rosanicus

I have four Biggleses on the boil at present. This is an excerpt from one which started life as a Prisoner Exchange treat and then was not even remotely close to finished in time. Such is life! Anyway, it's a canon divergence thing in which Algy and EvS are imprisoned together after WW1 and before the events of & Co., so Algy gets the shock of EvS being alive and EvS is very much in the amiable mode of & Co.

“Have you got a knife in the sole of your boot?” Algy asked. He had a faint memory of something of that sort in one of the adventure serials he’d read while still at school.

A shake of von Stalhein’s dark head. He teased at the loose end of the rope, then with a smooth motion twisted it, pushed it through the previous knot and unwound the entire thing, intact, from around Algy’s wrists.

“Show-off,” muttered Algy. He rubbed at the sore spots for a moment, then gestured for von Stalhein to present his own hands.

He did so after a long moment. Algy tried not to remember Biggles expounding on the particular way von Stalhein tapped his cigarette ash. He inspected the knot – it didn’t seem overly complicated, merely tied very tightly and knotted at an inconvenient place. He poked at it uncertainly.

“If this proves too challenging,” said von Stalhein. He shifted slightly and stretched out his right leg. “My knife is actually in a pocket on my ankle. The sole of the shoe is simply uncomfortable.”

I just think they're neat. <3