by Perrin Briar
“Then we’re really doing this,” Bryan said.
He too thought it was the right decision, but it wasn’t without its risks. They would need to ensure—as best they could, in any case—that the monster was as far from them as possible so they could make the best dash they could.
The family approached the clearing’s edge, on the side closest to the town. But they didn’t step out far. They had no intention of revealing their position any sooner than they had to.
The woodland was silent, as if waiting and watching with bated breath the scene about to unwind before them. There was a wide clearing between the family and town. They could see figures on the walls. The family waved at them, but the figures apparently couldn’t see them, and continued to watch and point at something farther away in the woodland.
It was the monster, Bryan thought. It had to be. Or at least, what the monster was doing to the woodland. They in all likelihood couldn’t see the monster yet, hidden by the trees as it was. Which was at least some good news. From this angle it was impossible to see where the monster was. It was clearly still there, its heavy footsteps pounding the earth like a drum.
Bryan tried to think back to how loud the monster’s footsteps were when it was chasing them. The whole cave seemed to shake when it chased them before, but they were not in the caves now. It was difficult to gauge how far away the monster really was.
Bryan wished Rosetta was there. She was his right hand man. She knew what he wanted and needed before he himself did. She would have had a computer program on her laptop to input the details so it could tell them precisely how far the monster likely was. But she wasn’t there. They were alone with their own supercomputers—their brains. But they had been corrupted by emotions and would likely give faulty readings.
“Remember to keep going,” Bryan said. “If you fall over or twist your ankle or get out of breath, it doesn’t matter. You can heal later, recover later. But you have to keep going. Okay?”
They all nodded, Zoe and Cassie hopping on the spot and doing some stretches.
“Shall we go?” Zoe said
“Yes,” Bryan said.
“Now?” Cassie said.
“Yes,” Bryan said. “Now.”
17.
THEY PUT themselves in fate’s hands. They prayed the monster was looking in another direction, but from their current vantage point, it was impossible to know.
The family broke from cover, lengthening their strides by extending their arms. Bryan was out front first, but it would be Zoe before long. She was the strongest runner out of the group, followed by Bryan and Cassie—Bryan for no more reason than he was bigger and naturally muscular. But even Cassie would overtake him eventually. Aaron was the slowest. They all knew it, but they wouldn’t slow, not now.
There was a commotion on the top of the town walls, the men moving and cajoling one another. A few turned to run, hopefully to relay messages to open the gates. At this distance they wouldn’t recognize the family, wouldn’t know they weren’t part of the township, that they were strangers from another world. They would be more likely to open the gates in such a situation.
The gates weren’t being opened yet. But there was still time. They could open the gates enough for them to slip through at the last moment. But would they?
They hadn’t been followed yet. The monster hadn’t seen them. They were doing okay.
“Open the gate!” Bryan shouted.
He was sure they couldn’t hear him, but it made him feel better all the same. He waved his arms, signaling for them to pull the doors open. The men on the wall looked at each other. There was shouting. The men were doing something, and Bryan hoped to God it was something in their favor.
They were a good distance from the woodland now, and Bryan was sure they could reach the gates and enter before the monster had a chance of getting to them. They had a head start, in addition to whatever advantage they had managed to get for themselves by creeping through the woodland. Surely it would be enough.
Not necessarily.
The foliage exploded, and a giant sack of meat flew from it. The monster, out in the open, was even larger than Bryan had thought. It had thick scaly skin mottled grey, brown and green in color, seeming to shift and change as it moved beneath the sun. It was rough and craggy, with large flakes of dried skin like paper hanging off it. Its eyes were small soulless black holes, like a shark’s, set beneath a thick brow, turning them into dark shadowy pits. They sucked in every ounce of bravery you might have had.
Bryan daren’t spend much time looking over his shoulder. It didn’t matter what the monster looked like. All that mattered was getting to the door with plenty of time to spare.
Cassie was beginning to pull away from him now. He didn’t mind. Let her go first. So long as they all reached the gate before the monster, it didn’t matter.
Bryan could even hear Aaron behind him, gasping and wheezing. He was impressed he managed to keep up with him. Or maybe Bryan was just slower than he thought he was.
The monster growled a low groan that bounced off the solid timber walls. It was angry, hungry, desperate to complete whatever horrific process it had begun deep in the caves on its spindle-like torture device.
A ringing bell went up from the church steeple, loud and piercing. The town was being warned the monster was out and coming at the town.
But still the gates had not opened.
“Open the gates!” Zoe shouted.
“Open the door!” Cassie screamed.
Was there a secret password? Something only the town members knew? Was this going to be the end of the family’s story here, deep beneath the world?
The monster’s footsteps thudded on the earth, gaining ground. Unimpeded, it was far faster than a man could run, and at greater distances to boot.
There was movement in the gate. Not the gate itself, but a doorway Bryan hadn’t even noticed was there. It began to open. His heart fluttered with hope.
He pumped his arms harder, his legs finding new strength. All he had to do—all any of them had to do—was get inside the town, through the door, and they would be safe.
Zoe crossed the drawbridge first, passing through the door without stopping. Cassie was next. Bryan risked a glance over his shoulder at Aaron. He was some way behind, a dozen yards, and flailing fast, struggling to keep up.
The monster was gaining, leaning forward with its tail and head fully extended. It was going at full tilt, determined to snap up at least one tasty morsel. The ground shook like an earthquake was striking. If Aaron stumbled and fell, it would be over for him.
Bryan didn’t slow, didn’t stop. Aaron didn’t need the distraction. He needed to focus—so did Bryan. He wasn’t safe yet either. Bryan crossed the drawbridge and threw himself through the door, catching hold of its frame and using it to turn himself around so he could slam the door closed the moment Aaron was through.
Then a scream came from the other side of the door.
Bryan’s heart stopped. He turned to look through the door, his heart in his mouth. Had the monster caught Aaron?
Aaron slammed into Bryan, knocking him back. He’d just been bellowing, shouting at the top of his voice to get his body to cover the final few yards to the door.
The door slammed into place, followed by all the locks. They weren’t enough to keep the monster out, but then, it was unlikely to fit through the doorway in any case.
The family was through. They were safe. For now. Bryan wasn’t even aware of the hundreds of staring eyes looking down at him as he ignored his own advice to Aaron and lay on his back, gasping for air.
Right then, he didn’t care what the locals were like, what they wanted to do with him. He was safe. His family was safe, and that was all that mattered.
18.
THE LOCALS were silent for the longest time, uttering not a word. They stared at the family, who lay panting on the ground. Zoe could see the questions on their faces as clear as if they were written in ink.
/> They wanted to know who they were, what they were doing here, and how they had come to be chased by the monster. Zoe was perfectly happy to give them all the answers they wanted, but first she needed to get her breath back.
“Make way!” a deep voice said. “Make way for Lord Maltese!”
The locals parted like the Red Sea. Half a dozen armored men stepped from the crowd and fanned out, filling the wide space the family occupied.
Zoe’s lungs hurt. Was it normal for lungs to hurt? But it was an idle thought, and one she didn’t give much credence.
After the guards had spread out, a family emerged, standing before them. As Zoe recovered and got to her feet, she became aware of how well dressed they were, with the rich colors and hues of only the very finest materials and designs.
The guards did not put much effort into watching the locals. This was an encouraging sign. It told Zoe that if this was the ruling family, then they didn’t really fear for their safety, that the locals seemed to like them, and suggested they were in a relatively safe place.
They were a good looking family. The father, the lord, had a square jaw and mousy brown hair. He was tall, almost as tall as Bryan, and they could have almost looked into one another’s eyes. Lady Maltese was shorter than Zoe, who was herself almost as tall as Bryan. She appeared to be in good shape, though it was difficult to tell beneath the many layers she was wearing.
“You’re new here?” Lord Maltese said.
He said it to Bryan, assuming he was the leader of the family. That assumption made Zoe grit her teeth, but she didn’t say anything. These people were a world away—several, in fact—from the one they occupied on the surface. There was no reason to think they would think like a modern society.
“We are,” Bryan said.
“How did you get here?” Lord Maltese said.
“We came through a sinkhole,” Bryan said. “We’ve been here for maybe the last few hours.”
“Hours?” Lord Maltese said. “My, you are new here. And you stumbled upon the monster in those first few hours? What bad luck.”
“You’re telling me,” Bryan said.
“Yes,” Lord Maltese said with a furrowed brow. “I am.”
“We were unconscious when we got here, and we were going to be fed to the monster,” Bryan said. “Our hands and ankles were tied.”
“Oh dear,” Lord Maltese said, turning pale. “It appears there’s been a case of mistaken identity. You see, we have a ritual here. It helps keep the monster at bay. Ever since our ancestors first arrived here, burnt, scorched bodies have been appearing on the surface of Lake Rebirth. The monster needs to feed. He usually hunted for us and our citizens, and here we had a constant flow of dead bodies coming to us. The decision was made to feed those bodies to the monster, to sate his hunger.”
“We were mistaken for dead bodies?” Zoe said. “But we were clearly not dead, if someone had just checked. And we aren’t scorched.”
“Your hair says differently,” Lady Maltese said with a small smile.
Zoe’s hand unconsciously went to her burnt hair.
“We didn’t look like this when we first arrived,” Zoe said. “The monster did it to us while chasing us through the caves.”
“The dragon chased you?” Lord Maltese said. “And you escaped?”
He had a big beaming smile.
“That’s the first I’ve ever heard of that happening!” he said. “Perhaps the dragon is growing old and weak! Perhaps he is losing his touch!”
“Who was the idiot who took us to the caves in the first place?” Zoe said.
The locals turned to look at a weedy looking fellow in ill-fitting clothes at least two sizes too big for him. He lowered his gaze.
“How was I supposed to know you were all still alive?” Montgomery said. “You should have let it be known you weren’t dead.”
“Our heartbeat ought to have been enough of a clue,” Zoe said.
“Didn’t you check for their pulse?” Lady Maltese said.
Montgomery pressed his dry lips together.
“I don’t rightly recall,” he said.
“Which is another way of say, ‘No’,” Lady Maltese said.
She turned to Zoe and the others.
“We’re awfully sorry for your experience,” she said. “We’ll put safeguards in place to ensure it never happens again.”
“We’ve never seen the dragon act like this before,” Lord Maltese said. “In fact, we’ve never seen him come out from the caves much farther than a few dozen yards. So long as we continue to feed him the bodies that are spat out of hell, he remains calm and quite happy.”
“Hell?” Bryan said. “What makes you think the bodies came from hell?”
“Because of the way they look—scorched and burnt, and they come from underground, where hell is, of course,” Lord Maltese said.
“Of course,” Bryan said.
He didn’t bother to explain where the bodies really came from. Perhaps he would tell them later.
“Would you care to see the dragon from the safety of our walls?” Lord Maltese said.
“See him?” Bryan said. “What do you mean? He’s still here? He didn’t return to the caves?”
“No,” Lord Maltese said. “I rather think he still expects us to hand you over to him.”
19.
THE STAIRS headed up and up and up, into the sky. They had been built for feet smaller even than Aaron’s. The steps were narrow, and he had to turn his feet to one side to scale them. Why they had made them like this, Aaron didn’t know.
“You don’t all have to come up and see the monster,” Bryan had said. “I just want to see what it looks like in daylight, without it chasing after us.”
“I want to see it too,” Zoe said.
Aaron didn’t care to see it. In fact, he wouldn’t have cared to see it again for the rest of his life. He hated the thing. He would have quite happily used a large gun to kill it. But the last thing he wanted was to appear weak in front of all these people.
The climb up the stairs was the last thing the family wanted after their ordeal. Aaron was not a natural runner, and he had forced his body to do what it was not used to. He was now paying the price for his laziness on the track field back on the surface.
Sport and exercise always seemed like a waste of time to him in the modern world, but now he was down here, fighting and running for his life, it seemed the most natural thing in the world. To stay fit and in shape. He was actually in the best shape of his life right then, which wasn’t saying much. He could run a few yards without instantly dying—something he could never have done before—even with the teacher shouting in his ear.
He was panting, trying to keep up with the adults. Lord Maltese walked beside Bryan, and was telling him about the town’s current operations. He gave a short history of the town. Aaron couldn’t hear what else he said as someone tutted beside him.
“Father always gets the dates mixed up,” a sweet voice at Aaron’s shoulder said.
The owner of the sweet voice was a short girl, perhaps a year younger than Aaron himself, and had her mother’s look. Hers was a classical beauty, with long flowing hair in ringlets. She wore a dress that should have only really been worn on special occasions. But she wore it well, holding up her skirts so she could more easily climb the stairs.
“The town was founded in 1654, not 1645,” the girl said with a sigh. “No matter how many times I tell him, he always gets it mixed up. I’m Abigail, by the way.”
“Aaron,” he said, shaking her hand. “You’re a student of history?”
“We’re all subjects of history,” Abigail said. “We might as well be students of it as well. It educates and informs us in ways we’re unable to understand till much later I find, which is what my tutor says is the only real knowledge in any case.”
Aaron thought over the words and wasn’t sure he completely agreed with them.
“I don’t agree with him either,” Abigail said, reading his e
xpression. “But it’s better to let the older people have their say, even if it is factually incorrect or useless. His teachings don’t have much of an effect on our world, so who cares?”
Aaron blinked and smiled. He’d found a kindred spirit, deep beneath the earth of all places.
Behind him, struggling up the stairs, Cassie shook her head. At least Aaron was making friends. It was usually always her who made friends easily, but she supposed that was just because she was more suited to making friends up on the surface than he was.
Cassie’s legs ached more than she could recall them ever hurting. They were shaking before she even got halfway up the steps. She reached for the handrail, but her palm was sweaty, and she slipped.
She fell backward. She could see what was going to happen already. She was going to fall and hit the stairs and slide back down a good number of them, rolling backward as she did so. She was going to suffer some serious damage and likely broken bones.
She regretted going up those stairs. She knew she should have waited at the bottom. And now she was going to pay for it, potentially with her life. She had escaped pirates, giant birds, dinosaurs, and a dragon. Now she was going to be vanquished by some steps.
But, it didn’t happen.
A strong hand reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Another swooped up around the small of her back.
“Careful,” a deep voice said. “The handrail can be a little slippery at times.”
Cassie turned to her rescuer. It was a handsome face with a strong jaw and smooth cheeks. He had big blue eyes and long blond hair. He was a prince from the fairytale books.
Cassie averted her eyes. It didn’t seem right to look at something so beautiful without being at least a little bashful. She felt ashamed she looked so rough in his presence. That was the second reason she looked away: if she didn’t have to look directly at him, she didn’t have to pretend like she was there. She wasn’t there if he couldn’t see her.
