Almost there! Hang on tight! Some violence, but hopefully not too graphic. ^^;
Ch. 31
"I'm so sorry, Your Highness," General Ulrich said again as they quietly made their way outside. "I promise no harm will befall you. You helped my people establish Cavelia, and that is something we can never repay."
Septieme noted that the old veteran's contriteness seemed genuine. However, she held her head up high and refused to look at him.
"I see," she said, "so resorting to kidnapping is your only alternative?"
"I'm sure it appears that way to you, Highness," Ulrich replied, "but in actuality, I'm only trying to accomplish what Jacques failed to do."
Septieme whipped her head around. "What?! What do you know about Jacques? Were you involved in his death? Answer me at once!"
She noticed a long, black car pull up. Inside were men in black suits. It was dark and their faces were in shadow, but she thought she recognized at least a few of them.
"I will answer all of your questions very soon, Your Highness," Ulrich said, but I must first ask, that for your safety, that you be blindfolded." He handed her a black silk scarf. She hesitated, and he added, "Either you put it on yourself, or I shall do it for you. Choose."
She swiped it from him and put it on. After she had fastened it, she folded her arms and gave her best pout.
Ulrich chuckled a bit. "Don't be afraid." he said. "I said no harm shall come to you. I'm a man of my word. Let's go."
The fight between Alan and Jan began as mere fisticuffs. While that might sound dignified, in reality it was no different than a drunken bar brawl. At first the two squared off using the martial arts they were trained with. When Alan momentarily got the upper hand, he heard Stecchin scream.
"Lily!" he cried, and watched her rush past him and up the stairs of the stage. She didn't even pause to look at him, but that gave Jan ample opportunity to strike back.
Within minutes the two were on the ground, pounding the living daylights out of each other. Unfortunately, due to his time working with wrestlers, Jan knew more than a little when it came to real grappling techniques. He quickly got on top of Alan and pinned him with a chokehold when he saw Lionel come up and snatch the lantern.
"Don't mind me, gentlemen," Lionel said, his tone almost bored.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Jan shouted. "This wasn't part of the plan! I want my revenge!"
In his confusion, he released his chokehold on Alan, who coughed before saying, "Lord Taylor? My god, Lily was right!"
Lionel walked for a few steps, paused, and sighed.
"Pity," he said. "If you hadn't screwed up, I wouldn't have had to do this myself."
He spun around, pulled a pistol from his coat, and fired at them both from point blank range. He then strode toward the edge of the stage where he knew Oland and Alice were. Both men collapsed on the floor.
Since the majority of the audience was made up of Rodelians and Cavelians, they all knew what the sound of those two shots meant. All rushed out of the exiting areas, not quite in a panic but far from calm and orderly. As Oreldo and Carlotta made their way toward the royal family, they could see their entourage move as one entity to protect the king and his children. The straggling members of the 906 finally revealed themselves and made a move to surround the royal party. However, no one but Oreldo seemed to notice as Prince Quintus pulled a blade from his robe and slipped behind his father.
"NO!" Oreldo yelled, sprinting toward them. Two guards moved to stop him, but Carlotta zipped in front, distracting them. As they went for her, she quickly changed direction and Oreldo managed to sail right over them in a daring leap.
"Majesty! Look out!" Oreldo cried, and tackled the king sideways. Well, that was the idea. However, he was instantly on his back as the king himself flipped him in an easy motion.
"Young man, what is the meaning of this?" King Octavius said. Winded, Oreldo could only point when a third shot rang out. The king turned slowly to see Quintus fall forward, his silver dagger flying over the king's head. Both Oreldo and the king looked up to see Prince Duo standing by calmly, pistol in hand. The rest of his siblings, Princess Unuma and Princess Quatrain, cowered in fear. After all, they were easy targets and hadn't envisioned such a coup in public.
Yet, Duo put his pistol away and stated, "Enough blood has been shed tonight." He looked at his family, at Oreldo and Carlotta who had been caught by the guards, frowned and asked, "Where's my littlest sister?"
Breathless, Stecchin dove through the curtains backstage, desperately looking for Lady Kavi. As she blundered through the darkness, she found herself caught round the waist by someone tall and very strong. She struggled and began to scream when a muffled voice said in her ear, "May I have this dance, milady?"
She tried to turn around but the moment she did she found herself pressed against an unyielding body. The man, and she could tell that much from being pressed against his chest, used one hand and forearm to hold her neck and press her upper body to him. He grasped one of her wrists with the other. His grip was very tight and very painful. He wore a mask that seemed to be made out of metal and had long hair and a trench that obscured his movements.
As Stecchin struggled to free herself, he held on even tighter and whispered, "Pleasant or painful, little soldier. I'm afraid you must die tonight, one way or the other, so choose carefully." Seconds later she felt his brutal grip on her neck tighten and something very sharp was placed against her throat.
Stecchin found herself utterly petrified. She could neither move nor speak.
The man seemed pleased. "So, the pleasant way, is it?" he whispered. "Good. I so hate making a mess if it's unnecessary. Just close your eyes and you'll soon fall asleep."
The man's fingers moved deftly to her carotid artery and pressed down hard. Stecchin grew woozy. Her vision became fuzzy and she began seeing spots.
"Worry not, dear girl," the man whispered, "when you wake in eternity, I'm certain you shall see your dancing partner beside you."
Alan, she thought, they'll kill him!
With the last of her strength, she raised a knee and struck his groin as hard as she could. The man grunted and doubled over, releasing his grip. Stecchin tried to escape but she was so dizzy she fell over instead. She began to crawl away when she felt a blast of air go over her head. She realized that it wasn't air, but a person.
"Put your hands up and rise slowly," she heard Kavi say in a low voice. Stecchin watched as the man did so, only to drop something at his feet. It looked like a large gray marble, but it exploded and the area filled with tear gas. The man seemed to vanish into the darkness once more.
Coughing, Kavi scrambled to Stecchin and pulled her toward the front of the stage where the air was clear.
As Martis rushed toward the stage he quickly became surrounded by several members of the 906.
"You're Cavelians, aren't you, 906?" he shouted, taking up a fighting stance. "You all lived in the WinterShadow mountain range, right? Didn't we save you from the collapse? Didn't Princess Septieme fight to make a place for you here in Rodelia? Why are you doing this?"
One of them who had come forward to fight Martis hesitated. He looked at the others and shook his head.
"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but we have orders. If we don't carry them out, we'll die in the most miserable fashion you can imagine. Originally, we were dropped over enemy lines, purely as a sort of carpet bomb attack. Our suits can balloon out and allow us to aim a bit before landing. Once we land, however, we dissolve and blanket the area with deadly acids and poisons. But before that happens we lose consciousness either by cyanide crowns, or nerve gas built inside our compact oxygen tanks. Most chose the second because it was painless and made us fall asleep. Though we were amphibious, we were made for both air and water, and airstrikes proved to be much more useful. That's how we got our name, the Wingless Divers."
"And now?" Martis asked, trying to keep him talking.
"Now, our objective is merely to kill you. If we do not, our suits will trigger and dissolve while we're conscious. If we carry out our objectives, they'll make sure we're unconscious first. If you think the choice is easy, try wearing this suit first, then decide!"
Another of them added, "Most of us aren't even part of the original 906! We were kidnapped by that crazy doctor!"
"Shut up, Anna!" the first one said. "He can hear you!"
"Well, maybe it's better he knows the truth, Bryce!" the one called Anna said. "The Pumpkin Scissors is a PR unit. That means they can work with the press! Maybe he can make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else!"
Martis blanched. "There must be another way!" he said.
"There isn't, sir," the first one called Bryce said, closing in fast with a diver's blade. "I'm sorry."
"906!" a voice commanded. "906, retreat! I repeat, stand down and retreat!"
Martis looked and saw Oreldo and Carlotta racing toward them. Oreldo waved the remote control over his head like a flag. The smaller group of the 906 met with the larger group who had stopped fighting the king's guards.
"Grab that remote control!" the Bryce roared.
"Wait!" Anna shouted. "You'll kill us all! That's another of them! Where's Doctor Steinenburg?"
"He's dead," Carlotta answered over her shoulder. When several of the others confirmed the same, Bryce finally lowered his blade and returned it to his sheath. He wasn't ready to trust them yet.
Oreldo got to Martis and gave him the remote control.
"Can you figure this doohickey out and release them?" Oreldo asked.
Martis looked over the device with a critical eye. "I don't know," he said, "but I'll try!"
Suddenly they heard the most terrible roar of anguish. All turned to look at the empty stage. First they saw Lady Kavi and Stecchin fly out front with a cloud of tear gas trailing after them, coughing and stumbling down the stairs. When she landed, Lily raised her head and looked to the side. Seeing the fallen bodies of Jan and Alan, she screamed and crawled to them, Kavi trying to stop her.
The heavy curtains next to them then convulsed as a huge body barreled through them backwards. The curtain rod broke and the curtains collapsed on top of the shuddering figure. After several long moments the figure stood, and the curtains fell away like shrouds.
"Big guy?" Oreldo whispered.
"Corporal?" Martis said.
Still hunched over, Oland grasped the back of his neck with a shaking hand. Gritting his teeth, he tore it open, screaming in pain, and rearing back. All gasped as the blood poured out, but what was most disturbing was the blood should have been bright red, but it wasn't. Instead, it was mottled and dark, and seemed to have bits of something mingled in it.
"God!" Oreldo hissed.
"Oland!" Martis yelled. "What are you doing?"
Oland was panting, looking at his hand. Upon hearing his name, he paused. Turning, he stood erect and glared at the group with eyes eerily bright and full of rage. Several of the 906 still wore their gray cloaks, though they had since removed their hoods.
Oland stared at all of them and pointed.
"Toten sie," he rumbled hoarsely.
"Oh crap," Oreldo said, and started to back away slowly.
Bryce shuddered. "That's him!" he shouted to the others. "It's 901!"
"You mean…he's for real?!" one of the other 906 operatives asked. Anna cried out in fear and ran toward the entrance. Several of them began to do the same.
"Wait, don't run!" Martis called, thinking fast. "You'll only attract his attention!"
Too late, Oland was on a few of the slower runners. Though weaponless, he snatched up one in each arm and plowed them into the floor, face first. The Corporal was so strong, he cracked their skulls in the process, causing the suits to rupture. When the bodies began to dissolve, he stumbled back in confusion. Taking a closer look, he saw a patch on one of the operative's shoulders.
"906…" he growled. "Not…901…"
"Oland!" Oreldo yelled. He gulped, then jumped in front of the whole group. "Stop it, big guy! They're not the enemy!"
Martis whispered to Carlotta and handed her the remote control. "Guide the rest of these guys away! He's our comrade, we have to try and stop him!" Carlotta nodded and left with the rest without a word.
Oland rose and turned around slowly. He saw the rest of the frightened 906 retreating and glowered.
"My enemy," he said, the wound in his neck still bleeding the strange blood profusely, "Fallschirm Jaeger…my enemy…no…my enemy must be destroyed!"
He started toward them, intending to rush again, when a voice froze him in his tracks.
"CORPORAL RANDEL OLAND! STAND AT ATTENTION!"
Oland stopped instantly and stood erect, motionless.
Out of the shadows appeared Alice, panting, her costume wings torn to ribbons. In one hand was her short sword, the tip of it covered in blood. The other held aloft his lantern, still glowing brightly.
Oland gasped in horror. The Valkyrie! She was glowing brightly, burning the hands that tried to go near her in her divine aura of fury!
Alice locked eyes with Oland. She slowly walked until she stood in front of the retreating group.
"Martis," she called, her voice a normal tone, though it wavered a bit, "take Lilly and Kavi and get out of here. Oreldo, go help him."
"Ma'am?" Martis answered slowly. "But…why?"
"Can't you just turn that thing off?" Oreldo asked softly.
"No," said Alice. She took a shaky breath. "No, I can't! It's stuck!"