by Pelaam
Bulbous yellow eyes glared at him, and the beast opened its excessively wide mouth to reveal long, sharp teeth and a tongue that shot out toward him. With an involuntary yell, Midnight slashed with his sword.
The creature waddled forward, slicing the air with its claws, and Midnight stood his ground, ready for the onslaught.
“There’s one up here, too, Midnight.” Tresilian yelled out from above him. “Take no chances.”
“I won’t.” Midnight felt nothing from the creature, not even basic intelligence, and was certain it would kill him without hesitation if the opportunity arose. Speed doesn’t seem a trait it possesses. I should be able to out manoeuvre it if I keep moving quickly.
With a feint forward, Midnight moved quickly to the side, a screech coming from the creature as it shuffled awkwardly back. Now Midnight had room to wield his sword properly. As much as he hated to kill, he gritted his teeth and swung his sword.
The creature’s skin proved tougher than Midnight expected. Instead of slicing through its arm, the sword made a minimal wound, bouncing off, and the beast struck back. Lashing out with its tongue, it caught the back of Midnight’s hand, leaving a weal in its wake that stung hotly.
“Not as easy as I thought.” Midnight murmured out loud. “I should have guessed the Atlanteans would make you resilient. Another soldier reject, no doubt.” He glanced briefly at his hand. The mark left was bright red and had started to throb. “Is everything in this god-forsaken Dantean nightmare poisonous?”
But there was nothing Midnight could do, except continue the fight, avoid the creature’s tongue, and hope its venom was nothing worse than a bad jellyfish sting. The creature charged him, and he twisted aside, dodging its slashing claws, snapping teeth, and whip-like tongue.
“Yes!” Midnight’s scything slash to the beast’s abdomen had proved more successful. A bloody trail evidence that the skin there was more fragile. The beast shrieked and backed away, and Midnight pressed forward. Although it wasn’t in his nature to kill in cold blood, he knew neither he nor Tresilian were safe while the creature lived.
Slashing left and right, Midnight forced the creature back until he was able to strike a killing blow. He took a deep scratch to his arm as he drove his sword deep into the beast’s soft belly but even that didn’t stop the killing thrust.
The creature’s gurgling death rattle was a sound that Midnight knew would haunt his dreams for days to come, but at least it was dead.
The sounds of Tresilian’s continued fight above him, galvanised Midnight into moving and he raced up the stairs to join his lover. Emerging through the hatch, Midnight saw Tresilian battling with two more of the beasts. They weren’t identical, either to the one he’d just killed or to one another.
One even had crab-like pincers rather than claws, but Midnight doubted either any less lethal than the other. Raising his sword, Midnight moved swiftly to defend Tresilian’s back.
“Their bellies are soft, aim for there.” Midnight leaned back to impart the news to Tresilian who huffed a laugh.
“Good for you. Tongues have a nasty sting, though.”
“Yes, so I found out. The hard way.”
“Same here.” Tresilian hissed, and Midnight guessed his lover had been caught again, but the shriek and gurgle that followed told him that a second of the creatures had been despatched.
Tresilian moved alongside him and between them they finally killed the third. As it fell to the floor, Midnight took a moment to take some deep breaths while his heartbeat slowly returned to normal.
“You’re bleeding.” Tresilian caught hold of Midnight’s arm, and Midnight winced at the sight of the jagged wound. “Do you have a medical kit on board?”
“Yes. There’s one on this deck, and a smaller one on the top deck. I’d rather get to that one.”
“Yes.” Tresilian nodded. “As would I.”
Once outside on the main deck, Midnight retrieved the medical box. Both he and Tresilian ignored the cries and shrieks echoing not just from the shore, but from the other ships, too as Tresilian opened the medical case.
“Sounds like there’s a pack of those things down here.” Tresilian didn’t bother to look around from where he kneeled in front of Midnight, tending to the wound on his arm.
“I have an idea.” Midnight met his lover’s inquiring gaze. “We have a couple of small lifeboats as a precaution. Because they’re small they’re easy to manoeuvre. We could lower one, row back and hide it. That would make it our escape vehicle for when we all leave the palace. Safer than a group of us trying to make our way along that narrow ledge.”
“Excellent idea, Midnight.” Tresilian leaned in and kissed him. “As soon as you’re patched up, we’ll lower it with us inside it.”
The plan decided, as soon as Midnight was on his feet, a small toolbox he’d retrieved in hand, Tresilian got into the lifeboat and helped Midnight to board.
“Right then. Here we go.” Tresilian ensured the lifeboat lowered evenly and steadily and Midnight kept watch over the side, ready to protect his lover.
The small craft slid down the side of Freedom easily and Midnight was even more thankful than usual for the amount of time he put into making sure the vessel was always at her best working order. He didn’t even get an opportunity to touch an oar. Tresilian settled in place and as soon as he’d released the craft began to pull firmly at the oars, quickly putting distance between them and the ship.
As the craft neared the open water that led to the volcano, the water began to churn, and Midnight gripped the sides of the boat as it rocked from side to side. Letting go with one hand, Midnight went to grab his sword, then a smooth mottled-purple dome rose from the water beside him, until he gazed into the eye of the polypus.
“Midnight! Get back.” Tresilian surged to his feet, katana already in his hand, but Midnight shook his head.
“No. It’s all right. He doesn’t want to hurt us. He didn’t last time. But he didn’t know us enough to want to resist the pain.”
“Are you…talking to that monster?” Tresilian sat back down, and Midnight shrugged.
“I don’t know what to call it. I get…feelings, and…and fractured images. As much as I can understand, he’s as much a prisoner of the Atlanteans as any of us. He wants to show me something, but he can’t raise himself out of the water enough if we don’t follow him so he can use the rocks.”
“I don’t know…” Tresilian looked from Midnight to the eye of the creature that steadfastly stared at Midnight. “Do you trust it?” Tresilian looked back at Midnight who closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them with a nod.
“Yes, I do. But let’s be honest; the polypus is big enough to not need do anything other than reach up and drag us down.”
“Hardly reassuring, Midnight.” Tresilian growled the words, scowling at Midnight who couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
“Sorry. I’ll try to make things more reassuring in future. I think he wants to show us why he obeyed the Atlanteans. He may not be a conventional ally, but down here, we should take all we can.”
“That’s an understatement. Very well. Where do I need aim for?”
“That outcrop.” Midnight pointed. “He just needs to pull himself higher.”
“Very well.” Tresilian pulled on the oars, manoeuvring the boat, and striking out for the rocks Midnight had indicated. “Now what?” he asked as they reached it.
“I don’t really know. Oh—” The rest of Midnight’s words were lost as the polymus hauled more of itself from the water using its enormous tentacles.
As it did, Midnight saw what the beast had tried to explain to him. On the side of its bulbous head was a copper mechanism.
“There, Tresilian. See?” Midnight pointed to the box and wires. “The Atlanteans have done something to him to force him to obey them.”
With only a moment’s t hesitation, Midnight scrambled from the boat onto the rocks to study the device more closely. He gently prodded around where it had bee
n affixed to the polypus’s head.
“You know, with the right tools, I think I could remove this. Can I lay out my tools, Tresilian? Thank you.” Midnight selected a couple of very slender pieces from his toolbox and settled to work on the beast. The work was delicate, and Midnight shifted to shelter the polypus as waves lapped up and over them.
“Hurry, Midnight. We have to get back.” Tresilian’s voice was soft, but Midnight heard the edge of impatience.
“Nearly there. It’s similar to work I’ve done with automatons, but I never expected to be performing it on a living creature.”
“There. It’s done.” Midnight sat back and held up the box in his hand. Some gore remained attached to filaments, but there was little bleeding. He waited as the polypus reached up with a tentacle and with its tip touched where the box had been, tracing the deep marks left gouged into its skin. Then the tentacle traced down Midnight’s cheek and he laughed. “He’s free.”
“Then we have to go.” Tresilian’s voice was soft and he wiped away a tear Midnight hadn’t felt creeping down his cheek. The polymus vanished and their boat began to move, and Midnight clutched at the sides.
“He’s taking us to shore.”
“Be ready to fight when we reach land.” Tresilian warned.
“I will.” Midnight nodded.
However, when they reached the moorings, the polymus raised itself out of the water, waving its tentacles, and let out a roar that shook the air around them. Those creatures that Midnight had spotted vanished immediately.
“I don’t know whether they fear him or whether they revere him.” Midnight stood up, shaking his head. “But either way, I think we’ll have an easier time getting back to the palace.” He gave Tresilian a baleful glance. “Even if it does mean crawling through those infernal tunnels again.”
“Then we’d best get going. I have no idea how long we’ve been away. And I could do with food and rest.” Tresilian tied up the boat, then helped Midnight ashore.
Before he turned to leave, Midnight held out his hand toward the polymus which gently stroked it with the tip of a tentacle before sinking beneath the water. Midnight took a deep breath.
“Right. Let’s get back and let the others know what we found.”
Chapter 28
To Aurora’s relief, her brother and Tresilian returned unharmed. At least, for the most part. This time they gathered for the meeting in her room, and everyone was silent while Tresilian related what had happened.
“Then Midnight removed the Atlanteans’ control panel from the polymus.” Tresilian slapped Midnight’s shoulder. “But as to us all leaving via that route,” he shook his head. “It’s too slow, too cumbersome. We need to get out of the palace in a direct route.”
“The mechanical trains.” Aurora snapped her fingers. “They’d be ideal for conveying us as a group to the harbour.”
“I don’t know that the Atlanteans would want to risk fighting themselves.” Voltaire frowned. “They seem fragile, but you never know.”
“What if they were busy dealing with another emergency?” Midnight asked.
“What do you mean?” A cold thrill scratched its way down Aurora’s spine. “What emergency?”
“There are two things we could target.” Midnight rubbed his hands as if nervous at being the sudden focus of everyone’s attention. “Their furnaces. Where the volcano’s lava provides the power for the city. Or I could find the Leviathan. Without their weapon, the Atlanteans have no way to take control of the surface. I think it’s controlled the way the polymus was.”
“By all the gods, Midnight, you don’t think you can get close enough to that creature to disable it in some way, do you?”
“Well, I, um thought something of that kind…” Midnight muttered, his voice fading away under Tresilian’s incredulous gaze.
Aurora narrowed her eyes and glowered at Midnight who looked away quickly, but not fast enough to disguise the guilty flush reddening his cheeks. He had something in mind, but it wasn’t disabling that monster.
“I think that’s a rather good idea, Midnight. Good thinking.”
“What!” Aurora and Tresilian spoke simultaneously, and Aurora glanced quickly at the other man to see an expression of disbelief she felt certain mirrored that of her own. “Are serious?” she demanded, her scowl deepening.
“Quite serious. We do need a distraction.” Voltaire met Aurora’s gaze. “We won’t get an opportunity to just walk out.”
“We could free Adam.” Dru dashed to Midnight. “They need him, don’t they? If we freed him, that would surely create the diversion needed. He’d help us. I know he would.”
“You can’t possibly know that.” Aurora folded her arms. “You don’t know what he might do.”
“He’d help us because of what the Atlanteans have done to him. They won’t ever let him go. But he’ll be free if we take him with us.” Dru jammed her hands on her hips and glared at Aurora.
“Ladies, please.” Voltaire held up a hand. “I think Dru may be right, Aurora.” Voltaire shrugged as Aurora turned her gaze on him. “I think…um, Adam,” Voltaire smiled at Dru. “May indeed be a help. His loss would certainly put the Atlanteans in a turmoil.”
“Then it’s settled then. We need to free Adam.” Dru gave a curt nod and a triumphant smile.
“We’ll gather in the library.” Voltaire looked around. “I will go into the tunnels with Tsillah and ensure that she and the prisoners can return to their people. Once you have freed Adam, return to the library. Then we can make our bid for freedom.”
Midnight hugged Aurora, her embrace so tight he could barely breathe, but he didn’t pull away.
“It’s going to be fine. You’ll see. We’ll be back before you know it, and we’re once on the ship, it’ll be plain sailing home.”
“You just come back safe, Midnight Pendragon. You hear me?” Aurora’s hug eased in intensity, she leaned back, and then shook him as if to emphasise her words.
“I will.” Midnight had every intention of fulfilling his promise. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about and he forced any such notion from his mind. “I’m ready.”
With Tresilian leading the way, and Dru close behind him, Midnight followed.
* * * *
To Midnight’s relief, they encountered no guards until they reached the room where Adam was held prisoner. There were two flanking the doorway and Midnight hissed softly.
“Leave it to me.” Dru patted Tresilian’s arm. “I have an idea. Be ready.” She took a deep breath, then staggered forward before collapsing with a theatrical flourish.
Her strategy worked. The guards left their post to tend to her and Tresilian sprang into action with his katana. Midnight helped Dru clear of the short-lived fighting.
“I don’t think they’ve had any really battle experience.” Tresilian looked down at the bodies at his feet. But they’d be dangerous enough in numbers and that, combined with their blind devotion, is where their strength lies. Help me move them out of sight, Midnight.”
The body was heavy and cumbersome, but Midnight dragged his to lie against the stone wall. Then while he watched from just inside the doorway, Tresilian and Dru dashed inside to free Adam. Midnight continued to peer up and down the corridor as he listened as Dru explaining the situation to Adam while Tresilian worked on unlocking the chains that bound him.
“There. Done it.” Tresilian crowed aloud, then helped Adam to stand.
Glancing around, Midnight smiled to see Tresilian assisting the other man up, and Adam finally free. Then his eyes widened as he realised Adam was even taller than Tresilian.
“Anything I can do to help you, I shall.” Adam’s voice was thick with pent-up emotion.
“Thanks. We can do with all the help we can get.” Tresilian hurried to press a quick kiss to Midnight’s cheek. “He’ll be stiff for a while. Can you help him? I doubt Dru will manage alone.”
“My body heals quickly.” Adam rubbed at his arms and legs. “I will
be able to walk unaided. But you can’t leave the Leviathan in the Atlanteans’ hands. They won’t hesitate to use it.”
“Actually, I have an idea.” Midnight tugged Tresilian back into the room. “They control it through a mechanical device. I successfully removed one from the polymus. Even if I can’t remove it from the Leviathan, if I can interfere just enough with its components to stop them causing her pain, she won’t respond to their commands.”
“Midnight, you can’t be sure—” Tresilian started but Adam held up a hand.
“I believe he can. I’ll go with him.” Adam laid a hand on Midnight’s shoulder and Tresilian took a threatening step forward, hands bunched into fists.
“No.” Both Midnight and Dru moved and spoke in unison. Midnight grabbing Tresilian as Dru stood protectively in front of Adam.
“Tresilian, I don’t seek to take him from you.” Adam spoke softly, but there was an edge of steel to his voice that reminded Midnight of Voltaire. “But I know this palace as well as any Atlantean and I know how to get to the Leviathan, do you?”
“No, but—” Tresilian started, but Adam held up his hand.
“You all risked yourselves to rescue me. Let me, in turn, help you. Midnight’s idea is excellent. Without the Leviathan, the Atlanteans have no power, no weapon. And without me, will slowly crumble and die as they should have many years ago.”
“He’s right, Tresilian.” Midnight spoke up. “Get Dru back to the others and get set to return to the ship. Once I’ve done what I can with the Leviathan, we’ll either meet you at the front of the palace, or at The Freedom. You have my promise.” It was a vow Midnight knew he may not be able to keep, but he made it anyway.
“I will protect him. With my own life if needs, be.”
“None of that kind of talk.” Midnight tugged Tresilian down for a kiss. “We’ll make it. All of us.”