Revolution (24 page)

    His lighter suddenly went out. During the combat, he had taken his finger off the power button. He heard the metallic clinking sound of the thing moving toward him. Flicking on his lighter, Peter saw the axe swinging toward his face. He narrowly blocked it with his sword.

   
It’s forcing me back.

    Rayne retreated as the creature moved toward him. In the dim light, he couldn’t tell if the skeleton’s axe had a blunt or sharp edge to it. The axe was dripping a sticky red substance that resembled blood.

   
It must be nerve gel
.

   Slowly, he backed away from the advancing creature.

  
There must be a way to defeat this robot. Its armor looks impervious to my sword, but its brittle-looking bones look vulnerable.

   Rayne drew his sword back and swung at the creature’s left side. The creature parried the sword with its axe a split second before it could strike its bony waist. Peter didn’t let the sudden parry slow him down. Pulling back, he lunged at the robot warrior and struck the center of its armored chest. The blow knocked it backwards. Peter lifted his sword over his shoulder and swung it down in a glittering arc toward the creature’s exposed wrist bone. The sharp blade sliced cleanly through the wrist and the bony axe-hand dropped to the floor.

    Peter dodged backwards as the animated skeleton reached out with its remaining hand, trying to claw his face.

   
It doesn’t give up easily
.

    Rayne kicked it in the chest and it fell back hard, clattering onto the cave floor. He lifted his sword above his head to end the creature’s misery, but stopped in mid-swing. A sharp pain shot through his ankle as if half-a-dozen tiny knives were plunging into his skin. Looking down with horror, he saw the creature’s severed hand grabbing his ankle in its claw-like grip
.

    It actually crawled across the floor to reach me
.

    Peter gasped with pain as the animated hand’s claws sank deeper into his skin. Meanwhile, the rest of the robot was back on its feet and coming after him again. Hobbling back a few steps, he felt searing pain shooting through his ankle as the claws dug deeper into his flesh.

   
The ankle wound is painful, but it’s not the most immediate threat
.

    As the lumbering monstrosity closed in on him, he swung his sword in a vicious arc, striking its exposed neck bone. The helmeted skull flew from its shoulders and struck the floor. The sudden loss of its head did not stop the skeleton from using its remaining claw to swipe at his face.

    Parrying the swipe with his forearm, Peter swung his sword toward the creature’s torso. The broadsword sliced through the monster’s spine, severing its body in half. The upper and lower half tumbled to the floor in opposite directions. The skeleton’s legs continued to move, spinning the entire lower section around the floor like a demented top.

   With the main section of the body out of commission, Rayne was free to turn his attention to the severed hand digging its bony fingers into his ankle. Dropping his sword to the floor, he reached down and seized his bony assailant in a tight grip. He used all his remaining strength to pry the fleshless fingers apart from its vice-like hold on his ankle. Gasping with pain, he tore the severed hand away and threw it across the stone floor.

    Peter picked up his fallen broadsword and swung it down hard on the wriggling, spider-like menace. White sparks flew from the wreckage of the skeleton hand as it shattered into smoking bone fragments. 

    Rayne stepped away from the robot debris and lowered his sword. A sharp, biting pain shot through his ankle. He placed his sword on the cave floor next to the robot’s fallen axe. Bending over, he checked his ankle wound. There were five small puncture wounds corresponding with the animated hand’s bony digits.

    Sometime during the battle, his dress shirt had been ripped at the shoulder. Peter completed the job by ripping off the shirt’s right sleeve. Using the tattered remains as a makeshift bandage, he wrapped it several times around the puncture wounds and tied it off.

    Peter glanced down at the robot’s fallen axe. Reaching down, he ran a finger lightly along its edge. Like the other weapons he had encountered so far, the axe was designed to look like it had a sharp edge, but was actually blunt. The only harm it could cause was from the slimy red nerve gel oozing from tiny holes in the surface. He regretted touching it as his hand went numb.   

    Rayne tossed the axe on the floor and it hit with a dull thud rather than the expected metallic clang. Picking up his sword, he tried not to put weight on his injured ankle. Taking a few tentative steps forward, he found the pain wasn’t bad if he put most of his weight on the other foot.

    Continuing forward, Rayne reached the thick wooden door with the creepy skeleton handle. Placing his ear against the door, he heard the faint clanging of steel and muffled shouting.

    Rayne reached down for the bony skeleton handle and pulled it open. The sounds of clanging and shouting became louder. Peering through the doorway, he saw a spacious torch-lit chamber. Twin rows of stone columns lined the borders of a walkway leading to the far side. Peter’s eyes widened as he looked in the direction of the sounds.

    Tightening his grip his broadsword, Rayne watched a group of what appeared to be ordinary people engaged in sword fights with a larger group of heavily armored knights. Four patrons were doing battle with twice that number of knights.

   
They’ll get slaughtered
!

    Peter gripped his sword like a cane and hobbled down the walkway toward the battling group. Looking ahead, he noticed a raised platform where a shadowy figure sat on a gleaming silver throne.

    A knight struck a patron in the head with a heavy mace. The man collapsed from his exposure to the mace’s nerve gel. That left three people standing against ten armored knights closing on them from both sides. The floor was littered with the bodies of more people exposed to the paralysis gel. Rayne quickened his pace toward the combatants.

    Rayne felt like he was moving in slow motion. Concentrating on the nearest knight, he lifted his sword into position. When he was finally in range, Rayne swung his broadsword in a glittering arc that decapitated the armored robot in a single sweep. White sparks shot from the robot’s severed neck as the helmeted head flew through the air and dropped heavily to the floor – shooting out more sparks. The armored body took a few wavering steps before collapsing next to its head.

    Rayne didn’t waste time contemplating the result of his savage strike. The robot knights were still closing in on the desperate tourists. He lifted his sword high over his head and brought it down hard onto another helmeted skull. The heavy sword pierced the helmet, cleaving halfway through the knight’s head. A slight jolt of electricity surged up his arm as he watched more white sparks shoot out from the gash in the helmet.

    Peter wrenched his sword free and turned toward his next opponent. His brutal actions brought him to the attention of another knight moving toward him with a heavy gray mace. The robot swung the mace at him, but he parried it with relative ease. 

    Rayne’s sword glanced from the knight’s mace, continuing toward its left elbow joint. His blade sheared the robot’s weapon arm cleanly off. Exhibiting the same determination as the rest of its tenacious kind, it continued its attack. Rayne easily knocked the creature’s remaining arm aside with his sword before slicing off its head.

    The people in the embattled group, who were still standing, finally noticed the newcomer. Two women and one man stole sidelong glances at Rayne, while they continued to face off with the remaining knights.

    Peter watched, impressed, as one of the women sliced off a knight’s sword arm in a shower of sparks. Realizing the robots were vulnerable at the joints, he went for the knees of another knight. He literally cut the robot’s legs out from under him, collapsing its metal carcass to the floor. The woman who had taken off the robot’s arm sliced another knight in two at the waist.  The remaining man hacked off another robot’s arm at the shoulder.

    Rayne realized the tide of battle had turned. He watched the other woman in the group decapitate a knight in sync with the man slicing off another one’s hand.

    Glancing toward the towering silver throne on the raised platform, he was surprised to find it empty. Scanning downward, he saw the shadowy figure, formerly seated on the throne, descending the stairs. The malevolent figure wore a long, dark, flowing robe concealing its features. Glowing green eyes glittered in the shadows beneath a black cowl. The creature carried a long silver staff with a shimmering green jewel on the end.

    When the figure reached the floor, it lifted its staff into the air and pointed at one of the tourists. A green lightning bolt shot out from the jewel and struck the female tourist, who had wreaked so much havoc on the robot knights. She dropped to the ground as if she had been hit by a double dose of nerve gel. 

    At that point, Rayne didn’t hesitate. Hobbling quickly toward the new attacker, he plunged his sword through the robed figure’s chest before it could turn its staff toward him. The figure shrieked deafeningly as the sword exited from between its shoulder blades. The creature seized the sword in its sharp talons and pulled it out of Rayne’s hand as it fell backwards onto the stairs.

Chapter 20

    As the black-robed figure hit the stairs, all sounds of combat ceased. Rayne turned toward the others and saw the remaining five robots frozen into immobile battle postures. The last two people standing turned toward him and gratefully nodded their heads. They were too out of breath to say anything.

    Without speaking, Rayne limped over to the body of the fallen Wizard King and ripped his sword from its chest. Then, he had time to notice the throbbing pain in his ankle. Sitting on the stairs next to the incapacitated robot, Rayne rested his ankle as he caught his breath.

   
What’s wrong with this place
? he wondered, leaning back on the stairs.
These robots are
out-of-control
!
Were they always like this or is it that new Artificial Intelligence
programming
?

    Rayne watched two of the battle-weary tourists attend to their fallen comrades. A groggy-looking man and woman appeared to be coming back to consciousness. The survivors gave their fallen friends a hand and let them lean on their shoulders for support. Peter observed the survivors pointing in his direction and saying something unintelligible. When the injured tourists appeared steady on their feet, they turned toward the woman who had been struck by the wizard’s lightning bolt. They lifted her up and let her lean on their shoulders. The recovering woman pointed toward Peter and said something to the others.

    Rayne didn’t move from his relaxed position. He was taking advantage of his first opportunity to rest in hours. He didn’t know how long it would be before he had to get up and resume battle with more psychotic robots.

    “Who
ARE
you?” a beautiful brunette asked him as she leaned on a tall, black-haired man’s shoulders.

    “I’m Peter. I got separated from my tour group.”

    “We’re lucky you caught up with us when you did,” the woman said, admiringly.      

    “Those knights were getting the best of us,” the man added, scowling.

    “They were pretty tough,” Rayne agreed, trying to sound casual in order to impress the attractive brunette.

    “I’m Diane,” the brunette said. “This is Bruce and Stacey. Those two over there are Brad and Jennifer.”

    “Nice to meet you,” Peter said, sitting up for a moment so he could shake hands.

    “Do you have any ideas for our next plan of action?” Diane asked him.

    “I don’t know. This is my first visit to this insane asylum,” Peter replied.

    “I know what to do,” the tall man, Bruce, interjected. “We have to enter through the secret door behind the Wizard King’s throne. From there, we go through a maze until we find the Dragon’s Lair.”

    “Dragon’s Lair?” Rayne asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

    “I’m not.  It’s the only way to end the game and get out of here,” Bruce said as he took a seat next to Peter on the stairs.

    “Great. That’s just great. Let me guess. There’s a vicious robot dragon we have to fight,” Rayne muttered, leaning back and closing his eyes with frustration.

    “Pretty much,” Bruce said, grinning at him.

    “Terrific. That’s just terrific.”

    “Look, guys. The sooner we get going, the sooner we can get out of here,” Diane said, impatiently, to the two men reclining on the stairs.