Kal Moonheart Trilogy: Dragon Killer, Roll the Bones & Sirensbane

by Rob May

  Lula continued her exploration of the underwater stronghold. In the storerooms, kitchens and workshops, the zombies worked in silence. Half an hour had passed since Kal had left to face Sirensbane, and with every minute that passed, Lula wondered what had happened to her. Don’t come looking for me! her friend had ordered. Lula fought back the urge to do exactly that. She tried to focus on her own mission.

  In the next dome she entered, accessed by an airlock with metal doors that were at least a foot thick, was an enormous dock the size of a field. Floating in it was a nautilus submarine as big as a two-storey building. Lula stepped to the edge of the dock and looked down; the water was shallow and there was a flat rock bottom. The pool didn’t lead out to the ocean. That explained why they hadn’t seen this entrance from below; but then how then did this giant submarine get inside the dome?

  She looked up at the glass roof. This particular dome didn’t have an even pattern of hexagons, but rather was divided into two halves either side of a long join that arched across the circumference of the hemisphere. Of course! But where were the controls? Lula remembered—she had seen a great control wheel back in the airlock she had just passed through. No wonder the doors had been so thick: they had to be watertight!

  There was a hatch on the side the giant sub, and a ramp up and in. Lula poked her head inside: the wide open bay clearly marked the sub out as a transport vehicle. Stepping outside again, she caught a pair of zombies by the shoulders and ushered them up the ramp. They obeyed without complaint, and even sat down on benches when they got inside.

  Lula turned a few more zombies in the direction of the sub, and pretty soon others were following them, falling into line like sheep. Soon Lula had a queue of passengers that stretched all the way out of the dome and back to the room with the conveyor belts. All too easy, she thought, praying that Sirensbane wouldn’t suddenly turn up and demand to know what the hell was going on!

  She counted them off as they boarded. After about a hundred, it started to get pretty full, but if she shoved hard she could probably get a few more on. First though, she ran to the cockpit and made sure that the ballast was set for full buoyancy. Then she went back to the crowded cargo bay, ushered the stragglers aboard, and then pulled up the ramp from the inside.

  One more thing to do: exit the sub via the pilot’s hatch. The zombies pressed in on her from all sides, but she didn’t feel any danger anymore as she pushed her way through them. They were her people, and soon they would be safe and free.

  Back in the dome, a handful of latecomers had ambled in. Lula turned them around and herded them back to the airlock. ‘No room, guys. I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘We’ll go look for another way out, okay?’

  A voice suddenly spoke out of nowhere, making Lula flinch. It was emanating from grills in the pipework overhead:

  ‘Attention all workers. There has been a security breach. Unauthorised personnel have entered the facility. Your orders are to kill any intruders on sight. I repeat: kill intruders on sight.’

  Lula swore. She hurried to the dome’s exit, but one of the zombies stepped in front of her and groped for her. She punched it in the face and it fell away. Another had grabbed her by the belt of her trousers, and she had to undo her buckle to break free.

  The zombies were strong but slow, and once Lula was clear she rushed to the airlock and secured the thick metal door. ‘Sorry, guys,’ she said, as she spun the large wheel labelled FLOOD. The water level inside the dome immediately began to rise. The zombies who wouldn’t fit on board the sub were going to drown, but there was nothing Lula could do about that ; she couldn’t possibly save all of them.

  The sub floated up as the water filled the dome, until it was bobbing around near the roof. Lula pulled on the large lever labelled DOORS. Hydraulic machinery groaned, and Lula watched through a porthole as the dome split in two and parted to allow the sub to escape.

  She saluted the sub in farewell, then turned to head back into the complex. All she could do now was to keep searching for another way out for herself and Kal … if Kal ever turned up. Sirensbane knew that they were here now, which meant that Kal hadn’t managed to take him out by surprise.

  Lula didn’t dare dwell on the possibilities, though. She had her own immediate problems: almost every way she turned, she was faced with groups of zombies staggering towards her, grasping arms outstretched. She kept moving, taking turns at random, trying to get ahead of them so she could find somewhere to hide and catch her breath.

  She hurtled down a long narrow corridor, rock walls closing in on either side. Luckily, the way ahead was clear, and the zombies behind her had been left far behind. If she could make it as far as the intersection ahead, she might just be able to lose her pursuers.

  Then someone stepped out of the left passage, and turned to face her.

  Lula skidded to a halt ten yards before the intersection. The zombie in front of her was the biggest she had seen: in life he must have been a tall man, with the thick muscular body of someone who had spent a lifetime engaged in hard physical labour.

  The zombie was Levon Pearl; Lula’s father.

  She caught the creature’s eyes. It was staring at her with a vacant, dumb expression, but with a flicker of anxiety—like a sick animal might stare in confusion and worry at an approaching threat. It was the saddest sight that Lula had ever seen, or ever would see.

  ‘Dad,’ she said. ‘It’s me. Lu.’

  He stumbled towards her, arms outstretched. Like all the other zombies, his jerking advance and guttural snarls were at odds with the dead eyes and slack face that saw nothing and thought nothing.

  It never occurred to Lula to run. She ducked under his powerful arms and hugged him tight. He returned the gesture with a crushing embrace that squeezed the wind out of her.

  A crowd of zombies had shuffled out of the intersection ahead, and another gang of them had caught up with Lula and was coming down the corridor behind her. She only had moments with her father before they would be on top of her.

  ‘I found you, Dad,’ Lula said, with tears in her eyes. ‘I came home to find and rescue you. Well, I found you, at least—that’s all that matters in the end, isn’t it.’

  Lula closed her eyes and held her father tight, as he continued to crush the life out of her.

  His mouth opened, moved down to her neck, and closed around her jugular.

  V.vi

  Kal Moonheart’s Big Score

  Kal ran a finger along the gleaming metal edge of a control panel, leaving a smear of sweat, dirt and blood. She idly browsed the confusing array of dials, levers and buttons, and the small brass plaques which labelled them: COMPRESS, PURGE, FILTER …

  Sirensbane returned from a workstation where he had been speaking into the end of a tube. ‘I was giving my workers their latest instructions,’ he explained.

  ‘Keeping them busy?’ Kal said.

  ‘Actually, I was advising them to take their fifteen minute rest,’ he said. ‘My workers are treated a lot better then most people in this world. They are not slaves: most of these people are indentured servants. They owe me money; many of them thanks to expensive drug or gambling habits, and some of them because of taxes owed to Port Black. When they have worked off their debt I will release them.’

  After how many years, though? Kal thought. But she said nothing. She didn’t want to antagonise her new business partner.

  ‘So …’ she said, gesturing to the laboratory equipment. ‘Show me how all this stuff works.’

  Sirensbane’s eyes lit up. Kal could tell he was proud of his work. ‘It would be a pleasure,’ he said, touching her on the shoulder to direct her over to a large mixing vat.

  ‘This is where we mix napazane with what I call the spark: the magic ingredient! Of course, it’s not really magic, but a complex chemical formula, the ingredients of which are laughably mundane: vinegar and the acid from rotting fruit.’

  ‘So how did you discover this magic formula, then?’ Kal asked as she moved f
rom station to station.

  ‘I told you,’ Sirensbane said. ‘I’m like you. I travelled around the world in my youth. On the Isle of Alchemy, off the coast of Indux, the adepts there have made countless scientific discoveries. But they are insulated and near-sighted. It takes a visionary mind to realise the potential of their knowledge, a mind unfettered by law or morality. A criminal genius, if you like, but I accept that title without shame. In fact, I am proud of it.’

  Kal shook her head softly and smiled to herself. Sirensbane seemed to take the gesture as approval, and his enthusiasm for his grand tour increased. He took Kal’s hand and dragged her along.

  ‘This pipe is the purge pipe, for passing poisonous fumes out into the ocean, or for dumping a spoiled batch. This other pipe carries the solution to the reduction chamber here, where we use alcohol and mercury to turn the mix into Sirensbane. Then the final product is filtered and distilled in these tanks here. Thanks to the efficiency of my lab, and the exactness and cleanliness of my methods, the drug I produce is over ninety-nine percent chemically pure. A rival manufacturer couldn’t hope to compete with me.’

  Kal stood in front of a inverted cone, where a drip, drip, drip of sticky, shiny black goo fell down and filled a large rectangular tray, where it cooled and hardened. She looked around the rest of the dome: the same arrangement of mixing vats, filtration systems and collection trays were repeated hundreds of times over.

  ‘How do you power all this equipment?’ Kal asked as she moved along the rows. ‘Some kind of underwater geyser?’

  Sirensbane had returned to the stone table at the edge of the dome, and was leaning back against it as he proudly watched Kal explore his lab. ‘Yes, that’s exactly right. You’re very observant, Kal. This whole complex is sitting on a hydrothermal vent that produces heat of over five-hundred degrees Celsius. As well as providing warmth and hydraulic power, the chemicals and minerals that bubble up from deep underground can be extracted. The hot liquids are rich in zinc and cobalt …’

  Kal tuned him out as he droned on. She didn’t really care how it all worked. She was just interested in the scale of this operation. When Sirensbane had come to the end of his story, she pressed him further: ‘Just how much of this stuff can you actually produce here?’

  ‘More than enough!’ Sirensbane gloated. ‘More than I can sell right now, that’s for sure. That’s why I need your help, Kal, to help me break into emergent markets. I can manage the traffic between here and Amaranthium myself, but I’ll need a capable partner to oversee the next stage in my expansion plans: the road between Amaranthium and Zorronov.’

  Kal didn’t reply. She was busy examining one of the control panels more closely. Sirensbane must have taken her silence for hesitation, though, so he presented her with another offer:

  ‘Or you can take on one my new operations, one that is entirely legal, if that’s how you prefer to operate. This drink that is so popular now in Port Black—Vitalize, they call it. Created by my idiot son. They mix it with red wine and call it Gasparvino, after that filthy Eldragoran pirate. It has an agreeable taste, I admit, although I think I will add more sugar to the mix. It won’t be as addictive as Sirensbane, but should prove popular with the poorer masses who cannot afford harder drugs.’

  ‘No,’ Kal said. ‘I’ll peddle your Sirensbane. It will be satisfying sneaking it right under the nose of Ben Godsword.’

  Sirensbane let out a sly chuckle. ‘Good. Good! Kal, you are everything I had ever hoped for in an accomplice. In fact I might even go as far as saying that you are the daughter I wish I had.’

  Kal let that comment pass. She stepped out from behind a row of machinery. ‘But you’ll need to produce more. This isn’t enough.’

  Sirensbane paused midway through taking a sip of Vitalize. He lowered his glass and looked at Kal. ‘More?’ he said, momentarily taken aback. ‘What do you mean, more? We produce more than enough already.’

  ‘I can score you a new client,’ Kal said, holding Sirensbane’s gaze. ‘His appetite is limitless, and he will happily take all the Sirensbane you can produce.’

  Sirensbane was interested, Kal could tell. She could see the flicker of greed in his eyes. She broke eye contact and looked around: behind Sirensbane, outside of the dome, bubbles were rising in long vertical streams from all around the dome’s perimeter. In the darkness of the ocean beyond, a faint light flickered …

  ‘Who is this person?’ Sirensbane asked. ‘Tell me, Kal. I can promise you a handsome finding fee, and also a percentage cut of the profits. Is it a wealthy politician you know? Give me his name.’

  ‘Why don’t you ask him yourself,’ Kal said. ‘He’s right behind you.’

  Sirensbane followed Kal’s gaze and turned around, looking out to sea. His face was lit by the green glow that was getting brighter and brighter.

  As she had explored the lab and listened to Sirensbane’s talk, Kal had surreptitiously reversed the flow of all the filtration and reduction tanks. Then she had pulled the lever marked PURGE on as many of the mixing vats as she could, flushing the liquid Sirensbane mix out into the ocean …

  The sea dragon was now hurtling towards the dome at a rate of knots. At the last minute it turned its head, and smacked its massive neck and upper body against the dome itself. The steel frame shuddered, and cracks appeared in the hexagonal glass panels.

  Sirensbane screamed in horror, fury and panic, but the structure held. The dragon curled its incredible length around the dome, and angled its head to catch the streams of bubbles in its nostril. Its enormous hungry eye peered in through the glass, as if it were looking for the source of its next hit.

  Sirensbane turned back to Kal, this time with rage and anger in his eyes. He picked up his knife from the table.

  Then the dragon squeezed its coiled body. The metal superstructure screeched, and several of the glass panels exploded.

  And water started pouring in.

  V.vii

  Burial at Sea

  Lula’s father’s mouth opened, moved down to her neck, and closed around her jugular …

  And then he kissed her softly. ‘Lula,’ he whispered. ‘I never thought I’d ever see you again.’

  ‘Dad!’ Lula breathed. ‘What the— How the— You can talk? You’re not a zombie?’

  ‘No,’ he said. Then he seemed to suddenly become aware of the rush of real zombies that were closing in from both directions. He stood up and held both palms out to stop them. ‘Workers, halt!’ he said, in a quiet but authoritative voice.

  The zombies stopped dead. They just stood there, heads lolling and mouths drooling.

  ‘Return to your previous tasks,’ Levon Pearl ordered. As one, the zombies turned and shuffled off. Within a minute, the passageway was deserted.

  Lula struggled to get her head around what had just happened. ‘How—’ she began.

  Her father gave her an easy smile. ‘It’s an override command,’ he said. ‘I’ve heard the Magician use it when he wants to issue new orders to particular workers.’

  Lula ran her hands over her father’s body, as if she couldn’t believe that he was real. She brushed away the dirt and ash from his skin, revealing a rich healthy black colour beneath.

  ‘But how—’ she said again. ‘You’re not a zombie! You’ve been here, what … pretending?’

  He nodded. ‘I was captured, like the rest of the village: we were all rounded up by the Magician’s mercenaries. Anyone who was addicted to Sirensbane went along willingly; anyone who was clean—and that wasn’t very many people—was put to the sword. I was clean. I had no choice, Lu … I rubbed myself down with ash from the fire pit, spilled drink and food on my clothes like all the other filthy addicts, and fell in with the rest of them. We were taken by boat out to sea, and then bundled into one of those strange underwater tin can tubs and brought here.’

  He looked his daughter in the eye, as if he too couldn’t believe what he was seeing. ‘I’ve been waiting for months for help to arrive, but I never thought
in a million years that it would be you!

  ‘I came to the village,’ Lula said. ‘I saw the graves, of Marla and my three half-brothers. What happened to them? I feared they had become zombies or been killed by zombies.’

  ‘No,’ her father said sadly. ‘My sons never got hooked on that horrible drug. It was my wife and me who fell prey to its lure. Marla overdosed and died. My sons were killed fighting the Magician’s troops in the jungle. That drug destroyed my family, Lula. Well, almost all my family …’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I wish I had come back sooner.’

  ‘You’re here now,’ he said. ‘I have only myself to blame for what happened. I fell into a horrible spiral of grief and depression … but in the end it saved my life. I broke the hold that the drug had over me, and I discovered that once you break it, you are always free of it. The Magician drugs our food here, to keep his workers in a submissive state, but the drugs have no effect on me now.’

  He put his hand on Lula’s shoulder. ‘I was hoping that if rescuers ever came, then I could somehow use what I’ve discovered to help out.’

  ‘You already did, Dad,’ Lula said. ‘I’m here with a friend to kill Sirensbane and rescue the Islanders. I managed to get some of them onto one of the large underwater nautilus vessels, those tubs as you call them. Do you know if there are any more docked here?’

  ‘Yes,’ her father said. ‘There are two docks for the transport tubs. Come on, I’ll show you!’

  He took her hand, and led her down one of the turnoffs at the nearby intersection. But as they ran, there was a sudden booming crash from somewhere above, and even the rocky passage they were in seemed to shudder.

  ‘What was that?’ Levon said.

  ‘Kal, probably,’ Lula said. ‘I hope that she knows what she’s doing.

  ‘Does she need our help?’

  Lula paused as she remembered Kal’s words. Don’t come for me. ‘No,’ she said. ‘She said it would be too dangerous. We just need to get to that sub, get as many people on board as we can, then wait for Kal to come and find us … if she can.’