by Hanna Peach
“There.” Alyx can see the bars of another grate up ahead.
At the grate Alyx hands the torch back to Israel. She pushes at the bars with her hands. It’s stuck. She swings around so her feet are facing out and kicks at the bars.
They start to shift. The grate dislodges. It falls out of the frame and clatters to the ground.
“I said quiet,” mumbles Israel.
Alyx ignores him and jumps out of the tunnel into a larger tunnel.
Israel climbs out behind her. “Hopefully they don’t― what was that?”
“Probably just a rat.”
“It was bigger than a rat.”
“I don’t hear any―.”
“Shh,” Israel says, his voice getting low. He shuts off his torch. “There’s someone in here with us.” They stand very still in the dark, listening.
Splash, splash.
The sound of careful footsteps in the muck. Before Alyx can yell at Israel to run, their world erupts into light.
Chapter 42
Alyx’s eyes adjust to the brightness. They are surrounded by half a dozen men, smeared in dirt. Their searchlights glint off the knives in their hands and, to Alyx’s horror, the barrel of more than one gun.
Parallel tracks run the length of this tunnel. Train tracks. More men crawl out of a nearby opening and join the mob around them.
Before Alyx can react, a gruff voice calls out, “Well, well, well. I never expected to see you here again.”
One of the men steps forward. He is a gruff thing, thick red hair, smudged face, thick black boots and a red scarf tied around his neck like a bandit.
“Mason,” Israel mutters. “Life is full of unpleasant surprises for all of us.”
“You know these people?” Alyx asks Israel, her eyes wide.
He nods almost imperceptibly. “My old street gang.”
Alyx turns back to look at the mob. They don’t look happy. What did he say about leaving his gang?
“You have some nerve coming back down here,” the one named Mason says.
“Believe me it wasn’t planned.”
“Especially after your sudden disappearance in the middle of the night coinciding with the disappearance of a week’s worth of pillage.”
“What a coincidence.”
“You and I both know that was no coincidence. You owe me big-time Scrapper.”
Scrapper?
Mason turns to Alyx. “And what do we have here?”
Some of the other men make crude noises. Alyx doesn’t like the way they are looking at her.
“Perhaps then,” Mason says brushing his chin with one hand, “I’ll take your little pet as payment.”
“You won’t touch her,” Israel growls stepping in between Alyx and Mason.
“Then I got no use for either of you. Kill them. Kill them both.”
The men advance towards Alyx and Israel, steel glinting in their hands and teeth.
There are too many of them. We’ll never win.
“Get back in the tunnel,” Alyx yells trying to push Israel behind her.
“No,” he says. “You stay behind me. Mason, I invoke the Right of Horatii.”
Everything stops. A collective gasp sounds.
Mason pushes forward to the front of his pack. “Last I checked you weren’t a street pirate no more Scrapper.”
“Israel, what’s going on?”
Israel glares at Mason. “I still have the right to invoke it. Or is your honor no longer worth anything?”
“You better watch your mouth Scrap or I’ll come and beat you down myself.”
“You nominating yourself as Champion then? Be my guest.”
Mason glowers at Israel. “Make some room men. We’re about to get a little entertainment.”
“I choose the weapon,” says Israel.
“I choose the champion.”
Alyx’s head spins. What is going on?
“Unarmed,” says Israel and steps forward removing his dagger and sword and letting them clatter to the ground.
“Terrapin,” Mason says, and a cheer rises from his men.
A man steps forward into the circle, towering above the other men by at least six inches, sooty skin covered in blue and black patterns that stretch around his limbs. When he grins he shows gaps of missing teeth. The grin does not look friendly. Terrapin stares at Israel, unblinking, head tilted, as he drops his weapons to the ground.
Alyx grabs Israel’s arm and forces him to look at her. “What are you doing?”
“It’s part of the street pirates code, lovey,” Mason answers instead. “Horatii was a street pirate who started a practice of having two warring clans settle things by a single duel between two champions. To the death. It stopped whole clans of pirates being killed or injured. As you can imagine, any injuries down here don’t heal well. Your boyfriend just invoked it.”
“Israel, you’re not fighting that monster.”
“He ain’t, lovey,” Mason says. “You are.”
It is Israel’s turn to protest.
“I invoked the right to choose the champion and if you remember rightly that includes choosing the champion from your side.” Mason turns his gaze to Alyx and grins. “I choose her.”
“No,” Israel yells. “I won’t let―.”
“Then you forfeit the Right of Horatii and you can both die today.”
“No, I’ll do it.” Alyx steps forward.
“Alyx, I won’t let you.”
“Hold him,” Mason yells as Israel moves to pull Alyx back.
Two of the men grab Israel on either side and hold him in place. Alyx ignores his attempts to persuade her not to fight. She pulls her weapons from under her jacket and lays them on the ground. She notices one of Mason’s eyebrows lifting as he watches her.
I’ll teach you to underestimate me. Alyx steps forward. “I’m ready.”
Mason nods. “To the death, then.”
Chapter 43
Alyx and Terrapin circle each other. David and Goliath. The other men are chanting and shaking their fists in the air. To Alyx it sounds like the roar of a distant sea.
Her eyes flick over Terrapin in a quick appraisal - his body, his weight placement, his stance. Upper body dominance. Strength but not much speed. Left hander.
Alyx keeps her distance until she sees the slight shift in Terrapin’s weight. His left fist comes for her. Alyx falls into a duck. She returns with a punch. It is like hitting a rock-face.
He comes at her again with his fist. Alyx rolls to her side this time, tries a kick to his side. Her foot just seems to bounce off him. She begins to panic. How does she bring down a mountain?
She could almost hear Symon’s voice in her mind. Even mountains have a weak point.
Even he will have a weak point. Where is his weak point?
Her eyes look over Terrapin again. She sees it. As Terrapin turns to face her, she sees it. Slight limp and scarring against the back of his left heel.
Alyx waits for another attack. It comes swiftly. She ducks and sweeps her right leg out, kicking Terrapin’s left heel. He screams and hobbles back. She delivers a kick to his stomach. But this has only made him angrier.
Terrapin rushes towards her, favoring his left foot. She tries to duck but he catches her, his arm wrapping around her neck in a choke. The air is being squeezed from her. Alyx scratches at his arms and kicks out with her legs but he won’t let her go. Terrapin squeezes her neck tighter and tighter.
Her movements start to slow.
Israel thrashes against his captors. “Stop it. You’re killing her.”
Soon Alyx stops moving completely. She hangs limp from Terrapin’s arm, her eyes frozen open. Amidst the cheering Israel’s wailing can be heard echoing through the tunnels.
Silly, silly. Immortals don’t need oxygen, thinks Alyx as Terrapin parades her lifeless body around the crowd like a trophy.
She waits, patient.
At the right moment she strikes at Terrapin’s groin with her right heel. H
is whole body tenses and Alyx hears a loud pained groan. The circle of men curl back, clutching themselves in a show of empathy. Alyx is dropped. She rolls away from him.
But Terrapin recovers faster than Alyx expects. He lashes for her again. She spins out of the way but not before feeling a slice of pain across her shoulder causing her to cry out. A line of blood appears and starts to ooze down her arm. In Terrapin’s hand is a small knife.
“You dog Terrapin. That’s not fair,” Israel yells. “Mason?”
Mason shrugs. “He’s a pirate lad. What did ya expect?”
Israel stomps on one guard’s foot and elbows the other. He scoops up the closest weapon, a dagger, and flicks it up in the air. “Alyx.”
She spins away from Terrapin and catches the handle mid-air, unsheathing the dagger on her way down. One of the men knocks Israel in the stomach with his elbow.
Alyx hits the ground and rolls onto her feet, blade in hand. Now they are even again.
Enraged, Terrapin throws himself at her. She ducks and hooks him hard behind his weak ankle again. He buckles and throws his hands out for support. Alyx elbows his hand, knocking his dagger from his fingers. Using his own momentum she kicks him down to the floor. Alyx drops her knee into Terrapin’s back, holds him by the scruff of his hair, pushes her dagger’s edge against the pulse of his throat.
Mason’s men have become deathly silent, their arms lowering. Terrapin’s head quivers in tiny ‘no’s’.
“Jesus Israel, where did you find this girl? A Baghdad assassin squad?” Mason says.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” mutters Israel.
Alyx glares at Mason. “I won’t kill him. He doesn’t deserve to die.” She releases her blade from Terrapin’s neck, rises off him and moves towards Israel who is still bent over from the earlier blow to his stomach.
“Then you forfeit the Right of Horatii,” Mason says. “Get her.”
Just then there is a sound of splashing. Alyx turns her head. Her heart sinks. Yael is standing by the opening of the small tunnel that Alyx and Israel had crawled through, Do’hann climbing out behind him.
They’ve been found.
Yael hesitates, assessing the cluster of men around them.
Mason steps forward. “You’re trespassing. This is our territory.”
Yael smirks. “You don’t order me.”
Alyx hears the sound of several guns being cocked.
Yael’s smirk fades. “Look, we don’t want any trouble with you. We just want these two.”
Israel picks up a blade from the ground and points it towards Yael. His other arm is still clutching across his stomach.
“Israel, get back,” Alyx cries as she steps forward.
“No.” He steps in line with her. “You’re not doing this alone.”
Do’hann and Yael run at them, swords unsheathed.
Alyx stops Do’hann’s sword in the air with her dagger. His blade presses towards her face.
A thick arm covered in dark tattoos sends Do’hann flying across the tunnel. He hits against the wall, groaning. Terrapin is now standing at Alyx’s side. He grunts at her, thanks for not killing me. She returns a small smile.
Yael, moving towards Israel, hesitates.
“Three against two Yael,” says Alyx. “Make your choice.”
There is a splashing of feet. A pirate has stepped up beside Terrapin. Another moves beside Israel. Then another. One by one Alyx can feel the circle of men tightening behind her.
Yael’s face twists into a scowl. They are outnumbered. He starts to back away.
“This isn’t over, Alyx.” He moves to Do’hann who is picking himself up out of the dirt. “Let’s go.”
Yael glares at Alyx one last time before he disappears back into the small tunnel, Do’hann behind him.
Alyx touches Israel’s arm. “Are you okay?”
He nods.
Alyx turns to Terrapin. “Thank you.” Then spins to look at the rest of the men. “All of you. Thank you.”
Looking at Terrapin, Mason shakes his head. “You are a sorry sack to be beaten by a girl.”
Terrapin grunts.
Alyx steps forward to Mason. “My name is Alyxandria and you will address me with respect. And I am not a girl,” she adds.
“Clearly not a girl, you’re a demon sent from hell to test me,” Mason mutters, a grim look on his face as he peers closer at her.
“You shouldn’t be too hard on him,” she says, her voice softening. “Your men just need some training. I can teach them a little if they are keen to learn.”
Mason stares at her, a stunned look on his face. She can almost feel the entire cavern holding its breath.
He erupts into laughter. “Tickle me splendid. It’s not every day I meet a man who can best my Terrapin let alone such a beautiful young woman. I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Alyxandria.” He reaches out his hand.
Alyx looks to Israel. At his nod she eases out of her fighting stance and takes Mason’s hand in a firm shake. “Just call me Alyx.”
But he doesn’t let her hand go. Instead he winds her arm through his and starts walking a path through his men, pulling her along with him.
“Well Alyx, let us be friends instead. Come. We shall eat, drink wine and celebrate the return of the prodigal son and his talented friend. You shall be my guest of honor and sit by my side. And you shall tell me all about how and where and who taught you to fight like that. My Lord I haven’t seen...”
Mason’s voice echoes all the way through the tunnels.
“Welcome to our humble abode,” Mason declares.
He helps Alyx out of the tunnel she has just followed him through, Israel behind her. Her eyes widen.
They are standing in a cavernous space. The arching ceilings are weaved with dark green tiles, as if they are inside a large reed basket. Running in lines between the platforms are train tracks dotted with old paneled carriages, chipped green paint showing grainy wood underneath. And ropes, endless lines of ropes and rope ladders strung about from ceiling to carriage as if this were a ship. But what strikes Alyx most is this…
This place is alive.
Men are swinging and flipping or jumping from platform to platform. Part of one of the tracks is sectioned off and filled with blocks of foam that the pirates are flipping and twisting themselves into. Others are running and kicking off walls, leaping from bars to carriages to platform in a flowing series of movements. Exactly as she has seen Israel do.
“What is this place?” Alyx asks, unable to keep the wonder out of her voice.
“This used to be the West End underground station. It’s now long disused and forgotten about. Lucky for us.” Mason grins. “We call her The Saint’s Revenge.”
Alyx shakes her head. “You really are pirates aren’t you?”
At this, Mason’s shakes with laughter.
Alyx is given the use of a compartment in an old sleeper carriage, Israel placed in the compartment next to hers. It had once been a luxury carriage, the honey-oak paneling and golden handles are evidence of this.
As Alyx draws down the faded-green window-shade she can see the hustle and steam coming from a far section of the Saint’s Revenge. Whatever they are cooking, it smells incredible. Rich and meaty. Her stomach growls and she realizes it has been a while since she has eaten.
The pirates have given her a pile of clean ladies clothes that they had found amongst their loot. After putting on a pair of slim-fitting black pants and rolling up the hems, Alyx stands shirtless holding up a frilly white blouse and muttering. Any frill is still far too much frill, as far as she is concerned.
Before she can drop the blouse and pick up another, a voice behind her startles her.
“Oh wow.”
Alyx spins around clutching the blouse to her chest. Israel’s ghostly figure is sitting on her bed, gaping.
“Excuse you,” Alyx says, with as much dignity as she can muster.
“I’m sorry.” Israel leaps to his feet
. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Didn’t mean to―.”
“It’s fine. Just turn around for a second.”
Israel turns his back. “I swear I didn’t mean to catch you like this.”
Alyx throws the frilly blouse on the bed and picks up a wide-necked shirt. It is the least offensive of all the shirts they has given her. She pulls it over her head. “You can turn around now.”
He does, but sheepishly.
“I didn’t get a chance to thank you for saving us back there against Yael and Do’hann,” she says. “Losing them in the sewers was really clever. Smelly but clever.”
“About time I pulled my weight,” he says with a smile.
“And thanks for your quick thinking with invoking the Right and for throwing me the dagger.”
“Thanks for fighting like such a bad ass.”
“But I suppose if you hadn’t rubbed these pirates the wrong way in the first place there won’t have been a need to―.”
“Don’t make me tickle you.” Israel threatens her with a finger.
Alyx laughs and put her hands up in surrender. “I noticed Mason called you Scrapper earlier?”
“You noticed that huh? It’s my name down here. Every street pirate gets given a new name when he joins a clan. It’s given to you at your initiation.”
“Why?”
“Most street pirates have a pretty sad past, that’s why they end up here. When you join a clan, no one cares what you’ve done before or where you’ve been. Who you were doesn’t matter, just who you are and who you’re prepared to be for the clan. It’s a fresh start, so you get a new name, a symbol of rebirth. Plus if anyone ever gets in trouble with the law it’s impossible for them to give anyone up. We’re all ghosts down here.”
“So why Scrapper?”
Israel laughs. “Cause I was just a scrap of a thing when I joined Mason and his clan. And they say that’s how I fought. A wild but determined scrapper.”
Chapter 44
Israel sits on a crate against a platform pole. Alyx is taking Terrapin and the other boys through a lesson on one of the platforms. Israel watches Alyx correcting technique, pointing out minute shifts in weight, going through the different ways to hold a knife. Alyx never looked as tiny as she does next to those boys. The ache in his stomach tightens.
