“I can’t say I blame him.”
“It’s a bit of a bother,” said Leo, “because Ludo’s the only one who knows where Professor Henri d’Olbans is hiding these days. And without him, I can’t get to Rhea’s Core.”
“Who is this Henri d’Olbans?”
“A descendent of my ex-wife Véronique, who remarried after I left Rhea. He is a scientist who thought he had discovered a backdoor into the Core. According to Mayor Mitang, he tried several times to test his theories, but without success—quite the opposite, in fact. I was told by Mitang that one of his experiments cost the life of my grand-daughter, Xavière. Ludo found d’Olbans hiding in Qotwaa and sent a report claiming he’s had some recent successes, but he’s the only one who would know for certain.”
“Of all places, why did d’Olbans choose to come here?”
“He didn’t—not really. It’s the same reason that Kkal chose to make Qotwaa into his capital. The city is built over what may well be an entry point into the Core. A long time ago, it was the site of many strange phenomena which at the time were interpreted as supernatural or religious, like Jerusalem on Earth. You saw the Temple of the Nightly Evovores? The city is littered with sites like that… After his attempt at the North Pole failed, Henri felt this was the perfect location, because, according to him, it is located on top of one of the Builders’ very own hatches.”
“I see,” said Gisèle. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we split up? You keep looking for Ludo, while I make some discreet inquiries on my own. Who knows, I might be able to learn something.”
“I don’t like that idea,” said Leo, frowning.
“Besides, you did want me to see this wonderful world, didn’t you?” said Gisèle with her most enticing smile.
“But it might be dangerous.”
“I’ll be careful. Remember, I’m a French secret agent. I’ve been in places way more dangerous than this.”
“All right. Meet me in two hours at the Orphium Emporium on Oorlak Square. You can’t miss it. It’s right in the center of Qotwaa.”
Gisèle hugged Leo.
“Orphium Emporium. Oorlak Square. Two hours. Got it! And you be careful too, Leo. You may be the great Nyctalope, but you’re not invulnerable.”
She walked away, waving good-bye, while Leo continued to wander alone through the underworld of Qotwaa.
“Things down here are more confusing than I remember. I seem to be getting lost...” he mused.
Behind him, at some distance, two Nocturnals were watching him from a balcony: Kkal and Ddôl!
“This was a good idea, Ddôl,” said the King, smiling nastily. “Now, we’ve got him.”
Chapter XI
Into Danger
In the seedy underworld of Qotwaa, the Nyctalope had just passed a long wall, against which a dozen winged Diurnals were leaning.
Unbeknownst to him, he was being followed at a cautious distance by Kkal and Ddôl.
The Nyctalope stepped under an archway and entered a small, obsidian stone courtyard. At its center was a stone altar sitting on top of a small set of steps. This was another temple left over from Qotwaa’s ancient past, when it was the religious center of Rhea.
“A fine explorer I am,” sighed Leo. “I can’t even find my way through this city...”
Leo put down his briefcase.
“I need to clear my head. I’ll just meditate for a few seconds.”
He sat in a lotus position next to the altar and closed his eyes.
Kkal and Ddôl then snuck out of the shadows and stepped through the archway, stealthily approaching Leo.
“So this is the famous Nyctalope?” said Ddôl. “I always thought of him as a god. Look at him. He’s just sitting there, asleep.”
“Yes,” said the King. “Completely at my mercy. If I wanted to, I could take my topper…” Kkal removed a strange gun from his pocket and pointed it at Leo’s head. “...And—Tang! A slab in the head and no more Nyctalope!”
“Can we do that, O Great King?” asked Ddôl, suddenly afraid. “He is the Nyctalope, after all. It could be a trap.”
“No! Can’t you see? He’s just like a babe in his mother’s arms.”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t dare, if I were you.”
But Kkal brought the gun very close to Leo’s temple.
“I would… In fact, I think I will kill him!”
At that very moment, alerted to the danger by his preternatural senses, the Nyctalope opened an eye.
Kkal immediately repocketed his gun, a look of fear briefly flashing on his face.
The Nyctalope stretched and yawned.
“Ohhh! That’s better,” he said. “A quick alpha wave tune-up does a body good.”
Kkal and Ddôl immediately saluted the Nyctalope, who saluted them back.
“Hum. Good day, stranger,” said the King, with a slight stammer, indicating his nervousness. “A rest can be so, er, restful. Allow me to introduce myself. I am, er, Hhaabur and this is my friend Zzolito. It’s not often that we see hu-mans in this part of Qotwaa.”
Ddôl nodded his head repeatedly, as if to prove the veracity of Kkal’s words.
“Pleased to meet you, Hhaabur,” replied the Nyctalope. “I’m, er, Pedro Del Campo. Yes, Pedro Del Campo, and I’m from Spain.”
“Spain?” said Kkal, affably. “That’s to the west of here, isn’t it? What are you doing so far from home, Master Del Campo?”
“I seem to have gotten a little lost...”
“Who wouldn’t, in the maze of the Lower City?”
The Nyctalope pulled out a pocket watch and looked at it.
“I say, look at the time. I’m supposed to meet a friend at the Orphium Emporium on Oorlak Square and I’m going to be late.”
Kkal and Ddôl exchanged a telling glance. They then each took the Nyctalope under one arm.
“I’ve got an idea, Master Del Campo,” said the King. “We’ll take you there. We know a few shortcuts, and you can buy us a drink.”
“I’d be delighted, Master Hhaabur,” replied Leo.
They departed arm-in-arm.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Qotwaa, in the commercial district, a squadron of armed Nocturnals were chasing after an intruder.
One guard fired his pistol. The shot shattered a statue on a rooftop.
More shots were fired and the crowd began to scatter in panic.
On a neighboring rooftop, hiding from the guards behind a wall, was the target of their fury: Ludo Corsat, the Nyctalope’s spy in Qotwaa.
“We’ve cornered the Olbansville spy in the commercial district, Chief,” barked one of the guards into a microphone. “What are your orders?”
Ludo’s face began to express consternation; he desperately looked for a way to get away as more guards rushed towards the building on top of which he had been hiding.
“Yes sir, the entire block has been cordoned off,” continued the guard reporting to his superior. “He can’t escape… Take him alive? I understand. Hark, hark, Chief!”
With a daring leap, Ludo jumped to an adjacent building. He then proceeded to jump and run from building to building, until he finally let himself down into a back alley.
Once there, Ludo took a cautious look before turning the corner.
The alley led onto another street, which itself led into a large avenue. At the end of the street, Ludo spotted a group of four guards engaged in what appeared to be a spot I.D. check.
The person whom the guards had caught was none other than Gisèle d’Holbach!
“You don’t have any papers,” said the guard. “Come with us quietly, or else...”
“I see,” replied Gisèle, coolly, assuming a fighting stance. “Come and get me, monkey-boy.”
“My pleasure!” grinned the guard, looking forward to trashing the insolent human female.
But with lightning speed, Gisèle punched the guard on the jaw, causing him to drop like a stone.
“I’m quaking in my boots,” joked Gisèle. “Now, are you
going to let me go?”
Another guard lunged at the young woman, but before he could lay his hands on her, she turned slightly and karate-kicked him in the chin. He, too, fell to the ground, unconscious.
A crowd of curious onlookers had now gathered and was watching the fight with cautious but unmistakably joyful interest.
“Your kind never learns, does it?” added Gisèle.
She turned towards a third guard, who watched her approach with a mixture of awe and fear. She leapt at him and brought her right knee up, hitting the hapless Nocturnal on the nose.
The third guard joined the others on the ground, down for the count.
But Gisèle had failed to notice the presence of a fourth guard who, stealthily, was approaching her from behind.
The Nocturnal delivered a powerful blow to the young woman’s head with his truncheon. She began to fall forward, but he picked her up by her hair.
“Now, we’re going to teach you a lesson, you little lanske...” the Nocturnal roared triumphantly.
The crowd looked at this turn of events with sorrow.
Suddenly, Ludo Corsat burst forward, pushing people aside.
“Let her go!” he shouted.
Without waiting, he then threw a mighty punch at the fourth guard, who crumpled under the blow.
Gisèle struggled to stand up.
The crowd, immensely pleased by this new development, cheered.
Ludo helped Gisèle get up.
“You’re Mademoiselle d’Holbach,” said the Nyctalope’s spy.
“I beg your pardon?” she replied, surprised.
She dusted herself off.
“I’m Ludo Corsat,” explained the spy. “Marc de Ciserat briefed me about Monsieur Saint-Clair and you…” After a pause, he added: “Your photo doesn’t do you justice.”
“Thank you,” said Gisèle, smiling. “You’re very kind. But what are you doing here? Leo has been looking everywhere for you.”
“The Nyctalope is here? Good! I’ve got to talk to him. Where is he?”
“We’re supposed to meet at the Orphium Emporium on Oorlak Square at...” She looked at her watch. “...Oh, about right now, I’d say. Why don’t you come with me and show me the way?”
Gisèle flipped her hair back and the two walk off.
“Now, why don’t you tell me exactly what has been going on here?” she asked.
The Orphium Emporium was a large, three-storied establishment located on the southwest corner of the spacious Oorlak Square. The Square was a giant market where tradesmen from the entire Northern hemisphere of Rhea came to sell and exchange their wares. It was filled with a myriad of stalls, ranging from small spice traders to large, complicated cog-sellers.
A warm, yellowish light radiated from the small paneled windows of the Orphium Emporium. Customers poured in and out of the swinging doors of its many entrances. The walls were decorated with carvings depicting scenes of banquets and battles.
Inside, one found a luxurious brass and wood-paneled establishment with many chandeliers and wall mirrors. Busy waiters carrying trays loaded with exotic food and drunks smoothly negotiated their way between the throngs of customers.
When they walked in, Ludo and Gisèle were immediately approached by an obsequious waiter. Surprisingly, it was a Diurnal.
“Do you gentlebeings require a table?” he inquired.
“No. We’re supposed to meet a friend” said Gisèle, looking around.
A little to the right, the Nyctalope, King Kkal and Ddôl, who had arrived a few minutes earlier, were sitting in a booth, ordering drinks from a waiter.
“A Dra’hund beer,” ordered Kkal.
“Blue coffee for me,” ordered Ddôl, who prized this delicacy imported from Earth but grown on Rhea.
“A tankard of oldakin wine, southern side, please, and a plate of bromize, light on the sauce,” ordered the Nyctalope who liked good food and had missed the many Rhean specialties.
Hearing Leo’s voice in the distance, Gisèle spotted the Nyctalope over the top of his booth.
“Ah! I see him over there,” she said to the waiter.
Then, followed by Ludo Corsat, she crossed the Cafe towards the booth. When he saw them together, the Nyctalope reacted with surprise.
“Ludo Corsat? What are you doing with Gisèle?”
Ludo’s face registered surprise as he recognized the Nyctalope’s “companions” behind their transparent disguises. They had managed to dupe Leo who was unfamiliar with King Kkal’s likeness, and had never even seen Ddôl, but they couldn’t fool his spy.
“Nyctalope! Watch out!” he shouted, pointing at the two Nocturnals. “These two! They’re Kkal and...”
“Kkal?” said Leo, astonished. “The King?”
Simultaneously, and before Ludo could complete his sentence, Ddôl suddenly pulled out a topper and shot the spy. The slab went through the Frenchman’s skull, bursting out of the other side of his head.
Kkal angrily slapped his Chamberlain in the face.
“You fool! Who told you to shoot?”
He then grabbed Ddôl’s arm and dragged him away.
“But, your Majesty, he betrayed us...” whined Ddôl.
“So what? I had them all at my mercy.”
They hurriedly pushed and elbowed their way out of the Emporium. Then, Kkal grabbed a passing guard and said:
“This is your King! Emergency! Call all my troops! Surround the Emporium. The Nyctalope must not escape!”
Chapter XII
Henri d’Olbans
Inside the Orphium Emporium, at the booth, unaware of what was going on outside, a crowd of customers had gathered to watch the curious spectacle of the man who had just been shot.
The Nyctalope was still holding the body of Ludo by the shoulders, laying him to rest.
“My poor friend,” he said, with great sorrow.
Then, Leo got up and nudged Gisèle towards the kitchens.
“Let’s get out of here. This place will be crawling with guards soon.”
They went through a set of double-doors and into the Emporium kitchens, which they crossed running, disturbing the careful choreography of chefs and sous-chefs.
“Ludo’s death leaves me in a bit of a pickle,” said Leo. “He was the only one who could lead me to Henri d’Olbans.”
“But I know where to find him. Ludo told me everything on the way to the Emporium!”
The Nyctalope and Gisèle left the Emporium through one of its many back doors. They found themselves in a narrow back alley, lined with trash cans.
“That’s wonderful, chérie!” congratulated Leo. “We’re in the clear now.”
“Not yet, it seems.”
Indeed, two squadrons of guards, one led by Ddôl, had just appeared, effectively blocking both ends of the alley.
“There they are!” shouted the Chamberlain, pointing at the two humans. “Get them!”
“What do we do now?” asked Gisèle. “There are too many of them to fight. We don’t stand a chance.”
“Then we’ll have to look for another exit,” replied Leo.
Moving with lightning speed, the Nyctalope traced a perfect circle on the ground with his right foot. A narrow strip of crackling light appeared where the tip of his boot had touched the ground, created by a miniature laser. He then stomped hard on the pavement.
“Hurry!” said Gisèle, watching the guards approaching.
“Ha! They’re done for!” gloated Ddôl.
The Nyctalope kept stomping while the guards moved ever closer. Just as he and Gisèle were about to be captured, the concrete circle suddenly dropped out from under their feet, and they fell through a hole.
“Where did they go?” asked a guard.
“The sewers!” roared Ddôl.
Inside the sewers of Qotwaa, the Nyctalope moved quickly despite the darkness, which did not exist for him. Gisèle, holding his hand, followed right behind him. Together, they moved swiftly along a maze of intestine-like tubes.
On the surface, Ddôl harangued his men:
“They’re as good as caught. I know these sewers like the back of my hand. Follow me!”
He then dropped into the hole.
Much later, back at the King’s Palace, Ddôl, totally covered in dripping mud, finished making his report.
“I lost them, O Great King,” he said forlornly.
“You incompetent, bumbling buffoon!” screamed Kkal. “You’re a waste of oxygen!” He then turned towards the “ghost” of Lucifer and asked: “Isn’t there any way your magic can stop the Nyctalope, Great Vôo?”
“To confront the Nyctalope in my present form is impossible,” answered Lucifer.
“Then what am I supposed to do? Rhea was almost in my grasp. I’ll never have an opportunity this good again.”
“Use the Blot once more!”
Kkal blanched.
“Here? In Qotwaa?”
“You would rather see the hated Nyctalope win instead?”
King Kkal pondered the question in silence.
Further to the south, the Blot was soaring through the skies. Inside its inky substance, its pilot, Uunan, was waiting. Suddenly a voice rang in his ears:
“Stand by to receive new orders.”
It was King Kkal’s voice! Uunan smiled a grim, evil smile.
“Understood!” he answered.
The Blot made an abrupt turn in mid-sky.
Meanwhile, the Nyctalope and Gisèle d’Holbach had exited the sewers in the Upper City of Qotwaa, located above ground just above the Nocturnals’ city. It was mostly inhabited by Diurnals who worked in the Lower City.
They walked down a busy street towards a seedy-looking hotel.
“We’re there,” said Leo.
“I suppose I should have expected another flea-trap,” said Gisèle, smiling.
“Henri d’Olbans has never been known as being ostentatious,” replied Leo, also smiling.
They walked arm in arm into the Hotel. The reception area looked like a Moroccan souk. The Nyctalope addressed the Concierge, a Diurnal dressed in a large, green kaftan.
The Return of the Nyctalope Page 26
