Foul is Fair (14 page)

"And what am I to do?" Justin asked.

"Stay out of the way, and Lani will get you the sword. Then it will be up to you to get them off of us."

"I'll be ready."

Chapter 22: The Sword is Drawn

At first light, they followed Justin's directions through the city, having to backtrack and change directions at the sight of various golems. As they got closer to the center of the city, the patrols grew more frequent. By hugging buildings and scouting as best they could, they managed to avoid any more chases, but it was slow going, and there were a lot more close calls than Megan was remotely comfortable with.

At last, Justin stopped them. "Around the next corner, you'll be able to see the great hall. All of the doors have been torn off and the golems come and go. Pay very close attention to where the doors are and don't let them corner you. They'll try."

"How reassuring. So the sword is in there?" Lani asked.

"Laid across the arms of the great chair in the main hall," Justin said. "Just as much of a taunt as the rest of this place. Also easy to guard. There's four golems there. Two of them gave chase, two remained on watch. More came when they called. We will need to make this quick."

"And indoors, the Count won't have as much room to fly out of reach," Megan said, starting to turn the corner anyway, with Ashling sitting astride one shoulder, the crow perched on the other. "If we need to hurry, let's hurry."

Justin reached out, pulling her back. "Wait, time the patrols."

She watched from around the corner, until a golem tromped by their hiding spot. Megan couldn't help reflecting that the tower emblazoned on its shield looked a little like a rook in chess. It paused there for a moment, but showed no sign of turning towards them, and eventually began walking again. "Now," Justin whispered, starting around the corner. Following his lead, the others quietly paced several yards behind the tower-golem, following it into the building before ducking into an alcove to hide.

"Right... they travel one at a time. And make a lot of noise. Can I shake your hand again, for good measure?" Lani asked.

"There will be more than one soon enough," Justin replied, instinctively reaching for the sheath that no longer held a sword.

The tower-golem disappeared down a hallway. They could hear more footsteps echoing down other halls, and even the sound of footfalls from the next floor up. For a few moments, all the different footfalls in all directions tested Megan's nerves. She started entertaining the thought of ducking back out the door.

Justin led the way a short time further, with the group doing their best to remain near hiding places, having to duck back a few times to avoid being spotted, waiting there nervously until the golems passed. Finally, he gestured to a wide passage where double doors used to stand. "There."

Through the doorway they could see the room he'd described, great chair and all. Otherwise, Megan couldn't help but notice the similarities between the rest of the room and some of Seattle's concert halls. A large part of the room was left open for dancing or spectating, but there was still plenty of space for a truly grand stage. The red curtains of the stage were even mostly preserved through whatever odd effect kept most of the city intact, though they were tattered and threadbare.

The rest of the room was a sight. All over the stage, and particularly on the floor, there was the remains of all manner of instruments and stage props. Most of the cloth, wood, and paper had disintegrated, but there were a few hints of those. There was plenty of metal, however, with the twisted frames of horns mingled with strings and struts, strewn among the wrecked frames of drums, with the odd bits of old costumes, prop weapons and now-unidentifiable things scattered among them. While most of the city was left to simply stand as a tortured reminder of what it had been, this place seemed intentionally ransacked and the contents destroyed and discarded. Among the wreckage were several clear lanes, where the golems passed through the room, from the doors to the grand chair of the lord of the hall.

As promised, laid across the arms of the chair, as if in waiting for the lord's return, was a sheathed sword with a jeweled hilt. Also as promised, four golems stood sentry, one at each corner of the massive chair. One carried a shield with a hand symbol on it, one with a boot. A large, singular eye was emblazoned on each of the shields of the two behind them.

Megan started into the room with the pixie on one shoulder and the crow on the other. She darted towards the throne, picking up speed as she went.

It took only a few moments before the golems took notice, all four turning their heads in her direction in an eerie unison. The two at the back raised their heads, starting into the grating bellow she'd heard on the first encounter. The other pair turned, continuing to move in almost perfect symmetry, raising their swords, lowering their shields and advancing on her. Megan let them get a little closer, then turned, racing back for the door out of the room.

To her surprise, when she turned, she saw Lani and Justin rushing into the room coming towards her and waving frantically. Before she could turn around, she saw the reason for their alarm. The tower-golem was advancing on the door. When it arrived just behind Lani and Justin, it crouched and raised its shield, blocking the exit and trapping them in the room.

Megan spun again, seeing the hand-golem and the boot-golem coming at her along the path through the wreckage. After a moment of hesitation, she rushed towards the stage, risking the minefield of ruined instruments and stage props. She heard the sound of crunching metal all too close behind her, and could see the others not far off in her peripheral vision. Lani seemed to be navigating the garbage well enough, but Justin nearly fell when he stepped on the remains of a drum, catching his balance, but allowing the hand-golem to close a lot of the distance while he did so.

"Split up!" Megan yelled. "They can only follow two of us, someone can try to get the sword." It seemed like their best bet on the spur of the moment.

Justin ducked under a swing of a sword, then headed back towards the door, trying to draw his attacker away from the girls. Lani took off to the left, nimbly moving through the wreckage. Drawing a mixture of chagrin and relief at once, the boot-golem stayed on Megan's heels.

"Get to the stage!" Ashling yelled in her ear. As she offered her guidance, the Count lifted off Megan's shoulder, flying towards the golem pursuing Justin. Megan almost lost her balance, sliding on some old strings left on the floor. As she got her leg unensnared from the wires of the old lute, they cut into her ankle. The bleeding wound threw off Megan's stride even as she started running. In the process of catching herself, Ashling went pitching forward off of Megan's shoulder. Megan paused to grab for her, but Ashling gestured backwards. "Look out!"

Megan glanced back in time to sidestep. The boot-golem's sword cleaved deep into the floor next to her. While it was recovering, Ashling dove back towards Megan, starting to climb her pants leg until Megan could get a hand on her.

"I'll just slow you down. Throw me!" Ashling shouted. Megan was about to protest, but the sword had been pulled free, and was coming up for another swing. She desperately threw the pixie towards the curtains as hard as she could, then ran for the stage. The sword crashed down just behind her, barely missing her leg, buying her another moment when the golem had to remove its blade from the floor.

Managing to pick her pace back up, she tried to leap onto the stage, failing to clear it by inches and ending up sprawling forward. She turned over to see a sword coming down at her, and desperately rolled to one side, avoiding a swing that cut deep into the stage. The giant pulled the blade free, and she dove out of reach as the next swing came at her. The golem pursued, the front of the stage collapsing under its weight with each step towards her.

"Banzai!" came a voice from above. Ashling, having pulled or cut a portion of the curtain free, clutched it as she dove toward the boot-golem, pulling more of the ragged red fabric down with her, tattered wings flapping furiously to attempt any control over her descent. The golem looked up, to see a wave of red coming down at it. It thrust its sword upward, the blade tearing through the fabric and just missing Ashling. A moment later, the pixie hit the stage, stunned. The golem was staggering, head and sword arm entangled in the fabric for the moment. Megan took the opportunity, scooping up Ashling on her way to going running towards Justin.

While Megan had been on her own chase, the hand-golem had been working to herd Justin back towards the tower-golem at the door. Every time it came too close, the crow flapped past its eyes, drawing the hand-golem's attention. Still, the squire was running out of room.

Megan grabbed for one of the ruined horns, flinging it at the hand-golem. The metal instrument rang off the back of its head, causing it to turn enough to look her way. Justin took the opportunity to run towards her, past the golem's shield arm.

When she spun back around to flee the hand-golem, now chasing them both, she saw the boot-golem pulling free from the curtain in one corner. On the other side of the room, Lani was playing chicken with the eye-golems, ducking into reach, then back out when they swung their swords. Try as she might, she couldn't draw them away from the great chair, though it also meant that, as long as nothing else came for her, Lani was safe from a certain distance away. That didn't help in getting to the sword, though.

"Go and help her,” Justin said. “Get the sword.”

"What about you?" Megan asked, out of breath.

"I have an idea."

Megan nodded, racing back for the throne and Lani. She pulled up short, just out of reach of the swords, staring up at the twin sentries.

"Any more ideas?" Lani asked.

"Just one. You go left; I go right," Megan said, setting Ashling down. "She goes for the sword."

"What?" Lani asked, looking at her incredulously. "How is she going to do anything with it?"

"Trust me. Ashling, just try to shove it this way."

The pixie focused on the sword. "Ready when you are."

"We have to buy her time," Megan said. "Keep them busy."

Both girls rushed forward, then charged to either side, drawing the eye-golems while Ashling rushed forward, climbing the side of the throne.

On the main floor, Justin ran from the hand-golem, slowed down by his injuries, but staying just ahead of it. He set his sights on the boot-golem as the curtain fell to the floor at its feet. He ran directly at it, the boot-golem readying its sword as its fellow chased the squire towards it. Near the last second, he gestured towards the pursuing golem's head. "Count!"

The bird swooped past the eyes of the hand-golem, distracting it for a moment. At the last second, Justin dropped, sliding along the floor just under the boot-golem's swing. He lay there, wincing and glancing back. Distracted by the Count, and with a lot of forward momentum already, the hand-golem failed to stop in time and crashed into the boot-golem, still off-balance from the swing at Justin. Both crashed to the floor—Justin barely managed to roll out from under them before they fell, gritting his teeth hard to avoid crying out as he rolled over his injured shoulder. Justin pulled himself to his feet, getting a little more distance before the golems untangled themselves.

Megan and Lani feinted towards the throne in turns, trying to hold the attention of the eye-golems. After a hard swing that Megan barely evaded, she ran behind the great chair while her attacker freed his sword from the floor. He recovered faster than she expected, and all she could do was drop to the ground under a new swing that crashed into the back of the chair. To Megan's surprise, the great chair held with only a small nick, though the blow threw up sparks. The impact also rattled the chair enough that Ashling staggered, almost tumbling off of the front of the chair before she recovered her balance amidst furious flapping. The pixie grabbed for one of the straps on the hilt and began pulling as hard as she could, budging the sword an inch at a time.

Seeing what had happened, Lani darted for Megan, trying to egg the right eye-golem to swing at her and giving Megan a moment to recover. Rather than trying to get to her feet, having seen the chair take the hit, Megan scrambled underneath it. Lani's game of chicken with the right eye-golem bought Megan time, but it also ended up leaving Lani vulnerable to a swing from the left eye-golem when she dodged a strike from the right. Though she managed to twist out of the way of the worst of it, Lani still fell with a vicious cut to her side, just under her ribcage. The sword swing's momentum carried it into the back of the throne, rattling the chair again, sending Ashling and the sword tumbling off of it this time.

While the golems were distracted, noticing the sword and colorful butterfly wings falling, Megan grabbed for Lani's leg, pulling her under the chair. She turned just in time to see a golem stepping into a swing at Ashling as the pixie strained at pulling the blade across the dais. "Ashling!" she called a warning. The pixie looked up in time to see the attack, diving out of the way, but leaving the sword behind. Past them, she could see the hand-golem and the boot-golem pulling themselves back to their feet, sights set on Justin again.

With the eye-golems looking at Ashling, Megan left Lani for the moment and crawled out from under the chair, grabbing for the sword. The movement drew renewed attention, one of the golems looking away from Ashling and taking a swing at Megan. Holding the sheathed blade, she dove out onto the floor, rolling away painfully as she landed amidst the wreckage in the room. For a moment, she nearly drew the sword, but looked back, to see the guardians once again standing, threatening and warning her away from the chair, but not pursuing even though she had the blade. While their attention was on Megan, Lani crawled out from under the back, and snuck behind the eye-golems, clutching at her side.