The Full Circle Six (13 page)

The city fell abruptly away and they were speeding through a meadow of flowers whose beauty could not be ignored, even in this dire situation. Brilliant purples, oranges, reds, yellows, blues, greens, and several colors beyond the spectrum of what Drake had ever seen, loudly demanded attention from any who wandered into their midst. Freddie tore through the gorgeous plants without so much as a glance toward anything but the now visible ground transport that held his darling against her will.

Flowers and fragrance gave way to an open field of lazily rolling hills, covered in grass. In the distance was something that even Freddie, in his temper, could not ignore. A gigantic castle with towers reaching toward the clouds was sitting on top of the largest hill in the area. Circling the castle in the sky was a prehistoric looking bird thing, with an enormous chain that stretched down to the roof embattlements of the castle. Even from this distance, they could see the beak of this monster was large enough to swallow both of them whole at the same time. Freddie approached to within a kilometer of the palace and stopped the engine. The kidnappers had gone into the castle by way of a drawbridge that closed as soon as they were over it.

The castle turrets were armed. There were rapid-fire lasers posted every six meters all the way around. In front of where the drawbridge came down, two ancient looking racecrafts, with large, out of date cannons were strategically set down, with their foundations buried in earth. Drake saw all of this through his holoscope, that he kept in the inside pocket of his leather Future Fuels jacket. The holoscope was little used since Drake had acquired, as a prize from his first race, the remarkable holochart gazers. It was a small device that unfolded to be about a meter in length. When Drake looked through the holoscope, he saw images projected with a forty five percent magnification.

They stepped out of the ground transport. Drake did not want them to be heard as they approached. To the left was a portion of the forest they had ripped through. Neither of the race team members could figure out how the woods could be so close, when they had gone over two different terrains since last seeing it. This was not the time to try to figure it out. They could see insects the size of small aircraft, sluggishly roaming the outside edges of the trees and the flowers. Drake wanted to get into a position to view whatever was flying around, chained by the neck to the castle, but he certainly did not intend either of them to be seen by it.

Drake ducked down low opposite the fortress behind the silent monster of transport, with Freddie by his side, sitting with his back propped against the transport, and raised his holoscope to his eye. The beast was approximately thirty feet long, but had no girth to it. Wide, leathery axe shaped wings beat continuously in the air to keep it aloft. Its tail appeared feathery, but scales glinted in the sunlight, some hidden in the layers of the feathers, and others grew on the outside, giving it look of having holes. The neck was the majority of the creature. Expanding nearly twenty feet, the skin was decorated in wavy patterns such as one might see on a serpent. The head was immensely disproportionate to the whole body. Out of the back of the cranium stretched a long, tapering spike-like horn. The eye was the only part on the upper portion of the face. It was so large; there was no room for anything else to grow. While the iris was diamond in shape, its pupil was vertical in the style of a feline or dragon. Its mouth began right below the eye. The teeth were too big for its beak, so that it could never close all the way, and were protruding a good length from the head at different angles. The tongue was also snake-like in appearance, and hung from the mouth between the teeth, dripping drool or poison, it was tough for Drake to tell which. The lower jaw was covered with more feathers, but the designs, continued from the neck, made it appear as if the monster had extra rows of teeth.

Drake lowered his holoscope to the base of the castle to confirm what he thought he had seen. There were some rich individuals who would purchase old racecrafts for decoration or, in some cases, sentimental value. The crafts posted where the drawbridge would come down had no markings, either sponsorships or otherwise. Then, something else caught his eye. There was a river blocking the front door. He could only assume that it encircled the entire castle. He relayed the information of what he saw to Freddie.

“What are the guns and the dragon-bird for, do you think?” Freddie asked Drake when the commander had finished speaking.

“I imagine the beast is just a pet, though I wouldn't want to get near it,” Drake replied. “It doesn't seem to have enough room for much of anything but the circle it's flying in. The guns are probably there to shoot down anything that's foolish enough to enter their range.”

Freddie paled at this, and looked crestfallen. He had not come all this way to be stopped by a river and some guns, however, and was confident that Drake would find a way inside. If he could not, Freddie would die trying. He intended that Priscilla would know how much he cared for her, even if it meant his sacrifice. He didn't care about anything anymore, as long as she was aware of that. Freddie stood up and gave Drake a fierce glance. Drake knew that this was not directed toward him, but at their common enemy. Freddie was the one to initiate advancement on foot, Drake following closely behind.

They had covered half the distance, when the ground became sand. It was a relief to them both, for the sand had much more give, and was comfortable to their legs. Freddie had never seen sand before, and was momentarily curious, and a bit nervous, at the substance. Minute pebbles were all it seemed to be made of, and this fascinated him, but he did not feel like it should be a surface to walk on. Drake, on the other hand, knew sand quite well. There had been a beach not too far from his home growing up. He had forgotten the rough texture of it falling through his fingers. It even had its own scent that flooded him with memories. He quickly pushed them away, though. He had to concentrate on how to get inside that seemingly impenetrable fortress.

Drake had led them as close as he dared to the edge of the forest, and its huge butterflies, bigger than a horse. He also made out what he thought to be a bee, though it was twice as large as the ground transport that they had used to get here. Hoping they were not near that thing's hive, Drake led them a little more distance away from the forest. After about a dozen more steps, Drake saw Freddie kneel down. Confused he called out.

“What are you doing?” Drake sounded incredulous. “There is no time for prayers, let's go.”

“I'm stuck,” Freddie, said, nervousness turning to fright. He was slowly sinking into the ground, which was still covered in sand. Underneath this portion of the sand, there was a very thick, black, sticky substance that made movement difficult and escape by one's own power impossible. The more he struggled, the quicker he sank, and the area of softness surrounding Freddie expanded. Drake was starting to become frightened himself, this was something entirely new to him, and he had no clues as to how to rescue his teammate. He had tried to approach Freddie to pull him out, but when he felt the suction pulling his boot, had to retreat even further away.

Drake ran to the forest, looked around, and sprinted back carrying a tree branch. He held it out as far as he could, while holding the very bottom of the branch, but Freddie had not ceased his struggles and was now waist deep. As a consequence, the area of black adhesive had expanded farther than Drake could hope to reach. The only options left were to watch sir Frederick Stallworth sink all the way down, or to try to carry on the mission himself. He could not, in good conscience, leave the race team member he had known for so long. Drake decided to stay and pay his respects. Out of the corner of his eye, Drake saw one of the gigantic butterflies fluttering directly toward Freddie.

“Hold your arms up!” He had to scream because Freddie was also yelling and may not have heard him. “Lift up your arms and grab that big bug!”

Freddie turned his face as much as the tar-sand would allow, and a spark of hope winked inside of him. He stopped moving and held his arms straight up. Already, he had sunk to his armpits. The butterfly was three meters away and idly covering the gap. Both men thought that there was not enough time. Freddie's sinking had slowed, but was still steady. Freddie's chin slowly dipped into the muck, and the insect had not yet come close enough to grab. Priscilla's smiling face appeared in his mind, and a calm serenity enveloped him. Just as his eyes were following his nose down, he felt a powdery something brush against his left hand. Anxiously, he clapped both hands together and squeezed. Drake shouted a cheer and raised his fist in the air. Freddie was not so excited. He could feel the bottom of the butterfly's abdomen wanting to cave in under his grip. When he tried to loosen his hold, his hands wanted to slide all the way off. The extraction was an even slower process than the plummeting was. Freddie gasped frenziedly as his chest ascended above the level of the killer sand. To his utter amazement, and his extreme disbelief, his rescuer started into the sky. He was weeping with joy and relief when his feet finally emerged.

When he finally dropped back onto solid ground, the grass resumed after only eight meters of sand, Freddie had held on past the point of ground change, his robes were black with muck and sparkled with light shimmering off of sand.

“Now you're pretty, boy,” Drake laughed. “That was an adventure, huh?”

Freddie only glared at Drake in response as he attempted to brush himself off while continuing uphill to the castle. He had gone thirty paces when Drake tackled him to the ground. “Don't be a fool,” Drake warned. “Those lasers will cut you up like a loaf of bread.”

“I have to try!” Freddie did not yell, but his tone threatened just that, were he to be pushed.

“Look,” Drake offered while picking up a stone. “This is what you're walking in to.” He threw the rock to within ten meters of the castle, and instantly, three of the rapid fire lasers, mounted on the turrets, opened up and disintegrated the target. “Won't be very pretty after that,” he finished gravely.

“Well, what do we do?” Freddie looked as if he could explode with irritation. Drake looked thoughtful for a moment. He had a great deal more respect for Freddie now than he did before they had landed here, and could sympathize with him more. The current situation, with which he was faced, presented a bigger problem than he had dealt with so far. If they couldn't get near the thing, how could they possibly get in? He thought briefly of going around to the backside of the castle to investigate, but was sure that he would find the same set up. Drake was at a loss and, if they didn't do something quickly, they may very well lose the only medical personnel left to take care of their injured.

While Drake was thinking things over, Freddie was watching two beetles, in the region of the size of little houses, battling each other. They would alternately try to crush each other with the large pincers that looked to be their mouths. The only other attack that Freddie saw from either of them was a spontaneous head ram that produced a sharp, loud clack, echoing off the castle walls. Neither of the creatures seemed to be gaining any ground on the other. The beetles were slowly going up the hill to the castle. All of a sudden, lasers began to fire repeatedly toward the giant bugs. Drake and Freddie both saw what happened next. The lasers were only shooting at one of the trespassers, while the other scurried away to safety.

Freddie turned to Drake and asked, “You thinking what I'm thinking?

“Bait.” Drake chuckled darkly when he replied. “I'll keep the guns busy, you look around for any break in the wall.”

“Good idea,” Freddie shot back. In truth, he was only thinking that the cooked insect might be a tasty meal, but now that he knew Drake had a plan, he was more at ease. It was a short-lived relief, though, for he still had to try to find a way into the castle, before his captain was killed.

Drake jumped into the lasers' range and spun a cartwheel to the left, dodging four blasts from two different guns. He then jumped to avoid fire coming in from the left. Hitting the ground, Drake tucked into an immediate somersault, narrowly missing a shot to the head. He was already running by the time he reached his feet, and could hear the lasers hitting the ground behind him, following in succession.

In the meantime, Freddie could only think of one thing to do. He stripped off his dressy robes and dived into the river. Forget the danger, he thought, Priscilla's still in there, and she might not yet be hurt. Freddie was familiar with castles, had grown up in one, and knew that there must be an entrance to a sort of sub-cavern or sewage system.

“NOOOOO!” Drake bellowed. “There are things in there!” Indeed, there were shadows moving around in the water. Drake pulled his own laser as he sprinted across the edge of the water and began firing it into the river at the swimming dark shapes. He could not see where Freddie went, but had no opportunity to slow down and look. With a great leap, Drake put himself out of range from the covering artillery and waited to see if the little man would be successful or not.

Freddie, who was once an avid swimmer, quite easily maneuvered around the water monstrosities, and saw at once what he was looking for. There was a pipe opening about a meter and a half below him. Not believing his good fortune, he swam to it and pulled himself in. This was indeed a sewage pipe, and Freddie was hard pressed to keep his breath through the stench of it all. In addition to the fact that he now wore only undergarments, so he felt every little thing that passed over his skin all over his body, he could not see where he was going, as he needed to keep his eyes closed. As the pipe moved steadily upward, Freddie's resolve would not relent. He would reach his love if it killed him; a little waste was nothing in contrast to her safe return. When Freddie's head broke the surface, he persisted floundering until his hands slapped solid ground. He pulled himself up and cleaned off his eyes as best as he could before opening them.