The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (31 page)

The survivors
looked around at their fellows and as the cheering in the arena
died down the plates underneath the grill began to move again with
a strained grinding. “Well done and welcome to the second round
gentlemen,” King James said, clapping theatrically. With another
clang of finality the plates locked into positions beneath the
grill once more and the trumpet sounded for them to fight
again.

Chapter
26

Crow and Harrod peered round
the room but strangely there was indeed no other way out. The
frozen priests stood glistening in the pulsing green light of the
huge cone tower in the centre of the room. 

“
Errr…you can
get us out of here can’t you?” Harrod said, his cheerful demeanour
slipping only slightly. 

Crow grunted
and removed the crystal again then walked to the shining, fat grey
wedge blocking the door. He spoke a few words and the barrier
slowly sagged in on itself, collapsed and finally crumbled to dust.
Harrod cautiously stuck his head out and looked up and down the
corridor. There was no one. 

“
This is
weird” he said to Crow. “We’ve just walked into the most secret
place in the whole of Alegria if not the world and there’s no one
trying to stop us any more.” 

Crow glanced
at him. “The Alegrians became lazy. When you have so much power for
so long you forget what it’s like to be powerless.”

 
Harrod
shrugged and the two men edged down the long, dark corridor,
checking in shadows and making their way to the main doors. Harrod
was fully expecting a squad of Alegrian guards to jump out on them
at any moment. There was no one and as they made it to the main
doors, to this most secret and precious of Alegrian chambers he
shrugged. “If they’d known it was going to be this easy Siavy
wouldn’t have paid us so much,” he mumbled.

 
Crow
placed the crystal back in his pocket and they took a final look
down the corridor then strode through the doors. The winding
staircase behind wound up and up and after many steps they arrived
at a second taller and more slender door. Both pulled their
ceremonial robes firm and drew their hoods over their faces. Crow
placed his hand in a carved recess at the side of the door and it
glided open silently. In front of it was a huge statue in brown and
black speckled marble. There was just enough space to squeeze out
one at a time into the huge hall. Harrod went first and the door
closed behind them. They moved off, blending into the traffic of
people around them. No one paid them any attention.
 

“Praise be to
Alegria and all who…” Harrod began as a group of priests came near
to them but Crow nudged him again and he went quiet. As they walked
out the main entrance of the central hall, Harrod muttered to
himself. “It really shouldn’t have been THAT easy.”

Chapter
27

Jared, Bue
and Scious made their way through the tunnels of the dungeons. In
the distance they could hear the faint sounds of cheering and what
sounded like fighting. Scious led them up snaking corridors, lit by
sputtering torches. There were no sentries left in this level, the
two they had trapped and the drunken jailer seemed to be the only
ones left. As they moved onwards they saw a curved wooden doorway
ahead. Scious turned. “This leads to the main games room,” he
whispered and motioned for them to wait. Bue glanced at Jared who
looked nervously at Scious as he tip-toed forward, his spindly
frame reaching the doorway. Adjusting his hat he cautiously touched
the door handle and pulled slightly. The door moved and he peeped
out. Turning back he whispered to them. “It’s ok, come on.” As they
reached him the clashing of metal, the roars and shouts were
louder. They faced a curving corridor that appeared to be
encircling the arena. Unbelievably there was no one
around.

“
They are
over confident” Scious said softly and beckoned the others to
follow him. They crossed the passageway swiftly and reached a
recess in the curved wall. Scious looked anxious. “I can take you
now if you want but if you want all of you, you MUST be together.
My debt is good for one boon only. I will not make two
trips.”

Jared glanced
at Bue before he answered. “We need to get Mordalayn out of
there.” 

Bue pulled a
face. “You can’t. By the sounds of it there are hundreds of people
in there.” 

“
Well then,
we’ll have to sneak up on them won’t we,” Jared snapped angrily.
“Where’s the entrance to the arena floor?”

 “
This
way,” Scious replied “but you won’t make it more than a few yards.”
He smirked again. “I have a better idea.” 

They moved
around they hallway again and towards a row of steps that led down.
The sounds of mayhem from the arena rose and fell
deafeningly.

Three men
down and the survivors squared off once more. Now down to eighteen
men the plates had reduced to twelve. The screams of excitement
from the soldiers seated on the stone benches was almost thunderous
as those before them threw themselves at their opponents. Again
there was some who were left untouched as the six vulnerable men
picked their opponents. They twitched nervously, their swords held
ready. There was a scream as another man went down to his
opponent’s blade. Mordalayn again had a safe point and stood
unarmed and ready. Although in the first round no one had tried to
fight him, they knew that he was not someone to try and face in the
later stages. He whirled as a man tried to attack him from behind.
With a snarl he dodged the stab aimed at his ribs and swept his
elbow up into the man’s face. The attacker was dashed back into the
wall. There was a roar of approval from the spectators and coins
again changed hands. The man groaned and staggered to his feet,
shaking his head and squared off to the Caracalic once
more. 

Mordalayn
knew there was no point in trying to reason or negotiate. They were
both being forced to fight to the death and he admired the man for
his bravery. His foe looked up and their eyes met. Mordalayn’s gaze
was cold. He adjusted his stance to prepare for another attack and
the man hurled himself forward, swiping the sword in a classic
attacking move. Two actions from side to side as he lunged,
followed by a thrust that would have gutted anyone in front of him.
Mordalayn was no longer in front though. He stepped behind the man
and grabbed his neck with huge hands. “You are brave my friend,” he
whispered and after a moment’s struggle his rival fell limp.
Mordalayn pushed the body to one side.

 
Again
the audience bellowed loudly in appreciation and Mordalayn glanced
around rapidly for other challengers. Four men were down and the
remaining eight fighting for space struggled on. Looking up to the
gloating face of King James Mordalayn silently prayed for both a
miracle and vengeance. 

Scious and
the others made their way to the door at the bottom of the steps.
While Bue held his crossbow ready Scious opened the door and peered
in. Inside was a darkened room that curved with the space it was
built around. A blast of hot, damp air sprang through the gap and
Jared could see what looked like copper pipes twisting and winding
around. Scious again lifted his finger to his lips and they
cautiously moved into the stifling, foetid room. 

Inside were two small, damp,
sweaty figures. They were green in colour and hunched over various
knobs and levers. One was barking orders at the other. “No, no!” it
snapped irritably. “You keep the gauge at sixty until the third
trumpet call! Have you listened to anything I’ve said?” 

The other
figure snapped back. “I kept it at sixty, just my hand slipped is
all.” 

“
Your hand
slipped?! YOUR HAND SLIPPED?!!!” the other one shrieked. “It’ll be
more than your hand that’ll slip if you ruin King James’ss fun
today.” 

The second
creature snorted and wiped sweat from its forehead with an equally
sweaty sleeve. It had a large, scaled nose that occupied most of
its face. “Why don’t you do the plates and I’ll do the flames.
Happier then?” 

“
NO!” the
other snapped. “You do as I tell you and I….” His voice trailed off
as he saw Bue’s crossbow aimed at his face. 

Scious spoke
up. “Switch off the flame and raise the portcullis nearest to
us.” 

The creature
hesitated and tried to move but Bue jerked, moving his bow. His
expression was furious and the creature decided not to argue.
“The…there are HUNDREDS of soldiers up there” he stammered, trying
to get some semblance of control back into his little
world. 

“
Just do it,”
Bue told him. 

The creatures gulped and the
littler one reached for a valve.

As the first
trumpet sounded there were five men down. Those who were safe
constantly checked for threat while the remaining fighters
struggled on. Panicking, the man who held the safe point flung
himself at his adversary and managed to knock his sword away. It
arced against the marble wall and clanged to the floor. The man’s
momentary joy was short lived though. The other took advantage of
his distraction and grabbed his sword arm by the wrist and
proceeded to grapple with him, trying to pull him clear of the
plate.  

“
GET OFF!!!”
the man shouted, terrified as the second bell tolled. Others around
them winced, knowing full well the price for having two on a plate
at the end of a round. The two men thrashed madly, knowing only one
could survive but neither strong enough to dislodge the other. The
third bell tolled with cheers from the spectators as they waited
eagerly for the blue flames. Silence fell as expectation reached
its peak and then…nothing happened.

King James
stood, furious as his pleasurable diversion was halted. The two
struggling men finally halted and let each other go. The others
looked around, unsure if this was part of the games or not. There
were jeers and booing from the audience. King James turned to his
nearest advisor and snapped angrily, “Find out what happened down
there. I want whoever’s responsible in the arena with
them!” 

The advisor
gulped and moved to the doorway behind him. King James looked at
Kloee, trapped in her glass coop, and grinned as she hovered
inside, hands on her hips, glaring furiously at him. “Don’t worry
little thing,” he chuckled. “You’ll see your friends soon enough.”
He eyed Mordalayn’s sword and his mood abated somewhat. Regardless
of having his fun spoiled, the boy would be ready to spill
everything he knew by now and the victory against Alegria was
nearly complete.