by Ryan McCall
“And furthermore,” she said, “that kitsune is wearing a high lord mask, which means he’s a member of the highest class of Minakayan nobles. They never reveal their faces to anyone outside of close friends and family. They also take their honor and discipline seriously, which means he won’t let us get near that cart without a fight. That would let our targets get away. We need to catch them red-handed, when they bring their drugs to the cart. On the plus side, if Mikono is using a Red Knight for protection, we can be certain that whatever her people are picking up is valuable.”
Brenna took another look. The kitsune had a long, thin sword on his back and was looking in a different direction every few minutes, his eyes carefully scanning for threats. There was movement near the carriage, the man they had been following from the city appeared and was pushing a pallet that was loaded with several crates. He stopped and unhooked the opening of the carriage.
“Sergeant, I believe the moment we have been waiting for has arrived,” said Snar and he pointed.
Brenna smiled. “Excellent, let’s go have a word with them. Hopefully the knight doesn’t know what he’s helping to protect. If that’s the case he should stand down.”
“Why would he do that?” asked Snar, following Brenna as she walked out from behind their cover and put her hand on her revolver.
She explained how the Red Knights operated. “They steer clear of anything illegal and I doubt the knight would have taken a contract if he knew he was aiding in the smuggling of drugs.”
Brenna pulled her revolver and held it out in front of her. She approached the carriage and shouted, “Alkos City Watch, no one move!”
Snar held his axe in his hand ready for whatever came. The kitsune stared at them, though with the mask covering his face his reaction was indiscernible. The man who was pushing the crates onto the cart froze.
The kitsune’s voice was heavily accented and muffled. “How may we help you officer?” He held out his hands in front of him to show Brenna that he was not holding a weapon. But she suspected he could draw his sword swiftly if he needed.
“Stay right where you are. I’m only interested in your client and his cargo,” she said.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to know what your purpose is before I allow you near my client. Surely that’s not too much to ask?” he replied. She thought she detected a hint of sarcasm when he said the word client.
“He is suspected of smuggling drugs and in regards to that, myself and my partner need to search those crates.” Snar stepped into view and the kitsune muttered something in his native language while the man on the carriage opened his mouth in momentary shock.
“My only function is to provide protection. If my client is involved in anything illegal, I am unaware of it,” replied the kitsune. She had been right, the Red Knight wanted to make sure he was not complicit in anything illegal.
The man on the carriage gave the kitsune an angry look. “You’re meant to be our muscle,” he said, angrily. The masked mercenary held a hand and the man went quiet, still keeping his angry brown eyes on the kitsune.
Brenna walked past the kitsune. Now that she was closer, she could appreciate the quiet and coiled tension in his form. He was ready to defend himself; she didn’t want to provoke him if she could help it.
She stepped up on the back of the carriage. “Go and stand behind your bodyguard,” she said to the man, who scowled at her, but did as she ordered. The kitsune mercenary looked up at the tall and bulky figure of Snar who was stood opposite him, his axe balanced in both hands.
“An agorid watch officer, now there’s something I never thought I’d see,” he said in an amused tone.
Brenna stepped over to the crates and looked them over. They had no markings to indicate what was contained inside. She put her hand on the top of one and pulled at the latch.
Before she could open it she heard Snar yell out, “Stop!” and she turned.
The man who had been loading the crates was making a run for it. Brenna jumped at him and her fingers brushed against the fabric of his pants, but she wasn’t fast enough. He slipped away and reached the perimeter of the carriage area and moved into the thick trees.
Damn. Those trees will slow down Snar, I hate going after someone without back up thought Brenna.
She was about to step into the trees when a scream followed by cursing came from the direction the man had entered. He fell back suddenly, turned around and started running in the opposite direction. There were more odd noises from the trees and several figures stepped out from the same place as the suspect.
Brenna had never seen anything like them in her life; they were bipedal but had vines and leaves bursting out of their grey-green skin. They held out their hands and methodically moved towards her.
Brenna held out her gun and loudly warned them, “Don’t come any closer.” They didn’t respond, and continued walking forward. She gave off a warning shot above what she assumed was the creature’s heads. They paused for a second after her shot but then resumed their stiff walk.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said and she aimed at a leg and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit with light splat and the plant-thing let out a howl of pain. Greenish blood leaked out of the wound. It continued coming on however and she fired off several more shots at its torso until it fell to the ground.
Snar came charging in at them, he swung his axe to both sides and cleaved two in half. One raked at his arm with its long talons, cutting him. He growled and hefted his axe, burying it in the creature’s head, green blood spraying over his arms.
As he pulled his axe out of the monster’s skull, three more of them clawed at his back and he roared in pain. He managed to knock one of them aside but the other two latched on to his back and stabbed at him.
Brenna fired off her last two shots at the creatures near her and then pulled out her short sword, finishing them off with two quick stabs. She looked over at Snar’s predicament but was unable to help him. There were three more blocking her from getting to him and it was all she could do to prevent them from slicing her with their razor-sharp claws. She swung her sword, keeping them at bay as best she could.
A quick rush of air passed her head and then the sound of metal meeting flesh. All three of their heads toppled off their bodies. The masked kitsune was standing behind them with his sword drawn. Brenna could see two more of the creatures lying in a similar decapitated state near Snar.
“I believe that as officers of the law you now have a more important duty to carry out than searching for prohibited substances.” He pointed with his sword towards the main circus area. There was a lot of noise coming from the area. It sounded like fighting and screaming.
“These things are deadly.” He examined the claws of the ones he had decapitated. “A plant-human amalgamation. I will help you fight them and save what patrons of the circus you can,” he said. “All I ask in return is that if my clients were in fact conducting illegal activities that you would keep my presence here out of your report.”
Brenna wanted to find the drugs, but he was right. First and foremost she had a duty to Alkon citizens if they were in danger. She smiled slightly. “I wouldn’t be able to put you in my report anyway. Not without a name.”
He nodded. “I am called Tanaka.”
Snar lumbered up behind him and Brenna asked, “Are you all right?” He was bleeding on his arm and back, but didn’t appear bothered by it.
“Merely scratches,” he replied. “It sounds as if there could be more of these twisted beings at the circus.”
“Yes,” said Tanaka. “We must move fast officers, for I fear that there are many lives at stake.” With that he was off and running towards the circus, Brenna and Snar struggled to keep pace with his speed.
***
Some said patience was a virtue but it was not one that Inissa Renoch had in large abundance. And what little she did have, has been worn thin by the elephant trainer, Danton. He had dithered around wanting to double chec
k everything before allowing her to have the tarcaine and was acting paranoid. It was as frustrating as all the hells.
Liam had taken the first half of the shipment to the carriage but he should have returned by now. She was stuck waiting by this tent, which reeked of elephant dung.
Danton walked out and asked, “Is he back yet?” His voice betrayed his nervousness.
Inissa gave him a cold stare and he gulped, wisely not saying anything else. He lit up a tobacco stick and sighed after taking a large puff. She noticed he was careful not to let the smoke drift towards her. At least he was self-aware enough to know how much he had angered her.
Inissa saw Liam running back down the path towards the tent. “Finally,” she said, exasperated. “Where the fuck have you been? We’re sitting on an illegal tarcaine shipment here, not fucking elephant shit!” She was livid. She had no idea why Barus had chosen this idiot to help her.
She realized something was wrong, he had come back without the pallet mover and he looked like he had seen a ghost. “What happened?” she said, her anger fading to concern.
“Watch officers,” he said, panting. “They ambushed me at the carriage.”
Inissa swore. This was not good.
“There’s more,” he continued. “I only escaped because they were distracted by some freakish monsters.”
“What?” said Inissa “What are you babbling about?”
Liam saw something and the fear on his face reappeared. “Those!” and he pointed behind her.
She turned and saw monstrous plant-things grabbing at Danton who was struggling in their grasp. One of them had smothered his mouth with its hand, suffocating him. His face was slowly being covered with moving vines oozing out of the thing’s hand.
This continued until his entire head was covered and then the monster squeezed hard. There was a horrendous sound of snapping bone and blood seeped out from between the vines.
“Back to the carriage, now,” said Inissa. No amount of tarcaine was worth confronting these monsters. She pulled something metallic out of her bag and placed it on the ground, hoping it would delay the monsters long enough to get away. She turned and ran, pushing Liam and prompting him to run as well.
The small metal sphere she had put on the ground came to life and moved along the ground of its own accord. It was a flare bomb, though a much smaller and complex design than those used by the military. It rolled towards plant creatures that were now bent over Danton’s body. He was covered in those vines and to Inissa it looked like they were consuming him. Inissa took one last look back, when she had run a safe distance. The bomb avoided the vines and hit one of the thing’s legs. It then pierced into the skin with tiny spikes and released four puffs of smoke. Then it detonated in a small explosion that set the creatures on fire.
Chapter 15
Screaming people were running out of the tent in terror; Reese and Cassandra fought past them to get back inside. They managed to get through and reached the bottom of the stands. The sight was a grisly one; it looked as if all of the circus performers had transformed and turned on the audience.
There were bodies all over the stands, the creatures had not wasted time in following the circus master’s order. Several audience members were trying to fight back, though they were not having much success. Reese saw several patrons being overwhelmed, their screams muffled as vines were stuffed into their throats and spread over the rest of them.
Michael was still stuck where he had been sitting, along with several others. They were holding off the creatures with pieces of wood taken from the stand chairs. Reese scrambled up the stairs to reach his friend. He dodged past several of the creatures feasting on bodies and picked up a metal pole that had belonged to one of the performers. He reached the level where Michael was cornered and smashed one of the creatures in the back of the head. It howled and toppled over.
“Thanks,” said Michael. “What the hell is going on?”
Reese pushed the creature out of the way. “No idea, let’s just get the fuck out of here,” he said. He led the way back down the stairs with Michael and the other survivors following him.
Cassandra waved at them urgently. “Let’s move!” she said.
Most of the creatures were distracted and feeding in the stands, so they were able to get out easily enough. The few of the things that approached them were driven off with blows to the head, as Reese had done. They emerged onto the dirt area outside and Reese stopped. There were more the things out here and they had the tent surrounded.
“What do we do now?” asked Michael.
Reese shook his head. Then gunshots rang out, bullets tearing into the creatures, while several of them lost their heads to sword blows. There was a roar and three of the creatures went flying through the air, bowled aside by an enormous bear agorid. He then proceeded to sweep aside more of them with a large axe. A red haired woman in an Alkos City watch uniform ran through the gap and approached them.
“Get out of here!” she said, while she reloaded her revolver. “Make your way to Surrin.”
Reese and the others took her advice and ran while the agorid and a masked kitsune killed off more of the creatures. The watch officer fired again to cover them and they cleared the main tent. They were now running through the stalls, all of which had been abandoned by the owners. Either they had run or the creatures had killed them. Reese stopped and looked back.
“What is it?” asked Cassandra.
He felt bad leaving. “There’s too many of those monsters, those officers will be killed,” he replied. “We need to help them.”
“Screw that,” said one man. “You do what you want, but we’re getting out of here,” and he kept moving, leading the others away.
“How are we going to stop them?” asked Michael. “We’re not exactly warriors.”
“They aren’t invincible,” said Reese. “How about make use of what’s over there?” He pointed to the alchemy stall they had visited earlier in the night.
Michael grinned. “Of course, the melting chemical. We can light them up.” He bolted over to the stand and climbed over the counter to grab the bottles.
“Should we do that? These creatures are still people,” said Cassandra.
Reese looked at her. “What’s going on Cassandra?” he asked. “You disappeared and then suddenly these things appeared being directed by the circus master.”
There were tears in her eyes. “I…I was looking for someone, my girlfriend. She came to the Night Circus two weeks ago and she never returned. No letter, no note, nothing. I had no idea what had happened to her. I had to find her. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. I didn’t want to come by myself and I didn’t think you’d believe me.”
Reese was upset but he didn’t hold it against her. “It’s alright, you couldn’t have known.”
Cassandra was sobbing now. “It’s not alright, I found her and she’s been turned into one of those monsters. I’ve lost her!” She collapsed into his arms. He held her up, placing his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.
“I’m truly sorry,” he said. “If we see her, we could try and hold her down, tie her up. Maybe whatever’s been done can be reversed.” He wasn’t hopeful, he’d read about something like this before and had a suspicion about who was responsible. But it was what she needed to hear right now.
“Thank you,” she replied, standing back up and wiping her eyes.
“Here,” said Michael and threw a couple of bottles at them. Reese caught them. The bottle had wick stuffed in the top. Michael also threw across matches.
“Light the tops and throw them” he said. “The high burning temperature should be able to melt their skin or at least set them on fire.” He shoved several more of the bottles into his pack. “Are we heading back then?” he asked.
“Yeah, let’s go,” said Reese, and he tested the weight of the bottle in his hand. He wanted to know how hard he needed to throw it. They went back through the stalls towards the main tent and the howls o
f the creatures.
***
Brenna’s gun was empty again. She didn’t have time to reload so she holstered it and resorted to her sword. She stabbed at the creatures that came near her. She was not as skilled at melee fighting as Snar or Tanaka. She had several scrapes along her arms where the creatures had slashed her. As they finished off the last of the creatures, she heard an angry voice.
“What have you done to my creations?!” She turned her head to see what she assumed was the circus master standing at the main tent entrance with a furious look on his face. He shouted, “Get them!” A horde of the creatures came pouring out of the tent behind him, obscuring him from view.
Brenna slashed her sword at the first to reach her. She cut off its hand and it gave off a piercing screech. She kicked it in the stomach and it fell back. Two more of them were soon upon her however and she dodged a clawed hand that was aimed at her face.
She stabbed the creature in the midriff but when she pulled back, her sword didn’t move. It was stuck in the thing’s stomach. It howled and swung its arms at her. She leapt back and rolled as she hit the ground. Snar charged in at the new group of creatures, knocking several of them back with his body weight. He slashed back and forth with his axe, cleaving at them. Both his axe-head and his arms were becoming stained with green blood.
He held his paw down to Brenna and helped her up. Tanaka managed to be holding his own. With his speed and skill, he danced around the creatures slashing at heads and limbs and killing many of them. For every one he killed though, there were three more to take its place.
Something flew through the air and hit several of the creatures. She heard glass shatter and saw something burst with liquid and then an intense white light. Whatever it was, it ignited and flames spread over the plant-things.
The ones that were aflame were screaming and ran around like rabid dogs, knocking into others, also setting them on fire. Several more bottles came down and hit more of them. One bottle hit the side of the tent and the rough fabric blazed with fire. The creatures were no longer interested in attacking them. They were howling, screaming and rapidly burning up. Brenna looked over to see who had saved them; it was three youngsters from the group that had escaped earlier.
