Midnight Monster Club

by Gerhard Gehrke

  What felt like hours passed. There was no way to track time.

  A muffled cheer echoed around them. Someone, somewhere, was doing something to rile the audience up.

  Paulus was trying to sharpen his axe on the stone floor. “What do you think’s going on?”

  “No clue.” Digger spoke up to address the walls. “Hey, whoever’s listening. What’s the harm in letting us know what’s happening out there?”

  The game attendant who had chided him earlier spoke. “New preliminary and first round. Simplified, so we can get to round two this afternoon. The contestants are sure to make it here, so be ready.”

  “New contestants? How many?”

  “Probably all of them, including that lord who has it out for you. The queen wants the best finale possible. You certainly gave her something worth remembering. Let’s make today special.”

  “So we’re the finale. There’s only two of us. Do we get reinforcements?”

  The attendant didn’t answer.

  There was no place to hide. As the first of the spectators began to fill the gallery, there was no way to tell from which door the oncoming contestants would enter. He inspected the lower set of doors and began to probe the walls. Some were stone. Some wood. Only a thin panel stood between him and whatever room the game attendant was hiding in.

  “Don’t touch,” the attendant said. “This is off-limits. You’re to wait for the caller, who’ll give you your cues.”

  Scrape marks on the floor showed where a larger section of wall in the center might swing out like a door. He pried with his fingers but couldn’t gain purchase.

  “Last warning.”

  He showed his hands and returned to wait next to Paulus in the middle of the room.

  “You should have taken your out,” Digger said.

  Paulus leaned on his axe.

  The distant game caller began to give a long explanation to the audience. Something behind the walls shifted. A metallic scraping sound began, along with a series of squeaks that sounded like a rusty winch. Digger guessed it was the portcullis in the chamber of secrets rising. This was followed by the distant chimes of a bell. Round over. They were coming.

  More voices filled the gallery. The lights in the corridor dimmed, casting Digger and Paulus in shadow.

  Digger caught snippets of their conversations. The spectators were casually talking about the food, money, the spectacle they had witnessed, and what they were planning that evening after the game was done. Corks popped. They sipped their wine, waiting for what was to come next.

  A distant wail echoed.

  Digger returned to the wooden section of wall and strained his ears. The cry repeated, growing louder. Someone cackled until they ran out of breath, laughing at some unheard joke. Moans and anguished sobs erupted from the opposite side of the wall, causing the crowd above to fall into a hush. Then they applauded.

  Dread ran through Digger. Monty and Isabel were beyond that wall, he felt certain.

  Paulus hissed to get his attention. “Hey, focus. This could start any minute.”

  Digger moved away from the wall. The haunted cries continued. He could only hope this was part of the illusion of the catacombs and not real. The lights dimmed further until he could only see the outline of the fel next to him. A rank fish smell permeated the room that he hadn’t noticed before.

  Gong! Gong! Gong!

  As the echoes of the deep chimes faded, a blue glow shone down along the walls. Previously unseen etchings came to life around them. Scenes of a woman adorned in frothy ocean waves filled each panel. In one she was leading an array of sea creatures against a crumbling castle. In another she watched as mermen drowned a group of soldiers. In each depiction the woman presided over various foes and their defeat. The movable wall was the only one showing her facing the room. In each hand she held necklaces and sparkling gemstones. At her feet was a giant clam with a black pearl in its open mouth. Circles of multicolored lights began to swirl about the chamber, giving the figures the illusion of motion.

  The crowd responded to the light show with enthusiastic applause.

  The game caller’s crisp voice rose above it. “Two of the nymph’s champions, against all odds, survived the assault of the brave fortune seekers on the chamber of secrets. Hurrying to warn their mistress, they pause to await her instructions.”

  An echoing woman’s voice boomed. “Fight them, my warriors. Stop them. I demand it!”

  “The two champions have no choice. Their mistress has commanded it. They are all that stands between the invading fortune hunters and their goddess and her treasure room. The brave adventurers approach...”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  THE PAIR OF GRAVEDIGGERS who had been in the front of the line brought up a third and a fourth body, and there were more to come. Hellard didn’t see any dead purebloods among them. Nobody he knew among the victims, at least.

  He was patiently waiting his turn, having once again yielded to the other body wranglers and content to not have to answer more questions. The guard at the side gate hadn’t even batted an eye upon seeing him again.

  Judging by the crowds, the games hadn’t lost any of their luster after the violent beginning and the upset staged by the monsters. Hellard guessed there were even more gathered in front of the castle than yesterday. Even those who didn’t have tickets and couldn’t get through the front gate were keen on the spectacle. The musicians and food vendors from Stockade Square were all present. Street performers joined the mix. Jugglers were throwing bottles into the air, puppeteers reenacted interpretations of what the game reporters relayed, and the people, Diregloom citizens pure and fel alike, cheered.

  He masked his disgust with a droopy gaze and a lopsided smile. He also kept his sleeves down lest another sharp-eyed gravedigger notice his tattoos.

  Digger’s luck was holding. Monty and Isabel were still alive too, after having been hauled into the castle the previous evening. But any bandit worth his steel wouldn’t wait on luck to see their way through a tricky day. Hellard knew he had to take his chances and go inside.

  The gravediggers finished tucking the fallen monsters under their tarp. They looked disappointed. There was little loot to be had from dead fel prisoners.

  He worked to untie two shrouds from the bodies inside an unattended grave cart. Once the knots were undone he pulled the shrouds free and tucked the tarp back over the dead before anyone noticed.

  The pipe-chewing gravedigger appeared, hiking up the steps with a fresh corpse on his shoulders. It might have been Digger. But then Hellard saw a dark-green hand dangling, and Digger was light-skinned enough that he might pass for pureblood.

  Hellard was next in line. With the stained shrouds under one arm, he moved past the gravedigger.

  “Hey, new guy, they don’t need you yet. Hey!”

  “One of the guards asked for these,” Hellard said and hurried down.

  He descended into a wide corridor with high barred windows that provided light. Two more gravediggers passed him by, carrying a small body, what could have been a child. He winced at the thought of one so young dying in this place.

  One of the gravediggers said, “This is the last of them for now.”

  Hellard showed the shrouds and kept walking. “Orders are orders.”

  At the end of the corridor a single guard stood at a small metal door. He wore no signs of rank. His eyes went wide as Hellard got close.

  Hellard maintained his smile and spoke slowly. “Sergeant wanted one of us to carry these down for later.”

  “Leave ’em. There’s no more work for you here.”

  “If you say so. But he said to hurry because they had two more bodies and they ran out of these things. I didn’t want to get the sergeant mad at me.”

  Hellard studied the man’s reaction. The unranked guard clearly didn’t want the sergeant, whichever one he had in mind, mad at him either. Yet he hesitated.

  Unlike the guard at the gate, Hellard guessed this guard hadn
’t been on duty last night. “I remember where to go. I’ll be quiet and drop these off and not say anything to anybody.”

  “Yeah. They’re going to be starting again and they can’t have you getting in the way. Hurry up, then.”

  The guard produced a key ring. But just as he was about to unlock the door he paused. He was looking at Hellard’s shoes.

  “Why don’t you have any mud on you if you were burying bodies last night?”

  Hellard shrugged. Then he punched the guard in the head and the man went down in a heap. They were still alone in the corridor. Hellard wasted no time in taking the keys and wrapping the guard up in one of the shrouds. He paused to listen at the door but didn’t hear anything. He unlocked it and opened the door.

  Hopefully no one would notice he was bringing a body into the catacombs rather than taking one out. But no one would miss the fact that there now was an ogre in the belly of the castle.

  Hellard’s smile was now genuine. He walked through the door ever so softly and closed it behind him.

  Chapter Forty

  DIGGER SQUINTED, BUT nothing in the darkness was moving. The whale bone in his hands wasn’t heavy but he didn’t want to wear out before the contestants arrived. What was the delay?

  The wait was over. The spectators and game caller had gone silent. He tried to work up spit in his mouth but couldn’t. A sound began behind one of the pairs of double doors. A mechanical whirring and clank-clank-clank preceded the doors swinging slowly open. Then the same sound began on the opposite side of the room. Now both ends of the corridor lay open.

  From one direction came lantern light. A group of ten contestants stepped tentatively through the doorway. Angel and Marisol were with them. The second doorway on the opposite side of the corridor remained dark.

  Paulus edged away from the adventurers. “Come on. Let’s fall back. There’s nowhere to fight here.”

  Digger held his ground. “Wait. It can’t be that simple.”

  The contestants received a long round of applause from above.

  “They come!” the game caller said as the clapping died away. He cleared his throat. “They come,” he repeated. “Having sought reinforcements from the nearest camps of their fellow adventurers, our returning contestants have made it through new challenges. You’ve seen them defeat more of the nymph’s slaves, and pass through several traps. But now they arrive at what will be their toughest fight.”

  The heckler was back. “There’s only two monsters?”

  A few people laughed. A woman added, “Yeah, but my money’s on them this time!”

  The crowd ate it up. Digger saw none of the contestants move. From the other doorway came the sound of clinking chains and a soft, throaty grumble. A game attendant behind a wall was whispering and a sharp smack followed. After a moment, he heard heavy feet approaching across the stone floor.

  Digger motioned for Paulus to move against one of the walls.

  The contestants began spreading out. Only Angel and Marisol held back. But none seemed to want to get closer as the lights bounced and played across their faces.

  One masked woman among the oncoming combatants pointed at Digger with her rapier. “It’s just the two of them. Get them before they run!”

  She and a few of the others advanced. The floor made a familiar click as someone triggered a concealed pressure plate. Digger ducked in anticipation of more darts, but instead the roof appeared to fall in and a wave dropped on the frontmost contestants. The water struck them with a heavy splat, along with dollops of what looked like fish parts.

  Digger sniffed. They were fish parts. That explained the smell. Half the contestants were not only drenched but covered with reeking guts.

  The crowd responded with a visceral “Ewww!”

  Fish heads and chunks were scattered everywhere. A growl from the opposite set of doors grew louder as a shadow loomed. One of the queen’s carriage trolls emerged into the room. His long arms dragged as he shambled through the doors. He sniffed the air and then stared straight down the corridor at the adventurers.

  The game caller chuckled. “It seems one of the nymph’s troll thralls has broken free. Drawn by the smell of adventurer blood, the sea troll charges forward!”

  It wasn’t much of a charge. The dull creature plodded with his nose in the air. But then the doors behind it slammed shut with a crash. Fire ignited on the wood as an unseen archer shot a burning missile into the doors.

  The troll flinched, then began to hurry in earnest across the room. He passed Digger and Paulus as if they weren’t there. The contestants had time to scream as they raised their weapons and backed away. But the doors behind them banged closed. One man slipped on a fish tail. The troll caught him and hauled him into the air. The creature’s nostrils flared and then the troll bit down on the man’s head.

  Digger and Paulus ducked against the wall.

  Another contestant made it past Angel and Marisol and pounded his fist on the doors. “We’re trapped!”

  The troll spat out something and threw down the lifeless body. He slapped at the nearest adventurer and clambered after him. The man had time to stab the troll with his rapier before the monster’s mouth engulfed him. It began to make a loud slurping sound.

  The other contestants spread out around the creature. Angel locked eyes with Digger, but there was no easy way past for the moment.

  Digger hit the swinging wall with the image of the nymph and her treasure. It proved to be made of wood and hollow. “This is our way out.”

  He pushed at it. If the door remained off-limits, he would no doubt be killed. But the wall was part of the game. The etchings were a clue. Here the nymph held her treasures close.

  “Look for something. Anything which might get this open.”

  They pried, pulled, and probed, but the wall yielded nothing and wouldn’t budge. Marisol was shouting something. The remaining adventurers were succeeding in avoiding the troll, but mostly because he was still busy chomping on his second victim. The troll reached for her. She pierced the monster’s palm and he reeled back. Another stab and the troll dropped the man he had been chewing on.

  She advanced, both weapons threatening the giant creature. “Press it. Make it retreat.”

  Angel was right behind her. “Grab something that’s burning. Anything.”

  The troll slapped down a massive hand. The other contestants remained bunched up by the sealed doors. Angel and Marisol were alone in facing the creature.

  Paulus murmured in Digger’s ear. “This is our only chance. We have to attack them while the troll’s still standing.”

  “Give me another second.”

  Digger’s fingers traced down along the grooves of the nymph’s legs, the treasure piles, and each indented shine mark. Then, in the center of the black pearl inside the giant clam’s mouth, he discovered a slot in the wood. It would fit a key or another medallion like the one he had used to open the gate from the chamber of secrets.

  Neither of them had a medallion this time. He looked up at the troll.

  The troll had managed to pull the first contestant he had bitten along with him to the opposite wall. The monster was licking him clean, clearly more interested in the fish guts than in man meat. Around the troll’s neck was a collar with three tokens in front and a dangling medallion in back. The creature remained preoccupied with its snack until Marisol tried to slip past. The troll roared and swiped, causing her to dive out of the way.

  “Watch my back,” Digger said.

  He collected the largest pieces of fish he could find. He tossed one towards the troll and it landed next to him. The troll paused and considered Digger before leaning over and sucking up the offering.

  He spoke in a soothing voice. “There, there. We’re on the same side. Monsters, right? Here, have another.”

  He threw a second piece of fish. The creature ate it and smacked his mouth, eager for more.

  Paulus and the contestants were all watching. No one knew what to do with the
monster and were no doubt waiting for Digger to get murdered.

  Digger grabbed a handful of guts and held it out. With his other hand he prepared to snatch the collar.

  The troll lunged, snapped his teeth, and would have bitten Digger’s arm off if he hadn’t recoiled. The thing rose and backhanded him, knocking him to the slick floor. Paulus grabbed Digger by an arm and pulled him away as the troll began to suck fish parts off the ground.

  Paulus hauled him to his feet. “What are you thinking? You can’t tame an animal like that.”

  “Seemed like a good idea to try something.”

  The contestants retrieved both their fallen comrades, but neither was moving. The crowd hooted and jeered. The scintillating colors made focusing on anything difficult. Someone ran past along the opposite wall. It was Marisol, and she had just evaded the troll.

  Angel clapped, shouted, and stomped his foot, obviously trying to get the troll’s attention. But the monster barely noticed as it continued to feed on the scattered fish parts.

  Marisol sprinted to the opposite set of doors. The flames had dwindled but still burned. She grabbed a pair of torches from wall scones. Digger hadn’t noticed them there. She lit both and began to return.

  Digger stepped out to block her. Paulus had his back, his attention on the troll and the other contestants.

  She kept both blazing torches out before her. Digger swiped with his whale bone, but she ducked his tentative blow. A cruel smile spread across her face. Digger ignored it, thinking her mad, and knowing they had to press their advantage to take out one of their most dangerous foes. She had recovered from whatever injuries she had suffered and appeared to be having no problems moving. Drugs could do that, Digger knew. That might be one of the advantages afforded the contestants so they might persevere against their fel opponents.

  A man screamed.

  Digger caught sight of Angel shoving one of his fellow fish-gut-covered contestants towards the troll.