Chapter 28:
There was a tension in the air as Billy lead the way into the Emerald Princess's audience chamber. At Cherry's request, Alexia had gone ahead to prepare the way. Depending on how deep Aysun was playing the game, they could be facing just about anything here–from assault and attempted murder to kidnaping. Striding along at his side, feeling the contagious excitement of the moment, Olesia kept her eyes open for treachery. For a young woman away from home for the first time in her life, this was the thrill of a lifetime. Walking in her footsteps, flanked by Thor and Pedersen, Star and Cherry scanned the people around them for signs of evil intent. Most folk there seemed more anxious than hostile. Cherry would even have said they were afraid.
The source of the terror became apparent when they reached the end of the audience chamber to find the King of Ooo sitting on the throne and Aysun standing before him as a supplicant in her own kingdom! Star was astonished. Nearby, Alexia stood witnessing the proceedings in a state of nervous bemusement. Billy understood immediately what was happening when the big words came tumbling out of his father's mouth. He was tired if that was happening. He was tired and obviously a little crabby as he wasn't even pretending to spare the princess's feelings. Indeed, it became clear just how things were going the moment the angry princess opened her mouth.
"Who are you to simply order my guards around," Aysun demanded? Coldly, Finn replied, "I'm the man who holds destruction in the palm of his hands. You know what happens if you defy me, princess. I don't think I'd even have to carry out that threat... Your people know what the response would be." Star's jaw came open. She knew exactly what her father was saying. Billy knew his dad must be really fucking exhausted to say something like that. He'd seen his dad in tired-mode once before, a long, long time ago. Tired-Finn had very short patience for bullshit.
The princess... didn't get it. She went for violence, shocking the entire gathering when she slapped the King of Ooo as hard as she could. When Cherry might have opened her mouth, Billy stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. This was something Finn would handle himself. Much to the shock of the gathered courtiers–and the princess herself–the guards snatched her back. The Emerald Princess spluttered incoherently, but the lead guard hardly seemed to care about her anger. Coolly, Finn said, "gather up a company of soldiers. We're leaving within the hour." Bowing, the lead guard responded, "yes, sire." "Tell no-one where we are going," Finn commanded. "It's worth your life..." The guard bowed once more before hustling out of there.
Rising, Finn stepped forward to greet his unexpected visitors, with Alexia falling in at his side. Motioning for them to start walking, he asked, "what brings you?" With a shrug, Cherry replied, "same thing that brought you..." The King lead them to the garden, and Alexia shut the door behind them. "I was expecting E," Finn remarked. In sardonic tones, Cherry replied, "I sent her home. How did you know she was coming here?" "A little penguin told me," Finn replied. "What's going on?" "Someone lured mom here," Billy remarked. "You need to fix that..."
The King knew exactly what his eldest son was saying. Didn't he feel that himself? "She has to swim, Bill," Finn replied. "I didn't want this for either of them, but they have to make this work on their own." Billy subsided, his face gone hot. He didn't know how to begin to respond to that. Moving on, Cherry said, "someone in this kingdom is playing a dangerous game. Nieve is here, somewhere. The men who hit the palace came from here..." Alexia added, "whoever stole the artifacts from Lizard Kingdom may have come to the antiquities market here." It was a lot of threads all twined together. Finn cut through the deadly Gordian knot in his usual bold fashion.
"Patrick's going to the market with Alex. Cherry and Star are gonna' bounce," he declared. As Star protested, the King of Ooo declared, "that's an order, Star. You're a liability to me right now. You both are. Go home." Cherry opened her mouth to speak, then shut it again. Hadn't she said as much to Emeraude? Taking Star's hand, Cherry offered, "be careful, honey." Turning to Thor and Pedersen, the King of Ooo commanded, "I have an airship waiting at the edge of town. Take them there. Be back in an hour."
Two hours later, four large wagons rolled up on an abandoned mine. The complex had been one of the largest emerald mines in the kingdom before it had gone bust twenty years ago. Finn remembered the grifter who had swindled Aysun back then. He'd promised to restore prosperity to this mine. Finn had wanted to kill him. It figured Aysun never came here anymore. This place made the perfect place to shield the Bandit Princess's operations. Nobody would be surprised to see wagons here, but there wouldn't be any regulars hanging around either.
Standing before the entry to the caverns, the King of Ooo stared off into space as if his mind was a million miles away. He looked... tired to Billy. He looked worn-out. This job was killing him. "Dad," Billy announced? "Thinking," Finn muttered. With a heavy sigh, the big man admitted, "I failed here. I failed to keep Aysun out of trouble..." With a snort of disgust, Orzsebet brushed past him, declaring, "you act as if women have no agency..." Finn goggled at her. With a chuckle of amusement, Olesia strode past them too. No agency indeed.
It was on, then. The little army of soldiers strode up into the mine in force. Olesia reached out to the fires ahead of them, using the torches lining the walls to see what was going on ahead of them. Her uncanny sight was the edge that saved lives, as the Emerald Guard sprang one ambush after another. The Finn-Crew laid them out in groups large and small, leaving bodies in their wake. Finn himself hardly had to get his hands dirty.
Down in the heart of the mine, the half-demon watched as his sister's mad little hench-woman paced off nervous energy, going up and back, up and back. Having set up this whole business and lured Billy the Human to this place, the little bitch was a nervous wreck, anxious for the whole thing to be over. Móguĭ sat in quiet meditation, gathering himself. He was confident of taking the ice-wizard, but his real goal was the little sister. He wanted to deliver the sister as a hostage to Peihong. They could bargain then. They could bargain for anything they wanted in exchange for the little bitch and her bastard child.
Of course, if the wax-hustler was nervous, the princeling was terrified. He sat in a corner wearing the expression of a man waiting at the gallows. He had–under duress–provided them safe-haven here to do their dirt. He'd identified a place his aunt never went. He'd found them ways in and out to avoid detection, and he'd given them access to all the emeralds they could steal. And still it wasn't enough.
Now they'd made him an accomplice to murder. It wasn't just any murder, either. He was asked to help murder the first-born son of the King of Ooo. Finn the Human had made it very clear what the fate of any such fool would be. He would be put to death. He would die in an ugly, humiliating way, and they would take their time killing him. He was near to panic as the reports came filtering in. Billy the Human had come, bringing soldiers to help him, ratcheting up the panic.
Back in the tunnels, the Finn Crew came striding into a gallery in force. There were half a dozen tunnels going in multiple directions from there, and all were lit, telling Billy that this was some sort of junction. That ratcheted up the danger because foes could come from multiple directions at once, and they had no way to know which direction they would come from or where the destination was. Billy's eyes flicked to Olesia, who stood there, scanning her pretty face back and forth. "I'm looking," she said. "Some of the tunnels are lit pretty far down, William..."
Without a word–and before he could stop her–the plump girl went striding forward towards the fourth tunnel on the left. And that was when four men jumped out of one of the darkened tunnels with fire-extinguishers. As Billy howled a terrified, 'noooo...!', the men blasted the pretty elemental girl. Charging forward, Billy hurled bolts of ice, skewering two of the men. The Emerald Guard iced the remaining pair, but it was already too late. Dozens of men came boiling out of tunnels around them, as Billy fought his way forward to Olesia's side.
The battle was joined then, with men coming in from behind them, having circled around them through the warren of darkened tunnels to jump them from behind. Calm as anything, Finn the King barked orders at the Emerald Guard, causing them to form a ragged circle, as gunmen and bowmen leveled weapons on them. Lina got sent to the rear to help defend them from punishing fire coming from the tunnel there. Finn took the middle, and he had the most to do, as bandits tried to shoot them up from both sides at once.
Turning left and right, the big man used his personal shield to block the incoming fire as best he could. He couldn't stop it all, as there was just too much coming at them. Still, he bought time for the Emerald Guard to fight back. Soldiers died around him, fighting for their lives against evil men who were fighting to wreck the world once more. Finn found himself fighting the urge to reach for the curse again and again. Sybil was angry at him for using the Quicksilver Curse.
Billy was all but surrounded by foes now, fighting for his life. The Ice-Tiara was taunting him now, telling him he couldn't even save this girl that he was half in love with. Of course, it had a ready answer for him. Just give in. Surrender yourself. He was already the Tiara's vessel. Let the power take control, and he could save Olesia. The young man found himself screaming at the voice in his head as men shot and stabbed at him, and he very nearly decided to lay himself down and die just to end the threat. He well knew the consequences if the Tiara controlled him. Instead, he thought of the young lady who'd so bravely done so much for their cause, and her example gave him hope.
To the shock of the entity, Billy the Human seized the reins of its power. The space around Billy the Human dropped in temperature so far and so fast that it sent a dozen men careening into shock. Stepping over their dieing bodies, the young warrior-wizard took the energy he'd stolen from the air as he chilled it and channeled it into the young woman laying on the floor. Olesia Okonski woke up from a horrible dream of being frozen to find a man about to spear her through the heart. Catching hold of the spear, she sent flame cascading up the wooden haft, causing the shocked soldier to let go.
The plump girl jumped to her feet, feeling the raw power Billy was feeding her. Transforming into a tongue of flame, the elemental burst out of her dress and shot through a dozen men, turning them into human pyres. The plump girl crisscrossed the room, slaughtering bandits at will, enabling the Emerald Guard to gain the upper-hand. Amid the horrific screaming, the elemental woman landed at Billy's side and seized hold of him, driving the Ice-Tiara back into its prison. Coming to his senses, Billy jumped back, beating at the flames on his jacket. "I-I had to do that," she said. He knew. The Tiara had been fighting him to take back control. Of course, no sooner had he beaten the flames out, than he was confronted with her beauty once again.
Tearing his face away from the sight of her heavenly body, the big man turned to his dad, and said, "we see what the game was. What now, dad?" "We carry on, Bill," Finn replied. Just then, an irritated Lina came striding past Billy, snarling, "piggish men!" Billy blushed again. Pretty much everybody on the scene was staring at the plump girl. Ever the gentleman, Billy stepped in front of Olesia to spare her the embarrassment. As Lina helped the elemental girl back into her dress, Finn laid out what they were going to do. Several of the bandits had run off down branch tunnels. He intended to send men to follow them. The main body was going to press ahead.
"I disagree," Olesia burbled. The King of Ooo's face snapped over to hers. Steadying up under that penetrating gaze, the plump girl said, "I... we could just run into more ambushes. We'd have less men... I-I think we should stop and maybe I could go and look around..." Billy objected immediately, but Finn waved him to silence. Seeing that he was listening did little to help the plump girl's confidence. If anything, that was more terrifying than being told to shut up and sit in the corner. Stuttering only a little, she tried to tell him why he should trust in her. "You're an Okonski," Finn interrupted. "If you think you can do this, I'm for it." Lina put in, "I think it should just be peeking... Not going there." She was protective of the younger girl. "Fair enough," Finn agreed. Leo Pedersen prodded Tom with the butt of his pistol, and, with a sigh, Tom announced, "I'll go too."
As the Emerald Guard sent soldiers back up the tunnels to get help for the wounded and made preparations to fortify the room they'd fought so hard for, Olesia cornered Billy. "How did you do that," she demanded? With a shrug and a grin, Billy said, "the law of thermodynamics, princess." He'd studied that in college, once-upon-a-time. It seemed like an age ago, but it was only a few years. Said he, "the energy goes somewhere when I chill the air or make ice. It has to. I think the Tiara maybe feeds on it or something. I took it and sent it to you." She could have kissed him then. She would have, if it wouldn't have burned his face off. Promising that they would have to talk later, the plump girl moved on. It was time to do some scouting.
The two elementals moved to a clear space in the center of the cavernous junction. Sitting down side-by-side, the pair spent a moment dickering over who was going to search what. Olesia ended up taking the tunnels on the far side of the cavern, while Tom followed the path the runaways took. Finn and his son hung around nearby, listening in as the pair exchanged whispered conversation. Tom was first to find paydirt, announcing, "there's another cavern... There's maybe fifteen-twenty guys up there. They look ready to bolt. There's a bunch of crates and boxes and papers..." His eyes got big. "Emeralds," he declared. "Th-there's sacks of them..."
That news had everyone talking at once. Finn knew for a fact that this mine had no emeralds left. That was confirmed by the leader of the Emerald Guards, who had a very dangerous rumor to share. "There are rumors, sire," he explained, "rumors that our future prince is hoarding green-stones to pay the bride-price for a royal bride." "Nieve," muttered Billy. Star and Olesia were right. Just then, Olesia made an announcement that muddied the waters further. "I've found another room," she said. "There's a woman there... and... and... darkness..." The plump girl screamed just before fainting.
As Lina rushed to her friend's aid, Finn began dispensing orders. "Bill, take half the troops up to the room with the emeralds," he said. "Tom leads the way. Thor will hold this spot as a fallback." With a sense of worry–both for Olesia and his dad–Bill asked the obvious, "and you?" Stepping off, the King of Ooo spat, "I'll be dealing with the real mastermind here..."
The business got back underway then. With one last worried glance for Olesia, Billy headed off up the tunnels to confront the men guarding the emeralds. Finn wasted not a moment before heading off in the other direction. When the Agent Princess might have followed him, the King of Ooo declared, "this isn't a fight for a spy, Orzsebet. You will stay here and wait for my return." He had little idea what he was walking into–and Sybil was screaming at him to stop. He knew that whatever was waiting at the center of this trap was much too dangerous for the dubious help of his companions. All they'd be doing was providing obstacles–or worse, hostages.
Squaring up–worrying did no good–Billy led the way as the Emerald Guard went up into the tunnels once more, leaving a quarter of their number on the ground and another quarter holding down their escape route. With Olesia out of action, Tom led the way, taking the turnings of the maze-like emerald mine as if he'd been walking there all his life. From time to time, the elemental stopped and peered ahead, using the torches that were jammed into sconces and cracks in the wall, here and there. Spying nothing of consequence, he'd step off again, leading them onward.
At his back, Leo Pedersen held his weapon in a nervous grip. He'd left his lady tending to her best friend, and he liked that not at all for any number of reasons. Lina was good defensively. She could bottle one or more of those tunnels up for days if she had to. Unfortunately, as a devout pacifist, Lina was crippled for this business. What was she going to do if the enemy somehow got passed her barriers? He didn't like the answer. Just get this done, Leo, he thought. The sooner they did that, the better off all would be. That would let him get back to his wife and friend and hopefully see them out of these tunnels.
"Getting close," Tom announced, as he stopped once more. Billy didn't hesitate a moment before stepping past the elemental. Tom was little more of a fighter than Lina. He did alright, provided there weren't too many enemies, but he was a little slow–a lot slow–and his weapons could hurt his friends as well as the enemy. Billy was a little better. He'd grown to manhood learning martial arts at the feet of his father. He didn't have the Quicksilver Curse to help him, but he had other advantages. Just don't get cocky, thought the Froyo Person.
The cavern was dark when the pack of soldiers entered, and Billy knew it was a trap immediately. Somebody had figured out just how it was that the Finn-Crew took out all the ambushes going down into the tunnels. As the gangsters sprang their ambush, Billy sprang a counter, walling off half of the cavern with impenetrable ice. Even as the gangsters reacted in shock to that, the Emerald Guard was turning into them.
And then it was on.
The fight was an ugly, close-range affair at bad-breath distance. Billy found two swords angling in for his guts and a guy with a dart-rifle aiming at his head. Forming two glacial punch-daggers, he deflected the swords, even as he encapsulated them in ice, forcing their owners to let go. The dart-gunner was a tougher-row to how. His conjured ice-helmet stopped the bolt from blowing out his brains, but the strike left him seeing stars. Pedersen shot the swordsman on his left and Tom leveled the dart-gunner. And then they were swept away in the crazy, see-saw battle that developed in the room.
Packed sacks of fat emeralds became armor as men ducked behind them to save their skins. Two men found themselves stabbing and shooting at each other from either side of a bale of precious stones. At least until Billy froze the bad-guy. Pedersen and Tom fought back to back, going toe-to-toe with a half-dozen rough customers, holding them down while the Emerald Guard pulled itself together. Of course, the walled-off thugs were slowly breaking their way through, blasting the ice-wall with concentrated dart-fire. Maybe should have gone with dad, thought Billy, as he cut down two more thugs.
In the end, it took just too long for the trapped men to break through the wall. With an elemental and an ice-wizard on their side, the Emerald Guard gained the upper hand. When they finally breached the wall, the last of the thugs were just in time for the surrender. Billy had just killed four men at once, freezing them solid before Tom blasted two more to bits. The remaining thugs threw down their weapons, and the Emerald Guard moved swiftly to gather them up. They'd won, but Billy's mind was on what his dad was facing.
Indeed, Finn was taking his time. In an effort to soothe the Grass-Sword's anger, the big man was doing things by the numbers–just as he had before he'd known he was cursed. He stopped at every cross-tunnel and opening, listening and straining his senses just to be sure there was nothing there to jump out at him. In truth, just as Olesia had said, there didn't really seem to be anything up this way.
The final cavern was all but empty when Finn entered. The place was set up like an opulent palace, with beautiful furnishings and dozens of lamps in place to fill the space with light. It was the sort of place a corrupt royal held his secret parties or entertained his illicit girlfriend. He was honestly half-expecting to find Nieve herself here. He might have expected the Bandit Princess. What he found was a monstrously ugly fellow squatting in the shadows of the far corner. "You would be the darkness," Finn muttered, as he stepped forward.
Móguĭ opened his eyes. He'd throttled the elemental out of an abundance of caution. She was dangerous. His sister's daft little henchman had fled when her dog came in sporting first and second degree burns. The princeling had fled almost before she was out the door. Determined to get something out of this, Móguĭ had hung tough. He'd hoped to deliver the little wood-nymph or the boy-wizard's corpse. Now he found himself facing his sister's terror. Finn the Human was here. His chance had come. He was going to face down the great hope of Ooo and destroy him. And then Móguĭ would be the power on Ooo.
"I've come to offer the Bandit Princess a deal," Finn announced. "Clemency and a small king..." "You have come here to die," growled Móguĭ, as he deployed his hole card. Swarms of shadowy demons swarmed the King of Ooo, blotting out the light in the cavern as they pig-piled on the hero-king. Much to the half-demon's dismay, the swarm of soul-snatching death seemed to almost wash over and through Finn the Human as if they were nothing more than shadows in truth.
Finn continued to stride forward. "It doesn't have to be this way. The Lord of the Underworld and Lady of Spies hold their places with my blessing..." Móguĭ hurled a death-bolt, which Finn dodged. That crackling bolt of malice struck the wall, bursting in a sound like thunder. Finn turned from regarding the black splotch that strike had left and said, "she will have to bargain. I'll have Blargetha and Maja back..." The half-demon hurled the couch and then the dining table with all his considerable might. The big man dodged them as if they were spitballs shot from a pea-shooter. "Will you make me kill you," Finn asked? It was everything Peihong feared, and Móguĭ felt his own panic rise. Reaching deep into his bag of tricks, the evil man called up his strongest ally.
As Finn watched, the stranger gestured in manic fashion, as he uttered evil incantations. It was the sort of awful thing that Old Finn would never have tolerated. Old Finn would have heard those words of damnation and decided that this guy had to go for the good of all, even if it brought on a war that killed thousands. New Finn weighed the ugly that a man like this could do and decided that, if he stopped now, he might, just might talk his way out of this. The King of Ooo wanted the Bandit Princess, not her henchman or dog.
A mote of darkness appeared in mid-air, growing with shocking speed, and Finn smelled the awful brimstone-scent of the Night-O-Sphere. Strangely, he thought of Marceline, and a corner of his mind remembered that it had been a while since they'd snuggled. The world she'd chosen with her foolish decision to challenge Death for Marshall's soul was slowly taking her away from him. In the right-now, though, a blob of terrifying darkness came oozing out of that mote of evil, as the half-demon snarled, "kill him!"
Finn greeted the entity with a calm, "hey, Bryce. What're you doing here? I thought you were workin' Jermaine's gallery..." He hadn't honestly seen his adopted brother's demonic business manager in years. "Man, he lost his mojo, Finn," said the demon. "Couldn't find inspiration anymore, so he hung it up a couple years ago. I hadda' find a new gig." "Sorry, man," said Finn. He'd been so wrapped up with first the Lich, then the Dipped that he'd sort of missed all of that biz. Shaking his head, he admitted, "didn't really dig the abstract stuff anyway." Móguĭ goggled at him, as he walked past the demon. "Whatcha' got goin'," Bryce queried? "Tryin' to talk to this guy, but he keeps siccing demons on me," Finn replied. "Bad dude," Bryce admitted. "His boss pays him for souls. He's a pretty good fighter, though." "I'll be careful," said Finn.
The half-demon shouted at his pet to get busy. "Nah, man," said Bryce. "I'm'a bounce. Boss Lady would kick my ass for touchin' her guy." Giving Finn a high-five, the demon stepped back into the portal. As the mote of darkness shrank, the half-demon found himself facing his sister's great terror alone. "It's Finn," said the hero. "I'm the King of..." The half-demon took a swing at him with his iron-hard fingernails. Suddenly the hero was three feet to the left. Móguĭ took a second, missing just as cleanly. Finn could feel what Sybil was bitching at him about. The Curse was different now. Somehow it was stronger. It was as if, in collapsing the curse on itself, Simone had shoved it all into Finn and closed the lid. We haven't got time, babe, he told the cursed-sword. I know. Just hang with me a little longer. He would have to end this fast.
"One last time," said Finn. "The Bandit Princess..." Mogui slashed his arm, shredding his jacket and drawing blood. That was the limit. In the space of a breath, Finn was standing behind the half-demon, the Grass-Sword already flicking out. The cursed demon-blade pierced the monstrous humanoid's back, going straight through his heart. The half-demon shuddered a moment before pitching forward on his face. I'm sorry, Finn told the Grass-Sword. I'll do better.
And Mogui is dead. Sorry for the delay. Between the holidays, and wanting to get this one right, it took a while to finish the chapter. We're getting close...