“What do we do?” asked Hiddle.
Mal picked up a rock and threw it down the first tunnel. From within an echo resounded. The rock hit something and rolled. Nadine threw another down the second tunnel. A plop was heard. Xoey threw a rock down the third tunnel. They could hear it hit the ground and bounce a few times.
The group continued down the third tunnel. Each one hoped they picked the right one. Hiddle grabbed Ramos’s hand and jumped. Each jump cracked something beneath his shoes. Each crack made him jump higher. He bounced with glee. Xoey turned back at the noise Hiddle was making. “Shh.” In the midst of her shushing him, her foot slipped into a root and she fell. Her sword clattered ahead of her. She landed on her forearms. Once she had watched a new pirate land on his palms and it wasn’t a pretty sight when the weight of him broke his wrists.
Decyl set the lantern down next to her. “Are you okay?” he whispered.
Xoey sucked in air. Nadine covered her mouth to prevent a scream. Right in front of Xoey’s face was a human skull. She looked all around and could see they had been walking on broken bones, some ground so fine it looked like sand.
Ramos grabbed Xoey’s arm and helped her up. She wasn’t too shocked. Sometimes when they picked up the wreckage of ships, they had to go through the bones of the crew.
Hiddle ran headlong and picked up the skull. “Cool!” The sound of his voice radiated through the tunnel. Somewhere down the path, something moved and the ground shook.
“Please tell me that is the Desert worm,” said Xoey.
Ramos shook his head.
Mal picked up Xoey’s sword and shoved it in her hands. The earth around them rumbled, but nothing ran out of the darkness. She gripped the hilt of the sword and they slowly walked down the path.
“Can’t we just go back and forget it?” asked Mal, who was slowing down.
Nadine grabbed her brother by the arm. “We’re in this together.”
The path eventually ended and opened up into a circular room. Small lights hung from the ceiling. Xoey dropped the sword. She stepped forward at the sight of her father chained across the room. Mal and Nadine would have stopped her if they hadn’t spotted their parents next to the strange man. Decyl furrowed his brows at the sight of his wife clad in chains. Ramos clenched his fists as he spotted his father in shackles near the rest of the group.
Hiddle ran in front of the moving group after scooping up the sword. “No! Remember what Wylar said. We’d see things. It isn’t real!” Hiddle tugged on Xoey’s suspenders. “I can see my mom and she’s dead!”
A woman in a silver, long sleeved dress beckoned at Hiddle. “What your father said was a lie. It’s me. Please…save me.”
Hiddle cried, but he stuck his heels into the brick floor and stood between them and their loved ones. His mother’s voice was as soothing as he remembered.
Decyl removed two of his weapons and aimed them at the boy. “Move out of the way.”
The sword was not designed for Hiddle’s small grasp, but he held the sword up. “No!” His arms felt like wet noodles. “It’s the Brashine. He’s playing tricks on us.”
Xoey could smell the licorice sticks that her father loved. She chewed on her bottom lip, struggling to take in what Hiddle was saying. She knew he was right, but the sight of her father was so real. Ramos pulled back the crying and flailing Tinkertons. “The creature forgot one thing,” he said. “He forgot that my father wears his star on his right lapel. Never on his left.”
Decyl shook his head and pointed the weapons down. They backed away.
Hiddle sighed in relief. The illusion disappeared and directly above Hiddle was an imposing monster’s head. The creature had to have been forty feet long with crimson scales that shimmered with an iridescent glow. The lair would not allow the Brashine to fly. The dark brown furry wings were folded neatly back. Three horns rested on its head, two near its ears and the other above the snout.
Hiddle looked up at the ginormous gaping mouth filled with teeth bigger than his body. He screamed at the sight of a thigh bone stuck in his teeth. Hiddle slammed the sword into the bottom jaw, and the Brashine screeched in pain. It lifted up its head and shook. Hiddle didn’t have time to let go. He swung under the creature’s mouth and screamed. “Do something!”
Xoey knew he couldn’t hold on for long. She ran between the enormous clawed feet of the Brashine and then paused at the sight of the monster’s chained back leg. The shackle gripped so tight to the creature that it had embedded into the scales. She ran back to Decyl waving her arms. “Don’t shoot!”
Hiddle flew from the handle of the sword as it broke free, and he landed on the Brashine’s back. Decyl’s shot hit the ceiling as Xoey tackled him. “What are you doing?”
“It is a prisoner.”
Decyl pushed Xoey off of him. “And?”
Hiddle ran up and down the Brashine’s back. The creature seemed to purr. “Whooohooo! Guys, you have to try this!”
“Excuse me,” Xoey said to the creature.
The creature leaned its head down to get a better look at Xoey. Its eyes were a marvelous wonder of blue, green, and gold. “You stopped the fight, why?” he asked.
Xoey pointed at his back leg. “You are not here of your own free will.”
He rattled the chain with a huff of his large nostrils. “You are the first to notice.”
She bowed. “My name is Xoey. These are my friends, Mal, Ramos, Nadine, Decyl, and Hiddle is the one running in circles on your back.”
“I don’t mind,” he said. “I can’t very well reach back there. I am known as Tor. Why are you here if you are not here to attempt to kill me?”
Decyl scratched his nose. Mal stepped out from the shadows. Ramos walked up to Xoey. He brushed his duster and adjusted his belt buckle with a kind nod. Xoey said, “The truth is, Tor, we were asked to retrieve your heart in order to continue on past to head up to the circus.”
“I see. A heart you will have, after you free me.”
Nadine quirked an eyebrow and said, “We don’t need it. We would rather you live.”
Tor moved so close to Nadine that she could reach out and touch his nose. “Do not think like those unfortunate souls that are laid to rest outside of this lair. Having such simple minds was their downfall.”
Decyl walked over and gestured for Mal to take a look at the locking mechanism. Mal chuckled nervously. “I’m fine and well over here.”
Nadine pushed her brother forward. “Don’t be such a dolt.”
Mal swallowed hard and edged along the wall toward the ginormous leg. “Can’t you just rip it out of the wall?”
The Brashine shook his head. “As you can see, I’m quite cramped in here. If I pull it out, the alarm goes off and Nix gathers up an army to keep me here.”
“Oh, that’s swell.” Mal sighed. “No pressure.”
Hiddle slid down Tor’s snout. “Can I keep him?” he asked Xoey. “Please?”
“He’s not a pet.” He stared up at her with the saddest eyes. Xoey rolled her eyes and added, “If he wants to follow you, then that’s his choice.”
Mal and Decyl tinkered with the shackle. It was not an easy feat as it was bigger than the two of them put together. Ramos joined in to help. Nadine seemed rather surprised that Ramos could lift more than his own body weight. Xoey nudged her. “I told ya.”
“That you did,” said Nadine.
Tor shook his entire body after the chain was removed. The leg, however, did not look good. Pus and snotty green slime oozed from the wound. Ramos informed Hiddle, Nadine, and Xoey to comfort the creature while he worked on putting an ointment together. From his satchel he removed a vial of fine red powder, a bottle filled with a fizzy blue liquid, and a smaller bag filled with gold flecks. “Is it going to hurt?” Tor asked rather nervously.
“It’ll sting.”
Tor laid
his head down. Hiddle climbed up using Tor’s pointed ear. Nadine and Xoey rubbed the side of his face.
Ramos mixed the gold in with the red powder. He added the blue liquid last. A ball of pink smoke erupted from the bowl. The room smelled like burning hair tinted with a soft aroma of cherries. “Oh that’s just…” Xoey covered her nose.
Decyl, Mal, and Ramos wiped the ointment on the wound around his leg. Tor growled, baring his large teeth. “It’s helping your wound,” Xoey reminded him. Thankfully, he nodded.
Ramos placed the items back in his satchel. “Now, don’t get the wound wet. That also includes not licking the wound for three sunrises.”
The Brashine moved up the stairs that his big body blocked. Xoey picked up her sword and followed the group. They walked up another set of stairs to the right and ended up behind the zeppelin landing lot. The circus was across the way. Tor positioned himself behind a very large ship. Mal gasped. “Do you have the Wonder-Vac?”
Tor regarded him. “No. I do not know what that is.”
He tried to explain it, but Tor assured him that there was nothing mechanical in the lair. Mal sighed, defeated. “Of course it can’t be that easy.”
From under his wing, Tor retrieved a large blue stone, a stone that was bigger than their heads. “The heart, as promised.”
Ramos took the rock and placed it in the bag Mal had. He hefted it over his shoulder.
“It’s not your real heart,” exclaimed Hiddle.
Tor nodded. “You are correct. It should be of good use. Be careful,” he added.
Hiddle looked rather sad as the Brashine flew away. “It’s okay,” Xoey said. “You’ll see him again.”
Chapter Fifteen
The Circus
Xoey stuffed her white hair under a hat. From somewhere, she wasn’t going to ask, Decyl borrowed jackets, similar to Ramos’s duster. On Hiddle, the jacket looked like a tent. He ran in circles flapping the long sleeves. Nadine grabbed him by the waist and set him beside Ramos. “Rules: no sugar, no talking, and no running off.”
Hiddle straightened his face with a stern nod. “Aye.”
Mal scratched his head, careful not to break the curls. “Wait.” He bowed down to meet Hiddle’s gaze. “Does Nix and those who follow him know you’re Gesler’s son?”
“Yeah, I know them and they know me.”
“He’s our ticket in.” He looked to the group. “You have friends right, Hiddle?”
Hiddle rubbed his hands down his face. “Um…no. I don’t get out much.”
Decyl muttered, “Obviously.”
The youngest pursed his lips together and fumbled with the long sleeve to point a finger into Decyl’s face. Xoey peered around the ship to make sure no one was around. “I saved your life, you know! Even now you think I’m here to spy on you. Well…well…you’re nothing but a big bully!” He slammed his boot into Decyl’s shin.
Decyl reacted with all four guns pointed into Hiddle’s face and chest. He snarled at the boy. A low guttural growl was heard from deep within his throat. Hiddle growled back. Mal lost his composure and fell to the dirt in laughter. Xoey crossed her arms and waited. She wasn’t too concerned. She shook her head at Ramos’s forward advances. Upon seeing her reaction, he paused in his stride and let it be.
“You’re Gesler’s son,” said Decyl.
Hiddle waved his arms in protest. “And? Do you think I chose to have a bad man as a father? Just because he is, doesn’t mean that I am. So put your stupid guns away.”
Decyl narrowed his black orbs for eyes. “We shall see.” He holstered the guns, pushed off of his tail, and stood back on his hind legs.
Hiddle could think of nothing else to do but blow a raspberry. Xoey patted Hiddle on the head and gestured him to lead the way. “What does he have to do to prove his loyalty, Decyl?”
Decyl looked at Hiddle running in zig-zags toward the large billowing blue and yellow tents. “Stop being so…goofy?”
Xoey shrugged. “I rather like it. It would do you some good to stop being so serious.” She patted him on the shoulder and walked off.
Mal brushed the dirt from his clothes. Decyl glowered at him. “Oh, don’t be such a sour-puss,” Mal said. “You just got told by a nine year old who had a point.” He pulled on Decyl’s arm. “Let’s go.”
Ramos sped up his walking pace to catch up with Xoey. Nadine lagged behind with her brother and the gnome.
They joined a line of people waiting to go through the entrance. Children squealed in delight at the balloons tied to their wrists. They bounced in excitement waiting impatiently to head inside. The parents didn’t look thrilled, at all. Xoey expected that would change once they went inside. Every inner child loved the circus. She hoped, at least.
The line moved forward, and one by one, they ventured beyond the large opening. On the main canopy were the words Grittle’s Circus Presented by Nix. A man who smelled like crackling candy corn sprinkled confetti on each group that entered. Hiddle went up to the ticket counter and argued for a few moments, but he returned with a smile on his face and a fistful of tickets.
Beyond the entrance, the canopy opened up to a large room filled with seats that surrounded a large barreled off circle where the performances would happen. It was madness. People milled all around—it was everything from cheering to excitement, to arguing over a seat. There was haggling of prices for candy and something square drenched in caramel. Music was playing.
A small group of little creatures covered in black fur with small eyes and rectangle teeth and large ears were dressed in little red suits and playing instruments. One of them banged on the organ and surprisingly it didn’t sound too bad. Hiddle called out from a few feet down toward the front. “Over here!”
She was unable to guess how many people were squeezed into the tent, let alone into the long bleachers. They moved their way through the buzzing crowd and down into the private section roped off with yellow and blue twisted cord. Xoey gulped. “Don’t you think this will be a red light announcing our presence?” She pointed to the back row where no one wanted to sit. “Maybe we should sit up there.”
“They’d expect us up there,” Mal said. He already had a box of juice and a bag of red roped candy rolled around balls of chocolate.
“He has a point,” said Ramos. “We’ll just sit here and watch. The lights will be on them. Everywhere else will be dark.” He set the heart down, resting it between his calves.
Xoey responded in a sing-song tune, “This isn’t a good idea.” With a sigh, she sat down.
Nadine scooted in next to her. “It’s the tone of the circus. It makes you feel like nothing could go wrong.”
Decyl stared wide-eyed at the center. He chewed on a jerky stick with a child-like glee. The room darkened.
“Ladies and Gentleman. Boys and Girls. We are proud to welcome you to the 9th annual circus for Grittle.”
The lights creaked and groaned above them as the men dressed all in black moved the spotlights to radiate down upon the ringmaster. He smiled a dashing toothy smile. His red rosy cheeks seemed to be painted on. The ringmaster gestured to the circus floor around him. He was dressed in a smashing blue suit, but this time, as she’d seen him a few days earlier in the tents, his coat tails were not curled. They dragged along in the sawdust. He lifted up his yellow and blue striped top hat and bowed to the crowd.
A petite woman who stood no taller than Hiddle ran headlong to the ringmaster and handed him a microphone. “We must thank our grand and stalwart leader, Nix!” The lights shifted from the ringmaster to the roped off section on the opposite side of them.
There in the box sat Nix, Gesler, and a red-headed woman. Nix stood up, with the aid of his cane, at the roar of the crowd. Dressed in a caramel-colored suit with a black ribbon tied in a knot around his neck, Nix nodded his head at the praise. Everything about the reaction of the crowd appeared to be
forced.
Xoey narrowed her gaze at Nix. She could see the colors swirl within him, red, white, opaque, and gray. She stared at him even as the spot-lights shifted back to the ringmaster. His voice faded out as her thoughts were too loud.
“Did you know that Nix died?”
“Piracy is forbidden by the laws of Nix. Seems as they discovered some illegal tampering he was doing to our sources of energy.”
“…Roe is being forced to man the machine designed to entrap the Djinn.”
Xoey covered her mouth in pure shock. She tugged on Decyl’s arm. He pulled away from her grasp, engulfed in the marvels and sights before him. She growled and whacked him on the nose. Decyl snapped out of it, pulling his nose down with his paws. “What did you do that for?”
“Nix is being powered by the Djinn. They are keeping him alive. That’s why he had the Wonder-Vac made, and that’s why he’s hunting the pirates because some of them found out. He’s a machine.”
A voice boomed from the center of the ring. Xoey sat very still as the spot-light blared down upon her. “Congratulations…seat number 10! You are to join the Tinkertons in the main event!”
Xoey gulped. The ringmaster beckoned her forward. Hiddle slid away from the light as to not catch his father’s attention. Tension in the box rose. Xoey slowly stood up straight and still. If she ran, she would alert Nix of the others. “We have a shy one here, folks,” said the ringmaster. The crowd urged her forward. Nadine squeezed her hand.
“It’s the highest honor,” someone said.
Her legs felt like they were held down with bricks. She walked very slowly past the barrier of the inner circle of the ring and eventually made it over to the smiling ringmaster. “What is your name, lad?”
She had to think fast. He shoved the microphone in her face. “Bran.” She instantly regretted using her father’s name, but there was no way Nix could know who he was. But as Nix narrowed his gaze upon her, she second guessed herself.
Adventures of Captain Xdey Page 16
