“You saw Saturn Four. They are loaded with riches. We could live there like kings!” Orono said.
MaxMion nodded eagerly, but deep within he held doubts. Orono had bungled the entire plan with General Ogroth, yet he had gone along with him, feeling that Orono had the superior intelligence. After all, he had only been given the post of patrolling the souls. Orono made the Solance and kept the books for Valek. That took brains.
Or so he originally thought. Now, he had doubts that Orono could pull off their escape and retirement from Valek.
As the last soul returned to his cage, he entered the code and the doors to the block of cages locked. “We are done for tonight.”
Orono was supposed to be in the warehouse making Solance. Valek was furious with Earth 4016’s king Richard and even angrier at Earth 3012’s lack of payment.
His bad mood had paid off in an afternoon treat for MaxMion. The advisor was juicy and fatty. Those were the best. Perhaps staying with Valek wouldn’t be so bad. He may even be promoted if he turned Orono in to him.
It was something to think about. He removed the torch from the wall, leaving the souls to remain in complete obscurity and followed Orono out of the area containing the cages.
The two left the cages’ main entry cave and started towards the castle. The tunnel had been drafty the last few nights, but MaxMion made Orono go first. Tonight, he was eager to be rid of the complaining and whining fool. He should have let General Ogroth kill him.
“…I gave him precious and prized information. I could have easily gone to that other general on Earth 3012,” Orono was saying when he heard a shout.
“Quiet!” MaxMion grabbed Orono’s wrist and squeezed. “Listen.”
He fell quiet for half a second before snatching his arm from MaxMion. “I don’t hear any –”
“Shh!” MaxMion hissed. “I heard a shout.”
“Manola?”
“No, she is too occupied with her present to be in the tunnels.”
“I do not hear anything. Let us go to sleep,” Orono said as he continued on through the tunnel ahead of MaxMion toward the castle.
MaxMion stood rooted, listening. He sniffed the air, but smelled nothing different. Yet something was strange and he had heard something. With Orono blabbering on, he could not hear clearly, but it sounded like a shout of a male voice.
“What if one of Richard’s advisors is lurking in the tunnels, trying to find the souls?”
“Then it is too bad for Valek that his secret is out,” Orono said, making sure to adjust his bulk at the tight corners and narrow spaces.
They reached the tunnel’s opening and pulled back the screen to the dungeon. From there, they passed the several empty cells and stopped at the first one closest to the stairs.
Orono yanked the door open and lumbered in. He sat down on the floor and turned to MaxMion. “Are you coming or are you going to chase phantoms tonight?”
MaxMion shrugged and kept his eyes on the two tunnels that emptied out into the dungeon area. The dungeon, albeit dirty and filled with various odors, had a few scents that he had not smelled before. He could smell the slight, almost nonexistent scent of something or someone that was not of Solis.
* * *
Zykeiah had not spoken in the last few minutes and Sarah’s stomach had filled with knots that churned around and against each other. They were getting closer and the hairs on the back of her neck remained standing straight.
Kalah, too, had not spoken as they traveled. They inched ever closer to the scene of their triumph or defeat.
Sarah thought back to Queen Zoë and Octiva’s teachings and recitals of the Oracle’s predictions. She remembered the vision the Oracle gave her. Then this had to come out for the best.
Right?
* * *
MaxMion kept his eyes glued to the tunnels’ entranceways. The smell grew ever stronger, and he was convinced that there was someone in the tunnels that was neither Valek nor Manola. He would definitely win that promotion if he captured the intruder—or intruders; the scents were combined.
Intruders plus Orono should net him a nice deal or promotion from Valek. He already knew what he wanted, a room in the castle and to be in control of the warehouse, like a normal person.
Plus, all the human bodies he could eat.
* * *
Zykeiah could see light ahead. It was dim, but the light at the end of the tunnel held more illumination than what they had inside the tunnel. She slowed her pace and gripped her dagger.
If she was correct, this tunnel emptied into the dungeon area, right above the warehouse. If the dungeon was empty, she could go to the warehouse and see if Marion was there. If not Sarah could climb into the other tunnel and head for the cages. Kalah could stand watch while she went up into the castle to search. Valek, Manola and Orono should be asleep by now. In and out within moments and little damage was what she was praying to the heavens for.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The twinkle and flickering dance of the light ahead made Sarah think of Veloris and the hypnotic flames of her fireplace. She was overcome with a feeling of warmth and fluttering deep within her heart.
She saw Zykeiah lift her dagger as their pace slowed to a crawl. They must be approaching the tunnel’s end, for Zykeiah had positioned herself flat against the tunnel’s wall.
She did the same, as Kalah, too, plastered himself against the wall with his sword drawn. His breathing was ragged and quick. His face was covered in sweat.
Sarah could feel the dampness around the collar of her shirt. The warm feeling still resided inside her heart and for some reason she was not afraid, nervous or scared.
A calm had settled around her.
“Stop!” Sarah heard someone shout as Zykeiah climbed out of the tunnel.
Kalah leapt from the tunnel and she heard more shouts. Running forward behind him, she jumped down from the tunnel’s mouth and saw MaxMion racing toward Zykeiah with his mouth opened wide, ready to devour her.
Sarah clapped her hands together and quickly pooled together an orange sphere. MaxMion leapt into the air toward Zykeiah, who had her dagger positioned to strike. Sarah threw the sphere with all her might at the chomping teeth of the sinister little man. Zykeiah raised both her arms to protect herself from the smashing teeth.
The sphere smacked MaxMion directly in the mouth, the force causing him to fly backwards against the wall. The hard impact shattered and cracked various bones and he fell to the floor. Despite the obvious pain, he struggled with both hands to remove the orange gunk of the sphere from his mouth and teeth. The more he pulled, the more the sphere grew and soon his hands were covered in the same material.
Orono, having heard the commotion awakened. He labored to squeeze his frame through the cell’s door. “What!”
“Kalah to the castle, up the stairs!” Zykeiah ordered. “Sarah to the warehouse; find him!”
“You won’t be going anywhere when I’m done,” Orono said as he finally freed himself into the dungeon area. “You!”
His eyes grew wide as they moved from Zykeiah to Sarah and back again. Quickly, he reached into his pocket for his blue spheres.
Zykeiah pounced with her dagger slicing the air until it reached Orono. He tried to turn, but she landed on his back. As she attacked, Kalah raced past them and up the stairs to the castle.
Sarah, who had seen Zykeiah in action before, turned to the elevator and pressed the button. She only knew the one way to the warehouse and that was from the dungeon.
Orono’s growl and screams carved through the quiet night and Sarah knew that before long, the rest of the castle would be awake. She had to hurry and find Marion and Amana, so that they could get out of here before Valek was awakened.
* * *
Orono grabbed Zykeiah’s ears and pulled them hard until he thought they would pop off.
She screamed, but still continued to slice his face with quick, sharp gashes from her dagger.
Soon the pain grew to b
e too much, and she could feel the skin of her ears pull away from her head. She punched Orono instead and climbed down from his back.
Burning, searing pain filled her head, as she struggled to remain standing. His face was filled with blood and sliced folds of flesh hung down and dripped.
“Is that all you got you silly woman?” Orono spat as he pulled out his blue sphere.
Zykeiah’s eyes grew wide for she had seen those blue spheres before, in Amana’s hand, in Valek’s hand, and in Orono’s. She knew what they meant if the light caught her.
“You can do whatever you want. It won’t matter; he will be free and you will be skinned alive.”
Orono’s face turned red as he put the sphere back into his pocket. “You’re not worth saving for the cages. A slow painful death is what you’re going to get.”
He adjusted his bulky frame and started toward her with his two-balled up fists positioned in front of him. Woozy and in pain, Zykeiah attempted to sidestep the slow-moving, Orono, but he managed to grab her tunic.
He wheeled her around with such speed and strength, that she lost her footing and he slammed her into the hardened dungeon wall.
She collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
* * *
Orono let go of Zykeiah’s tunic as his attention turned toward the dark one who fled up the stairs to the castle. He had to capture him before Valek woke up.
Sweating and bleeding, he hurried past MaxMion, who had become covered in the orange material of the sphere and only his eyes could be seen.
Orono stopped and glanced down at him, but could not help him.
“I will come back for you. I must catch this dark one.”
The dark one reminded Orono of the one he had fought at the Circle of Allerton. There was some resemblance between the two men, yet he could not be sure.
It did not matter. He would have his revenge on the intruders for interrupting his sleep and injuring MaxMion. Oh, yes, they would pay dearly—with their lives.
* * *
Kalah had stayed at the top of the steps for some time trying to decide which room Marion would be in. He had to hurry, yet the decision was overwhelming.
The hallways were poorly lit, and there were doors on the left, but nothing on the right. He had no idea of who was behind each door and he did not want to wake up the entire castle.
He crept down the hallway with one hand stretched out in front of him and the other tightly gripping his sword. He inched along while he wrestled to make a decision.
“I’ve got you!” Orono’s foul breath added its own fragrance to the already horrid odor.
Kalah felt the claw-like hand as it yanked him backward to the floor. The force and the sheer strength of the man surprised him. If Orono was here, that meant he must have defeated Zykeiah.
He could not think about that right then, for Orono had pinned him against the hallway wall.
“Who are you?” he demanded as he slammed Kalah’s head back against the wall.
He tried to push against Orono. He needed to get his arms free to wield his sword. He struggled but Orono laughed as his cheeks lifted in effort to a smile.
“You’re not as strong as the other one,” he mocked.
Zykeiah had dealt the monster some serious gashes, Kalah noted as he stared at the flaps of flesh that had been severed from his face.
Orono lifted his huge balled up fist and smashed it into Kalah’s face.
Kalah heard a crunch and then the darkness came.
* * *
Sarah had located the warehouse and managed to blow open the door with the use of her spheres.
The warehouse was not lit and the pitch-blackness made her race back to the narrow hallway and claim a torch. She lit the torch with the flick of her hand and she entered into the warehouse again, this time with light.
The death room was what the souls called it. The storage chamber was what MaxMion called it. The warehouse was what Valek and Orono called it.
Sarah wondered if her sister had already been made a part of the latest batch of Solance. The rows were lined with hundreds of bottles. So many souls rested here—their last resting-place was in Valek’s warehouse.
She hoped Marion hadn’t already been made into Solance.
Sarah crept along, but the need to hurry threatened to overtake her. She had no idea how Kalah or Zykeiah was doing, but she hoped they had found Marion.
* * *
Zykeiah rubbed the growing bruise on her forehead as she struggled to stand. She investigated and noted that MaxMion had become wrapped in a bright, orange cocoon.
She hurried up the stairs as she heard Orono cackling.
As she took the stairs two at a time, she reached the top step and immediately spotted him with his hand wrapped around Kalah’s neck as he shook it violently.
Kalah’s skin had a bluish tint. Zykeiah raised her dagger and threw it at Orono with so much force and fury, unlike she had ever managed before. Hate rushed through her body, adrenaline took over her and nothing mattered but winning this fight.
The dagger landed directly into Orono’s arm and like a stuck kowlata, he howled in pain. He let go of Kalah and tried to maneuver himself to remove the dagger.
With a running jump, she landed onto his back and began again to beat him on the head with her fists and to pull at the folds of skin, ripping the flesh from his body. She was careful to avoid him getting a grip on her ears.
Coughing and holding his throat, Kalah came to and sat up, gasping to the sounds of Orono howls and screams. He bucked like a raging danker beast as he tried to dislodge Zykeiah from his back. He turned around and ran backwards smashing her against the wall.
Kalah stood up and, with his sword, stabbed Orono in the stomach before collapsing to the floor.
Orono grabbed his stomach and collapsed to the floor not far from Kalah.
He did not move.
“Kalah, are you all right?” Zykeiah kneeled down by Orono and shook him gently.
“Yes,” he croaked as he rolled over on top of Orono.
Just then the door closest to the stairs opened. Zykeiah quickly removed her dagger from Orono’s arm and held it firmly.
Kalah tossed his sword from one hand to the other and back again as he tried to swallow the searing pain in his throat.
Richard stuck his head outside the door. “Please, keep it quiet. We’re trying –”
“Who are you?” Zykeiah demanded for she did not recognize the man.
“I am Richard, king of Earth 4016,” he snapped. “Who are you –”
He got a glimpse of something down by his feet and noticed a bloody Orono. He stifled a scream and tried to slam his door shut, but Kalah was too quick for him.
He overpowered Richard and the two Minister Knights barged into Valek’s guest quarters. Scattered across the two room quarters, were beds and traveling sacks. Several men were sleeping on the floor on makeshift sleeping mats. One bed had the covers turned down and it was empty.
“Richard of Earth 4016, what are you doing here?” Zykeiah asked with her dagger pointed at him.
The advisors bolted upright and some even stood up as they each woke to find two strangers in their room.
“Who are you?” one advisor asked.
“Be quiet!” Kalah barked his voice firm and coarse.
“It is none of your business why we are here,” another advisor declared.
Without a second thought, Zykeiah’s dagger went singing through the air and directly into the throat of the advisor.
Richard swallowed hard and quickly answered, “We are here to buy Solance. Please do not kill me.”
There were no further questions from the remaining advisors. Frozen by fear, they remained in their sleeping mats.
“I am Zykeiah and this is Kalah. We are Minister Knights from Veloris.”
“Impossible!” Richard whispered. “No one comes from the ice planet. The Minister Knights died out long ago.”
The king was obviousl
y stupid; she ignored his comments about Veloris. “It is true. Valek uses souls to make Solance and he is already selling it to both Saturn Four and Earth 3012.”
Richard’s mouth fell open and his advisors started to whisper fiercely amongst themselves, but none were brave enough to openly challenge her words.
“We have no issue with you, Richard. But I suggest you leave before this gets worse,” Zykeiah announced and gestured for Kalah to follow her. “Leave before the rest of you end up like him.”
As she left, she removed another dagger from her sack. Kalah scanned the empty hallway and wondered why no one else had heard Orono’s horrifying screams and howls.
“Should we move him?” Kalah asked.
“Where is he?” Zykeiah asked in return.
Kalah turned back to the spot where Orono was and the hallway was empty. A circular pool of blood stained the floor, but Orono was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Orono’s screams and howls had not gone unnoticed. Valek had heard them, for he was not asleep. At first, he thought Orono and MaxMion were playing their games and coupling the way they often did…violently and painfully.
Yet, these howls were different and he had sent Manola to investigate. He longed to rest tonight, but the peace of slumber eluded him again.
He felt he had overreacted by killing Richard’s advisor; he hated violence. In a moment of clarity, he had offered his castle to Richard for another week. The king had been so shaken he raced past Valek to the corner, where he promptly lost his lunch.
Valek erupted into a fit of laughter, and this only made the king shudder more. So, he tried to smooth Richard’s ruffled feathers with kind words of hospitality and cheer.
Manola had not returned, so she must be having fun with Orono and MaxMion. Either way, she could handle herself amongst those two idiots.
He rolled over and tried again to capture sleep.
Modern Magic Page 209
