Chapter VII: City Hunt part 2

  Rapunzel & Red stealthily made their way into the house concealing the Wheel base. Every second felt like a waste as she could almost feel the kill squad catching up to them. Rapunzel forced herself to calm down and take it slow. This was a hunt, and you only attacked when you were sure of your quarry. Red had taken point, and was silently creeping forward, her bare feet coming down as delicately as paws, barely even disturbing the dust.

  They found no traps, but the door on a center wall heading to the basement was locked from the inside. Presumably the kill squad had been let in, meaning the Wheel operators in the city didn't know they were being cut loose.

  Rapunzel leaned against the door. A strand of hair slithered like a snake and entered the keyhole. She had practiced since her time in the plain white room. A few seconds later the lock clicked and she gently pulled it open. A steep staircase led down into the basement, and a faint glow from around the corner indicated someone was there. Red took the lead once more and crept up to the corner. She took a quick look, then moved on. Rapunzel followed, finding a long corridor that ran alongside a series of iron doors. The corridor was empty, bet there was a muffled sound coming from the first door.

  "Red?" she whispered.

  Red nodded and sniffed the air. "Three people, six animals. Pig, eagle, bear, some kind of snake, dog, deer."

  "Can you tell their locations?"

  "I can't see through walls Blondie."

  Rapunzel nodded. "We go door to door. Take them out as quickly as possible, leave at least one alive. I'm guessing the animals won't be a problem."

  Red nodded and stood next to the first of the four doors. The sound of people talking crept through the gap under the metal. So at least two people in this room. If all three were here, they could kill or disable them before they sounded an alarm. If the third was Alice, she was probably restrained, and that would only make things easier. A frown was forming on Red's face as Rapunzel flung open the door and charged into the room. Just as she was opening it, her hair gave her a warning, too late. In the second she had entered the room, she realized all her assumptions were wrong.

  First, they weren't four rooms, but Rather four doors leading into one very long room. Second, all three Wheel agents, dressed in the same white and red uniform of alchemists, were in the room, but on the other side, the low ceiling reflecting the sound so that they sounded closer. And thirdly, the six animals, while technically there, were in the form of two monstrous amalgamations. The two chimeras sat in steel cages at the end of the room, and two of the alchemists were busy examining them. In a frozen moment Rapunzel and Red stared at them, and they stared back. Then all hell broke loose.

  "Code five!" called one of the alchemists and pulled out a long bar pin from the side of the cage, which gave a screeching sound and ponderously fell apart.

  Rapunzel was already moving, grabbing a jar of something and flinging it at the alchemist running for a table in the middle of the room. The jar smashed against his side, knocking him off balance. Rapunzel had made it about half way when a sensation of sharp danger made her throw herself to the ground. A loud bang sounded in the room, the sound amplified by the restricted space and Rapunzel felt something whiz above her and impact the wall behind her.

  Red gave a howl of pain and clutched her ears. She fixed the alchemist holding the pistol with a vicious look. He dropped it and raised his hands.

  "No, please." Then he turned and ran as Red leapt over a table, giving chase. Rapunzel turned her attention to the alchemist going for the middle of the room, where a complicated construction stood, all vials and wires.

  He reached the table just as Rapunzel was restarting her rush towards him. He raised a fist and smashed it down on something. A thrown chair clattered against his face, knocking him unconscious, but it was too late judging by the pale red light that flashed on and off on the device.

  At the other side of the room, a scream cut off as quickly as it started. Rapunzel noticed that the second cage had also been opened, and the third alchemist was aiming a crossbow at Red. Eh, she could take care of herself. Rapunzel took a few seconds to grab the construct on the table and break it against the ground. That probably didn't help, but it was worth a try.

  One of the chimeras, a strange combination of pig, snake, and possibly deer judging by the antlers, stepped towards her with a weighty, ominous look. It was much larger than its constituent animals, nearing two heads taller than Rapunzel and at least ten times her mass. It had six legs, ending in hooves, only four of which reached the floor, the middle two hanging limp. A pig-like face turned towards her, with sharp teeth and blood-red eyes. Multiple sets of haphazard antlers scraped against the low ceiling. Finally a mane of living snakes writhed about its neck, reaching out towards her, and hissing a venomous chorus.

  It charged, going from still to full speed in the blink of an eye. Rapunzel flung herself out of the way just in time, the chimera obliterating the table behind her, then the next couple as its hooves scraped the smooth flood trying to break. The snakes snapped out at her as they passed, but she had dodged low, and out of reach. Remembering the unconscious alchemist, Rapunzel glance at where he had lain. He had been in the chimeras path.

  Down to one. "Hey Red, don't kill the last one." called out Rapunzel.

  From somewhere at the other side of the room an annoyed Red answered. "Oh man... Fine. You, stay there or I'll bite your legs off."

  The chimera had by now managed to turn around, its bulk pushing over tables and sending delicate alchemical instruments crashing to the floor. A guttural squeal was all Rapunzel had as a warning before it charged again. But this time she was ready. She dodged again, her swords cleaving into the passing snakes as they overextended in an effort to bite her. The snake heads went flying, her swords barely meeting resistance. She turned to see the chimera slide to a stop, blood pouring down its side from the severed snake heads. Her tactic was working! Then, the blood stopped flowing, and slowly the woulds closed.

  Well damn.

  "Regeneration!" called out Rapunzel to Red, who was fighting the other chimera.

  "Yeah, I know." called back Red, taking a swipe at a two-headed furry thing with talons on its front feet.

  "Then call it out next time."

  "Will. Do." said Red between headbutting one of the heads while the talons ripped into her legs.

  Rapunzel's own chimera had stood still, eyes fixed on her, a rumbling sound emanating from its throat. It took a step forward, then another. Its hooves, as large as plates, thudded against the stone floor. Damn. It was trying to corner her and trample her to death. Rapunzel felt a table against her back as she retreated. There wasn't any room to maneuver in here, and unlike Red, she couldn't just take hits. Who knew what venom those snakes had in their fangs...

  Rapunzel kept to the edges of the room, trying to lead the chimera in as wide a cycle as she could, and leaving herself room to move.

  As she chimera got close, she used the reach of her swords to slash at its face, but the snakes had almost as much reach and were viciously fast. As she retreated she switched to baiting attacks by the snakes and attacking them instead. They grew back in time, but that took a few minutes. She shuddered to think what it would be like if their regenerating were anything close to Red's. Slowly, carefully, she whittled the snakes down to few enough that she could attack more freely. A loop of hair wrapped around her arm and attached to her sword in preparation of a powerful blow. All she needed was a clear hit.

  The chimera lunged at her, but she had felt it tense up and easily dodged under a table and away. The Chimera got stuck against a shattered table, and angrily stomped it to pieces. Now was her chance! She raised her sword.

  "Incoming! Door!" called out Red, and Rapunzel turned towards the entrance, where a second later the kill squad entered. One of them casually took out a vial glowing with a sickly green light and threw it towards her. Before she had registered it, her hair was already throwing her towards a table. She grabbed the edge as she sailed over it, and pulled it down behind her, putting it between herself and the vial that screamed danger to the instincts.

  A bright light flashed out, and Rapunzel saw the wall in front of her sizzle, little pockmark holes appearing as if acid was burning through it. She could feel the table she was crouched up against weakening, the wood smoking as the acid light ate through it. A beam of green light punched through next to her face continuing on to scar the wall.

  A shallow breath later, the light faded. Rapunzel peeked over the smoking table to find the two chimeras writhing on the floor. Red was swearing, also curled up on the far end of the room, in a similar state as the chimeras. The remaining alchemist had been behind the chimera, and manically laughing at their predicament.

  The kill squad was reentering the room. Rapunzel glanced from the kill squad to Red. She wasn't getting up. Shit. OK, buy time!

  Rapunzel pulled the second loop of hair free from her hat and charged the kill squad. Immediately the figure she suspected to be a puppet stepped forward to bar her path. It pulled a longsword and a parrying dagger from its cloak, and Rapunzel saw the polished wood limbs, the delicate carved fingers gripping the weapons. The faceless head.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  There was no readying, no moment of adjustment. It drew and immediately attacked, blocking her sword and swiping with the dagger. She took a step back, but the next attack was already coming. She got her second sword in the way, but the sheer force of the blow pushed her back. And the came the next attack, and the next. The puppet didn't tire, and each blow was as vicious as the last. Its reckless attack left it vulnerable, but it was not made of normal wood. It cared not for its own safety, as long as it took her down with it. A style similar to Red's.

  New plan. Attack the weapons, limit its reach. She gathered her power, but a spike of danger had her dodging away as one of the kill squad fired a pistol. The puppet was upon her in a second, as relentless as a saw blade. She used her hair to throw random vials at it. Trying to get a second, a breath to stabilize, but where a human or beast might dodge or defend itself, it kept coming, ignoring anything that wasn't her swords.

  With so much of her hair out, it was getting difficult to concentrate. Impressions from the entire room kept flooding her brain for critical fractions of seconds. Red was still on the ground, moving, but weak. The chimera was slowly getting up to its feet. The three humans of the kill squad were loading pistols, clearly meaning at keep their distance and tire her out. The puppet...

  Rapunzel threw her head back as the longsword nearly decapitated her. Pushing out power, she lashed out at its arm, cutting deep into the wood. A crippling blow to anything alive, but not enough for the puppet. She had to spend the next few moments in a tense retreat, trying to keep the puppet between herself and the kill squad, while it relentlessly hacked down at her.

  The chimera had stood up. She could see it behind the puppet. Unfortunately, the obese beast fixed its eyes on her and readied for a charge. Rapunzel felt a stab of pain as the puppet's dagger found her leg in a low sweep. An idea formed. Let's see how versatile this puppet is.

  She released her hair from her right arm and sword, immediately feeling the weight of the sword and the strain in her muscles. The hair snapped around her leg. As the chimera charged, she lashed out with her foot, delivering an powerful blow to the puppet. It did no damage, but it did send it flying into the path of the charging chimera. The chimera angrily trampled the object that had dared to impede its path. A crack sounded as the chimera finished the job her sword has started. The puppet's arm had snapped.

  Rapunzel hurried to take advantage of the situation, but two shots from the kill squad forced her into cover. The third had a shot ready and was waiting for her to reappear. She was losing precious seconds. If the puppet could somehow repair itself, she would soon be running out of options. She tried to peek to the other side of the room. Damn it, where was-

  "That hurt." came a growl from the other side of the room, and Rapunzel sighed in relief.

  Red stood up, a very different expression on her face. Gone was the battle-happy, slightly goofy Red that had fought her that morning, throwing wide, predictable swings and took blows just for the fun of it. No, this was someone else. The bounty hunter with the highest kill count in generations, who went into the untamed, the deep, dark parts of the Schattenwald and dragged out the most violent, the most dangerous of monsters and men.

  She started walking towards the kill squad. She grabbed a chair on the way and almost casually blocked the bullet from the first assassin. The puppet stood up, longsword in hand, but Rapunzel crashed into it, keeping them both pinned beneath the stamping hooves of the chimera. She had more to fear from the snakes, but she was confident in dodging them with the extra target of the puppet to distract them.

  Red's quick steps took her to the kill squad. She grimly raised her arms in a pugilist's stance. The first two had managed to reload their pistols. She dodged the first hastily shot bullet, and the second lodged in her arm. Then she had arrived.

  Her yellow eyes seemed to glow as they fixed on the first of her prey. It tried to pull a dagger out, but her fist shot forwards, striking its neck with a crunching sound. As it fell over, choking, the other two abandoned their pistols and tried for their own weapons. Red charged, a flying knee thumping into the chest of the second figure. It doubled over, Red falling on top of it. She grabbed its head, and brought it down hard against the floor. A knife buried itself in her back, and she twisted, punching out the knee of the final assassin. While the final figure fell to the ground, she finished off the one underneath her. The she pulled out the knife and stood over the final assassin, who was crawling away.

  "Who sent you, what are you doing in this city?"

  A pained voice answered. "I don't know anything, I swear!"

  "I believe you." said Red the bounty hunter.

  Rapunzel dodged a swipe and cut off a snake's head. It was a dance on a razor's edge, the puppet's unrelenting assault in front, the snakes above, and the chimera to the side, every move had to block or parry at least two attacks, and set up the next counter or she would be instantly overwhelmed. Her senses, pushed to the brink, forced her hair to cooperate. Instead of a bunch of useless information, her perception narrowed into her immediate vicinity, everything else fading away.

  A breath-

  Lean out of reach, while blocking the sword coming for her leg, cutting a snake going for her shoulder and moving her foot out of the way of the trampling chimera.

  A breath-

  A glancing hit on the puppet's sword to steer it towards the chimera while dodging a snake and deflecting the knife trying to skewer her out of the way.

  A breath-

  Her swords flowed in liquid movements, and through her hair she felt everything her swords felt. The minor imperfections of her swing, the texture of the puppets wood when they scored a hit...

  It all crystallized into a moment of flow. She empowered her sword just at the moment it caught on a chip in the puppet's sword, biting deep and shattering it. Her other sword swept downward, cutting the last snake close to her and passing clean through the chimera's head. In the next moment, she continued the motion, sweeping up in a golden arc to cut the puppet in twain. Finally, the first sword plunged into the eye socket of the chimera, which froze momentarily, then slumped to the ground, the remaining snakes going limp.

  Rapunzel stood, panting in mental and physical exhaustion. Her arms slumped down to sides, trembling.

  "Whooo!" shouted Red from behind her, startling her. Red clapped loudly. "Nice fight!"

  Rapunzel looked at the now deceased kill squad, then back to Red.

  "You were done? Why didn't you help me?"

  Red pointed a thumb at a dead chimera behind her.

  "I did. You didn't even notice it sneaking up on you."

  "Oh."

  Rapunzel yanked her sword out of the chimera, then took a few unsteady breaths. Oh, right. She knelt down to the puppet and placer her brooch on it. It unfolded, and without prompting started to search the puppet. Rapunzel slumped to the ground. Her hair was starting to become a problem. She was losing control. She had missed an entire chimera attacking her! She tried commanding the hair to relax, but it didn't listen.

  The small puppet gave her a wave and pointed at a lighter piece of wood on the leg it was standing on. She cut it out and put it in a pouch. Boy would want this back. She tucked in her brooch and turned weary eyes on Red.

  "Hey, can I talk to the guy?" asked Red, who didn't seem tired at all. Unfair that.

  "Sure. No Grinning at him."

  Rapunzel lay down on the cool stone floor. Her tendons felt taut like violin strings, and her hair kept sending her information about every sharp object near her. Given the amount of shattered glass, wood and metal, it was a lot. With a groan, she pulled her hair back up to her hat, and it slithered inside. The flood of impressions drained away, and she exhaled, slumping a bit in the now blessedly quiet basement. There was a piercing sound coming down the stairs, probably from the city, but that wasn't her problem right now.

  "Hey Blondie, I know you said no Grinning, but this a-hole isn't being very cooperative. I even offered to bite him."

  Taking a long, slow breath, Rapunzel stood up and walked somewhat unsteadily to the end of the room, where a smug looking man in alchemist robes was looking down his nose at them. Impressive give that he was still sitting on the ground.

  "Alright, spit it out. What happened here?"

  He looked at her with barely concealed disgust. "Well, you came in and killed everyone. Those people all had families, children..."

  Rapunzel gave him a flat stare. "No they didn't. The Wheel doesn't allow personal attachments. Try again."

  The man shrugged. "It doesn't matter. The master is already gone. His ascension is happening at this very moment."

  "Is this 'Ascension" what you were working on here? With Alice? You know you can't control her power."

  His eyes lit up with fervor as he spoke. "The master is in possession of a Wonderland artifact. Along with a golden thread that could channel her power. It it glorious! And you are too late to do anything about it!" he finished, giggling.

  "Where is he now?"

  He rolled his eyes and turned away.

  Red pulled out a long hunting knife. "Would this help?" she offered.

  "I'll never speak. Shove that knife up yourself, you bitch." he spat.

  Oh oh. It was unwise to use the b-word in front of Red. She had a thing about it. Rapunzel put her hand on Red's shoulder. "Just a moment."

  Red gave a low growl.

  "Alright mister, I'm about to let Red do something awful to you. I suggest you start talking."

  He barked a laugh." Ha! You think pain means anything to me? I've taken enough potions of numbing that you would kill me before I talked."

  "Fair enough." said Rapunzel turning away. "Red, you may Grin at the man."

  Rapunzel didn't see the smile on Red's face because she was already turning away. She had seen Red's Grin once before, as part of a challenge when she had been a rookie Hunter. She hadn't slept for a few days after.

  In principle it wasn't anything bad per see. Red could change herself, or parts of herself into a wolf and back. The Grin was simply that. But very slow, and localized on her face. She would smile at you. Then slowly, ever so slowly, start changing into a wolf. At first you didn't notice the change, her smile just seemed wider. Then it stretched and stretched as her face half-turned into a muzzle. It hit a point where the overlap of human and animal characteristics bypassed your brain and triggered a fear response. What you were seeing was either not human, or worse, was, and in terrible agony.

  Red said it felt slightly tingly to her. Rapunzel plugged her ears as to not hear the sound of Red's bones growing, and tried to distract herself. She was still proud of the fact that of the hunters that took the challenge, she was among the third that didn't run away. She had thrown up though.

  A scream of fear came from behind her.

  "Alright, that's enough." She didn't like torture at the best of times, having experienced it herself, but Wheel didn't shy away from anything. She could only imagine what the chimeras had been subjected to.

  The alchemist's eyes were wide and wild. His face sweat-drenched and contorted into a grimace. Rapunzel walked towards him. Thankfully, Red was back in her normal state.

  "Where is he?"

  "No, no, no." The man babbled, squeezing himself against the wall.

  A white room, a single bed, a little girl hiding under the covers. Rapunzel shook the image out of her head.

  "Red..."

  "No! No, wait. He's at the south side of Old Town. In the old wood mill. Please."

  "What did you do with Alice?"

  "She's with him."

  Well, that wasn't good news. "Let's go." said Rapunzel, heading for the exit.

  "What about him?"

  Rapunzel looked at all the bodies littering the floor, both human and beast. She felt so tired.

  "Let him go, or whatever, I don't care."

  "Looks like it's your lucky day, dude." said Red, patting him on the shoulder and making him flinch. Then she followed Rapunzel.

  The persistent sound that was just on the edge of hearing resolved itself as they climbed the staircase out of the basement. Shrill trumpets echoed across the city. Distant screams carried over the roofs, coming from the north. They were too late.

  "That don't sound too good." said Red.

  "Master's ascension has begun!" cried the alchemist, who had followed them out. His eyes wide with zealotry.

  "In the opposite direction you told us." commented Rapunzel.

  He froze for a moment, then fled in the opposite direction, disappearing into a dark alley.

  "So," said Red, "grab a bite before the whole town goes to shit, and then flee with everyone else?"

  Rapunzel started running towards the screams.

  Red gave a defeated sigh. "Dammit." she started running after Rapunzel. "You know you have to tell me if you're a hero. I have to consent to any world-and-or-city-saving quests!"