by Adam Witcher
A few more minutes passed. The Draconian circled back on his lazy patrol. Anton’s heartbeat pounded in his ears as he watched the scanner and waited for the right moment. The cutter was slick in his sweaty hand.
A shadow moved into view behind the curtain, and Anton leaped at it. The cutter tore through the curtain and revealed his victim. The Draconian was disguised as a young man with long blonde hair and white teeth that shone in the lamplight in his final moments. The cutter melted through his neck and stifled a gurgled cry. Green blood squirted out, then bubbled and coagulated under the heat of the laser. The Draconian fell to his knees before Anton made it through the window.
Anton grabbed the man by his shoulders and pulled him into the alley, hoping that he wasn’t making too much noise in the process. Now back in reptilian form, his victim’s sharp teeth scraped against the window frame on the way out. Anton shoved the corpse into the refuse pile.
“One down,” he said. “Three to go.”
Anton retracted the laser cutter back into the pistol while Petra stared at it in awe.
“I don’t suppose you could make swords like that, could you?”
“I like the way your mind works, princess,” Anton grinned. “Remind me when this is all over, and I’ll see what I can do.”
A muffled sound from the trash interrupted them. Though barely audible, Anton rushed over and heard buzzing from the dead reptilian’s ear. He grabbed the earpiece and pushed it into his own.
“...any trouble? Where are you?” Was all he could hear.
He scrambled to respond with his translator, but it was too late. The voice from the earpiece spoke again.
“I’m coming down there.”
“Shit, shit,” Anton whispered. “Come on, let’s get inside.”
A quick glance at the bioscanner showed the other three Draconians upstairs, but one of them was already descending a staircase. The stairwell would open onto the very hallway they’d just pulled the reptilian out of. He pointed it out to Ana and Petra. With no hesitation, Petra jumped through the window and into the hallway and quietly sprinted toward the stairwell.
Ana and Anton jumped in and pursued her. They followed Petra through the dingy, dimly lit hall and watched as a doorway flung open in front of her. She was ready. A Draconian disguised as a bald, middle-aged man stepped out, and his eyes went so wide that Anton caught glimpses of yellow in them.
Petra dropped one sword to the ground in a clatter, then used her free hand to yank down her victim’s chainmail. His chest exposed, she plunged her remaining blade into his heart. He spasmed as he fell to the floor and transformed.
This was enough to alert the other two. The scanner showed them moving toward their position.
Anton led the charge up the staircase. At the upper landing, a tan-skinned woman aimed one of the same purple needle guns that Ana now wielded. Anton was about to point his own pistol at her when the needles flew toward him.
“Duck!” Anton cried.
A volley of glowing purple spikes sailed over their heads stuck into the back wall. Anton grabbed the ladies and rushed back downstairs. The needles exploded behind them, the blast toppling them to the ground floor.
“Everyone okay?” Anton asked.
They nodded, and all three clambered to their feet
“Here’s your chance, magician,” a voice called out from above. “Deliver the princess to us, and we’ll leave you unharmed.”
“Boy, that’s a shit lie,” he yelled back up. “Seriously, low effort. I’d expect better from you all.”
“Have it your way.”
She prepared to launch another volley of needles down the stairwell. Anton met her challenge. He quickly switched his pistol back to gun mode and fired a red laser directly at her. She dodged the blow, but it kept her at a distance, out of sight from the bottom level. Anton strained to listen as two of the impersonators whispered to one another in their native tongue, regrouping.
“Shoot some of those needles up there,” he whispered to Ana. “Give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Ana pulled the weapon out of her lab coat pocket and pointed it through the open doorways. She fired with robotic precision. The needles wedged into the wood ceiling on the upper level, eliciting a distress cry from one of the Draconians.
“Let’s go!”
The three charged back up to huddle on the top stairs, a safe distance away from the imminent explosions, The Draconians attempted uselessly to shield themselves. Just as the needles began to glow white hot, Anton fired his gun at the reptilian woman.
The exploding needles mixed with Anton’s laser blast and left the woman’s tanned skin covered in red hot blisters and black char. She screamed in pain as she shifted to her original form and hit the ground.
The young man behind her took the explosion to his backside, grimacing through the pain as he prepared to retaliate. Petra was too quick for him. The nimble princess rushed over and sliced through the reptilian’s hand. The appendage fell to the floor, still clutching the gun. Goopy green blood spurted out of the wound. All he could do was stare at the stump that remained. He’d never get a chance to regrow it.
A quick slice to the neck slumped him over his dead counterpart.
“Holy shit,” Anton said. “I’m both impressed and horrified by you today. Have you ever killed someone before?”
“Nope,” she grinned. “Still haven’t. These things don’t count as people, right?”
“That depends on one’s definition of ‘people’,” Ana began. “There are several schools of thought on the matter. The first argument would be a metaphysical one…”
“Ana,” Anton said. “Save the philosophy for later. Come on.”
A bundle of cables ran over the floor between two closed doors. They stepped over the reptilian corpses and pushed open the door behind them.
The cables led into a room where a huge set of screens covered nearly every inch of the wall. A large, square computer was in the center of the room. The cables led up to its flashing displays. Anton gasped when he saw the extent of the surveillance.
One wall of screens showed the city streets surrounding the castle. The surveillance went further than they’d expected. Since it was late at night, he suspected most of the inner citizens were hiding in their homes. Only a few people trudged through the streets.
The screens on two of the room’s walls displayed parts of the castle. One wall was dedicated to the private quarters of everyone in the castle. Many of the rooms were occupied by servants and cooks, all of them looking either bored or stressed as they were confined to their rooms. Anton was horrified to see one screen depicting Sabina’s room.
The sick bastards watched us together. He didn’t know if he should be relieved or terrified to see that it was unoccupied.
Another screen showed a room where a ring of candles surrounded an enormous blood stain on a linen sheet. Petra told them what had happened here. At some point, the deer carcass had been moved.
The adjacent wall was filled with screens of empty hallways. A few guards patrolled, but there was no other movement.
“Where are my parents?” Petra wondered aloud. She frantically searched. Anton’s heart sank when he found them.
“Here,” he said.
In the corner of the wall, a few screens depicted the dungeon. One of the cells housed the king and queen, and they were barely recognizable. Dirty and wearing tattered rags, the royal couple huddled together in a corner. The king leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The queen stared at a wall lifelessly. Tears welled in Petra’s eyes. She lightly touched the screen. Anton put his hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “We’re going to save them. All of them.”
“Anton, Petra,” Ana said, gazing at another section of the wall. “Something is happening here.”
The screen in front of her showed the dining hall. Matthias and King Gareth stood side by side. Anton tried to guess whether Matteo or Eliza was the
impersonator. Hectus stood beside them, skinny, slumped, and pallid. What remained of a deer carcass was displayed on the long dining table. Guards and high-ranking officials sat at the table. Anton recognized Thaddeus, Petra’s sword instructor.
“What the hell do we have here?” Anton said. “Ana, can you get audio?”
The android fiddled with the screen for a moment until King Gareth’s voice came through.
“...a chance to prove your loyalty to both of our houses. You have all shown yourselves to have great potential. Anyone who kills the magician will be rewarded with power beyond their wildest dreams. Partake in this ritual with us, then help us vanquish the evil from this castle.”
The people at the table looked with horror as the two patriarchs bent over the corpse and slurped its blood. When they were finished, Matthias gestured toward the deer.
“Shit, shit, don’t drink it, don’t drink it.” Anton bit his lip.
Thaddeus was the first one to partake in the ritual. The man looked desperate. With only a slight hesitation, he buried his face. Gareth and Matthias looked very pleased.
“Damn you, Thaddeus,” Petra said. “A decent swordsman but a damned coward.”
“He isn’t a friend of yours?” Anton asked.
“Certainly not now, but lately he’s been a pain. I’m better with a sword then he is, and he’s petty and jealous. This isn’t surprising.”
The others followed. They watched as the Draconians expanded their forces. The castle guards didn’t hesitate at all.
“Looks like your record of not killing people might end tonight, princess.”
Petra didn’t respond, only stared at the screen. Anton quickly scanned the rest of the screens. Sabina was nowhere in sight. The third of the royal Draconians was also nowhere to be seen. Whether it was Matteo or Eliza, they had apparently found a spot that was free from surveillance. Considering how ubiquitous it seemed to be, this was surprising.
The fourth and final wall of the room showed the building they currently occupied. One screen showed the destroyed, gory stairwell. Another showed the hallways. Several showed footage of the very room where they stood. He used the footage to locate one of the cameras. It looked like nothing at first, a tiny speck of dust. He had to grab it from the corner of the room and examine it very closely to realize it was a piece of technology. Ana inspected it as well.
“No wonder we didn’t see anything,” Anton said. “This is incredible.”
“It would appear that the Draconians have had access to microtechnology for a long time,” Ana said.
“We shouldn’t linger,” Anton said. “They know exactly where we are. I’m sure they’ve got more screens linked somewhere in the castle. And wherever that third Draconian is, I’m willing to bet they’re watching us right now.”
“So we should destroy it, right?” Petra said.
“Oh yeah,” Anton said, “and we should enjoy it.”
Petra grinned. She drew one of her swords and plunged it into the screen that showed the dining hall. It went black and sent sparks sputtering outward. She turned around, grinning with pride.
“As satisfying as I’m sure that was,” Anton laughed, “This is what we’re going for.”
He gestured to the central computer, and Petra smiled sheepishly.
Anton fired a laser blast into the computer, and a corner of it melted. The screens depicting the surveillance building went black. Ana went next. She launched a few of the needles into one side. When they exploded, the images of the streets around the castle faded away.
“Princess, care to do the honors?” Anton asked.
Petra attacked what remained. Alternating between her two swords, she plunged the blades into the system over and over until every screen went black.
“Well done,” Anton said. “Time to get the hell out of here. Princess, care to lead the way? You know these streets better than we do.”
Chapter Twenty-One
As Petra led them through shadowy side streets toward the castle, Anton pictured the citizens of Jagari barricaded in their homes for fear of him. He wondered what lies they’d believed. Besides a few aimless city guards, they didn’t see a soul on their way to the castle, and the silence was eerie. An entire city on lockdown, all afraid of the group that may just save their lives.
When they neared, Anton gazed up at the castle. In the bustling daytime, it looked regal and majestic, but in the darkness, it was a terrifying fortress. The spires and buttresses loomed like vicious snakes ready to strike.
They ducked behind some bushes at the approaching footsteps of guards. When they passed, Petra leaned over and whispered.
“Let’s see if we can use that hook to get into my bedchamber.”
“Petra,” Anton said with a grin. “This is no time to be coaxing us into your bedchamber. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.”
She ignored this, but he caught a suppressed smile.
They moved through the shadows, dodging oblivious watchmen as they entered the castle courtyards. It was clear that Petra had snuck in and out this way many times before. Soon they reached a side of the castle, and Petra squinted up at the windows.
“See it?” she asked, pointing. “Second story, third window from the left.”
He could barely make it out. Many of the windows were illuminated by lamps, but Petra’s room was dark. Hopefully, that meant it was empty.
“I’m gonna have to shatter the glass,” Anton said. “Not much of a stealthy entrance.”
“See if you can latch onto the railing,” Petra said. “I think it’s sturdy.”
He squinted again. The faint silhouette of the iron railing was barely visible. Three upward hooks that were joined in the center.
“Damn,” he said. “Tough shot.”
“May I?” Ana asked.
Anton had nearly forgotten her inhuman precision. He gave her the grappling hook.
He and Petra stepped away and watched as Ana began to swing the hook. She released it without hesitation and let it fly toward the window. A faint clatter sounded, and the android pulled the rope taut.
“Ana, you never cease to amaze me,” Anton said. “Let’s do this. I’ll go in front.”
With one tug for reassurance, Anton began to climb. When he reached the top, he peered in the window and, to his relief, found it empty. He set his laser pistol to cutting mode and carefully sliced a hole in the glass. He waved his companions forward.
When the women were safely in the room, Ana produced a bioscan hologram. A mixture of human and reptilian biosignatures dotted the castle. Anton counted the cold-blooded imprints. About twelve Draconians still occupied the castle. Many of the human signatures were isolated in bedchambers, but some were clustered around Draconians. The blood-drinking humans already seemed to be protecting their new lords.
A purple biosignature stood out among the others. Hectus was alone in one of the royal Draconian’s bedchambers.
“Our old friend is here,” Anton said.
“Should we try to interrogate him?” Petra asked. “He probably knows more than we do. Might help, assuming we can get him to talk.”
“It’s a start,” Anton said. “Can we get there from the tunnels?
“Yeah, every room in that hallway has access. Most rooms in the castle do.”
“How is it that nobody else knows about these things?”
“I can’t say that they don’t,” the Princess replied. “I’ve never seen anyone else use them, but that doesn’t mean they never do. I don’t have one of those fancy ‘bio scanners’ you’re always using.”
“Fair enough, can you lead us there?”
The Princess nodded. She walked over to her desk, climbed on top of it, then jumped up and pressed in one of the ceiling tiles. Though made of what looked like stone, it slid aside. The princess jumped again, then pulled herself up and out of sight.
“Come on!” she said. “And bring some light.”
Anton took a small lantern from the Pri
ncess’ bedside table. Making sure his pistol was still set to cutting, he produced the laser and held it to the lantern’s wick. When it was lit, he climbed onto the desk and passed it up to Petra, then jumped and joined her. Ana followed.
The tunnel was dark, and all Anton could make out was the faint silhouette of the princess crawling in front of him, illuminated by the lamplight. Claustrophobia might have set in if he didn’t have a tantalizing view of Petra’s gyrating ass to distract him.
A few minutes later, Petra looked back and pointed downward. She caught Anton staring and grinned. Carefully, she crawled past the tile that led downward and turned around so that her head and Anton’s were right beside it. She slid the tile out just a sliver, enough to look down into the room.
A dim lantern illuminated the shape of Hectus’ body prostrate on a mattress. The man was motionless, his eyes closed. He could have been mistaken for dead if not for the slight raising and lowering of his chest. On the floor around the bed, dark stains dotted the room.
“Should we?” Anton whispered. “I don’t know how helpful he’s going to be in this state.”
She shrugged.
“At least he isn’t going to pick a fight,” she said. “Let’s see what’s going on.”
Petra slid the tile the rest of the way over, then lowered herself into the room. Anton followed, as did Ana, but the feeble man took no notice of their presence.
Hectus’ face was sunken. His breath rasped with each inhalation.
“What’s wrong with him?” Petra asked.
Anton was about to guess when Ana answered for him.
“Blood loss,” she said. “He is very weak. It would appear that he is severely lacking in oxygen.”
“Good god,” Anton said. As much as he hated the man, he couldn’t help but pity anyone in this condition.
“Water…” Hectus rasped.
It wasn’t clear that Hectus had any idea who he was speaking to. Judging by his milky eyes, Anton guessed that the man was so desperate, he’d turn to anyone for help. Even if they were just three silhouettes towering over him.