The Rotbone Option
Chapter 5 of Alternities
Kara and Sylea swooped in to land at the edge of the tower's gaping maw. A flurry of arrows bounced off Kara, prompting her to step inside to the edge of the black abyss. As they'd been told, white platforms spiraled upward, supported by nothing. Far up, the first door appeared, hovering next to a platform. Most unsettling of all was the faint tinkling notes; they weren't a tune, but a simple repeating refrain, like a child's lullaby. They reminded Kara of a wind chime, or icicles cascading from a frozen tree. It was a bizarre counterpoint to the deadly danger of the concourse. What reward could have prompted an experienced team to risk it? Kara was betting on the first door, which must have led them into a trap. Without comment, they both flew up to the relevant platform, noting how the next higher one had faded out of existence, then slowly began to reform. The stepped through the door.
Sylea entered cautiously upon seeing the faint light angling in through windows, but it turned out to be moonlight. The stone passages had a greenish tint, and traced a circular route common to towers. They passed branch corridors marked off by red drapes. These led no doubt to areas holding magical talismans or other booty, but they weren't here for profit.
"Perhaps," Sylea said, "they took a higher door." But at that moment, a softly glowing orb came in view around the next turn. "There—it is a remnant of the dream cast, having only enough power left to guide us to the one who cast the spell." They went after it, finding it necessary to trot, until it suddenly went through the flagstones.
"An illusory floor panel," Kara saw, aided by X-rays. "After talking with the Archoners and coming up with a plan, I'm confident we can escape the trap. It all depends on whether the team survived."
"They live," Sylea said, "for the spell is still active." She waited for Kara's decision.
"I suggest," Kara began, "that we fall the way they did. There must be a soft landing where they went. I'd hate to find them pasted to a stone floor twenty stories down." She walked over the trap and fell through. Falling, she looked up to see stone overhead, stone that was not illusory. There would be no going back that way, since it was probably warded by magic. She did indeed land on a soft surface: a gigantic vat filled with beige paper. Sylea, not being indestructible, opted to fly down as a bat. Both of them climbed out.
"I know where we are, Kara Supergirl." Sylea's eyes glowed with farsight. "This is the bottom of the tower. It is the arcane machinery that powers it. The team surely has no way out, as the fall is forever."
"First things first," Kara decided. "There—" The glowing orb had reappeared, now faintly visible due to failing power. "It leads that way." Machine sounds were evident, but nothing moved among the massive stone tiers and block houses. The latter were empty except for one. A skeleton hammering at an anvil looked up as they passed.
"One has found gainful employment," Sylea noted.
Their route took them into an area of rocky spikes hanging overhead, above which came the sound of rushing water. Kara assumed it to be a deep aquifer, but whether it was part of Outworld was anyone's guess. It boded well for the team to have some kind of access to water. It was an equal danger of a catastrophic flood from overhead. Beyond this gloomy cavern lay a larger one, illumined by a gold light from the rocks themselves. It had the look of catacombs, which were normally the domain of skeletoids. In fact, a few humped examples wandered below in a swamp defile. Odd plant life and stagnant water offered a chance to ward off starvation, and the undead didn't look to tough to handle. Hopefully the team didn't have to risk their health that way.
"Up there." Sylea indicated an adobe-like complex of caves cut into the rock face. A figure was looking down. It went inside, and others gathered to descend a vine ladder they threw down. The group of five stood a dozen feet above them in battle formation, no doubt keying on Sylea.
Kara shouted to them. "Someone order pizza?"
The surprised team didn't answer right away, until a goateed man in a gray vest called back, "Why, do you have one?"
"You'll have to settle for aurok," Kara said. "Shall we come up for a chat?"
"Please do!" said their leader, who Kara recognized as Dan.
Minutes later, all seven had gathered in a makeshift camp the team had turned into a defensible holdout. Sharp stakes guarded the entrance, and a stack of large stones awaited throwing. They seated themselves around a fire fueled by dried plant refuse. The supplies in Kara's backpack were eagerly distributed. They finished off the water right away, then started in on the meat jerky and hard bread.
The girl in red, Zena, had been evaluating Kara's outfit, which was quite similar except for the cape. Then she forced herself to look at Sylea. "You brought us another vampire."
Kara made introductions and explained how they had followed the dream cast. They were quite shocked upon hearing her name.
"Supergirl?" said Ed, who wore the goatee. "How did you come up with that name? Can you fly?" Kara demonstrated super strength by powderizing a large rock in her hand. "Holy smoo—you are Supergirl. What the hell?"
"Don't you have super heroes where you come from?" Kara asked.
"Nope." This was the blonde, Bonnie.
"Then how do you achieve law enforcement?"
"We don't," Dan said with a chuckle. "That's why our world is such a mess. But I still don't get it—if you're not from Earth, then where . . ."
"Earth," Sylea said, "but a different one than yours. We are the answer to your dilemma, as the spell has crossed time and dimension to find us."
A series of hollow booms sounded without, bringing a look of dread to the team. "Whatever that is," Dan said, "it's invisible. That's why we're pretty much stuck here. I think it's too large to get inside."
"Speaking of that," Kara said, "I understand you have a talisman that allows all of you to fit inside."
Dan pulled out a small canister on a chain. "It does come in handy. We have a nice store of food and water in here, not to mention cozy beds. I took a chance and hid it under some rocks before we all went inside to spend the night. But we're just about out of supplies."
"It has a hatch at the bottom," Kara reminded, "that opens somewhere over Rotbone Island."
The tall black man, Pete, shook his head. "Won't do us much good, since we used the flight suits to glide down last time. It's way too high up to jump."
"But not to fly," Kara insisted. "I can fly you down two at a time, then assure your safety until you get back to Lunari."
"Really?" Zena perked up. "I'm ready to blow this dump like mondo pronto!"
Sylea turned to Kara. "What language does the sword girl speak?"
"In my world," Kara said, "it's called beatnik."
Bonnie grinned and rocked Zena by the shoulder. "I'm with you, too-cool-for-school. Let's get going!"
Sylea remained seated. "You owe us an explanation. What did you seek here for so foolish a risk?"
"About that." Ed leaned back on his elbows. "We know a dwarf named Hecabano, who's a cast member of my TV show back on Earth. He came here once with a witch who carried him on her broom. He racked up a fortune in talismans from the fourth door up. We figured we could do the same, being real careful with the trick platforms. We didn't figure on the floor trap."
"But," Dan added, "we knew Bonnie and Zena could combine spells for a dream cast." He stood and beckoned to Pete. "You first, Pete, in case anything got in there from the other end."
"Thanks, man," Pete said sardonically. When Dan twisted the ring, Pete was drawn inside like a vapor. "The beauty of it is, after we're all inside, the canister is still around my neck. Is everyone ready?"
Once they were all inside, Kara saw the interior was a gigantic canister itself, with spiral stairs leading down, where rooms branched off all sides. Dan said one of them was the control room, which he dared not tamper with; it had taken huge effort to position the lower hatch even this close to Lunari. It could hover anywhere over Outworld. He led the way to the bottom and slid aside a hatch cover in the floor. Sylea shied away, since late evening sun flowed in.
"Oh, sorry, Sylea," he said. "We'll wait 'til it's full dark."
"Is this," Sylea asked, "the domain of the Dracula Brides?" Everyone nodded. "I will see them."