The Artemis Trap

by DN Farrell

  "Oh great King Reginon, we request our safe passage back to the castle. You are our only hope, as to go back to the forest will surely mean death." The princess said imploringly and then kept quiet, realizing that their hopes for freedom lay in his hands.

  "Oh princess, you are noble indeed, but do you not remember your history and how the earth dwellers? In a great war, your forefathers forced our forefathers into the cave system?" The king said rhetorically and then looking over at Trellon, he explained. "You see commander, there is bad blood between earth dwellers and the underworld dwellers, the Murcu." He said. "We could of course kill you, our usual solution, whenever an earth dweller comes to visit, or put you into slavery even, but freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, why freedom princess, does our kingdom not entice you?" He continued.

  But the princess remained silent, not wanting to argue with the king, but rather trying to appeal to his better judgement. The king looked around once again, at the various courtiers and then looking back at Saron and then Trellon he said. "I tell you what Commander, I will pit my champion against your champion, If my champion wins, you shall all remain here and work in the mines below us, as slaves, and if your champion wins, my men will escort you all to the kings Castle, in the city of Tar Palin."

  "That sounds commendable." Trellon said and then looked over at the princess, to see if she had anything to say, but she remained silent, so Trellon just left it at that.

  "Good get your champion ready and the fight will begin in five minutes." The King said and Trellon simply bowed and then looking over at Saron, whose eyes met his, he whispered. "Your on bro." To which Saron nodded. Over the next five minutes Saron stretched and warmed up his body, for the ensuing fight and over in the far corner of the podium, the kings champion did likewise.

  The kings champion was huge by apeman standards, standing nearly as tall as Saron, but his body was noticeably thicker than Saron’s, which was hard to believe but true. His chest was as broad as a great oak tree and his arms as thick as its thickest branches. He wore a bright yellow skirt, but his chest was bare save for two straps, one across each shoulder and he had two scabbards attached to the back of each of these straps. Saron took on a similar approach of having two straps, but instead of two swords, he had a spear and a sword, as following protocol he left his blaster and crossbow with Trellon. The two champions were going to attempt to kill each other, either with blades or with their bare hands, in keeping with ancient customs.

  Both humanoids faced off to each other and with a yell from the king they suddenly both leaped into each other’s arms!

  Trellon got a sudden fright and pulled back into his chair, as the two giant humanoids embraced each other with a great big slapping sound and an intensity of aggression which came out of nowhere. He had never before seen the fighting styles of the Artemisians and certainly they had a unique approach, with both men initially wrestling each other, rather than using their arms. They pushed each other back and forth and then using his superior strength, the king's champion threw Saron to the floor. He then went to jump onto Saron, only to find himself flying through the air as Saron used both his feet to press the giant ape up and over and so the big apeman hit the floor face first.

  Now both men took out their weapons and started to walk around each other, in an effort to check out weakness. Initially Saron had the advantage here, as his spear was a good five feet in length versus the kings champion, whose sword was about three feet in length. Even still it was closely matched, as the huge ape man had very long arms. Saron tried to poke the king’s champion and slowly he started to push him into a corner. Realizing that he was hemmed in, the kings Champion decided to make a daring move and with that he suddenly and quite amazingly jumped up in the air from a standing start; he jumped up in the air and back flipped and over Saron’s shoulders, swiping him with his sword in the process. Trellon was amazed at his agility, as he was a three hundred kilogram, seven foot tall ape-man and yet he managed to jump a good seven feet up in the air, from a standing start!

  Saron made a blood curdling scream as the sword sliced through his left shoulder making him drop his spear. Trellons heart dropped as he saw Saron slumping forward and he was sure that Saron was now done for!

  However, next thing everything was a blur of activity as the two highly trained professional fighters struggled for supremacy. The big apeman was trying to hit Saron , now using his two swords to inflict as much damage as possible, while Saron was miraculously blocking everything with his one sword, which he held in his right hand, while his face was in a severe frown of utmost desperate concentration.

  Then giving up on his sword play, the big man-ape ran at Saron's legs, throwing him to the ground. They rolled back and forth, Saron obviously been at a big disadvantage, thanks to his bloody shoulder, which was still spurting blood all over the podium, although the king and his courtiers appeared to be loving the action, which had probably brightened up an otherwise boring day.

  "Harhrh", yelled the king over and over again and all his courtiers joined in. Hundreds of Murcu yelled and screamed, the sound echoing throughout the Great Hall. Trellon and the princess could hardly stand the sound, it was so bad. But which was worse, the sound or watching their hopes go down in flames, as the kings Champion now had the great Saron in a sleeper hold. It looked like Saron was about to pass out, when suddenly he shrieked for all he had, "Hahahhahahah". He screamed and with that the kings Champion was now on the ground in front of him, as he had used the scream to enhance his own strength and with that he had grabbed the great ape, with his right hand, grabbing the back of the apes neck and flinging him onto the floor, in front of him like some great big rag doll!

  For the second time in this fight, Trellon was amazed; he was amazed the first time by the sheer agility and jumping power of the great man-ape, but now he was equally impressed by the amazing strength of Saron, who could lift and throw a three hundred kilogram ape over his shoulder from a rear position with just one arm!

  Trellon had never seen such a feat of sheer strength in all his life before, yet Saron had dug deep inside himself and found a superhuman strength. What followed probably took moments, but it felt like minutes. The kings Champion was shocked by the sheer sound of Saron screaming, which instantly drowned out the cacophony of other sounds in the Great Hall. There was only silence from the audience and a look of horror on the face of the Kings Champion, as Saron reached over and grabbed the creature by its Adam’s apple and in one intense movement he managed to grab it and then yank it clear out of his throat. The big ape-man gargled, spat blood, made choking sounds, then rolled over and moaned a bit more, for another minute or so, before finally breathing no more.

  The princess was panting and in a state of near panic, at the awfulness of what she had just seen and Trellon wasn’t much better. He was okay with killing people in the midst of battle, but boldly ripping your opponent to pieces, while he lay there unprotected was a bit much, but then again who was he to judge these people. It was their way and at least now they could make their way to the kings Castle.

  Several courtiers immediately came over to help dress the shoulder wound and other minor wounds, which Saron had and then once Saron was back up on his feet the king addressed him.

  "Saron you are a worthy champion of the great King Kegimon III. In all my years I have seen no better fighter, your speed and strength are commendable. You might be a surface dweller but you have the heart of a Murcu!" He declared and with that he took of one of his hand bracelets and indicating to advisor Rag, Rag went over and presented the golden bracelet to the wounded Saron, who bowed back towards the king, before attaching the bracelet to his own arm and then lifting his right arm up in the air, to show it off to the court, the court erupted in yells and cries of appreciation.

  Then addressing Trellon and the princess the king said. "Well now commander you have had a rare treat today, there has not been a fight between an Artemesian Champion and a champion of the Murcu's, in ove
r a thousand years. So today you have seen history in the making! As per our agreement, my men will escort you all back to the castle and may the good fortune, which you have had so far today, hold out." He said while nodding with a deep look of satisfaction, spreading across his mature features, his spirits obviously elevated, thanks to the drama of the events of the afternoon and the greatest fight, which he had the good fortune to have ever seen.

  The trio made their obeisances to the king and then they made their way out of the Great Hall and back down the system of caves, as they followed the king's men. Saron's wound was properly dressed, but it must have been terribly painful, but then again they should be back in the kings court within a few hours. So not wanting to hang around and possibly have the king change his opinion, instead they simply walked off into the caves, following his men and hoping for the best.

  Chapter Eleven – Reunion

  The hours past by slowly, as the group meandered their way through the cold and dank underworld caves. Saron was leading the way, but Trellon noticed that he was starting to walk in an erratic and fatigued way and his facial expression was somewhat vacant. How much longer before they reached the castle, he wondered, and also could Saron make it there?

  Trellon just put these thoughts into the back of his mind, as he remembered the ghoulish images of the king of the Murcu's Champion slow and grisly death. Somehow they had to get away from these under world creatures!

  Finally the cave system seemed to incline upwards and the walking started to turn into climbing. Both Trellon and the princess where huffing and puffing, but Saron was now really struggling. Since the ape-men had no intention of helping Saron, Trellon had to break with royal etiquette and leave the princess on her own, while he reached over to Saron and propped up his right hand side, by reaching under his right armpit and hauling him up the now steep cave pathway.

  Over the next few minutes Trellon and Saron struggled hard, as they dragged themselves upwards, until finally they could see a light in the distance. The Murcu then pointed towards it, before disappearing quietly back into the cave system. The trio found themselves once more alone. Trellon was now struggling with Saron and even the princess had to help push him upwards, while Trellon helped to pull him upwards. Meanwhile Saron kept clutching onto a flare with his right hand, so that they could see where they were going.

  As they came closer to the light, the climb became even more steep and Saron had to hang the flare onto one of his chest bands, as he had to use his right hand to drag himself up along the wall of the cave system. Over the course of the next hour, the trio made about one hundred yards of progress. But eventually they could clearly see the cave opening, as the steep ascent at last levelled out and with that the group came out of the cave!

  The three of them more or less fell out of the cave and crashed panting onto a wet floor. As they lay there, Trellon slowly started to make sense of their surroundings. Although they had left the cave, they were still in a room of some sort and about seventy feet above their heads was a steel grill, and from the grill the daylight was coming. With a bit of an effort, Trellon managed to get back up on his two feet, while the princess and Saron continued to recover on the wet floor. They were in a big room alright and as the princess managed to get onto her feet, she noted that, "This grill is in the royal courtyards, we must be in the old dungeons under the castle."

  "Ok, then princess, do you know your way around here?" Trellon asked.

  "Not really, I was down here a couple of times as a child on school trips, but that's about it." She replied.

  This surprised Trellon who said. "A dungeon eh, well that's one hell of a school trip."

  "These dungeons are a part of our history, but now they have been turned into a museum and also some offices are based down here." She said.

  "Well let's take a look around and we will get out of here." Trellon responded and then reached down and helped Saron to get back on his feet.

  "Well big fella, do you think you can keep going?" Trellon asked Saron and a fatigued looking Saron just nodded back at him affirmatively. Then looking back over at the princess, Trellon addressed the two of them.

  "Your Highness, Saron," he said while looking back and forth from the princess to Saron and then looking back over at the princess, he continued, "once we get out of here, we have to lay low. We don't know who to trust, since the royal guard are in on this thing."

  Saron said nothing, as he was now residing in a world of pain and trying his best to just stand up on his own two feet, while the princess simply stared ahead, knowing full well that Trellon was correct in what he said.

  "So what do you propose commander?" She asked.

  "We find a communications center and we beam back up to the ship, from there we can work out a plan, at least nobody will try to kill you over there Your Highness." Trellon replied and the princess just nodded, then looking back over at Trellon she said while smiling slightly and looking Trellon straight in the eye, “Thank you commander, for all your help, I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for you.” Trellon just nodded, an embarrassing red hue coming into his already flushed cheeks; then wasting no time, he reached over and hung Sarons right arm over his back once more, then nodded in a forward direction, and with that they started to move forward.

  The Castle Storeroom

  The storeroom looked like any one of the many castle storerooms, a large room packed full of various supplies. In this particular storeroom, it was filled with bags of various spices, used for the banquets which were frequently held in the castle. The room was maybe one hundred feet by seventy feet in diameter and with a high ceiling, about thirty feet high. Most of the room was stacked high with bags of spices, but near the door was an open space. For a couple of seconds the air shimmered and then suddenly two figures materialized, just in front of the door.

  The tall burly built man was dressed in a grey cloak and brown pants and he appeared for all intents and purposes to be a trader, while the lady who appeared along with him, wore the flowing gown of a lady from the gentry class, a courtier. The man was Colonel kell and the lady was Security Officer Chandrima.

  The room was pretty dark, as the only source of light was a long skinny window built into the castle wall, which threw out a distinct ray of light across the storeroom floor. Kell and Chandrima looked around at their surroundings, Chandrima demonstrated a look of disdain at the dull surroundings, to which Kell simply shrugged and said, "It's a storeroom, what do you expect Chandrima."

  Kell lifted up a reading tab out of the folds of his cloak and furtively flicked across the touchpad. He seemed to be happy at what he saw and then looking at the door lock, which was of an old manual design, Kell reached into his grey cloak and from a pouch, which was sewn into it, he reached into a bag of tools and gadgets and took out a laser knife. The laser knife was built like a normal dagger, but with the flick of a switch its entire surface suddenly glowed with a bluish light and when pressed against the wooden panel of the door, the wood turned red and smoke started to be ejected as the knife effortlessly sliced through the door panel. Over the next thirty seconds or so, kell painstakingly cut around the door lock until the wood had been neatly brunt away. As the last piece of wood gave away, the door jerked a little bit and then putting the knife back into the pouch, kell reached over and pulled the door open with his right hand and waved like a courtier over at Chandrima, indicating for her to lead the way.

  Kell carefully closed the door, so that it wouldn't look to obvious that they had broken through it, before proceeding to walk down a long corridor into the main section of the castle. Over the next hour or so Kell and Chandrima carefully walked around the length and breadth of the castle, in an effort to get a feel for what was happening therein.

  They could gather a lot of information using electronic surveillance devices, but there was nothing quite like walking around and using one's eyes and ears and perhaps even chatting with a few people, to see how things were going along. Aft
er a while Chandrima and Kell split up, so that they could each hang out with the social class which they were dressed like.

  After various conversations kell could detect that the anti-Federation feeling was strong here and that most of the traders, who he spoke to, liked the king, but thought he was weak. He also came to find out that the away team where in one of the old dungeons which lay under the main castle courtyard. He would have to work out a way of getting down to the courtyard and from there, into the dungeons, in order to save the away team, but what about Trellon, where the hell was he?

  The Dungeons

  After a little bit of wandering around Trellon, the princess and Saron finally found themselves at the locked entrance to one of the castle dungeons. The dungeons had long since been in disuse, but they were locked from the outside. Trellon helped Saron to sit on a chair and then wandered over to the door, which had an old style physical locking mechanism. Trellon could use his blaster, but that would alert everyone to their presence, instead just like kell, he opted for his laser dagger and within less than a minute, the trio where outside of that particular dungeon.