Heart's tale

Chapter 4 part 2

The one who had no name yet could only see the astonished puffy faces of Hark and Hurk, who immediately joined together several times in the big guy's hands and settled on the floor. Next to the bodies of the two fatties stood a stone table with small shackles. The monkey was on it. Or rather, what was left of her. On the surface of the table was a charred piece of head with chipped curls and ashes, and across the table was the furnace burning with a scarlet fire, where the pokers rested. Snorri roared, rushed to the furnace, and grabbed the poker from it. He turned toward the flaccid executioners lying on the floor, but at that moment shouts were heard in the corridor. Snorri froze hesitantly, then looked out the door and threw the poker there. Someone screamed at the top of the lungs, but the one who had no name yet could not see them in the clouds of steam. Snorri started rummaging through the torture chamber and snatched a small bag from a hook on the wall, where he carefully put Lila's remains and scooped up the ashes.

Clasping the bag tightly, he wrapped it with a dirty rag he'd grabbed from the table and tied it with rope, then swung it over his shoulder. He looked with hatred and frustration at the figures sprawled on the floor, grabbed two more pokers from the furnace, and dashed out into the corridor. Something bright and loud whistled over the head of the one who had no name yet. Snorri ducked down and threw the poker in the direction of the flash, which seemed to be the source of the rumble and noise. There was a shriek. And Snorri, knocking down the people lined up in the corridor like pins and pummeling them with the red-hot poker, had already made his way to the stairs and was climbing up in big leaps.

As he emerged from the well, several volleys were fired at him from the upper floors and from somewhere behind. From the tower above the door, a machine gun fired. The big guy darted into the next aisle behind the columns and, looping, ran toward the exit, where the figure of a knight in black armor could already be seen raising a double-edged sword. Snorri ran up to a column not far from the sinister figure and, cursing, bounced away as the knight brought it down with the sword strike. But while he was picking it up again, the big guy moved his tongue and spit out a white ball in his hand. The one who had no name yet watched with interest as the big guy swung and threw the ball at his opponent. The ball hit him in the opening of the metal neck and cracked on impact. A gleaming white dust covered the armor on the knight's back and shoulders. He jerked, purple smoke billowed from beneath his black armor and sparkled with white smoke, causing the knight to shake and fall to the grate floor.

In the resulting curtain, bright flashes whistled, but Snorri was at the door in two leaps, wrenched it open and got out. The door jingled with ricocheting bullets, and as he slammed it shut on the other side, there was a roar of engines over their heads, and Raud on the flying motorcycle was lowered onto the pier.

"Why didn't you pu..." Snorri growled menacingly at the octopus, but he didn't have time to finish, because the water swirled again, and another building began to rise from the other side of the pier.

The one who had no name watched in amazement as the building straightened, shining in the dawn sun with its pipes and pistons, and turned out to be a giant steam robot, from which a chrome-covered arm detached and reached out to them.

"Hurry up!" Raud shouted, and Snorri immediately jumped on the aircycle.

Raud jerked the machine upward, and the robot's arm missed in midair, crashing onto the pier and breaching it. A thunderous alarm sounded from the bucket that served as the giant's mouth, screaming until the steam robot's head slammed into the prison building with all its might.

The fugitives disappeared between the factory skyscrapers, and like a swarm of bees, the air garrison of the prison rushed after them.

"Why didn't you put the building down? They wouldn't have been able to start!" Snorri shouted, but his words were drowned out by the wind whipping in his face and the roar of the engines.