Power Conspiracy

by Pedro Urvi

  “Your girlfriend could’ve stayed quietly with the Turquoise Queen,” Viggo said, making the situation worse, as they landed in a cove behind the main island.

  Lasgol heaved a deep sigh. “Don’t imagine that hasn’t crossed my mind.”

  “This was supposed to be easy,” Viggo protested bitterly. “Get here, rescue her in exchange for the Star, go back. But no, we had to get ourselves into another mess.”

  “Don’t complain so much,” Ingrid snapped. “She did the right thing. We didn’t do the job properly, and she’s gone to finish it. It’s a matter of honor.”

  “She has guts, that’s for sure,” Viggo admitted.

  “Courage, bravery and honor define her,” Lasgol said.

  “And that’s why she’s gone to finish the job,” Ingrid replied as she made the sailboat fast on the white sand of the beach. “It does her credit.”

  Ona and Camu were watching. They had already jumped on to the beach.

  “What’s done is done,” Lasgol said, resigning himself.

  “Now let’s find Astrid, finish off the Sorcerer and get out of here like lightning,” said Ingrid.

  “I like that plan,” Viggo smiled. There was a deadly gleam in his eyes.

  Ingrid pointed to the higher part of the island. “We have to go up.”

  “On we go,” said Lasgol, and the five left the beach behind and began to make their way up with difficulty through the thick tropical vegetation.

  Once they had reached the highest summit of the island, panting from the effort, they scanned the landscape at their feet. Ingrid pointed to a stone fort on a cliff-top.

  “There’s Olagar’s old operations center.”

  “It’s still active,” Viggo said. “I can see plenty of light in the fort.”

  “And the ships in the harbor too,” said Lasgol, “I can see four large ships like Captain Alfons’s.”

  “I’d say that two of them aren’t merchant ships but Rogdonian warships,” Ingrid pointed out. “You can see movement on board. I think there are more than thirty people in each of them.”

  “Bad news,” said Lasgol.

  “The usual thing for us, every time we go on a mission,” Vigo commented ironically.

  “Olagar’s successor has to be in that fortress,” Ingrid said.

  “How are we going to get in there?” Lasgol wondered. “It’s well guarded.”

  “We’ll do it under cover of night,” Viggo said. “She’s our best ally.”

  Ingrid smiled. “Well, what do you know, for once we agree.”

  “Remember, we’re going to be facing transformed men,” Lasgol reminded them. “They’ll be half-man, half-crustacean.”

  Ingrid frowned. “Yeah … the thought of facing those arcane sea-nightmares doesn’t appeal to me one little bit.”

  Viggo shook his head. “It does to me. Particularly octopus-men. After dealing with them I start to get hungry. I’m always left with an appetite for spicy broiled octopus. And the ones walking around with seafood heads … don’t get me started.”

  “You’re sick in the head, that’s the trouble with you.”

  Viggo was untroubled by this. “Everyone faces up to the fight the way that suits him best.”

  “Well, make sure you don’t start drooling over the thought of dinner and then get run through by a sword.”

  “I’ll be fine. But thanks for worrying so much about me.” He made eyes at her.

  “Aagh! He’s hopeless!” Ingrid muttered to Lasgol.

  “We know the fort,” Lasgol said. “We know the Sorcerer will almost certainly be in the underground area, where they create those horrible transformations. Astrid knows that too, and that’s where she’ll presumably be going. I think the best plan would be to go in, in total silence, avoid confrontation, reach the Sorcerer and kill him.”

  Viggo nodded. “Good plan. I like it.”

  “And what about Astrid?” Ingrid asked.

  Lasgol looked at Viggo. “You know more about this than we do. Where will she be?”

  Viggo nodded. “She’ll be inside the fortress, I’m sure of that. She’ll have studied the Sorcerer, and she’ll be preparing the final blow … if she hasn’t done it already.”

  “In that case we’ll go in,” Lasgol said, and the others nodded.

  When night fell, they made their way down through the tropical vegetation. They moved with the utmost care, with Ona guarding the east and Camu the west to warn of any danger. It was not an easy descent, because of the dense vegetation and steep terrain. Suddenly they heard a chirp from Ona.

  Viggo went to spy. “Six crab-heads to the east, a patrol,” he reported when he came back.

  “Then we detour to the west,” said Ingrid.

  Soon, though, they were forced to change direction again. Lobster-heads. Patrol. Dozen, Camu warned Lasgol.

  “They’ve put on more patrols since last time,” said Ingrid.

  Viggo smiled. “Logical, considering what we did last time …”

  They went south as fast as they could, nearly falling over a couple of times because the terrain was so slippery. When they came to an embankment, they observed the fortress closely in search of a way in. They could not simply do what they had done before, because now there would be a close watch on it. A group of lobster-men were loading supplies on to carts, in the form of large barrels. These were stored in a building beside the eastern wall, and were being loaded ready for transport to the ships.

  Ingrid pointed this out. “That’s a possible entry point.”

  “You think it would be a way into the fortress?” Lasgol asked.

  “We’ll go and check. If supplies go in and come out, there might just be a door leading inside.”

  They moved to the east, taking great care to avoid being seen by the guards on the battlements. They had to stop several times and hide, but finally they managed to reach the stone storehouse built against the eastern wall. Five guards were positioned against the rock wall, covering the storehouse door. Carts meanwhile were leaving on their way to the docks with their loads of barrels. They could not get any closer. The guards were lobster-men, half of whose bodies were protected by a red shell. It would not be easy to kill them, and any fighting so close to the wall would alert the guards on the battlements.

  “What do you think?” Lasgol asked.

  “I think the best thing would be to take them by surprise,” said Viggo. “They don’t look too bright.”

  “We have to be really quick and coordinated so that we don’t make any noise, and put them out of action fast,” said Ingrid.

  “Right,” Lasgol agreed.

  “Follow my instructions,” Ingrid said. They all prepared their short bows.

  Ingrid moved on through the scrub at a crouch, with Viggo and Lasgol behind her. Ona and Camu lagged behind, waiting until the carts had been unloaded and their loads taken inside. Once the carts had set off, Ingrid gave the order to get ready.

  Lasgol and Viggo aimed at the guards.

  “Ready,” said Lasgol.

  “Center,” Ingrid whispered, and she released at the central watchman in the group of five.

  The face and part of the creature’s torso were those of a giant lobster. He even had enormous pincers beside the arms he used to wield sword and knife. Lasgol and Viggo released in turn, without a word. The three arrows hit the lobster-man in the belly, which was one of the few unarmed parts of his body. Before he could say anything, he doubled up and fell forward.

  “One on the left,” Ingrid whispered. Three more arrows flew at the watchman on the left. They hit their target in the same place, and the lobster-man fell.

  The watchman beside him noticed that his partner had fallen and spun round toward the vegetation, but it was too dark for him to see anything. Ingrid pointed to him, and three arrows brought his life to an end.

  “Last one on the right,” Ingrid said, and they killed the third watchman. Ingrid went on selecting targets until they were all lying dead on t
he ground.

  Lasgol was looking up at the top of the walls, where there was a trace of torchlight. “Have they seen us?”

  “I don’t see any sign of it …so far,” Ingrid said.

  They crouched there for a moment, waiting. There was no alarm.

  “Good. On we go.”

  They flattened themselves against the stone building. Ingrid turned to Viggo.

  “Can you open that door?”

  He bent down to take a look at the lock. “Well?” she urged him.

  “I’ll deal with it,” he said, and took out a bunch of lock-picks from his Ranger’s belt.

  “Do your thing …”

  Viggo blew her a kiss, then before she could say anything, got to work on the lock.

  It did not take him long, and they went into the storeroom. Inside, three crab-men were stacking sacks of cereal. Before they could react, the three released against them at close range. One of the crab-men managed to reach Viggo with two arrows in its belly, but Ona jumped onto him and chewed one of his huge pincers, bringing him down in the process. Viggo, wasting no time and using his two Specialist Assassin knives, killed him on the ground.

  “Dratted crab-heads, they’re tricky to kill,” he complained, and looked down at the panther beside him. “Thanks, Ona. Good jump, and good tackle.”

  Ona gave a single chirp.

  “Let’s look for a way of getting inside the fort,” said Ingrid. With Lasgol’s help, she was bringing in the dead watchmen and shutting the door so that they would not be seen from outside.

  Viggo checked the whole storeroom, but could not find any door that gave access to the fort. “There are only barrels and sacks of cereal, and in any case, they’re not beer barrels, they’re full of water.”

  “That’s logical,” Ingrid explained. “People in ships need fresh water. Inside the fort there’ll be a well, and they’ll use it to supply the ships.”

  “But if they’re half-mollusk,” Viggo pointed out, looking puzzled, “don’t they drink seawater?”

  Ingrid shrugged. “Well, they seem to be mostly human, and they still need fresh water to live, just like us.”

  “I don’t need water,” Viggo said cheerfully. “I survive pretty well at sea on beer and wine.”

  “What you do is give everybody a headache. Look for a way in!”

  I go with him, Camu volunteered.

  Okay.

  Ona joined them and they went over the whole of the massive storehouse, but there was no door. Ona sniffed around in one corner and began to scratch with one paw on the filthy wooden floor.

  Lasgol and Viggo went to see what she was doing, and found that she had uncovered a ring they had not spotted where it was hidden under a pile of filth.

  Great work, Ona! Lasgol told her.

  Ingrid and Viggo tugged together, hard. There was a noise of wood scraping against, wood, and a trapdoor opened.

  “This looks promising,” Viggo said with a smile. He put his head in to look.

  “What can you see?” Ingrid asked urgently.

  “A passage, a damp one. I think it goes into the fortress.”

  “That’s our entrance!” she said excitedly.

  Lasgol improvised a small torch and lit it. They let themselves fall into the tunnel, which turned out to go west, so that it would lead them into the fortress. Presumably it was an emergency escape-route.

  At the end of the tunnel they found another trapdoor above their heads. Viggo opened it very carefully and climbed up. There followed a thump, followed by two others. Viggo’s head reappeared, with his face bloody.

  “Up, quick,” he whispered.

  Above, they found themselves in another warehouse. There were two dead bodies on the floor.

  “Why on earth are you bleeding?” Ingrid asked him.

  “Because there were two guards, and I had to deal with them.”

  “Aren’t you the great Assassin? What are two guards against you?”

  “Usually, nothing. But two of those guards turned out to be urchin-men, and they made a pincushion out of me with their quills, or whatever it is that covers half their bodies.”

  Ingrid had to cover her mouth to muffle a guffaw.

  “Here, clean up,” Lasgol said. “We don’t want you to get an infection.” He handed Viggo a scarf to wipe the blood off his face, where he had two punctures which were bleeding freely.

  Viggo smeared ointment on the scarf. “The worst thing of all,” he grunted, “is that when I tell them in Norghana about how I had to deal with these arcane transformations, nobody’s going to believe me.”

  “The same way they never believe half the things you tell them,” Ingrid pointed out.

  “Yeah, but this one’s true, and it hurts!” Viggo said bad-temperedly.

  Lasgol, who was looking outside through the crack in the door, saw a barred door with two fierce-looking guards keeping watch beside it. He recognized it as the one they took the prisoners through on their way to the levels below. Behind the gate was a flight of stairs. This was where they had to go.

  “We’re nearly there,” he said. “I can see the door down to the lower levels.” He turned to Camu. Camu, hide Ona and get closer to the guards, from the left.

  Okay.

  Wait for my orders.

  Yes, wait.

  They waited until there were no watchmen or transformed beings near, then Camu and Ona crept out of the door and went up to the octopus-guards.

  “Ready?” Lasgol asked.

  “Let’s go,” said Ingrid.

  Now, reveal yourselves, Lasgol transmitted o Camu and Ona.

  Immediately Camu stopped using his camouflage skill, and the two of them appeared on the left of the two octopus-men, who stared at them in amazement. At the same moment Ingrid, Viggo and Lasgol came out from behind the door with their bows at the ready. The octopus-men moved to attack Camu and Ona, who were staring at them with their fangs bared, but without moving. Three arrows hit the octopus on the left in the head, and he fell dead on the spot. As the other turned toward the archers, he took three other arrows in the head. Ingrid, Viggo and Lasgol were moving to the door with another arrow already nocked.

  Suddenly a lobster-man appeared from one side. As if they were a single person, and without stopping, the three spun to the right and released. The three arrows hit the lobster-man in the stomach.

  He doubled up. The three nocked yet another arrow while continuing to advance. The lobster-man fell to the ground and died.

  They took the key from one of the guards and opened the door, and a moment later they were running downstairs. They all knew what was at the end of the stairs, and they were ready to confront it.

  Lasgol called upon all the skills he had. Several green flashes ran through his head, arms and body.

  Get ready, and be very careful, he told Camu and Ona.

  Always ready, Camu replied firmly.

  Chapter 45

  They went down the stairs in total silence, like a group of thieves about to pull off a heist which would make their fortune. On the first sublevel, which was lit by torches, they found stores of weapons and supplies. Nobody came out to challenge them, and they ran along a tunnel as far as another flight of stairs. This led down to the second sublevel, which held the cells. In them were more than a hundred prisoners. Most of them had turquoise skins, but there were also some of other races.

  Ingrid gestured them to silence. Several peeped through the bars to have a look at them, but most were so frightened that they did not even move from the far end of their cells where they lay asleep, all huddled together.

  Viggo gave a glance to either side. “Shhh,” he said, to reinforce the message.

  The prisoners understood, and were silent. One of them, a young man with turquoise skin, was gesturing to them, indicating “four” with his fingers, then “to the right at the end of the cells”.

  Ingrid picked up the message and signaled to Viggo and Lasgol to be ready. In silence, almost as one, they
turned at the end of the tunnel with their bows at the ready. Two octopus-men and two lobster-men were sitting at a table, eating something which looked disgusting.

  “Hey, handsome,” Viggo called out.

  The four transformed men looked up at him. His arrow and Ingrid’s flew, hitting the two octopus-men in the head as they were getting up from the table. Lasgol’s arrow buried itself in the mouth of one lobster-man. The other hurled himself at them with two knives in his hands and his pincers held in front of him. While they fitted another arrow to their bows, Ona gave a huge leap. As she brought him down, she bit him in one arm. Camu jumped on to his chest, and the lobster-man struggled unsuccessfully to get rid of them.

  Move over, Lasgol ordered.

  At once, Ona and Camu stepped back. The lobster-man was beginning to get back up when three arrows hit him in the belly. He doubled up, fell on his side and lay still.

  A further flight of stone stairs brought them to the great chamber they were searching for. Flattened against the wall to avoid being seen, they peered inside. The enormous chamber, with its natural rock walls and floor, spanned the entire base of the fortress. The humidity was intense, and there was a smell of saltpeter in the air. Although there was not much light, what they saw did not need it, and they were left frozen.

  In the middle of the chamber was the Sorcerer, the surviving disciple of Olagar. There was no doubt that he was one of them, because he was wearing a purple and black robe. In his right hand was a long staff, and in his left a tome. What had left them frozen was not simply the fact that they had found him alive, but what he had now been transformed into. When they had fought with him, he had been a tall, gaunt being with the head of a squid, huge eyes and long tentacles which reached to the floor.

  He was not that any longer, but something even more horrible.

  He had been transformed even further, in the most horrifying way. He was far larger, and together with the squid’s head he now had two more, one of a lobster and the other of a crab, so that he appeared to have fused with two other crustaceans. He was more than nine feet tall, and those three heads were partially deformed, as if the fusion had not been completed correctly.