Chapter 7
The row of Black Pawns formed a seemingly impenetrable barrier across the entrance to the Dark Tower. With a sudden blur, the Steed was through them and standing on the stone floor inside. Miss Ryder grinned.
"I think you're getting faster."
"That might mean the potion is about to wear off," the Steed warned.
The Pawns whirled and brandished their longswords. For a few seconds it was an all-out melee, with the horse phasing in and out as he moved quickly to various spots around the room, always out of reach of an enemy blade. Miss Ryder clung on for dear life, her auburn hair flailing with every maneuver.
The Steed spoke to her under his breath. "I can only elude them for so long in these cramped quarters. Do you have a plan?"
She fake-whispered back into his ear, "Not yet."
"It's impossible to use a whip to defeat three armed warriors," he reminded her.
"Agreed," she said. "When in doubt, the only choice is mayhem."
"Mayhem?"
"Like this." Miss Ryder removed the lash from around the horse's neck and gripped the handle, letting it unfurl to the ground. When the horse materialized near the wall, she snapped the whip around the support rope for the overhead chandelier. With a sharp tug, she pulled the rope loose and sent the large metal structure crashing down in the center of the room. The Pawns scattered in panic, one of them getting caught beneath the falling frame. Miss Ryder snapped her whip again, this time around a wooden column that sent a storage loft careening to the floor, spilling sacks of grain on top of the enemy.
"You're rather good with mayhem," the Steed observed.
"Who knew?" she smiled.
Taking advantage of the few seconds delay while the Pawns were freeing themselves, Miss Ryder surveyed the room. A stone staircase along the outer wall led upwards into the tower, as well as a motorized rope-drawn wooden elevator placed in front of it. The lifting platform looked sturdy enough to hold both her and the Steed, but the Black Rook was undoubtedly waiting at the top, and they would be sitting ducks if they arrived that way. The stairs were the better option, provided the horse could negotiate them.
"Can you make it up the stairs?"
"Do I have a choice?" the Steed asked.
"We could take the elevator up into an ambush."
"The stairs it is, then."
He had no problem bounding up the stairs two at a time, though Miss Ryder had to squeeze her legs to nearly crack his ribs just to stay mounted. Shields, weapons, and other artifacts lined the inner walls of the tower; as the Steed galloped past them, Miss Ryder used her whip to tear them from the walls and send them tumbling down. In no time she had an avalanche blocking the path behind. The Pawns quickly lost ground, and from the noise and swearing, one may have tripped and bounced all the way to the bottom in his armor.
Within a minute the Steed had gained the top of the tower. There was a heavy steel gate and wooden barricade designed to protect the summit from attack below; Miss Ryder dismounted and quickly dropped these into place to keep the Pawns at bay while she dealt with the Black Rook.
The tower chamber commanded a view of Cranberry Row in every direction. The Black Rook was nowhere to be seen; he must still be on the roof, she thought. She had just thrown the lever to hoist up the elevator platform so the Pawns couldn't use it when she saw the large tapestry on the wall.
The Steed trotted over next to her as they both tried to decipher the wall hanging.
"Remember what the whales said," he remarked. "The tapestry holds the secret."
"But what secret?" she asked. "The Alps?"
"Snow? Mountain goats?" the Steed ventured.
Horse and rider were so absorbed in the imagery they almost failed to notice the masked figure in glossy black armor descending the stairs from the roof.
"You've finally arrived," he said smoothly. "I've been watching you from afar as you approached my demesne."
"Try not to sound so superior," Miss Ryder countered. "I think you'll find that you're trapped up here."
"You're mistaken. You are the one who's trapped. I went back up on the roof to encourage you to lock yourself in. I was actually watching your skirmish from the lift shaft." He pointed to the wooden platform they had just winched up, then addressed the Steed. "I saw how you moved through my Pawns. You're on an equine enhancer, eh? Well, it'll wear off soon enough."
The Black Rook stood directly in front of them and removed his chessboard mask.
Miss Ryder raised her brow in shock at the sight of his face. It was familiar to her, somehow, yet totally alien in its malevolence. Those emotionless ice-blue eyes. She knew she had seen them before.
The Black Rook didn't hesitate as he produced a semi-automatic pistol and aimed it at her. She wrinkled her mouth. A gun, amid all this medieval weaponry? She stood before him with her hands on her hips, loosely holding her whip.
"I'm here to capture you," she announced. "My name's Miss Ryder."
He steadily shook his head. "No, it isn't."
She ignored his denial. "You can call me the White Knight, if you prefer." To emphasize her point, the Steed shimmered for a moment as he changed back to purest white.
"You're not a Knight any more," the Rook said. "I changed all that."
"You haven't defeated me yet."
He gave her an evil smile. "One day, we'll be together, you and I."
Miss Ryder snorted. "Not likely."
"You say that now, but in the future, things will be different."
"Your future ends here," Miss Ryder proclaimed firmly as she reared back and cracked her whip forward. The leather strap smacked loudly as it knocked the gun from the Black Rook's hand. With lightning reflexes, he grabbed the end of the lash with his other fist and yanked.
"All I have to do is separate you from that Steed," he said.
Before she could let go of the whip handle, she found herself tossed to the far side of the room. The Black Rook followed and pressed a secret switch, dropping a massive iron gate to barricade the Steed from reaching them; undoubtedly a second line of defense for the tower chamber, should enemies break through from the stairs.
Miss Ryder backed slowly away from her adversary, but had nowhere to run. The Black Rook bore down and forced her towards the wall. The Steed bristled with anger behind the iron bars, battering at the gate with his shoulder.
Tensing her muscles for action, Miss Ryder looked for exposed spots on her foe that might be vulnerable to a sharp, stunning snap with a knee or elbow. He had steel plates protecting his torso, groin, and thighs. Any attack would end up bruising herself more than him. As if he could read her mind, the Black Rook snickered.
"I know all of your fighting tricks, darling," he said. "No one will save you this time."
You know all of my fighting tricks except one, she thought. But with the armor pieces covering all of his nerve plexuses, it would be impossible for her to unleash her Hurricane Kick to paralyze him as she had planned.
"Capturing the White Knight," he continued, "will secure victory for the Black side. As well as being a personal conquest for me." He moved in, pinning her against the wall. "It's been a long time since I've done this."
His face drew closer, his mouth on a direct line to contact hers. Miss Ryder's eyes widened.
A kiss? My enemy is trying to kiss me?
She quickly crossed her palms over his lips and pushed him away. The maneuver allowed her to scamper free, but she was still trapped in the enclosed space. If she didn't find a quick way out, the Black Rook's superior strength would overwhelm her at close quarters. Miss Ryder backed up against the tapestry and looked to the Steed for help.
The horse still couldn't reach her in spite of repeatedly crashing into the gate's bars. His body was a blur as he moved rapidly back and forth, slamming against the ironwork. At times he even seemed to be in two places at once, with multiple versions of the Steed hitting the barricade simultaneously.
The Black Rook looked startled at the horse's ability, but then chuckled. "His potion may give him super speed, but not super strength. It will take him quite a while to knock that down." He once again closed in on Miss Ryder, who suddenly looked very defenseless in the scant leather bodice and miniskirt.
The Steed knew that Miss Ryder's nerve kicks wouldn't work through the armor. It was vital to get the Black Rook to remove his steel protection. Then the horse remembered what had made Miss Ryder cast off her breastplate: the lightning bolts from the top of the Dark Tower.
The Steed shouted to her, "How do they get the electricity to the roof?"
Miss Ryder started to answer, then realized it was a rhetorical question. The Steed was right. Surely, it would be too awkward to have the generator up on the roof; it must be down below, where it could be easily fed with coal. That meant there had to be a cable running from downstairs to the electrode on top of the tower.
Not something secret on the tapestry, she thought. Something behind it.
She ripped the tapestry from the wall and flung it in the Rook's face. Her eyes lit up as she saw the revealed power cable attached to the wall. Maybe it would still have residual power in its condensers...
Miss Ryder managed to work it free just as the Black Rook disentangled himself from the tapestry. She unplugged the connector and exposed a steel prong at the end of the cable. Aiming it at the Rook, she ran towards him.
A lightning bolt arced across the gap and danced on the surface of his black steel armor. "Aha!" she cried. "How does it feel to be on the receiving end?"
The Steed had to retreat to avoid friendly fire as tendrils of electricity hopped around the room, some of them finding the iron gate. Miss Ryder's leather acted as perfect insulation, shielding her from the occasional backlash.
"Again!" she called out enthusiastically as she chased the Black Rook around the room. Just as she herself had been forced to do in the courtyard, the Rook found himself hurling off pieces of his armor to avoid the shocks. Soon he was left in nothing but a pair of cloth breeches.
"Miss Ryder!" the Steed prompted. "Your Whirlwind Kick!"
He watched as she swooped in and started snapping her foot like lightning into the Black Rook's torso. Although the stinging kicks were precisely aimed, the horse doubted they packed enough wallop to bring down a man that size. Still, if the point was to cause some sort of nerve feedback, as she had described...
The Steed could see where her attack got its name. Her opponent looked like he was standing in the middle of a tornado, teetering as he attempted to avoid the rapid succession of strikes to his chest, abdomen, and back.
Miss Ryder finished the sequence and landed on one foot with the other straight up in the air, her legs forming a nearly perfect vertical line. In her leather miniskirt, the pose was outrageous, but it lasted for only a second; she commenced delivering the same set of kicks again, symmetrically, this time from the opposite side.
"The Hurricane Kick!" the Steed gasped.
The skimpy outfit at least allowed her to deliver her high kicks unhindered. After attacking the front, Miss Ryder circled around to fire her bare foot into the nape of the Rook's neck and the small of his back. With a delicate grunt of exertion, she finished him off with a low snap kick from behind, aimed at his most vulnerable plexus for maximum effect.
"That ought to overload his nervous system," she announced smugly.
The Steed noticed that the Black Rook wasn't doubled over as one might have expected from the flurry of kicks. "I think it worked!" he exclaimed.
Miss Ryder's mouth wrinkled into a wry smile as she poked her adversary with a single finger. His knees instantly buckled and he collapsed face-down on the floor, narrowly missing a landing directly on his nose.
"Perfect," she affirmed.
The Black Rook gasped with anger as he managed to turn his head a few degrees. "I can't move!"
"Relax," Miss Ryder said breezily. "It's only temporary. Just long enough for me to capture you. I hope you won't feel too humiliated." She retrieved her whip from the floor. "Particularly after I do this," she added.
A glimmer of apprehension showed in the Rook's eyes, but Miss Ryder merely stood over his back and grabbed one wrist, then the other, and looped the whip around them. Then she pulled his ankles back and hoisted them into the bundle, knotting the whip and pulling it tight. The Black Rook was powerless to resist as she hog-tied him.
The Steed inclined his head approvingly as Miss Ryder struck an impromptu victory pose over her helpless conquest. "This spy game isn't as tough as people make it out to be," she boasted. She knelt down and spoke teasingly into the Rook's ear. "You'll never get any kisses from me, you fiend."
Her celebration was short-lived; she was interrupted by the sound of splintering wood. The Pawns were already through the outer barricade, and only the iron gate at the entryway separated them from the tower chamber.
"I don't think the Black pieces will appreciate your efforts," the Steed said glibly. "If there are enough of them, they'll be able to corner and capture even a Knight like yourself."
"Good point." Miss Ryder went to the secret switch and raised the inner barrier separating her from the Steed. Then she gestured to the trussed-up Rook on the floor and pointed to the elevator platform. "We take him with us." She grabbed the handle of the whip and started tugging.
The Black Rook moaned weakly, indicating that his nerve endings might be recovering enough to feel the sting of Miss Ryder's kicks. The Steed watched as the Pawns chiseled stone from a spot just outside the gate.
"There must be a fail-safe in the wall," the horse observed. "When they get to the wiring, they'll be able to open the gate."
Miss Ryder had only managed to drag her captive a dozen feet, and already she was panting from the strain.
"I think I need help," she gasped.
"I don't have a harness," the Steed said doubtfully. "I suppose I could take the whip handle in my teeth..."
The Black Rook taunted her from the floor. "Bit off more than you can chew, eh, Knight?"
"Careful," she said as she poked his ribs with her toe. "The feeling will be coming back shortly. Then you'll remember all of the spots where I kicked you."
An intermittent hum sounded from the iron gate. The bars lifted a few inches, then stopped.
"Those Pawns are going to be swarming on us in seconds," the Steed warned.
Miss Ryder frowned. Escape would be difficult dragging the weight of a full-grown man.
The Steed continued, "You'll have to leave him behind. Discretion is the better part, you know..."
"I say we stand and fight," she answered defiantly. "If we go outside, they'll just hurl more lightning bolts at us. We'd never make it out of the courtyard."
"That's right!" the Black Rook sneered. "Give up now, White Knight!"
"It's a shame my Hurricane Kick doesn't paralyze the mouth as well," Miss Ryder said as she twitched her bare foot threateningly near his stomach.
The Steed remained calm. "It'll take them some time to reconnect the generator cable. If we hurry, we can be out of range before the lightning device is operational again."
Miss Ryder gave him an unexpected smile. "I hope you're right." She abandoned her captive to join the Steed on the elevator platform.
The iron barricade lifted and the Pawns rushed in, only to watch dumbfounded as the woman and the horse descended away from the tower room on the elevator.
"Go back down, you fools! Capture her!" the Black Rook cried. "No, wait—someone untie this whip!"
-oOo-
Several Pawns had started running back down the tower stairs, but the elevator platform was dropping far more swiftly. Miss Ryder straightened the bowler on the horse's head.
"I didn't want the Black Rook overhearing us," she said into the Steed's ear, "but I still have a plan to defeat him."
"And that is...?"
"We sabotage the lightning generator."
The Steed lifted an equine eyebrow. "We? Since when did I get opposable thumbs?"
"I've already seen the power cable," she continued. "There has to be a ground cable, as well, or they'd shock themselves. If we can rewire that, the next time they try to use it..."
"Guy Fawkes Night?"
A smile flirted over her mouth. "Something like that."
The Steed looked up at the enemy pieces charging down the stairs. The elevator had reached the ground floor roughly five flights ahead of them.
"They'll be on us any minute," he warned.
"A minute's all I need."
Now that Miss Ryder knew what to look for and which side of the tower to check, she quickly found several cables on the wall behind a suit of armor. She motioned for the Steed to nose in next to her.
"Here they are. This one goes from the generator to the roof, so this one must be the ground." She briefly looked around for a sword, or anything with a sharp edge, but nothing was at hand. "We don't have any tools, so you'll have to stomp on it to sever the wire."
The Steed tentatively stepped on the insulation. "Like this?"
"You must weigh a hundred stone," she encouraged. "Put some hoof into it!"
The Steed reared back and threw his whole weight on his front legs and trampled the cable. The casing split open to reveal woven copper wire inside. Miss Ryder's eyes lit up.
"Now we just connect it to something not grounded," she explained, "like, say, this suit of armor. Then the next time the Black Rook fires up the generator, it will send a bolt of lightning down through the center of the tower to El Cid here, frying everything in between. Hopefully something flammable, preferably explosive."
"Have I told you that you're extremely attractive when you're destructive?" said the Steed. "But if they check down here, won't they spot the sabotage and fix it?"
"I'm counting on them being in too big a hurry after they reconnect the cable upstairs."
The Pawns were only two flights away. If not for their heavy armor, they could have already slid down the banister and captured the intruders.
"We have to get out of here," Miss Ryder said as she remounted the Steed. The horse moved at a high-speed blur towards the wooden front door, only to find it wouldn't budge when he hit it with his shoulder.
"We're blocked in!" he shouted.
"They've probably barricaded it from the other side. Try kicking out a portion of the stone wall."
The Steed reared up and slammed the wall with his front hooves, confident after his victory over the cable. The stone was completely unyielding, although the mortar between the blocks cracked a bit. He struck twice more without effect.
Miss Ryder frowned at his efforts. "Not enough time," she said, "and not enough leverage." She tapped the horse's flank with the side of her foot. "Turn around," she commanded tersely.
The Steed obeyed without question.
"Now kick backwards," she ordered.
The horse fired his hind legs into the stonework. Although the impact was much more forceful than his front kick, he still barely made a scratch. Miss Ryder shook her head at the result.
"Not good enough," she said. "Harder!" Instinctively, she smacked his rump sharply with the palm of her hand.
The Steed let out a startled cry. His tail swished violently as he unleashed a devastating mule-kick. A hole opened in the wall as a block tumbled out.
"That did it!" she exclaimed. "It's a reflex. Like hitting a knee with a hammer."
"That's not my knee you're hitting!"
"Again!" she cried, playfully slapping his rear.
The horse reacted by second-nature, unable to control his powerful haunches as they blasted away at the masonry. Miss Ryder continued her assault on his backside, and the Steed's kicks became increasingly more damaging with each of her whacks.
"Fantastic!" She wickedly spanked him again. "Just one more!"
"You're enjoying this entirely too much," the Steed teased. He grunted as he gave a massive final kick that crumbled a horse-sized hole in the wall.
A clatter came from the opposite side of the room as the Pawns reached the bottom of the stairs. Miss Ryder ducked her head so that the Steed could dart through the ragged opening into the courtyard.
"Here they come!" she grinned with excitement. "Make sure they follow us so they don't have time to check around."
The horse made a dash for freedom, but his hooves weren't their usual blur. Several of the guards outside had rushed over to prevent the escape attempt, and the Steed had to dodge and weave to avoid their weapons.
Miss Ryder could hear voices from the roof of the Dark Tower; the Black Rook was barking orders to his lackeys. She wondered if his paralysis had worn off yet. She could clearly hear him while she clung to the horse's mane through the evasive maneuvers.
"Power up the generator," the Black Rook shouted. "The woman isn't to be harmed. The shock should kill the Steed first, since he's in contact with the ground."
Miss Ryder smacked her bare heels into the horse's flanks to spur him on. "Better hurry now, Steed! We've got to get clear in case our sabotage fails. Or especially if it works." The horse scrambled forward with such speed that his tail touched the ground as he pushed off; she leaned forward and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
"Fire!" came a cry from the top of the tower.
"The TrotFast," the Steed panted. "It's failing!"
The mysterious hoofoaccelerator provided by the Septapus finally gave out. The horse's legs buckled as a thunderous explosion roared from the tower. Miss Ryder turned her head to see the windows light up with flashes of electricity. The front door was blown from its hinges as the shock wave rolled out into the courtyard.
Miss Ryder found herself pitched forward through the air, separated from the Steed by the force of the blast. She landed on her hip a dozen yards away; the Tanner's leather performed admirably, absorbing all the damage and protecting her from any cuts or abrasions. Massive stone blocks soared overhead and she shielded her face with her arm. She temporarily lost sight of the Steed amid the smoke and chaos. Enemy soldiers were streaming out of the Dark Tower and running for the hills.
The Black Rook made his exit supported by a Pawn under each arm. His limbs were no longer completely paralyzed, which meant that the feeling must have returned throughout his body. He seemed to be walking gingerly. Miss Ryder smirked in satisfaction. Her snap kicks were finally making their presence known.
She folded her arms and marveled at the destruction. The tower was empty now, and flames were coming from the windows and battlements. In the distance, people were evacuating the Lodging-House thinking that war had broken out.
"That should put an end to the Black Rook's plans," Miss Ryder said smugly. "And Cranberry Row." She caught a glimpse of the white horse from the corner of her eye. She called out, "Look at it, Steed! He's finished!" Then she noticed the horse wasn't standing, but lying unmoving on the ground. A crimson streak of blood stained his flank.
"Steed!"
Miss Ryder threw herself on the horse's side and pressed an ear to his warm flesh. She was relieved to hear a strong heartbeat.
"Please be okay," she soothed as she stroked his coat. The horse sighed contentedly.
"I'll be fine. I was just grazed by a stone fragment." The Steed struggled back to his feet.
Miss Ryder wrinkled her mouth. "You scared the life out of me."
"I didn't know you cared," he teased. He indicated the path through the outer fence with his nose. "Good thing I didn't make it through there."
Miss Ryder's eyes widened at the sight. Stone blocks had been hurled onto every inch of the paved entryway. She would have been crushed along with the Steed had the hoofoaccelerator been working.
A rush of emotion swept over Miss Ryder as she threw her arms around the horse's neck. She caressed his mane and kissed the side of his muzzle. She couldn't deny it any longer; she was desperately in love with the Steed and the adventures he brought. If only he were a human! Perhaps if she wished fervently enough, he would transform.
"Thank you, dear Steed," she said tenderly.
"You're quite welcome, milady."
-oOo-