Chapter Thirteen
'Hello, hello, hello!' said Harold Potter, as Esmé Squalor, Violet Baudelaire and Cindry Fulfillment entered the room of Mortimer Montague. As Violet saw Mortimer's lifeless body on the floor, she rushed to his side, pleading.'Please don't be dead, Mr. Montague! Please!' Violet begged, but Mortimer was gone. Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice rushed to their elder sister's side. 'He's gone, Violet.' Sunny said. 'Nevermore' said Beatrice, uttering a word which here meant 'He's never going to do pranks to scare anyone anymore.'
'Quite pathetic, isn't it.' Said Carmelita, her arms crossed, with a disdainful expression on her face. 'A dead old geezer and four cakesniffing orphans that are about to die.' And then
Carmelita let out a sinister, sadistic laugh. The other villains in the room shared smiles, as if saving their energies to laugh 'mentally'.
'Are you going to kill us?' Klaus asked, terrified for the life of his sisters, specially Sunny and Beatrice, who were so young yet so unfortunate. Sunny wasn't but a baby when she along with Violet and Klaus became an orphan, and her whole life had been nothing but a series of unfortunate events. Beatrice was even more unfortunate, as she was born an orphan, and would never have the chance to meet her parents, Kit Snicket and Dewey Denouement.
'Kill you?' Esmé replied. She walked past the Baudelaires and the body of Mortimer Montague, and looking back at them, said 'We are not going to kill you here and today, Baudelaires. We could, of course, but the fire's quickly spreading through the manor. If we take the time it would take to end your sorry existances, our existances would also end. And that...' and she turned, walking towards the tall glass doors that led to the balcony - 'Is not
in.' and exiting the room, Esmé cackled, her traditionally evil laughter. She took Cindry with her, pulling at her chain.
'Cindry! I'll come for you!'
'Klaus! I, I- ack!' Cindry was gagged by the collar and chain that Esmé pulled even harder, and Cindry was again removed from the Baudelaire's lives once again.
'We do warn you, Baudelaires. We're letting you walk this time. That is, if you can escape this manor in the same manner as us. However, if you mantain yourselves in our pursuit, you will all end up like Montague himself.' said Harold Potter, following Esmé Squalor to the balcony.
'Bye-bye, cakesniffers. I hope we don't meet again, but you never know. Tee-hee!' was Carmelita's farewell to the Baudelaires, as she quickly followed in Harold's footsteps, abandoning her uncle, Bruce, to die in the fire that would soon spread to that very room.
'I, unlike Potter there, know more about you, Baudelaire orphans. I know our paths will cross again, if you somehow manage to escape this place. But if we do, don't expect leniency from us.' said the terrible butler, or Foreman Ferguson, if indeed that was his name. He followed the others to the balcony, leaving the room.
'What do we do now?' Klaus asked. Generally, Violet was the Baudelaire to look to when they were in dangerous situations. But it only took one look into Violet's eyes for Klaus to know that his sister was just as helpless as he was.'If you want to survive...' a man's voice sounded from behind an armchair. The Baudelaires could smell the smoke coming from the hallway outside Mortimer's room.
The fire was drawing near, reminding the three eldest Baudelaires of a similar situation they had once faced in Hospital Heimlich, far away from where they now stood. It was indeed unfortunate that not only were the Baudelaires' lives filled with grief and despair, that many dire situations kept repeating themselves in their lives, as if there was some sort of back-to-back exhibit of cliché filled horror films. The man's voice the four Baudelaires heard was that of Bruce Spats, Carmelita's uncle who she left for dead.'If you want to survive...We must follow them into the balcony. The fire won't spread as quickly, and at least the air outside is cleaner...I understand fresh air is sometimes good for inventions...' Bruce said, and now he was standing up behind the armchair, looking at the Baudelaires. This may well have been the first sensible thing Bruce ever said, to my knowledge, and the Baudelaires nodded in agreement, signaling Bruce to follow them onto the balcony, outside. 'Let's go, now!' Violet said.
'What about Mortimer's body?' Klaus asked. Violet took a sorrowful look in her face, looking back towards Mortimer's body on the floor, as she and the others walked towards what could be the opportunity to save their lives.
'We have to leave him here. He's gone, but we can still save ourselves. I don't want to sound evil or villainous, I just...'
'You care about your family, Violet. That's nothing to be ashamed for.' Bruce said, looking at Violet. Bruce's heart, the Baudelaires, was filled with regret. His niece, Carmelita, had not taken more than a few seconds to decide on abandoning him to his potential death. For a moment, Violet could swear the man was crying, but Bruce Spats was not a man to show his emotions in public.Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Beatrice and Bruce walked out of the room, to the balcony. Violet closed the door behind them, and as she did, she saw the orange glow coming from behind the doors that gave entrance to Mortimer's room. His body could still be seen laying on the floor. Violet turned her head.
The manor was on fire. The fire had caught on to the many layers of ivy and moss, and I'm sorry to say they were of a very flammable type. The air was filled with smoke and the sound of breaking glasses and cracks. Also, the four villains that had just exited the room were nowhere to be seen. It wasn't long before the place crumbled, and Violet Baudelaire's fame as an inventor was again put to test. She tied her hair with her ribbon, the gears of her inventive brain moving with the full power of a steamboat engine. Violet noticed that the ivy and vines were very resistant to pull, but could be cut by something sharp.
'Sunny, quickly, bite these vines so that we have five long vines. They are our way out of here!' And after a long time without putting her sharp teeth to use, Sunny grinned, showing her now more than four sharp teeth, ready to use them to save her family's and Bruce's life.
'Roger that! I missed biting things.' Sunny proceeded onto biting whatever vines Violet showed her, cutting them in various extensions.
'Violet, before he died, Mortimer told us something. His last words.' Klaus said.
'What did he say?' said Violet, tying the various extensions of vine to create a rope-like object. Klaus repeated Mortimer Montague's last words to his sister, the only Baudelaire fortunate to not witness the noble, yet eccentric volunteer's death.
'75 steps to the north towards the sea from the back of the manor. This
is the back of the manor. The entrance is on the opposite side, which makes that-' and here Violet pointed with her hands in a certain direction, '- the North. All we have to do is walk and count.''How is that rope coming along?' Bruce asked, nervously, as Mortimer's room was now completely on fire.
'It's good. It will have to do.' Violet took the long extension of rope-vine and tied it to the balcony pillars, using her own Sumac knot. She tested her invention, and told everyone to climb down the rope.
'I have to say, I'm afraid of heights.'
'Bruce, I'm sorry, but it's either that or a fiery death. You can survive a fall, or you can survive a fire. I personally would prefer the fall.' said Violet, who was still nevertheless traumatized by the many fires that Baudelaires had happen in their lives.
'O-okay, sure.' and Bruce was the first to climb down the rope-vine which Violet had invented. He was a chubby man, an expression here meaning 'a man that had a rounder figure than most people but could not be considered dangerously overweight', but Violet's invention held, unharmed. Seeing this, Violet said, smiling 'My invention survived it's second test. Let's go.'
I have no idea what it was like for Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Beatrice and Bruce Spats to climb down a rope-vine when the manor was on fire. How terrified they must have felt while the glass windows exploded, throwing millions of tiny glass pieces into the air, some of which hit on the five escapees. How difficult it must have been to breathe the air, filled with the toxic smoke from the burning manor. How vertigo inducing was to look at the ground, way below them. I do know that the Baudelaires survived, if not unharmed, not seriously injured, as Violet's invention gave up when they were 6 feet from the ground. They all landed on Bruce, but even he was no seriously injured as he was the closest to the ground before the fall.
'That was scary...' Sunny said. Violet and Klaus agreed, but it was nothing compared to the fall down into 667 Dark Avenue's elevator shaft. The four Baudelaires came off the top of Bruce Spats, who was trying to catch his breath, and they looked up the the manor.
Montague Manor may have been a dark, sinister and sometimes scary place, specially due to it's owner's habit of playing scary pranks on his guests. But looking at it as it burned made the Baudelaires' hearts fill with pain. The manor was dark, but safe, until four villains arrived to destroy it. Like Hotel Denouement, the manor was another safe place that was ravaged by villains and set on fire, being completely destroyed. The Baudelaires wondered how many safe places would be burned by the fire starters.
'We have to go after them. You heard Esmé. They are heading out to sea.' Violet stood up and start taking steps towards the north and counting them.
'Yes. We'll follow you, Violet.' said Klaus, joining his sister.
'What about Bruce?' Sunny asked, joining her two elder siblings, but looking back towards Bruce, who had apparently passed out.
'He'll be fine. Can you hear the sirens?' Violet pointed out, and indeed the Baudelaires could hear sirens. The fire at Montague Manor could very well be seen from Tedia, and someone was bound to call the police or the fire fighters sooner or later.
'But Violet, -' Klaus asked, walking behind his sister, '- if Esmé and the others are heading out to
sea, how exactly are going to follow them?'
'I think we don't need to worry about it. Look. ' said Violet. Klaus did look, and he could see, not too far, that someone was waiting for them in the distance. Someone who held a lamp in one of his hands, and a lit cigar on his lips.
As the seventy-five steps to the north count ended, Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice found themselves in front of a man.
'I was waiting for you, Baudelaires.' said the man. The Baudelaires could not see his face, but he raised his arm, lifting the lamp up close to his face. He was not a bad looking man, but had a scar across his face. The scar was not to big, but it did make his face seem memorable, and indeed no one who ever laid their eyes on that man ever forgot him.
'I am Lars Gabriel. I am a volunteer, and I'll be helping you in your journey to the rebuilt Anwhistle Aquatics. But before we do all that, let's say our organization's motto.' and taking a solemn stance, the man who called himself Lars Gabriel said the phrase '
The world is quiet here!'
The Baudelaires did not have any other plan. They either had to accept his help, or
swim to pursue their enemies.
'
The world is quiet here' said the three eldest Baudelaires. Beatrice still could not reproduce the V.F.D. motto, but she said '
Silencio!' which here meant something along the lines of '
The world is quiet here!'
'I know you don't trust me yet. But I'll prove myself to you. Now, let's go. See my boat over there? It's big enough for all of us, yet small enough that we cannot be seen in the darkness of the night at sea, should we arrive at night.' said Lars Gabriel, walking towards the beach.
When they arrived at Tedia, hoping the circumstances would change for the better, the Baudelaires did not have in mind to have yet another encounter with Carmelita Spats, Esmé Squalor and Foreman Ferguson. Then, the circumstances shifted yet again, and the Baudelaires found themselves in great peril. But now, after a really long night, the Baudelaires noticed the sun was coming up. It was dawn, and the circumstances had changed. They had met a man they didn't know if they could trust yet, but they were sure that if the circumstances would change again for the better, they wouldn't change by themselves. And in this, the Baudelaires were very fortunate to trust that man.