Ch. 13
"Do you know who did it then?" she cried.
Martis smiled but shook his head.
"No, but you helped me a lot by eliminating several candidates."
"Such as? Can you tell me?"
Oreldo looked over his friend's shoulder and frowned. It was as he thought.
Martis cleared his throat and looked at Septieme.
"Well, Your Highness, I'm pretty sure you're safe," he said with a twinkle. Septieme beamed.
Martis nodded toward Alan. "You're all right," he said. Alan said nothing but Oreldo thought he stood a little taller.
"I think I can safely cross out at least two-thirds of the staff as well," Martis continued, going over his notes. He looked at Alice who had also come over to see them. She picked up one page, scanned it and realized Martis had the most horrible penmanship. She couldn't read a thing.
"You should've been a cryptographer," she muttered.
"Huh?"
"Nothing. Continue."
"I have at least three I will need to interrogate again," Martis said, "maybe more. Jean, Lucia, Jacques, and…"
"Ridiculous," Jacques said. They all looked at him, including Septieme, who was surprised. Jacques bespectacled eyes were steely and cold.
"Officer Martis, I insist-"
"Jacques!" Septieme interrupted. "How dare you?"
Alice inhaled sharply. Martis and Oreldo looked at each other in confusion.
"Your Highness?" Martis asked. "What is it?"
The princess glared at her beloved teacher. She took a long breath before looking at Martis.
"Only a commoner wouldn't realize this sort of slight. You are used to hearing only your title, but Jacques here knows full well to use the title I have deemed you as worthy of having...noble sir."
She turned to Jacques. "Old man, explain yourself! You would never make such a mistake unless it was on purpose to insult my honored guests! Tell me why I shouldn't hand you over to Ol' Bruin for an hour or two?"
Jacques' expression remained cold and distant. Oreldo gulped. Old or not, the Old Man, as the princess called him, was still a trained killer.
"Your Highness," he began, "why must I be forced to continue playing this silly game?"
"Silly game?" Septieme echoed, mystified. "What are you talking-"
"YOUR HIGHNESS!" a voice suddenly shouted from outside. Everybody turned as fists pounded on the door.
"Alan, let her in!" Septieme commanded, who immediately obeyed. Oreldo went with him as they opened the heavy, oak doors.
Martis turned to watch, when a strange sound made him turn back. At the same time, Alice suddenly charged forward, her sword drawn, shouting a war cry. With complete shock, Martis saw Jacques standing over the princess holding twin escrima sticks. Septieme was out cold.
"NO!" Martis yelled, also rushing forward.
As if in slow motion, Oreldo and Alan turned to look in horror. Jacques readied himself for Alice and waited. He didn't have to wait long, but it wasn't Alice who got to him first. Out of nowhere a harpoon seemed to sprout out of his chest. Alice gasped and skidded to a halt. Jacques' mouth opened and closed like a fish before he was suddenly yanked upward, as though he was on a giant fishing line. Alice looked up as four Wingless Divers cut themselves from their rappel gear and seemed to glide to the ground.
"We're under attack!" she yelled. "Guards! To arms!"
She swung at one but missed, barely dodging his diving blade. Martis dove into the fray, tossing one Diver over his shoulder in one smooth motion. He never deviated from his path, which was straight to Septieme.
"Princess!" he cried, grabbing and pulling her to safety.
"Go!" Alice said. "I'll cover you!"
Septieme groaned as she slowly came to. Martis checked her before quickly gathering Jacques' escrima sticks. She watched as stood in front of her, ready to fight. She watched as one Diver charged at him, but he quickly knocked the Diver out in three fast blows. Her mouth slid open in awe.
"My trainer always said this would come in handy!" Martis said almost to himself, shaking his head. "But I never thought I'd use it for this! Princess! Look out for the acid!"
Septieme screamed as the unconscious Diver quickly dissolved, scooting herself aside as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile Alice struggled against two Divers circling her. She was secretly glad she had been training for the past year to better know how to handle more than one opponent, in case anything like the duel with Marquis Paolo ever happened again.
She feinted left toward one before slashing at the other. The second Diver parried her blow and tried to strike with his free hand. He managed to grab her hair which caused her to cry out and bend backwards. She twisted to keep an eye on the first, who was ready with his blade for a direct thrust.
Rather than fight gravity, she stabbed the second Diver behind her and let herself fall to the floor. The first Diver missed her neck by inches and plunged his blade into the second Diver. Alice rolled out of the way to avoid the sudden release of acid that gushed out. The first Diver screamed as the acid poured all over him, triggering his own demise.
Alice got to her feet.
"Where's the last one?" she asked Martis, who pointed toward Alan and Oreldo, who were fighting him with all of their might by hand.
"Don't kill him!" Alice commanded.
"Why do you think we're fighting so hard not to?" Oreldo shouted back.
They both wrestled with the Diver, who was as strong and slippery as an eel. It was as though the suit was covered in oil.
"Go ahead, strike me!" the Diver growled in a raspy voice. "You know you want to!"
"How about we just knock you out instead?" Oreldo said, trying his best to help Alan, who figured out the Diver's hands were one of the few places where the suit had some traction.
"It doesn't matter!" the Diver said, "Hit me, cut me, choke me! It will all result in the same! You won't get a peep out of me! I'll die first!"
Alan and Oreldo glanced at each other realizing the problem of trying to interrogate him.. Not only could they not use any guns or sharp blades to stop this terrorist, they couldn't just beat him down, either. It was as if any sort of strike that resulted in unconsciousness triggered the horrible consequence of death by acid.
However, that gave Oreldo an idea.
"Alan!" he said. "Try to give him the ol' Nelson hold!"
Alan didn't respond, not daring to take his eyes off the assassin, but he managed to nod once. After a few minutes he succeeded.
"Great, now hold him as still as you can! Oreldo said, then turned to Alice. "Lieutenant, please come here and put your blade close to his throat, but don't touch him if you can help it! Kill him if you must, but not just yet."
Unused to being ordered around herself, Alice complied nonetheless.
The Diver laughed mirthlessly. "Threats won't work on me, you fool!"
"Oh, it's not a threat," Oreldo said, his voice suddenly cool and suave, "It's an opportunity, friend."
"I'm not your friend, you lazy little Casanova!"
Startled by the sudden, strange and rather appropriate insult, Oreldo paused for a second. He then cleared his throat as though nothing had happened.
"Just answer one thing," Oreldo said, pointing to the remains of the Diver's comrades. "Do you really want to suffer so horribly?"
The Diver was genuinely confused, to the point of stopping his struggle with Alan.
"You haven't thought about it, have you?" Oreldo said with a nasty grin. "Well, you saw what that acid did to your comrades, right? I see it melted through their muscles and bone like butter. Don't tell me you got this gig because you've been suicidal or something?"
Alan turned them so the Diver would face the remains dead-on.
"You heard the screams, didn't you?" Oreldo crooned. "What a lovely end of a miserable person…unless you make a choice right now."
The Diver shuddered, but then promptly began to struggle again. But Alan's grip was firm.
"What choice?" the Diver wailed. "If I'm caught, I die. If my suits is punctured or crushed, I die! If I don't respond immediately, they will always assume the worst and will take me out!"
"Is there a way to remove the suit?" Alice asked, still ready to deal the deathblow.
The diver hesitated and the team knew they had him.
"I…I don't want to die," he said, relaxing, "not like that. Anything but that!"
The group took a collective sigh of relief. Alice lowered her blade slowly.
"All right," she said. "Tell me, then. Who are 'they,' why did you attack my sergeant-major, and what is your true objective?"
"Sergeant-Major?" the Diver echoed, confused.
Suddenly they heard another shattering of glass. Alan suddenly pulled the Diver to the right as a harpoon struck his arm, effectively impaling it. He cried out in pain, releasing his grip on the captured Diver, who made a run for Alice, bellowing in a desperate rage. Alice readied herself, but before she could make a move, a shot was fired and the Diver's head snapped back. He fell to the ground backwards, dead before he hit the floor.
Alice immediately looked skyward at the last Diver, who chose to escape rather than face the group. Alice cried out a warning and threw her sword like a throwing dagger. It cut the rappel rope, but the Diver caught himself on one of the ceiling supports. He tried to crawl out the window, but was unable to pull himself up. Dangling for several long moments, he gave a final shout as he fell to his death.
"I go to serve under the Silver Wheel!"
Everyone scattered as the impact was enormous and very messy. Princess Septieme opened her eyes to see her face was pressed against Martis' as he used his own body to shield her. She immediately blushed. Martis slowly realized this fact and quickly stood up, helping her.
"How's your head?" he asked her gently.
Septieme smiled; secretly thrilled he had finally dropped her royal title and was speaking to her like when they'd first met.
"I'm okay, Martis. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, I'm just fine."
Septieme sighed and surveyed the room, dismayed by the damage all of the acid caused. It would take an extraordinary amount of rubles to repair it all.
She was suddenly overcome with the realization that her beloved Jacques, her teacher and closest confidante was dead…and not only that, he had utterly betrayed her. She gasped and brought her hands to her mouth.
Martis was alarmed. "What is it? Are you hurt?"
Unable to speak at first, she vigorously shook her head, her little shoulders shaking. Unsure what to do, Martis awkwardly put an arm around her, wanting to comfort her somehow. Septieme melted into him and began to sob uncontrollably, her cries muffled by his suit jacket.
"J-Jacques," she managed to say, before weeping again. Martis folded her into his arms and shushed her. Her knees buckled and he gently knelt with her.
Oreldo shook his head, dizzy from the tumble he took to avoid the splatter. He heard someone clear his throat and looked up. Alan stood over him and held out his hand.
"Are you all right, Sub-Lieutenant?" he asked Oreldo.
Oreldo rubbed his head and gave a cocky grin. After a moment, he accepted Alan's hand.
"Yeah, I think I'll live to fight another day," he joked.
Alan smiled in return and pulled him to his feet.
"That was a great strategy, sir," he said. "It almost worked."
"You weren't half-bad yourself, man!" Oreldo replied.
Alice retrieved her blade and watched the ceiling for any more surprises. After several long moments, she sheathed her sword and gazed at the doorway.
"Your timing was impeccable, Lady Kavindra," she called to the colorful shadow.
Kavi walked in, eyes locked heavenward, pistol drawn but pointed at the floor.
"I prefer to be fashionably late to every party," she replied wryly.
"Madame Minstrel?" they heard Septieme say. "What brought you here?"
Kavi walked over to the princess, who, though red-eyed, had composed herself well. She knelt in a formal bow.
"Forgive the intrusion, Your Highness," she said, her voice grim, "but I arrive with news from Cavelia."
"Cavelia, the region of the Shadower refugees?" Martis asked.
"The same," Kavi replied. "Through my spy network, I have finally found a link between them and the Invisible Nine troop, the 906. I was coming to report this when I spotted several of them crawling up your battlements."
Oreldo's jaw dropped. "The Shadowers are all these Wingless Diver freaks?"
"No, not all of them," Kavi said, "but that entire unit had hidden themselves within the rest of the Shadowers, who now call themselves Cavelians, back when they were living in Cavern City. However, the real problem is that somehow there was a leak and now the Cavelians are revolting in protest!"
"Have there been any casualties?" Septieme asked, motioning for Kavi to rise. She stood and shook her head.
"Not yet, at least not when we'd left."
"'We?'" Alice interrupted. "Who is 'we?'"
Kavi looked at her. "Come with me. You'll see for yourself."