Chapter 32: Trapped In The Nine Realms Club, Part 2

Many people would wonder how someone could fit in a highland within the confinements of a club room. The answer was easy: if a demigoddess owned the club, a random club room on the outside would conceal a whole landscape from within. The power of magic and glamour, right?

The moment Audrey and her friends got to the 13th Floor and opened the door to the Indoor Highlands, she knew they were in trouble. She could have easily thought herself back in the Watchful Highlands but everything was muted green, lacked in trees, and was composed of ridiculously polished boulders, Audrey almost mistook them for titanic bowling balls. Plus, the room lacked the peaceful breeze the Watchful Highlands had, making it easier to remember that these highlands were artificial.

The girls walked to the center of the Indoor Highlands, a small valley with a lake rivaling the size of the body of water that surrounded the Isle. By the shores were a white tent with small bleachers standing on a set up field. Three young man stood in salute, arms crossed, and waiting for the visitors. Audrey was almost shocked when she saw how big the red-kilted ginger blonde brutes were. Though each of them had different sizes in muscles, all of them were individually big enough to potential crush Audrey's neck in a headlock. Or at worse, put Auradon Prep's tourney team of average-muscled boys in retirement.

"Hello, lassies," the first in line nodded his buzzcut head at Jessie and Iclyn. He held out his hand before Audrey, nearly having her consider rejecting his offer until she decided that too much was at stake. Their hands clasped onto one another until he decided to plant a kiss on her hand, startling her.

"Our Ma always said that we should respect lady royalty even before we murder them," he said in an unsmiling, but polite manner. He let go of Audrey's hand. "Welcome to the Indoor Highlands, our personal game room in the Nine Realms Club. My name is Alasdair Beth, firstborn son of King Macbeth and Queen Lady Macbeth."

"They couldn't add her actual name to her title or did they think she was better off being known as your dad's wife?" Audrey frowned.

"I know, right?" Alasdair shrugged. "Oh well. Ma always said that you can't change the sexism of Shakespearean times. Any who, I'm Alasdair. These are brothers. Aengus Beth, the second born." Aengus greeted the girls with a wave; his arms were fully covered with Celtic tattoos. "And Blair, the thirdborn." Blair was probably the most dismissive as he was too busy sharpening a fancy long sword. "You must excuse him, yer Highness," Alasdair apologized. "He's quite fond of his sword. Calls her Boudica."

"Swords make better company than women," Blair pointed out coldly.

"He gets it from Ma."

Audrey just looked unimpressed at them. Big boys and mama's boys. "I see your sister didn't bother showing up," she said. "Don't tell me. Your Ma said she shouldn't fight because it's unladylike."

"Nope. If Ma were to say anything, it's that Macy would finish you off faster than it would take us beating you in the challenges we concocted specifically for you," Aengus raised his tattooed-arm. "Her bloodthirsty skills make the English who executed William Wallace look like amateurs. Don't tell or Pa I said that."

Audrey nodded. "So, what do you have in store for us?"

"Not you plural, yer Highness. You singular." Alasdair pointed at Iclyn and Jessie. "These two will sit out on the bleachers while you face us."

"Three against one? That's a bit unfair."

"Not necessarily. See, yer Highness, we concocted a collection of 3 challenges. No more and no less than 3. In each of them, you confront one of us. Win as many as you can and you can head upstairs."

"I don't like how easy you make that sound."

"Yer clever." Alasdair smiled. "There is a catch. Every time you win a challenge, one of your teammates get to help you out on the next one. Every time you fail, one of your teammates gets booted out the club. And because you have three challenges with us, we're generous. You only get to benefit one error and you can decide who goes out first. I must warn you to be cautious. Lose one challenge, the chosen teammate can't go back in the club. Lose two and you get a one-way ticket to the demigoddess."

Audrey felt the shivers go up her spine. The stakes were now higher than ever. That weird light show in the lobby had done a number on her and she still couldn't contact Alastor. Iclyn and Jessie had been endlessly loyal and a big support during the previous two crazy rides in the club, but if Audrey didn't play things carefully with these guile brutes, she'd lose the only backbones she had.

"Alright." Audrey sighed.

"Audrey." Iclyn grabbed Audrey by the arm, nearly giving her an actual chill. "You sure about this?"

"I have no other options. Charles needs us."

Alasdair pointed at the bleachers. Iclyn and Jessie bitterly sighed as they went to sit on them. "Alright, yer Highness. First challenge. Never Lie To Nessie." The waters of the indoor lake drained away, revealing an empty pool acting as a platform to elevate a robotic sea monster (or what Audrey associated as a sea monster). The sea monster kept its mouth open and dangling from its lower jaw were giant scales with chair-shaped holders. The whole thing looked like one deranged theme park ride.

"We took inspiration on both good old Nessie the Loch Ness monster and Egyptian mythology," Alasdair said.

"Slight reference to the ex-boyfriend of the demigoddess. May he rest in peace," Aengus quietly crossed his heart.

"Anyway," Alasdair rolled his eyes in frustration at his younger brother. "The idea is this. For the first challenge, you and one of us will sit on these holding chairs. You will ask each other any kind of question, mundane to humiliating, for twenty minutes. Depending on how much you lie, your chair will lower, and your truths will rise it up. When the minutes have passed, the winner is the one who is highest. Any questions?"

"That don't count into the challenge? Just one. Who am I competing against?"

Alasdair and Aengus pointed their fingers at Blair without hesitation. Blair Beth groaned in frustration and sheathed his sword Boudica back in place. While he managed to perform a perfect jump and climb to reach his chair, Alasdair pulled up rolling steps for Audrey to climb up to her seat. Anyone would make the sassy comment that this was easy but Audrey knew better than to say it. Plus, the levels of feet below her almost gave her altitude sickness. The moment a bell rang, the challenge began.

"Ladies first," Blair muttered.

"OK." Audrey pondered and came up with the lamest question. "Why is your name Blair?"

"Because my dad was a fan of Mary Blair." His seat went up by a quarter of an inch. "Is it true that you are a princess of Auradon?"

"Yes, but I abandoned it in favor of a new life." Audrey felt her seat go up. "What's your favorite dish?"

"Dundee cake. Who do you see when you look at the face of the demigoddess?"

"I see the face of someone I don't like." Audrey felt her chair swinging like a pendulum, forcing her to clutch on for dear life.

"WE FORGOT TO MENTION THAT NESSIE DOESN'T LIKE ANSWERS IN CIRCLES!" Alasdair shouted from the ground.

"Fine! I see Mal!" The chair stopped swinging. Audrey covered her mouth to prevent herself from vomiting. This game was definitely more dangerous than what she already anticipated. She had to cut those stupid questions she went for and go with Blair's method: asking where it hurts. "Who do you see when you see Kory, Blair?"

"My siblings. I hate them all equally. Whenever I look at the demigoddess, her face constantly distorts between my siblings' faces like the faces of Janus the two-faced god. One second, I see Alasdair, the next I see Aengus, and then Macy. 20 seconds each per minute." While Blair's chair went up, Audrey looked down. A strange pitiful look came from her friends while the Beth boys down below looked stoic and never flinching. If anything, the brutes probably didn't care that the youngest son hated his family. "Who is Mal and why did you hate her before you stopped hating her?" Blair asked.

"We were on the different sides of our parents' story. I was the daughter of the heroes and she was the daughter of the evil fairy. I didn't like the VKs when they first came. I…" Audrey paused. "I was the selfish brat, nothing like Sleeping Beauty. She was the girl with a good heart, nothing like her mother. People really liked her while I was disliked. She stole my first boyfriend and they had real love. I don't think I even did… I just dated him because my family wanted me to bring up their status. When he proposed to her, I tried to destroy them and Auradon. When my failure nearly killed me, they saved me."

Her chair went up, this time higher than the usual. Blair Beth actually looked sadly at her, not because he was losing but because it seemed like he could relate. "Why do you hate your brothers and your sister, Blair?" Audrey asked.

"Because Alasdair is self-entitled as the eldest. Because Aengus is a know-it-all as the second." Blair let out a grimace. "Because despite being the youngest, Macy came out perfect. She is everything our parents ever wanted. The ideal murderer who can deceive victims with her charisma and her looks. When she turned out perfect, our parents didn't hesitate to name her their heir to everything. I was already low, but she reduced me to garbage. She's so ruthless, she's the only one that the demigoddess never screws up. My little sister was deemed as an equal to a demigoddess and I get the level of respect a scullery maid does!" The venomous tone in his voice, especially at 'little sister' caused his chair to rise up and rival Audrey's level.

"TEN MINUTES LEFT!" Aengus shouted.

"YOU CAN DO IT, AUDREY!" Jessie shouted.

"Do you regret leaving Auradon?" Blair asked.

"No. Auradon hates me. Even after I was forgiven, they continued to hate me. When I crossed the mist, I discovered more about the origins of Auradon. How my family contributed to the destruction of worlds, stealing the homelands of thousands, and ripping people apart just to create their own world. Finding out what my grandfather did and how it led to my curse… I was both horrified but I thought they deserved it. I don't know where I'll ultimately end up, but in the end, it's because I choose how I want to end up. Not because somebody decided for me." The chair rose and some applause was heard. "If you hate your siblings so much, why haven't you killed them yet?"

"Because Macy would kill me before I even get the chance. She has a knack for murdering people before they even decide when and how they want to kill her. How do you feel about your curse?"

"I feel like I don't know where it will go from there. I can guarantee one thing: we are DEFINITELY against the arrangement and we will not go through with it. I told you I am DONE with people telling me how to live my life! So I'd rather live the rest of my life in madness than be married by arrangement, with or without love!"

"FIVE MINUTES LEFT! LAST QUESTIONS!"

"If you wanted to, Blair, would you betray your family?"

The Beth boy looked at her in hesitation before looking down at his brothers. When he let out a 'no', his chair lowered by five inches. Audrey couldn't believe what had happened. At this point, Blair made it clear that his relationship with his family was horrible and had no problem telling the truth, but on her last question, he chose to lie. Did he fear that his family would retaliate if he had said yes… or did he purposely lie for Audrey?

"You come from Auradon and you've heard of the stories. You've seen how diverse the relationships are in this world you're in. Your concept of love from your previous wounds is obviously incorrect and you recognize that. You and your demon find the arrangement incorrect and both agree to ignore it. As cruel as she is, Lady De Mort always uses permanent paperwork with pinches of fate. In the end, Audrey, if you are able to leave this club and this city alive and go wherever you want from there… Since you couldn't find love with an Auradonian prince, do you think you could love the Radio Demon?"

Audrey raised her finger but paused. Could she? It couldn't be.

If it was a daughter… the daughter would never have true love with a prince, and because the family dared to provoke a powerful fairy through a trivial fashion, the sorceress decided to humiliate the family further by declaring that if the princess were to find true love, marry, and live happily ever after, it would be with a demon. Gladiola Trollkonge had told her that when she brought up the truth about King Stephan.

I just happen to prefer a willing client over a forced fiancée. Just because I do not wish to marry you does not mean I do not want to work with you. Alastor even tried to ask for the curse to be removed.

Memories came back to her: her childhood in her pink-colored nursery, Aurora actually giving time outside of her duties to lull a little Audrey to sleep with her signature 'Once Upon A Dream'. Telling her how she unknowingly dreamed of Philip and fate meant to have them meet and fall for real. Simply because a dream told so. "You'll dream of your prince when your time comes. When the time comes, he'll love you at once." Empty words from the mouth of an underrated queen.

"No," Audrey said. Her chair shook violently, causing her to lose her grip. She managed to get a better grip, but now she was dangling from her chair.

"AUDREY!" Iclyn exclaimed.

"TWENTY SECONDS LEFT!" Alasdair declared.

"I DON'T KNOW, OK?" Audrey screamed. "I DON'T KNOW! I DIDN'T EVEN EXPERIENCE REAL LOVE WITH MY EX-BOYFRIENDS, NOBODY IN AURADON REALLY LOVED ME, AND I'M PRETTY SURE THAT EVERYONE I'VE MET IN THESE FUCKING LANDS ONLY HAVE SHALLOW LOVE FOR THE QUEEN OF MEAN! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO KNOW IF I MIGHT LOVE THE DEVIL ON MY SHOULDERS? I NEVER EVEN MET HIM IN PERSON BESIDES ONCE UPON A NIGHTMARE!" Audrey's chair catapulted upward while 'Nessie' violently threw Blair in his chair to the ground. Audrey was still crying when her chair was gently lowered and Jessie and Iclyn rushed to her.

"I'm so sorry…" Jessie helped Audrey out of her chair while Audrey let out a miserable sniff.

"The bastards…" Iclyn gasped in disgust. Audrey and Jessie noticed Iclyn wasn't looking at them but at Alasdair and Aengus Beth. The latter was mercilessly beating up Blair while the former pulled out a remote. A cylinder came down from the ceiling, trapping Blair in it.

"Macy will be VERY disappointed in you, Blair," Alasdair said coldly. Blair didn't even scream as the cylinder sucked him upward to the ceiling, disappearing with him.

"He did nothing wrong!" Audrey exclaimed. "And you're going to let Macy kill him?"

"She won't kill Blair. Just carve his mistake number on his chest with her dagger," Alasdair said.

"And he's done a LOT of mistake!" Aengus commented. "I'm losing track of the number of mistakes he made and got carved upstairs. Carmine almost ate him back in April."

Audrey wiped away her tears. "Let's just get back to business…" Jessie and Iclyn nodded and headed back to the bleachers.

"The second challenge is a good old-classic highland game known as cable toss." Alasdair used his remote to open up the ground. A platform pulled up, bearing 10 logs polished and carved into perfect cylinders, and a target placed many feet away from them. 5 logs were painted red while 5 were pink, but the girls were more horrified by the target.

Charles Frollo. Chained and gagged to the ground.

"The thing with caber tossing is that it requires for the thrown caber to land on the ground and fall at 12 o'clock away from the thrower. The catch with this caber tossing is that since you're obviously not much of an athlete, you can use your magic to lift the cabers…" A devious smile appeared on Alasdair Beth. "The problem is that none of the cabers must be broken or crush the grey rat. Obviously for you, it would be an accident, but Aengus? Not so much."

The bitch! Audrey thought. If the last challenge was to mess with her mental guilt, this one would give her eternal guilt if she managed to actually kill someone by accident. Her magic was currently low due to the shock wave, so constantly using it to control the cabers would obviously weaken her further. She looked ahead; Charles was pulling on the chains, muffled screams coming from behind the gags.

"Fine," she said. She'd rather struggle to save him than face Kory in defeat.

"Honor to the ladies." Aengus held out his hand in a mocking, gallant tone. Audrey went to the first pink caber in her sight and tried to think of what to do. Maybe reduce its weight to that of a baseball?

"Caber mighty and tall, be light so my friend doesn't take the fall." After reciting a spell, Audrey grabbed the caber by the bottom. Though the wood scratched on her fingertips, it felt weightless on her palms. Without a struggle, she ran forward and threw it. The caber landed many feet past Charles.

Aengus took his turn. He shocked Audrey by effortlessly lifting the caber, keeping his feet still, and throwing the caber. The chains were long enough for Charles to duck, but if he hadn't, the caber would have almost struck him on the head. A trail of dust was left where the caber landed. Audrey threw her next caber as far as possible but Aengus sent his next caber dangerously close to Charles.

He's purposely trying to hit Charles!

"3 cabers left each! Here comes my favorite part! Throwing the cabers at the same time!" Alasdair shouted.

Aengus smeared. From the position he took, he looked eager enough to aim for Charles' skull.

"Like an arrow at ease, break Aengus' caber into more than a piece!" Audrey felt the magic drifting out of her and into the caber. The moment both threw, she had to place her hands on her knees to brace herself while her caber flew right at Aengus'. Both broke in half and Charles curled up to protect himself from the flying splinters. Aengus sneered and threw another caber. Audrey used the same spell again so her caber could destroy his. She found herself panting and struggling to stay up; at the stage she was in, she had to lean on her caber for support. In all his smugness, Aengus used one hand to toss his caber far past Charles' head, easily dodging him and surpassing the first two Audrey had tossed.

The rat! Audrey realized too late that Aengus had played it too well: by giving taunting Audrey with Charles' safety, he purposely let her crush half of their cabers, draining her of her strength and knowing that she'd be too worn out to throw the last one. Just as she came to that conclusion, her caber fell backwards.

"Second challenge goes to Aengus! And Joker is out of the show!" Alasdair used his remote to open up a trapdoor. Jessie's seat catapulted her off the bleachers and into the trapdoor.

"NO!" Iclyn held on to the satchel while her spare hand extended out for Jessie in vain. Audrey looked on hopelessly as her friend went down some tunnel that would boot her out of the club.

"That was your first strike at failing, yer Highness." Alasdair exchanged a high-five with Aengus. "The first challenge mentally damaged you. The second one magically damaged you…"

"If you're going to tell me that the last one's gonna be easy, I will punch you," Audrey hissed.

"Nothing is easy, especially since that last one will damage you physically!" From behind his back, Alasdair pulled and held out a baseball bat and a golf club. "I serve the balls while you bat." He tossed the bat at Audrey, who had to use it like a stick for support. Alasdair sneered at her while he pointed his club at Charles' direction. "I like to buy my golf balls from Duff Killigan. Fellow really knows how to make games explosive. But since I play golf in the Nine Realms Club, I made them more lethal. I doubt the grey rat will survive them unless you bat them away!"

"AUDREY, NON!" In the midst of the action, Charles had managed to shake the gag off his mouth. "LES THANES VOULAIENT T'AFFABLIR! MÊME SI TU GAGNAIS, TU SERAIS TROP ÉPUISÉE POUR RIPOSTER!"

"So…this was all just to weaken me so you could deliver me to Kory like a fancy present…" Audrey muttered.

"We're the children of Clan Macbeth. It's natural for us to not play fair. We may be brutes like him but we did inherit our mother's intellect. What, did you think that the demigoddess hired us as her mortal muscles simply because we were athletes?"

"No, I assumed it's because she was into Shakespeare in the park," Audrey retorted sarcastically. She kept herself up. "I'm guessing… you three also added the electricity that short-circuited my demonic force?"

"Can't take the credit for that," Alasdair said.

"Brother…" Aengus spoke up.

"So Aengus did it?" Audrey asked.

"Please, the pipsqueak can't even fix his own kilt without poking his pinkie with a needle!" Alasdair laughed. "You think HE'S capable of engineering?"

"Pipsqueak, me?" Aengus exclaimed. "I'm not the one who bakes red velvet cupcakes and doesn't just tell Ma about himself!"

"What is there about me that I should tell Ma? She knows enough!"

"Right! Does she know you're into K-pop boy bands?"

"You're implying something, you yappy tattle-telling terrier?" The Beth boys were so against each other until the noted the smug look on Audrey's face, a bit more energized than she had been previously. "You think yourself clever, yer Highness? Did you honestly think you could distract us with sibling hatred so you could recharge?"

"No." Audrey shrugged. "I was just distracting you to see if your chains were fireproof or not."

Alasdair and Aengus Beth picked up the message and ducked just before a wall of purple flames rose and blasted at them, separating them from Audrey. She looked ahead. A puddle of melted metal boiled on the fake grass, creating small fires while Charles, rubbing his sore wrists, stood out like a purple bonfire. His purple eyes glowed in vibrant violet and amethyst hues and his grey hair shined in the flames like a silver halo. The sprinklers in the Indoor Highlands turned on and failed to extinguish the fire. Iclyn jumped out of the bleachers and skated her way to them, tossing the satchel back at Charles. The Bloody Thanes got up from their asses, each bearing a sword and an ax.

"Hey, connards!" Charles shouted. "The next time you try to kidnap me in my sleep, don't forget to find out where I hide my gear!"

"Rat!" Alasdair shouted. He and his brother ran in separate directions: Alasdair towards Charles and Aengus towards the girls. Iclyn created an ice bat that swung Aengus towards the mechanical Nessie. The Scot managed to jump from the animatronic's neck and land perfectly fine on the wall. Alasdair raised his sword at Charles, who swung his nunchaku at Alasdair's leg, electrocuting the Scotsman. Though that wasn't enough to knock him out, it gave room for Charles to kick the sword out of his hands and melt it away in his own fiery ones. Aengus swung his ax at the girls and Audrey threw a spinel crystal ball at it, disintegrating the ax into a shower of pink glitter. She fell on her knees.

"Don't!" Iclyn helped her up. "We got Charles! We need to find a way out of here! Don't waste your energy and find the way out!"

Audrey nodded. While Alasdair was probably getting his ego crushed by losing to a one-man army pipsqueak and Aengus was getting 'cold treatment' from Iclyn, Audrey tried to retrace their steps. She managed to spot the door just above the artificial hills, past those boulders she had almost mistaken for giant bowling balls. Audrey turned to rejoin Iclyn, only to be met with a cloud of powder being blown at her face, causing her to cough. The world started spinning around her and the only straight thing she picked up was a ginger blonde girl closing a compact mirror.

"My brothers tried to waste your energy on trivial games. They wasted their time while it only took me a second to knock you out…" Audrey failed to come to a conclusion as the world around her turned black.

"Oy, morons!" Macy Beth shouted. "Party's over! Boot these morons out!"

Alasdair and Aengus took their steps back, with the eldest Beth son using his remote to summon more trapdoors. Iclyn and Charles fell in both of them. Once the trapdoors disappeared into the environment, Macy walked up to her brothers and struck them on the faces. Her strength was strong enough to knock them on the ground.

"Whose genius idea was it to have Blair go first?" She demanded. "I'm pretty sure any of you two would have made the mental mess faster!"

"Did you punish him for his confession of intended betrayal?" Alasdair asked.

"Who cares? Betrayal is an aspect in our family. What throws me off is that he purposely failed so Audrey could succeed! Carmine is currently licking the blood off the scars I reopened on him, so take that as a reminder that I can easily ask Kory to throw her bloody mutt at you!" She waved her hand at Audrey's unconscious body. "And while you morons were busy fighting, I knocked her out with my chloroform powder! CHLOROFORM! The pettiest anesthetic meant for amateurs! I'll bring her up to Kory myself and send Blair to you so that you boys can be useful for once and make sure that the three losers don't get back in! Understood?"

"Yes, sister…" The older Beth boys quivered in fear.

Meanwhile

One of the things villains probably never think to consider is to look in the tunnels where they throw away opponents like garbage. You know, like 'hey, I threw my foe into this tunnel and he's immediately gonna go to the other end to meet his fate. Easy-peasy, right?' Well, the Beth children were among the numerous people who failed to consider a possible clogging.

Despite having spent nearly a whole morning and early afternoon chained and fighting the oldest Beth son, Charles had been quick on his feet when the trapdoor opened under his feet. After it closed above his head, he folded his arms and legs and forced his hands and feet on the surfaces surrounding him. Screeching sounds followed as his placements managed to slow down and put his falling to a halt. Crawling and falling through small places back on the Isle had paid off.

Using one hand but cautiously keeping himself more frozen than a rock, he opened his satchel and searched around until he found two climbing axes. Putting one in his mouth, he held on to the other as he closed his satchel. Eventually, he dug the climbing axes onto the wall and used them to go upward, pushing himself up using all the forces his feet had until he stumbled onto a gated air vent. His right climbing ax ripped off the gate and threw it into the emptiness underneath him.

Charles slid himself and began crawling into the vent. Cold metal rubbed on his pants and bare elbows until he reached the horizontal end and saw how vertical the air vent went.

With some luck, the air vent went all the way up to the penthouse.

"You tried to save me, Audrey," he said quietly. "God won't forgive me if I don't help you in return."