Discoucia Page 5

  Back in the ship Arthur dusted the snow off and put the gun back on the mantelpiece where it belonged. “You see, it is real!” shouted Jo.

  “I still doubt that there could be a monster there, it was probably someone in a costume,” said Arthur.

  “How can you still not believe what you have seen with your own eyes?” she asked. “Any creature like that would be constantly seen moving about or stalking its prey. I just don’t believe in anything like that actually existing without anyone knowing or seeing it,” he replied.

  “And what do you mean costume, nobody is that stupid to dress up like a monster,” said Jo.

  “You’d be surprised,” replied Arthur, as they left the mountains and flew south over the Acacia Forest to Proceur.

  The Panicked Populace of Proceur

  The city of Proceur was founded in the Green Shade Valley by some former inhabitants of Gard that wanted to leave the smoke-polluted mining city and live a more harmonious existence with nature. They built a large wall around the mouth of the valley and built acacia wood houses, since at the time there was no law against cutting down the trees. They began with planting simple crops but soon discovered that the soil was perfect for growing grapes, barley, hops and wheat so they turned into a brewing city. After building the largest brewery in Discoucia they became famous for their Nature’s Ale and their other export, Blue Whisky. The people became prosperous, but they used the money to build new waterways and alternative technology that didn’t pollute or belch out foul smoke.

  The main street of Proceur stretches up to the main bridge and in the other direction is the main gate that has a road along it on the other side, and then the Acacia Forest stretches far off into the distance like a green ocean. Either side of the main street are the houses where the residents of Proceur live. Their houses have the most beautiful gardens, which have the most fragrant flowers used in the fermentation of Blue Whisky. The City is ruled by Lord Artlintone, or at least it was the last time Arthur visited the city, and he lives in the majestic Hilltop House, which is built out of blue and white marble similar to the city of Adlin in the north.

  The Nostradamus landed in the massive cobblestone square near the main gate. The place was deserted, and Arthur walked out onto the deck and scanned around. It was a long trip from Icester and the sun was setting in the east, behind the mountains, and the streetlights were beginning to illuminate the empty street.

  “So, that component you removed from the back of the machine, why did it lead us here,” asked Jo.

  “That’s something I thought I covered on our long trip,” replied Arthur.

  “For the readers Artie,” she said sarcastically.

  “Oh right, well on the back it read that this was one of two, and since Professor Claudio said that it was to be used to scare superstitious locals, then where better than the forcefully undeveloped city of Proceur?” he asked.

  “I can’t think of anywhere to be honest,” she replied.

  “In that case, I assume that all the locals have retired, and that fog bank creeping its way across the floor and up the street may have something to do with it,” said Arthur. Sure enough the fog was creeping closer to the ship, but seemed to be staying about a foot high, and not going everywhere like in Karga.

  “What do you suppose we do?” asked Jo.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m going for a walk,” he said.

  “I’ll stay here and wait for you, I’ve got some tidying up to do” she said.

  Arthur vaulted over the wooden banister and rolled onto the cobblestone street, causing wisps of fog to roll around him. He stood up, dusted himself off and walked down the street. He stopped, and Jo watched as Arthur knelt down and waved his hand through the fog. “It’s warm,” he shouted. Jo waved back and walked into the sitting room. Arthur continued to walk down the street and disappeared out of Jo’s sight.

  She looked around the sitting room and pulled out a book on ‘Horticultural Engineering’ but it stuck halfway out and clicked. The bookcase slipped open, and she found that a safe was built into the wall behind it. At this point Jo saw a potential challenge and put her ear to the safe and clicked the dial. When she heard two clicks she opened it up and she saw that the size of the door bore no relation to the size of the actual inside of the safe. There were ten gold bars, and a blue silk bag that was filled with jewels. What attracted Jo’s attention were the papers that lay beneath the gold and platinum jewellery. She pulled out one of them, and it was a letter from someone only known as ‘A’. She read the letter and her eyes widened as she discovered something about Arthur that she never would have guessed.

  “Jo! I need help now!” came Arthur’s voice from outside. She threw the paper back in and slammed the safe door shut, and closed the bookcase. After running outside onto the deck, she saw Arthur running down the street clutching someone in his arms.

  “What? What is it?” she shouted back. Arthur reached the ship and pushed the person up, who was revealed to be a young girl of about 80. Jo pulled her up and Arthur stayed standing, looking down the street.

  “What were you running from?” she asked the girl.

  “A Monster!” she replied, shaking.

  “Did it have glowing yellow eyes? asked Jo.

  “It was so tall! Look, there it is!” said the girl, and Jo saw that a figure just like the one she saw in Karga was slowly advancing up the street. It stopped about five feet from Arthur, and just stood there, its body indistinguishable from the darkness that enveloped it.

  “So, who might you be?” asked Jo, as Arthur climbed aboard.

  “This is Dahlia, who was breaking this new curfew law put in place by Lady Elain, who replaced Lord Artlintone,” explained Arthur.

  “I didn’t think he had any family,” said Jo.

  “He didn’t, that’s why I am a little suspicious of this whole setup,” he replied.

  “So what do we do now?” asked Jo.

  “Do you want to go home, Dahlia?” asked Arthur.

  “Yes, but how? That thing is guarding the road,” she replied.

  “Then I’ll distract it while you and Jo go over the rooftops” he said.

  “Are you mad? That will never work,” said Jo.

  “Do you have a better idea? It’s made out of cast iron and by my reckoning it can withstand a bullet, so I really can’t think of anything else to do,” he explained.

  “How are you going to distract it?” asked Jo.

  “I’ll be back in a second,” he said, and walked into the sitting room leaving the two girls watching the black figure. Arthur returned with a powerful looking rifle, and he rested it on the decking aimed at the figure.

  “I thought you said that bullets wouldn’t work.” said Dahlia.

  “Sometimes, when you’re facing an adversary that thinks it’s invulnerable, a large dent in its armour will have to do,” he said.

  “Is that a metaphor?” asked Jo.

  “Well, if someone knows that you’re going to fight instead of being scared of what they put in front of you, they become less of a barrier and more cautious of you,” he replied.

  And with that Arthur aimed directly at the head of the creature, and pulled the trigger. The gun kicked, a bang filled the silent air and echoed all around the valley. The creature was hit on the top of its head and the bullet caused what appeared to be a helmet to fly off, exposing the inside. The creature walked forward, then backward, and then fell onto the floor with lights sparking out of its eyes.

  “I wasn’t expecting that,” said Arthur.

  “You killed it!” said Dahlia.

  “I’m not really sure that it was alive in the first place, do I look like a murderer?” replied Arthur.

  “You’re the one holding the gun,” she replied.

  “I like her,” said Jo.

  By now a crowd of people streamed out of their houses to see the fallen creature. “Grandpa!” shouted Dahlia. She climbed down from the ship and ran to a man who wa
s looking at the creature. Arthur ran down too, and Jo saw them talking to each other. Arthur pointed at the creature and four men helped him carry it into a hall at the end of one side of the street. Jo decided to lock the door of the sitting room and follow Arthur to the hall.

  Jo walked into the hall and saw several villagers crowding around something in the centre of the room. She wandered over to Arthur’s side and saw that he was disconnecting several wires from the creature’s head. In the bright light of the hall the creature could be clearly seen. It was in the shape of a man, and its body was made of metal, painted in black. There were hundreds of rivets holding it together, and it was 10 ft tall from its feet to its head. Arthur yanked out a long thick copper wire from its head, and the creature jolted. Apart from Jo and Arthur all the villagers jumped back, but saw that it was just a nervous twitch.

  “So, it’s a robot?” asked Jo.

  “Just like one of those clockwork toys from when I was a kid,” said Arthur.

  “Only this one can smash granite,” said Jo.

  “You see, the copper wire that was connected to a brain seems to be part of a remote control, and whoever is controlling it must be somewhere up high, so they can have a better signal, and so they can see what they are doing,” said Arthur.

  “Explain what you mean by ‘remote control’” said Dahlia’s grandfather, who was nicknamed Magpie since he had a habit of finding silver when they were digging over a new field. He was also Lord Artlintone’s head gardener, and was seen as a head man in the city.

  “Well, it means that someone could be standing all the way on the other side of the valley, and be controlling this here by pressing a load of buttons. They wouldn’t have to be close, and by extension they wouldn’t be implicated in any crime that was committed. But it seems that the only thing that this little devil was being used for was keeping you in at night,” explained Arthur.

  “I see, so what do we do now?” asked Magpie.

  “Dismantle this thing so it can’t be reactivated, and I suppose there really isn’t much we can do until the morning so I’ll say goodnight and meet you outside my ship about 6.00,” said Arthur.

  “That’s fine with me, I’ll bring all my best men, and hopefully we can sort things out once and for all,” said Magpie.

  Arthur and Jo left and walked back to the ship.

  An Uprising Down South

  The sun rose above the verdant valley, and the flowers were blooming in the beautiful gardens. However, this would be a different day than one the people of Proceur were used to, as a group of men walked towards the Nostradamus. Jo descended the stairs and entered the sitting room, where Arthur was sat at his desk. He was tinkering with a pile of gears and wires, but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere with them.

  “What are you doing?” asked Jo.

  “Nothing really, I got bored; I think we should go to Chene after this, I need a laugh,” said Arthur.

  “I would love that, I haven’t been there for years,” she replied.

  “Oh good, is there anywhere you want to see?” he asked.

  “I always wanted to stay at The Paradise Hotel and to visit Princess Mona, since she will only see royalty,” said Jo.

  “Why does she do that?” asked Arthur.

  “I think that she’s very stuck up, which is strange for someone so young,” she explained.

  “Would she see me?” asked Arthur.

  “I don’t know to be honest, there’s only one way to find out,” she replied.

  “Okay, it’s Chene next then,” said Arthur.

  “Sir Pageon, were ready,” shouted Magpie from outside. Arthur joined all the men outside, and they planned what they were going to do. Arthur looked into the distance and saw Hilltop House, and asked them about what they knew.

  “One night they moved in, they came with three flying ships and the next thing we knew, we were under the rule of Lady Elain,” said Magpie.

  “So what happened to Lord Artlintone?” asked Jo.

  “He died quietly in the night, but there was no funeral, and he was taken away, and we began to be ruled with curfews and forced work,” he explained.

  “I want to go there, but I guess that it’s guarded,” said Arthur.

  “Of course, there is no way to get in,” said Magpie.

  “Well that’s really not true, I have an idea but I would like you to create a big disturbance that will cause as many of the guards as possible to leave the house,” said Arthur.

  “And what are you going to do?” asked Magpie.

  “I’m going to leave, and fly off into the North,” he said.

  “You’re leaving us?!” asked Magpie, stunned.

  “As far as Lady Elain and her guards are concerned, I shall leave, and that way I’m no longer a threat,” replied Arthur.

  “Then what are you going to do?” he asked.

  “You’ll see, all you need to do is focus on distracting the guards, I’ll leave you to think of something interesting,” replied Arthur.

  Arthur climbed aboard the ship, and she lifted off the ground, blowing dust everywhere. They watched as the ship flew north, across the green ocean of acacia trees until it was out of sight.

  Jo was left with the people, and she helped them in their plans for distraction. It was mid afternoon when they exacted their plan. A guard walked past the large stone stairs that extended up to Hilltop House, and didn’t at all expect the potato that flew through the air and cracked him square on the side of the head. Since the guards were not used to the citizens fighting them, they both turned around to see that a large amount of people were standing in the streets around them. They didn’t know what to do, and one of the guards decided to run up the stairs, shouting for other guards to help. The other guard just stood, aiming his rifle at different people in a worried fashion.

  Magpie and Jo walked forward, and stared at the frightened guard. “We want to see Lady Elain” said Jo.

  “You can’t!” he replied.

  “Why?” asked Magpie

  “You just can’t, now return to your homes!” he shouted.

  “No, not until we see Lady Elain,” said Jo.

  At this point a battalion of guards appeared down the stairs, all carrying rifles, and wearing white uniforms.

  “By order of Lady Elain, you people must disperse” shouted one of the guards that had recently turned up.

  “Make us” shouted Magpie.

  “I will shoot!” he shouted, and all of the men cocked their rifles.

  “If you shoot any one of these people, then the 200 of us will take down the 20 of you, and those gun’s aren’t instantly reloadable, so what chance do you think you possibly have?” asked Jo. The guards shuffled nervously as the truth of what Jo said slowly hit them like a flying potato.

  Above them, a large explosion was heard, and The Nostradamus flew out from behind the house, and was followed by another ship. They had a duel in the sky, and the ships whizzed around firing side cannons at each other, but they missed each time. The Nostradamus flew out over the walls and out over the flatland that led to the mountains. The ship fired at its enemy, and its back engines blew out, causing it to fly at the mountains. It skidded onto a slope, and all of the crew jumped out and ran just before the ship exploded. The Nostradamus flew back, and all the guards ran back up the stairs. The people watched as another ship flew out from behind the house, and once the guards had gone out of sight another appeared, and followed the other into the east, as the sun was now dimming and the pink moon rose. They were parallel to the mountains, and once they were reduced to tiny dots on the horizon they were gone.

  Out above the wastes Arthur and the other ship nearly collided, and he ran out as Corky steered it expertly so that the two ships never touched. Arthur drew his sword and pistol that he hardly ever used and was greeted by the seldom seen Lady Elain who jumped from her ship to his. She wore a similar ensemble to Jo, but hers was much looser and was mainly blue.

  “You shouldn’t
have come here Sir Arthur!” she shouted, staring him down while her curly blonde hair flew like a flag behind her.

  “I was under the impression that you were a lady, but you fight like a man!” he shouted back as the clash of steel was drowned out by the roar of the ships engines.

  “Maybe you should be more focused on what your opponent is doing instead of what she should be doing!” she shouted, and lashed at him with her rapier.

  Gravity then took over as Corky tilted the ship and Arthur felt the fine tip of the blade graze his left eyelash. He however was holding on to the banister but she fell down into the open air beneath, only to smash straight into the gunship as it flew over and off to the west and the still lingering darkness of the moon.

  A cheer went up from the people, and Magpie, accompanied by Jo ascended the stairs of the now deserted house. They found that Arthur had docked the ship and with the help of Corky had taken something from Lady Elain’s room. The house was in a mess, with bottles and other rubbish strewn across the floor. Doors were knocked off their hinges and interior windows were broken. The wall paper was torn and some of the paintings were either thrown on the floor in the corridors or had large holes in them.

  “Look at the state of the place, Lord Artlintone would be turning in his grave,” said Magpie.

  “Not exactly,” said Arthur, who appeared out of a dark room. He turned the light on, and they saw that Lord Artlintone was laid in bed, fast asleep.

  “They drugged him I think,” said Arthur.

  “Have they really gone?” asked Magpie.

  “I believe so, and when he wakes up you can tell him that the evil that was holding your city is now gone,” said Arthur.

  “How can we repay you for setting our town free?” he asked.

  “A crate of Blue Whisky wouldn’t go amiss, if I’m honest,” said Arthur.

  “Consider it done,” said Magpie.

  “Oh, and there’s one more thing, but can I discuss it with you in private?” asked Arthur.

  “Yes of course” said Magpie. They closed the door and Jo heard them muttering something indistinguishable, and Jo just caught Magpie saying, “It’s the least we can do.” They opened the door, and said their goodbyes to Magpie and Dahlia.