The Standing Ones didn’t breed me as a killer but they left me the option, should it be the only way to succeed. But I wasn’t a monster. I didn’t kill the Poker even after what he did and I wouldn’t hurt these two. What would I say to my son if I did?
“I do not mean you any harm,” I said, even though I doubted they’d understand. At the same time, I flooded the room with my calm, hoping they’d understand that.
One of the monsters cried out again and hid their head in the arms of the other, weeping. I flicked off the Lightning Stick and creeped out of their chamber, closing the door behind me. I wished I could have communicated with them but more monsters had to be on their way and I needed to be gone before they arrived.
Chapter 4: The Chamber of the Wheel
I fled down the plush-floored hallway of the Dream Keeper, barreling toward the door I entere
d from. It opened when I neared, sliding silently into the wall. Instead of the bright lights that lit the main hallway when I left it, they had darkened by half. Every second they flashed bright red and when they did, a loud grating horn sounded.
The monsters and their ways might have been a mystery to me still, but I didn’t need to understand them to know what this was: an alarm. The whole ship knew I’d escaped and would be on guard, ready for me.
Thunderous hooves, no feet, sounded down the hallway toward where I’d encountered the Artist. I rushed the other direction as fast as I could manage. Escape seemed almost impossible with all the monsters ready for me. The Standing Ones had given me another option but as they also gave me a desire for self-preservation, I’d only use it as a last resort. As long as I still had a chance, as small as it might have been, I’d keep trying to get home to my boy, to warn my people.
The hallway ended up ahead, separating in two directions. Symbols in the monster’s still indecipherable language covered the wall with arrows pointing down each way. Thankfully, I recognized one symbol. Instead of the lines and squiggles of the others, it consisted of a sky-colored blob in the shape of a raindrop with two sticks extending out of it past the drop’s tail.
Before the monsters had taken the other members of my crew, the Ship Tenders shared all they knew of the monsters and their attack on us. The symbol on the wall looked like their description of the Monster’s craft. I turned down the direction indicated, hoping it might lead to freedom.
At my speed and away from the plush floor covering of the Dream Keeper’s Hall, I couldn’t help but click against the hard surface. I kept all of my senses wide open, searching for any evidence of nearby monsters. The air reeked of fear and unlike that wafting off the Poker, it hadn’t come from my crew. It was monster fear.
The klaxons and my clicking along the hallway limited my hearing. I had to depend more on my vision. Side passages shot off of the main hallway but the monsters’ arrow along with the symbol of their ship continued to point straight. Other than looking for more monsters, I scurried past these passages
My own fear spiked when I passed the last of them. A whiff of monster stink hit my senses, tinged with rage. I shifted the Lightning Stick I’d stolen from the Poker in front of me and rushed past.
Two monsters burst from the passage, dressed in the silvery covering of the Poker, each armed with similar Lightning Sticks. The first one to enter the hallway saw me, its eyes bulging wide. It held a finger from its paw over its worm-like lips and stared at the other monster who shook its head up and down. They ran in my direction, gaining on me fast. If I escaped, I’d have a long conversation with the Standing Ones about speed. It shouldn’t have surprised me that people who no longer moved would discount the benefit of it.
Every instinct I had screamed at me to respond, but I ignored them all, continuing down the hallway as if I hadn’t seen them. I had an advantage these monsters didn’t know about, not yet. I studied them every moment I spent around them, learning more and more of their ways. Their sight limited their thinking. They saw through a pair of eyes facing forward and assumed I did as well.
Problems came from all directions, so the Standing Ones needed problem-solvers to see in every direction. The monsters grew ever closer and the screams of my instincts became harder and harder to ignore. Just a few more feet.
The first monster reached my go point, its meaty paw rearing back with its Lightning Stick ready to strike. I twisted to the side and its Lightning Stick struck the air I’d occupied a moment ago, its tip crackling. The stalk I had wrapped around the Poker’s stick snapped at the monster, jabbing it in the side.
The stricken monster gurgled and stiffened, its arms shaking while the lighting disabled it. The other monster bellowed and thrust its stick at me, rage practically oozing off of its pale skin. I folded in on myself, twisting, but not far enough.
The familiar pain cascaded through me and I flopped to the floor, rolling away. Even after escaping the Lightning Stick, the pain continued, leaving several of my stalks stiff and unusable, including the one wrapped around the Poker’s stick.
The remaining monster hadn’t finished, it stepped over its fallen comrade and lashed out again with its stick. I scrambled out of the way, only just, the lighting tipped stick slamming into the floor. Movement slowly returned to my paralyzed parts, and I stopped backpedaling.
A smile so similar to the Poker’s I almost quaked in fear upon seeing it, spread on the monster’s face, showing its teeth and stretching its skin. It barked words in its horrible language, likely nothing kind.
It stopped its advance and held out its weapon. Lighting crackled on the end for a moment while it jabbed it forward an inch. I flinched and the monster barked a laugh. When it tried to get me to flinch again, I acted instead.
It enjoyed my fear and its power over me, wanting me to flinch. The second time it jabbed the stick forward and activated the lighting, I dropped to the floor and shot toward the monster. It leaped back and swung its crackling Lightning Stick at me but it sailed right over. The monster stabbed down with it, but by then it was too late.
My stick shot up, catching the monster between its legs. Its free hand slapped against my stick a moment before I activated the Lighting. It howled in pain, wrenching the stick from my stalk in the vice-like grip of its paralyzed paw when it fell to its back.
I stood and before I’d even pushed away the fear that blossomed from the confrontation, I grabbed all three Lightning Sticks. With my new weapons at the ready, I skittered down the hallway, continuing to follow the directions on the wall.
The hallway ahead took a turn, opening up to a large set of double doors, their frame colored gold. Did that colour mean something special to the monsters? My senses hadn’t picked up any nearby pursuers, so I slowed as I approached the double doors. Unfortunately, before I neared close enough to extend my senses past them, they slid into the walls, opening.
A monster stood on the other side, freezing with wide bulging eyes when it noticed me. It wore a gold color covering from its neck to its black-covered feet. Its mouth opened and I lurched forward, jabbing it with one of my Lightning Sticks and moving into the chamber.
Oval in shape, the chamber had a domed ceiling. Several gold-covered monsters sat in front of ornate tables filled with glowing buttons and what appeared to be small windows embedded in them. Several larger windows lined the curved wall at the far end of the chamber, each showing the darkness, twinkling with the light of distant stars.
The Chamber reeked of monster fear and the remaining monsters inside huddled at the far end as far as they could get from me. It seemed the gold-covered monsters were not fighters like those clad in silver. Except for maybe one.
In the center of the chamber, one of the monsters stood in front of a large wheel, its meaty paws wrapped around it. Our Ship Tenders used a similar device to guide our ship. Was this their leader? If I had it, I’d have leverage.