THE NASTY

Chapter 6: Beasts In The Dungeon

The Dungeons

Atorku moved towards the beast and crouched into a fighting stance.

It hissed from its twisted face and lashed out viciously at him with its limbs, the tips of which were long and sharp like swords. He jumped back to avoid two strikes aimed at his eyes, spun and slashed savagely with his sword. The sharp metal bit deeply into one of the limbs of the beast. It hissed with pain and took steps backwards as its tail swung towards Atorku's face.

The warrior side-stepped the tail and slashed with his sword, but the monster rushed forward hard quickly, throwing his aim out of leverage. It tried to push Atorku against the wall, but the warrior kicked out into its face, causing it to slide back, then the blade of the warrior sliced down the beast's face, cutting through what appeared to be one of its eyes.

The beast screeched with pain as Nana watched with terror. Atorku was grunting and spinning, his sword moving with the grace and assuredness of a master swordsman, slashing with deadly thrusts and swipes, forcing the beast back.

Its tail arced into the wall, striking the two lanterns and breaking the glass. One of the lanterns toppled and went out whilst the other swayed drunkenly on the wall and died out. The corridor was plunged into darkness.

Nana was moving towards the lantern in the cell, intending to pick it up and shine its light on the corridor, when he heard a throaty groan of pain from the warrior.

The darkness sabotaged Atorku's vision, and a moment later, the tail of the beast swished through the darkness and buried its deadly tip into the throat of the warrior. Atorku tried to s***h into the tail, but the beast sank one of its limbs into his stomach and tore sideways savagely. The warrior screamed with great pain as the venoms in the tail of the beast increased his agony tenfold. His knees buckled, and he would have fallen if the beast had not impaled his forehead with another savage thrust of one of its limbs.

"Leave him alone!" Nana screamed as he held the bars of the cell, and tears fell down his face. "Leave him alone, you evil beast!"

The beast scuttled backwards, and Atorku's body fell heavily on the corridor. He turned his face and looked at the prince.

"Forgive me, my prince," he said as blood gurgled out of his throat. "I failed you, and I failed my king."

Nana grabbed the cell bars tightly and shook the gate.

"You evil people!" he shouted as his tears fell. "You murderers! You'll pay for this!"

The beast hissed and dashed violently at the cell with a murderous look on its face. Nana moved backwards frantically as its tail swung through the bars and came towards his face. The young prince jerked his face back just in time to avoid being slashed. His back came up against the wall suddenly, and he missed his step and fell heavily on the floor.

He rolled away frantically as the deadly tail of the best arced towards his throat. His back came up against the wall. The beast slashed its tail again, and Nana sat up hurriedly, still screaming. The beast's tail hit the floor and went in deep. It screeched with fury as it tried to pull its tail out.

Nana knew this was the time to try and stomp on its tail and hurt it. That action would either injure its tail or break off the sting at its tip, but he was too scared to move. Finally, all the years of running away from training and violence had caught up with him. He had never felt so helpless and weak. Atorku had just sacrificed his life to defend him, and here he was cowering on the floor like the coward he was.

The beast pulled its tail out finally and flailed it at Nana's face. The prince screamed and moved on his butt into the corner of the cell. The deadly tail arced time and again at him as the horrible creature crashed into the cell door, but Nana just managed to stay out of reach with the sting missing his face by a hair's breadth.

Finally, the monster screeched with rage and did the most sensible and obvious thing; it turned inside the corridor and moved back towards the cell door. At first, its tail had been curling over its body and head to get at Nana, but coming backwards now, it would get to full length, and it would get to the prince.

Nana's eyes widened with horror.

"No, oh goodness, no!" he whispered as his tears fell.

His body shook with the impending pain of that tail smashing into him. The hind legs of the beast hit the cell door, and it slipped its tail between the bars.

There was a sudden commotion at the entrance of the corridor, and the beast reared up with a little screech of apprehension. Nana saw shadows moving along the wall of the corridor as the beast rushed forward, its tail arcing up and down at a new enemy that had appeared.

Nana heard a horrible growl in the darkness, and then a fierce battle began in the darkness, a battle between two beasts going hard at each other. The screech of the scorpion-like animal was pale in comparison to the ferocious growl of the other beast. A moment later, the evil beast whined painfully as it was thrown back against the cell wall. It smashed on the floor, and Nana saw that its tail, and three of its legs, had been torn off. It was oozing a strange green liquid.

It changed fast until it became a small, white creature before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Nana stopped screaming, but he still sat on the floor panting with terror. The beast that had saved him materialized slowly from the darkness beyond. It was a brown, horrible monster!

The monster!

The one he had saved at Davi's Sightings!

The one that had been labelled Hwe Kakai and struck terror in the hearts of the spectators.

The Nasty!

It regarded Nana without expression for a while, then it turned and curled up on the floor in front of the cell.

The prince knew this beast – as horrible and unsightly as it was – had saved him from certain death, and was now guarding him.

"What are you?" he murmured. "What are you? And why are you doing this?"

He wanted to stand up, but he could not. He was still consumed with terror, and his legs wouldn't have been able to support him. He drew his knees up, put his hands on top of his knees, and regarded the back of the beast with troubled and shamed eyes.

Without the help of this beast, he would have been dead by now without being able to put up even a simple modicum of a fight for his life. He stared the truth in the eyes finally. All his life, he had told himself he just hated violence, that he had no use of learning the ways of the warriors. But that had been a lie, maybe. Deep down, he had admired his father's fighting prowess and Biko's expertise with weapons and his fists. Deep down, Nana had wished he too could stand and be counted as a warrior.

But the truth was evident now.

He was nothing but a poor, pathetic coward.

He had been a coward all his life.

How then was he going to be able to undo this great injustice committed against him and his father? How could he face them if he could not even fight for his own life when attacked?

Dejectedly, he put his face in his hands and began to weep softly with the sheer weight of the helplessness crushing his soul!

"Well, this is quite interesting," the calm voice of Sage Dusu shattered Nana's painful introspection. "I believe this settles your case quite nicely, doesn't it? The power-drunk bitter-hearted prince that killed his father, and has now killed the beloved commander of the warriors with his evil little beast!"

Nana looked up with a startled gasp and saw the Sage sitting on the slab of rectangular block meant for a bed. He was dressed in a long, flowing black gown to symbolize his mourning. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest as he regarded Nana with a gentle smile playing around his lips.

The bitterness and pain swept through Nana, and he jumped to his feet with his big hands balled into fists at his sides.

"You damn murderer!" he hissed with wrath and took a step towards the Sage. "I will tear off your limbs with my bare hands!"

The Sage waved his right hand casually.

"Oh, don't be an i***t, my dear prince," he said calmly, but there was a sudden fire in the depths of his dark eyes. "You've always been a fool and a coward, but I take a cognizant view of the fact that you've just lost your father. Sorrow sometimes tend to lend bravery and the fire of vengeance even to the meekest of hearts, so let me fix you where you stand, and stop you from further movement!"

Nana felt sudden and invisible bands tightening around his ankles and holding him to the spot. He tried to move his feet, but he was unable to because the Sage's dark magic held him fixed. Impotent rage consumed the young prince, and he flailed his arms around savagely.

"You evil man!" he hissed angrily. "You will not get away with this treachery! None of you will!"

Sage Dusu laughed softly and nodded.

"Ah, I see that the restless spirit of your father has indeed given you a story!"

"Fact, Dusu, fact!" Nana hissed furiously. "I know the deceit you people spun, and the murder you have carried out! You will pay dearly for this, Sage! You and the queen and Biko!"

They glared at each other with mutual dislike.

"And how do you propose to do that?" the Sage asked calmly. "No one will believe you, prince! The story is that you dabbled in dark magic and killed your father with that beast. Your beast will be responsible for Atorku's death, my boy! Ah, the plot thickens, don't you think?"

"We will leave that to the Oracle and the Wisemen to decide when they hear what I have to say to them!"

The Sage tried to speak, but just then there was a low growl from the corridor outside. The Nasty was up now and was glaring at the Sage with great fury on its horrible face. It took measured steps backwards and then launched itself against the cell door with a sickening, crunching sound.

"Oops, your new demon is furious!" the Sage said with a chuckle, but Nana noticed the sudden look of dismay on his face. "Say, where did you find this crypt creature, Nana? I must admit it is one of the enigmas I haven't been able to fathom out so far. But, do not worry! You and this thing will receive a fair trial – well, fair within the confines of my manipulations, of course – but both of you will die for this!"

The Nasty threw itself against the door again.

"Oh, enough already!" Sage Dusu shouted and pointed his hand.

A huge, dark net dropped from the ceiling and settled down on the Nasty!

"Stop it!" Nana shouted and flailed his arms. "You're hurting it!"

"Yes, prince, I know!" the Sage said savagely. "And it deserves to be hurt!"

The Nasty struggled violently against the net, but it was no use. It settled in tighter around it until the Nasty stopped struggling, and settled down feebly on the floor again.

"You will pay for this, Dusu!" Nana hissed savagely. "Oh, you will pay for this one way or the other! The trial is coming up, and they will hear about all that you have done!"

"Ah, I thought as much!" the Sage said with a wild bark of a laugh. "I just had to be sure your father's meddling doesn't reign supreme!"

"What you're doing is wrong!" Nana cried. "You will plunge Lade into wars and factions and destruction! You must not usurp the agreement we had under the Core! Your greed will destroy Lade!"

"Oh, shut the hell up!" the Sage said furiously, passionately, and got to his feet. "Don't start behaving like your fool of a father! Lade deserves better, and she is going to get it, do you hear? That archaic agreement is crap! We will rule!"

"You will not rule!" Nana hissed furiously. "I will let the whole of Lade know the truth!"

The Sage smiled wickedly.

"Oh, Nana!" he said with a voice filled with fake pity. "How can you speak the truth if you can't speak at all, huh?"

He waved his right hand again, and Nana felt a sudden pain across his throat. He tried to speak, but nothing came out, only screeches!

The Sage had just taken his voice!

He grabbed his throat and tried again and again, but nothing coherent came out, only that maddening screeching sound! Impotent rage slammed through his young heart, and he looked at the Sage through eyes that filled with tears.

The Sage laughed softly and began to disappear, becoming less and less solid.

"Enjoy your night and try to conserve your strength, prince. Tomorrow is going to be a great day in your life!"

He laughed again, mockingly, and then he was gone.

Nana found he could walk then, and he moved lethargically to the gate, squatted and reached out to touch the Nasty as it lay weakly on the floor.

He tried to speak, but still, nothing came out.

His helplessness increased, and this time it was laced with another emotion: fear!

He was getting very scared now!