SIRENS
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Chapter 4
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Nimble, damp feet sped on tip toe through the Castle.
Three pairs stopped suddenly outside the door to a half empty dormitory.
'Look,' hissed one voice, light and airy, 'Menfolk!'
'Oh, Merid, may we?' came a second, more sultry voice.
'Absolutely not.' The third voice was deeper, older, and more serious. 'The Truth is the only prize for tonight. We have our orders.'
The first voice whined, disappointedly.
'But Merid,' soothed the second voice, 'if there are Menfolk aboard the White Palace, they must be... important...'
'Special,' added the first.
'Unique,' continued the second. 'We know that the High Priestess has links to the Dungeon Master's strange pupils. If we could bring some to Furnus...'
'You have no intention of sharing live spoils with anyone, Ulse,' answered the third voice, 'no matter how powerful the ally nor how high the reward. More likely you would fail to tell a soul that you had them, then neglect to feed them or change their air, and they would die like all the others.'
'We would care for them, Merid,' complained the first voice, 'these ones are special. Young Gold Heads. See how pretty they are.'
'I said No, Sylka.'
There was a fast patter of hundreds of naked, wet little feet outside.
'Come, children,' continued Merid. 'It is done. We must help with the escape. And remember. If you run into a human...'
The other voices chimed in with her, a well remembered mantra.
'...Kill It.'
-x-
Presto sprinted over the high ramparts of the castle as fast as he could. His body was still weak and clumsy, his clothes still cumbersome, and the last thing he wanted was to stumble and fall off the sheer walls of the castle to the cold water or hard courtyard far below. Not that either fall would kill him, but it would waste valuable time that he definitely couldn't afford to lose. The figure was still so distant, just on the edge of his vision, always running, always climbing. He knew that he had more pressing matters coming in so terribly fast, but... but he had to chase her. He had to be near her again. That urge not to lose her again overwhelmed all of his senses. Besides, he still had some time... just a little more time before all Hell broke l...
The alarm bells began to ring.
-x-
'What the...?' Sheila jumped out of bed, her hands clasped over her ears, as a dozen guards ran past her window, hastily pulling on armour as they did.
'Hey!' she called to them. 'Hey...?'
One guard turned to her, briefly. 'Back to your bed, Miss Sheila. T'aint safe out tonight.'
'What's happening?'
'Back to bed!' The guard turned to the others. 'And barricade the doors!'
And then they were gone. Sheila could see nothing from her window, but could hear the panic rising all too well. Somewhere in the distance a horse shrieked in alarm, and a young man cried out. She stepped back a little, allowing her hand to fall gently onto the cape and knife that she had left on her bedside table.
'Hate to tell you, lady,' she muttered under her breath, 'but I'm afraid it's about to get a whole lot less safe out there.'
-x-
Eric awoke in confusion. Noise was everywhere - bells, screams, whinnies. The air was full of smoke. Automatically, he put a hand out to the empty mattress at his side.
'Dee?'
He sat up, coughing in the rapidly thickening smoke.
'Deeds!'
He climbed out of bed, stumbling towards the balcony door... the open balcony door.
'Aw, shit. Where have you gone this time?'
The scene below him was a mess. There was a large fire growing in the courtyard, but hardly anybody seemed to be paying it any attention. He caught a flash of white below through the smoke screwing up his eyes he could make out Uni, trying to bolt. There was a green and yellow shape next to her that could only have been Hank, desperately keeping her from running. He could make out no swift, twirling gold armbands in the melee beneath him, however, and certainly no giant swan. His hand groped for the statue where Diana had left her beads, and found it bare.
He peered up into the sky with stinging eyes.
'Where have you gone?'
He stopped, as though listening intently, and turned back into the bedroom.
'What?' he asked nobody in particular, flatly.
There was no answer save for a dull thrum in the corner of the smoky room.
'What is it?' he asked the corner.
Thrum. Thrum.
'You know.'
He broke into a brief run across the room, throwing himself to his knees in front of his resting shield. He picked it up, furiously.
'I had a feeling you'd tell me.'
He turned the shield around, and tugged at a thin, knotted strand of fabric around one of the armstraps. It came undone, and he pulled it away from its hiding place in his weapon - a long red strip torn from the hem of his cloak, threaded through which was one, shining, thrumming bead.
He scowled at it.
'You chintzy little rhinestones just can't bear to be apart, can ya?'
He reached up, and began to tie it around his neck, still addressing the bead.
'Why don't you show me where all your little friends are, huh?'
He stood up, and the makeshift necklace's cold bead touched his skin.
It was like a ray of clear light, cutting through the dark smoke. He could see her. He could feel her. There she was.
'...no...'
So far across water and sky already, so very far away.
'No...'
With Him.
'NO!'
-x-
'Hey!' Cried Bobby again, 'I said, what's going on?'
Two women carrying buckets of water practically ran into him.
'You shouldn't be out of your room,' panted one of the women.
'All Hell's breaking loose!' yelled Bobby over the cacophony of bells and panicked female voices. 'The fucking stable's on fire, and hardly any of you are doing anything about it! You're all running the wrong way.'
'It's The Truth,' gasped the other woman.
'Rana...' hissed the first woman franticly, but the Barbarian cut her off.
'Damn right it's the truth! Thank God, the horses are OK, but we need to get that fire out, and fast, before we get a pretty nasty visitor...' He grabbed all four water buckets off the women. 'I'll take these to the stables. You two go and get some more.'
'No.' Janapurna appeared from behind Bobby, harassed and half dressed. She took the first girl's arm.
'Julie,' she said, 'you can swim, can't you?'
Julie nodded. 'Yes, Janapurna. And my combat is fair enough underwater.'
'Good,' replied Janapurna. 'Get an airtank and a spear from the arsenal and report to the lower gate. You're going with Aurore. Bring as many swimmers as you can.'
Julie nodded curtly, then turned and ran towards the Inner Sanctum. Rana, the other girl, caught Janapurna's shoulder.
'What about me, Janapurna?' she asked. 'I can shoot.'
Janapurna shook her head gently. 'Arrows won't help now, Rana. Most of them are already underwater. Help with the fire. We do need that to be put out as soon as possible.'
Bobby began to make a move towards the burning stable, but as he did, saw Janapurna pull Rana close to her and mutter secretively in the girl's ear.
'Keep watch over the Menfolk,' she murmured, 'these are Sea Nymphs we're dealing with here.'
-x-
In the flickering shadow, two lithe figures hid, and watched the humans playing around the fire with great amusement.
'They're all so afraid of it,' grinned Ulse.
Another of the large animals that had been sleeping in the stable began to scream and buck.
Sylka laughed. 'Why do they keep those strange beasts anyway? It takes at least three of them to hold each one and stop it going mad...'
She trailed off as the larger of the Menfolk strode up to the fire, carrying four large buckets of water, and threw them all on the fire one by one.
'Look, Ulse. The other Goldhead is here.'
'Yes.' Ulse watched them both - the shorthair in fur dousing the fire and the longhair in green holding the one horned beast still. 'They would make pretty pets, yes?'
'No,' hissed Sylka. 'Merid said...'
'Merid isn't here,' purred Ulse.
'And they will have the fire out soon,' added Sylka. 'We have to go.'
'Sylka, Sylka.' Ulse twined a finger through the smaller figure's long, wet hair. 'Little sister. It would be so easy. Just let them see what they want to see. Just until they get to the water.'
'I...' Sylka wavered, unsure. 'I don't think...'
Ulse leaned in close to her younger sister and whispered gently in her ear.
'I'll let you have the big one.'
-x-
Still Presto ran. Still Presto climbed. The smoke and loud confusion was becoming distant below. The women of the palace were panicked and disorientated. So were his friends. He could feel them all... almost all of them. Diana was fading away from him. He knew that the drive in Eric to go after her was dangerously intense. He knew that Bobby and Hank were being watched by unfriendly eyes. And Sheila was getting some worrying ideas. He should go back down, straighten everything out, talk his friends out of making stupid decisions.
He should.
But she was there. Just out of reach. If he chased her, if he caught up with her...
Why was he always chasing after girls? He was hardly a womaniser. Hardly a lothario. He was a skinny little Wiccan Virgin, turned Wizard turned Dungeon Master. Not the type to drop everything to run after some skirt.
He should forget about it and get on with his job.
He should.
The figure paused briefly, higher up. She was heading for the main spire of the Inner Sanctum.
Presto broke into another sprint. Always running. Always climbing.
-x-
Fire danced over the golden haired Menfolk as they grappled with horses and flames. Nobody noticed the two figures watching them. The shorthair ran off with empty buckets. That, Sylka decided, was her chance. She slipped away after him, cutting an almost invisible line in the smoke in his wake.
This one, she thought to herself with a smile, was going to be easy to beguile.
Swiftly, the figure following the Barbarian through the smoke became thicker, more solid. Her feet began to tread heavily on the cobbled walkway. She began to appear more human, like one of their females, around sixteen years of age. Her hair darkened to become an ebony black, and pulled itself back into a low ponytail. Her face became soft and rosy cheeked, with bright blue eyes. She took on strange, masculine attire - some shapeless shirt and tight denim breeches, highly unbecoming for a young maiden, but if it was what the Shorthair wanted...
He stopped, warily, and turned. She blended quickly into the smoke again.
No. Not yet. She wasn't ready quite yet. There was still something missing.
She concentrated. Something small. That was all. A little trinket.
Gold.
Bobby squinted into the gloom. He was definitely being followed.
The figure sprang through the smoke suddenly, pushing past him, sprinting away before he had chance to cry out.
'Terr?'
She was already gone. Had it been her? It had looked like her. She'd found her way into the Realm on her own before. What if she'd followed them in?
It had looked like her.
Bobby dropped the buckets and followed her into the thick smoke.
'Terri!'
-x-
'Bob! Presto! Anybody?'
Eric ran blindly through the smoke filled corridor, rounded a corner and hit somebody unseen.
'Augh!'
His stinging eyes peered for the shape of the one he had bumped into, but found nothing. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
'Sheila, what is the point of cloaking here? Nobody can see anything anyway.'
Sheila uncloaked, irritably.
'Playing it safe. Have you heard what's going on? The Palace has been boarded. There were ten women guarding the Vaults tonight. They've all been found dead. All of them - trained soldiers!'
'Jesus. Anyone else hurt?'
'It's hard to say. I've just been... y'know...' Sheila shrugged. 'Doing my thing...'
Eric arched an eyebrow at her fondly. 'Overhearing things that you weren't supposed to know?'
Sheila nodded, breathlessly. 'I came to get Diana. She's a good swimmer, isn't she?'
'Sheila...'
'Only it sounds like they're sending a squad out underwater. I'm gonna go, but we could do with some help...'
'Listen...'
Sheila reached out to the bead at Eric's throat, frowning. 'Where'd you get that, Eric?'
Eric touched the necklace himself.
'You know the other day, when I... when Diana's necklace broke?'
'Yeah. She was devastated.'
'Well...' Eric concentrated on a spot just above Sheila's right ear. '...One of the beads might have accidentally fallen into my pocket.'
'Eric!' Gasped Sheila, disapprovingly. 'You... you don't even have any pockets.'
'Hey,' Eric scowled, 'I didn't trust them. And I had good cause. She's gone.'
'Gone?'
'Yeah. That's what I was trying to tell you.'
'Ko...' stuttered Sheila, 'Kosar?'
'I think so.' Eric touched the bead around his neck gently. 'That's what this thing is telling me, anyway. The necklace was from him. Some sorta Homing Device.'
'Can you track her?'
'I'm counting on it. Where's Presto? I could do with a Magical Can of Whoopass to open up on that Motherfucker, or... or something...'
Sheila shook her head. 'Eric, you're the first of the gang I've seen since the alarm started going off. I haven't seen Presto since supper. Besides, Janapurna really needs our help.'
'I'm not leaving Diana alone with that Prick, if that's what you're suggesting. Not even for one night.'
Sheila blinked a little at the fury in his expression, but didn't back down.
'It's not like she was abducted. If it's Kosar, she'll have gone of her own accord.'
'It's not like that...'
'It's exactly like that, Eric. None of us have ever got in the way of any one of the gang making their own decisions...'
'...or their own mistakes,' added Eric. He sighed, running his fingers desperately through his short crop. 'Dammit!'
Sheila stared at her friend, sadly. 'You got back together, didn't you?'
'Ooh, for about...' Eric checked an imaginary wristwatch, 'three hours. Is that a record?'
'It would be,' replied Sheila, 'if you were gonna let it go. But you're not, are you?'
Eric shook his head.
'Is she very far away?'
Eric nodded.
'Across the sea? How the Hell are you even gonna get to her?'
'I've got a plan.'
'You took time out to think up a plan?'
Eric pulled a face. 'OK, it's half a plan. But luckily it's the first half of the plan. I'm hoping the second half will come to me as I'm putting the first into motion.'
'Even if you get to her, it doesn't mean she's gonna go back. It's not like a rescue.'
'I know.'
They shared a brief, sad smile.
'You really love her, don't you?'
He nodded.
'You gonna be careful for me, out in the unknown?'
'Nope. Will you be careful for me, down in the ocean?'
'I'll try.'
Sheila grinned, and waited for him to turn from her before she called after him.
'You do realise you're naked, right?'
Eric stopped in his tracks, and looked down at himself. 'Aw, nuts.'
'Exactly.' She laughed as he buried his forehead in his hands. 'It's probably something you'd be wise to change before you head out on your Chivalrous Quest, FYI.'
Eric shook his head in embarrassment.
'Thanks for the Heads Up, Sheil...'
But the Thief was already cloaked and gone.
-x-
Ulse stood back, watching the Longhair through narrowed eyes. She almost regretted giving her baby sister the easy catch. At least, she would have regretted it if the Longhair wasn't so very intriguing. She toyed with a few shapes - tall and toned and chocolate skinned, short and wiry and sparrowlike, plump and soft and sad looking, but every time she changed back, swiftly. There was only one shape that she kept returning to... small and slim and very fair, hair like the fire that consumed the stables, and eyes as blue-green and melancholy as the ocean. She didn't even know that that shape was going to work. There was too much familiarity with that form. He loved it, but he took it for granted. That shape, that girl, had always been there. It was too dependable. Ulse frowned. What made somebody throw away the few things that they could rely upon in life? It wasn't like one of her pets, that she forgot about when she grew weary of them. She didn't need her pets. But he needed this girl. And yet he spurned her. Ulse had met men of his kind before. They thought that they wanted to destroy themselves and turn away all those who loved them, and yet the concept of being broken and alone terrified them. They didn't know what they wanted, and that was what made them so difficult to catch. But Ulse was good at getting pets. She had found a way around the problem. If one couldn't play on what the man wanted, there was always the option of using what he didn't want. And that was far simpler. She decided on her form, the little flame haired female. And then she began to alter it. She decorated the white skin with blue bruises and red gashes. She let streams of blood begin to flow from the image's lips and nostrils, then paused to think, then created another pool of dark red on the image's abdomen.
'Too easy,' she muttered to herself, then clutched at the reddened mark on her belly and staggered out of the smoke.
-x-
The bedroom was utterly filled with smoke by the time that Eric found his way back inside. But that wasn't why he needed to hurry. He knew that he could bring his armour, so he pulled it on as quickly as he could. He paused for a moment, the back of his hand against his nose and mouth, looking at his shield critically.
'I don't think there's any way I can bring you,' he told the weapon, apologetically. He set it gently down on the bed, and laid his sword next to it. 'Guess I'll have to rely on my natural skills and cunning.' He stepped backwards, towards the door. 'Don't look at me like that. I'm not necessarily doomed. Hey, a Cat's Chance in Hell is still a Chance.'
He turned towards the balcony door and shook out his arms.
'I still got a chance.'
He took a good, long run-up to the balcony's edge, and hopped onto the railing.
And jumped.
-x-
Hank squinted into the smoke at the injured woman approaching him.
'Sheila?'
Sheila looked up at him briefly, grimacing with bloodied teeth, then stumbled sideways, away from him.
'Red!' He tried to step towards her without releasing Uni's mane, but the unicorn wouldn't budge. 'Oh God, Baby! You're hurt!'
'Hank, no.' Sheila took another wobbly step away. 'I don't want you to see me like this.'
Hank faltered for a moment, then released the unicorn and stepped towards the Thief. Uni didn't bolt, but backed up a little, growling dangerously at the wounded young woman.
'Sheila. ' Hank approached his Ex Girlfriend gingerly, as he would a wild animal. 'What happened? Who did this to you?'
'Doesn't matter...' Sheila mumbled as she edged away. 'Doesn't matter any more.'
Sheila moved her hand a little, and Hank caught sight of the pool of blood on her abdomen.
'Oh God, Red!' He tried to run to her, but she twisted away from him.
'No, Hank. There's nothing you can do.'
He caught her hand and pressed it tightly, the blood from her wound sliding through his fingers.
Somewhere, behind him, a woman's voice softly said 'No. No. It's a trap...'
But before he could turn to see who had spoken, she tore her hand from his grip and took a larger step away from him, her eyes welling up with tears.
'It's too late.'
That's when the unicorn charged her. Screaming, she turned swiftly on her heel and sprinted off. Hank managed to throw himself backwards and roll to safety, away from the fire maddened creature, although it wasn't him that Uni was threatening, it was Sheila.
'No!'
He saw Sheila's orange hair fade into the smoke as she stumbled away, and saw the unicorn raise herself up on her hind legs and whinny madly, the same way she had done that first night... the night that she had massacred the Orcs. Hank remembered the blood on her horn, and the sound of crunching bones, and didn't even know that his bow was in his hands until he had brought one end of it down, hard, on the back of Uni's head.
'No!' he repeated as Uni crumpled to her knees, stunned and disoriented, shaking her head in pain. He watched as the unicorn looked up at him, not with the feral anger he had expected, but with hurt and sadness.
'...Sorry...' he managed to mutter before turning from her and running into the smoke after Sheila's trail.
The same woman's voice called out from behind him as he ran.
'Stop! Stop! It isn't Sheila!'
But he didn't stop. He ran. He dropped his bow to the floor and he ran.
-x-
Bobby ran. The black haired girl was closer now, but running dangerously close to a low outer wall. And she really did look exactly like Terri.
'Terri! Terr! Is that you?'
He faltered a little as the girl grabbed hold of the top of the wall, and started to pull herself up onto it.
'Hey!' he cried. 'That's dangerous. You'll fall into the sea.'
The girl got to her feet on top of the wall, and turned to face him, sadly.
Bobby felt his heart leap into his throat.
'Terri! It is you! What are you doing back here?'
'I came to find you, Bob.'
'Come down from there, Terr. It's dangerous.'
Terri sniffed, and wiped a tear away from her eye. 'It's all gone wrong, Bob. I'm so sorry.'
'Hey...' Bobby frowned, and began to clamber up the wall after her. 'Hey, what are you talking about? Will you get down off this wall?'
'Sure.' Terri nodded, tears dripping from the end of her nose. 'Goodbye, Bob.'
She slipped sideways, before he could catch her, and landed, flat on her back, in the dark water below.
'Terri!' he barely gave himself a second to think, but threw himself from the wall after her.
-x-
Sheila stopped on the outer wall's steps and listened.
'Did anybody hear that?' She asked the world in general. 'That splash?'
But nobody was listening. She ran down to a small window and peered out at the water beyond. Somebody was in there, treading water, looking around himself wildly, searching for something. But it wasn't just Somebody. Sheila recognised her brother's sand coloured hair instantly.
'Bobby! Bobby overboard!'
She ran down a flight of stairs after him to the next window, where she lingered briefly to check on him. A woman was already climbing the low wall that he must have fallen from. Sheila frowned. The woman seemed very familiar. Bobby seemed to recognise her too, since he turned to her and was signaling for her to get back. Sheila stifled a cry, her fingertips against her lips. It was her! Somebody had copied her exactly. And then, she noticed as she saw the doppelganger's face, somebody else had badly beaten her up.
The double only stood there for a moment, before it tumbled from the wall into the sea. It was supposed to have been a clumsy fall, but Sheila could see that there was much more elegance and skill to it than on face value. It was controlled, more of a carefully choreographed dive. There was barely a splash, and once the figure hit the water's surface, it disappeared beneath it completely, like a smooth pebble thrown into a lake.
Still Sheila watched from the window as a third person climbed up onto the wall. Hank.
'Hank, no!' Sheila screamed from the window, 'It isn't me! It isn't...'
Hank wasted no time on the wall. As soon as he was on top of it, he had dived from it into the ocean after the imposter. He didn't notice Bobby. Because Bobby was gone. Sheila gasped as she searched the black water for a sign of him. She'd been so distracted by what had been happening on the wall, she hadn't noticed that her brother was no longer anywhere to be seen.
'Bobby...?' she whispered, 'Hank...?'
Hank was treading water as Bobby had, calling out Sheila's name. She watched in horror as he swam, and called, and swam... and then he stopped still for a second. And then he was dragged down, too suddenly and swiftly to take in a breath, by some unseen force. And then there was nothing but dark, silent sea.
'No!'
Sheila began to sprint down the rest of the stairs.
'No! What's happening?'
She collided with a nervous guard.
'Miss Sheila?' stuttered the young guard, 'you're not supposed to be out of your room.'
Sheila grabbed the other girl's collar, desperately. 'I need to know what's going on.'
'Palace is under attack, Miss, but the fire's just about out now, and...'
'I gathered that!' Sheila tried to control her breathing. 'What I want to know is why there's a double of me covered in blood running around, and what the Hell has just pulled my brother and my boyfriend under the sea!'
'Oh...' the girl's eyes filled with pity. 'They took the Menfolk? We feared they might try.'
'"Menfolk"? What are you talking about? Who took them?'
'Sea Nymphs,' replied the guard, softly.
'Sea Nymphs.' Sheila rolled her eyes. 'Mermaids. Of course. So how do I get them back?'
'I'm so sorry, Miss.' The guard shook her head. 'I'm not sure that you can.'
