Condemned (Death Planet Book 1) (22 page)

An arrow hissed past Daniel's ear, and smacked into the dirt between him and the girl.

The King's exoskeleton bellowed steam as his head swung up toward a Guard on the wall. “Don't shoot the fucking girl.”

Daniel stared into the King's red eyes. The girl was just treating him like a dumb kid, distracting him from what he had to do, buying time for the King to escape. He couldn’t wait a moment longer. He had come to the castle that night for the Revolution, and he would die that night, for the Revolution.

She'd have to take her chances.

He screamed the loudest scream he had ever screamed, and ran straight for the King.

“You bastard!” Princess yelled, and raced toward him.

Daniel dodged and turned, in case she tried that kick to the balls trick again.

Instead, she threw herself at him, smacked into his side, and sent him flying to the floor. The powder keg cracked as he landed face down. He tried to twist away from her, but she scrabbled on top of him, her weight pressed down on his back, and her head lunged forward. Pain stabbed his body as she bit deep into his ear, and her long nails scraped along his chest and arms. He screamed, until one of her arms wrapped around his neck, and pulled until he could hardly breathe.

The portcullis rattled again. This time, it shook and scraped against the stone walls as it rose into the roof.

The King turned. His steam engine whistled as his legs pumped. He was getting away.

Forgive me.

Daniel closed his eyes, and released the trigger.

R
ed wandered past the
Cat House
guards, then out into the street. He stretched, and yawned. His balls were definitely working again now, and he’d proven it many times that night. The blonde wouldn't walk for a month after that ride. Shame he couldn’t have taken it out on the newbie girl, but, if the King wanted her, Red wasn’t going to argue. Nothing good would come of opposing the King.

Well, nothing at all would come of it, other than his head on a spike outside the city walls.

Yelling and shrieking floated toward him from the castle. What the fuck was going on up there? He'd even heard the shouting through the open window of the room in the brothel, and it had almost put him off his rhythm. Hard to concentrate on your work when people are shouting words you can almost, but not quite, decipher. He still couldn't tell what they were saying, but they didn't sound happy.

Moses strolled along the far side of the street, two of his slaves walking naked behind him, carrying a wooden crate the size of a coffin. They panted and struggled under the weight, and the smaller of the two was sweating hard, with a red face.

Someone followed them, hanging back in the shadows, his head constantly turning, surveying the surroundings, looking for trouble. He was clearly a man trouble followed.

Red backed into the shadows on his side as the face turned toward him. A long scar, one eye. A familiar sight.

Guy. What was that vicious little shit doing there? Someone should have killed him long ago, but he always seemed to find a way to survive. Usually by stabbing you in the back.

Was he following Moses, or working for him? They'd never been best buddies, but the two of them had seemed to get along back in the camp.

Either way, it couldn't be good.

He watched them pass. They must be up to something. But what? Why else would they be sneaking around in the dark with a crate?

Moses glanced over his shoulder. “So this is it, then?”

Guy’s clothes were stuck to his skin, and water dripped from his face and hands. Where had he been?

He continued scanning the street. “This is it.”

“Somehow, I thought it would be bigger, if you needed my boat to transport it.”

“It’s big enough.”

Moses sniffed. “What happened to you, anyway?”

“I went swimming.”

“Smells like you went swimming in shit.”

Guy sighed. “I got drunk, and fell in Shit Creek.”

“That sounds more like you.”

Serves the prick right. Shit Creek was where he deserved to be. Preferably with a knife in his back, floating down to the river with the other turds, to be flushed out to sea. Wouldn’t be the first man sent to his death that way.

Moses glanced back at the men carrying the crate. “Faster, Reach-Around. I don’t want to be here all day. Felch, put your back into it. Or I’ll trade you for a real man.”

The grey fur cloak on the back of Moses’ armour flicked into the air as he turned. It seemed to hover in mid-air for a moment as it caught Red’s eye.

That fur. Those stripes. Those spots.

Fuck.

That's Sparky.

“T
here it is,” Liam yelled. The drone sauntered ahead of them along the corridor. The keyring still hung from the arm, and the keys rattled and clanked as it twisted in the air. Kevin panted behind him, as out of shape as always.

They’d been chasing drones for at least half an hour. Finally this was the right one. If not for the racket going on up in the castle, they’d be in deep shit, but they were the only Guards left in the dungeon, other than the poor sod they’d dragged out of the winch. And he wasn’t going to tell anyone.

Liam glanced back at Kevin. “Grab it if it turns back.”

Then he turned into the hallway to the left, and jogged along it as fast as he could with his aching legs. The buzzing grew fainter as he followed the hallway past the staring eyes watching from the cell doors, then turned right. It grew louder as he turned right again, heading back toward the drone. He pushed the last of his energy into his legs, racing hard toward the intersection that would lead back to the drone. The noise grew louder, echoing from the stone walls, and it wobbled out into the intersection just as Liam reached it.

He lunged toward the drone, but it twisted aside and rose toward the roof. He swung his sword as it tried to pass him, and the drone made a sudden stop as the metal blade smashed into the stone wall.

Liam reached for it, and it backed along the corridor, then spun around. Kevin had almost caught up on that side, and his hand barely missed as he tried to grab it. The drone’s motors spun up, and it accelerated back toward Liam, then stopped again as Liam’s blade swung toward it.

It buzzed back toward Kevin, then toward Liam, then back toward Kevin again. It stopped.

Then it flipped over in mid-air, and the keys slid from its arm. Kevin jumped forward and grabbed them before they hit the floor, and the drone buzzed angrily above his head, before it accelerated away and vanished into the smoke.

Liam grabbed the keys from him, and flipped through them. All still there. At least he’d still have his head in the morning. And his balls, if he was lucky.

“Where are you lazy fuckers?” Dean yelled. His voice echoed around the empty corridors, until it was answered by yells and cackles from the prisoners.

About time.

“Over here,” Liam yelled back, and rattled the keys.

A moment later, a bright glow appeared in the smoky haze, then became a lantern as it approached. Dean’s face peered out of the darkness beside it. After he took over the shift, they might still have enough time to get out for some decent food and booze in town.

“Lot of excitement upstairs?” Kevin said.

Dean grabbed the keys from Liam, and counted them. “You could say that. Some little shit tried to blow us up.”

“Why’d he do that?”

“Fucked if I know.” Dean laughed. “King’s new girl kicked the dumb kid's ass.”

“King’s got himself another one?”

“Yeah, some cute little thing with big tits. Looks like he snatched her from EdCamp. Real sweet piece of meat.”

“The King gets all the best pussy,” Kevin said.

“That’s what happens when you’re King.”

Liam’s stomach rumbled. “Can you stop yapping and hurry up? I’m hungry.”

“We’ll all eat well tomorrow.”

Thank the King. After ten years on Hades, Liam’s stomach still couldn't stand the local meat. When was the last time he'd had a proper meal? Must be a couple of months, now. Green, runny shits from eating the plants got old, fast.

“I'm going to see what's going on up there,” Liam said, and took a step toward the stairs.

Dean grabbed his arm, and pulled him back. “Not until I've checked the prisoners.”

“What, you think we've let them out?”

“Wouldn't put it past you useless cocksuckers.”

Dean peered into the barred window on the nearest door, then raised the lantern and shone the light inside. A high-pitched voice cackled back at him.

A rat scuttled away as he stepped on to the next cell, and checked that one, too.

Liam tapped his foot impatiently. Oh, by the King's smelly nuts... he'd take all night at this rate.

“Hurry up, will you?”

Dean peered in the next window. “You know, that's your problem. Always in some much of a hurry to get somewhere, that you never have time to check you're doing the right thing. That's probably why you ended up on Hades.”

Which was true, in a way. If they'd checked the alarms and cameras were off before they broke in, Liam might not have been caught, and might not have been Condemned.

“If you're going to piss around down here, you can do it in your own time. I'm going.”

Dean rattled a door. The lock held. “All right. But I'm at least checking the big head.”

“There’s no way the Brain escaped.”

“He’s the fucking Brain. If anyone could escape from this place, it’s him.”

“We’ve been outside his cell all night.”

“Then it won't take long to check, will it?”

“I looked in there five minutes ago,” Kevin said. “He was asleep, despite all the racket upstairs.”

“All that thinking must make him sleep good,” Liam said.

Their feet stomped along the corridor, past the cackling and groaning of the prisoners. Christ knows what half of them were even in there for. The King probably didn't remember, himself.

Some of them had been imprisoned for years. He should really do a good clear out, and get rid of the ones he didn't want any more. Liam licked his lips at the thought.

Not that there was much meat on most of them, after so much time in the dungeon. Could barely make a good kebab out of most of them.

Dean stopped outside the Brain’s cell, and the keys clattered as he hunted through them. Then he unlocked the door, and pulled it open. The Brain lay slumped under a blanket, on the mouldy pile of straw in the far corner. Dean swung the lantern around, illuminating each corner of the cell. No sign of that fucking great spider hiding there.

“There you go,” Liam said. “Told you he was sleeping.”

Dean stepped into the cell. “Hey, Brain, wake up.”

“Come on, it’s him. Who the fuck else has a brain tattooed on the top of their head?”

Liam stared into the corners. If eight furry legs started to move in the shadows, he’d be gone. But nothing did.

“That’s not a tattoo,” Dean said.

He held the lantern above the Brain’s body, and kicked it. The straw crunched, throwing a cloud of mould into the air. Liam coughed as the blanket fell away.

Oh shit. Oh, motherfucking monkey shit.

He slapped Dean’s shoulder. “Well, mate, good thing it's your watch.”

They stared at the blood-soaked straw where the Brain should be lying asleep under the blanket, dreaming of some new inventions to please the King. Not a Guard lying dead, his eyes bulging, throat ripped open from ear to ear, and the top of his skull hacked away to expose his brain.

“But he escaped on your watch.”

“You can't prove that.”

“I’ll tell him it was you.”

“And we’ll tell him the Brain was here before we handed over the keys. It’ll be two of us against one of you. Who’s he going to believe?”

Dean bit his lip, glanced at the bed, then at Kevin and Liam. His mind might work slowly, but it was ticking beneath his helmet as he realized what a mess they were in. The Brain was gone, it was just a question of who took the blame.

“The King will kill us all if you tell him,” Liam said.

“He'll kill us if I don't.”

“He might. Or you could wait for the next watch, and get out of here before they find out.”

“They might not even check,” Kevin said. “It’s not like everyone is as conscientious as you are. Could be days before anyone finds out. Doubt the King will be visiting while he has a new girl to keep him busy.”

Dean glanced back along the dark corridor. “Or I could fuck off right now, leave town, and not worry about it.”

“Do that, and the King will assume you’re the one who let him escape. You won’t get five klicks when he sends us all to catch you. He’ll feed your balls to that dog girl of his.”

Kevin sighed. “That one can eat my balls any time.”

Liam slapped his chest. “You sick bastard.”

Dean slumped down on the bed beside the body. “How can I sit down here for six hours, guarding a dead body? Someone's gonna smell it, before long.”

“You can spend that time figuring out how to make sure the next shift doesn’t find out he’s gone, so we can blame everything on them.”

D
aniel's ear still hurt like a bastard. Though it would feel worse if his entire body didn’t ache from the beating they’d given him. He was lucky the girl hadn’t bitten the ear clean off. He reached up, and winced as his fingers touched the raw flesh. It was still bleeding, but not as much as when they first caught him. Pain stabbed his head as he touched his left eye. His face was so badly bruised that he could barely see on that side.

Not that there was much point worrying. They’d kill him soon, then he wouldn’t have to care. Just, please, do it fast. Would his head on a spike encourage more people to join the Revolution? Probably not. And they certainly wouldn’t build a statue of a kid who couldn’t even manage to blow himself up.

Unless Guy’s men came to his rescue. But where were they, anyhow? Narrow beams of light shone in through a tiny, barred window near the roof. The suns must be up, so Guy should have attacked the castle already. Had he called it off when Daniel failed? That would be the smart thing to do. Hide outside the city, regroup, and think up a new plan.