Even though Seb looked at it through a slowed-down world, the beast moved as quick as a flash, slamming one of its tentacles next to Sparks. The force with which it hit the ground sent a shockwave rushing away from the impact and shook dust from the ceiling above them.
Sparks dodged out of the way in time and pressed her watch. A bright magnesium glare sprang from her wrist and earthed on the wet tentacle of the beast. Like it did when SA stabbed it, the monster withdrew.
Another loud scream and the creature lifted a tentacle above Gurt. Before it brought it down, Gurt sent several blaster shots into it, again, scaring the beast away. Regardless of its retreat, the shots seemed to have little impact against the large monster’s thick hide.
When Seb saw a tentacle rise in front of him, he felt a spray of sewage come with it. Only a small amount, it still splattered against the skin on his face and he winced at the sensation.
The tentacle crashed down, but Seb’s current state allowed him to see it and dodge to the side.
The beast raised its tentacle again and slammed it down a second time, each slam against the ground a heavy thud like the others had been.
Seb dodged it again and noticed SA sprinting in his direction.
As Seb avoided a third blow from the dark green tentacle, SA leapt across to his square of path. She faced the beast while flying through the air and threw two knives at it. Both of them glinted in what little light they had down in the tunnels, and each one scored a direct hit in each of the beast’s eyes.
The monster screamed so loud it shook the walls. Blinded by SA, it pulled back into the river, disappearing beneath the surface.
Before it got away from them, Sparks ran to the edge of her path and used her watch to fire another magnesium bolt of electricity into the water. The entire tunnel lit up blue and buzzed.
All four of the team gasped for breath as they stared down at the river. A splash, much quieter than before, and the body of the beast floated to the surface. If Sparks hadn’t killed it, she’d certainly knocked it out.
Phulp emerged from his dark bolt-hole, a smile on his squat face. “Well done, guys. I’ve never seen one killed before.” For the next few seconds, he stared down at the beast and shook his head. “Amazing.” With a clap of his hands, he looked back at the four. “And now we need to get out of here. I hate to think what will happen if its mother comes after us.”
“Mother?” Gurt said.
“Yeah, that one was only a baby.”
Chapter 38
The group walked at a much slower pace with Phulp infinitely more relaxed in the lead. They made sure to move with as much stealth as they could manage in the dark. If Phulp had spoken the truth about the monster being a baby, they’d have to keep the noise down and pray they didn’t run into the mother.
Seb walked with SA behind him and Gurt in front. While speaking in a whisper, he turned to SA and said, “Great shot with the monster’s eyes, by the way.”
The assassin’s stare lit up as it always did and she dipped a very slight nod of gratitude.
When Seb saw Gurt turn around with a sneer on his face, he cut him off before he could pass comment. “You look like you’re walking a bit more easily now.”
Gurt stopped and scowled at Seb. “Huh?”
“Earlier, you looked like you had a slight limp, like, I dunno, you’d hurt your right knee maybe.”
It only flashed across Gurt’s eyes for the briefest of moments, but vulnerability crossed the large brute’s features nonetheless. After the moment had passed, Gurt growled at Seb. “What are you talking about, fool?”
Seb stared into the red glare of the Mandulu and flashed him a facetious smile. “I’m not sure, maybe I’m talking nonsense.”
“I’d say so.”
Before Seb could respond, Gurt had turned his back on him and walked off.
The wash of water bubbled along beside them and drips called through the cavernous tunnels. Sparks’ torch did a good job of lighting the way, but it brought the shadows around them to life. The darkness seemed to be waiting for the right moment to completely envelop them, testing them with its probing reach every time they turned their backs on it. Maybe they would bump into another sewer dweller down here. What had the last one been talking about? Did she know something about Seb’s mum? She was clearly crazy, so it probably didn’t bear thinking about.
Seb increased his pace and caught up to Phulp. “So where are we going?”
“There are several long ladders down here that lead straight up to the wealthy part of the city above. We’re heading to one of them. I have to warn you, it’s quite a climb.”
Seb thought about Gurt’s knee and turned to look at him. The large Mandulu glared as if he’d heard his thoughts.
Seb smiled again before he replied to Phulp, “Sounds good to me.”
After about another ten minutes, they came to a large open area. Unlike any other part of the sewer, it seemed to be a cave of some sort. Too dark to be certain, but when Seb looked across the space, he couldn’t see a way out. “Um, Phulp, where’s the ladder?”
But Phulp didn’t respond as he strode forward.
When Seb looked behind at SA, he saw a look of unease on her face that reflected the feeling in his gut. “Phulp?” he said again.
Their tiny guide still didn’t say anything.
This time, Gurt frowned at Seb, and Sparks seemed uneasy too as she scanned the area with her torch.
Phulp then stopped in the middle and turned to the group. The look on his face sat somewhere between resentment and regret.
It suddenly made sense when the shuffle of footsteps surrounded them, the acoustics of the cave amplifying the sound. When Seb looked back at the way they’d come in, he saw the tunnel blocked with silhouettes of figures. He spun on the spot and watched at least fifty Crimson foot soldiers emerge from the shadows around them. One final glance at Phulp and he heaved an exhausted sigh.
Chapter 39
Seb’s pulse quickened as he spun on the spot to take in the Crimson soldiers who’d closed in around them. The need to run coiled within him, but no matter where he looked, he couldn’t see anywhere to run to. He glanced back at their small and pale-skinned guide. “What have you done, Phulp?”
An insipid laugh squeezed from Phulp’s white lips. “What does it look like I’ve done? Come on, Seb, you’re a clever man. Surely you’ve worked it out by now?”
Any hope of escape Seb had vanished when he saw every robed foot soldier had at least one blaster in their hands. Even if they did fight them, and even if Seb could have avoided over fifty people firing at him—which he couldn’t—the others wouldn’t survive it. The faceless and silent guards continued to close in on them, the circle tightening like a strong grip around his throat.
When Seb looked at the others, he saw panic on Sparks’ face. No doubt she represented how they all felt at that moment. It manifested on Gurt’s features as anger. The brute looked like a Rottweiler chewing a wasp as he glared at the foot soldiers. SA, if anything, seemed even more serene than usual. Still and calm, her blue eyes shone in the darkness, her posture as impeccable as ever.
Other than the shuffle of their footsteps, the soldiers made no sound when they approached.
Phulp then spoke again, almost like he couldn’t help himself. With his pudgy hands linked together in front of him, he laughed like before. “If it makes it any better, I’m sorry, I truly am.”
To look at the smug albino-like creature wound Seb tight and he clenched his jaw. “You don’t look sorry, you pale little rat.”
“Now come on, Sebastian, there’s no need for that kind of language, is there? The truth is, as much as I like you and your little band of mercenaries, nothing will ever compromise the love I feel for Mother. I owe Mother everything. She’s the light on this dark planet of ours.”
“The light that makes you slaughter your families?” Seb’s voice echoed in the huge cave. A second later, the silence swallowed it and he saw Spa
rks look behind him, her already wide purple eyes wider still.
Before he’d even turned around, Seb knew who would be there. Although no amount of anticipation could prepare him for her.
At least nine feet tall, the huge cloaked mass stepped forward. As silent as the foot soldiers and as faceless, she moved closer to the group. Her red robe had been decorated with golden thread. It had to be the Crimson Countess. The woman’s very presence seemed to suck the air from the cave, and even the foot soldiers froze when she walked past.
Just a few metres away from the group, the Countess raised her right hand. With one finger pointed at the sky, she spun it as if to signal for her soldiers to round her prisoners up.
Although it was impossible to tell, it seemed like the Countess looked Seb’s way. He’d been the one to speak, after all. For a second, he glanced into the void inside her hood and shuddered.
The group put up no resistance when the foot soldiers bound their wrists. The soldiers then proceeded to take all of SA’s knives, all of Gurt’s guns, and Sparks’ rucksack. They roughly patted Seb down, but when they found nothing, they backed away and shrugged at the Countess.
As the only voice in the cave, Phulp said, “It didn’t matter how much you paid me, I would never betray Mother.”
“Yet you still took our credits,” Gurt said to the little creature.
A wide smile on his thin lips, Phulp nodded at the Mandulu. “Why, of course. I’m not going to pass up free credits, am I?”
None of the group replied to Phulp. The small rodent seemed far too pleased with himself already. They didn’t need to validate his smugness any further.
The foot soldiers—headed by the huge robed figure of the Countess—walked from the cave back in the direction Seb and his group had come from. Hard to tell in the darkness, but it seemed like the only way out of the space.
With soldiers on every side, Seb felt their attention when it turned on him, even if he couldn’t see a single face inside the hoods. Gurt led their line, SA in front of Seb, and Sparks behind him. All of them had their wrists bound together with a strange metal that had been wrapped around them like a huge bangle. Cold to the touch, the metal gripped too tightly for them to get out of.
Once they’d entered the tunnel they’d walked down to get to the cave, the soldiers around them thinned out a little. On such narrow walkways, they couldn’t walk at the sides of the group even if they’d wanted to.
The small amount of time they’d spent in the cave had lowered Seb’s guard against the reek of the tunnels. Now he’d re-entered them, he screwed his face up at the stench.
Several of the foot soldiers had flaming torches. They’d been scattered throughout the group, allowing them to light their way. The flicker animated the shadows and glistened off the damp rock beneath their feet.
Even in the warm orange glow of the flames, when a magnesium glare flared up behind him, it dazzled Seb. Everything slowed down as he listened to the ching of Sparks’ broken metal cuffs when they hit the hard ground. Before the soldiers could react, she’d grabbed his right arm—her long fingers easily gripping his biceps—and dragged them both toward the frothy brown water.
Panic leapt through Seb’s chest and into his throat as they fell toward the river of shit in slow motion, and before he could think about it, they’d broken the surface of the water with a loud splash.
Harder for having his hands cuffed, Seb rode the currents of the river and tried to stay afloat. When he looked behind at the blasters pointing their way, he ducked beneath the surface. He had his eyes closed, but still heard the volley of blaster fire hit the river above his head, and he still saw the flashes of light as the lasers shot past him.
The current beneath the surface seemed to run quicker than that above, and it dragged Seb away. The soldiers’ shots went nowhere near hitting him.
Seb collided into a hard wall and fought his reaction to gasp. He kept his eyes so tightly closed, it hurt his face. The germs in the river would blind him if he opened them. Instead, he kicked his way to the surface, the current threatening to drag him away, and he looked back to where they’d come from.
The second Seb opened his eyes, he saw SA. Maybe Gurt looked at him too, but Gurt didn’t matter at that moment. Not that she could hear him, but he said it anyway, “I’ll be back for you, I promise.”
The first of the soldiers seemed to notice Seb because a shot from a blaster hit the wall above him, sending chips of stone onto the top of his head. The fetid and muddy reek of excrement ran up his nose and he heaved before he ducked beneath the water again, pushed off from the wall he’d slammed into, and headed around the bend with the flow of the river.
Chapter 40
One of the longest days of Seb’s life and it didn’t look like it would be ending anytime soon. As he bobbed down the river of shit with Sparks at his side, he raised his head high enough above the water to keep the excrement away from his mouth.
Darkness surrounded them, and with every kick in the frothy water, Seb expected a tentacle to wrap around his ankle and drag him under. They still hadn’t found a low enough walkway to allow them to climb out.
Fortunately, Sparks had been able to remove the metal around Seb’s wrists when they’d gotten away from the soldiers, but other than that, they’d spent so much time in the rancid water that his skin had wrinkled and he could feel the waste from the residents of the city above soaking into his pores.
The splash of their movement gave the pair away to anyone who wanted to hear them as it called out in the darkness of the sewers.
When they came around the next bend, Sparks squealed and Seb’s pulse spiked. Instead of seeing his little friend vanish beneath the surface of the water as he’d initially feared, he watched her swim to the opposite side of the river. When she climbed out, his heart lifted and he muttered, “Thank god.”
However, before he moved over to her, a rush of water came down toward him. Something large seemed to have picked up their trail and plowed through the liquid towards them.
Chapter 41
The magnesium flash from Sparks’ watch created a strobe effect as the pair of them sprinted through the pitch-black tunnels. Whether it did more harm than good, Seb couldn’t tell. Each flash illuminated the way for a second but destroyed his night vision when the glare died down.
The whoosh of the beast in the river continued to chase them. When Seb glanced behind, he saw the monster’s domed head break the surface of the water. Easily three times the size of the one they’d taken down earlier, its flaccid wings trailed behind it like a long tail. Hopefully the tightness of the sewers would restrict its movement should it try to fly.
The next flash from Sparks’ watch and Seb saw it. “A ladder,” he called after his small friend.
Sparks flashed her watch again. Only a step away from the rungs embedded in the wall, she leapt onto them and climbed.
Seb caught up a second later and followed her. Where the small Thrystian had been quick on her feet when she ran, her stature worked against her in scaling the ladder. Impatience tore through him as the rush of water closed in on them. Were Sparks not in front of him, then he’d be gone already.
After three or four metres, the ladder disappeared into a tunnel that led up through the ceiling. Although Sparks slipped up into the hole, Seb remained out in the open as the beast behind them rose from the river.
A glance behind as he climbed and Seb saw the cold fury in the monster’s black eyes. As large as tank tyres, they fixed on him with a hatred that sent a shiver through him. This beast knew who’d taken the little one away from it, and it clearly had plans to make them pay.
Looking into a mouth three times the size of the one they’d seen earlier, Seb saw a horn-like beak inside it. It looked like it could shred metal. Like the little one, it had fleshy and torn strands of skin hanging down in front of its mouth. Covered in scars and cuts, the beast had the appearance of a creature used to battle.
The monster almo
st seemed to stand up on its tentacles as water rushed off its emerging form. Its large and jagged wings spread wide behind it as a wall of thin skin with elongated finger-like bones running through them. It roared, deeper and louder than anything Seb had ever heard before. The water bubbled around it from the vibration of the sound.
Just a metre from the tunnel above him and Seb willed his exhausted body up the ladder. He felt tempted to look behind at the beast one last time, but any more stalling and he wouldn’t make it out of there. He used everything he had to climb, willing his tired legs and exhausted body up.
The wall next to Seb thundered as a thick tentacle crashed into it. The vibration damn near threw him to the ground, his wet hands struggling for grip on the metal rungs. But although he lost his footing, he managed to hold on. Just.
Seb scrabbled to find the rungs again with his feet as the beast behind him roared.
Before it could strike for a second time, Seb climbed up into the tunnel, the wall shaking again from another tentacle blow.
Seb continued on up behind Sparks. The tight space amplified their breaths as they exerted themselves. The wet whoosh of a tentacle reached up the tunnel after them.
The panic weakened Seb’s legs, but just before the tentacle caught up with him, it stopped. He looked down to see the tip of it flap about as the beast tried to grab him, but it couldn’t reach. Sparks looked down too.
“I think its tentacle’s too thick to reach up,” Seb said. The tip of the slug-like appendage thrashed wildly, hitting the walls in its snapping movement.
Sparks didn’t reply; instead, she turned around and pushed on up the ladder. They needed to get out of the sewers now.
Chapter 42
The manhole cover at the top of the ladder made a loud screeching noise when Sparks shifted the heavy metal circle away from her. In anticipation of the flood of light, Seb squinted when he looked up. But no flood of light came. On the dark planet of Solsans, floods of light only happened when the slums below burned.
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