Im Odenwald

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Kurt meets the angel.



With Father Michael to back him, the villagers had eventually agreed to let Kurt meet their "angel". They were putting her up in all the comfort they could manage, in the best house available, and when they pointed him to it, he wasted no time going to knock quietly on the door.

Anneliese had been dozing lightly on the couch in front of the fire, allowing herself to drift in and out of awareness when she heard the knock at the door. She quickly sat up, wincing slightly when the quick movement caused one of her wings to twitch, giving off a fresh burst of pain. She would be so much happier when they were healed, and she could go about the business of finding her way back home. It wasn't that she was ungrateful to her benefactors, it was just that the whole religious thing they'd built up around her was a little alarming - she wasn't sure how they'd react to finding out she wasn't the angel they assumed her to be.

She just wished there'd been some way to tell them that, but talking was something she'd never been able to do.

The door opened, tentatively, and Kurt offered her a reassuring smile. "~Hello. I am a friend of Father Michael's. May I come in?~"

She nodded, eyes wary as she moved herself around somewhat ponderously into a sitting position. The broken leg made everything difficult and trying to keep her wings from brushing against anything was even more so. People had been visiting every so often, the family taking care of her appeared to want to show her off and the only way she'd gotten any peace was to feign drowsiness.

"~You do not have to be afraid of me~", he told her quietly, stepping fully into the room. "~I have known the good Father for a very long time. He asked me to come and speak with you.~"

She nodded again, making a gesture toward the other chair in the room but unable to tell him that he might sit down if he liked. She wished she had some writing implements - some way to 'talk', it was frustrating, these useless gestures that no one seemed to understand.

The gesture was enough, in this case, and he moved to the chair to sit down. "~I came, really, to persuade the villagers to let you go. And if I cannot, liebchen, do not despair. I have other ways to get you home.~"

Anneliese looked a little unsure at that, and then pursed her lips, looking over at the teapot sitting on a small table nearby and then back at him.

Well, if she needed proof... "~I would love to have tea. Thank you.~" And he bamfed over to the table, reappearing to pick it up and pour.

Anneliese jerked in surprise as Kurt disappeared and reappeared in front of her eyes, and then wrinkled her nose at the sour odor left behind. She tilted her head slightly, trying to think of some way to ask what it was she wanted to ask, to ask who he was, and how he knew Father Michael. She looked around the room for a moment, trying to find something within that might help her but eventually gave up with a frustrated sigh.

Instead, she held out her hand, as if holding a cup in her hands and then pointed to herself, before smiling slightly at the absurdity of the whole thing. She would never, ever fly off by herself so far again if she could just get back to her parents.

"~I can carry passengers, though not very far~", he told her, filling a cup for her. "~So you see, whatever happens, I can get you home. My name is Kurt Sefton, by the way.~"

She looked down at her broken leg, and then back at him and winced at the idea of being carried out in such a way. Even if her leg didn't get bumped, it would be difficult enough to keep her wings still, she hoped he could convince the villagers to let her leave when the time came.

"~We will try it the easier way, first~", he told her reassuringly, digging in his jacket pocket and producing a notepad. "~Now, perhaps you could tell me... what is your name?~"

Later, he reports back to Father Michael... or starts to, before they notice smoke over the village. Things go downhill from there.



"Her name is Anneliese", Kurt told the old priest as they walked at the edge of the village. "Anneliese Mueller. She is from Munich."

"And her family? Would they be looking for her?" It was phrased carefully, Father Michael fully aware that some families might not welcome the return of a mutant daughter. The old priest walked slowly, leaning on his cane - he'd aged significantly in the last few years.

"She seems keen to return to them", was all Kurt could offer, unconsciously matching his pace to Father Michael's. "I think they would be, yes."

"God be praised." Father Michael paused for a moment to catch his breath. "So now we have only the task of convincing her hosts that she'd be better going back to her family." It was said with a certain wryness - the villagers were definite in their wishes for their 'angel'.

"It will not be easy", Kurt acknowledged. "I did raise the idea to her that I could remove her whether her hosts agree or not, but with her injuries..."

"It's best not to risk the strain," was the agreement. "I have hope that reason will prevail. After all, they let you speak with her."

Kurt started to say something in response, but then his head went up, ears almost literally pricked. "Father Michael... do you smell that?" It was confirmed a moment later by a plume of smoke rising above the trees.

Father Michael stared at the dark smear of smoke. "Dear God," he murmured. "It's coming from the house they're keeping her in."

Kurt was gone without saying another word, thanking God he didn't even need to run.

***********************

Anneliese had heard the angry words outside and seen the side of the house closest to the village catch fire almost immediately, cutting off the main exit and her only hope of getting out. There was no way she'd be able to climb through a window with her current injuries.

Why? Why would they do this to her when they'd treated her so kindly up to this point. What had she done to anger them? As she pushed herself off the couch and onto the floor with a pained grunt, she hoped Father Michael and the other man, the one named Kurt would see and come to help.

Her prayers were answered very shortly, as Kurt appeared in the flickering light of the room. Seeing her on the floor, he rushed over to try and help her up. "~I think it is time to go.~"

Anneliese let out a soundless scream as Kurt's arms jostled her injured wings in his hurry to lift her from the ground and as he got a hand under her legs, her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed gratefully into darkness.

That made things easier, in one regard, and he lifted her fully into his arms before teleporting out of the house, to just outside it. The scene that greeted him was a distinctly ugly one, the villagers still clutching the flaming sticks they'd used to set fire to the house - and some of them, too few, obviously being held back from helping Anneliese by the others.

It was a very angry-looking mob, as mobs went. There was only one figure in the crowd who was smiling - a tall, aristocratic-looking man in an expensive overcoat, standing well towards the rear of the crowd and flanked by two powerfully-built men, clearly bodyguards.

Kurt hadn't noticed him yet. His focus was on those at the front of the crowd, looking from face to face with scorn as his tail lashed furiously.

"What exactly do you think you are doing?"

There was a gasp and one or two men in the front took an involuntary step back at Kurt's sudden appearance and obvious anger. But mobs draw their courage from numbers, and there were enough people there for it to be a momentary thing only. "See! Another of them! Mutants!" One of the men in the front pointed a thick finger at Kurt. "You let one in, and more follow!"

"Mutant", he spat at them, pacing forward. "Human. Angel. Call her what you like, but she is just an injured girl. For me, I shall call her by her name - but none of you bothered to learn it, did you?"

Another of those wavering hesitations and then a woman screeched out: "You don't need to know a monster's name to know it's still dangerous! Look at you! Abominations! Mocking God! She blasphemes with her very existence and you... you look like the spawn of Satan himself! You're not human, neither of you are!"

Kurt turned, slowly, to look at her... and in the course of the movement, the man at the back of the crowd caught his eye. "If you wish to know whose spawn I am, perhaps you should ask your leader. I should not be surprised to see you here. Father."

Wagner looked affronted - it was put-upon, of course, but like most politicians, he was an impeccable actor. "Spawn of Satan indeed," he called, his voice grave. "Look at how they seek to confuse you - a false angel, and a demon who claims to be my son! But servants of the Father of Lies so often seek to impugn those who tell the truth."

"So they do", Kurt agreed, voice low and filled with hatred. "And you, you snake of a man... you would not know the truth if it struck you in the face."

"It is so very determined to muddy the waters, good people," Wagner said in his best orator's voice. "Shall we let ourselves be confused?"

"No! Kill the demon, kill the false one!" spoke up one of the mob, a rather large looking man with a bushy brown beard.

Torches raised again as the mob moved in closer to where Kurt stood holding Anneliese, spurred on by the man's shout.

He didn't wait for them to get any closer, instead teleporting himself and Anneliese to a spot twenty or thirty feet beyond the crowd. "We will be going now", he announced, cold and carrying. "I hope some of you may come to regret what you have done today." He was looking directly at Baron Wagner.

Who simply smiled, coldly and briefly, before raising his voice again. "The mutant demons flee before you, good people! They fear your faith." The cruel twist of irony he put to the words was only recognizable as such if you listened very carefully.

And the crowd was not.

"An innocent girl, Father", Kurt countered just as loudly. "Her return home will be in the papers, I am sure, for any of you who care to look. Just a mute girl, hurt in an accident, who sought to deceive no one. And you, you of all those here... you will pay."

And with that, they were gone.