Author's Note; So I have very good news and very bad news. The very bad news is that my updates aren't going to get any less infrequent. Keep a lookout for Sri Lankan public holidays; the next Poya day is when I'll get to sit down and write the next chapter. The very GOOD news, however, is that I've laid out plans for this fic to have 24 chapters at the end of it all and I just invented some CRAZY incidents for future chapters! Betcha no one will see some of them coming ;)
And importantly; Has every one of you read all the books? I said in the first chapter that this fic will contain no spoilers, but since then I've completely changed the plot and even though this fic takes place after the Eternity Code it will have several SIGNIFICANT spoilers for the rest of the books in future updates. Please let me know!
Warning; this chapter contains one particularly dark subject matter, but I haven't depicted it with as much gory as it actually bears. I fear the rating would have to go up if I did that. But the kind of content in this chapter is pretty much why this fic is rated T; I know that the horror genre has been at a medium level thus far, but this is a different kind of horror and it's going to get pretty bad. Still, I believe the whole point of writing fiction is to deliver messages that people would otherwise never receive, so by some parts of this chapter the message I want to convey to you is a reality that still operates in some parts of the world, and one which absolutely must stop.
Disclaimer; I don't own Artemis Fowl. Merely a fan who enjoys torturing the cast with deserts, whirlpools, monsters and every other horrid thing that crosses my mind.
Special thanks to Berrybanana05, Elisarah, Noggen Podder and Reza Novaria for their continuous support!
—•:;*"~€/°&—
CHAPTER TEN: THE CLIFFHANGER
Market day in Andrès, the capital city of Harpsichord island, was not any more special than market day in your average Jamaican town. It was a colourful and lively occasion, very noisy in a way the locals didn't mind, and promised bargains and prosperity from stall to stall, carpet to carpet. It was fresh, clean air around the city–if the little settlement could really be called that–but the main square was a bustling, unbreathable hub of activity. Humans and fairies alike made unfair use of their natural gifts– height, wings, tunneling ability–when they competed for the best bargains with limited stocks. A little into her explorative journey Vinyayà had come across a couple of human kids in the company of three young pixies on the beach and had frozen dead on the spot. Her elfin intuition was screaming at her to turn back and run. Her officer's sense of duty was urging her to knock the two humans out and take them back to Foaly for a mind-wipe. Eventually something in between the two had won and she'd unshielded, approaching the group with caution.
"Mind explaining...what exactly is going on?" she had asked, still too baffled to make head or tail of it.
One of the pixies gave her a weird look, saying, "There's market day happening in the square."
Vinyayà nodded slowly. "Alright. Okay."
And so here she was, shield down completely, walking in utter bafflement among the throngs of human and fairy vendors and buyers in the clustered mess that was market day in Andrès city.
This is where Opal is operating from?
It seemed unbelievable. The city was just so...normal. Well, apart from the mixed species inhabiting it. Everything bore an aura of harmony, peaceful living and just normalcy. It looked nothing like Koboi's version of a balanced world. This was something straight out of the hermit Warlocks' books.
Vinyayà was snapped out of her aimless wandering when she bumped into something that felt like a wall. She uttered an apology and was about to move on before the wall-like human man spoke.
"Are you lost, missus?"
Vinyayà looked sharply up at him, startled yet again that a human would interact so casually with a fairy. But the genuinely concerned expression on the tall guy's face gave her an opening, and she took it.
"Actually I am. Do you think you've seen..." She reconsidered. Describing Koboi could be the wrong move; after all, who knew if these people served the deranged pixie? "A female elf, red hair, shorter than average?"
The Mud Man shook his head apologetically. "Sorry. But it's hard to notice anyone in a place like this, yeah?"
Vinyayà frowned. "Thanks."
She continued to make her way through the narrow earthen street in between the stalls and the crowds gathered around each, but she made up her mind then that she would make more inquiries. Thus whenever she happened to spot another fairy or, with greater reluctance, a human, who didn't appear too busy, she would venture forth with a description of Holly or Root and hope without much conviction for a positive reply. The day stretched on in this way and was parting into a breezy evening, and not once did the battery-operated device on her wrist alert her that her shuttle was moving, which meant that the portal wasn't closing and Foaly wasn't reeling her back in. Before the risk-fraught dive into the ominous black hole, the centaur had insisted on a sort of tracker-spray that he somehow would be able to monitor from back in the mothership. Something about analog signals, not digital. The only thing it would keep him notified of were her vitals, so she didn't worry that the LEP would presume her dead either. She had plenty of time to get used to this odd reality.
Most of the crowds had dispersed by now, and even a majority of the sellers had packed up and gone home, leaving her with far fewer new faces to ask her questions from. By this time she'd managed to get noticed, too; it wasn't everyday an elf with stark silver hair was the one to lose her companions and be looking for them.
So it was utterly unexpected that she would bump into someone again, and even more unlikely that this person's basket of goods would sail through the air and land ruined in a particularly fresh heap of dog-dung a couple of yards away.
This time she knew it wasn't her fault and that she had been looking where she was going, but Vinyayà noticed the bulk of the gnome and started to apologize anyway. The gnome wasn't listening.
"Those were the best they had in stock, woman!" he bellowed. "No, don't offer to pay for them! You can't pay for them! Pears are out of season and I ain't never going to get a bunch as good as that again!"
Vinyayà bit back a scathing retort, and said instead through gritted teeth,"It wasn't my fault."
"Oh-ho!" cried the burly fairy, who was three whole heads taller than her. Gnomes had a tendency to grow well above the average fairy height. "Is that a call to fight, lady?"
Vinyayà noted the crowd that was starting to gather around them and decided she had to get out of this situation quick. She didn't dare touch the Neutrino on her hip because that would garner even more attention, and perhaps from Opal as well, wherever she happened to be. "Over there!" She gasped, pointing urgently somewhere up at the sky. Everybody looked. She spun on her heel and made a dash for it.
"She's getting away!" yelped someone excitedly, and the further oohing of the audience told her that the gnome wasn't letting her get away.
"I'm going to make you pay!" he hollered, hot on her heels, surprisingly fast for someone of his bulk.
"You said you didn't want money!" Vinyayà looked over her shoulder and shouted back.
"I'm going to beat you up!" he rephrased.
"Dear Frond," exclaimed the elf to herself, kicking up an extra boost of speed from her trained, agile legs. She had to lose him. If Opal, or people working for Opal, really surrounded this place, they were going to be alerted to her presence and then it would be the end of the line for everyone. The LEP would lose one more capable leader and no one would be left to seek her, Holly or Root.
She arrived in the open volcanic-ash beach and realized there was no place for cover except back in the city. That simply wasn't an option because it was dense with population. If she was going to fight, now was the best time to do it.
"Stop!" screamed the gnome, and she stopped, turning to face him and taking up a defensive stance. She steadily met his eyes. The guy looked confused for a moment that she was actually willing to fight, but the confusion turned into triumph and he came charging towards her.
A combo move, quick, almost undetectable, and the heavy gnome was on the sand. Vinyayà backed away just a bit and looked around. The beach remained thankfully empty...save for the kids from earlier who stared at her agape.
"It was just...ah, a game," she tried, smiling brightly. "I think I got carried away."
The gnome was starting to blabber something from the sand.
"What's that?" she pretended, crouching down. "I win? Well, thank you!"
He started to lift himself up and looked at her, eyes wide with panic. "Y-You're...Pathos!"
Now it was her turn to be confused. "What?"
But the gnome wouldn't listen anymore. He scrambled off the ground and started to run back, clutching at his head with both hands like the devil himself was chasing after him, even though Vinyayà remained rooted to the spot and convinced that the guy would raise the alarm and that Koboi would know of her presence in no time.
She had to go back. Return with a team that would be able to combat the Freaks.
No. What was she thinking? You couldn't simply combat the Freaks. She would be sacrificing even more of her officers' lives. Why had she insisted on a solo mission? Because one person would be harder for Opal to find than several. All she had to do was lie low and do a little more digging.
The kids from earlier, two humans and three pixies, ran over to her excitedly.
"Miss, that was awesome!"
"Where did you learn that?!"
"I wish I could kick butt like that!"
Vinyayà blinked. "Sorry?"
One of the kids, perhaps the most perceptive of them, squinted at her in inspecting fashion. "You're not from around these parts, are you?"
"No. No, I'm not." Then, an odd moment of clarity coming over her, she asked, "Say, do you think you could help me with a few things?"
The children shared several looks, then nodded collectively.
"I'm looking for some people. One elf female, a bit shorter than average, red hair, brown eyes. And an elf male, a little muscle, grayish beard."
"Eyes?" asked one of the pixies.
Vinyayà had to hold back a smile for a reason she couldn't begin to comprehend. "Also brown. A lighter colour though. Looks angry most of the time."
"We'll keep a lookout," said one of the human kids enthusiastically. "Promise!"
The elf raised an eyebrow. She had no idea she could be good with kids. Not that many opportunities had presented themselves in the past, and the only kids whom she personally knew were the annoying brats of some especially nosy distant relatives. "Thank you," she smiled. "But I'm going to need another favour, and I'm afraid I can't pay."
"Lodgings?" guessed the perceptive one.
"Just for the night," said Vinyayà.
"I have a place," said a pixie girl. "You can stay for as long as you want. It's a little prickly, though, and it's never been lived in by a person..."
"Oh my gosh," one of the boys rolled his eyes. "Is it that stupid stable of yours? Gina, that isn't a place you keep a guest!"
"You're just saying that 'cause you're scared," Gina spat back. "I remember when we dared you to spend the night there and you came back crying like a little–"
"It's haunted," the boy told their guest directly. "You hear all kinds of noises in there, miss!"
"Er...I'm afraid it's my best option," Vinyayà remarked uneasily. She was having a hard time getting used to kids who liked her. The annoying brats of her distant relatives were the type who snuck into your room and kept flicking the light switches when you were trying to sleep. "But thank you."
The evening was turning a little more pronounced when she followed the girl and the boy, whom she learnt was Gina's cousin, across the black-sand beach and into the town which went to bed early, that feeling of belonging to the surface world returning to her conscious mind in pretty much the same way the pale yellow clouds burned a fierce red when the sun took its proper place in the sky.
Artemis wasn't surprised that the level of technology possessed by a land that stubbornly held onto ox-carts when it could easily evolve into automobiles was such that naval transport happened on old-fashioned ships merely assisted by motors. By his estimation the ride to Harpsichord island would've been an ideal two hours on a modern vessel; on this, though, it took five, but even with the antagonizing pace he was glad to see the line of desert dissipate over the horizon.
"I haven't noted a lot of similarities between the global landscape of your world and ours, Caleb," he commented. "For instance, how far have the continents shifted?"
On the bench opposite, Holly rolled her eyes and stuck two fingers into her ears to make it perfectly clear how much she cared.
"I don't know how things are in your world," replied Caleb, enjoying the exaggerated expressions coming from Mulch as well. "But I think you're right. We don't have a lot of space in between countries. Lotsa border issues here and there. Not that there really are countries anymore, you see; just this landmass we call a country, which just has a couple of thriving main cities–like Logos, although that one doesn't stay in one place–and a whole bunch of scattered settlements."
"And humans and fairies sharing the surface?"
"It's always been like that. But if you were going to ask, we specifically didn't get fairy help for this mission for a good reason. Koboi's undercover people are mostly unsuspecting fairies, and we can't risk the slightest leak of confidential information..."
Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Like your mother's name?"
Caleb gave a start, but then he got over it and sighed exasperatedly. "Yeah, like that. Especially that. I don't think she told you why?"
By this point even Holly was listening. "No. No, she didn't, and she didn't give us her name in the first place."
The boy shook his head. "You're not going to appreciate the reason."
Mulch perked up. "Guys, if we don't appreciate the reason we could just call quits on the mission, right?"
"Diggums," said Root warningly.
"It's if you get caught by Koboi's people," continued Caleb awkwardly. "And tortured–it's their custom–you wouldn't reveal her name even under strain because you don't actually know it. See, I'm under oath not to reveal her name in any circumstances, as is everyone else in her settlement assisting against Opal, but you guys aren't under that oath. I'm sorry, but you would reveal her name if you were put through torture and you knew it."
Holly raised an eyebrow. "And why is Koboi so interested in this name?"
Caleb averted his eyes. "Because out of all the settlements, there are some who have pledged alliance to Koboi. Our settlement is one of them and it goes by my mother's name. So if Opal finds out that we were sent by someone who was supposed to be on her side, she will...burn us to the ground. She will kill everyone who lives in our settlement, and all for the worst of it. She's going to get paranoid about even the other leaders who pledged alliance and do the same for their people. That's why no matter what happens to us, we simply do not reveal who sent us."
Their group of six fell into a strain of deathly silence.
The seemingly endless desert trek had drained them all of energy and spirit, so the sea journey away from it was the most rejuvenating thing any of them had experienced in a while. Everyone apart from Zone, who forever remained alert on his guard, eventually fell asleep and only awoke at the port of their destination, Harpsichord island.
The next morning, or dawn, as Mulch would insist, as he felt his slumber had been disturbed two hours too early, was for the most part spent on an action plan to locate the next key. They were to split into teams of three in order to cover more ground, and also this time around Caleb described the key as being a dark purple sphere, about fist-sized, but not a shiny golden statue that stood over four feet tall. And so finding it could be a process that would take them days.
Artemis, Holly and Root set off in the direction of the island's East coast while Caleb, Mulch and Zone set out in the direction opposite, just when the morning sun was starting to creep into the sky which gave the dwarf an opportunity to shout, "I told you so!"
Holly soon found herself in the position of peacekeeper in her group somewhere during the course of their journey when Root and Fowl started to argue about what kind of place the key was likely to be hidden in. And the worst part of all was that both arguments were on two extremes, with Root insisting that they should pay more attention to unsuspecting, populated places and Artemis quite patronizingly pointing out that there would be no need for such discretion on an island with enough natural nooks and corners to hide all the keys.
They walked along the black beach now, albeit a deserted portion of it, surveying the landscape for anything out of place. Artemis broke off from the other two and headed over to where the land met the sea and crouched down, intriguingly observing something that Holly or Root didn't see.
"Is it the key?" shouted Root impatiently. "We can't waste the whole day on your natural hideouts, Fowl."
"Major," Artemis called instead, blatantly ignoring the older elf. "I think you'll find this most interesting."
Raising an eyebrow, Holly headed over to the sea and crouched beside him. She stared at the spot he was staring at for the longest time, then had to ask, "Alright, genius, tell me what I'm supposed to find most interesting?"
Artemis cracked a grin. "You really don't see something different about the water?"
Holly looked closer, but still she withdrew with a snort. "No, Mud Man, I do not. It's not like I visit the beach everyday to know when something's out of place."
"Forgive me, I should've considered," Artemis stood up and brushed some sand off his elbows. Today he was wearing one of the shirts he'd picked up at Caleb's place and had rolled up the sleeves wanting to prevent the decent piece of clothing getting ruined in the day's expedition. "You'll see what I'm talking about. At around nighttime."
Holly frowned. "Nighttime?"
"Definitely. Let's get on with our search for now."
Root had his arms crossed and a very grumpy expression on his face by the time they strolled over.
"That's right, Fowl, Short, take your own cool time," he scowled. "Just remember that you have no right to complain when Koboi acquires that key before we do."
"I'll keep that in mind, Commander," said Holly resignedly, although there was a considerable amount of good humour in her voice. "Do you want to bet on what kind of place we'll find the key?"
Even Root found the prospect promising. "A bet with Fowl?"
"Obviously. I'm staying out of this."
Artemis hid a cynical grin, slipping his hands into his pockets. "You're on, Commander."
"A lot of gold," said Root, saying it like he wasn't giving him another choice.
"A lot of gold. Though I'll need specifics."
Both elves shared a glance.
"And if–just if, I'm saying–I lose the bet?"
Artemis didn't hide his smirk this time. "Why, then the LEP will have another Artemis Fowl gold situation, and it won't even make sense to them this time."
"I'm not betting anything," decided Root with finality, eyeing the Mud Man with an expression akin to mistrust bordering on intense dislike.
The Western part of the island which Caleb, Zone and Mulch traversed had paths that snaked through small villages, craggy places and even the occasional patch of forest. Deeper into the journey there were fewer signs of life and the rocky landscape turned obvious, with certain instances being either difficult to climb over or impossible to climb back down. They were at the mouth of a very promising–in terms of being the key's hiding place, of course–mountain forest when the mosquitoes started to sting.
"D'Arvitting brutes," cursed Mulch, then cursed in even more colourful Gnommish profanity as he proceeded to swat at the insects buzzing around him. Zone kept a watchful eye around them, intent on spotting any signs of the key, but the dwarf and the younger human had fallen several steps behind since the first contingent of six-legged Devils attacked.
"Funny," commented Caleb dryly, scratching at an already blistering area behind his neck. "You'd think the smell would drive them away."
Mulch whined very much like a spoilt child who was undergoing some form of lowly treatment he had never before experienced. "This is not fair. Who decided that Holly's team would get the lovely beach to do their searching?"
"We just decided on East and West, Mulch," Caleb fell an extra step behind, having some trouble clambering over a large boulder that completely blocked their path even though Mulch got past it without much difficulty.
"Well do your research next time!" came the disgruntled dwarf's voice from the path beyond the boulder.
"Ouch," grunted Caleb as he lost his grip on the large rock a second time. He tried scrambling over it again, and received even more painful scratches on his palms for his efforts. "Mulch, wait up!"
The dwarf didn't reply, probably in some childish attempt to punish him for getting them stuck with this part of the island.
Caleb assessed the space around him. How had Mulch made it over the giant rock so easily? He was a whole lot shorter...
Then, with a triumphant grin, he spotted a broad log some yards behind him. He retraced his steps, arrived at the log and crouched down to start rolling it. His expression of happiness didn't last long, and the log proved stubborn to move. Heaving, Caleb felt every muscle in his body strain yet didn't notice the slightest sliver of progress, so he soon found himself trying at every possible odd angle to get the thing to move. If he could just get it up to the boulder, he'd be able to clamber over it and get past that obstacle...or he could just shout to Zone or Mulch to give him a hand.
"Mulch!" he yelled another time. "Mulch, I'm sorry! Damn it!"
Caleb eyed the boulder bitterly. He really couldn't understand how the fairy had surpassed it and he couldn't. And now the annoying creature was ignoring his cries for help and a sense of awful despair was starting to take over him, along with several doubts and questions and, Heaven forbid, realizations.
Mulch isn't there anymore. He's long gone.
"Zone!" shouted Caleb, truly desperate this time. "Zone! Come on, man, I'm way behind you!"
He tried at the obstacle again. And again. Each time he lost either his grip or footing and on no try did he get so much as a glimpse of the road ahead, but he knew for certain that neither one of his companions were still within hearing distance. He only hoped they'd notice his absence and come back this way.
And just then, he heard voices. Coming from beyond the large, impending boulder. At first his hopelessness told him it was Mulch and Zone coming back, but as the voices neared he became infinitely glad he hadn't opened his mouth and given away where he was. It was definitely not two voices that he recognized.
"Ahh, D'Arvit, stupid rock is in the way," one of them noted languidly. "Are we gonna heave the crate over, pal?"
Caleb only took a couple of hasty steps back. That didn't sound like others looking for the key.
"Nah," came a gruff voice. "I'll climb over and you pass me the crate. Careful, now."
There was a bout of cussing from the other side, but a rather large human with a bristled chin and rippling muscles climbed onto the boulder and, not noticing him, held his hands out so that his partner, an equally well-built dwarf, could pass him a big wooden box that was sealed from all sides. He set the box down carefully on the ground, still not noticing him, and proceeded to help the dwarf over the obstacle.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
The gruff voice cut Caleb out of his absent thinking. Both strangers were staring him down with disapproving expressions. Caleb hoped it was just his imagination playing with him.
"Probably one of 'em village kids out for vengeance," the dwarf snorted. "You know, like that lil' girl last time who was convinced we kidnapped her brother."
At this the boy started. That did not sound good at all. Fear kept him rooted to the spot, still, and he found his legs refusing to run. His despondent mind knew that he wouldn't be able to outrun them anyway.
"He doesn't look like a village kid," the Mud Man squinted at him experimentally. "Fine specimen, I'll bet."
The dwarf barred huge blackened teeth in a grin. Mulch's own tombstone teeth looked a lot meeker in comparison. "You think the boss-man will pay for 'im, buddy?"
And that was when Caleb started to run. In his mind he had no idea just what the hell was going on, but instinct screamed danger at him and he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, so much so that he had kick off both shoes along the way, praying under his breath that he would lose these two before exhaustion took him.
And he might've, too. But somewhere along the way he was met with yet another fallen rock, smaller than the other one and something he vaguely remembered passing before, but the second he spent gaping hopelessly at it was all the time the man and the dwarf needed, having left the crate behind, to catch up to him and have him surrounded, ugly grins on their faces.
"Look, I'm just out for a walk and lost my...dad," he managed, hoping the mention of another adult would earn him some leverage. Anyway Zone could face these two off and annihilate them. He had to buy himself more time.
"Well, yer dad ain't gonna miss you, sonny," sneered the dwarf, before slapping a heavy patch soaked in chloroform across his face and making his world go dark.
"Miss Raine!" There were several knocks on the stable door, even though said door couldn't be locked and could be opened with just a little extra force.
Vinyayà rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked at her device before anything else. She'd looked, of course, to ensure that her shuttle hadn't been reeled back in, but what she found was an utterly unexpected piece of excellent news. There on a corner of the mini-screen sat a message with the words if you get this, status report? and Foaly's signature.
There was banging on the door again, and Vinyayà shut off her device, slipped her Neutrino into the holster on her hip and ensured it wasn't visible, before calling out, "Come in!"
"We brought you breakfast!" announced one of the kids, who had introduced himself to her last evening as Alfon.
The elf blinked in surprise, though she really should have expected this. "Thank you, Alfon. Everyone." She added, noting that two other familiar faces peeked into the stable with him. She accepted the meal of soft bread and butter, and consented to being in their company while she ate. After all, it was only a matter of thanks, and they had been most helpful ever since her arrival.
"So where do you come from?" Gina asked eagerly. The others nodded their approval of the question.
"Well..." started the Wing Commander, and faltered. She still couldn't afford to give away details, even if she had supplied them with her first name when asked. "It's quite far from here; I doubt you'll have heard of it."
"I've been as far as Logos," said Alfon, who was human, proudly. "I'm sure I'll know it."
"It's even beyond Logos, actually," invented the elf. "It's a...small town, quite hidden in a mountain area. Mostly fairies, though we occasionally do see humans around."
"Is it nice living there?" asked Gina's cousin. "I mean, Harpsichord island is quite a fun place, and they have a lot of celebrations here throughout the year."
"Well, where I come from there are a few celebrations, too," replied Vinyayà. "It's a nice place. Not as nice as your island, though. All we see everyday is just rocks, rocks, and more rocks."
The children giggled. "You probably travel often then, right?" asked Gina, grinning. "I know what it's like. I've been stuck in this city my whole life!"
No, you don't know what it feels like, thought Vinyayà. You've always lived on the surface, so you'll never know what it feels like. I hope so, for your sake.
Their breakfast-time chat was interrupted when Sahe, the other human boy, came rusing into the stable looking excited. "Miss Raine, I saw them!"
Vinyayà was instantly on her feet, even though she had yet to process this information. "Who?"
"The elves you were looking for," Sahe jabbed a finger back in one direction. "I called out to them, but they didn't hear. I'm sure they're the ones you were looking for!"
Vinyayà couldn't believe the way her luck had changed. First, contact with Foaly and now actual confirmation that Holly and Julius were alive, both in the same place.
"And...were they alone? They weren't with a large group, were they?" It was too good to be true that they weren't here as Opal's prisoners.
"Nope," said Sahe, who was by her estimate eight in human years. "There was this human with them, though, black hair, really pale-looking."
Artemis Fowl, she knew at once. The description, and the circumstances, fit well.
"I need to get to them," she was already on her way out the stable. Before she left, however, she turned back to the children and smiled again. "Thanks for everything. I'll never forget this help."
"Did you like the stable?" asked Gina's cousin doubtfully.
"Will we be seeing you again?" asked Alfon hopefully.
"It was great," she assured. "And probably, yes. See you later!"
D'Arvit, she thought to herself as she took off after Sahe, I think I'm starting to like kids.
Artemis, Holly and Root had covered most part of the coast without success, and now they ventured forth into a different part of the island; a large group of volcanic caves that ran deep and while both fairies in the group had immensely appreciated the natural miracle, Artemis had pointed out that if the caves weren't frequently explored, they would be a splendid place to hide something like the key. Root had promptly flashed him a threatening fist before following an excited Holly into one of the lava caves.
"Whose idea was it to bring the torches?" Root reminded them smugly as they explored every nook and corner of the cave with their flashlights. "And who insisted that there would be no use of torches in broad daylight?"
"I only said that once," protested Holly. "Because we were supposed to get back before dark."
"But the point remains. It's not dark and we need the torches."
"Sometimes, Commander..." The Major rolled her eyes and refrained from finishing the sentence.
The walls of the cave were smooth and dark, shaped by flows of lava over the centuries. There weren't many secretive corners that they could miss whilst they searched. It seemed increasingly unlikely that the caves would be a hiding place for anything, unless the thing was tucked into the furthest reaches of one of the tunnels and they couldn't risk missing the key having been so close to it.
"I wish I could do this more often," commented Holly lightly as she emerged back onto the main path after going through a tunnel on the side.
"What, play a hidden object game with Opal?" Artemis raised an eyebrow. "That's highly unusual even for you, Holly."
The elf rubbed her forehead, annoyed. "Not that, genius. Explore. Look around the surface."
"This is hardly the surface. It's a cave, in case you haven't noticed."
A well-deserved punch struck him hard in the arm. "Just shut up, Mud Boy. Let me enjoy this while it lasts."
Despite the punch that still hurt, Artemis couldn't help but chortle. "Goodness, you're enjoying this?"
He was spared yet another violent blow when Root ducked out of another tunnel. "I can hear you going at each other's throats from quite far away. Would you kindly shut it? Anyway, I think I just discovered something worth seeing."
"Everything on this island is worth seeing," Holly pointed out.
"What a wonderful world," commented Artemis sarcastically.
"I remember ordering a shut up," snapped Root. "And no, this is actually related to the key. Might be."
Both human and elf grew serious at this. Without another word of protest, they ducked under the small opening and made their way along a narrow path of the cave reminiscent of Mulch's tunnel. The journey was for the most part made on elbows and knees and Artemis fought the inherent urge to complain. Holly was directly in a position to kick him in the face. It would not be a wise choice. Just as it was starting to get claustrophobic, Root stumbled out of the other end and the two of them soon followed.
They groggily stood up to a sight that knocked the wind out of them. To Holly it was especially effective.
Because they stood on a broad ledge overlooking a vast pit in the cave, and while the ledge carved on downwards in spirals and looked more a red colour than black, it was the army of rock statues in the valley below that garnered all of the attention.
Freaks. Statues of Freaks. Hundreds of contorted, twisted humanoid figures clustered in one giant body frozen in volcanic rock, too detailed, too eerie for the eyes. And yet they were definitely statues, unmoving, unblinking, and completely lifeless. The stale scent of danger in the air had to be purely psychological. The only thing that looked positive about the whole setup was that they were quite far away from it, and could turn around and run if the need arose.
"Th...Those are..." Holly breathed. Memories were starting to flash across her mind. Recent, most unwelcome memories. "Artemis. We need to get out of here. Now."
Root didn't look entirely enlightened on the subject. "What's wrong? They're just statues."
Holly was already starting to step back the way they had come. "No, Commander. Those are Freaks. The monsters we told you about."
Realization widened Root's eyes and he fixed his gaze on the eerie stone figures a long way below. "But...they aren't the real thing, right? Statues."
"We don't know that," admitted Artemis uneasily, feeling the same sense of rising dread that Holly had been struck with. "In fact there isn't a whole lot we know about them. This could be some kind of ability they have, and a whole regiment of them here in one place on standby could only mean..."
"Koboi," Holly caught on. "D'Arvit, Koboi's got to be here."
"In search of the key," the human nodded. "But she won't be foiled this time; she brought along a lot of backup to ensure that."
"D'Arvit," said Holly again, quietly. "We can't face them off. We need to get out of here."
Root couldn't bring himself to look away. Even with the distance between them and the so-called Freaks, this was the stuff of nightmares. "If Koboi gets that key...and we don't..."
"Then we'll acquire the rest of the keys and see to get this one somehow, later," Artemis stared down at the stone-still army of monsters. "We need to get off this island."
"At least the desert didn't have this many," muttered Holly, crouching back into the tunnel they had come from. She turned around and beckoned them on. Artemis didn't have to be told twice but Root remained fixed to the spot, utterly incapable of ripping his eyes away from the multitude of monstrosity below. There was sweat forming on his brow for some reason or the other; something to do with the volcano, he assumed. And his entire frame trembled. Maybe the ground was shaking. Surely it could have nothing at all to do with...
A bout of raucous laughter echoed down one of the tunnel entrances to another ledge below them, and Root instinctively pressed himself back against the cave wall. Artemis crawled through to the mouth of the tunnel and looked for the source of the noise. Sweat trickled down his brow as well.
"I...know that voice," breathed the Commander. "Koboi."
"Ahh, you are one hilarious mess, Deputy," the voice purred from a little way down below them, and now Root and Artemis could both make out the figure of a pixie female dressed in a black jumpsuit with violet streamlines, balancing dangerously on the lip of the ledge with childish glee as she spoke to a second figure. "You should really shoot whoever it was that gave you that tip. Mascara as lip shiner! Revolting!"
The second figure, taller, imperially slim and without a doubt human, wore a blue jumpsuit and a plain white mask that completely hid her face. Her hair had bright streaks of red running through with the black. "Yes, Queen Opal," her voice was so quiet that they almost didn't catch it.
Her subjects refer to her as Queen, despite their situation, Artemis raised an eyebrow. And people say I have ego problems.
"Greetings, my lovelies," Opal called down at the pit where the stone army remained stationary. "I'm afraid I couldn't ask earlier. How much of havoc did you manage to wreak upon Atlantis?"
Root felt every ounce of his being stiffen and the colour drain from his skin.
Opal kept right on grinning at the stone figures, didn't get any visible response, but clicked her tongue and giddily walked a circle around the ledge.
"She's insane," said Root through gritted teeth, clenching his fists. "I swear by king Frond that she's going to regret the day she was born!"
"Quiet," hissed Artemis, but he had a bad feeling that the damage was already done. Sure enough, Koboi and her masked companion were starting to look around themselves cautiously. Actually, Opal had on her face an expression of real interest.
Holly made her way back down the tunnel and asked in hushed tones just what the hell was going on.
"Found you!" Opal laughed a loud, menacing laugh that spread across the entire broad column of cave as her eyes settled exactly on the ledge they remained hidden on. She then narrowed her eyes testily, a slow grin coming over her lips. "Before you show yourselves, can I guess how many of you there are?"
Holly fell back in alarm, utterly unexpecting of this, but Root took it upon himself to step boldly–stupidly, Artemis clenched his teeth– to the front and stare Koboi down coldly. She showed clear surpsie at the sight of him, but the grin didn't die away. Opal crossed her arms and tried to look disappointed.
Artemis felt the ground actually tremble under his feet, and his gaze travelled down towards the valley of frozen Freaks. Not frozen anymore. He could just make out the sight of rock and ash falling away as the things covered in them started to stir.
"I wanted to guess, Julius," Opal pouted. "But no matter. You're still outnumbered!"
Caleb's unconscious form had been roughly lagged around further mountainous landscapes using the firm wooden crate as a carrier, and he had been taken through dizzy paths and difficult turns, cutting angles and past uninhabited areas of thicket, so when he at last awoke he found every ligament of his body threatening to tear and his muscles sore, aching, demanding that they'd get to rest.
Immediately recalling the day's events, he forgot the pain completely and bolted upright, only to find himself in an iron bed-frame with no mattress confined to grey coloured walls. But even though these surroundings were utterly unfamiliar, his eyes caught sight of something that gave him hope; the walls didn't completely cut him off from the outside world. There was a narrow door through which dust riding in sunlight poured in.
He wanted to jump over the frame and make a dash for it, but even the movement of slinging his feet over the side of the frame triggered an unbearable throbbing in his legs and back, and there was a rational voice in his head saying that there wasn't freedom around anyway. Why would they make it so easy for him?
He reached into his hair to give his protesting head a massage, but his fingers found a thick, outstanding line on his scalp that had never been there before. Shakily, he started to trace it to the back of his head. He found the tail end of a stitch.
Forgetting all purpose of safety, Caleb screamed.
"Caleb? Caleb! D'Arvitting Mud Boy," Mulch grunted, hopping back down from the tall rock. "I'm sorry, big guy, but my eyesight doesn't even stretch very far."
Zone's only response to that was a deathly scowl that sent the dwarf scrambling up another rock to resume his search.
It had only been half an hour since Mulch had last seen the boy, but they both knew that it was going to be a big miracle if, when they found him, he would be completely unhurt. They were competing with someone as ruthless as Opal Koboi with something as dangerous as the Freaks to back her up; hell, it would be a luxury to even think that Zone's charge had merely gotten himself lost.
"We'll head back," said Zone in his fully neutral voice. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes themselves bore intense anger and worry in them, but his voice remained what it had always been. Undefinable. In fact, Mulch thought, this was perhaps the sixth time ever he had heard the large Mud Man talk. They retraced their steps, but it was a painfully slow process as every time they had to look around, venture some distance into either the surrounding forest or up the tremendous crags calling out Caleb's name and hanging around long enough to know for sure that there had been no response. Eventually they had searched for what felt like hours on end, spending long stretches of time in every individual place, and had yet to come across any evidence of the missing boy. They had just overcome one particularly large boulder when the first and only clue presented itself.
"Er...Mud Man, you're not going to like this..."
Zone impatiently made his way forward and brushed the dwarf aside to get a look at what he had found. He froze on the spot.
A pair of weathered slip-on shoes, upturned, a fair distance apart from each other, stared back at him.
"Now you know that running is useless," said the old man smugly, crossing his legs and smirking at him from the chair at his bedside. He wore a filthy lab coat lookalike and possessed a drab, unruly head of white hair and a pair of thin spectacles that barely sat on his nose. He looked inquisitive, like a bird of prey, and at the same time he looked merciless.
Caleb didn't even have the willpower to scowl. He just looked up with glaring eyes because the new bruises on his face didn't allow for anything else.
"Though I must say, you put up quite a struggle," the man continued, shrugging. "Managed to wind one of my strong men too, before you tried to run. Wastoch was right; you're a fine specimen."
Caleb ripped his gaze away and turned to face the wall against which the iron bed frame was pressed. If his body had hurt before from exhaustion, that hurt was long gone and now it hurt purely because of the beating he had received when he tried to run. There were gashes on his skin now, too, and blood on his lips and collar. He had refused to let the man clean it up and, even though he had fully expected it, not received another lashing for his insolence. Zone is coming for you, he thought sourly. All of you. And you're going to wish you'd never laid your filthy hands on me.
"Do you want to know why we stitched up your head?"
Caleb didn't turn to face him.
The man sighed. "Alright, do you want to know where you are? Who we are? Why you should be afraid of us?"
"I know," Caleb managed to spit out. "You're a bunch of sick lunatics who sell children or some shit. You should be afraid."
The guy in the filthy coat laughed. He laughed so hard that he was clutching at his sides, Caleb saw because he looked over his shoulder, and he actually ended up wiping a sordid tear off his cheek. He looked at the boy with a maniacal grin.
"Sell children?" the man asked gently, in stark contrast to the expression on his face. "Dear boy, how very close you are. No. But we have no business in selling children."
Caleb brought his chin to chest and didn't look the other way. "Witchcraft? Voodoo rubbish?"
"Nothing so dramatic," the man reached into a satchel that was slung around his shoulder. "Just organ trade."
Caleb felt his heart leapt to his throat, startled, and turned to the man with wide, fearful eyes. To his absolute horror the guy was holding some sort of scalpel, unsterilized, blood at its tip. What was he going to do? What...no, that's ridiculous. What the hell would he manage to accomplish with such a tiny set of tools?
"You didn't ask, but I'm sure you want to know why we cut and stitched up your head," the man sounded quiet now, commanding. "Truthfully, we weren't intending on...damaging you so soon. That was the work of my stupid assistant. He has a thing for brains and the like, even though many orders don't come through for those."
Bile rose up his throat now. He didn't hold it back. Caleb crawled over to the edge of the frame and gagged. He hurriedly wiped off the stuff from his chin, detecting that it was mixing with the blood from his lip, and asked without the initial bravery, "He...tried to...my brain?"
"Full blooded idiot, he is," snorted the man. "Be thankful that we saved you. Had the stitch sewed up and my assistant dragged away whining."
His breaths came in heaves, now. He was afraid. As afraid as he had been when Ethos had beckoned to him, but while Ethos could be overpowered with the mind, these circumstances couldn't. He needed more than willpower. He needed Zone, and Mulch, and Holly and Artemis. And even more than that he needed his mother. Now more than ever.
"First thing to go, the kidneys," announced the man as if it was an announcement he made everyday. He stood out of his chair and straightened his coat. "Consider yourself privileged. This is between the two of us, but the order comes from a Logos ruling class family. I do hope you don't fall sick anytime during your brief stay."
And with that he was left alone, which he was glad for, but despondent and without much hope to hold onto as even the sunlight streaming through the open door started to fade ever so slightly, little by little, until it became apparent that hours had passed and no help was coming.
They scrambled out of the other end of the tunnel and for just one precious moment, all was fine. But the harrow noises of the Freaks were starting to cut the walls around them and Koboi's laughter rang in their ears. Suddenly, the tunnel-mouth broke into rubble bits and two of the long-limbed, twisted creatures hunched in their path, blocking the small bit of light that came from outside the caves.
Root turned around and made a dash the other way, further into the cave, Holly and Artemis following rapidly behind him. But the Freaks did not hurry. Their noises alone chased them.
Turning into a broad segment of the cave, they came across several tunnel mouths of which some would be dead ends and others would lead to other caves. There was no time for thinking. Hands clamped over his ears, Root dove into the nearest one, Holly took a smaller one, crawled a few feet in and tore open her pack for the earmuffs they'd made use of in the desert earlier. Once she had them on all sound faded into the distance, and she could think and see with clarity what was going on around them.
The Commander was visible to her, ears covered and head cradled in his arms, resisting the high-pitched screech of Ethos. But she couldn't see Artemis. He had headphones, though, didn't he? And it had worked for him before...
Slow applause arrived down the main cave and Holly could see Opal's boots, and her hands on her hips as she admiringly watched on something ahead of her. Another pair of feet joined her. Holly couldn't make out what they were saying, but it instant became obvious that Artemis was currently cornered and probably succumbing to the lure of Ethos already.
Acting purely on impulse, Holly drew out one of the human pistols they'd purchased in Gilemo earlier and fired at the pixie's feet. Opal jumped, managing to avoid it, but Holly used this distraction to launch herself out of the tunnel mouth and herald towards her. She knocked the pixie off the ground, giving rise to a colourful string of cursing, and fired again at the two Freaks who blocked her sight of the human genius. The noise stopped emanating from them. They slowly turned to look at her.
Holly could feel her fingers trembling at just the sight of the creatures. It was an automatic response that triggered in her brain. Fear. Wanting to just quit knowing she couldn't win anyway.
That was when Root stepped into the scene and lunged at the Freaks, his senses completely open to their attacks, but Holly was astounded beyond belief when he latched himself to the gnarled back of one and put on it enough weight to drop it on its undefined knees. It lashed out at him with its talons, but Root seemed to have prepared and dodged the first strike. The Freak tore off the flesh from its own back.
"Stop staring!" Opal shouted at her human companion. "Do something!"
The other woman drew out a blaster and aimed it directly at Holly. But she hesitated. It was all the time the elf needed to fire at her and then make a run for where Root struggled with one Freak and Fowl shut his ears tightly against the screeches of the other. One look at the situation told her she was overpowered.
"I'll need to borrow that," said Holly, and fired for the Deputy's weapon. It flew out of her fingers and Holly leapt fast to retrieve it, immediately firing at the Freak who occupied Artemis. It crumpled to the ground, not dead but damaged, and just as Artemis removed his hands from his ears she aimed at the Freak who struggled with Root on its back. But it wasn't staying still. It was violently twisting and turning, and she was more than likely to hit her Commander instead.
More Freaks arrived. Many more. Their shadows fell over her and they completely blocked off any form of retreat, the path, the tunnels included. Opal groggily got to her feet and wiped off a speck of dirt from her cheek.
"Finish them off," she snarled. "Send every one of them to Ethos."
The earmuffs did nothing against the collective screech that followed. Holly still held onto the blaster tight and pointed it at Opal, but her fingers were even more shaky now. She dropped to her knees as well. She was starting to loose all coherency of her surroundings.
"Queen Opal," said the masked human quietly, fixing in a pair of earbuds that blocked out the noise. "Don't you think it would be better...a little more dramatic, perhaps..."
Opal raised a barely patient eyebrow. "You keep right on disappointing me, Kyre. This had better not be a stupid suggestion."
The woman known as Kyre silently related her idea. Looking pleased, Opal ordered her monsters to stop.
Caleb woke up to the feeling of rough fingers gently rinsing the dirt from his face. His first reflex was to draw back violently and shout, "I told you not to touch me!"
The fingers withdrew at once. It was only then that his eyes managed to focus.
Before him knelt a girl of about seven with wide black eyes and an even more battered face than his. She had short, cropped brown hair and wore a dress that had faced mud, dust and dirt and lived to tell the tale. She looked frightened from when he had shouted at her.
He instantly felt bad. "I'm sorry. I thought you were one of them."
The girl bit her lip.
"Don't cry," he pleaded gently, taking her hand. "It's alright. I'm sorry."
She finally spoke in a soft voice. "When did they bring you?"
"Just today. This morning," he looked about, and noted that nighttime had yet to fall. It was still the dull glow of evening that came in through the open door. "How did you..."
"I go everywhere," whispered the girl. "They don't notice unless they need me. Come."
Caleb shook his head. "Last time I tried to run away this happened to me."
"Don't run away," said the girl simply. "You can't run away. But you can walk about."
"I don't think..."
But she was already headed out the door, and he suddenly feared being alone again. He willed himself to stand on the ground and took shaky steps after her. But his pace improved with each step, and he felt inexplicably much better. He eventually took the reluctant step out the door, but was shocked to find no guards stationed outside. But a strong and revolting smell struck his nostrils and he covered them, looking around and ready to puke.
"Don't look that way!" the girl grabbed his hand. "Those are the...the..."
"Harvested organs?" guessed Caleb, trying not to be sick.
She didn't respond to that and continued to guide him through the camp instead. Caleb noted with disgust these...brutes happened to live quite ordinary-looking lives, because the camp was a village of several brick houses, a patch for vegetable farming, a small barn and a fence that surrounded all of it. A heavily fortified fence of barbed wire along which several burly men, dwarfs and gnomes stood sentry, but even these guards didn't notice them as they walked through the compound.
"What's your name?" he asked, attempting at normal conversation that didn't revolve around escaping confinement or illegal organ harvesting. They walked past a couple of fenced houses now, and Caleb caught a glimpse of the white-haired man from earlier within one and quickened his pace.
"Sona," the girl said, looking up at him. She still held his hand timidly.
Caleb managed a smile. "I like that. Sounds exotic."
Sons blinked. "Ex-what?"
"Er...exotic. You know, like all cultural and cool?" They were well past the fenced houses now, and for that he was grateful. "I'm Caleb, by the way."
She smiled brilliantly for the first time. "Nice to meet you!"
This is a right royal mess I've gotten myself into, his thoughts from earlier started creeping back under his skin as they hurried past yet another patch of foul-smelling air. How on earth is anyone going to find me? I didn't even leave anything behind, so there's literally no clue–wait a minute. Is she...?
The little girl looked happy now, walking with her hand in his, but the very state of her dress and the dirt encrusting her features made it all too clear that her situation wasn't very much different from his.
"Were you taken too?" he blurted, before he could consider the question.
Sona looked at him sharply, the smile on her face gone. She looked hurt that he would even mention it in the first place.
"Sona, wait!" he called desperately as the girl let go of his hand and ran off in another direction. He couldn't possibly hope to catch up in his beaten state. He watched despairingly as she disappeared behind the curtain of a small thatched hut.
He snapped to look behind him when he heard chuckling.
"That one," the white-haired man shook his head. "Is quite a character, huh?"
Caleb gritted his teeth and stumbled back. "Get away from me, you psycho!"
"Got her a month ago," continued the man conversationally, unfazed. "Then orders for one kidney and a pair of ovaries. But how is she to go on without those organs, hm? It's better if she remained with us and continued to assist people who can afford to live."
"You're a bloody psychopath!" shouted Caleb, losing his resolve entirely. He dove straight into the man, knocking him to the ground, but he was soon apprehended, struggling, by two of the guards who'd stood at his house. Caleb thrashed and kicked at the air, trying lividly to free himself and strike another blow, but his strength was depleted and he didn't make any progress. The man slowly got to his feet and looked him in the eye.
"Can't keep a client waiting," he stated calmly. Then, to the guards, "Strap him to my table. I'll be down in about thirty minutes."
"I hope you burn in hell!" Caleb called after him, inflamed. "And I hope you burn in Ethos before that!"
There was a pleasant sea breeze in his face when Artemis came to, but it didn't feel all that pleasant for long. Sharp talons digged into his sides, causing him to hiss with pain, and when he managed to crack his eyes open he wished he had just not done so.
Holly, only conscious enough to continually curse Koboi under her breath was in the same position as him, as was Commander Root who had enough energy in him to yell rather than mutter under his breath. That position being dangling over a particularly wide cliff surface overlooking the rocks against which the sea battered, held out by the large talons of a Freak each. Was Opal going to issue an order to drop them? Surely not; Ethos would be a worse torment than breaking their necks.
He couldn't see Koboi as she spoke. "How does it feel, Artemis, to have met your match?" she asked teasingly. "Pardon me, not your match. I am brighter than you ever were by a thousandfold. Isn't that right, Kyre?"
Artemis's eyes widened.
Kyre?
"Yes, Queen Opal," replied the woman, almost inaudible.
Ideas started to flash through his mind. Help was at hand then, definitely. And hadn't it been Kyre's idea to do this rather than have them trapped in Ethos? She had a plan. She had to have a plan.
It all instantly became clear. Why Koboi's human companion had been so quiet and had let Holly get ahold of her gun that easily.
"Oh, and you're smarter than you sound, too," Koboi assured her. "After all, I didn't even think how much more fun it would be to trap them in Ethos with broken necks!"
Artemis almost rolled his eyes at the reversed twist of fate. He was mistaken then. And this was one of the absolute worst occasions to be proven wrong. "Just get on with it, Opal."
Opal snorted. "Get on with it? This is my moment, Mud Man. You'll pay for that."
She nodded at the Freaks. "Start it."
The three of them instantly winced and gritted their teeth as the high-pitched screeches pierced their eardrums. There was no guarding it this time, their arms were held tightly bound; Artemis already felt the deathly lure of Ethos. His surroundings were rapidly shifting, his world was turning and the sea breeze started to turn into a spitting gas. He blinked his eyes open to a new landscape. The sound was still pummeling his head.
Sickly, cracked earth, crevasses, pits, green smoke. Here there were darker columns of gas shaped out like buildings, looming in the distance, and rippling skies of terrifying hues. There was a lot of wailing, the source of which he couldn't tell, and several more otherworldly noises joined in with Freaks' screeching. He told himself not to believe it, not to trust anything his eyes fed him; Ethos could be escaped on willpower, after all. This was a battle of wits he couldn't afford to lose. But somewhere in the real world, he was about to have his skull smashed onto large rocks from a great height, watched on by his nemisis and her backup crew of ten other monsters, and there was nothing he could do about that–
Something else sounded in the air around them and Artemis found his eyes snapping open to the real world. No more green gases and rapid clouds. He was still facing the sea beyond and the evening that was dawning across the sky, but the Freaks' noises had definitely stopped and he could hear something like blaster fire from behind him.
The Freak holding onto him suddenly turned on its heels, dropped him onto the hard cliff surface and surged forward to where the fight was taking place. Artemis only found it within his capabilities to stare, unable now to believe what his eyes were feeding him.
Beside him Holly, who had also been dropped, got to her feet and went for the Freak that still held Root in semi-consciousness. She grabbed at its legs and made it fall twistedly on the ground beside him and Artemis jerked back just in time to avoid being fallen on. Root groaned and Holly rolled the Freak off of him. Then she looked back up at the incredible battle that was unfolding on the safer end of the cliff.
An elf in LEP gear with a prominent mane of stark silver hair kept on firing at Opal's Freaks without pause. They had surrounded her now, and their screeches were all directed at her, but it had absolutely no effect and she continued to blast them all down with a standard model Neutrino. Kyre and Opal were both gone now and reinforcements of Freaks did not come. Once she had taken down the ten backup as well as the three that had held them before, she didn't have any more left to fight. None of them were dead, only knocked out for the time being; the elf seemed to know this and fired two shots each at the twitching, defeated forms that lied in piles around her.
One of the Freaks lifted its head enough to start the mournful howling again but it received a blast directly in its featureless face and it fell back, limp.
The elf with the Neutrino suddenly crumpled to the ground and Holly rushed forward, but then she looked up, winced in pain and muttered that she'd live.
"Wing Commander–" started Holly disbelievingly. "That was...that...you took out all of them!"
Vinyayà hissed again as a hot surge of pain shot through her midriff, but she met Holly and grunted, "D'Arvitting claws had me there. Let me heal, Major."
Realizing that he was being of little use, Artemis allowed Root to lean on him and stand up, and the older elf gave him an incredulous look. "Did your black magic thing again?"
Artemis lead him over to where the newcomer was trying to kickstart her healing magic, and failing. It clicked to him that just like Root, she too would've lost her magic when she arrived here.
In his injured state, Root almost did a double-take. "Raine?!"
Vinyayà met his eyes, but when she spoke she didn't address him in particular. "My magic isn't working."
"That happened to me too," said Root, still looking shocked. "How did you get here? Was it...Koboi? Same thing she did with me and Holly?"
"She..." the female elf allowed Holly to support her up. "Left an opening. We can get back to Haven if we hurry."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we do need to hurry," Artemis was already taking Root's weak form away despite the older elf's protests. "Opal has an entire army inside the caves. I don't see why she wouldn't use it."
Mulch and Zone had taken the whole of the afternoon to trace the only clue that had been left, and this proved extremely difficult and directionless right up until they'd come across a path of wet earth leading into the forest where two sets of footprints had deeply embedded. It could be a completely false trail, they were certain of it, but there was little other option left.
The path had taken through the most confounding of routes, as if it was made difficult by deliberation. It was evening by the time they arrived at what looked like the wrong destination for all their trials– there was no way Opal or her people would be holding him captive in an ordinary looking village that didn't have much for defenses.
"You don't think that's odd?" asked Mulch, just as they turned back the way they'd come.
"What's odd?" questioned Zone in his gravelly notes.
"How heavily guarded that village is. There was a barbed wire fence and sentries everywhere."
Zone regarded him like he was insane. "There was nothing of the sort."
Mulch raised an eyebrow. "How could you have possibly missed it? There was one village on the right that looked pretty useless, and this one on the left looking like some major government secret is hidden in there–"
Zone turned around and headed back in long, determined strides. It was true; he'd only seen one of the villages. This one he'd completely missed. Mulch was right; barbed wire, sentries, some carrying arms; and he finally felt he had found his charge.
"B-But you can't just run in there!" started Mulch.
"I'm not going to just run in there," Zone said, a little irately. He pulled the earmuffs over his head.
So this is how it's going to end, Caleb found himself thinking. They're going to remove me, piece by piece, until I have nothing left to live on and be of no use to them.
The guards had strapped him too tightly to the table, stirrups holding down his ankles and flat rope pinning his chest so that all he saw was the steel grey ceiling and the single bright light suspended above his face.
He didn't feel panicked anymore, though. All he could think of was Sona, the little girl who had undergone much worse and survived. He didn't want to imagine how many more had had the same thing done to them and not made it out alive–or even sane, he would understand that. He felt sure that he would lose his mind if this were to happen a couple more times.
The silhouette of a face appeared before the light that burned his eyes.
"Get on with it, Doctor," he groaned. "Could you just wash your hands first?"
A surprisingly sweet voice answered, a littler offendedly. "Why do you keep thinking I'm him?"
Caleb gaped. "Sona!"
She placed a finger to her lips. Dumbfounded, he only nodded and watched in amazement as she utilized one of the sharp tools on the surgical desk beside them to cut at his bonds.
"What are you doing here? It's dangerous, you're going to get into trouble if they see you!"
"If I was alone," she said, a twinkle in her eyes. "But with you, we might escape. I though I would never get out of here, but today when I saw you attack the doctor..."
Despite being fully conscious of the repercussions of that hope, Caleb couldn't help but smile. "No, Sona. You gave me hope, just now."
He forced his aching legs off the table when all the stirrups fell apart. He didn't waste more than a minute rubbing his pained wrists, though, and followed the little girl as soon as she started heading for whatever the way was out of this basement.
They made their way through a long passage with sparse lighting and stone walls–it was empty, but their footfalls echoed and Caleb couldn't shake off the creeping sensation of being watched. Of walking into a trap.
Suddenly Sona stopped. She dodged sideways into a hole that lacked a door, dark and completely devoid of light, but when he heard footfalls that weren't a child's he hurriedly leapt in after her, throat constricted, heart and mind's eye unimaginably fearful.
From their still perch in the inky blackness, they closed their eyes and held their breaths as the imminent danger passed on, and although they caught no glimpse of it, it could only be the doctor and his people. There was no help or good from these quarters. The only good souls in the entire area happened to be the ones in hiding.
Now? Caleb gestured. The girl waited a moment, pensive, but then took his hand and cautiously stepped out into the little bit of lighting that the basement offered. And just then a shout echoed from far down the passage. The empty table had been discovered.
Sona ran, her knuckles turning white around his, and Caleb needed only to rely on his fear to take him forward. His breath shuddered in his ears while his running feet were disturbingly quiet. He did not look back.
They ran and the shouts followed them. They reached stairs, and a speck of nighttime from above. The exit. Their way out.
"Go, go, go!" Caleb ushered the girl before him and followed fast on her heels. It was a brief flight of stairs, very brief; but to him it felt like the longest run of his life. They could not have reached apparent freedom any sooner.
"They'll get you!" panted Sona, grabbing at his sleeve once again, and the dying rational part of his brain explained that running straight for the barricade was not a wise idea. He followed her without a word of question. He was certain that the doctor and possibly ten of his men were behind them now, but he followed without question. She knows this village, the rational part said. She'll know where to hide, too.
"In there," the six-year-old went straight for and into a small house with an open door and its lights on. His feet faltered as his brain shot warning signals. Surely...not...
There was a cry from the bend leading to their road, primal instinct took over again, and he ran headlong into what he subconsciously knew was a terrible idea. Inside the house he was met with yellow light and a rapidly blinking face of an unfamiliar woman. Sona peeped from behind a badly worn wooden door and frantically beckoned. Continuing to stare strange down with wide eyes, Caleb followed her.
From outside he heard the door lock and a drawer bang. They stood inside a cramped, dusty storage room, and the little girl's finger was pressed to her lips.
Time passed. Ages.
Then there were voices just outside the door.
"Children?" asked a woman's voice, trembling. "N-No, sir."
"No?" asked a skeptical, merciless voice that they both knew too well. "What's all the shaking for?"
"I...I just..."
A new voice sprung up. "'Fraid of the sight of us, I bet," it smirked. "She can't do nothin'–"
"Search the house, you imbecile!" shouted the doctor. "And you, woman. Heaven forbid if this is a lie–"
Chairs were dragged. Curtains ripped open. And then doors were tried.
Sona gasped, but Caleb clamped a hand over her mouth just in time.
"Boss, this one's locked!"
Caleb turned his eyes the other way and prepared for the worst. Yet again he could only bring himself to think of the little girl, and the difficult short life she had lived, and everything her future, if any, would lack...while he had only just been introduced to this horror. While almost all of the thirteen years of his life had been spent fishing in the streams that ran through Logos across commercial roads like railway lines, and standing by his mother shouting words of praise for the rebellion when they lost that homeland. Trekking the mountain regions of distant countries, jumping off cliffs into cold, welcoming waters, and having his friends and his loyal bodyguard by his shoulder every time. His life had been all fun. Hers, the distinct haunting in her eyes told him, had been nothing like that.
Several hands tried the doorknob. Weak and loose though it was, it held, and at last the hands were withdrawn.
"Where's the key?"
The woman whimpered in reply.
"Damn it, woman, where's the blasted key?!"
"I...In the...cupboard."
"You think!" snorted the doctor. "Wastoch, get to it!"
Wood being torn off the wall. Ceramic breaking.
"There's a ring, boss."
"Which key is it?"
"I...I don't know."
"Try everything," snapped the boss. "Try every bloody key."
The doorknob rattled unbearably. Sona clutched to his shirt as if he could protect her from what was coming.
It rattled.
And stopped, as the key was changed.
It rattled again.
Stopped.
Aggressively now.
"Nothing works," grunted the man. "They're all broken."
"They're not broken, you fool. The lot of you, alert the guards at the fences. That kid is somewhere in this village and I will see to it that he never thinks of escape again."
The door was slammed, the front door. Everything descended into quiet.
"Miss Amarie," breathed Sona, when the door was opened carefully. She ran into the woman's open arms.
"Don't worry," she whispered, stroking the little girl's dirt-plastered locks. "They can't get you. I won't let them."
"Uh, Miss..." started Caleb shakily. "I have to thank you–"
"Don't," cut the woman with surprising firmness. "My husband is one of the nitwits serving under that man and I owe you this much for all you've been through."
"Thank you," finished Caleb anyway. "Thank you so much."
The small house around them bore the impression of one that had been hit by a hurricane and stood. There were broken white plates on the floor and upturned chairs, disarrayed cushions, limply hanging curtains. A cupboard that been previously fixed to the wall now lay, hinges broken, on the back of a toppled sofa. Caleb took this in and instantly felt terrible. Here they had caused this woman nothing but disaster–
"I AM NOT GOING TO REPEAT! WHERE IS HE?!"
He froze. Everyone else did, but only he recognized that voice.
"Zone!" cried Caleb, suddenly elated, suddenly unafraid. Because wherever his longstanding friend and guardian was, he would always be safe. He ran excitedly to the window and uncaring now if the doctor or his men saw him, looked through and yelled in delight. Dumbfounded, Sona stood up beside him and Miss Amarie didn't look quite certain how to react.
The giant manservant had left behind him a frenzy of bodies still living but with broken bones and now held two gnomes of a lesser stature in each veined fist. Neither fairy managed an answer. Their heads were smashed together and their unconscious forms were thrown aside like paper balls.
Mulch arrived on-scene, panting. "I can't find him. There are more of these thugs on the other side."
"You," Zone towered over the imbecile from before. "Do you know where the boy is? Think before you lie to me."
The big man looked like he might stutter. And he did, when he replied.
"H-He got away, I s-swear!"
"Ooh, let me," Mulch grinned a sadistic grin. Zone stepped away, frowning, but his eyes widened with alarm when he got the gist of what the dwarf meant.
"Diggumms, no–"
"Just cover your own nose," Mulch rolled his eyes, and opened his bum flap in the guard's face.
"PLEASE, I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE–"
Caleb's heart and mind felt such tremendous joy at seeing his friends again in a moment like this that it didn't even occur to him to prepare for the tirade of foul-smelling dwarf gas that followed. But it didn't affect him much thanks to the distance–just a stab of wooziness he could cope with.
"Someone would have raised the alarm by now," said Mulch matter-of-factly when he noted that the guy had passed out. "We gotta find him fast."
"Here!" shouted Caleb, already in the process of climbing out the window. "Come on, Sona. That's another thing hope looks like!"
Author's Note; 13K words in this one! You won't believe how difficult it was to find time; one hour on two Saturday evenings and the couple of minutes I got free from relatives at a family wedding was what it took to eventually produce this. Please leave me a review; writing this chapter was an experience in itself.
Coming up next; the final Key is all or nothing, but is there even worse to come?