Chapter four: Trapped

Butler, John Oak, and the rest of the LEP team crept along stealthily so the demons wouldn't hear them. They spied Commander Sool as she exited a room and closed the door.

"Let's get her," John whispered.

"Wait," said Butler. "Wait for it."

Sool's heels made a tapping sound on the floor as she walked. A large demon met her at the end of the hallway. Butler and John couldn't hear what she was saying but they were sure it was the demon in charge. He was too well-dressed to be of a low rank. Sool pointed behind her at the door she had just come from and said something. Both fairies chuckled and Butler guessed that they weren't too fond of Opal. "Ready, Captain?" whispered Butler. "Now!" John aimed carefully, pointing the muzzle of the gun at the space on the floor dangerously close to Sool's stiletto heels. Slowly, he his index finger pulled the trigger. With almost complete silence, the little two-inch long, bullet-like laser-beam whizzed through the air. It missed Sool by an inch. Sool and the large demon spun around quickly to see the LEP team with a huge human in the lead. They turned and ran.

"Elk, Evergreen, Kelp, Verbil, and Ivy," John said to a group of officers, "you go block them at the right. The rest of you block them from the left. We'll take the rear." The officers obeyed, drifting away from Captain Oak and Butler to their assigned positions. Sool and the large, high-ranking demon had only one way to go: up the nearest flight of stairs.

How can she run in those stilettos? The thought was on the minds of all the LEP officers. They all steered clear when the heels of Sool's shoes got to close for comfort. No one wanted to be impaled by those murderous things. Unfortunately, Sool caught the look in their eyes. She smiled a cold, merciless grin. Before Grub Kelp could react, Sool kicked her heel at his shin. Her aim, never being the best, failed her. But, luckily for her, the heel snagged a bit of the cloth on his uniform and it tore.

"Hey!" he cried. "She's trying to kill me!" His anguished cries gave Commander Sool the ideal opportunity to get a kick at him again, and this time she got lucky. Blood spilled from the cut on Grub's leg and he fell back onto the floor, crying in pain. Blue sparks swirled around the cut. Tears ran down his cheeks. "It still hurts," Grub whimpered.

"You guys go ahead," John said running to attend to his fallen comrade. "We'll catch up with you." And the others were gone, following Sool up the stairs.

"C'mon, Corporal," said John encouragingly, helping the younger Kelp to his feet, but there was a hint of annoyance in the Captain's voice. "You can walk. You'll be fine."

Thousands of artificial diamonds glittered in the fake black, night sky, framing the thirty or so LEP officers. "Where is she?" Holly wondered aloud. "Have Butler and John failed?"

Her mood lifted when she saw Sool and a demon run out of the roof door as fast as their exhausted legs could carry them. They halted in their tracks when they saw the team of LEP officers waiting for them.

"Hello, Sool," came the voice of Holly Short behind the helmet of the leading fairy. You could almost see her grin behind her visor.

"D'arvit," Sool breathed.

Then the ground beneath her collapsed and she fell into a huge dwarf mouth. "AUGH!!!" screamed Sool in disgust.

Mulch spat her out but the dwarf spit was already hardening. "This is disgusting," Sool groaned. The large demon tried helplessly to get his legs free of the dwarf saliva, for his legs were the only part of his body that could fit in a dwarf mouth. He growled something in the demon language. It didn't sound very nice.

"Thank you guys," Holly thanked the dwarves. The three dwarves seemed to smile in return but it was hard to tell because of the overgrown bush of beard hair. Holly approached Sool and looked her in the eye. In one swift movement, she punched the female gnome across the face. Holly grinned, satisfied.

"I guess we go tackle Koboi now," Butler said.

"Yes, let's," agreed Holly. "I'm itching punch her face in."

Qwan and N° 1 were thrown in a dirt cell much like the one the officers had escaped from. They hit the hard floor with a thump.

"What do we do now?" N° 1 moaned.

"I don't know. We can't escape the guards in front now," Qwan muttered.

"Do we just wait for someone to help us?"

"I guess."

As the time ticked by, both warlocks began to feel like they had just caused the timer of their life to tick faster.

Ooh! Scary! What will they do now? Will they be saved?