Monty's Master – Part 15

The lobby was even busier that morning, but they should have known that Doctor Bringdown wouldn't wait another moment.

"Maybe Ash knows where he went," suggested Monty.

Perry shook his head. "It's against the rules to reveal personal information about other guests. She could lose her job."

Monty glanced at the tourists swarming in front of the reception desk, jingling keys or pulling large wheelie bags behind them.

"Just leave it to me."

Perry didn't like the tone of his voice. If this was another one of his big ideas to hook him up with Aashritha then he should have let him know that would have been a waste of time for a number of reasons, but Monty was already making his way through the agitated crowd.

"Oh hi guys!" said Aashritha as soon as she caught sight of them.

Perry walked over, dodging to avoid having his skull pierced by a hasty old lady.

"I'd like to chat, but this might not be the best time," Aashritha said, taking the key from the old lady's hand.

"Oh, that's okay," Monty said. "We just wanted to ask you something real quick."

Aashritha looked up at him.

"Did you happen to see a man with curly hair, freckles, and big glasses pass by today?"

"Oh yeah, now that you mentioned it; I thought there was something odd about him. Why? You know him?"

"Well, you could put it that way," Perry said, racking his brain for a plausible explanation.

"Yeah, he's our friend's dad!" declared Monty, taking out his flip phone.

He showed Aashritha a selfie of a winking Monty pulling a rather startled-looking Carl into a half embrace.

"Wow, the resemblance is uncanny," said Aashritha.

"I know, right?" said Monty.

"He's also our archeology professor," added Perry. "We were supposed to meet with him today, but Michael overslept and we have no idea where he went."

Monty slipped his phone back into his pocket, sending Perry a reproachful look.

"Oh, can't you just call him?" asked Aashritha.

"Yeah, Mr. Bringdown is a big old-timer," said Monty. "I don't even think he knows how to type 911."

"Yeah, we should probably find him quick," Perry said.

Aashritha bit her lip, and seemed to recall their encounter with the bar gang the other day because she quickly said, "Of course! He did ask how to get to the palace."

"The palace?" Perry asked.

"Oh, really just a couple of old ruins. Sorry I couldn't take you there yesterday."

"That's fine," Perry said. "It was still a... memorable experience."

Aashritha flashed him a knowing smile.

"Anyway, we shouldn't keep you," Perry said, rubbing his arm after being elbowed by a stumpy man in a bathing suit.

Getting out of the crowd proved to be even more difficult than getting in, and Monty almost tripped over a beach bag.

"Hey, good thinking there," Perry told him.

The look of utter shock on Monty's face slowly turned into a bright grin.

Perry watched him carefully. Was this really the first time he had ever paid Monty a compliment? Perhaps he should have done something about that.

True to Aashritha's words, whether the ancient stones strewn above the barren ground had once been a palace was hard to tell.

The brick wall behind which they lurked was uneven and incomplete, not to mention covered in graffiti and obscene messages. Not only was it shunned by tourists, but it seems that the only people who visited the site were the locals who still held a grudge against the Snake King.

Anyone else might have wondered what Bringdown could be doing amid those stone circles and spirals, mere outlines, blotted out by time as by a giant eraser, of what had no doubt once been impenetrable towers.

And he wasn't alone either. Several massive men with walrus masks and bare chests covered in tattooed runes were determined to check every nook and cranny, leaving no stone unturned.

"Now what?" asked Monty. "If these are the guys Carl was talking about, they probably know how to fight better than those guys at the bar!"

Perry had to agree with him. Although he didn't know much about Calder the Cleft, he probably hadn't earned his reputation for writing love poems or for his amazing musical voice, at least if the long swords that Bringdown's henchmen dragged through the sand were any indication.

"Whatever the case, we have to act fast," he said, watching through the crack between two bricks as the doctor stopped in front of a round, flat stone, vaguely resembling a plinth. "We need a distraction."

"I have an idea!" Monty said, pulling about five colorful firework rockets from his backpack.

"Are you cheerleaders always so into pyrotechnics?" Perry asked, giving him a somewhat concerned look.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Monty asked, pulling a lighter from his pocket. "And people say it's just for girls!" He planted the fireworks in the ground and lit them all in one move, taking a couple steps back.

"No, wait!" Perry said.

He probably should have started with that, as there was nothing left to do now but watch as the fireworks were launched into the sky, exploding into a blaze of color under the puzzled gazes of the Norse men who abandoned their search at once.

Doctor Bringdown frantically glanced around, then pointed at the wall.

Perry sighed. "You go that way," he whispered to Monty.

The masked men split into two groups and approached the fragmented wall from both ends. They jumped to the other side together, swords pointed forward, only to lower them again when they found no one there. They looked at each other in confusion, yet none of them noticed Perry jump out from behind, using the back of the last man in line as a ramp to launch himself toward the others. He stepped on their shoulders, kicking heads and dodging sword points.

"Uh, Agent P, a little help, please? This mountain troll just won't budge!"

Perry looked up the moment his feet touched the ground. Monty had climbed onto the shoulders of an exceptionally large man who kept spinning, trying to shake him off.

Since he wasn't watching where he was going, all Perry had to do was sweep his leg and the man fall flat on his face. Monty stole his sword and pointed it at the limp figure.

"Of course! How did I not see it before?" he said after taking a better look at what he was holding. "They were walrus tusks! Agent P, these are the poachers I was telling you about!"

Perry looked back at the pile of sprawled legs, half-torn swords and masks, and said thoughtfully, "So they were just waiting for the right moment."

Monty followed his gaze and winced, "Wow, please remind me never to cross you again."

"They'll be fine," Perry said, stepping over a grunting man with his face half buried in the sand. "Now come on!"

They reached the center of the site. Doctor Bringdown and the rest of his henchmen were nowhere in sight, but the plinth was still open like a manhole cover, and Perry noticed a smaller hole right next to it. He could only imagine that's where the scepter was supposed to go and act as a lever.

"Hm, seems to have the same problem as Ash's tunnel," Monty said.

"There's probably a mechanism that closes it from the inside. Must be completely booby-trapped down there anyway. Better watch your step," Perry said before climbing down the narrow spiral stairs.