Sink: Once Upon A Time

by Perrin Briar

  They wanted to know who they were, what they were doing here, and how they had come to be chased by the monster. Zoe was perfectly happy to give them all the answers they wanted, but first she needed to get her breath back.

  “Make way!” a deep voice said. “Make way for Lord Maltese!”

  The locals parted like the Red Sea. Half a dozen armored men stepped from the crowd and fanned out, filling the wide space the family occupied.

  Zoe’s lungs hurt. Was it normal for lungs to hurt? But it was an idle thought, and one she didn’t give much credence.

  After the guards had spread out, a family emerged, standing before them. As Zoe recovered and got to her feet, she became aware of how well dressed they were, with the rich colors and hues of only the very finest materials and designs.

  The guards did not put much effort into watching the locals. This was an encouraging sign. It told Zoe that if this was the ruling family, then they didn’t really fear for their safety, that the locals seemed to like them, and suggested they were in a relatively safe place.

  They were a good looking family. The father, the lord, had a square jaw and mousy brown hair. He was tall, almost as tall as Bryan, and they could have almost looked into one another’s eyes. Lady Maltese was shorter than Zoe, who was herself almost as tall as Bryan. She appeared to be in good shape, though it was difficult to tell beneath the many layers she was wearing.

  “You’re new here?” Lord Maltese said.

  He said it to Bryan, assuming he was the leader of the family. That assumption made Zoe grit her teeth, but she didn’t say anything. These people were a world away—several, in fact—from the one they occupied on the surface. There was no reason to think they would think like a modern society.

  “We are,” Bryan said.

  “How did you get here?” Lord Maltese said.

  “We came through a sinkhole,” Bryan said. “We’ve been here for maybe the last few hours.”

  “Hours?” Lord Maltese said. “My, you are new here. And you stumbled upon the monster in those first few hours? What bad luck.”

  “You’re telling me,” Bryan said.

  “Yes,” Lord Maltese said with a furrowed brow. “I am.”

  “We were unconscious when we got here, and we were going to be fed to the monster,” Bryan said. “Our hands and ankles were tied.”

  “Oh dear,” Lord Maltese said, turning pale. “It appears there’s been a case of mistaken identity. You see, we have a ritual here. It helps keep the monster at bay. Ever since our ancestors first arrived here, burnt, scorched bodies have been appearing on the surface of Lake Rebirth. The monster needs to feed. He usually hunted for us and our citizens, and here we had a constant flow of dead bodies coming to us. The decision was made to feed those bodies to the monster, to sate his hunger.”

  “We were mistaken for dead bodies?” Zoe said. “But we were clearly not dead, if someone had just checked. And we aren’t scorched.”

  “Your hair says differently,” Lady Maltese said with a small smile.

  Zoe’s hand unconsciously went to her burnt hair.

  “We didn’t look like this when we first arrived,” Zoe said. “The monster did it to us while chasing us through the caves.”

  “The dragon chased you?” Lord Maltese said. “And you escaped?”

  He had a big beaming smile.

  “That’s the first I’ve ever heard of that happening!” he said. “Perhaps the dragon is growing old and weak! Perhaps he is losing his touch!”

  “Who was the idiot who took us to the caves in the first place?” Zoe said.

  The locals turned to look at a weedy looking fellow in ill-fitting clothes at least two sizes too big for him. He lowered his gaze.

  “How was I supposed to know you were all still alive?” Montgomery said. “You should have let it be known you weren’t dead.”

  “Our heartbeat ought to have been enough of a clue,” Zoe said.

  “Didn’t you check for their pulse?” Lady Maltese said.

  Montgomery pressed his dry lips together.

  “I don’t rightly recall,” he said.

  “Which is another way of say, ‘No’,” Lady Maltese said.

  She turned to Zoe and the others.

  “We’re awfully sorry for your experience,” she said. “We’ll put safeguards in place to ensure it never happens again.”

  “We’ve never seen the dragon act like this before,” Lord Maltese said. “In fact, we’ve never seen him come out from the caves much farther than a few dozen yards. So long as we continue to feed him the bodies that are spat out of hell, he remains calm and quite happy.”

  “Hell?” Bryan said. “What makes you think the bodies came from hell?”

  “Because of the way they look—scorched and burnt, and they come from underground, where hell is, of course,” Lord Maltese said.

  “Of course,” Bryan said.

  He didn’t bother to explain where the bodies really came from. Perhaps he would tell them later.

  “Would you care to see the dragon from the safety of our walls?” Lord Maltese said.

  “See him?” Bryan said. “What do you mean? He’s still here? He didn’t return to the caves?”

  “No,” Lord Maltese said. “I rather think he still expects us to hand you over to him.”

  19.

  THE STAIRS headed up and up and up, into the sky. They had been built for feet smaller even than Aaron’s. The steps were narrow, and he had to turn his feet to one side to scale them. Why they had made them like this, Aaron didn’t know.

  “You don’t all have to come up and see the monster,” Bryan had said. “I just want to see what it looks like in daylight, without it chasing after us.”

  “I want to see it too,” Zoe said.

  Aaron didn’t care to see it. In fact, he wouldn’t have cared to see it again for the rest of his life. He hated the thing. He would have quite happily used a large gun to kill it. But the last thing he wanted was to appear weak in front of all these people.

  The climb up the stairs was the last thing the family wanted after their ordeal. Aaron was not a natural runner, and he had forced his body to do what it was not used to. He was now paying the price for his laziness on the track field back on the surface.

  Sport and exercise always seemed like a waste of time to him in the modern world, but now he was down here, fighting and running for his life, it seemed the most natural thing in the world. To stay fit and in shape. He was actually in the best shape of his life right then, which wasn’t saying much. He could run a few yards without instantly dying—something he could never have done before—even with the teacher shouting in his ear.

  He was panting, trying to keep up with the adults. Lord Maltese walked beside Bryan, and was telling him about the town’s current operations. He gave a short history of the town. Aaron couldn’t hear what else he said as someone tutted beside him.

  “Father always gets the dates mixed up,” a sweet voice at Aaron’s shoulder said.

  The owner of the sweet voice was a short girl, perhaps a year younger than Aaron himself, and had her mother’s look. Hers was a classical beauty, with long flowing hair in ringlets. She wore a dress that should have only really been worn on special occasions. But she wore it well, holding up her skirts so she could more easily climb the stairs.

  “The town was founded in 1654, not 1645,” the girl said with a sigh. “No matter how many times I tell him, he always gets it mixed up. I’m Abigail, by the way.”

  “Aaron,” he said, shaking her hand. “You’re a student of history?”

  “We’re all subjects of history,” Abigail said. “We might as well be students of it as well. It educates and informs us in ways we’re unable to understand till much later I find, which is what my tutor says is the only real knowledge in any case.”

  Aaron thought over the words and wasn’t sure he completely agreed with them.

  “I don’t agree with him either,” Abigail said, rea
ding his expression. “But it’s better to let the older people have their say, even if it is factually incorrect or useless. His teachings don’t have much of an effect on our world, so who cares?”

  Aaron blinked and smiled. He’d found a kindred spirit, deep beneath the earth of all places.

  Behind him, struggling up the stairs, Cassie shook her head. At least Aaron was making friends. It was usually always her who made friends easily, but she supposed that was just because she was more suited to making friends up on the surface than he was.

  Cassie’s legs ached more than she could recall them ever hurting. They were shaking before she even got halfway up the steps. She reached for the handrail, but her palm was sweaty, and she slipped.

  She fell backward. She could see what was going to happen already. She was going to fall and hit the stairs and slide back down a good number of them, rolling backward as she did so. She was going to suffer some serious damage and likely broken bones.

  She regretted going up those stairs. She knew she should have waited at the bottom. And now she was going to pay for it, potentially with her life. She had escaped pirates, giant birds, dinosaurs, and a dragon. Now she was going to be vanquished by some steps.

  But, it didn’t happen.

  A strong hand reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Another swooped up around the small of her back.

  “Careful,” a deep voice said. “The handrail can be a little slippery at times.”

  Cassie turned to her rescuer. It was a handsome face with a strong jaw and smooth cheeks. He had big blue eyes and long blond hair. He was a prince from the fairytale books.

  Cassie averted her eyes. It didn’t seem right to look at something so beautiful without being at least a little bashful. She felt ashamed she looked so rough in his presence. That was the second reason she looked away: if she didn’t have to look directly at him, she didn’t have to pretend like she was there. She wasn’t there if he couldn’t see her.

  “There’s nobody in town who knows more about the town’s history than my sister,” the young man said. “I sometimes think she was swapped at birth for a smarter child from someone else’s family.”

  “I sometimes feel the same way about myself,” Cassie said. “Not that I’m not smart. I mean, I didn’t always fit in with my parents.”

  “I suppose none of us ever really do,” the young man said. “I’m Roland.”

  “Cassie,” she said, smiling bashfully.

  “How about we get up these steps and look the dragon dead in the eye?” Roland said.

  Suddenly Cassie couldn’t think of anything she’d rather do.

  20.

  “EVERY WORLD we come to, we seem to find somewhere going through a period of transition,” Zoe said, climbing the final few steps.

  “In what way?” Lady Maltese said.

  “In the first world there was a war between two peoples, an ancient ancestor of the human race, and a more modern one,” Zoe said. “In the second world, a war between the British and the pirates—don’t ask. The third world was being destroyed by its human inhabitants, something we understand only all too well on the surface. And now we’re here.”

  “There is a transition taking place,” Lady Maltese said. “Though perhaps not on the scale you’re used to seeing. But we are changing. We are lucky enough to have a genius inventor here in this town. He’s developing technology that will completely change the way we live our lives. He’s working on making horseless carriages and ways to float safely from great heights and… all manner of exciting things.”

  “Really?” Zoe said. “That’s amazing. I guess in a place as small as this, it only takes one person to make a big difference.”

  “Yes,” Lady Maltese said. “Thankfully, for the better. What is the level of technology like on the surface?”

  “Advanced,” Zoe said.

  “You already have horseless carriages?” Lady Maltese said.

  “Yes, for a long time now,” Zoe said.

  “Has it changed the way your world operates?” Lady Maltese said.

  “Oh yes, totally,” Zoe said. “Though not always for the better.”

  Lady Maltese frowned.

  “Perhaps you or your husband might educate us, so we might not make the same mistakes you and your ancestors did,” she said.

  “We can try,” Zoe said. “But people have a way of ignoring good advice.”

  “Then we will do our utmost to ensure we will listen,” Lady Maltese said with a fresh smile. “Will you help us?”

  “Yes,” Zoe said. “I don’t see why not. But we’ll need your help too. There’s a way for us to escape, to leave this world and return to our home.”

  “Certainly,” Lady Maltese said. “All you need do is describe it to us.”

  They were interrupted by Lord Maltese.

  “Here we are,” he said.

  He was standing on top of the wall. He held out his hand to help his lady wife up the final few steps. There were soldiers standing to attention with weapons, armed and ready should the monster attack.

  The family approached the wall and peered over, keeping back in case they needed to leap back to safety. They didn’t have to look long to see the giant reptile standing, almost at head height with the wall.

  From here they could see the rolling grassy dune fields. They were farmed, in the midst of a new crop rotation. There was something somehow modern and organized about it. But then, they would have been doing this for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years, and they would be experts. Still, it was a higher level of sophistication than they had seen so far in the other worlds.

  Flames smoldered from the monster’s blistered lips. It did not blast them with its torrent of fire, and let its eyes do the glaring for it. The soldiers clutched their spears and bow and arrows tight. Their arms shook with fear, but they did not release, primarily because they knew it would anger the beast and force it to attack them.

  Judging by the look on their faces, they did not appear to have seen the beast with their own eyes before. That struck Zoe as strange. She filed the thought away for further analysis later.

  “When did the dragon first appear here?” Zoe said.

  “Fifteen year ago,” Lord Maltese said. “One day he wasn’t here, and then suddenly he was.”

  “Why haven’t you killed it?” Bryan said.

  “Have you seen it?” Lord Maltese said. “It is large and very strong. We do not have the resources or manpower to destroy something so great. If we were to attack, it would be the end of us. But thankfully, we have an inventor, a slightly eccentric figure who is developing weapons we hope will aid us in destroying the dragon. Then we can live in peace.”

  Zoe looked over the side of the wall at the monster. It appeared to be looking directly at her, as if he were all it was concerned with in the whole world. It wanted her, and her family, to consume them as it had the scorched bodies. As far as it was concerned, the family belonged to it. And it wanted them. Now.

  Zoe felt a shiver go through her. How long would the town protect them if the monster attacked? Would they let their own people die before sacrificing a family they had no connection with? Zoe didn’t think so.

  “Come,” Lord Maltese said. “You must be tired and hungry. You will stay with us at the castle.”

  He didn’t wait for their response, and turned and began heading back down the stairs at a spritely pace. He seemed completely unaware of the look of dread on the family’s face, peering down at the near-endless stretch of stairs.

  21.

  THE ROOM Bryan and Zoe were given was a study in the classic medieval design. Expensive heavy drapes and fresh tapestries adorned the stone walls. The bed was huge, big enough for a whole family to sleep in.

  Zoe pressed her hand to it to check the firmness. It was soft as a cloud. It didn’t matter what it was like, in truth. After sleeping on the ground and various floors the past few weeks, any kind of cushion was welcome.

  The door banged o
pen, and a gaggle of women entered carrying heavy jugs of steaming water. They poured them into the large bath in the middle of the room, and piled various soaps and perfumes on one side. They quickly backed out of the room to leave Bryan and Zoe in peace.

  “Thank you!” Zoe said.

  The door was already closed.

  “The service is good,” Bryan said.

  “If not their manners,” Zoe said.

  She opened the door and peered down the corridor in either direction. Suits of armor stood to attention, coats of allegiance from noble houses decorating the walls. Cassie and Aaron were in a room adjacent to their own. Zoe ducked back into their room.

  “Wait a minute,” Zoe said. “I wonder if…”

  She got down on her knees and looked under the their bed. She smiled and reached for what she could see there. She pulled it out. It sounded ceramic.

  Zoe lifted it up with a grin on her face. It was a strangely shaped object, with a lid on the top that slotted nicely into place.

  “What is it?” Bryan said.

  “A chamber pot,” Zoe said. “Here. This one’s yours.”

  Bryan took it, though he didn’t want to. It felt like an alien object in his hands.

  “A chamber pot?” he said.

  “You-” Zoe said.

  “Yes, yes,” Bryan said. “I know what it’s used for. Where’s yours?”

  “Under the other side of the bed, I suppose,” Zoe said.

  “Do you think they’re matching?” Bryan said.

  Zoe smiled contentedly and looked around at their room. It wasn’t altogether different to a high class hotel they might find on the surface. Indeed, there were probably hotels and resorts that offered this style of room. She felt happy, and at the same time, exhausted and tired.

  “Do you want to take the first bath, or shall I?” Zoe said.

  “You can,” Bryan said. “I’m probably dirtier than you. Better for me to wash in your dirty water than vice versa.”