The Lightning Lord

by Anthony Faircloth

  She swung onto an interior beam and worked her way to the other leg. To her joy, the soldier did not move and she gripped each side of the tower leg and slid the last ten feet.

  Boots tower was a mere twenty feet from the platform where Narcissa was chanting, his face expressing the ecstasy of success. As he prepared to set the explosive, he saw the Duke’s gaze shift toward him and as he looked a voice exploded in his head. “You cannot stop us now. Can you not see the old ones have arrived?”

  As if to annunciate his point, the ground shook and Boots watched as another beast dropped through the gate and disappear into the large hole in the floor.

  “They will bring about order, and with that, peace, throughout the whole world,” Narcissa finished, almost screaming the last.

  “And you will be in charge?” Boots asked.

  “No, not in charge, but I will be rewarded.”

  “And your woman, Westbury? She will be your queen?”

  Narcissa laughed, “A toy, merely a distraction.”

  Boots tried to maneuver the bomb into place but found he was frozen.

  “Regina has her ... high notes, but overall she plays more like a dirge,” the Duke’s voice sounded.

  “Interesting, I thought you loved her,” Boots said.

  “Love, her? It is a human concept and I am past that. She will be a slave, as will you and your lovely wife.” A lightning bolt reached out and knocked Boots off the platform. A beam banged against his metal arm and he grabbed for it and felt his hydraulic fingers clamp tight.

  Knowing he needed to get back to the platform to activate the bomb, he began to climb, then he noticed a shadow, a man jumped onto the tower from the hole in the wall above, the one he had fallen from earlier. He pulled the cord and amazingly enough, jumped back the twenty feet to the hole. Though Boots only got a glance before he disappeared, the man smiled and placed two fingers to his forehead in a salute.

  Boots had no idea how long the man had set the doorknocker for so he swung himself back to the ladder and descended quickly. Stepping onto the rock floor he was met by Persi. “My dear, I think we should leave before your little baubles detonate.” She tilted her head. “I believe when the portal shuts it might be perceived by those elder gods as an improper gate closing. Things may get, rambunctious.”

  Boots took a quick look around the room. Bullets still whizzed between Burke and the mechanicals, as huge black tentacled monsters squeezed through an inter-dimensional portal. He looked back at his wife. “More rambunctious than this?”

  She nodded, “With shrapnel.”

  He nodded and they ran back around the circle to Burke’s position. “We need to leave.”

  The commander looked to the platform. “Our target has not been eliminated.”

  Another monster had begun slithering through the portal when Persi’s doorknocker exploded, flinging copper and brass rods, and pieces of ceramic balls in every direction. A heavy beam fell on top of the mechanical she had avoided at the base of her tower.

  An inhuman scream shook the building and spiked through heads, driving those present to their knees. Boots, his hands pushing at either side of his head as if he could both block the sound and keep his head from exploding, looked at Persi. Her hands were in a similar position but blood poured from her nose and streamed from beneath her hands. He felt the warmth spilling from his own nose and ears. He stood, grabbed Persi by the arm, and half pulled half dragged here through door from which they had entered.

  Outside the room, the noise was tolerable. Burke signaled and his men followed. One man left the room with his arm over the shoulder of another man. Two others were dragged out. Once in the hall, the uninjured men quickly rolled the injured onto their shoulders and made their way back down the corridor.

  Boots and Persi looked back into the room to see Duke Leopard Narcissa in the cold embrace of his god. The third beast was half way through the portal and had extended two tentacles, entwining him in separate directions, then suddenly, with a jerk, they ripped the man in two. Before the Duke’s parts could hit the stone floor however, the portal closed, and the visible parts of the monster were severed and fell into the hole beneath it.

  Chapter 64 – The Lightning Lord’s Lair is No More

  They turned to run after Burke who was now several feet away, pushing his men away from the scene. The ground rippled, followed by an explosion deep below them. Noise from the portal room caused them to look back to see the floor crumbling inward. The towers, crates and equipment all began to disappear into the hole, originally made by the beasts but now getting larger by the moment. “Perhaps it is the result of a cave in below?” Persi offered.

  “Perhaps,” Boots replied, “regardless, we need to hurry.” As he said this, the wall and door through which they had come, tipped and was swallowed by the hole.

  They quickly caught up to Burke and his team, slowed by their injured, but soon, they entered the guard room, the bodies still lay where they died. “Apparently, all the mechanicals were called into battle and they had few human guards,” Boots said, wondering at the lack of resistance they had encountered on their return trip.

  They opened and exited the exterior door, moving from the alcove, across the open area and into the jungle. From their position under the canopy, they saw the spires of this evil fortress sink behind the wall, and into the depths of the mountain. It was hard to look at anything else. In seconds, even the outer walls tipped inward and were swallowed.

  The underbrush rustled behind them and they turned, guns drawn. A clicking sound made Burke relax and he let out a sigh. Soon one of his men, a member of the team sent to rescue the kidnapped people, approached from further in the jungle.

  “Report, Jacobi,” he said to the man.

  “Sir, we got out just before you, only been here ‘bout ten minutes, left when them explosions started, some was near us down in the caves, the place is full of’em.”

  “Success?” Burke asked.

  “Sir, we rescued fourteen people caged in the caves below. Ten of them were children, and another, a young woman, was dead -- looked to me like she’d been dead for a day or so. We wrapped her up in a tarp we found and brought her out.”

  “Good man, no one left behind, what?” Burke said. “What about any of the Dukes men – guards, scientists?”

  We saw some try to break away into the jungle but ‘bout the time they reached the trees, they dropped to the ground screaming, with arrows and spears stick’n from’em.”

  Burke glanced at Boots. “Apparently that native you released decided to help after all.”

  “Apparently,” Boots replied, then looked at Jacobi. “So everyone got out?”

  “Yes sir, I think we got all the living but there was plenty dead left. Twelve or so corpses piled up, I’m guessing the ones that didn’t make it to them Nos cages. They probably waits till they’s got enough then hauls’em out to that bone pile we found.”

  “Nightwalkers?” Boots asked.

  Jacobi nodded, “We have them. They was sleep’n in their bags when we arrived. They’re ready for pick up.”

  “Did you find any Nosferatu?” Burke asked.

  “One, sir, but it was injured and as feral as you would want. We couldn’t get close for fear it would reach out and snatch us up. It had this weird silver disk in the side of its head, up over its ear, kinda flush with the skin, and the flesh puckered around the disk a bit. Then before we could think about it any further, there was this explosion, the floor buckled and the ceiling started falling in. We barely got out, in fact Jameson got plonked on the head by a sizable piece of rock.”

  “Is he okay?” Burke asked.

  “Oh yeah, just needed a wrap to stop the bleed’n,” Jacobi said.

  “Alright then,” Burke said rising. “Have Bosko send a flare so we can get out of here.”

  “Yes sir,” Jacobi turned and returned down the path he had come.

  “Well, our friends won’t like the fact that we could
not locate any Nos,” Boots said.

  “You mean none that weren’t shooting at us, don’t you?” Burke said.

  “Yes, that is a given,” Boots replied.

  “I believe I hear our transportation,” Persi said, as the sound of spinning propellers announced the Horizon’s arrival. It actually touched its keel to the ground but stayed upright through the force of its propellers. The cargo door opened and the ramp lowered. As the ramp came to rest on earth, several men exited the ship’s hold and into the group to help get them and their gear onboard, while two stayed at the door with rifles at the ready.

  Sitting on a bench, against the wall of the hull, Boots withdrew his watch and opened the cover. He shook his head, “Forty-seven minutes, all of that took less than an hour.” He shut his watch and looked at Persi whose gaze was locked on the gathering across the cargo hold.

  Those rescued from the caves huddled together in a corner, keeping their eyes lowered. “They are broken in a way that will not easily be fixed,” Persi said to Boots as the ship lifted.

  “If we can get their home of origin from them that will be something,” Boots replied. He looked at his wife, her hair still standing up from the electrical charge, blood trails from her nose and ears and dirt smudges elsewhere on her face and hands. “How are you holding up?”

  She took his arm and leaned against him. “I am very tired, my love. I think I could sleep for a week.”

  She tensed, then looked up at Boots. “Whatever happened to Lady Regina Westbury?”

  Boots shrugged, “She was wounded but managed to dash off at the beginning of the conflict. I hope she was swallowed by the earth, or perhaps eaten by one of those beasts.”

  They looked at each other, thinking the same thing. “Oh Boots, what are we to do about those things that came through before we could close the gate?” Persi asked.

  “Hmm, report it for sure. We will have the agency monitor all newspapers for any event that might let us track their movements, then I suppose we call in the Army, or the Navy, depending?”

  Persi shuddered, “To think, those monstrosities are on this earth, and we have no idea of what they are capable.”

  “Or how to fight them.” Boots added. He wondered if she acknowledged her responsibility in releasing them. The engine pitch changed as the Horizon positioned itself for mooring. “Well, don’t trouble yourself about it now,” he said. “We completed our mission and are once again on the most powerful ship on the planet, or as I like to think, safe.”

  She smiled and patted his cheek. “Yes, dear, I suppose you are correct.”

  The cargo door lowered again, this time into the hold of the Black Swan. Captain Genevieve waited on them. “Welcome back one and all,” she said.

  Men passed them carrying thick black canvass bags, one man on each end. One bag must have carried John for the extra weight caused the two porters to stumble as they stepped off the ramp. “Please place those in the Nightwalker’s cabin,” Persi said.

  Burke immediately strode past them and to the Captain’s side. He spoke quietly in her ear. When he was finished, she walked slowly to the ramp, then up to look at the freed prisoners, who were still tightly packed in the corner. She nodded to Burke who quickly left the room.

  Genevieve spoke softly to the group. “You are all safe now. We are hundreds of feet in the air where no one can hurt you. Please, come, we have food and water, and clothes.” She stepped back and motioned for them to follow but they would not. Several of the children began to cry and two of the women and one man whimpered.

  Burke returned with a small wooden barrel slightly bigger in diameter than a suckling pig. He walked into the Horizon briefly, then exited with the three crewmembers. He nodded to Genevieve as they passed and she also backed out and down the ramp. “Please stay and relax. We will bring some food and water back to you.” Now she motioned for them to stay and one of the crewman pulled a lever that caused the door to shut.

  The Captain’s face fell, “Those poor people. They will die before they let us care for them.”

  “You have a plan?” Persi asked.

  “Oh, yes, it is in motion even as we speak.” She pointed to the bottom edge of the door where wisps of vapor could be seen. “It is a sleeping vapor that Mister Burke and our doctor created. We have used it when we needed to enter a place undisturbed.” Nodding to the Horizon she said, “Those people will sleep and when they wake up we shall give them small doses of a tranquilizer so they will be awake and we can tend to their needs. When we get to Pointe Noir, we shall get our friend to see if he can identify any on board, if not, I will take them to Natal where we shall ask Mister D’Cruz to do the same. Any left can return with me to Caracas. Perhaps when we let them come full awake they will have returned back to themselves.”

  “It is a noble plan,” Persi said. “I pray it will succeed.”

  The Captain bowed.

  “It should be fine now. You there, Boatswain, open the mooring hatch. We need to evacuate the air once I open the Horizon’s door.”

  The young man moved to the wall and pulled a lever and they felt a rush of wind as a door below the Horizon opened. He moved to the side of the launch and pulled the lever opening its cargo door. A puff of pale yellow smoke escaped and second later it was clear enough to see a pile of people in the corner.

  He motioned to several crewmen, “Quick, we need to get them to the infirmary so the good doctor can use his morphine to keep them sedated until we can get the home.”

  The men rushed onboard and began carrying them away. “They will all soon be cleaned and laid into a clean warm bed, and hopefully, with time, be able to put this behind them,” Genevieve said. “Now perhaps you would like a few hours to clean yourselves and perhaps rest? I would like a brief of what occurred, before dinner, yes?”

  Persi and Boots nodded and headed to their cabin.

  ****

  In the dark, windowless cabin of the Nightwalkers, all three bags rested on the floor. Each held a vampire in the cold complete sleep only a vampire can create and experience. One bag, the largest, the one Persi thought held John, moved. The point of a knife pushed through the material, then the blade, then a long slit opened up the bag halfway and the Lady Regina Westbury emerged.

  Chapter 65 – Traitor!

  Boots awoke to someone banging on their stateroom door. “What is it?” he yelled.

  “Trouble sir!” the steward yelled.

  “What kind of tr ...” he tried to ask but was cut off.

  “The ship, has been boarded.”

  Persi had awoken at this second part and was already half dressed by the time Boots was buttoning his waistcoat, this time the non-tactical kind. “Boots dear, would you mind buttoning me up?”

  “Of course not, sugar plum,” he huffed, slipping his pistols in their holsters then springing over to quickly button Persi’s favorite black walking dress. “There you go, and don’t forget the little derringer you keep in your ankle holster.”

  She slapped his arm playfully, “Cad, speaking of my ankles like that.”

  “So I won’t begin to speak about where you keep that small .38 I gave you,” he replied.

  She blushed, “Hmm, well, yes. I really must have some type of holster stitched onto the outside of my clothing for easier access and modesty’s sake.”

  Persi slung the rifle she had removed from the locker earlier before jumping into the fray, as it were. Boots looked at her curiously. “Well, I have it,” she said. “Willful waste makes woeful want, as they say.”

  They opened the door and headed toward the bridge ladder. Three dead crewmen lay in the passageway at the base of the stair. It upset Persi to see one of them was the Steward, Julian. Both slipped up the stairs quietly but before stepping onto the bridge, Boots stopped, leaving Persi on the steps below him. Genevieve was cursing, then the sound of a slap followed by silence.

  The bridge was packed with what must have been all or most of the crew. All hands were tied and they
were divided to each side of the room. Armed men stood behind them, guns drawn. In front, stood Lady Regina Westbury, and to her left stood Mario D’Cruz. The smile on his face told Boots he was no longer a friend to the crew of the Swan. He stood now more like a Captain. He wore an officer’s uniform, black pants and coat with gold epaulettes. His sword was sheathed, and his hand lay atop the basket. By the light coming through the window, Boots saw that it would be dark within the hour.

  She had apparently taken the time to change for Regina now stood in one of Genevieve’s dresses looking like an airship captain herself. “Shut up, whore,” she yelled. “You and your crew, and your guests have killed my Duke. His vision would have granted me the world I wanted. And in a fashion, I loved him. I will kill them all slowly, and force you to watch before I take my time with you. Take her below to her cabin while I deal with this crew.”

  Two large men came forward and grabbed her under each arm. She sprang up and head butted one, the largest, breaking his nose. With what seemed to be the lightest of swats, he backhanded her, sending her sprawling across the floor. After the man had wiped the blood from his nose, he and the other man picked her up from the deck and headed toward the stairs.

  She looked at her men as they drug her away, “Do what you must to stay alive,” she yelled. “You are forgiven.”

  Boots backed down the stairs and ran down the passageway, and into a small storage room across from the Genevieve’s cabin. When the men arrived, they threw open the door and pushed her in. Then they themselves entered, having no other choice feeling the metal of gun barrels at their backs.

  Though Genevieve was furious and wanted to slit their throats, Boots convinced her to leave them but when they left, they were tied, gagged and the door locked. They went back to the stairs, Boots ascended halfway, just far enough to see the proceedings. Persi and Genevieve listened from below.

  “You are currently my enemies, and by all rights I should kill you, but I will show you my other side, my mercy. I need good men, men who can operate this ship. We shall be the beginning of a great free armada that no country can touch. We shall inspire other airmen who have been hounded by governments for desire to be independent.”