Devils Own ( Steam Punk Adventure ) 6.3

6.3

Kassius looked to the prince who was smiling at the departing creature. He approached the other but was interrupted by the appearance of the Nephilim who had dug itself out of the ground. It was dressed in the gnome reddish coat and held a shovel the height of Man. It climbed out and howled at the six figures. It was Renfield who sprang into action, with his walking cane. He jumped up and did a somersault before he pressed the cane side to release the blade at the end. The Nephilim swung the shovel at him which caught him on the somersault. Renfield landed his feet on the shovel handle and did a quarter twist to do a scissor kick towards the Nephilim’ head. The kick hit the Nephilim and then he did a reversed somersault to plunge the blade into the back of the chest. The blade was coated with a chemical which soon spread across the body and freeze its movements. The result was almost instantaneous and the Nephilim fell on its face.

“Renfield is quite an adept guard. He had fought these giants before and had suffered but he is gaining momentum.” Prince Csaba smiled. “He learned acrobat tricks to make himself versatile.”

Renfield had landed on his feet, did a curtsy bow on his achievement. The cheering soon ended when another Nephilim appeared from below and pulled at the aide below. Prince Csaba rushed forward but the aide of his was gone under the ground. He hollered at the hole but there was no reply. It was then another two Nephilim appeared on the sides.

“We have been compromised!”Kassius shouted and drew his sword. He rushed to the nearest Nephilim who was armed with a pick. The giant swung the pick at him but Kassius had his sword drawn. He cut the pick at its metal head to the surprise of the giant. Kassius followed up with a thrust at the giant’ chest and killed it. He pulled out the sword and saw Irina had burned the other giant. The flame had engulfed the beard and the coat.

“This way.” Prince Csaba motioned to his entourage. He walked on but paused to look back at the hole. He will miss his old friend. He then led the group to the tree lines, and then there was a carriage with four horses in waiting there. They climbed in and then the carriage took off. It destination was not disclosed but the horses were pulling hard.

Then the firing of the bullets was felt on the roof of the carriage. It was followed by the sounds of cannon shots.

“What are those?” Prince Csaba shouted out. He had been underground for too long. Kassius looked out from the carriage side and saw the cause of their issue.

“Pegasus!” Kassius saw two of those flying contraptions up there. “Richard II had more of the inventions here too.”

Kassius looked to the sky again. He then asks the Prince if there was anything that could fly.

“Fly? How would I know anything that could fly when I have not done it by myself?” Prince Csaba replied. “The creature was the first I had seen who could fly in years.”

Kassius proceeded to open the carriage door and climbed out to the driver bench. There he saw the reins to the horses are still tied there and held it. He took control of the four horses and directed them past the trees. Over the tree tops, the two Pegasus were still in pursuit with one frigate lending support higher up. He lashed at the horses to move them to weave past the trees so to throw the Pegasus shooting off course. He then came into the thicker end of the trees and hid them from the flying hunters but the later had spread out to shoot in random. He held the reins and pulled the horses to turn around, and retracted on their path. It was then Irina joined him on the carriage top.

“Can we shoot back this time?”

Kassius nodded to her, and then pulled the horses to move out to the open. Once they hit the open clearing, they rode hard and then the Pegasus came roaring towards them. It was then Irina let off her flames but the distance was too far to reach it but it deterred them off. At the higher heights they were not able to aim better, but the frigate came in with their cannons.

Just like it started, they saw the frigate turning to leave without warning and so were the Pegasus. Kassius looked up and saw the Leviathan had returned from its retreat. It was flying towards the frigate and it was getting adept with the extended fins. It was also making greater speed than the frigate and soon crashed into it. It used it body mass to crash into the bottom hull and dragged the cracks to sink the ship. Down below on the ground, Kassius had released the reins to let the horses took its own course.

“Where are we going?” Irina asked.

“No idea. Let the horses decide.” Kassius replied. It was then Prince Csaba joined them. He heard the question and provided the answer.

“We will now seek our Fafnir’ Cave.”

Fafnir was from the legend of Loki and Odin who the former had killed for the cursed gold of Andvari and his ring Andvaranaut. It was greed that made Fafnir killed the other brother to keep the fortune of gold which was paid in ransom for the release of Odin and Loki. It was fabled that Fafnir became obsessed with the gold and then evolved into a giant serpent lizard to guard the treasure. Fafnir also breathed poison into the land around him so no Man will come close to his lair. In that world, Prince Csaba had defeated the serpent lizard and had it swore allegiance to him. He had appointed it as its treasure keeper.