King boo hovered at the head of the procession as his prized prisoner was dragged through the halls.
How the tables had turned, and after such an evening of unnecessary discomfort. The great Mario had delivered himself up on a silver platter, things couldn't have turned out much better than this. The king was so exuberant he almost didn't mind the mud being tracked across the fine (if a bit dusty) carpet. Though that would need to be dealt with sooner than later; it wouldn't do to leave a trail for their next 'guest' to follow.
As if on cue, another boo fazed through the ceiling just ahead of the party. King boo stopped, signaling for the rest of the procession to do the same.
"Has our other guest arrived yet?" he asked as the newcomer attempted to gather himself.
"No sir, it's the others," was the enthusiastic reply.
Ah yes, the others. King Boo had almost forgotten about them.
"What about them?"
The boo in front of him sucked down an enormous breath, and the king raised an eyebrow.
"They've woken up and are exploring again, they suspect something for sure. It's likely they heard the fight in the parlor, because one of them went straight there," he blurted out.
"No matter, they can't do us any harm," answered King Boo, then stopped and considered what he had just been told. "Only one of them went to the parlor?"
"Yes sir. The other is wandering the halls," the scout continued, anticipating the next question.
So they'd become separated and without any help at all.
"Well, we can't very well have them wandering, not with such an important guest due to arrive at any time," said the King. "Take a few more boos with you, and deal with the situation."
The scout nodded curtly and would have darted off then and there, but the king stopped him again with a chirp.
"Though do try and bring at least one of them to me. It's rather odd for a pair of humans to show up on the doorstep, especially ones I've not heard of. I would very much like to know who they are and what they are doing here."
The little boo smiled voraciously. "Yes my liege," he said, and disappeared through the wall.
• • •
Novi had technically woken up when Comet had slapped her.
She had never been that heavy of a sleeper in the first place, and getting slapped like that would've woken anyone up. Not that she minded. She had just rolled over, drifting back into a sleepy stupor;
that is until somebody had yelled, and Comet tore out of the room.
Needless to say, after that the thought of sleep had been blown right out of Novi's head. She was up instantaneously, grabbed the kit bag, and was off after her sister down the halls. There was no way she was being left alone after a sound like that.
By the time she had hit the hall, Comet had already vanished around a corner. Novi ran after her anyways, as fast as she could, relying on the pounding footsteps ahead to know where to go. There was no way she was going to catch up--her sister was much faster than her, it was just a fact of life--but Comet had to stop sooner or later.
The plan sounded good in theory, but it didn't take long for it to prove less than ideal in practice.
Novi tore down a flight of steps then stopped, listening and gasping. She could still hear her sister's footsteps, but they were even further away now, still seeming to be going down. She hesitated, peering at the next flight of dark stairs. Up to this point, Comet had seemed to be retracing their path to the door. Thinking about it, though, why would Comet do that? She wasn't running away, no way, no how, she was looking for whoever was in trouble.
Novi plunged down the stairs.
She kicked herself for losing more time, straining her ears for the sound of steps, but they were fast fading in an undefinable direction. There was only one way to go, though, and that was straight, so she continued to run.
After a period of nothing but the pounding of her own steps, Novi stopped again and listened, but there was absolutely nothing to hear.
This was bad...
Novi took a deep breath. She did not want to be alone right now, but things were still relatively in hand. Comet would realize that she wasn't behind her sooner or later and would backtrack. That's how things always worked. She just needed to hold tight for a bit, and if it really came to it, she did know the way back to their room.
Novi glanced around the hall she now found herself in. It was rather narrow with a decently high ceiling to compensate. The floor under the carpet was stone now, rather than wood, which was something to note.
It also wasn't totally dark.
Novi did a double take. Somehow it hadn't comprehended it in her mad dash, but some of the candles mounted along the walls were actually lit. That would definitely explain why she hadn't been running into things this whole time, nevertheless, the entire concept of lit candles was not one she liked. Not on her own in a place that was supposed to be deserted.
She glanced around again on instinct, suddenly realizing how short a distance she could actually see. Something could be done about that at least. She cupped her hands and blew a little white fire into existence then held it high in one hand. Instantly every detail of the hall was thrown into sharp relief. The hall was indeed, unarguably empty.
That made her feel a little better.
Batting away any uncomfortable notions, she began to look for signs of Comet passing through. After a few moments she was able to pick out a light trail of mud smeared across the carpet. Despite everything she sighed, glancing down at her own socked feet. Why Comet insisted on sleeping in her shoes all the time she had no idea. Particularly her mud caked travel boots; it just didn't make any sense. But at least they had left a trail.
Novi followed, keeping her mind focused on the line of mud in front of her, grateful for some indication of where to go. But it was short lived. The mess wound on for a good distance, but it didn't take her anywhere useful. After a while, it too started to fade away. Clothing can only hold so much mud after all.
This situation required a new game plan.
Novi tried listening again. She had wound herself deep enough into the place to mask any sounds of weather from outside. Her breathing sounded obtrusive against the wood siding, as did every rustle of her clothes. Heading back to their room was starting to seem like the best option.
There was one other sound to be documented, a chirping, almost giggly sound, though it was very faint. She had noticed it a while ago, chances were it was just mice.
She had been setting it aside as irrelevant up to this point; frankly, rodents were the least of her problems right now. It wasn't like they were anything new either, she'd been hearing signs of them ever since the kitchen, why bother with them now? Mice weren't all that bad, if they scattered it would warn her that something was amiss; if somebody started following her or something wretched like that. She shuddered, pushing away the thought of the yell that had drawn her and her sister out in the first place.
She stopped and blinked, forcibly clearing away the uneasy thoughts accumulating in her mind. This was getting out of hand. She made a sharp, decisive turn, heading back the way she had come.
Despite this newly set resolution, Novi didn't make it far. The reason for this was the sudden disappearance of chittering.
She stopped dead, whole frame tightening, eyes darting and ears strained for what could have caused the disturbance, but everything was still, and the hallway bare. Novi was unconvinced. She darted forward, running fiercely and silently across the stones. Her heart jumped into her mouth as she ran by something that hissed, but she didn't stop. There weren't many branches in the path here, but she ducked down the first one she saw, dowsing her flame and crouching in its shadow.
There was silence.
As her whits regathered, Novi began to wonder if maybe she had been the one to cause the disturbance. She had changed directions rather suddenly after all. As if to confirm her thoughts the chittering started up again, some ways back and from the direction she had come. Though it was growing louder quickly.
She stood up and reignited her light, feeling kind of stupid, only to topple backwards as a violent squeal exploded to her right. She scrabbled for her weapon, backpedaling into the main hallway. Whatever she had startled hissed, trailing off into a warbly whine. The sound it made was almost exactly like...
She turned, and ran again.
The chittering behind her didn't stop this time, instead it rose, peaking with excitement. Needless to say Novi was feeling less keen about their presence by now. Despite her efforts to get away, though, whatever it was continued to gain.
Novi made another executive decision. She planted her heels and spun around to face them, weapon out and light held high.
The sound bit off with a collective hiss as she turned. The hall was completely empty.
Novi braced against the wall, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.
'It sounds like a displeased tea kettle' she thought to herself, trying to scrape together her last few fragments of calm.
Nothing flew at her right away. She took another deep breath.
First order of business was figuring out what it was. She ran a list through her mind of things that hissed, chirped, and hated light. Bats, rodents, and any other normal thing she was pretty sure she could rule out. Unless it was an oversized spider like the ones in the servant's hall...
She glanced at the roof, but there was nothing there either, just delicately arched beams.
Something clattered and Novi snapped to it so fast her neck kinked. The only thing there was a stationary suit of armor. She cringed and began to inch sideways, keeping her back against the wall.
Soon after she started to move in earnest the chittering stuck up again, closing in to the very edges of her light. Novi kept on, ducking her head as she walked, half expecting something to swoop at it, glancing over her shoulder every other step. The things didn't even bother to stop when she did this, just continued to mock her from the bare hall.
This wasn't going down this way.
Novi stopped suddenly, whipped around, and charged back with a sharp yell, driving her blade at the emptiness.
There was a corresponding scream as whatever the thing was dove away from her. She continued to press at it, falling after the sounds with her weapon, waving her fire wildly in the other hand.
They did not like that at all whatever they were. They squealed, hissed, and screamed as they scattered, trying to escape the oncoming light. After a few seconds of panic, the things retreated down the hall, shrieking all the way. There was another clatter as one of them smashed into the suit of armor.
Novi held her ground for a long moment, looking fierce and breathing heavily. But everything was quiet, and this time, it stayed that way. She seemed to have earned herself a bit of peace, at least for the moment.
And even if they did come back, she could deal with them, at least as long as she had light, which was something she wouldn't be running out of this side of the grave.
Novi started walking back towards the room again.
"Novi!"
Novi stopped short.
"Novi where are you!?"
She felt a wash of relief, Comet had finally come looking for her.
"I'm here!" she shouted, turning to walk back in the direction of the voice.
"Come on Novi!" the voice shouted back.
• • •
Comet smashed into the room they had been staying in. It was empty, just as she had been afraid that it would be; Novi hadn't come back.
She resisted the urge to spit. The cry from the parlor was ringing in her ears; she had left Novi behind like an idiot, and now she was gone.
She glanced across Novi's empty nest of blankets. The pack that had been at the head of it was gone. She had probably grabbed it before running out of the room, but not--Comet put her hand over her face--but not her boots. Those were still resting at the other end of the pallet. Novi had run out into the halls in socks. What had she been thinking?
Comet grabbed her own pack and the flood lamp, and plunged back into the halls.
Novi had been right behind her when she left the room initially, Comet had heard her follow. That meant she had to have made a wrong turn somewhere between here and the parlor. Nobody could have grabbed her, not when Comet had been so close. Novi could fight like a cat if the situation arose. Given her particular 'talent’, nobody could have taken her without a struggle, and Comet would have heard that. She was probably wandering around right now, trying to find her way back, and Comet had to hunt her down her before anything else did.
If worse came to worse, the dragons were right outside, and she could get them. They would find Novi if they had to turn the place to rubble in the process. And if someone had caused her sister's disappearance, heaven help them when their guardians found them.
Comet snapped out of her thoughts and stopped, listening intently. She could have sworn...
"Comet!" came the shout again, echoing faintly through the halls.
Comet turned a full 180 degrees and dashed towards the sound, only to skid to a halt after the first few feet. The call was coming from the wrong direction, the exact opposite of the way she had taken to the parlor.
"Comet, where are you?" the voice shouted again.
"Don't move, I'm coming!" Comet shouted.
Novi had probably tried to come back to the room, but overshot.
Comet ran until the hall ended in a t-bone branch. She stopped, confused. If Novi had hit this she must have known she had gone the wrong way; why would she kept on wandering? She was about to shout herself, but was beat to the punch.
"Come on Comet!"
It was from the left hand path.
"No, don't come on! I said stay where you are!" Comet yelled back and started to run again.
It was obvious pretty quick that the path she was on now led out of the servant's quarters. The hall broadened steadily as she ran, growing more extravagant by the yard. Before long she was passing up grand halls and elegant curving staircases; not that Comet was terribly interested in the scenery right now.
She stopped again, ready to risk another shout, but was immediately cut off by a call from around the next bend. She was getting angry now, this chase was stupid and it wasn't like Novi at all. Her sister was nothing if not prudent, and running around like this, especially given the circumstances, was about as imprudent as you could get. Comet was being dragged deeper and deeper into this conflabid place, always going down, (at least two flights of steps already). Where the heck did she think she was going?
And now that she thought about it, how was Novi staying ahead of her like this? Novi couldn't outrun her on a good day, let alone hold the two steps ahead she had somehow managed to maintain this whole time.
When Comet didn't start moving, the voice called again, this time plaintive. It made Comet's heart turn over.
"I'm onto you, you hear me?" she shrieked to the empty halls. "Show your filthy face!"
There was no reply.
"What have you done? Where's my sister?"
There was a high, squealing laugh; the sound was inhuman. Comet stood frozen where she was, flushed in the face, livid, and horrified.
So many horrible scenarios crowded at the edge of her mind, but she pushed them away. Slowly, she turned, and started to make her way back the way she had come. If that's the way this thing wanted to play, she would rise to the occasion. Murzim would be more than happy to meet it in its own court.
She didn't get far, nearly bludgeoning her nose on a closed door, a door that had most definitely not been closed a few moments earlier. A quick turn of the handle proved that it was also locked. Without a second thought, Comet set down the lamp and slammed the door with her shoulder. It shuddered, but didn't budge. She took a step back and kicked the door as hard as she could, just below the handle, again and again.
Behind her there was a wail of surprise as the paint began to splinter off the door. As if in self defence, a lace of glowing webs spanned across its surface, forcing her to lay off the assault. Then something dove at her.
Comet didn't get a good look at what it was, it grabbed her from behind, dragging her out of the circle of lamplight by the neck.
She yelled out and thrashed, clawing at the thing that was pulling her down. It was semisolid, her fingers sank into it almost as if the thing didn't exist, but somehow repelled at the same time. There was a draining sensation, a terrible, sickening tiredness...
She jabbed backwards with her elbows, twisting furiously. Her attacker warbled painfully as she struck something more solid, it's grip slipping as she jolted back into the light. Her weapon was out in an instant, and she rounded to face her attacker.
The thing was an incoherent, glowing log of blue, thrashing around in the air a few inches off the ground. It let out a long garble of discomfort, and stared her down with a pair of nasty black eyes, shrieking its displeasure. Comet ducked to the side as it lunged after her again, swatting at it with her sword. It dodged the blow with a hiss and literally vanished into nothing.
More glowing things were popping up, fading in and out of her realm of vision as it pleased them.
"Back off!" shouted Comet, trying to watch all of them at once, snatching the lamp and swinging it at them. They hung back, wary of the light. Somewhere in the rafters, the same chittery laugh rang again. Somebody was having fun with this.
The spits of light around her seemed to take courage at the sound. One, and then another dove forward, slashing and grabbing at her as they came. Comet twisted out of the way of one only to slam into another. She again felt that sickly, draining sensation, and recoiled. Thankfully, the creature seemed as shocked at the impact as she was, though it recovered much quicker, diving after her as she flinched away.
Comet stabbed the thing.
It let out a squealing howl as the ionized blade passed through it, launching backwards as if it had been electrocuted. It spun plaintively in the air for a moment, eyes glassy, mouth agape, before its directionless drift sent it gently through a wall.
The other creatures were blank horrified. They dove in every direction, scrabbling away from her. Comet played her advantage, letting out a battle shriek which gave the phantoms a run for their money, and slashing at the slowest. She managed to hit two more, both of which went into the same state of shock as the first, before jerking away in a crippled fashion, or simply fading from sight entirely.
There was another outraged chitter from the ceiling, though it sounded a little less sure of itself this time. Comet didn't pay it any attention. She would have preferred it come down from there, so she could give it a proper piece of her mind, but if it wasn't going to, fine by her. She rounded on the locked door. The web was grey and lifeless, it's venomous blue aura gone. Comet took a chance and slashed at it; it gave way like paper, two angry black scorches running through the length of the wood beneath. One more good kick and the door gave way, flying open into the opposite wall.
Comet plunged though without even looking back.
The boo in the rafters gawked after her, suspended motionless in a pure state of shock. He couldn't believe what he had just seen.
The king was not going to like this.
• • •
Somewhere below, Mario was starting to regain consciousness.
He was slumped against something uneven, his arms seemed to be stuck over his head somehow. His head was a mess; throbbing bouts of pain passed through it in waves, aching down his neck and into his back.
He grimaced, opening his eyes slowly. Purple tadpoles of light swam across his view, everything beyond was black. A thick wad of nausea was imbedded deep in his stomach.
What was going on? Why was he...
Mario scrambled to his feet, stumbling back into the stone wall behind him. The clatter of metal echoed deafeningly through the little chamber, sending fresh jolts of pain though his skull. He ignored it, staring around him blindly, but the flecks of light--residue of the spell he had been hit with, probably--were preventing his night vision from kicking in.
Even without his eyes he had a good idea what kind of situation he was in. He smelled damp, everything he touched was hard, bare stone, something metal was biting into his wrists. It was plenty of information to go on. Mario yanked against his bindings, bringing on a fresh crescendo of clatters. He didn't get far; the shackles were embedded in the stones behind him. Terrific.
He leaned against the wall again, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes, willing the remnants of the boo's magic to dissipate. It didn't do much good.
His head ached.
A deep rasping laugh filled the cell, and he scrambled up again as an incoherent blob of white drifted into his view. Mario squinted at it, trying to discern the features as it approached, though he knew full well who it was. King Boo took one look at the man in front of him and laughed again. The chains had been meant for someone taller, even now that he was standing his arms couldn't quite rest at his sides. Mario's expression hardened as he waited for the boo to get over its fun; he wasn't about to give his captor the satisfaction of reacting. Mentally, he prepared himself for the gloating he was so obviously about to endure.
"I must thank you for your cooperation; you've saved us a good deal of trouble," said the boo, grin widening. "I was rather surprised by your appearance. You weren't expected until much later. Of course, you've probably figured out already all of this was meant for your brother."
Mario didn't react, didn't even blink. Though his eyebrows did drop the slightest bit. The thought had crossed his mind.
The king kept on, seemingly paying this reaction no attention.
"Of course, once in possession of him, you wouldn't be far behind. You would have thrown yourself at us headlong for his sake. But I must say, I prefer the way things have turned out."
Mario didn't answer; he didn't look away, just stood there staring down the monarch with a stoney expression. King Boo was impressed. Very few mortals he had encountered could hold up such a show of calm in a situation like this. He had definitely brushed a few nerves through their 'conversation,' nerves he had every intention of exploiting later, but for now he was wasting his time.
He chuckled to himself. "Very well, as you will. I must take my leave now. I have a few preparations to oversee." he waved an arm, and the torches on the walls ignited, lighting the room in a spectrum of soft purples and blues. "That should keep you fairly protected against the other inhabitants of the mansion. Though do yell if one of them manages to slip past."
With that the king departed, leaving his prisoner to dwell on what he may.
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