Our Golden Orb Friends

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 contingent of the palace guards were located throughout the crowd.

The girls had been counting on this arrangement, 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, girls," 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!" hissed 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 no spiders near them, but Lili and Feifei stood at the ready, with daggers hidden under their robes 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 pretty little 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 chadors that would disguise them to look exactly the same. Black cotton cloaks which covered their palace jilbabs from head to toe. They hunched down and dragged them on.

With the tall girls bent over to be less conspicuous, they moved in the direction of their horses, running slowly, keeping pace with the rest of the crowd, careful not to draw attention to themselves.

They arrived in the shadows where their horses waited and mounted up.

"Ready to go?" she asked them.

"Never readier," said Feifei.

"I thought this day would never come," said Indy.

"This is it, time to leave that prison behind us," said Ruby with delight.

As she spoke, a spider dropped from the tree above her, directly onto her head.

"Big spidey!" she shrieked, ripping off her chador, her veil, and her palace head shawl, in one fell swoop and flinging them and the spider to the ground.

Indy leapt from her horse and pierced it through its thick ugly body with her dagger. Goop exploded out of the abdomen, spattering her face and arms.

"Waah, why me?" Ruby cried, still brushing at her head, "I love all animals except snakes and spiders!"

"I'm the one with spider guts on me!" said Indy, wiping her face with her dress in disgust.

She leant down and grabbed Ruby's clothes, throwing the discarded garments back up to her.

"Wrap yourself back up meimei," she said to her sister, "we have to get out of here. I guess I'm stuck wearing these stinking spider guts for now," she said with disgust, sniffing at her arms and wrinkling her nose.

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 shouting at each other in panic, concerned to make sure none of the palace women were injured on their watch.

They didn't seem to have cottoned onto the possibility of consorts escaping just yet. It was a concept that hadn't crossed their minds. That's why Delphi was pleased the Honour Guards weren't there. She had a sense that Commander Meyer knew what they were planning and would have been all over them like a rash from the moment the spider drama kicked off.

As soon as they'd cleared the crowd, Delphi kicked her horse into a flat-chat gallop and the girls streamed after her. It was a short ride to the boat, but it felt extraordinarily long to the young women, 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 tied to their horses.

"I'm so sorry, boy," said Ruby unhappily, as she tied a lantern onto her pony's rigging.

With the burning lanterns floating behind their ears like ghosts chasing after them, the horses all startled and took off whinnying like the hounds of hell were on their tails.

"Oh!" Ruby's eyes welled with tears.

"Don't worry meimei," said her big sister. "Those lanterns will go out in no time."

Ruby pressed her eyes with her knuckles, trying not to be the only one among them to cry during their escape. She was sure everyone else must be scared too, but they weren't crying.

"I'm just a little over-anxious tonight," her voice quavered.

The girls ran for the boat. "Here it is," said Delphi, with enormous relief. "Pull the branches off it."

It was hidden underneath a mess of large branches, each of which took two of them to remove. The eight girls pushed the large sailboat across the sand into the water. "Come on girls, push!" Delphi called into the still night, as loudly as she dared.

The girls clambered up onto the deck. "I'll get the paddles," whispered Loveday, handing out a paddle to each girl.

They all took their positions and rowed into the harbour in absolute silence, just as they'd practised.

"Can anyone see anything?" asked Lili, as she paddled. "I can't see a bloody thing!"

"All good Lil," called Delphi. "I've got a lantern wrapped up here that I'm using to check for rocks."

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.

"One last push girls, we've nearly cleared the harbour!"