Chapter 26: Taking The Tower
Faster than any of them ever thought they could. The plan had been scrapped in favor of making a mad dash in the hopes of reaching the chain before being imprisoned, or worse. A few guards had spotted them about a floor down and were now yelling for them to stop.
“Only five floors left!” Macros called, “We can make it!”
They all put everything they had into reaching the top, but the fatigue was beginning to catch up with them. Cass was the first to start slowing down, only three floors from the top with Arctyle falling behind not soon after.
“Guys!” Claudia cried, slowing down as well to reach them, “Grab my hands!”
The other two latched onto her with vice-like grips as she began to practically drag them along.
Arctyle was tripping over every other step with Cass barely keeping up. Exhaustion soon after becoming apparent on Claudia and Macros.
Cass and Arctyle could no longer keep up and with just a couple flights of stairs left, Claudia and Macros grabbed them both and began to carry them up the stairs. The guards were getting very close by then and their shouts became progressively louder.
“Al-most- there!” Macros barely wheezed out as they climbed the final flight.
With one last burst of energy, he and Claudia carried the other two up to the top floor. They crossed the threshold of the stairwell door and Macros slammed it shut, quickly engaging an alien looking lock system. Just as an affirmative *beep* came from the odd machine, the guards who had previously been chasing them could be heard pounding against the door. The group promptly collapsed in a mixture of relief and exhaustion.
Cass was gasping for air, “I’m… Never… skipping leg day… ever again…”
Macros gave a grunt of approval, still unable to form full sentences.
They all took a moment to catch their breath before Claudia finally spoke.
“Looks like we made it, you guys.” She said, pointing at the crimson red chain just beyond them.
Macros whistled, “This thing’s a lot bigger in person.”
Arctyle began to push himself up, handing a card to Cass, “The time to rest is over, we must destroy the chain before Beaumont arrives.”
The other three stood up as well, following the young prince to the chain. The floor reached up to about ten feet from it, leaving a giant gap between them and their goal.
“How are we supposed to get to it?” Claudia asked.
They all glanced at one another, hoping that one of them had a plan. Unfortunately, it looked like they were all equally stumped.
“Got any magic left in you buddy?” Macros asked Arctyle, nudging him softly.
Arctyle stared at the chain for a moment before edging slightly closer and nodding.
“How about we get a rope or something and then we can figure out how to get him across.” Cass suggested.
They all agreed and split up, hurriedly looking for anything they could use as a rope of sorts.
“I found something!” Macros called, running over with what looked like a long electrical cord.
He began to tie it around Arctyle and Claudia handed him her sword.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Cass asked.
Arctyle nodded, tightening his grip on the sword and turning to face the chain.
Macros clapped him on the back, “Good luck buddy.”
Another nod and he stepped back before taking a running leap at the chain. After a moment of focus, he managed to boost himself just enough to grab onto one of the links. Cass and Claudia cheered as he got a grip on the link and Macros just sighed in relief. Arctyle gave them a thumbs up and held up the sword, preparing to break the chain.
“Wait,” Claudia said before he could swing, “I can’t hear the guards anymore.”
At that moment, Arctyle swung the sword down in a crushing blow.
Or rather, what would’ve been.
He cried out in surprise as the sword was knocked out of his hand and it hit the floor.
“ARCTYLE!” Cass yelled, drawing everyone’s attention back to the prince clinging to the chain for dear life.
“Always so predictable, you royals.”
They all turned to look at a section of the floor which opened, raising up a platform. On the platform stood a figure with rabbit ears and antlers. They wore a sleeveless tuxedo with a white shirt underneath and black and gray striped pants.
“Can’t believe how easy it was to get you all here.” They said, chuckling darkly, “Although, having a little help on the inside definitely helped.” they turned to Macros, “Good job my boy, you did better than I could’ve hoped.”
“Can it Beaumont,” Macros countered, “we had a deal, let my friends go and don’t hurt these three.”
“That’s Beaumont?!” Cass asked.
Claudia blew right past that fact though, immediately turning on Macros, “What did you do?”
He turned to her, “I made sure you three would be safe.”
“On the contrary my friend,” Beaumont said, “I said the two humans would be spared, I said nothing about the little prince.”
“You said you’d protect all of them!” Macros cried angrily.
Beaumont feigned ignorance, “Oh, silly me, I guess I forgot Arctyle was in this little rebel group.”
He just waved a dismissive hand, “Oh please, you really thought I’d let the prince of the Fantasy Realm remain free and unharmed? He’s easily at the top of Jester’s most wanted list. Even if I promised to keep him safe, I could never promise she wouldn’t get ahold of him.” he turned to Claudia, “And as for you, it really should’ve been easy to tell that he wasn’t on your side. I mean, the fact that he knew how to disable the power, was able to use the security system, and the guards never caught you. They’re some of the strongest soldiers in my army, they could’ve easily caught you. I just wanted you to bring Arctyle to me.” he grinned, “Which you did remarkably well.”
“Macros you traitor!” Claudia fumed.
Macros began to look distressed, “Claudia please! I promise I only had your safety in mind! He promised that if I turned you guys in, he wouldn’t have you imprisoned or anything worse. I just wanted to keep you-”
She cut him off, “Safe?! You handed us over to a maniac from another dimension! How could you do this to us?!” she began to tear up, “I trusted you!”
They were all silent for a moment before Beaumont spoke up.
“As entertaining as this whole display is, I have things to attend to.” He said, snapping his fingers, “I hope you enjoy my parting gift however.”
Another trap door opened up and he hopped on the chain which had begun to sink into the ground, taking him and Arctyle with it.
“No!” Cass shouted, watching in horror as they fell farther and farther away.
“I think we have a bigger problem right now!” Macros called, pointing towards the trap door.
A large creature began crawling its way out. It had a long reptilian body covered in poker chips and two wings made of cards. Where its eyes should’ve been, there were two 6-sided dice that spun rapidly before seeming to focus on them.
“Because of course it’s a dragon.” Claudia shouted in annoyance, wrenching her sword from the ground, “Cass, go after Arctyle, I’ll deal with this thing.”
She nodded and, using the rope previously attached to Arctyle, managed to swing across the gap and onto the chain.
“What about me?” Macros asked.
“You’re bait.” Claudia said with a wicked grin.
