Flash Gordon 5 - The Witch Queen of Mongo (13 page)

Jado climbed up the ladder and came to a door of wood planks which had been fashioned in the side of the tree. He pushed it open. The opening was carefully camouflaged by branches and piles of pine needles.

Jado moved out into the shaded forest and peered around: there was no one in sight. According to the map of the tunnels he had secured from the ministry of mining, he had only a few steps to go through the forest before contacting one of the guard outposts of Arboria.

Quietly, Jado moved through the foliage and finally made out the unmistakable signs of the city up ahead. Then out of the shadows a figure stepped, holding a raygun, and stared at Jado.

“Hold! What is your business outside the city walls?”

Jado smiled. “I have lost my way, Guard. I am one of Prince Barin’s forest security detail, out to survey the wood supplies for the winter.”

The guard frowned suspiciously, looking more closely at Jado.

“May I see your I.D. card?” he asked.

Jado sighed, and reached into his tunic. He grasped the knife in his belt, brought it out in a smooth and deadly gesture, lunged at the guard, and found his throat with its point before the guard could fire his weapon.

Then he looked quickly around him and saw the tree trunk with the elevator built outside it. He stepped quickly aboard, pulled the rope which initiated the ascension mechanism, and was on his way up to the city.

He was challenged once again on the palace grounds, in the garden under Prince Barin’s apartment. The guard asked for his I.D. card and Jado answered with a knife thrust to the heart.

Jado ran in through the entrance and ascended the stairs to the floor where his map showed Prince Barin’s rooms to be.

There was no one about, luckily, and he came into the corridor outside the prince’s room without attracting any notice. Hearing voices, he paused to listen.

“I tell you, Barin, there has to be a way of mounting an assault force and breaking into the stronghold. If Flash remains there much longer, I’m sure she’ll kill him.”

Interesting, thought Jado. He had been right about the blond muscle man. He was Flash Gordon, the great Earthman, hero of Mongo.

Another voice answered, “We have no real proof, Zarkov. You didn’t actually see her men take him. And if I send in an assault force, the Free Council will be on my neck for precipitating an incident that might cause intraplanetary war.”

“You’re much too cautious, Barin,” snapped Zarkov. “Now, the way I envision it—”

The two of them leaned closer together, and Jado saw from the doorway that they were huddled together over a table filled with cups and saucers.

Jado glanced up and down the hallway quickly. Barin had been identified by the man called Zarkov. All he had to do was deliver the note.

Quickly, he removed the knife from his belt, shoved the blade through the letter, and moved back into the corridor. In the darkness, he threw the knife, with the note impaled on its blade, into the wall behind the table where the two men were talking.

The knife struck the wall with a thud.

“Look out!” shouted the big bearded man at the table.

“Who’s there?” Prince Barin cried, looking over his shoulder into the corridor.

Jado smiled to himself, and ran down the hallway.

Instantly, the palace was in an uproar, but Jado was already on his way down to the unsecured entryway where he had killed the palace guard.

P
rince Barin slowly raised his eyes from the note in his hand. Zarkov saw that his face had lost its color.

“What is it, Barin?” Zarkov asked tensely.

“It’s a note from Flash.”

Zarkov’s eyes widened.

“Flash?”

“Queen Azura is holding him for ransom,” Prince Barin said slowly.

Zarkov glowered. “What kind of ransom?”

“Me,” Prince Barin said softly, handing the letter over to Zarkov.

“You!” shouted Zarkov. “That’s impossible!” He glanced down at the note, reading it in disbelief. “It’s not like Flash at all to sound so sniveling, so whining.”

Prince Barin moved quickly into a small chamber attached to the royal apartment and flicked on the vidphone.

A face appeared—the thin, no-nonsense, mustached face of a military man.

“Captain Solas,” snapped Barin. “Red alert.”

“Aye, Prince Barin,” Solas replied in the Arboria accent.

“Inform all sentry posts,” said Barin. “There is a spy in the city from Azuria, the Kingdom of Blue Magic.”

“Aye, that’s a serious business,” Solas said grimly.

“Block all exits from the city. Stop all strangers. Find him.”

Solas nodded. “Aye, sire. . .” And his face faded from the screen.

Prince Barin returned to Zarkov just as Dale Arden, entered the room, frowning sleepily. “What’s all the excitement about?” she asked. “I was napping, and all of a sudden the palace was in an uproar.”

Prince Barin stared at her a moment, but did not answer.

Zarkov looked up from the note with a strained face.

“What is it?” Dale cried, moving rapidly over to Zarkov and grabbing the paper from his hand.

They both studied her in silence as she read the note. “He doesn’t sound like himself,” she said softly. Her eyes narrowed. “It’s that woman,” she declared, giving the note to Prince Barin. “She’s done something to him.” Her eyes brightened. “Drugs?”

Zarkov shook his head. “Hard to tell, but it’s Flash’s handwriting, and it’s his signature.” He began pacing. “Well, we aren’t getting anywhere just standing here. What are we going to do?” he boomed.

Prince Barin shook his head in annoyance. “There isn’t much we can do, Doc.”

“But Flash is going to be killed if we don’t do something,” cried Dale.

“I don’t mean we aren’t going to do anything, Dale; I simply mean our choices are extremely limited now.”

“As if they weren’t before,” said Zarkov.

“What do you mean?” Dale asked.

Zarkov turned to her. “Prince Barin was holding a meeting of the Free Council before we came to Mongo, Dale. He had not succeeded in moving them to action against Queen Azura, even though there had been some border violations between the Kingdom of Blue Magic and Arboria.”

“But now—” Dale began.

“No change,” Prince Barin said grimly. “The council is right. Any move will plunge the planet of Mongo into deadly warfare. We would exterminate every living thing. No, I’ve got to do this thing my way.”

Dale folded her arms over her chest. “But meanwhile, what about Flash?” she asked tartly. “Does he stay there in Queen Azura’s boudoir—in chains?”

“I’m prepared to act immediately,” Prince Barin said.

“Doing what?” Zarkov demanded.

Prince Barin frowned. “The note says if I don’t show up alone and unarmed, they’ll kill him.”

“But you don’t intend to—!”

“If Queen Azura ever gets her hands on you, she’ll kill you both.”

“But I can’t just let Flash die without lifting a finger.”

The vidscreen glowed with the image of Captain Solas’s face. A forest guard immediately outside the city listened as the voice of Solas sounded over the picture.

“All sentry posts!” cried Solas. “Alert for strangers. No one is to leave the city. Do you hear me?”

“Stranger,” mused the guard aloud. He had just that moment returned from a short patrol in the woods near the walls of the city. And he had seen . . .

He ran quickly out into the forest and stared up into the towering trees above him. The elevator was still moving downward, and he saw the man on the elevator platform plainly now. He was dressed in the costume of the Arborian foresters, and yet—

“Halt!” called the guard to the figure on the elevator.

The figure moved quickly, crouching down out of range.

The guard lifted his raygun, set it at stun, and fired quickly at the elevator.

When the elevator reached the bottom of the tree, he ran over and looked down onto the floor of the platform. The raygun had found its mark. The man lay there, unable to move.

The guard hauled him out of the elevator and carried him back to the outpost where the vidphone was located.

“Captain Solas,” he called. “Post fourteen. I think I’ve got the man you’re after.”

Captain Solas’s image appeared on the vidscreen quickly. “Aye? Where is he now?”

“Right here, sir,” said the guard. He lifted the figure so that the face showed on the screen.

“Bring him in,” commanded Captain Solas.

“Aye, sir.”

Prince Barin paced his room, Zarkov and Dale watching him anxiously.

“We can’t let you risk your life,” Zarkov announced. “Let me go.”

Prince Barin wheeled on Zarkov. “What good would that do, Doc? They want me, not you.”

Zarkov pouted. “I could make some kind of bargain with them, couldn’t I?”

“I’m the one they’re after,” Prince Barin insisted. “And I’m the one who has to go.”

“But what would happen to the Free Council of Mongo?” Dale asked. “What would happen to Mongo itself? We can’t let you go.”

“And you’d want Flash dead?” Prince Barin asked, staring bleakly at Dale.

Dale felt tears come to her eyes. “Oh, it’s just so awful,” she murmured, and turned away so they would not have to watch her cry.

The vidphone buzzed in the next room and Prince Barin rushed out to answer it. In a moment, he returned. “They’ve got the courier,” he said, his face pink with excitement. “They’re bringing him up here.”

“Maybe we can find out what this is all about,” Zarkov growled.

“We already know what it’s all about,” Prince Barin rejoined, “but maybe we can do a little squeezing.”

Dale stared at him blankly. Zarkov’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.

In several minutes, Captain Solas approached Prince Barin, accompanied by a dazed but defiant man dressed in Arborian forestry garb.

“Who are you?” Prince Barin asked as the captive was led in.

“A loyal subject, noble Prince Barin,” said the forester, bowing at the torso.

Prince Barin turned to Zarkov with a twisted smile. “Well, Doc?”

“Obviously an imposter,” Zarkov said firmly. “The accent isn’t right at all. And, besides that, he bows at the waist like a subservient vassal of some kind. No Arborian ever does that. This is a democracy.”

“The prisoner’s face turned slightly pale.

“Well, prisoner,” asked Prince Barin, seating himself behind a desk at the end of the room and looking across at his captive, “what do you say to that?”

“I am a loyal subject, Prince Barin,” he said again, his eyes betraying tension.

Captain Solas stepped forward. “Prince Barin, this man has killed two of our guards. If you’d like me to take care of him—”

“That won’t be necessary,” said Prince Barin, holding up a hand. “I’ll take care of him myself. You may go, Captain Solas. Leave us, please.”

“Aye, sire,” Captain Solas said obediently, and about-faced to leave the room.

Prince Barin’s face betrayed amusement. “You see, that is the way we do it in Arboria. You have a fairly good disguise in the clothes you wear, but you are not used to our ways here in this free democracy.”

The prisoner licked his lips.

Prince Barin’s face hardened. “You’ve killed two of my men. You will be in front of the firing squad within a half hour of your trial. You’re caught red-handed.”

The prisoner stood rigidly at attention, his eyes fastened on the far wall.

“What’s your name?” Prince Barin asked suddenly, in a relaxed voice.

“Jado,” said the prisoner after a moment’s hesitation.

“Jado,” repeated Prince Barin. “Doc?”

Zarkov grinned. “It has the ring of a foreign tongue, Barin,” he said loudly. “Jado. I’d guess the Kingdom of Blue Magic. Queen Azura’s nether regions.”

Prince Barin nodded. “I, too, Doc.” His eyes moved back to Jado’s face. “Well, Jado?”

Jado’s face changed. “I am a loyal subject—” he began.

“But you bow like an Azurian,” Zarkov said in a booming, boisterous manner. “How do you account for that?”

Jado straightened. “I deny it.”

Prince Barin rubbed his chin. “You’re the subject of a foreign power, you’ve disguised yourself as a civilian, you’re prowling about restricted areas, and you’re suspected of having killed two guards in Arboria. I don’t like to underline the obvious, Jado, but you’re in a great deal of trouble.”

Jado’s eyes shifted to Dr. Zarkov and then to Dale Arden. His lips trembled.

“All right,” he said finally. “I am a courier from Queen Azura. As such I demand to be accorded the proper immunity.”

“Ah, so he is an Azurian,” Zarkov said grimly.

“I come as an official representative of the Kingdom of Blue Magic. I delivered a message to Prince Barin. I deserve immunity.”

“But you’ve killed two men,” Prince Barin said darkly. “Do you deny that?”

Jado sucked in his breath. “Sire,” he whispered, “I was given a responsible mission by my queen, I had to carry out my duty.” His eyes lighted up. “You know there is one of your people involved—a captive of the queen. You understand how necessary it was to deliver the letter intact.”

Zarkov smiled crookedly. “Methinks our plucky courier has had a private reading of the note, Barin.”

Prince Barin nodded. “He knows his life is forfeit, no matter what.”

“I plead immunity,” said Jado, by now visibly afflicted with fear.

“No immunity!” snorted Prince Barin. “Where is Flash Gordon?”

“I refuse to divulge military information!” cried Jado.

Prince Barin threw up his hands. “Take him away, Doc. I’ll sign the order for his execution.”

“You said I would have a trial,” Jado cried, scandalized.

“No,” said Prince Barin. “Why should we give a trial to someone who does not want to cooperate?”

Jado’s mouth twitched. “Cooperate?”

“Yes,” Prince Barin said easily. “All we want to know is where Flash Gordon is being held.”

“In Queen Azura’s palace,” Jado said slowly.

“I see,” said Prince Barin. Then he shook his head. “We already knew that. No, I’m afraid there’ll be no deal—”

Jado leaned forward. “I know more than that. I’ve seen Flash Gordon. The queen has him drugged and under her control. He’s a docile, incompetent coward.”