Chapter 12 - Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Sabian's robot guards take Thundarr, Ariel, Ookla, and the five youngsters into the dungeons. None of them noticed the invisible girl slipping silently behind them. Once there, they meet up with Sabian's mutants. They locked Ookla into a specially designed cell, made especially for moks. Sheila watches as they lock Ookla's arms into very heavy shackles. The mok's hands are locked into large cylinders that go all the way up his forearms past the elbows. They locked the shackles with a small golden key. The chains are the heavy type typically attached to anchors, the other ends mortared heavily to the dungeon walls. Then each of the other members of the team are locked into their own private cells, the doors locked by a silver key. Ariel is led away, her wrists still bound, and Sheila follows. Sheila watches as the nega-knights lock her friends' weapons in a large, heavy vault. Then she explores the rest of the palace. She finds Sabian's audience chamber. Princess Ariel is there, her wrists and ankles shackled with heavy steel chains, being forced to serve her stepfather as a slave. Sheila explores more of the palace. She finds the library, Sabian's private study and laboratory, the mutant guards' barracks, among other things. Sometimes she would set Uni down and remain visible. Other times she would tuck Uni under her cloak and turn invisible. By the time she returned to Sabian's audience chamber she had committed much of the palace layout to memory. Sabian has done enough tyranny for the day and decided to retire for the night. Venger stalks off to his guest quarters, Shadow Demon skulking close behind. Two mutants escort Ariel to her quarters. Invisible still, Sheila follows. When they enter Ariel's bedchamber, there are two robot guards standing watch inside the room. Ariel sits down on the edge of her bed and begins to cry. Suddenly the maintenance hatch on one of the robot guards pops open and several wires pull out, apparently by their own accord. The other robot guard walks over to investigate and the same thing happens to that one. When the second guard is disabled, Sheila sets Uni on the floor and takes the hood of her cloak down, becoming visible again.

"Ariel," says Sheila quietly, frightened of alerting any other guards.

"Sheila?" Ariel says in an astonished voice, "You're okay!"

The two young women hug each other. They sit down on the bed and Sheila takes a look at the shackles on Ariel's wrists.

"They're magical," Ariel tells her, "they can't be picked. They have to be removed with magic."

"I'm just a thief," says Sheila, "I don't have anything magical to remove them with."

"You're more than just a thief," Ariel tells her, "much more. And right now, you"re our best hope of getting out of here alive."

"Jeez, no pressure or anything."

Ariel chuckles, "Sorry," she says.

"So this is where you grew up?" Sheila asks.

Ariel looks away sadly, "Yes," she says.

"So what happened?" Asks Sheila, "How'd you get someone like Sabian as a stepfather?"

"My parents used to rule this land as king and queen," Ariel tells her, "Sabian was their royal magician, a sorcerer. Sabian lusted after my mother. What's more, he lusted after power both political and otherwise. Eventually he cast a spell upon her, charmed her into murdering my father. After an 'appropriate' period of mourning, she remarried to Sabian. As I started becoming a young woman, Sabian's attentions started to be directed towards me. Eventually he tired of my mother and had her executed for murdering her king. It was shortly after this I decided to flee with Thundarr and Ookla. And the rest, as they say, is history."

"So that's why you don't like to talk about your family," says Sheila.

"Yes," replies Ariel, "but that's not important now. Right now we need to work on a plan to get us out of here and send you and your friends home."

"I know where our weapons are being kept," says Sheila, "They're in a vault."

"Yes," agrees Ariel, "that would be the royal vault. Without the key card it's virtually impenetrable."

"Then I'll have to get the key card," says Sheila, "Where is it?"

"Sabian keeps it with him at all times," replies Ariel, "likely the only time he's without it is when he sleeps. His 'royal bedchamber' is on the very top floor," Ariel tells her, "be very careful. I'd hate to think of what might happen if you were to get caught."

"Then I just won't get caught," she says, "but I'll need to leave Uni here."

Uni makes a questioning bleat. Sheila kneels down and scratches her behind her ear.

"I need to move quickly and quietly," Sheila tells her, "I love you, but I can't carry you all over the palace. And you can't be seen wandering around. You'll be safe here with Ariel, and I'll be back soon."

With that Sheila puts her hood back up, turning herself invisible, and sneaks out of the room. She slips through the halls, sneaking past robots and mutants along the way. Invisibly, she climbs the winding stairs leading up to the uppermost levels. She looks up at the ceilings and swallows a lump in her throat. Attached to the ceilings are laser gun turrets, rotating back and forth looking for something to aim at. Putting her head down to keep from looking at the dangers overhead, finally she reaches the top floor. At the end of a long hall are a huge set of gilded double doors. And standing guard along the walls of the hallway are several robot guards, at least a dozen per side. These four armed robots are standing perfectly still, almost at attention. The only movements they make are their heads, which turn back and forth constantly watching the entire hallway and the only indication that they're not shut off. Sheila takes a deep breath to steady her nerves and then carefully walks down the hall. She let's out the tiniest sigh of relief as she reaches the doors without incident. Ever so slowly she eases the door open, once it's open wide enough to allow her inside, she slips in and pulls the door shut. Quiet as a mouse, Sheila places one invisible foot gently in front of the other, creeping slowly across the room. On a table next to the gigantic luxurious bed are Sabian's metal gauntlets and helmet. On a mannequin next to the table are his cloak and wizards robes, but no key card. Sheila approaches the bed. Lying there, draped in a silken sheet is the wizard Sabian.

Sheila understands now why he wears the helm and gauntlets. She had overheard many of Ariel's tutoring sessions with Presto, and learned that abuse of magic in this world corrupts one both emotionally and physically. While Sabian's arms, legs, and torso are still very human looking and quite attractive, his hands have become horrible bestial claws. And his face is deformed, almost demonic, with wicked fangs and bony ridges along the brow and jawline. And attached to a chain around his neck is the key card. Lying in bed next to Sabian is an attractive young woman. She too is wearing nothing but the silken sheet draped over her body, and judging by the metal shackles on her wrists she's not there by choice. Confident that Ariel's stepfather wouldn't want his subordinates watching his more intimate encounters, Sheila dropped the hood of her cloak making herself visible once more. Stealing the key card is going to be more difficult than she first assumed and needed to be able to see what her hands were doing. Ever so gently, Sheila unhooks the clasp on the chain and removes the key card, slipping it into her pocket. She then re-hooks the clasp. Just as she's finishing up she looks over to see the slave girl looking at her with a panicked expression on her face. Sheila raises a finger to her lips indicating for the slave girl to keep quiet. The slave girl nods in agreement, rolls back over, closes her eyes, and pretends to go back to sleep. Sheila puts her hood back up, becoming invisible once more, and slips out of the bedroom.

Sheila gets to the vault with very little trouble. Her invisibility allows her to keep from setting off any traps or alerting any guards. She opens up the vault, and nearly faints as she sees several of the four armed robot guards inside the vault, likely as a last line of defense against anyone who got this far. Sheila quickly recovers then goes about disabling the guards just as she did in Ariel's bedroom. She makes herself visible, then gathers all of her friends weapons into a sack. She tucks the sack under her cloak, then puts her hood back up making her invisible again. Then she hurries off to Ariel's chambers.

Later, Princess Ariel is heading down to the dungeons. She's carrying a large pot filled with some sort of stew and a stack of wooden bowls and her hands and feet are still in irons.

"What's this?" Asks one of the mutant guards.

"Food for the prisoners," Ariel replies, "Sabian's orders."

"I wasn't notified," says the other guard, "I'll have to clear this."

"Go ahead," says Ariel, "but I warn you, he's sleeping right now and he isn't alone. Do you really want to wake him for this?"

"Good point," says the guard, "okay go ahead."

The other guard leads Ariel to the cells where Thundarr and the others are being kept. He unlocks the first door, Thundarr's, and let's her in. Thundarr's just about to pounce, but stops himself just in time when he sees it's Ariel. Then he hears Sheila's voice whispering in his ear.

"Wait until we give you the signal," she says.

Then Thundarr feels something press into the palm of his hand. He looks down, it's the Sunsword. Ariel and the invisible Sheila leave the cell, one by one they're each slipped their weapons and told to wait. Once everyone has their food and their weapons, Ariel starts to head toward the exit. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Uni appears and makes a mad dash down the hall.

"That's the little barbarian's pet unicorn!" Ariel cries, "The one that got away!"

"After it!" Shouts the senior guard, "Don't let it get away!"

They begin running after the baby unicorn, who's bleating out in terror.

"Uni!" Bobby cries, and he smashes his cell door down with a single strike from his Thunder Club. He steps out into the hall and glares at the two mutants. "Don't you touch her!"

Behind the two mutant guards, two more cell doors fly off their hinges. Thundarr and Hank step out of their cells, Sunsword and Energy Bow at the ready. Hank launches an arrow which wraps around the two mutants and ties them together. As they struggle to try and break free, the keys lift up off of the senior mutant's belt. Then Sheila appears, keys in hand, and begins unlocking the other cells. Meanwhile, Thundarr cuts the shackles from Ariel's wrists and ankles.

"How are you feeling, old friend?" Thundarr asks when they finally set Ookla free.

Ookla responds by picking up Thundarr and Ariel in an enthusiastic, crushing hug.

"I guess this means he's feeling better," Ariel gasps.

"It's really Sheila we have to thank," Thundarr tells him, "if not for her, none of us would have escaped."

Ookla then picks Sheila up in a grateful hug that nearly crushes the life out of her.

"Um. . . uh. . . you're welcome?" She says as she tries to breathe.

"I'd hate to break this up," says Ariel, "but we're not out of the woods yet."

"Yes," agrees Thundarr, "we must get the young ones to the time portal, then escape ourselves."

"So what are we standing around here for?" Asks Eric, "Let's go!"

Hank and Bobby shove the guards into an empty cell and Sheila locks the door. They then unlock all the other cells in that part of the dungeons and release any other prisoners stuck down there. Once they're sure the slaves are all on their way to the secret escape tunnel, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla guide the kids to the time portal.

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