Dark Energy Supernova - An Anthology of SF SD Shorts

Part 4 - The Blood of a Lantis Man

The twins held their rifles ready and kept their eyes sharp as Jack planted his explosives, ready for anything.  With a glance at the darkening sky telling Karmie that time was dwindling, she was about to say so when Jack suddenly straightened up.

"All set here," he quietly announced as he stood and pulled out the hand held trigger Karmie had wired for him the night before.  It was a simple enough device, set to send a wireless signal to a detonator buried amongst the explosives.

"Let's lure in our giant, shall we?" Jack flashed a brief smile and Karmie felt it warm her heart before she steadied herself by force of will.  Then she was forced to focus as, after setting up a remote loud speaker near the explosives, Jack was leading them back up onto a nearby wall.  Once the three of them were secure, the man in black checked his watch.

"Time's up!"  he said and pressed the trigger on the detonator.  A sharp explosion quickly followed and they watched a gout of dust and stone chips spurt up from where they had set their trap.  A heart beat later they heard the giants talking to each other as they began to move to investigate.

Nodding in satisfaction, Jack lifted the loud speaker's handset.  The loud speaker was a device simple in principle, but complicated in application.  Not only did Karmie have to wire a handset that would take in the stranger's voice and transmit it wirelessly to a receiver.  But then that receiver would have to amplify that transmitted sound several fold as well.

"Cormoran!" Jack's amplified voice roared.  "Where are you, you bastard?"

The confused rumble suddenly hushed.

"Well, well, well," a hard voice echoed through the castle.  "Jack Nimble, if my ears don't deceive me.  Tell me, Jack: why has King Arthur sent his favorite spy to interrupt my gathering?"

Jack threw the twins a quick look.

"This loud speaker is almost as good as having a hat of invisibility," he whispered, hand over the mouth piece.  Then:  "And the Master of Giants must be feeling more arrogant than usual to allow his dogs to kidnap Her Grace, Lady Alicen, Duke of Kornwall's daughter."

That elicited loud laughter from all the giants.

"I've always considered you a clever man, Jack.  You should've known by now that Arthur doesn't rule Lantis.  We do.  And we'll do what we please here."

"And that would be why I'm here," Jack said.  "To stop you from doing whatever you please.  Come and face me, Cormoran.  If you're not too much of a coward."

The laughter abruptly faded.

"I let you call me coward before, Nimble and live.  Not this time!"  Karse's eyes narrowed as while watching through his scope he saw one of the massive metal shapes stomp forward, weapons appearing from hidden compartments.   A number of the giants made to follow but Cormoran, obviously stung by Jack's comments and wanting satisfaction by his own hand, waved them back.  He then continued his advance alone into the labyrinth of courtyards.

"I have him," the white haired lad murmured as he focused on the figure within the glass cockpit.  "I've got a clean head shot."

"Save it for Blunderbore and Galigantus," Jack said, fitting together the cleverly devised rappelling kit Karmie had made for him. "Cormoran is mine!"  Then he was jumping off the wall top, the rappelling kit letting him drop quickly before bringing him to a halt just shy of smashing into the ground.

Frowning, Karse kept following the determined Cormoran as the giant bulled his way forward through crumbling walls.  Jack had said that as if this was personal.

"I know you're close, Jack," the giant rumbled. "I can smell your Lantis blood!"  And with a swing of his steam-powered arm, Cormoran carelessly knocked over another wall.  And in doing so, he kicked up so much dust and debris he didn't see the pit until  it was too late.  Stepping into the space created by the explosion, the giant's arms windmilled for a moment before he dropped awkwardly into it with a loud crash.

"Damn you, Nimble!" he roared, the pit deep enough that his shoulders were below ground, negating his greater strength and preventing him from pulling himself free.

Karse watched through the scope as Jack appeared, one of Karmie's steam-powered harpoon guns in his hands.  Cormoran had just enough time to twist inside the cockpit to face him before the grim spy fired. 

The length of a man's forearm, and propelled by several atmospheres of compressed air, the harpoon easily penetrated the cockpit's thick glass to pin Cormoran bloodily in place.  Then Jack drew his flechette pistol and emptied his magazine through the hole the harpoon had made, the high-powered barbs ripping Cormoran's head into a bloody mess.

"Aye, he's dead, Jack," Karse muttered.  "Now get out of there before the other two arrive."  A motion in his peripheral pulled Karse's attention there and he watched two more giants began to move into the labyrinth, weapons ready.  A quick look showed the rest holding back, which they would've done only if the two now moving forward had told them to.

"Got 'em," he said over his shoulder.  "Blunderbore and Galigantus.  They're moving into the labyrinth along Cormoran's path."

Snapping her rifle up, Karmie quickly found the two advancing giants through her own scope.

"I have them as well," she declared.  "I'll take the one in the front."

"And I got the one in the back."  Karse confirmed, taking aim on the pilot's head.

The rifle gave a hard kick as it fired, Karse having set it to unleash its entire pressure cylinder on this one shot to make the distance and still have the power to punch through the cockpit's heavy glass.  And the young lad watched with satisfaction as the inside of the giant's cockpit was abruptly painted by blood and pieces of brain a heart beat later.

Instantly the giant jerked to a halt, robbed of its pilot.  It quickly was joined by its comrade, Karmie as deadly accurate with the rifle she invented and built as her brother was.

"Done," she breathed, looking over at her brother.  "We did it."

"Aye," Karse agreed, attaching a fresh pressure tank.  He gave his weapon a quick check then nodded with satisfaction.  "Now we just have to get out of here alive before we can call ourselves successful assassins."

"Not assassins, Karse," Karmie corrected him as she too put in a fresh tank.

"Giant killers."

With their leaders gone, the rest of the giants panicked and ran, leaving the way to their dungeons free and clear.  Where the three found not only the captive noble woman, but nearly two dozen more that languished in the giants' dungeon as well.

Karmie frowned as the Lady Alicen threw herself into Jack's arms to give him a passionate kiss after they cut her chains, a kiss he quickly returned.

"Well," Karse said as he stood beside her, rifle balanced on his shoulder.  "I'd say those two already know each other."

"Aye," Karmie grunted sourly, the fantasies she had been entertaining about Jack abruptly turning to ash.  "C'mon.  Let's go get our Sparrows.  We'll need to bring the dirigible down lower if we're to get all these people out of here!"

Karse watched his brilliant but now visibly unhappy sister march away from them for a moment, thoughtful.  Now that Arthur knew Karmie was useful, her brother suspected it wouldn't be long before His Majesty sent Jack to their door once again.

Karse let out a long, drawn out sigh of resignation and began to walk after his sister.  Where Karmie went, so would he.  So if she got talked into another one of these 'adventures', he would be right there with her.

"Which is fine by me," he said to no-one in particular.  "As long as somebody makes me those damn lemon poppy seed squares before it happens!"

*****