Chapter 6: Another Confrontation

Down the tunnel the prince, princess and inventor ran, hoping to gain on the wily thief. As they drew closer to the mechanism chamber where Nathan, Vonkar and Flindee had been dumped on their arrival through the secret tunnel, the Prince realized that he hadn’t seen his friends since they all scattered from the cavern. In all of the gagging smell and stinging eyes he hadn’t even seen which way anyone had fled the chamber. The only thing he was fairly certain of was that Ma and Pa sea serpent had gone the other direction. That, at least, reassured him.
But what had happened to Vonkar and Flindee? When the stinkball struck, Vonkar had been near the sea serpent. He hoped now, that Vonkar and Papa hadn’t found somewhere else to continue their battle. He feared that it really could end up with one of them dead, though neither was the villain that the other perceived.

And what about Flindee? Nathan wasn’t sure where the Jester had gone. He had a vague recollection of the Jester whoopin’ it up with his puppet friend on a high ledge in the cavern while all the fighting was going on below, but he couldn’t imagine where Flindee could have gotten to now. He only hoped the silly dwarf would not get himself into more trouble with all of these pirates and black armored soldiers running around.

They entered the mechanism room which was still dark after having reset itself. Frangen switched on his hat lamp and shined it around the room. There was no one to be seen.
The princess didn’t pause long as they entered. “This way,” she urged. “Hagwig must have gone back the way we came in! Let’s get out of this room before the trap goes off again!”

“Trap?” Nathan questioned. “What do you mean trap? This isn’t any trap? This is the secret entrance from Skull Rock Fortress that I came down through. It leads to the beaches above. If you’re worried about traps, you should slow down before we run into Hagwig’s friends! Besides, I don’t think any of them knows the way out of these tunnels. They talked like they were lost down here for hours before we came along and showed them the right way to go. Not the brightest group, but definitely more than a match for the three of us if we run into them down here in the dark!”

“How right you are, my young hero,” came a familiar voice and suddenly the chamber was lit with the same eerie blue light that had bedazzled the prince and his friends the first time they were here. The light came, of course, from the glowing staff of Panganiban who once again was surrounded by King Kugelbone, Captain Claw, and their henchmen.

Not again, Nathan groaned. This time he didn’t have Vonkar by his side to put up a good fight and he didn’t think he was going to get lucky enough for the sand trap mechanism to suddenly activate and give him another distraction that he could use for escape.

“So you managed to escape us, help the maiden, and, we assume, return with the greatest prize in Darrowold.” Captain Claw chimed in. “Congratulations, though it looks like you’ve lost your friends. Too bad for you. You’re going to wish you had your Viking warrior in a moment, unless you just want to cooperate and give us the Serpent’s Eye now. And while you’re at it, tell us where the rest of the treasure is.”

“But did he and his friends kill the sea monster?” King Kugelbone spoke up with a note of concern in his voice. “It won’t do us much good to find the gold if the creature is still guarding it. Tell us what you’ve done, knight. Did you get the Serpent’s Eye and where are your friends? And why do you all stink so much?”

Prince Nathan stepped in front of his sister, bravely confronting the group. “We’re not telling you anything, but you can tell us where the witch went!”

The villains exchanged glances with each other.

“Hagwig?” King Kugelbone asked, confusion on his face. “What do you mean? We’ve not seen her since the lights went out in this chamber and the wizard accidentally put us all to sleep with his dratted staff! We thought she ran off and was lost in the tunnels somewhere. You mean you’ve seen her? Did she follow you then?”

Nathan looked at them blankly for a minute trying to make sense of this. So Hagwig hadn’t run to them when she escaped with the eye? Then where had she gone? He wondered.

Nataleigh had already lost patience with this group. Realizing that they didn’t have the eye, she didn’t want to waste any more time here. Perhaps it was the new improved height of her brother and herself that gave her this new boldness, or perhaps it was that she had grown accustomed to being fawned over on this quest, but suddenly the Princess was filled with indignation and made yet another bad judgment call.

“I am Princess Nataleigh of Amiera and this is my brother, Prince Nathan of Amiera. We are no mere dwarves that you should demand anything of us! We are the children of the High King of Darrowold and the rightful owners of the Key to the Magic Castle. You will step aside for us at once if you value your lives. We are not to be hindered in our quest by you or anyone living down here!”

Nathan’s eyes grew wide at his sister’s behavior. He was sure she had lost her mind now. She obviously had no idea what kind of trouble they could get into by telling people who they were. It was obvious, she hadn’t met Snagglefang.

Again, the three villains exchanged glances and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence as Nataleigh’s words sank in. When the silence was broken, it was Panganiban who spoke this time.

“The prince and princess of Amiera,” he whispered with narrowed eyes. “How did I not see it before? Snagglefang would bestow great favor on the one who brought him such a gift.”

“Take them!” He shouted suddenly. “Take them alive, quickly!”

Frangen immediately brought up his stinkball launcher but it was blasted from his hand by lightning from the wizard’s staff before he could fire. And before any of them could move to escape, the pirates and the huge armored guards had them surrounded with weapons drawn. Neither the prince nor the princess had a weapon and before Frangen could produce any further helpful gadgets, Captain Claw had him pinned with his massive crab claw.

It was over that fast. But then things took another turn. From out of the tunnel behind them came a roar and a giant two-headed shadow burst into the mechanism chamber!

“Leave those precious children alone, you fiends,” thundered the incensed voice of Mama sea serpent!

Papa spewed fire at the ceiling and everyone scattered to escape their oncoming stampede. Nathan was about to run for cover as well when his attention was caught by something on the sea serpent’s back that caused him to stand his ground.

It was Vonkar! The Viking was perched between the two serpent necks, battle axe held high, shouting his war cry over the sound of roaring flames!

A grin broke across the prince’s face as he realized that somehow the impossible had happened.

“Vonkar!” he cried. “What are you doing up there? I thought you wanted to…”

“Ah! I thought I’d try it your way for once, lad!” He shouted back, interrupting the prince. “Besides, you know I can’t attack a woman, especially not one as persuasive as Mama, here! Just don’t tell Grizzle I replaced him as my war steed for even one battle! He gets sensitive about such things.”

Nathan laughed! He was so overjoyed at the sight of his friend and the sea serpent who had become an ally that he couldn’t help himself.

Most of the pirates had been cut off from retreat by the sea serpent’s initial charge into their midst and were now turning to fight for their lives like cornered rats. To Nathan’s surprise, Papa was not the only one involved in the fight. One of the pirates, a skinny fellow with skullcap and a club, struck the sea serpent’s side and was surprised when a ten foot tongue lashed out of Mama’s mouth to ensnare him and draw him in! Many more were caught across their chests by the huge serpent tail that swung back and forth angrily.

Of course, Vonkar would not be denied a piece of the action. Leaping from his perch on the serpent’s back, he dove for the two large armored warriors who guarded the retreat of their king up the opposite tunnel! Though it was two against one, Nathan had no doubt that his friend could handle himself with Foegrin swinging wildly about him.

The prince wished at that moment that he had a weapon of some sort with which to help. Looking around for something he could use, he suddenly realized instead that his sister and Frangen were both gone!