He's a Mess of a Man

Book Two ~ Chapter Six

The group of four followed the twists and turns of the Menagerie Gallery which ended in a dead end at a blank stone wall. "Weird. This should be one of the exits. Behind a painting of Mercedes and Melchior," spoke a perplexed Lucio. The real Mercedes and Melchior snarled at the empty wall, their fur standing on end.

"Maybe we took a wrong turn..?"

Lucio shook his head, "No, I know this gallery. I used to spend hours in here. Something else must be up-" as Lucio tried to lean against a different wall, he slipped right through it. Mercedes lunged forward a second too late. A muffled thump could be heard on the other side, followed by Lucio cursing.

"Are you okay?"

"Ow.. I'm fine.. It's fine!" Lucio called out, "I think that was a portal! But there isn't even supposed to be a portal here. What the hell's going on?" The dogs darted through the wall, chasing the sound of Lucio's voice. Leviathan stepped in after them. After a moment's vertigo, Leviathan emerged in a narrow stone staircase. It curved steeply downward. Spluttering torches barely illuminated the damp steps. "I don't remember this place at all..."

"We must be underground," said Leviathan, "Somewhere beneath the palace?"

"There's a lot of old stuff underground. Ruins, abandoned tunnels," Lucio explained, "We could be anywhere in all of that! And I'm still not sure how we got here in the first place."

"Let me try some magic. Maybe I'll sense something," Leviathan said as he steadied himself against Lucio, closing his eyes. An overwhelming sense of latent power surrounded him in every direction. Magic loomed over the entire palace, moments from crashing down like a great dark wave. "There's magic affecting the palace... The entire palace."

"Like that ritual? The one that Asra kept talking about?" Lucio asked.

"I... I don't know."

"Soo, no idea where we are, creepy magic all over the place. Now what?"

"Let's keep moving. There's no way but forward."

Lucio smirked, "That's what I was going to say. If the palace is really going all magic and twisty, we'll just have to hurry." The staircase quickly flattened out into a long hallway, ending in a huge metal door. When they pushed it open, a horrible smell flooded out of the room on the other side. Mercedes and Melchior pawed at their noses, trying to escape the acrid stench. Rusty metal hooks covered the walls, hung with bloodstained aprons and sparkling surgical tools.

"It looks like someone's been down here recently." Lucio avoided Leviathan's gaze and kept marching forward, his jaw tense and set. But when the hall opened into a massive stone chamber, he stopped in his tracks.

"Oh no. Not here," Lucio mumbled.

"This place looks like a dungeon... not like any I've seen before," thought Leviathan. The center platform held several gurneys with leather restraints. And in the far corner stood a row of cramped iron cages, next to a stone pit. A wave of nausea washed over Leviathan. He took a few involuntary steps backward. "Lucio... Where are we..?"

"Y-you have to understand, I didn't even know this place still existed! I've never been here before!" Unconsciously, Lucio buried a hand in Mercedes's fur. "But I think this was the medical dungeon... Where the doctors were trying to find a cure for me."

"This doesn't look like a place of healing to me..." thought Leviathan, "Especially not with those empty cages. They don't even look large enough to house an adult." Melchior let out a frightened whine, practically plastering himself against Leviathan's leg. "Melchior's right. This place feels bad." Leviathan gingerly crossed to one of the low metal tables, peering into a jar of cloudy yellow liquid. Several eyes bobbed up to the surface. All tinged with the tell-tale red of the plague. "What happened down here..?" Leviathan asked, not sure if he wanted an answer even as he asked for it.

Lucio groaned, "This is just like Valdemar!"

"Valdemar?"

"They were in charge of all the doctors when I was sick," Lucio explained, "When I told them to find a cure for the plague, I didn't think they'd go and do... Whatever the fuck this is!"

"But... you were the Count.." said Leviathan.

Lucio's eyes widened, "I was sick! I was dying! I couldn't exactly march down here and see what Valdemar was doing!"

"Did you ever ask?"

Lucio fell silent, "No..." he shrunk on the spot, curling his arms around himself. "I just wanted the plague to go away," Lucio groaned, "I should've fired Valdemar when I had the chance!"

"Excuuuse me?"

The two jumped about a foot in the air, their eyes darted all over the shadowy dungeon.

"Hello there." The Quaestor Valdemar stood in the stone archway, blocking the exit. The masquerade mask they wore looked like that of a horse's skull. A gleaming bone saw dangled from their hand. "Lucio. I'm ever so hurt to hear you say such things. Those were the good old days, weren't they? Me. With more subjects than I could count... And you. So desperate to live."

Lucio repressed a shudder as he interposed himself between Leviathan and Valdemar, "Shut up. We're leaving and you're not gonna stop us."

"Leave? So soon?" Valdemar sighed, "Well, if you must."

"I-" Lucio paused, "Huh?"

Leviathan felt a deep sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Of course! You can leave, Lucio, as long as I get another subject in exchange," Valdemar said as their cold, hollow eyes met Leviathan's. They lovingly caressed the bone saw in their hands.

"Not a chance! Leviathan and I are leaving together. Now get out of our way!" Lucio seized a rusty metal crowbar lying on one of the tables, brandishing it at Valdemar.

"Oh, no, no, no. That won't do at all. I can't have my specimens damaged." They dropped their masquerade mask with an ominous clatter. The stones of the dungeon rumbled. Valdemar's outline wavered and twisted. The sense of wrongness only grew stronger.

"Valdemar isn't human," thought Leviathan, "They can't possibly be..."

"Please hold still. Or don't. It makes no difference to me." With a violent tear, Valdemar's face split in twain. Infinite eyes peered out from a tangle of teeth and flesh. Leviathan shrieked with pain, squeezing his eyes shut. But the image was forever burned into his mind. Out of the chaos that was the Quaestor Valdemar, something cold and bony seized Leviathan by the throat. "This won't hurt... yet." A flicker of flame ignited in Leviathan's palm. "Oh ho? What's this?" Another limb crushed Leviathan's fingers in a vice-like grip. "Now, sleep tight." The last thing Leviathan heard before he lost consciousness was the skittering of thousands of tiny creatures.