Midnight Monster Club

by Gerhard Gehrke

  He led the troll up the ramp. A pair of cellar doors led to the interior of what smelled like a stable. Four large stalls divided the room. A diminutive stable girl with ribbons in her hair stood frozen as Hellard waited for the troll. A closed door to one of the stalls creaked as a second troll pushed against the wood.

  “Who are you?” the girl asked.

  “Troll rescue. Stay put and don’t make a sound. I’m not going to hurt you. You work here?”

  She nodded. “Tonto’s still alive! They said he wasn’t coming back.”

  Hellard tossed the troll another stick. “Looks like they were wrong. Where in the castle are we?”

  “The troll pen. Right next to the carriage house.”

  He didn’t know where any of that was. “How do I get out of here?”

  She looked confused. “Why?”

  “This isn’t a discussion. Is the outer wall close? Is there a side gate near this part of the castle that leads outside?”

  “The closest is the main gate. And the wall would be difficult to climb even for someone...a person...a little less...”

  “I know. I’m big. And I’m not going alone.”

  “You’re taking Tonto?”

  “I’m not leaving him to get chopped up in the catacombs.”

  Something in the girl’s dull eyes shone. Before he could stop her, she ran for the second pen and began to undo several bolts holding the gate shut. When she swung it open a second troll emerged, this one with olive skin. The girl picked up another bag and threw the troll a stick from it, which the troll snapped out of the air. The new troll grunted with pleasure as he crunched on the treat.

  She beckoned the new troll. “Come, Mudo.”

  “What’s to stop these things from killing us besides fish-flavored sticks?”

  “Keeping them fed. But the queen ordered them starved this week. I snuck Mudo food but wasn’t able to give Tonto anything.”

  As if on cue, Tonto belched.

  Hellard stepped back. “I think he ate. So if the wall can’t be climbed...”

  The girl took Hellard’s bag of troll treats and went to the barn door. “There’s another way.”

  They emerged between two large wooden buildings with the castle on one side of them and the high stone wall on the other. The sounds of the catacomb party swirled around them. But Hellard also heard a commotion from the ramp below the troll pen. The castle also kept plenty of guards on the walls. Soon an alarm would be raised and they would be surrounded. Killed.

  The girl ran around the corner of the neighboring wood building. Hellard followed but stepped aside as both trolls lumbered after her. Twin doors stood open. The queen’s resplendent carriage waited inside. But the girl continued along to a square drain cover. The metal grate led down to a dark hole.

  He almost laughed. “I can’t fit down that. And if I can’t, they can’t.”

  “It’s our only chance. I’ve cared for them for months and don’t want to see either of them hurt.”

  The trolls were completely incurious about the sky or world around them. Both had their attention fixed on the bags with sticks, even as both chewed noisily. They stank of sweat and rancid fish.

  “Then why didn’t you take them out of here before today?”

  She kicked at the grate. “Because I was scared. And I’m not strong enough to move that out of the way.”

  Hellard took a moment to consider the wall. Perhaps climbing was still an option. But even as he considered the possibility he saw there were no fingerholds to accommodate his supersized digits. He crouched and lifted the grate. It resisted him for a moment, then gave. Clumps of dirt fell away.

  He stepped aside.

  Without hesitating, the girl scrambled down the hole. “Tonto! Mudo!”

  Amazingly, the giant green creatures followed. Seeing the monsters squeeze down the hole made him realize that if trolls ever set their tiny minds to infiltrating a place, there would be little anyone could do to stop them. He didn’t know what twists and turns the tight space beneath his feet might hold. He took a final look at the castle.

  He wished his new friends a good fight before their inevitable deaths. Hoped they’d take many a pureblood nobleman with them. Then he jammed himself into the hole, pausing long enough to draw the grate over him before plunging into darkness.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  DIGGER TRIED TO TUNE out the rising wail coming from ahead of him, but it only got louder as he ran down the hall. He pushed the sight of Paulus dying from his mind. The wound in his side ached and felt damp. He must have popped stitches sometime during the last fight.

  A door before him swung open and he paused at the doorway.

  The wail ceased. The unseen audience above stirred as the room lit up.

  Four bluish-green globes threw light across an ornate bedchamber of ridiculous proportions. Water poured from the mouth of a stone serpent mounted on the wall. Sheer drapery dangled from the ceiling, creating the illusion that the room resided beneath the waves. The “bed” occupying the center of the room was a raised platform of bright, polished pebbles with a headboard and footboard of driftwood. The walls featured colored carvings of fish and a rising forest of kelp.

  Isabel reclined on the bed, propped up by a mountain of pillows. She still wore the seashell gown and octopus mask she had been wearing earlier. She held a silver scepter in her hand but appeared to be struggling just to sit up.

  Standing by the bed’s headboard were four fel wearing fancy armor and helmets. They had swords in their hands. A thin chain attached each of them to the stone floor. All four of them were muttering and breathing hard. One of them was of slight build. He wavered on his feet.

  Digger hurried towards him. “Monty?”

  Bootsteps and voices were approaching. Angel and his fellow contestants would be there any moment. But as Digger reached for Monty, his brother snarled and swiped his blade. Reeling backward, Digger almost dropped his club as he retreated. Monty reached the end of his chain and was gasping while slashing the air wildly. The other three bed guardians perked up, spewing a mad, meaningless string of words. One laughed. Another started to moan.

  As he looked at Monty and the chains holding him, the door to the hall swung shut. He could hear the contestants shouting and banging on the door.

  “As the gallery fills, witness the spectacle of the nymph’s bedchamber!” the game caller announced.

  The crowd sounded like it was settling in. A curtain obscuring the gallery opened, revealing an array of spectators. There were oohs and whispers.

  “Move so I can see!” the heckler said.

  Another moment of rustling and scraping followed before the game caller spoke again.

  “Here the undersea goddess plies her lust on her slaves! Their minds have turned to madness as their bodies are hers to command. But as our surviving adventurers will discover, her slaves aren’t her only defense. Tread lightly, brave warriors!”

  The door to the hall opened. Angel and the other contestants entered cautiously with Marisol in the lead.

  The light globes shifted from green to red. The seaweed paintings now revealed illustrations of fanged monsters hiding among them. Something clinked behind the headboard. One of the other bed defenders who had been tugging at his chain suddenly came at Digger as the chain length extended. Digger circled around one of the light globes but the mad fel kept pursuing him.

  The booming voice of whatever actor was playing the nymph resounded from above. “You dare come here to my sacred home and disturb me?”

  “They dare,” said the heckler, snickering. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”

  “Face my magics! Face my wrath!”

  A thundering wave effect rolled through the lights. Game attendants must have been pounding sheets of metal or using other noisemakers. Even the mad fel paused to look around him in fear and confusion.

  “Ignore everything but him,” Angel said to Marisol.

  The two began to march towar
ds Digger.

  One of the other adventurers motioned to his fellows and pointed at Digger. “He’s the one with all the tokens.” They were all coming for him now.

  Digger maneuvered around the outside of the room. The fel chasing him hurried to follow but the extended leash reached its limits and stopped him short.

  He searched for any advantage as he looked behind him. “Monty? Isabel? Snap out of it!”

  Monty and the other two chained fel remained in place. They seemed wary of the contestants moving past. But Isabel managed to kneel on the bed. She pointed her scepter towards the group of adventurers.

  “Thorn!” she shouted.

  The last adventurer in the group fell to the floor, clutching an arrow in his side.

  What had just happened?

  Isabel also looked surprised. She wavered and looked as if she was struggling not to collapse.

  But Digger had little time to think as Marisol was closing in on him. The fel who had chased him rushed her. Marisol parried and stabbed the fel in his arm, causing him to drop his blade. With a thrust, she slipped her offhand weapon between segments of the armor and into him before shoving him aside.

  “Isabel! Whatever you’re doing, do it again!” Digger said.

  She held the scepter out. “Thorn!”

  An arrow flew. Another adventurer went down. This caused the others to take cover. Isabel pointed towards Marisol.

  “Thorn!”

  Marisol was struck in the back and fell, squirming as she tried to dislodge the arrow.

  Isabel was grinning now. Glaring at Angel. “I hope this hurts. Thorn!”

  Nothing happened. She shouted the word again. Waved the scepter about with no results.

  The game caller announced, “The nymph’s magic is spent.”

  Angel let out a laugh as he rose. But as he began towards Digger, the adventurer with the locks of black hair smacked Angel across the back of the head with the flat of his short sword and kicked his rapier away. He seized Angel by the arm and shoved him towards Monty and the two chained fel. The two didn’t hesitate. They grabbed Angel and proceeded to pound on him, dropping their swords and using their fists. Each blow was a meaty smack. One of them began laughing wildly.

  The contestant with the fancy hair turned to face his companions. “Lord Angel deserves none of the spoils. They’re ours. Let’s finish this.”

  Monty threw down his sword and tried to pull his chain further, but it wasn’t extending. The other two were tearing through Angel’s shirt, perhaps believing he held the means to escape. Angel slapped feebly at them.

  Digger stepped around one of the lights as three adventurers moved to hem him in. He swung his whale bone and shattered the globe. The purebloods flinched as glass flew. Digger ran across the room to the next one and smashed it too. A rapier-wielding man charged, but Isabel hurled the scepter and caught him across the legs, causing him to stumble.

  “Kill the lights!” Digger called.

  He ran for the third globe and brought his whale bone down. Isabel leaped off the bed and scooped up a dropped short sword. She dashed the final light to pieces. The illumination above the walls wasn’t enough to keep the room lit beyond a milky gloom.

  “We can’t see!” the heckler cried.

  Digger’s keen eyes adjusted quickly. Isabel made it to Digger’s side. She had thrown off the mask and headdress and had the hem of her gown bunched up in one arm. He pulled her along towards the gurgling fountain. That corner of the room held the deepest shadows.

  The contestants had paused to regroup. They exchanged whispers. Digger could easily make out their shadows as they began moving slowly towards Digger and Isabel. They swished and probed with their weapons.

  With his club, Digger busted the ceramic edge of the fountain’s pool and stepped away. Water poured out onto the floor and more kept flowing, gushing from the serpent’s mouth.

  The contestants continued to advance. Soon their footsteps sloshed as they stepped into the growing puddle. They stopped.

  “Where are they?” one of them whispered.

  The shapes edged closer. One kept thrusting his rapier while the second kept his head low as he walked, palm forward and rapier back and ready to strike.

  Digger tapped the bone in the water.

  “Right here,” he purred. “We’re right here.”

  The man with the mane of black hair was in the lead. “Darkness and a little water won’t save you. Give up your tokens and I let you live.”

  “It’s us or them, boys,” Digger said. “Us or them. Use your nose. Smell the perfumed soap. And listen for their steps.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  But Digger hadn’t been speaking to the pureblood. Just a moment before, Isabel had whispered, “I pulled the chain pins. The other fel are loose.”

  The two who had been savaging Angel charged, crashing into a pair of adventurers. The contestants screamed as the fel dragged them to the floor. But two were still armed and closing in on him.

  Digger sprang forward and delivered a pair of sweeping blows. The first knocked the dark-haired contestant’s sword back. The second took him across the head and dropped him. But Digger’s bone was now cracked in half. The last standing contestant sidestepped, stabbed upward, and caught Digger in the left shoulder. Digger pivoted and used what remained of his club, bringing it down on the steel blade, ignoring the searing pain exploding down his arm. The rapier slipped from his opponent’s grip. Digger dropped the bone and leaped onto the remaining adventurer. Even with one arm dangling uselessly, Digger clamped a hand on the man’s throat. He slammed the contestant’s head onto the wet floor until the man stopped moving.

  “Isabel?” he called.

  The collared fel were still busy savagely pounding on their victims. Past them, Isabel was making her way around the bed.

  Digger picked up a rapier. His brother was cowering by the entrance door. Digger pulled him to his feet and walked him to the bed and had him sit. Looked him in the eye.

  “Are you hurt?”

  Monty shook his head.

  “Don’t move.”

  Digger found Isabel crouched over Lord Angel. She held the tip of the short sword under his chin. He appeared unable to move. His face had been beaten to a pulp.

  His words bubbled and sounded thick. “You can buy your freedom, little Sprite.”

  “That’s not my name,” Isabel said. “Not to you, anyway.”

  “Isabel then. I won’t use your pet name ever again. There’s enough tokens to pay for all of you to get out of this cursed place. And I can give you...as much as you need. Set you up like Jamie wanted to do. I guess you’ll be free to run off with him. My father doesn’t even need to find out. You’ll be together.”

  Her tone was frosty. “You’d do that for me?”

  “Yes. Anything. Please.”

  Lights were coming up from the gallery above and from unseen lanterns behind the walls. The etchings vanished. The water stopped flowing. The tick-tick-tick of the clock yielded to the gonging of a bell.

  “Round is over,” the game caller said. “The game...is over!”

  The crowd murmured softly. Isabel was pressing the tip of the blade against Angel’s neck. Another ounce of pressure and they’d be done with the nobleman.

  Digger placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll do it if you can’t. But the round is over. Killing him will be a new crime.”

  She shook her head. Withdrew the blade. Angel had his hand up to ward off a blow, but she cast the weapon aside.

  The queen clapped her hands. “Why aren’t we congratulating the victors of this round of catacombs?”

  A round of tepid applause began but died out quickly.

  The game caller cleared his throat. “The nymph’s champions have prevailed! Her magic and her slaves have overpowered the squabbling adventurers. If any of them survive, it will be as her new thralls.”

  He kept talking but Digger stopped listening. He watched Lord An
gel for a while until he was sure he wasn’t going to get up. Once Isabel moved, he could finish him with a quick thrust of the rapier.

  “Weapons down,” a game attendant hissed.

  Digger turned to see several hidden doors had opened. The previously invisible archers stepped in holding short bows loaded with arrows.

  The brightly dressed fel attendant was marching ahead of the archers. “Put the sword down.”

  Digger hesitated for a moment. But he set the rapier on the bed.

  The two chained fel squinted at the new lights and scrambled behind the headboard. Monty looked dazed. Even Isabel was wobbling on her feet. Were all of them drugged?

  Digger rose to face the attendant. “We’re pardoned? All of us?”

  “Yes. By the rules of Queen Claudia’s games, your infractions have been erased. The monsters have won the day. Bravo. This can be inscribed upon your skin for all to see, if you wish.”

  He gestured to Angel. “What about him?”

  The queen appeared above them at a section of the gallery where the bars had been removed. “The round is over. The game is over. You had your chance.”

  Crouching, Digger picked Angel up. The nobleman began to struggle. Digger got him into a headlock.

  “What if your game is over but mine isn’t?” Digger asked.

  The queen’s steady smile never wavered. “Kill him and see what happens, dearie. Murder is illegal on my island. You know that.”

  “But he can kill my kind?”

  “You’ve won. You have your freedom. You have wealth, if you take your prizes. But you better move fast if you want anything for yourself.”

  It would be so easy. So quick. Angel would never hurt anyone again. Digger would lose his life but Paulus would be avenged. But surely Monty and Isabel both would pay for his act.

  Digger turned in time to see Isabel pocketing tokens from each of the fallen adventurers. The archers remained focused on him. He tugged the token from Angel’s lapel and let him drop to the floor. He flipped the token to Isabel. Handed her the rest of them from his pocket. She looked at him with a blank stare before moving to the last of the contestants.