The Noble Petty, Complete Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 2)

by Craig Gerttula

  Vickie helped her recover her feet, tension showing in her eyes for the first time. Two tunnels opened at their sides before she could catch her breath, providing them a choice; right or left. Vickie didn't hesitate, pulling her down the tunnel to the left, ignoring the ceiling falling behind them, blocking any chance for them to change their minds. After only a few meters the tunnel ended and the lights faded.

  Tiana began to panic, fearful they’d made the wrong choice and would be stuck forever in this stone coffin. But Vickie seemed confident. Her steps echoing calmly as she patiently searched the walls for a means of escape. It took only a few moments before the sounds of her movement died, a dull click touching her ears, and Tiana was again being pulled forward.

  “Be ready,” Vickie instructed. Tiana nodded, breathing deep as she let her mind and body recall all that Vickie had taught her.

  The sound of stone scrapping grating again touched her ears a moment before the wall before them began to rotate down, a blinding light streaming through its crack. When her eyes fully adjusted, she beheld an enormous domed cavern, with a dense black fog masking the floor, or more likely the lack thereof, with hundreds of circular, ring shaped platforms floating just above. Each platform had a hole in the center, with only a narrow path circling its edge. Some of the platforms were connected to others by narrow bridges, but most floated isolated.

  Desperate petties could be seen moving amongst the closest platforms, being chased by creatures out of nightmare. Some of the beasts she recognized, having heard many a tale in her childhood, and shown the images of the horrible alien monstrosities that always existed within, meant to ingrain the proper amount of fear and respect for the dangers of wandering through an alien wilderness without a proper escort.

  “Oh no,” she whimpered, two petties suddenly tumbling off one of the platforms, plunging into the foggy darkness with blood curdling screams of despair.

  An intense pressure struck her back and she was pushed into Vickie, who spun in surprise, eyes going wide a moment before she yanked Tiana onto the makeshift bridge, dragging her towards the first ring shaped platform. Tiana only caught a glimpse of the ceiling that had collapsed a mere centimeter behind her before it started creeping forward, forcing them to traverse the bridge to the first platform.

  There was no turning back.

  “Ah...our newest challengers have arrived. Please welcome two noble ladies who were responsible for the vandalism of one of our planet's treasures, and are most obviously in league with those heinous criminals who abducted my second nephew, the owner and operator of Zalbo's Simucran. As is my right as ruler of the Don'Alutia Mark, I hereby pronounce their fate; to face my labyrinth!” Deafening cheers echoed throughout the massive cavern and it took Tiana a moment to understand exactly what was going on.

  At the peak of the domed ceiling, over 250 meters above, stood a giant projection of Marquis Rostil surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller projections of other noble figures, apparently enjoying the show from a safe location.

  “We shall name them the.......Gorgeous Vixens of Death, and the odds for their survival shall start at...” he paused, studying the two ladies while tapping his chin, waiting for them to finish moving the last few meters to the first platform, then to a list that appeared off to his side. “2000 to 1!” he pronounced with a flourish. The rambling voices of the assembled nobles rose, echoing throughout the cavern as they began placing their bets.

  Tiana's stomach began to turn at she realized what this was; a game, a horrible game of death, and her mind threatened to again fall into despair born of terror. But Vickie didn't waver, standing tall, holding her nose up to the image, a smirk spreading across her lips.

  “You will lose much, Marquis! And I swear, to My Lord and Lady, that when I escape...and I will escape, Marquis....that I will take your last breath with my own hands!” Vickie shouted in reply. The returning laughter told what their hosts thought of that particular threat.

  “Please try, my lovelies. It is always a shame when the little ones fall without a fight,” Marquis Rostil’s grin turned wicked, at odds with his “noble perfect” visage, as he glanced to another platform, floating only short distance to their right. Tiana couldn't help but follow his gaze, her mind screaming not to look. But she didn't listen, and watched as a fleeing child, wearing rags and covered in filth was overtaken by one of the hideous beasts, with flesh as dark as night. It lashed out at the child with its hundreds of tentacle-like appendages, their needle tips aiming directly for the boy’s back as he fled. The boy stumbled, falling out of view with a desperate cry just as the needles struck. The tentacles, which surrounded the creature's spherical body, darted at the spot where the child had fallen, again, again, and again. Occasionally, a tentacle would pull back after a thrust with what appeared to be a chunk of torn flesh stuck to its needle tip, which it would throw onto its back, where a three pronged beak would appear, greedily snapping up the flesh before vanishing itself. Tiana looked away, trembling uncontrollably as bile rose from her gullet. She swallowed it back down as burning tears streamed down her cheeks.

  “Let's move,” Vickie instructed, her words laced with icy fury, she having not looked away until the creature had finished it gruesome meal.

  They started around the outer ring of the first platform, Tiana careful to stay in the center of the narrow path, not wanting to approach the unprotected edge. At first glance, she noticed no way off the ring, the bridge they'd originally crossed, having retracted, and there being only a single grey stone hovering near the inner edge. Vickie led her to the stone, seeming to have an understanding of what they needed to do that Tiana did not. But before she could question, Vickie reached out, carefully touching the stone with a single finger. It shimmered and another stone rose from the dense fog below, on the opposite side of the ring, glowing a pure white.

  Vickie turned her. “We need to press them together,” she explained. Tiana nodded, trusting in Vickie's judgment, though unsure how the woman seemed to have an understanding of how this horrible game worked.

  She released her iron grip on Vickie's hand, rubbing her clammy palms together while taking a deep breath. Carefully, she moved around the platform, staying firmly in the center of the path until she reached the glowing stone, then moved cautiously to the inner edge. Vickie counted down with her fingers and they both touched the stone as one.

  A half-meter wide bridge grew from the side of their platform, extending to another, which was unoccupied, off to their left. Tiana moved to the bridge and looked to Vickie, who was rounding the platform from the other direction.

  “Slowly,” Vickie instructed, eyes serious as they both eyed the narrow bridge. Tiana nodded, her words still locked away by a mind swimming in fear. She took a deep breath and started across.

  It was a nightmare; walking across the narrow bridge as the wispy darkness licked at her feet, seeming to try to drag her into the unknown abyss. She swayed, feeling her balance leave her, but a steady hand grasped her shoulder from behind. She almost screamed, wanting to dive away from the creature that had appeared unaware. But her fearful mind cleared, and she glanced behind only to find Vickie standing with such balance Tiana could never hope to match.

  “Careful,” Vickie said, expression stern. Tiana could only nod her understand. After another deep breath, she continued wobbling forward, Vickie's hand a constant on her shoulder, until she reached the other platform, collapsing to her knees in relief.

  “How do you...do you walk like that?” Tiana asked under heavy breaths, having finally found her voice.

  “Practice...which we will be having twice as often once we escape this horrid place,” Vickie explained, she appearing to expect no other possible outcome. Tiana, on the other hand, had doubts. Most born of her fear, but also the sight of the horrible beasts that roamed the distant platforms, knowing they would have to pass by many to reach the far side of the massive cavern.

  Vickie tensed, staring at something ove
r Tiana's shoulder. “We need to move,” Vickie warned as Tiana turned, seeing a lizard-like creature three platforms over, scurrying across a narrow bridge, grasping its deftly with its six clawed feet, and quickly reaching a platform just two away from theirs. It paused, hissing in their direction with two, meter long tongues, shaped like coils, which whipped out of its elongated snout. Seeming to sense their presence, the beast having no eyes, it started around the platform in their direction. To Tiana's rising horror, a bridge started to expand from the platform the beast traversed, linking it to the one adjacent to where they now stood. She look up at Vickie, desperate for the woman's reassurance. But found her tense, studying the many varying colored stones that floated around the inner edge of the platform they now stood.

  “Red!” Vickie shouted as her eyes flashed understanding. Tiana hesitated for only a moment, grasping a thin thread of courage, and started rushing around the platform, trying to find a floating red stone amongst the hundreds of others. “Hurry!” Vickie urged, her tensions rising as the bridge finished extending and the beast started across to the platform adjacent theirs.

  “I can't find it!” she screamed in frustration as another bridge began to extend to their platform, from the one the beast had just reached.

  Vickie, without a word, leapt onto the thin bridge just as it finished extending. She bounded across, reaching the adjacent platform at the same moment as the beast. With a menacing grace, she leaned back, placing her weight on her back leg while breathing deeply in and rotating her arms forward, aiming her palms at the beast; the Dai Tempest battle stance. The creature paused, lashing its coil-like tongues in Vickie's direction, seeming to sense danger. A rancid stench wafted across the platform every time the tongues lashed out, smelling of death, rotting flesh, and filth unimaginable. It was too much for Tiana to bear and her stomach finally gave way, releasing its meager contents.

  The moment the heaving stopped, her mind cleared. Vickie's in trouble, it screamed, I have to help her, help my friend! She started forward, pushing aside the constant fear. Vickie, I'm coming!

  One of the tongues lashed out at Vickie's legs while the other struck for her head. Vickie fell forward, the fist tongue flicking within a mere millimeter of her brown braid as she kicked her legs behind her and bringing both palms down just as the second tongue shot beneath. The super-compressed air that coiled within her palm struck the beast’s tongue full blast, cutting it in two.

  Tiana collapsed to her knees, covering her ears as a painfully deafening screech erupted from the beast. It cowered while backing away from the prey that stung, but not fast enough. Vickie launched herself forward with a speed and style Tiana had only glimpsed during their training. The tongue that had just missed Vickie’s head, sprung back, trying to catch her unaware. But she twirled, striking it with an outstretched palm while bringing the other to the beast's snout, which it tried to protect with its front paws.

  “Die!” Vickie growled as she struck.

  The creature tumbled across the platform from the force of the blast, desperately scratching its surface with its claws, its desperate wails filling the air. For a moment, it seemed to recover, grasping the edge of the platform a moment before falling into the fog with a deafening screech.

  A tongue lashed out, catching Vickie's foot. She fell hard with a grunt and started sliding towards the platform’s edge. Time slowed and Tiana's body started moving on its own. She rushed across the bridge without concern, sprinting around the platform without a thought in her mind, and sliding to Vickie's side. She slammed both her palms onto the tongue just as Vickie's leg was just about to breach the platform’s edge. The tongue exploded free, along with Tiana, who tumbled off the platform alongside, falling helplessly into the fog behind the beast. A hand grasped her leg and with strength Tiana had felt once before, she was pulled from the edge of the wispy darkness and certain death.

  “Yo...You're cra...crazy,” Vickie stuttered under heavy breaths.

  “That...that from a woman who attacks a man...man eating beast head-on,” she responded, the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, making her forget her fear. They both fell silent, staring at each other, then suddenly laughed with relief, the tension from moments before vanishing with the last wails of the falling beast.

  Vickie helped her to her feet, and arm in arm, they moved to the next bridge, following the path the dead beast had created when it had traversed the three platforms to reach them. When they made it to the end of the already extended bridges, Vickie selected a stone and they began their long journey across the cavern.

  When they came close to any of the hideous beasts, Vickie would choose a path between them, avoiding many that seemed only concerned with protecting the platform in which they currently occupied, expecting prey to come to them. After what felt like hours, and passing over more platforms then she could count, they finally reached the center of the massive cavern, stumbling across a group of huddling petties.

  The petties sat silent on a portion of the adjacent platform, pinned between two lumbering, gelatinous creatures that extended bunches of long tendrils, born of their nearly transparent flesh, into the group. She watched in horror as the tendrils wrapped around two petties, neither resisting, neither moving, and dragged them clear of the group, directly into the creatures gelatinous bodies, where they disintegrated in seconds, leaving the rest of the petties to cower silently in fear.

  “Vickie?” she asked carefully, not sure what the woman would decide.

  “Blue,” she responded immediately. Tiana moved, quickly finding the blue stone and touching it as Vickie did the same with its partner on the far side of the platform. A bridge extended to the adjacent platform with the two beasts and the four remaining petties. Two of the petties sat silent, eyes void of all emotion or thought, while a woman cowered behind, protecting a child as if she was her mother. Tiana rushed back to Vickie's side, her heart threatening to escape her chest, and stared across the bridge, pushing herself close to Vickie for reassurance.

  “Move swiftly. When they start their next feeding, we attack...only save who we can. Understand?” Tiana nodded, burying her fear and reluctance, knowing that as much as she wanted to save them all, it would be impossible.

  They dashed across the bridge the moment the bunched tentacles slithered back towards the petties, and crept behind one of the gelatinous creatures. The tendrils reached the petties at the same moment, wrapping around the two men, who looked already dead, neither reacting as they were dragged towards the beasts.

  “Go!” Vickie hissed. They rushed forward, and as one, struck the beast’s side. The force of the combined Dai Tempest blast was immense, scattering the top half of its gelatinous body across the massive cavern. But the creature was unfazed. Its remaining body undulating as if it didn't even realize it had just lost half its form. It began to reconstruct its body as new tendrils started flailing in all directions. They hopped clear of its reach, making sure not to fall from the platform, or into the grasp of the newly growing tendrils.

  “Now!” Vickie shouted. They struck in unison, blasting the rest of the gelatinous creature off the ring. A single tendril glanced Vickie's exposed forearm. She cried out, collapsing to her knees as the slimy substance appeared to burn her skin. Tiana tried to wipe it clear with her hands, but flinched. Her fingers began to throb, feeling like they would explode. Vickie clenched her jaw in noticeable pain, ripping a rag off the hem of her dress to wipe the rest of the horrid substance clear.

  The other gelatinous creature finished devouring its prey as they fought the first, its tendrils again slithering towards the cringing woman, whose daughter was desperately trying to pull her towards the opening created by Tiana and Vickie. Tiana didn't think twice, rushing forward, ignoring Vickie's cry to stop. I have to save them.

  “Come on!” she shouted, grasping the woman's other arm, pulling her along with the child. But she wouldn't budge, having lost all hope, her mind sunk in the same pit of despair that had t
hreatened to overtake Tiana. Finding no other choice, Tiana grabbed the child and carried her to safety.

  “Mama!” the child screeched from her arms as Tiana attempted to adjust her grip so the horrible scene unfolding behind her would not be witnessed by the child. But she must have been too late, the child's screech ending in a gargle as her blood drained from her cheeks and eyes turned empty.

  “Red,” Vicki whispered, her voice weak, the touch of a tendril seeming to have sapped her strength. Tiana wanted to help, as Vickie had her, time and again. But she knew there was nothing she could do but follow her instructions.

  Quickly, she located the red stone. A new bridge extended from the far side of the platform, opposite where the gelatinous creature slinked slowly along, and they rushed across. Tiana almost stumbled, barely able to keep to from falling, the child’s deadweight almost too much for her tiny body to handle. Luckily, the creature didn't follow with any haste, its form only allowing it to undulate forward at a very slow pace.

  They shuffled around the next platform’s edge, Tiana placing the girl down, then helping Vickie off her feet when they reached a safe distance. She ripped a makeshift bandage from her dresses hem, wrapping it around Vickie's injured arm, which throbbed abnormally, white puss mixing with blood seeping through her skin even though there appeared to be no open wound.

  Vickie winced. “Poison...” she muttered under heavy breaths. Tiana's fear returned, twice as strong as before. The thought of losing Vickie, being alone in this nightmare, was too much to consider. She fell to her knees, breathing quickened, and sweat pouring off her brow. “But not fatal...it will take awhile to...to clear out of my system,” Vickie wheezed, having sensed Tiana's rising anxiety. But her reassurance was of little relief, Tiana not able to comprehend how Vickie could possible know if it would be fatal or not. She glanced over her shoulder, back at the slowly approaching creature.