The Lantern Festival was bustling. Held along the waterfront at the harbour, there were beautiful lanterns as far as the eye could see.
The Guerilla Girls were all there, sticking closely together, and not straying too far from where they had left their horses.
There was a large contingent of the Emperor's younger consorts at the festival, so a segment of the palace guards were located throughout the crowd. They had counted on this arrangement, as it meant not everyone could be closely watched, and the Honour Guards who knew them personally, were not there.
They each carried a large handbag filled with necessities for their journey.
"One minute countdown," Delphi's voice shook with nervous excitement as she watched the large town hall clock tick inexorably towards 8:00pm.
The girls all joined hands in the secret GG handshake for the last minute, holding each other tightly. As the clock struck eight, on the last chime, a scream rang out from among the consorts, then another, then still more screams from the crowd.
Cries could be heard of "spider" and "tubiàn".
"Okay, let's get this show on the road!" cried Delphi.
They pushed into the centre of the melee, where the guards were now flying in on horseback.
"Spider," screamed Ruby and Winter.
So far there were none near them, but Lili and Feifei stood at the ready with daggers to pierce any of the flesh-eating, cat-sized Golden Orb spiders that might come their way.
A guard materialised beside them. "Where is it?" he shouted.
"It went that way Sir," said Ruby in her best babydoll voice, pointing away from their horses, a tiny hand over her horrified mouth.
The man puffed out his chest. "Don't worry. I'll kill that fucker, Miss."
As he rode off, Delphi glanced around. They were surrounded by families and ordinary folk. She handed out shawls that would disguise them to look exactly the same. Dull-looking cotton wraps, which they expertly wrapped over their palace veils and head shawls, draping the fabric to the ground. The tall girls hunched down to be less conspicuous. They moved in the direction of their horses, running slowly, keeping pace with the rest of the crowd.
They arrived in the shadows where their horses waited and mounted-up. Delphi did a quick count.
"Ready to go?" she asked them.
"Never readier," said Feifei.
"I thought this day would never come," said Indy.
"Let's split this joint," said Lili.
As she spoke, a spider dropped from the tree above her, directly onto her head.
"Jesus Effing Christ," she swore, ripping off her disguise, her veil, and her palace head shawl, in one fell swoop and flinging them and the spider to the ground.
She leapt from her horse and pierced it through its thick ugly body with her dagger. Goop exploded out of the abdomen, splattering her face and arms.
"Waah, why me?" she cried, wiping her face with her dress.
Loveday leant down and grabbed her under the arms, swinging her back up onto her horse. She tore her own disguise in half and threw it in a ball to Lili.
"Wrap yourself back up," she said shortly.
Lili covered her hair and face, unfortunately some of her brightly coloured palace dress was now exposed.
"Stay in the middle of the pack Lili, let's go," said Delphi.
They kicked their horses into a trot, trying to blend in with the crowds that were pushing to get out of the harbour-front, moving quickly, but not too fast. The large crowd was surging as people tried to get away. The guards were shouting at each other in panic, concerned to make sure none of the palace women were injured on their watch.
As soon as they'd cleared the crowd, Delphi kicked her horse into a flat-chat gallop and the girls streamed after her. Feifei brought up the rear, constantly glancing behind them for pursuit.
It was a short ride to the boat, but it felt extraordinarily long to the girls, who rode with their hearts hammering, fearful of guards or police appearing at any moment.
When they were within walking distance from the boat, they dismounted, and Arrie handed each of them a flat-packed lantern from her handbag. The lanterns were quickly assembled, lit and then tied to their horses.
"I'm so sorry boy," said Ruby unhappily, as she reluctantly tied a lantern onto her pony's rear rigging.
The horses all startled, with the burning lanterns floating behind their ears like ghosts chasing after them, and they took off, whinnying like the hounds of hell were on their tails.
"Oh," Ruby's eyes welled with tears.
"Don't worry little one," said her big sister. "Those lanterns will go out in no time when they run like that."
"I'm good," said Ruby, wiping her eyes with her knuckles. "I'm just a little over-anxious tonight."
They ran for the boat, pulling off the large branches it was hidden under. They pushed the large sailboat across the sand into the water, then climbed up onto the deck. Everyone grabbed a paddle, and they rowed into the harbour in absolute silence, as they'd practised. It was generally a good idea not to attract the attention of tubiàn when you were out on the water unless you were in a really big boat.
They hugged the shoreline, using the moonlight to watch for rocks and sandbars. They couldn't afford a light at this location, and they wouldn't raise the sail until they'd cleared the palace. Four a side on the oars, they were a pretty mean team, Delphi thought proudly, as they paddled in perfect time, pushing hard as they worked to clear the harbour.
Finally, they put the island and the palace behind them. Delphi looked back and she could no longer see the hated building silhouetted in the distance.
"Alight," she said quietly, "let's raise the mast."
They had been allowed to learn to sail in the harbour under guarded supervision, so this was not new to them. The girls quietly raised the mast and unfurled the sails, tying the rigging and setting sail. The sails were black, to avoid reflecting in the moonlight.
"God what a relief to be done with that paddling," said Indy. "My arms are killing me."
"Keep it down Indy," said Feifei. "We don't want to attract any unwanted attention out here, shoreside or in the water."
Winter looked fearfully into the black waters and shifted a foot away from the gunwale.