by Gini Koch
It was too narrow for us to safely use hyperspeed, so Fancy went first, with me following, then Wilbur, and Reader brought up the rear, gun out and ready. I dug my Glock out, too, but I also carried Ginger again, just in case we needed to launch her at someone or something.
Just as within Haven, it wasn’t dark inside. There was a green glow all along the walls, floor, and ceiling. Not blinding, thankfully, but bright enough to be able to see clearly. “Green Glow Beetles?” I asked Fancy softly.
She nodded. “They are our friends.”
“Let’s hope,” Reader muttered from behind me.
We trotted down the stairs at a good clip, reached the bottom, and trotted along a narrow corridor for a good few minutes. As Fancy had said, we ran into no one. Which was good because while it might be possible to pass someone going the other way, it would be tight at best.
There were places along the corridor that we had to avoid, and it was fairly easy to do so, even for Wilbur. The traps were ancient and pretty easy to spot. Most of them just required you to jump over, hug the wall, or duck down. These weren’t Raiders of the Lost Ark traps—these were traps a little kid would think were hard and clever. Maybe.
Finally came to a door at the end of the corridor. Fancy listened at it for a few long seconds, then she nodded and shoved the door open just a crack, very carefully and very slowly.
She waited again a little longer this time, then pushed the door open a bit more. One more long listen, then she opened it wide enough for all of us to slip through. Once through, she let the door close as quietly as she’d opened it.
We were in a new corridor. This one was no wider than the one we’d just left, but it wasn’t as well lit. The area around the door wasn’t lit at all. In fact, when I looked back at the door I could only see it because I knew where it was. The Glow Beetles were definitely on Team Fancy.
This corridor was perpendicular to the one we’d just left, so we could go right or left. Either way, the path was intermittently lit, but it was darker toward the left. Unsurprisingly, that was the way Fancy went.
Another long corridor, another door, another corridor that was perpendicular to the corridor we’d just left, over and over again. If Chuckie had been with us, I wouldn’t have worried, because I knew he’d have memorized every step we’d taken. Maybe Reader was doing that, but I wasn’t the greatest at mazes, and I was completely lost by the fifth door.
“No traps here?” I asked her softly.
“Some of the doors do not lead to rooms or other hallways.”
“What do they lead to?”
“Dead ends, flying spears, falling acid, a long drop with spikes at the bottom, that sort of thing.”
So this section had been created by someone far nastier than whoever had set up the Secret Entrance. Interesting.
“The game gets harder the closer you get to the Boss,” Reader said quietly to me. “Someone’s having fun. Sick fun, but fun.”
“You think we’re being watched?” My team and I had been watched when we were in Bizarro World, after all.
He looked around. “Maybe.”
Three more doors later we exited into a room. It wasn’t lit by the Green Glow Beetles but by a few weak, flickering globules of light. Based on the barrels and such, it was a large, rectangular storeroom. Based on the dust, it wasn’t used that often. Based on the crates in front of us, the door we’d just come through couldn’t easily be seen.
Of course, there was dust on the floor, too, and that meant footsteps could be seen. Though the dust on the floor was piled up more against barrels and the walls and such.
Which was explained by Fancy picking up a broom and quickly sweeping the floor.
“Nice of you to perform maid services,” Reader whispered, “but do we really have time for this?”
“She’s hiding our tracks, so yes, we do have the time.”
“If things go right, we won’t need to have our tracks hidden.”
This was a good point, however, Fancy was done. She put the broom back and we headed off again.
“Is this where you take stores from?” I asked her as we walked quickly down the path she’d cleaned toward a door at the opposite end of the long room.
“No, there is nothing we need in this room. We raid closer to the king.”
Interesting again. Why have a storage room with things in it no one wanted or needed? Reader’s video game comparison seemed a bit more apt.
“What are those things giving us light?” I nodded toward one of the glowing globules.
“Naturally forming fungi. They’re edible, at least some variations, and they only grow underground.”
“Meet Beta Eight’s mushrooms,” Reader said.
We reached the far door and Fancy once again did her listen and open the door slowly thing. We exited onto another corridor, but this time there were many more doors. It reminded me of Guantanamo, when I’d been working with Gladys Gower during Operation Infiltration. Right before she died.
Got Reader’s bad feeling going in my own gut now. But nothing happened.
We got to the end of this corridor and went up a long, curving staircase that clearly didn’t see a lot of action. “I have to point out that this is an extremely empty castle,” I said as we continued up the stairway, meeting absolutely no one and nothing. If this was a video game, it was set on the easy level. Or else it was lulling us into a false sense of security.
“It’s a trap,” Reader said. “Trust me, right now, we’re walking into a trap.”
CHAPTER 64
“I’M KIND OF WITH JAMES, Fancy. Do you consistently meet no resistance when you raid?” A fighting force that never had to fight wasn’t necessarily a good fighting force. Practice, versus talking about or thinking about a skill, tended to make perfect.
“This is an old and unused wing.”
“How can it be old if it’s only been here two of your years?”
“The castle has been on our world for much longer, Shealla. The king took it over, he did not build it.”
“Really? When was this castle built?” I examined the stone. It looked something like granite. I hadn’t seen stone like this on the planet yet.
“It has been here since our world began,” Fancy said. “The Father of the Gods created it. But it used to reside elsewhere.”
“Where and how did it get moved?” Reader asked before I could.
“The castle used to be in what you are calling the Bronze Land. Zenoca put it here. Zenoca carries the Jewel of the Gods, and therefore he can make things appear or disappear.”
Was pretty confident that the Jewel of the Gods was a Z’porrah power cube. The missing Z’porrah power cube to be exact. I hadn’t realized they could move gigantic buildings but LaRue would definitely know how to work one better than any of us did.
Algar wanted that power cube found, too. He was really getting at least a double, if not a triple or even a home run, on this particular excursion of ours.
“Didn’t anyone question that?” Reader asked. “Especially when Zenoca shoved someone who’s not from this planet into the ruling position?”
“They did not realize it was Zenoca. He appeared as a woman and convinced the others that a ‘strong king’ was what we needed. I know Musgraff believes that woman was Zenoca, and I do as well.”
“Make it three, because I’m certain that was Zenoca.”
“Yeah, it makes sense,” Reader said. “Does anyone else think Zenoca put the king on the throne other than the outcasts and those in Haven?”
“Zanell does,” Fancy replied. “And some others. But now to question the king is to be thrown out of your clan. Just as to contradict the king ensured that Musgraff and all those who now follow him would be outcast.”
“What was their contradiction, exactly?” I asked.
“They said they had s
een ships in the sky. The king said this was impossible, that we are alone here in space. When they insisted that they had seen wonders, the king called them liars. When they did not admit to a lie, the king cast them out.”
“I didn’t notice a lot of pilgrims on the way up or down the All Seeing Mountain. Is that normal?”
“No, Shealla. But right now, the king does not like us to go there. Only the most devout are traveling the Seven Paths to Pilgrimage right now.”
Meaning the king knew there were so many ships in his solar space that all his people would soon know they were there, and therefore he’d either have to admit the ships’ existence or banish every subject.
“So, here’s a question. Why did Zenoca move the castle? Or, rather, what’s more special about Greenland than the Bronze Lands?”
Fancy shook her head. “No reason was given. The people did ask—but we were told that the king could do as he pleased. And the display of power cowed most of the people.”
“Understandably.”
“Kitty, you said the Bronze Land dampened Jeff’s powers,” Reader pointed out. “Remember who we think is king here now. He’s got troubadour and mind control powers, if it’s really Ronaldo. Meaning he wouldn’t want those constricted.”
Things clicked. “That both makes sense and explains how they figured out that something in the Bronze Land region would dampen A-C talents. LaRue moves the castle to a more congenial location for Ronaldo and brings back Anti A-C Power Dust to Earth.”
“Which begs an important question,” Reader said. “Which is this—did Zenoca move the hidden tunnels as well?”
Fancy looked pensive. “I saw the magic and my people did as well. The entire castle glittered golden, disappeared from its original location then reappeared here. Zenoca was in the castle when it moved, but so were all clan leaders, myself included. Our people were outside and could confirm the miracle. Zenoca and the king had not visited the castle long before they insisted it be moved—they had spent their time prior explaining why we were in danger, and those talks took place in Zanell’s land.”
“Did they ever enter Haven?” Reader asked.
“No, I did not trust Zenoca in his female form or our new king, so I did not allow them entrance or even discuss where and how my people lived.”
“Wise. The power cubes work on mental suggestion, James. Meaning that if LaRue wanted to move ‘all’ the castle, that would include underground and secret areas, too. She might have done so just to save time, and she also could have done it without being more specific.” Especially if Algar was watching and offering a little “help.”
“And you think Ronaldo hasn’t examined the place since then?”
“I think that he might have, but if this area looked boring or confusing—or he almost lost his head due to a spear or something, that he might have stopped. He’s not brave, remember. He’s just a bastard, in every sense of the word.”
The castle had clearly been created by Algar. Meaning that the traps were there both to keep interlopers out but, more importantly, to keep Ronaldo and his people away from the paths that let Fancy and hers in. A being who could get our pictures and a ginormous telescope in place thousands of years before we existed could certainly make a castle that fooled Ronaldo and LaRue.
Fancy put up her paw. “We’re approaching the end of this stairway. Once we leave it, James, you will find more people. Many more. The ocellar and the chocho must stay quiet, and we must as well, or we will all die.”
We nodded, and I whispered the Stay Silent instructions to both Wilbur and Ginger, both of whom said they’d control themselves.
Fancy crept forward, looked around, motioned with her paw, and scurried off. The rest of us followed.
Could hear the sound of people walking and talking, though it was far off. Could also finally see daylight, meaning there were windows and we were again aboveground. Looked up. The windows here were high up, just like the ceilings, open, with nothing hanging over them. Clearly we weren’t in an area of this place where anyone lived.
We continued on, stopping, looking, scurrying, and, in some cases, just avoiding someone. I was lost beyond belief and stopped even trying to figure out where we were, where we’d been, and how we could go back. The castle was even more of a maze than the old secret tunnel area had been.
Smelled food of some kind cooking and my stomach growled. Hoped it had growled quietly. Waterfruit were fine, but they weren’t real food, and it had been a long time since we’d eaten.
Fancy heard my stomach and flashed me a smile. “We go through part of the kitchens,” she whispered in my ear. “We can grab food along the way.”
Sure enough, our next stop was what looked like a pantry. Long room with doors on either end and also in the middle of each long wall. Shelves loaded with foodstuffs everywhere else. We crept through here, but everything was an ingredient—nothing was prepared.
However, our goal was the middle door on our left. Once there, Fancy did the usual stop, listen, open a crack, listen, lather, rinse, repeat thing. She finally opened the door and we all trotted inside.
We were in the roasting room. Literally. There were different kinds of meats on spits, and the smell of roasting meat, and it was as hot a Pueblo Caliente in the middle of summer.
“What kinds of animals are these?” I asked Fancy as she headed toward a spit near the back of the room.
“None you have met. Greenland in particular is filled with game animals. It and the Blue Waterway feed the majority of our planet.”
“And there’s another reason to move the castle here,” I said to Reader as Fancy grabbed what looked like a bird of some kind and tore it apart. It was too small to be Bruno, for which I was extremely thankful. My Peregrine was here, and that meant he was in danger just like everyone else. And I knew without asking that Ronaldo would enjoy eating my pet if he could ensure I got to watch.
Reader nodded. “Control the food, control the people.” He took a bite of the leg Fancy had handed him. “Tastes like chicken.”
“It is chicken,” she said. “The king brought chickens with him. They are the most remarkably stupid animals I have ever encountered.”
“That’s chickens.” Ate my leg with relish. “But this confirms it’s who we think it is. I doubt chickens show up all over the cosmos.”
“And apparently they’re Ronaldo’s favorite food. Not sure how that helps us, other than getting us fed, but I’ll take it.”
All five of us devoured the chicken in record time. Fancy found a cloth that we all used to wipe hands and faces, while Ginger and Wilbur merely licked their chops. Then, sustenance managed, we headed off again.
“I still feel like we’re in a video game,” Reader muttered. “We earned our food and rest break, and now we get to go on, fortified for the next battle.”
Fancy slipped us out through another door that led to the roasting room, and we were back in yet another corridor. Once more we crept and scurried along, and finally reached a small door.
Fancy listened at said door and did the usual rigmarole. We went inside. Small door, small room.
There was no apparent reason for this room, other than that there was another door on the opposite side.
“What’s this?” Reader asked softly.
“Antechamber to the king’s throne room.”
Reader and I exchanged a look. “Get ready, girlfriend. It’s about to stop being easy in three . . . two . . . one . . .”
Fancy opened the door.
CHAPTER 65
“WOW, James, color me impressed with your prescience.”
The space in front of us was filled with what looked like Ancient Amazonians. But there were some regular Amazons from Beta Twelve in there, too. Nice to know where those who’d followed Lilith and Kyrellis had ended up.
Heard a click behind me. Raced to the door we’d
come through. It was now locked. Sure, I could have used my extra A-C strength to pull it open, but why bother? It was a safe bet that there were just more soldiers of some kind out there.
“Do come in,” a cheery voice called to us. It was a voice I recognized. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Well, how can we refuse such a nice invitation?” Zipped back and stepped in front of Fancy, handing her Ginger as I did so. Decided Algar wasn’t going to be offering much advice via my iPod in this circumstance so took all that off and dropped it into my purse. Then I walked through the threshold.
That it was Ronaldo Al Dejahl sitting on a really ostentatious and overwhelmingly gaudy throne wasn’t a surprise. That there were a lot more Amazons and Ancients around than was probably healthy for us was also no surprise. That no one else we were looking for was in here with him was the big surprise.
Knew I looked shocked, and had to figure the others did, too. But, happily, Ronaldo wasn’t the brightest bulb on the Hanukkah bush. “Surprised to see me and all my friends?” he asked gleefully.
“Um, yeah. Yeah we are.” Not. Waited for a reaction—there was none. His power was mind control—at least the original Ronaldo had that trait, along with his troubadour talent—but not necessarily mind reading. But looking at the Ronaldo on The Chair of Ugly Chairs, had a distinct feeling that Chuckie’s fears were groundless—as far as I could tell, this was indeed a clone.
Of course, I’d seen more of the clones than Chuckie had, so I could tell that there was just something slightly off about this Ronaldo. He didn’t look quite right—something was subtly wrong. Couldn’t put my finger on what or why, but I got the distinct feeling that he was a copy of the original.
As I remembered from the last time I’d seen him, he was typical A-C handsome. He was older than Serene but not by too much, about Jeff’s size, with dark hair. When we’d met, he’d been mid-twenties. He didn’t look much older than that now. But while he looked the way I remembered, there was something missing.