A Monster Life Ch. 43-45

* These last three chapters mark the conclusion of the third volume of the series, and work on volume 4 has already begun with chapter 46 done and 47 in the works.

The challenge is now to alternate between a steady stream of AML and DLwFG episodes, and write other works in between.

*

43 - Insider Attack

Susi snarled at the guard kicking her into the cage. He drew his lance and thrust its blunt end at her, but Ulric moved quickly in front and caught the hard jab against his shoulder. The guard glared at Ulric but the killing intent in the eyes of the bloodwolf told him he'd better back off. He scoffed and locked the cage, and left. Susi nuzzled his shoulder softly. 'Daddy hurt?'

Ulric nuzzled her ear. 'I protected myself. Are you hurt?'

She shook her head. 'Susi is fine.'

He focused on the others. 'How are you girls doing? They didn't hurt you?'

'We ended up in the dungeons without trouble, darling.' said Elzbieta. 'Kaui's here with me and Val and Conchim are in the next cell.'

'We're fine, my love.' said Valdys and looked at Conchim glancing testily around and shaking her wings. 'Although Conchim is edgy in this small enclosed space. She can't even spread one wing.'

Ulric scanned the inner court of the castle from the corner where the cage was placed. One golem stood beside them with the order to crush them if they so much as stuck a nose through the bars. People tended to be curious and took small detours to get a closer look at the demon beasts while they crossed the court, but it seemed business as usual to Ulric. Until he heard a ruckus from inside the main building coming their way. The large double doors of the entrance swung open, two guards flanked them, and a group of men in colourful and expensive clothing came out, the fat one in the middle with flat, black hair and gold chains and rings on his fat fingers was undoubtedly Malovick to Ulric.

The group halted at a pace from the cage and gazed intently at the two bloodwolves sitting in it. 'Susi does not like them, daddy.' she growled softly and Ulric placed one paw on hers. 'Don't let them get to you, honey.' he whispered. 'If they try anything I'll take care of it.'

'So, these are supposed to be bloodwolves?' said Malovick. 'I was told they were ferocious demons but they seem as harmless as a couple of dogs.' He leaned closer but veered back when Ulric glared deep into his eyes and cold shivers ran down his spine. He turned to one of the men at his side. 'I think we'll need to dispose of them right away, Marduk.'

A thin smile formed on Marduk's face, together with a malicious glint in his eyes. 'We could show off your magnificence when you kill them as a public spectacle. We'll just chain them to the ground and you can attack them with your spear or longsword. The people will admire your personal victory over these beasts.'

Malovick hummed and his smile grew. 'Indeed, it'll prove my greatness.' He turned to Marduk and slapped his hand on his shoulder. 'Make it happen as soon as possible.'

Marduk gave him a nod. 'As you wish.' he said, and the group left for the main building again.

Susi looked up at Ulric. 'What did they want, daddy?'

He pat her paw. 'Nothing you need to worry about.' he said and tuned in to the girls. 'Crap, they want to make a spectacle out of killing me and Susi. I can't let her face that situation, we need to do something fast.'

'Help is on the way, my love.' said Valdys while Trixy's spirit slipped through a crack of the cell door.

'Someone's coming.' said Elzbieta.

Multiple footsteps approached and a moment later they stopped at Elzbieta and Kaui's cell. The door hatch slid open and Malovick stared with malicious intent at the two. 'Thought you could easily attack me, eh?' he said. He squinted angrily when neither of them replied. 'You'll soon see at what cost you came here!' The slam of the hatch startled Kaui.

'What a pathetic man.' Elzbieta said.

'He still holds all power here, so we'd better be careful.' said Valdys while the hatch in their door opened. She and Conchim sat with their backs to the door, and a moment later their hatch slammed shut.

'How soon until we can get out of here?' grumbled Conchim.

'Trixy says she can probably pick the lock, but she won't be able to pass the closed doors to the dungeon.'

'Leave that to me.' said Iphigenia. 'Tell her to come to the castle gate, I'll smuggle her inside.'

She arrived at the guard house at the gate a little later with a large jar of beer and mugs. 'A little something for the valiant guard.' she said with a sweet smile. The moods of the two guards were instantly raised, and they gratefully accepted a full mug. 'Drink up, boys, before the captain catches us.' The men chuckled at her wink, and gulped down the invigorating content of their mugs while Iphigenia glanced at the white shimmer hiding underneath a small bush nearby, and lifted the side of her long skirt.

Trixy looked around, and rushed along the wall to the opening of the skirt, and gripped the fabric on the inside.

'Thanks, lass.' said one of the guards when he returned the empty mug. 'We were just getting thirsty.'

'You're welcome.' said Iphigenia as she left. 'I hope all stays quiet.' She winked at Ulric when she crossed the courtyard. 'We'll come for you as soon as possible, Wolfie.'

He smiled. 'Just make sure you're all safe.'

Iphigenia took the stone steps down to the dungeon, and pleasantly surprised the two guards there when she presented the jar. They toasted to her beauty while Trixy slipped from under the skirt and into the corridor with the cells. She climbed the rough wood of the door nimbly, and poked her tiny paw into the lock. A few rattles later, the lock clicked open and Val peeked into the corridor. 'Great work, Trixy.' she said as she picked her up. She carried her to the next cell and held her in front of the lock to perform the same trick.

Elzbieta chuckled as she stepped out of the cell. 'You'd make a terrific thief, Trixy.'

Trixy chittered proudly and climbed into Valdys's hood.

Iphigenia looked towards the cells. 'Did someone just walk by there?'

The guards looked. 'What do you mean, walk by?'

She pointed to the left. 'I saw someone walk that way.'

The men jumped up and hurried into the corridor, and stopped at once at the sight of their prisoners standing around the corner. Before either could shout or draw their short swords, Valdys flicked her wrist and sent them flying back onto the ground. 'They'll be asleep for a while.' she said.

'Everyone's out, Wolfie.' said Iphigenia.

'Good work.' he said. 'I've been thinking, maybe it's best to take out the constructor first, to make sure he can't conjure more golem surprises when it comes to a fight.'

'Good thinking, darling.' said Elzbieta while she searched the unconscious guards for keys. 'Maybe we can make use of any golems there.'

'Be careful, my loves, and good luck.'

The girls were glad their weapons had been stored in a special chest and armed themselves. Only Kaui's pack was nowhere to be found and they decided to interrogate the guards later to find out where it was. 'Lead the way, Iphi.' said Elzbieta.

They followed her through luckily deserted hallways, ending up at the chamber door of the constructor. 'This is it.' said Iphigenia over the link. 'There was a golem the size of a man when I was in there, I didn't see any other going around. The one in the back was still and won't fit through the door in any case.'

'Leave the golem to me.' said Valdys. 'I can restrain him unless it has some special strength.'

'All right.' said Elzbieta and looked at Kaui and Conchim. 'You two cover this door in case the constructor or anything else tries to escape.' She turned to Iphigenia. 'I think it's best you go right and I take left while Val stays in the middle behind us.'

Iphigenia nodded. 'On three, then.'

At the count of three, they rushed through the door with as little sound as possible. The robed figure at the side threw up several stones and jumped into a doorway two paces away. The golem on the other side rushed forward, but before it reached Iphigenia it fell hard onto the floor. 'Impressive, Val.' she said. They stood their ground long enough for any other attackers to come, then hurried to the doorway at the side.

Both Elzbieta and Iphigenia took a quick peek inside the darkness. 'Too dark.' said Iphigenia.

'Yes.' said Elzbieta and took one of the few candles in the chamber from the table behind her, and held it in the doorway. The dim light shone onto a bed surrounded by stacks of books and sketches, and a trembling yellow tail tip sticking out from underneath an equally trembling large lump in a blanket. Elzbieta looked at Iphigenia, who nodded, and they walked towards the bed.

Elzbieta prodded the blanket with the the tip of her sword.

A muffled squeal came from underneath, and the lump moved forward until it hit the headboard with a muffled 'Ouch!'.

'You're not exactly hiding there.' said Elzbieta.

The lump shifted and an eye peeked out from under the blanket. 'Who are you?'

'People who are curious about the golems and its constructor.'

'Ehm, why?'

'So we can disable them.'

'You can't do that!' the lump said as it sat up at once. 'Don't break my golems!'

Iphigenia leaned closer. 'So, you are the constructor.'

The lump slumped. 'Yes.' it said with a slight lisp.

'Do you even know what your golems are doing? The destruction and fear they cause?'

Out of the blanket shot a female black lizard's face with yellow striping above her eyes and along the ridge of her slim nose. 'They don't! They help people!'

Iphigenia folded her arms. 'Intimidating people? Destroying their homes?'

The lizard looked from Iphigenia to Elzbieta. 'That's not true! I saw how they're building homes and barns and how they're helping on the farm and protecting everyone from the monsters at the border when Malovick showed me!'

Elzbieta raised an eyebrow at Iphigenia. 'Figures.' she said and looked at the angry lizard. 'You don't go outside much, do you?'

The lizard looked down and fiddled with the blanket. 'I'm not really fond of going outside.'

Elzbieta put away her sword. 'Then you really don't know what Malovick's using your golems for.'

The lizard looked up at her. 'But he said he needed them to make a better country.'

'Better for himself and his cronies. Certainly not for the regular people.'

'Girls, can you ask to have this golem stand down?' called out Valdys. 'I'm still suppressing it to the ground.'

Iphigenia gestured at the doorway as she looked at the lizard. 'Would you mind?'

The lizard nodded once. 'She can let go now.'

Valdys released her spell gradually on the golem, and let it go when it was no longer aggressive. It stood up as if nothing happened and moved back into a corner to stand there quietly. She peeked into the doorway. 'I'm glad that really big one didn't attack.'

'Ah, that one needs a strong mana source to come alive. I don't know of any object or person who could provide it. I sort of created it to see if I could.'

'So, what now?' asked Valdys of Iphigenia and Elzbieta.

'What's your name?' asked Iphigenia of the lizard.

She hesitated for a moment. 'Isazea.'

'Alarm! The prisoners escaped!' sounded from outside the chambers.

Kaui and Conchim rushed into the chamber, slammed the door shut, drew the door bar across it, and Conchim leaned back against it, gesturing behind her when Iphigenia and Elzbieta hurried out of the lizard's chamber. 'You heard it. They know.'

'Girls! Are you all right?' said Ulric. 'I just heard them yelling.'

'We're fine so far, Wolfie.' said Iphigenia. 'We're still in the constructor's chambers.'

'Does he give you any trouble?'

Iphigenia giggled. 'Isazea's a little strange, but I don't think she's a bad one.' Footsteps became louder outside the door. 'We'll figure her out later. Right now we need to fight for an escape or push an attack on Malovick.'

'Try to escape. I'll bust Susi and me out of the cage if you girls can't make it. We still have this golem watching us.'

Iphigenia turned to Isazea, who had come out of her bed chamber as well. 'How can we disable the golem guards here?'

A voice from the other side of the main door told them to come out unarmed.

Isazea looked up and pulled her blanket tighter around her. 'You're going to destroy them?'

'We'll have no choice unless you give us another option. Other than taking Malovick's rings.'

The demand to open the door was repeated with loud banging against it.

Isazea gestured at a bench on the other side. 'There are a couple of restraining chains that when worn around the neck of a golem will disable them. They're often used to keep them from moving unexpectedly if maintenance has to be done.'

'Girls, the guards have blocked off the court with three golems.' said Ulric.

Elzbieta picked up the thick, steel chains with oblong, grey stones embedded. 'There's three chains here, so we should be good.'

The door shuddered with a loud bang.

'They're using a battering ram!' said Kaui. 'What are we going to do? They didn't put my pack in with your weapons so I can't fight.'

'Are you talking about a bag with alchemy items?' asked Isazea. 'They gave me one and asked to take a look at what was inside it.'

Kaui hurried over to her and startled Isazea in taking a step back. 'Really!? Where is it?' Isazea pointed at another table and Kaui hurried there while the door received another blow from the outside. She rummaged through the bag and looked relieved. 'Everything's still here.'

The crack of the door echoed loud through the chamber, and it nearly split in two. Elzbieta looked at the others. 'Same as in the feeder tunnels, all right?'

The rest agreed and Valdys removed the bent door bar with a wave of her hand. The door burst open one moment later and four guards stumbled inside with the momentum of the log they carried, and crashed and slid into the tables in the middle of the chamber, raining down their contents on them. Kaui, Valdys, and Conchim wasted no breath and knocked them unconscious with the stools they held.

Elzbieta and Iphigenia shot forward, attacking the two startled guards in front. A few well placed stabs disabled them enough to drop out of the fight without killing them. The next two tried to attack but the two women had more experience, and the last one standing looked nervously from one to the other. 'And here we have vice-captain Harkin.' said Iphigenia when both girls pointed their swords at him.

Harkin's eyes went from the girls to his men on the floor and back, and bolted out of the short corridor.

'Where's the rest?' asked Elzbieta as she lowered her sword.

'A dozen guards with crossbows are waiting out here with the golems, Elz.' said Ulric.

'With the eight here, most of them are accounted for.' She looked back at the others at the doorway. 'Ready to take on the rest?'

They nodded and they went for the courtyard after Kaui apologised to Isazea for the mess. Elzbieta and Iphigenia slammed open the entrance doors and rushed through.

The guards standing just behind and in between the golems released their arrows at the order of the captain standing to the side.

Ulric kicked the cage door open at the lock with a sharp growl.

Valdys conjured the shield spell ahead of Iphigenia and Elzbieta, and Kaui threw several jars at the feet of the guards while Conchim shot up in the air and threw more behind the guards.

The captain, and Harkin standing behind him, cried out in surprise at the cage breaking behind them.

Susi and Ulric rushed snarling out of the cage towards the officers.

Elzbieta rushed at the group in front of her while their bolts splintered seemingly in mid-air, as well as those in front of Iphigenia, who lunged towards her targets while thick clouds exploded everywhere.

The chaos prevented the guards from directing the golems and they became too confused to react to the attackers.

Screams went up along the line of the defenders until they were knocked out by one of the party members, while Conchim took the opportunity to hang the restraining chains around the necks of the golems.

The large stony figures sagged and turned into a trio of failed statues.

One of the guards rushed to the side, turned towards Iphigenia, and froze when she twirled towards him after disabling another. 'Iphi!?'

Iphigenia kept her sword pointed towards him. 'Sorry, Vitro, I'm one of them.'

He chuckled as he shook his head, and lowered his sword. 'I should have realised you were just a tad too friendly compared to everyone else.' he said and held up one hand. 'I give. I'm afraid you're far from clumsy as a fighter, compared to being a maid.'

Iphigenia chuckled. 'I think I can trust you. Just a little.

'Then allow me to warn you.' he said, and jumped aside when Susi and Ulric appeared next to him from the cloud.

Iphigenia chuckled again. 'Don't worry, they're no threat to friends.'

He jumped again when Ulric spoke up. "What warning are you talking about?'

Vitro took a deep breath to slow down his heart, and exhaled slowly. 'Lord Malovick left the castle just before you came out and I've heard talk of him keeping more golems around the castle, but I don't know where or how many.'

Conchim flapped her wings and cleared most of the smoke from the courtyard, and Vitro had to swallow at the sight of his fellow guards and the officers lying still on the ground. 'Don't worry.' said Valdys. 'I just put them to sleep.' He glanced at the yard and nodded. She gestured back at the silent golems. 'If he's right, we have more trouble ahead of us. And we don't have more of those chains.'

Ulric pricked up his ears at the sound of heavy footfalls coming from out front of the castle. 'Something's coming this way.'

They all headed towards the castle entrance and watched a dozen golems approach with axes, spikes, morningstars, and sword blades attached to their four arms. Malovick sat on a chair construction in the nape of a very bulky golem. 'Thought you could defeat me easily!? I'll show you my power!'

44 - When Rocks Collide

Vitro rushed to the gate winch, slammed the lock, and the thick iron gate came down with a heavy bang and loud rattle of chains. He leaned back against the winch. 'I doubt this'll really help in any way though.'

Ulric turned to him. 'There's no other way out of this castle?'

Vitro shook his head. 'Not that I know of.'

'Then he knows we're trapped here. He'll probably wait at first, thinking we're panicking.'

'Even if we aren't, how can we fight against those golems?'

Ulric smirked slightly. 'We? You're with us now?'

Vitro opened his mouth and was silent for a moment. He chuckled. 'Yeah, I guess I am. I was never very convinced that this was the best way to protect the country.'

'All right. We'll be counting on your help.' Ulric said and looked at the others. 'We have to somehow evade the golems and capture Malovick to take his rings away.'

Valdys gestured at Vitro's amulet. 'You might want to get rid of that, it's used to drain your mana to power those golems.'

He looked down at it. 'Oh?' He took it off and held it up. 'Shouldn't we remove them from the others as well to prevent the mana drain?'

'That would increase the drain from the other people wearing similar amulets and might become dangerous. These guys are asleep right now, so it won't make a lot of difference to them.'

Elzbieta gestured to the gate with her head. 'How are we going to handle this?'

Ulric looked at Kaui and Conchim. 'I'd like to see if he can defend himself from an attack from the air. Can you make a few light grenades, Kaui? Enough to knock him out without fatally wounding him? And can you drop them on him from a safe distance, Conchim?'