Chapter 5
Boomer opened his hazel-colored eyes, the young man seeing nothing at all, except for the canopy of blackness, streaked occasionally by silver stars and slivers, looming above his head, and he could feel nothing save the pain in his battered torso, limbs and head, and the solid stone beneath his body.
A pained groan escaped his mouth as he propped himself up on one elbow, rubbing his aching head with his free hand, and several additional groans and grunts escaped his lips, as the young man slowly turned his head to look around. At first he could see nothing at all, but gradually as the minutes slipped past, his eyes adapted to the blackness, and before long he could see the vague silhouettes of two still forms around him.
''Ky,'' Boomer groaned, crawling over to his friend on all fours, shaking him slightly, and then he breathed a profound sigh of relief, as his prodding enlisted a slight groan of pain from the semi-unconscious young man. Ky opened his icy-blue eyes and rose up to a sitting position, his wince at the pain in his body all but hidden by the pervading gloom that loomed about them.
''Maya,'' the pair of them breathed in unison, dismay thick in their voice, both turning their worried gaze upon the silhouette of the young woman, which lay very still a few feet away, all sprawled out on the ground. Ky and Boomer scrambled over to her, and, gently rolled her onto her back, and then they sighed audibly with relief, as her large amber-colored eyes fluttered open, a pained groan escaping her lips.
''What the hell just just happened,'' Maya asked groggily, rising up to assume a sitting position, knuckling her aching lower back, and rubbing her bruised upper arm, wincing with the pain that shot through her body.
''We got our butts handed to us by the Battacor,'' Boomer explained, disdain evident in his voice, and then the image of Zylus' gray eyes, the last thing he had seen before he had been pushed over the edge and into the chasm, came clearly into his mind. ''Well, at least I think that it were them. Did you guys notice their eyes, by any chance?''
''No,'' Ky replied, ''why?''
''They were gray,'' Boomer explained.
''Like the kairu-barrier that blocked my attack,'' Maya remarked, ''I've never seen anything like it before.''
''This whole thing doesn't add up,'' Ky said. ''And what did Zylus mean when he asked us to give his greetings to his little friends.''
''I don't know,'' Maya replied, patting her chin, apparently deep in thought. ''What I do know, however, is that we must find a way out of these caves, so we can get back to the monastery, and report our findings to master Boddai.''
''Agreed,'' Ky said, then he looked to the many tunnels that led out of the chamber they were in. ''But which way do we go?''
''One tunnel is as good as any, I suppose,'' Maya said.
''Alright then,'' Ky said, motioning to one tunnel which was higher and wider than the others, ''let's try this one.''
And off they went, Ky walking up front, glowing x-reader out before him, with Maya coming up next in line, with Boomer, who had just remembered, to his ultimate dismay, that he was claustrophobic, bringing up the rear. A short while later, though, the trio came to a stop, for before them, the passage forked into four tunnels, with each path appearing just as ominous and foreboding as did the last.
''Which tunnel do we pick?'' Maya asked
''Eeny, meeny, miny, and moe,'' Boomer began chanting, his extended finger pointing alternately at one of the four branches of the fork, before coming to rest on the second passage to the left.
''It's as good a guess as we've got,'' Ky reasoned.
Suddenly, Maya spotted a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye, a stirring of the deeper shadows within the tunnel far on the right. ''Guys, we've got company,'' the young woman said to her two companions.
''You guys may have defeated us up above, but back there you took us by surprise,'' Boomer shouted in open challenged into the tunnel to the Battacor, whom he thought were hiding just out of sight. ''But down here, I'm afraid you've got no such advantage. You can't take us by surprise again, so just step out of those shadows you're hiding in, and play. We're ready for you this time.''
A pair of yellow-green eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness appeared within the shadows in the tunnel, squinting at the trio, their hunger accentuated by the pointed, slavering teeth that caught the light of the x-reader.
Taken completely by surprise, Boomer let out a shrill, almost girlish shriek, and then he jumped behind Maya, trying desperately to hide behind her slender frame, though it was a plain fruitless endeavor since he was so much larger than she. ''What is it,'' he asked, his voice no more than a hoarse whisper, the stocky youth peeking over the young woman's shoulder.
Maya was about to say something in reply, when the creature in the tunnel leaped out of the shadows, its smooth, white skin reflecting the light of the x-reader, so that its hide seemed almost to glow in the soft light. It charged straight in at Ky, brandishing a small club, no larger than the young man's forearm, and as it got into range, it lashed out at Ky with the weapon.
Ky reacted quickly, his hand shooting out, grabbing hold of the shaft of the club, right above the creature's fingers, and his other hand shot out then, grabbing the club by its fat end, and then he twisted it. With his greater strength and leverage, the young man managed to gain the angle, and he tore the weapon free of the creature's grasp, and then he brought the club back in at the side of its head, knocking the monster away into the darkness.
''Well done,'' Maya congratulated the young man, but no sooner had the words left her mouth when another one of the little creatures leaped in at her out from the shadows, this one carrying a small, stone-headed hatchet. The creature swung its weapon, but Maya had already darted out of range, and then she reversed her momentum, exploding into a sudden charge, leading with a heavy punch that squashed the monster's long, pointy nose flat against its cheek.
The creature dropped the hatchet to clutch at its broken nose, and Maya caught the weapon before it even hit the ground, swinging it in at the side monster's head, the flat of the axe-head dropping the creature in an unconscious heap to the ground. A third monster came in at the group, and then a fourth, one carrying another club, while the other only held a rock.
The club-wielder swung at Ky, the young man meeting the attack with a swing of his own cudgel, and as the two weapons came together, wood creaking under the force of the blow, he lashed out with his free hand, landing a solid punch on the creature's jaw and knocking it away.
Ky looked to where the stone-wielder had run off to, and saw that Boomer had the situation well under control, holding the creature suspended two feet from the ground by its scrawny neck, the creature wacking desperately at the stocky young man's too powerful arm with its all but useless rock. The corded muscles in Boomer's arm bulged taut, the young man heaving with all his considerable strength, launching the monster away, screaming and flailing wildly with its spindly limbs, to crash heavily into another pair of monsters that was coming in at the group.
Ky used the reprieve to pick up the club dropped by his last opponent, and then he tossed the weapon over to Boomer, who deftly caught it, just in the nick of time to intercept the incoming swing of a a hatchet.
''Well, now we know what Zylus meant by his little friends,'' Ky remarked.
''And what drove the dactyls from their city,'' Maya surmised, as her knee shot out and up, connecting heavily under the chin of an incoming monster, snapping its mouth shut so quickly and with such force that it bit its own tongue.
''All in favor of leaving this place, say aye,'' Ky accentuated that last word with a two-handed wallop of his cudgel that smashed against the side of a monster's knee, breaking that knee and sending the thing sprawling to the ground.
''Aye,'' Maya and Boomer exclaimed in unison.
''This way,'' Maya said, darting for the far left tunnel, the furthest one from the one from where came the monsters. Suddenly, a spear was thrust out from the shadows of that tunnel, and Maya had to throw her hips over to the side in order to avoid being skewered. She centered her balance in the blink of an eye, and in the same motion brought her hatchet down hard on the spear, snapping it at mid shaft.
''On second thought,'' Maya began, jumping back as an axe swiped across in front of her, then she rushed back in at the diminutive monster, laying it low with a heavy punch to the mouth. ''We should probably go this way,'' the young woman rushed toward the second tunnel on the left, ready to spring away this time, but as fortune would have it, no monsters presented themselves in that tunnel.
Ky and Boomer extricated themselves from combat with several of the monsters, and followed their friend into the tunnel, the creatures, howling insanely with wild abandon, hot on their heels in close pursuit. For several minutes they ran along the tunnel, which sloped upwards at an increasingly steep angle, and then, when traversing the tunnel was becoming increasingly difficult, the floor leveled out again, and the three friends could see that a bend in the tunnel loomed up ahead.
Maya was the first to reach the bend, but she skidded to an abrupt halt, and with a yelp she leaped backwards, as a massive lizard head appeared around the bend, its huge maw, studded with pointed fangs as long as kitchen-knives, snapping closed just inches in from her face.
Maya scrambled back to her friends, then turned around to regard the creature, who had come fully around the bend, to reveal that it carried a rider, one of the small monsters astride its back in a crude-looking saddle, and clutching a long spear in one grubby hand.
More of the little monsters appeared around the bend, and the one riding the lizard, seemingly a creature of higher rank, hinting at some sort of hierarchy among the savage and crude monsters, pointed at the three friends and spoke a command in the guttural tongue of its wretched kind. The little monsters charged.
Were there any side-passages back there,'' Ky asked.
''None that I saw,'' Maya replied.
''We'll have make our stand here then,'' Ky exclaimed, ''and try to get past the lizard and the other monsters.''
''Alright then,'' Maya said, brandishing her stone-headed hatchet.
''When I catch Zylus I'll wring his miserable neck,'' Boomer promised.
The monsters came on ferociously from the front, and the trio could hear a chorus of guttural voices some distance back along the tunnel behind them. The pursuing monsters were catching up to them.
A flying spear came arching in at Ky, but the young man sidestepped the incoming missile, one arm shooting out and to the side, lightning fast, his hand clamping about the shaft of the pole-arm. He threw his cudgel over to Boomer, who caught it, going into a wild frenzy, swiping his two clubs to and fro with wild abandon, knocking aside spears and axes, and even a spear, and laying low every monster foolish enough to come in at him.
Maya was no less animated, the young woman gracefully darting to and fro with perfect balance, lashing out at monsters with her hands and feet, and also with her hatchet, though she took care not to kill any of the creatures. This was their home, after all, and what right did she have to come in here and kill them.
Ky, using the spear as one would use a quarterstaff, was parrying attacks with wild abandon, knocking aside clubs and spears and axes, and whenever he saw an opportunity present itself, he was quick to lash out and lay low one of the monsters.
The ranks of the monstrous horde were thinning rapidly, with more and more white-skinned creatures getting dropped unconscious to the hard ground, though the lizard-rider and ita mount remained. Ky levelled his spear the rider's way in an open invitation for it to come on, and indeed, the creature did charge, its long and wicked spear held out straight and level before it.
But Ky surprised the rider by running several steps forward, as if to meet the charge, but then he put the tip of his spear against the ground, the shaft bending under his weight, before launching himself up into the air and over the startled rider. As the young man passed over the monster, his arm shot out and around its scrawny neck, pulling it from the saddle to crash down heavily beside Ky. The monster tried to get back to its feet and pick up its spear, but Ky decked it with a heavy blow to the face.
Maya motioned for her friends to stand perfectly still, as the giant lizard charged in at her and Boomer. Trusting in the young woman, the two boys did just that, and then Maya looked into the slitted yellow-green eyes of the lizard. The monster slowed it charge, forked tongue flicking in and out of its massive mouth. Maya began to writhe slightly where she stood, as a snake would, hands swaying hypnotically above her head, her hips moving left and right, and all the while her eyes remained locked with those of the lizard, communicating with the reptilian beast and calming it.
Then the giant lizard turned about and slid back the way it had come, disappearing around the bend in the tunnel, leaving behind a proud Maya, and two thoroughly perplexed Ky and Boomer, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at their friend.
''How did you do that?'' Ky asked.
''I talked the lizard into chilling out,'' Maya explained, grinning widely.
The hoots and shouts drew closer at their backs, and so they took off in a dead run, sprinting around the bend in the tunnel, and charging along the passage, hoping against hope that there were no more of the ugly little monsters waiting for them up ahead.
They came to a stop a few minutes later at a fork in the tunnel, one path going left, one going straight ahead, and one going right. ''Oh man, which tunnel do we take?'' Boomer asked, desperation edging his voice.
''I hear wind in that one,'' Ky said, pointing at the path that went left, ''it probably leads to the...'' Suddenly, four of the little creatures landed on the trio, dropping from holes in the ceiling, one crashing into Boomer, two into Ky, and another one crashed into Maya.
Boomer reached over his wide shoulder and grabbed the monster, which clung to his back, by the throat, then he plucked the creature free, and with tremendous force he slammed it into a wall, knocking it unconscious.
Ky was not doing as good, however, with two of the creatures raining blow after blow on the young man with their small clubs. Boomer rushed to the young Stax's aid, viciously ploughing one of his attackers over and baring it to the ground, before knocking it out with a blow to the head. Ky quickly got the upper hand on the remaining monster, and a well-aimed punch to the diaphragm was enough to drop it breathless to the ground.
Maya was by far the worst off, with the little monster hanging on her, its spindly but surprisingly strong arms locked fast about her throat, denying her breath. The young woman launched herself backwards into a stone wall, sandwiching into the monster. The creature did not let go, rather it just shook its head and opened wide its fanged and slavering mouth, its hungry eyes locked firmly on Maya's exposed neck.
The creature's head snapped forward, taking a big mouthful of warm flesh, though that big mouthful of flesh came in the form of Boomer's clenched fist, slamming into its open mouth, breaking away several of its fangs and launching it away.
After taking a few moments of catch their breath, the three friends ran along the tunnel that turned left, and they could feel that a faint breeze, so faint in fact that had they been outside they probably would not have noticed it. But hours spent underground had made them more receptible to such things, and they could feel the breeze quite clearly.
Before long they came upon a door of stone, gray stone and not the white one that the city had been built from. The plainness of the portal showed them that this was a secret door that was most likely all but invisible from the outside. The wind had come in through a small key-hole in the door. They pushed at the door with all their might.
The portal was locked.
The sounds of pursuit were drawing closer, and they knew that unless they found a way to open the door, they would surely perish. ''Don't worry,'' Ky said, ''I got this.'' He went down on one knee, and broke off the pin of his belt, then looked to Boomer. ''I'm gonna need a second pin,'' he said, and the stocky man too broke the pin from his belt, and handed it over to Ky.
Ky then began to pick the lock.
The frenzied hoots and shouts, and the sounds of rushing feet drew closer. Boomer and Maya, the pair of them grim-faced, turned in the direction where the monsters would come in at them, brandishing their weapons, intending to take their toll, whatever the final outcome might be.
Ky blocked out what was happening around him, focusing solely on the lock, drops of sweat trickling down his face, a look of unwavering determination stamped upon his angular features.
Boomer and Maya could faintly see movement in the tunnel, and they could hear the guttural voices of the monsters, and, to their ultimate dismay, the hisses and growls of giant subterranean lizards. ''You might wanna hurry up back there, Ky,'' Maya said.
''Yeah,'' Boomer seconded, ''what she said.''
But Ky didn't hear what either of them said. His focus was solely on the key-hole and his lock-picks, and the prospects of a horrible death did not register with him at all, as he attacked the lock with fervor.
Boomer and Maya could see the wiry silhouettes of the creatures now, their yellow-green eyes glowing in the dark, and they also spotted the much larger silhouettes of the giant lizards, baring monstrous riders in crude saddles.
''Ky...'' Maya said, brasing herself.
''Hurry up, bro,'' Boomer said, clutching his two cudgels so forcefully that his knuckles went white from the strain.
They could see the little monsters clearly now, their milky-white skin glowing in the soft light of their x-readers, their slavering jaws and pointed teeth also catching the light and glistening slightly, their grubby hands clutching small clubs and hatchets and hammers, and long and wicked spears, which could be flying in at any moment.
''Ky!'' Maya verily shouted.
''There,'' Ky said as the lock clicked, and then he pushed at the door with all his might, the bright light of the sun outside spilling through the now open portal. With a blood-curdling shriek, the little monsters threw their arms up before their eyes, to shield them from the intensity of the light, and then they began to back away, scrambling, falling all over each other, pushing further and further away from the stinging light, and further and further into the dark embrace of the tunnels.
Ky, Maya and Boomer, though they too were somewhat blinded by the light, managed to get through the door, and close it behind them. Then they fell down to their knees on the grassy slope of Mount Ida, finally letting their nerves and fatigue overcome them. They stayed there for more than an hour, with no one saying a word, but then they stood up and set out to find the X-caper, that they might return to the monastery and report their findings to master Boddai.
xxxxx
''Battacor,'' Lokar said, veritably spitting the name of the team that now stood before him in a darkened room in his lair, a single, conical beam of light shining down from a high spot in the ceiling, casting ominous shadows upon the dark master's face, subsequently making him seem all the more outrage. ''Where is my kairu?''
Zylus exchanged glances with his two team-mates, then stepped forward and went down on one knee. ''Our heartfelt apologies, master,'' the e-teen leader began, ''we were so very close to achieving the goal you desired, but sadly, a single misstep reduced the relic to rubble.''
Lokar, taken aback by the usually dim-witted Zylus' new and improved speech-pattern, did not immediately reply, but then he realized that the Battacor were most likely playing some trick on him to save their miserable hides. This realization only angered the already outraged Lokar all the more, his hand shooting out, and a ball of rosy purple energy appearing in his hand. ''Explain,'' he hissed through gritted teeth, ''or I will reduce you and your miserable friends to a boiling puddle of tar.''
''As I said,'' Zylus began, ''we were oh so close to getting the kairu, but then Bash here tripped and demolished the statue that served as the relic. It was right after that unfortunate accident that the kairu within the relic, a gray version we had never before seen or heard of, was released from the statue, and it sought refuge within our very own bodies. As you may already have surmised, great master, is that we are not quite the same, dim-witted, e-teens you sent on this most important of quests. No, we are smarter now, thanks to the gray kairu.'' Rynoh and Bash went down on their knees. ''So we beseech you, master, to forgive us our slight, and we beg of you to trust that we will be a valuable asset to you in the future.''
Lokar, all traces of anger gone from his sharp features, smiled wickedly. ''Be at ease, my warriors,'' he said, motioning for the e-teens to stand, which they did, ''and please, you must tell me more about this... gray kairu you encountered on your quest.''
''It would be our pleasure, master,'' Zylus, Rynoh and Bash said in unison, smiling wickedly.
xxxxx
Zane, Zair and Techris, stood outside the chamber where Lokar and the Battacor were. ''The things I would give to be able to see how Lokar is scolding those Battacor idiots,'' Zane exclaimed. ''They must be begging him for a quick death right about now. I almost feel bad for them.'' The e-teen leader let out a laugh. ''Well, I said almost.''
At that moment, the door to the darkened chamber opened, and the Battacor, their backs straight and a smug expression on their faces, strode out, with Lokar's uproarious laughter drifting out behind them.
''Well,'' Zane said, a wicked gleam in his black eyes. ''You three must have screwed up pretty spectacularly for Lokar to be laughing at your failure to capture the kairu.'' The green-skinned e-teen leader laughed.
Zylus silenced Zane with a gray-eyed stare. ''Oh, to the contraire, Radikor,'' he began, spitting out the team name with some disdain, ''by failing to capture the kairu, we have secured our place as Lokar's favorite e-teen team, and not to mention his most powerful.''
''That is bullshit,'' Zane said, and though he didn't show it outwardly, he was a bit unnerved by what Zylus had just said. ''Team Battacor can never become Lokar's favourite team of e-teens,'' he began, ''that place belongs to the Radikor, as well as that of the most powerful team.''
''You speak of distant days,'' Zylus exclaimed, then his hand snapped out, clamping about Zane's throat and pressing him hard against a wall, Rynoh and Bash stepping between their leader and Zair and Techris, who were bristling. Zylus' gray eyes seemed to bore holes into the usually indomitable Zane. ''Make no mistake about it,'' the Battacor leader began, ''there are going to be some changes in management around here.'' He let Zane go, and the Radikor leader slid down the wall, his expression shocked. ''Now, if you will excuse us,'' Zylus said, turning to leave, ''there is work to be done.''
Team Battacor walked away, leaving in their wake a very perplexed, and thoroughly intimidated, Team Radikor.
To be continued...