Realising she still had some of Akins’s emerald pieces in her right-hand trouser pocket, she fished them out and gave them to James who held them beneath the mer-phone. The bottom of the phone started to glow red as the merman hovered it above the pieces. To Paula, it looked like he was scanning the pieces. “We grabbed those pieces from a sorcerer in Egypt,” she told him. “With these special types of emerald stones, he could use normal dust to create millions of sphinxes, lighting birds, anything he wanted. I’ve been trying to do more research on it, but I’ve had no success.”
James’s mer-phone beeped. “I’ve got something.”
Another mystery that always got Paula was how a mer-phone sometimes did better research on a topic than her Spy Pad. She once tried to dismantle one to study it, but even the wires inside were too complicated for her to understand. Not understanding marine technology made her didn’t make her feel good about being an aquatic bird.
The penguin took the mer-phone and read on the screen that the emerald stone, which was also known as a Kishpu Stone, was a magical stone and it was as old as the Sumerian Era. It had no effect on humans but to these sorcerers and sorceresses, belonging to the family name of Homo Maleficos, it boosted their powers ten times. They were once many of the stones and the creatures, but now they were all lost or destroyed. Some were believed to survive, but only less than twenty have been suspected since the Sumerian times and they are not half as powerful without the Kishpu Stones. The survived ones, blaming the humans for intolerance of different things and for being the main reason behind the disappearance of the magic folk, had joined a group calling themselves the Cult of Kishpu.
Kishpu – one of the Sumerian words for ‘Sorcery’, Paula thought. This is making more sense now. Akins and his army, the colossal squids, Lady Clam and her friend. They are all part of this cult.
As she read to kill a magical person, she hoped this wouldn’t affect Mengy as she was an animal demon, not a Homo Maleficos. That was the true name of the magical human race. She finally discovered what she will need to stop this evil witch: a special poison that was created by the magic folk for the Sorcerer Civil War, which took place far before the city-states were created.
“I found the nearest one,” Chris said. “The magic folk hid their poisons in a secret underground lair that was thought to be destroyed before the City of Tikal was built. I don’t know if there is still any poison there at all, but it’s all I can find.”
Paula and Mengy looked at each other as they thought about what to do. It was the elephant who decided ‘yes’ to the mission when she nodded.
“All right,” Paula said. “We’ll do it. Now, onto Tikal.”
“And here are you,” said James.
Paula ran towards the front of the raft and was not impressed with what she saw. “That’s not Tikal. That’s just Champerico.” But as she saw the half-burnt buildings and heard no cries, she thought she and Mengy could run through it to Tikal if they had to.
“No,” said James. “This is where you have to continue without us.”
“What? You’re not going to help us?”
“We got you out so you can continue with your mission.”
“Besides, we’re mermen,” said Chris. “We can’t walk on land.”
“I know that!” Paula hated feeling stupid. She wondered if Larissa got that from her. Her dead brother and her sister-in-law were more laid-back like Pedro.
Mengy’s trunk tapped on the penguin’s shoulder again. She turned around and saw the elephant demon’s hand holding out.
“You can teleport us there?” asked Paula.
Mengy nodded.
“Okay, let’s go.” The penguin took her hand.
“Good luck,” said James.
“And, once again, thanks for helping us out, guys!” Paula called, as she waved her wing. Then she and Mengy vanished like ghosts. Because they didn’t vanish with them, their manacles dropped onto the raft.
After waving a handkerchief to the G.C.A. soldiers as they vanished, Chris used it to wipe the tears from his eyes.
“What are you crying about, you softie?” asked James.
“We might never see them again,” sobbed Chris.
“Oh, don’t be silly,” James said, putting on a tough face and tone. “They’ve pulled through every mission they’ve been on. I’m sure they’ll make it through this one. I’m really confident. I hope they will.” Then he started to sniffle himself.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Lukeson, Stu Pot, Rustom and Pedro were struggling to break free from the wing-guards. And the worst part was they couldn’t see where they were being pushed to because paper bags with barely enough air for them to breathe were wrapped around their heads. They couldn’t take them off because their hands were handcuffed. Rustom would have attacked the guards with his gadgets in his body to free himself and his fellow comrades. It was Lukeson that kept ordering him not to because he was still not up for that option. Things were messy enough and they were trying to clean everything up, not make them messier.
The prisoners were thrown down. After their bags were yanked off their heads, they saw that they were kneeling before a row of eleven oak-wooden chairs at the end of the room. The sitter in the middle one was a long grey haired and bearded wingman. He wore black trousers, black boots, a brown jumper and a golden robe covered them all up; only his giant owl wings were sticking out of the back of his robe. A golden necklace hung below his neck and a crown of feathers sat on top of his head. As he flew up and hovered above his seat, so did his ten councillors.
Lukeson and his soldiers looked behind to see a full gallery of wingpeople hovering above their wooden seats. They looked up to see they were in a giant room taller than the inside of a massive cathedral, decorated with creamy-white walls and large colourful window glasses.
“Where are we?” Pedro whispered.
“My guess would be we’re in the King’s court room in his palace and the reason they’ve hovering up is because it must be a pre-trial ritual for –”
Lukeson nudged Rustom to be quiet.
“All hail the Lord of the Skies, King Strigiformes,” a lady with crow wings in front of the councillor seats announced in Danish.
“Let the trail begin,” King Strigiformes said in Danish. “Be seated.”
Everyone sat down in their wooden seats.
Strigiformes opened a scroll and spoke in Danish. “The prisoners are charged for the following actions: invading our hidden city, destroying our properties, assaulting our guards and citizens, stealing a jet pack and for making a wingman piss his pants.”
Rustom had to chuckle quietly. Where is the sense of humour in these guys?
The other prisoners couldn’t understand what the wingpeople were saying in Danish, but by the tone of the king’s voice and the stern looks of everyone in the room, they knew it didn’t look good for their side.
Strigiformes sat back down. “We will start with the olive-skinned one,” he said in Danish.
The guards dragged Lukeson forward.
“State your name and business,” Strigiformes said in English.
“Sergeant Rhys Lukeson, co-founder and third-in-command of Global Creature Alliance,” Lukeson said in English. “I was brought up here by your daughter Princess Louise. We are trying to solve the mystery of the –”
“Silence!” the king yelled. Then he turned to the right-hand side of his council and said in Danish, “Louise, face me.”
One of his councillors, a beautiful blonde and tanned woman wearing black trousers, a green shirt and a bronze robe flew out of her seat and landed in front of the king.
Her early twenties beauty invaded the minds of Stu Pot, Pedro and even Rustom as they laid eyes on her. They felt by just looking at her was replacing their stress and frustration with perkiness and relaxation.
Louise bowed. “Yes, Father?” she said in Danish.
“Is it true what Lukeson said?” the king asked in Danish. “That you brought
him here into the skies?”
“Yes,” Louise confessed. “And it’s also true about me trying to help him stop this war down below –”
“That they created,” interrupted a long black-haired wingwoman with crow wings, wearing black trousers, a golden jumper and a silver robe who was sitting on a council seat. “Father, may I?”
The king nodded.
The wingwoman got up. “What if I was to tell you that I’m a witness in terms of knowing that Lukeson and Louise have been seeing each other for about a couple of years?”
“Sarah, what are you doing?” snapped Louise.
“Just looking out for my little sister,” said Sarah, as she patted her on the head.
Louise angrily slammed her hand away.
“Careful, Louise. You’re not just in court; you’re in the Royal Court.”
“Is it also true that you have been meeting up with my daughter for the last two years?” the king asked Lukeson in English.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Lukeson replied. “My team and I were investigating at a strange sighting at Nagayevo Bay. After we split up, the first thing I found by myself was Princess Louise on the ground. She was trapped under a fallen tree and I used my axe to cut the tree into pieces to free her. We talked a little before she had to fly off and my soldiers found me. And we’ve been friends ever since.”
“How often do you see each other?” Sarah asked in English.
“We see each other a couple of times a week,” replied Lukeson. “Louise gives me a call and I go to meet her whenever we can. Always at night when everyone at G.C.A is asleep. We have a friendly chat, but also we do a little business together.”
The king immediately flew towards Lukeson and grabbed him by his throat.
Rustom opened his back as he stood up and reached for a weapon with his extra metal arms. “Let him go!” he roared in Danish.
“You try anything, rhino,” the king said in Danish, “and your leader here will be dead before you can kill me!”
“He is not my leader!” Rustom went on in Danish. “I don’t even know why –”
“Rustom, just resist, please!” Stu Pot begged in English.
Rustom sighed and closed his back up. The guards pushed him back down. He was still struggling to see the point of going down the long hard road and cooperating with these unreasonable creatures.
“And get some cuffs for those metal hands as well.” The king turned back to Lukeson. “What kind of business?” he demanded in English.
“Just to make sure the skies weren’t getting any more air pollution caused by humans like me,” Lukeson groaned through the king’s strong hands.
The king dropped his prisoner and left him to catch his breath. Then he turned to his daughters.
“Do you see, Father?” Sarah said in Danish. “Not only do the land creatures pollute our skies and try to rule everything they see, but they can poison our minds. Look at Louise as an example.”
“My mind is not poisoned!” Louise protested in Danish. “While everyone here has been burying their heads in the clouds, I’m the only wingperson ever to fly down, befriend a human and try to negotiate with him. And since he is one of the founders of the most secretive and protective organisation that protects walking and talking non-human species, I think that’s a bonus. I consider myself the Sky Ambassador to the Land.”
“Sky Ambassador?” Sarah laughed rudely.
That made Louise angry enough, but the entire audience joining her sister’s laughter would have made her scream at the top of her lungs if she wasn’t in the royal court.
“SILENCE!” the king roared. His roaring was so powerful that it didn’t take his audience two seconds to obey him. Then he took a moment to think.
Lukeson noticed all the flying creatures looking very worried. Then he noticed Sarah was looking less worried than everyone else. He remembered Louise telling him that it was always moments like this when she had a feeling that her eldest sister was up to something when she looked like that. He was beginning to feel the same.
“You’re right, Louise,” the king said in Danish a minute later. “We have been hiding in the clouds for too long. The time has come for us now to strike the land for good.”
“What?” Louise cried.
“We have four land creatures here that prove the skies are no longer safe as long as the land is filled with their kind,” Strigiformes went on.
“You see, Louise,” said Sarah. “That human who you think is wonderful is not a good role model.”
“He’s a better role model than you!” yelled Louise. Then he turned to her father. “And you.”
Everyone gasped.
“What did she say, Rustom?” Lukeson asked in English.
“She said her daddy and sister is a couple of shitheads,” Rustom told him. “She thinks you’re an inspiration to her.”
Lukeson was really touched by that. Even though Louise never said it to him face to face, it made him feel very happy.
“Enough!” Strigiformes yelled in Danish. “I sentence you, Louise, to the Mental Health Cloud to change your pathetic thinking.” He turned around to face his prisoners. “As for you four,” he went on in English, “I find you all guilty and sentence you to die by beheading.”
“Good luck trying to take my head off,” Rustom said in Danish.
The king heard him speaking but ignored him.
“You guys are the deadliest angels I have ever seen,” Pedro said.
Strigiformes laughed. “We are not angels and this is no heaven,” he told them in English. “In fact, we do not have our own gods. We are atheists.” Then he addressed his public and said in Danish, “Within the hour, my army and I shall fly down to the Earth and rid it of the humans before they do any further and more dangerous damage.”
The royal court was soon filled with wingpeople and flying creatures of all kind flying around the room and cheering.
Lukeson exchanged fed-up looks with Louise. They felt like they had made things worse before the war ever started.
“Princess Sarah will rule as regent in my absence,” Strigiformes went on. Then he turned to Louise and the G.C.A. soldiers. “Take them to the bridge. I want them to see something.”
* * *
Louise, who was now in handcuffs, was sat with her friends outside a motte-and-bailey castle, which was where they had their trial. It looked like one on Earth, only it was made out of Gidgee trees and it was on a hill of clouds. She began to cry her eyes out. “I’m sorry, Rhys,” she sobbed. “I let you down this time.”
“You’ve never let me down, Lou,” Lukeson said. “You did what you thought was right and everything you could. I could not admire anyone or anything more.”
They exchanged smiles. Then a mighty dragon roar made them turn to see a bunch of wingpeople, birds, and all flying creatures cheering as King Strigiformes, in his golden armour covering from neck to toe, came out, sitting on the bronze-glazed saddle on his giant bronze-skinned fire-breathing dragon. Behind him came his wingmen, wearing the bronze armour and carrying their rifles, flying behind him. Some were riding on giant birds and some were riding on dragons with tiny yet powerful cannons strapped onto their saddles.
“Take one last good look on the Earth as you know it,” the king said to Louise and her friends. “It will be your last.” Then he drew out his sword and faced forward. “Charge!”
All the wingmen and birds cheered as they watched Strigiformes and his army swoop down to the land.
“No,” Louise screamed, trying to wiggle out of her handcuffs. “No! No!”
“Louise, calm down,” Sarah said, as she knelt down and put her hands on her sister’s shoulders. “I know you don’t like this, but after Father comes back after making the world a better place, we’ll get you the best treatment and rid you of your toxic friends. You’ll thank us for it. Hopefully, admire us for it.”
All she got from her sister was a spat on her beautiful nose. “The fuck I ever will! These guys are more l
ike my family than you and father ever were! I cannot believe that instead of a good role model, I am the younger sister of a rude, bossy, arrogant bitch cunt!”
An enraged but self-controlled Sarah got up and turned to the captain of the guards. “Captain, take her to the Mental Cloud now. And as for the prisoners, I want them executed in ten minutes.” Then she flew off immediately before the captain could even bow to her.
Louise and her friends wondered where Sarah would go in a vast hurry as the captain and his chosen guards pushed them ahead.
“Hey!” yelled Pedro, who was looking up. “Look up in the sky!”
Everyone just scoffed at him, not even bothering to look up.
“No, he’s not kidding,” said Stu Pot, who was looking up as well. “See for yourself.”
Still no one looked up.
“Just look up at the bleeding sky, will you?” yelled Rustom.
One or two wingmen groaned as they looked up. Then they screamed. More people looked up and their fed up faces changed into more scared-as-hell looks. Soon everyone was looking up and screaming as well. Flying above the city at sonic speed was an army of black furry creatures with muscular arms and legs. They had faces like bats but with red glowing eyes.
Rustom used his red eye to zoom closer to the creatures. He could see their sharp, clawed hands held long, sharp thin blade swords. By the look of them, the swords have had plenty of experience with the amount of stained blood on them.
“You guys didn’t tell me you get aliens here,” Pedro said to the guards holding him down.
“They’re not aliens, Pedro,” said Stu Pot. “I think they’re mothmen.”
“Mothmen?” said Pedro.
“Legendary American monsters,” explained Rustom.
“But how could our shield be down?” asked a panicking wingwoman.
“Your king needed to take the shield down to fly down to invade our lands, remember, Feather Brain?” Rustom said to her. God, these wingpeople are just as stupid as the humans down below.
The Cult of Kishpu Page 21