can do with just a pair of fingers," the guard cautioned after he pulled his hand away. "There's a difference between undamaged... and unhurt." The other guard said looking down on her. "You'd best remember that."
Hida slid her back down the side of the crate until she was sitting on the floor. Darren could see that while she was compliant, a defiant look remained in her eyes.
"My father is the head of the Southern Islands Fishery Co-op. He would no doubt pay for my return." Hida said.
"And is your father, or more importantly, your father's money here in the city?" asked one of the guards.
"Well, no. You would have to write him and tell him where I am. I'm sure he would send along payment as soon as he received word that I was being returned."
The two guards laughed. "Sure, we could just keep you here for weeks while your father MIGHT send money. Or... we could just take the handsome sum that your friends on that ship are offering right now."
Darren noticed movement from the other side of the crate. Claire was trying to get his attention. She made a cat-like pawing motion with her hands, followed by the same motion of using two fingers to simulate walking that he had made earlier.
Cat....walk? What about the catwalk? He pointed to the structure he was crouching on to confirm that was what she had meant.
She nodded, and then raised her two hands to her eye level with palms down, and brought them down quickly.
"She's crazy! She wants to bring down the catwalk!" Darren thought. He shook his head no.
Claire frowned and nodded her head in a yes motion. She then held up five fingers, then four, then three....
"Holy crap!" Darren thought. "She intends to go through with this! And I'm on top of the catwalk!"