“Look after him,” Seb said to Bruke, and with that, he ran at a full sprint towards the dark building on the horizon.
Chapter 57
Seb ran clear of the dead bodies on the ground in the square and through the gates in front of the palace. They’d been wedged open and, even in the poor light, he saw where Sparks had shorted the electrical panel previously used to control them.
The path leading up to the palace appeared to be darker than any other outside space in the elevated city. It had a foreboding that told Seb to turn around now. But he couldn’t—not with Sparks in there.
The lights inside the palace had all been shut off, the dark corridors impossible to see through. As Seb ran, he pulled his backpack loose and fished his torch from it. He didn’t break stride as he flicked it on and lit up the dank tunnel in front of him. He heard voices up ahead. Maybe Sparks, maybe not.
Despite his exhaustion, Seb kept on at a flat-out sprint towards the voices. When he rounded the corner and found seven Crimson soldiers, his world instantly flicked into slow motion.
They’d formed a circle around Sparks, and the largest of the lot had a blaster pointed at her. Before it could shoot, Seb jumped at it and punched it in the chest. Every blow now screamed pain through his fists and forearms.
Seb knocked four more out before any of them raised a weapon.
Two blasts of red laser fire came at him from the remaining soldiers. Seb dodged them before jumping up with an uppercut into one of the soldiers’ faces. It knocked it down, and before he could finish the last one off, a blue glow of electricity lit the place up. He turned to see Sparks had dropped the final soldier.
Seb’s world returned to a normal speed and he smiled down at his small friend. “Good to see you.”
She nodded. “You too. You ready to finish this?”
Despite the effort it had taken to get there, Seb smiled and said, “Absolutely.”
Chapter 58
After several twists and turns through the palace’s dark corridors, Seb and Sparks came to a massive throne room.
As shadowed as the rest of the place, Seb’s torchlight had little effect in the huge amphitheatre-like room.
When Sparks turned the torch on her tablet on, it lit up the space better and Seb lost the breath in his lungs for a second. “What the …?”
The ceiling stretched so high above them, neither torch could reveal it. The walls—black like most of the rock on the planet—had huge crucifixes attached to them. Each one had the dead body of what looked to be a Crimson soldier.
For a moment, Seb forgot what they’d come there for and stepped towards one of the crucified creatures. Although it wore the crimson robe of the Countess’ army, the hood had been cut from it as if to shame the thing. It had a pale face covered in deep cuts as if it had been whipped, and its listless eyes were open. He didn’t even want to think what the rest of its body looked like.
Seb’s heartbeat ran away from him to gaze upon the poor creature. “What do you think it did wrong?”
“Very little, I’d imagine,” Sparks said.
The creature drew in a weak breath and Seb stepped back a pace. It looked around before it finally settled on Seb and Sparks. “W-w-w-who are y-y-y-y-you?”
It didn’t look like they’d get much out of the creature, but Seb spoke directly to it. “Where is she?”
“The C-C-Countess?”
“Yes.”
The creature’s eyes rolled back in its head and Seb thought of Gurt. He needed to get back to him. “Hurry up! Where is she?”
Instead of replying to him, the creature looked over at a dark mound in the middle of the room. When Seb shone his torch on it, he suddenly understood what they were looking at.
Before he could say anything else, the blue glow of Sparks’ watch dazzled him and the soldier fell limp. “Why did you do that?” he said.
“He looked like he needed to be put out of his misery.”
Seb didn’t respond. Instead, he and Sparks walked towards the huge throne in the middle of the room.
Chapter 59
The Crimson throne sat on a pedestal. Made from intricately designed ironwork, it twisted and turned to create a colossal piece of furniture. It looked best suited for a giant. And from what he’d seen of the Countess, that seemed more than appropriate.
Because the back of the throne faced them, Seb called her out before she could turn around. “You have no army left, you cruel bitch. Now’s the time to face the consequences of your actions. We only want to kill you. We’ll make it simple. I promise you, it is your best option. What waits for you out in the square will be much worse.”
Seb’s and Sparks’ footsteps called through the huge hall as they strode up to the throne. “You’ve ruled with cruelty and aggression for too long. At some point that had to come to an end.”
Just as Seb got close to the throne, the whoosh of a jet engine started up, whined for a few seconds, and then boomed as something broke the sound barrier. A second later a huge explosion went off in the palace somewhere.
Seb ran to the front of the throne and stopped dead. “It’s empty.”
“That had to be her just then,” Sparks said. “It sounded like an engine starting up and taking off. And if that explosion was anything to go by, I’d say she just made it impossible for us to follow her.”
The exhaustion of Seb’s time on Solsans washed over him and his legs wobbled. He reached out and steadied himself against a huge metal barrel beside the throne.
When Seb peered into the barrel, he saw it was filled with the flammable wax pebbles. He looked at Sparks to see she’d seen them too.
Chapter 60
By the time they’d walked out of the palace back into the square, Seb’s legs shook with the effort of every step. The next one could be the one that threw him to the ground—although, he’d felt that way for hours now.
Fire buzzed through Seb’s broken hands and they were still coated with the blood of his enemies. The cut he’d opened up during the battle remained as an angry gash, but at least it had started to clot.
As Seb and Sparks walked across the dark square—bodies of both their enemies and allies littering the ground—Seb did his best to keep his eyes up. “So much death,” he said to Sparks as he continued to drop the wax pebbles like breadcrumbs.
Sparks sighed. “I know. And all because of one woman.”
“One woman who ran away like the coward she is.”
“She’ll get hers.”
Seb stepped over body after body and shook his head at the utter destruction around him. “I hope you’re right.”
“The good thing is everyone else seems to have gotten out of here.”
Because of the sheer weight of dead bodies, Seb hadn’t noticed the place had been evacuated.
When one of the fallen beings next to Seb groaned, he jumped to the side and stared down at it. It was a Crimson foot soldier, its hood covering its face like the rest of them.
Before Seb could react, Sparks dropped down next to the creature and whipped its hood away.
Both of them stepped backwards at the sight and Seb said, “My god, what happened to you?”
But the creature didn’t reply. Red livid skin covered in scars, it looked like it had been given a facial with hot coals. Maybe human at one point, maybe not, its lips had melted away, revealing blackened teeth and receding gums. Although it opened and closed its mouth, no words came out.
The creature had no eyelids, its milky-white eyeballs suggesting it had been blinded. The way it moved its head as if scanning the sky backed up Seb’s thoughts.
It finally made a sound and uttered the first word of its plea in a dry rasping voice, “Kill …”
Sparks shot it in the face. “It may be our enemy, but I can’t leave it like that.” She then pocketed the blaster she’d just picked up.
“So much unnecessary suffering,” Seb said as he stared down at the poor creature.
The pair of them moved of
f again, dropping the white wax pebbles as they went.
Chapter 61
Seb and Sparks walked toward the two alleyways they’d used earlier. They chose the one SA and Gurt had emerged into. The ladders were much closer to the sewer’s exit. The sooner they got away from the elevated city, the better.
The manhole covers had been replaced, although when they stepped close to one, it shifted as if it had something beneath it.
Sparks pointed her recently acquired blaster at it.
“They might be friendly,” Seb said and put a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down.
“It’s okay. I’ll only shoot if I have to.”
When the shock-white skinned, blue-eyed, red-lipped leader of the sewer dwellers’ face appeared, Sparks raised her weapon.
“No,” Seb said.
“You know this thing.”
“Yeah.”
Sparks lowered the blaster and they watched the perpetually moving creature climb from the sewer. He stood up, his arms, legs, and head all twisting and turning. Each limb moved completely out of sync with the others.
Seb laughed to look at Sparks’ face. Her wide eyes were magnified by her thick glasses. Unblinking, she swayed from side to side with the creature’s movement as if hypnotised by it.
“Chosen One,” the leader of the sewer dwellers said with a bow.
“Chosen One?!” Sparks snorted a laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”
After he’d nudged Sparks in the side of the face with his elbow, Seb returned his attention to the leader of the sewer dwellers.
“You’ve done a great thing here today,” the strange creature said, tilting so far one way and then the other he looked like he might fall over. “We want to help you get away.” He then looked down at the wax pebbles in Seb’s hand.
“These are—”
“I know what those are. She’s used them in the sewers before.” The creature pulled back his right sleeve to show livid burn scars on his otherwise pale arm. “If you give me all you have, we’ll make sure this place goes up like a rocket.”
Just before Seb could offer them to him, Sparks pulled him in close. “What are you doing?!” she said.
“Giving them to him so we can get out of here.”
“And what if he’s lying?”
“I don’t think he is.”
“Why, because he hero-worships you?” Sparks tutted. “You humans and your egos.”
But Seb ignored her. After slipping his bag from his shoulders, he put it on the ground, opened it up, and pulled the plastic tub out. He dropped his few remaining pebbles in his hand in with the others and handed them over.
It took a few seconds before Sparks tutted again. “Fine! I’m trusting you on this, Seb. Or should I say Chosen One?”
Despite Sparks’ attitude, Seb saw the uncertainty on her face. There had to be something to them calling him the chosen one and she knew it.
The leader of the sewer dwellers bowed at both Seb and Sparks as they walked past him. Seb let Sparks down the ladder first.
“We won’t let you down,” the twisting and turning creature said. “We’ll make sure this city burns. Please get to the edges of the slums so you’ll be safe.”
Seb nodded at him. “Thank you.” He then plunged into the darkness of the hole leading down into the sewer.
Chapter 62
If anything, Seb ached more than before as he and Sparks neared the dark sewer’s exit. Although just the two of them had walked through the dank tunnels—making them an easy target—the squid-like creatures hadn’t bothered them.
When Seb looked down at his still-clenched fists—his hands locked that way because it caused him the least pain—he saw lumps and bumps he’d not seen before. Swollen and battered beyond anything he’d ever experienced, they looked like two bags of marbles rather than hands. They’d need a lot of rest to heal.
Seb’s heart sank to see a crowd of slum dwellers waiting for them by the exit. He barely had the energy to keep himself upright, and now he had a sea of faces before him. Exhausted, distressed, and, worst of all, expectant faces. They’d given everything to fight with him and now he had to say something. But what?
If he thought on it for too long, he wouldn’t ever speak. A deep breath and Seb said, “Today’s been hard.” The emotion of the day cracked his voice and he felt Sparks’ long hand touch the base of his back.
The crowd watched on in silence.
“You’ve fought like warriors and you’ve won. But what is winning in war? The square was painted with the blood of the brave and the bold. Our enemies looked like they could beat us, but we overcame the threat with great strength, and for that you should feel proud.”
Still silent.
“I can’t imagine what you are all feeling now. Nothing I can say will bring back the lives lost in that battle, but the Countess has been overthrown. There’s no life left for her here. We didn’t get to her before she escaped, but there’s nothing for her to return to. Nothing.
“I need one last thing from all of you. We need to get to the edge of the slum so we’re as far away from the elevated city as we can be. The sewer dwellers are going to light it up for us.”
The beings still didn’t move.
“I can’t tell you what will come after this. The choice is yours. You now have a chance to establish democracy on Solsans. I hope you make the best of it. Now is the time to rebuild. To show your fellow beings the love they deserve. You’ve earned this together.”
Where Seb had only seen stillness, he now saw some nodding heads and heard grunts of approval from the crowd.
A gap then opened up in the press of bodies and Seb’s world ground to a halt. He saw SA, Bruke, and the one remaining giant from the battlefield. The giant held Gurt in his arms.
Floppy like wet fabric, Gurt lay still, motionless, dead.
Panic reached up and choked Seb as he looked from the dead Gurt to SA and then to Bruke. Bruke cried as he walked forward.
“No,” Seb said and shook his head. “No, it can’t be.”
He stepped back a few paces into the darkness and funk of the sewer. He shouted, “It can’t be!” His voice echoed back through the tunnels.
Sparks grabbed Seb’s arm to halt him.
Seb wanted to run away and she knew it. The simple action from his small friend showed him the futility of it. He couldn’t run away from this.
Another wave of hot grief ran through Seb, and suddenly his knees couldn’t cope with his weight.
Chapter 63
Were it not for Bruke and SA, Seb wouldn’t have left the sewers’ entrance. The sight of the dead Gurt took the last of his strength from him and he couldn’t walk any farther. An arm around the shoulder of each, he let them lead him to the edge of the slum.
The giant walked by their side. Stoic with its head held high, it moved with the respect of an undertaker as it carried the body of Gurt. Sparks remained close to Seb too.
At the edge of the slum, the giant walked over to the line of dark trees and put Gurt down just in front of them. He folded the Mandulu’s arms across his chest and wiped a gentle hand down his face to close his eyes.
Now Bruke and SA had let him go, Seb found the strength to walk over to his downed friend. He pulled Gurt’s blasters from each of his hips and put them in his hands. He couldn’t help but smile at the image in front of him.
When Seb looked back at the others, they smiled too. “He wouldn’t want to be sent off in any other way,” he said.
None of them disagreed with him.
Despite the dampness in the misty air, the wood on the ground just inside the densely packed trees seemed dry enough. Seb picked up a handful of it and placed it over his friend. After he’d repeated the process a couple of times, the others seemed to get what he intended to do and they helped him.
A tap on Seb’s shoulder as he hunched down to place another stack of sticks over Gurt, and he turned around to see Janina. Anxiety seemed to twist her
features and Seb’s heart leapt. Although, when he looked behind her, he saw Jawty, Phulp, and Jince.
Seb let go of a relieved sigh. “Thank the stars, I thought you were going to tell me the kids were harmed.”
The anxiety lifted from Janina’s face and she smiled through what seemed to be sadness. Her red eyes were glazed with tears. Instead of speaking, she stepped forward and hugged Seb. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.
Seb pulled back. “It’s okay. I couldn’t walk away from this planet with her in charge.”
“Thank you for that too, but”—Janina looked over her shoulder to see the kids playing—“thank you for never saying what Phulp did to you in front of the kids. I know he sold you out, and you could have tarnished his name, but you didn’t.”
“It doesn’t mean I wasn’t angry with him,” Seb said.
“And so you should be.”
“Although, when I saw his dead body and I saw you guys, I suppose I understood where he was coming from. And maybe in his situation I would have done the same thing. Survival ain’t easy in a place like this.”
“We appreciate your forgiveness.”
And it was forgiveness, although Seb hadn’t ever seen it like that. He shrugged. “Just understanding where he was coming from. He seemed like a good egg, and like anyone would, he put his family first.”
Janina pressed her hands together as if in prayer, nodded at Seb and said, “See you around, Seb Zodo. Solsans will never forget you.”
His words caught in his throat, so Seb nodded.
As she walked off, Janina and the kids turned to wave at Seb. He couldn’t help but smile at them as he waved back. They’d done the right thing for this planet.
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