Cave of Shadows

While Rome Burned

Chapter 16- Roxanne’s POV

I held on as tightly as I could to Melchior’s shoulders as he ran through the hallways of the circuses.  Connor was behind us, dragging The Ringmaster’s unconscious body along with him.  Napoleon led the way. 

After a very long, bumpy ride filled with the screams and sobs of my little brother every time Melchior took a step, we finally came to a stop at a large door.  It had been many months, but I recognized it as the entrance to the yard.  Melchior punched in his code, and the door slid open.  Immediately he and Napoleon led the way out into the yard, stopping in the very middle of the yard floor.

“What do we do now?” Connor asked Napoleon.

“Never fear, my dear boy.  Our ride will be here shortly.  In the meantime, tie her up,” he said, handing him some of the industrial strength rope from his C-Man’s tool belt.  I figured that Napoleon had a plan, and that plan somehow involved standing out here in the open waiting to be captured while another component of our plan failed to show up, and while I didn’t understand how any of this was going to help us escape I did understand that Melchior trusted Napoleon implicitly. 

Apparently his trust was not unfounded, because just as Connor finished tying up the Ringmaster, there began a very foreign sound; the sound of blades whirring in the air.  It sounded like it was coming from overhead.  I looked upward, and what I saw scared me more than anything I had seen in my time in the circuses. 

It was like a giant metal capsule was descending upon us with giant metal spinning blades on top and a long, flat metal board sticking out the rear.  The roar of the motor was deafening, and it wasn’t hard to imagine the spinning blades hacking us all to bits.  Napoleon seemed unconcerned about the giant metal deathtrap descending upon us.  In fact, he seemed rather pleased about it. 

“Oh good, they’ve arrived,” he said, and all of a sudden a giant rope ladder fell from the thing, landing on the ground next to him and startling me enough to make me jump ten feet in the air.

“What about all these people?” Melchior asked Napoleon.

“There’s nothing we can do for them, Melchior.  We have to go now!”

 Napoleon grabbed onto the ladder and began to climb.  The rest of us followed suit, and we were soon about 20 feet up inside the giant flying machine.

“Is everything made ready?” the man at the controls asked Napoleon.

“Yes.  We have the Ringmaster, the Minister has been left bleeding to death on the floor of one of the rooms, and the entire complex is set to go boom at any moment.  Everything has gone exactly according to plan.”

“We’re cutting it rather close, aren’t we?  What about Ms. Bianchi’s children?”

“They are infants.  By the time they start teething this war will be over and their dangerous grandparents eliminated for good.  It is therefore none of our concern where they are.”

“Fine.  Well, I suppose we’d best get out of here, wouldn’t you say?”

“Definitely.”

The doors closed behind us, sealing us in, and I could feel us gaining altitude.  The roar of the motor was deafening, and fear took over as I was lifted high into the air.  I beat against the walls of the machine, screaming for them to open, until a familiar sensation occurred; the feeling of a sharp needle in my neck.  I pulled the tranquilizer dart from my neck as fast as I could, but the drugs had already taken effect, and I found myself drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

Connor’s POV

I took my time securing the Ringmaster to the restraints in the flying machine, making sure that they were as tight as possible to ensure that she wouldn’t escape.  I finished just in time, too, because as I was securing the last strap the Ringmaster slowly opened her eyes and looked at me.

“Traitor,” she spat.  I responded by slapping her across the face, and the resulting sound was loud enough to be heard over the roar of the motors.  Everybody turned to look at me, except for Roxanne, who had been tranquilized a minute ago and was now sitting unconscious in Melchior’s arms, and Clark, who was sedated and was being treated for his wounds.

“What are you all looking at?” I screamed at them, and they all abruptly turned away.  I turned back to the Ringmaster, who now had a bright red handprint on her cheek and blood dripping from her mouth.

“I gave you a future, and this is how you repay me?” she said, glaring at me.

I punched her in the stomach with as much force as I could muster.  She cackled and spat blood in my direction.  Blind with rage, I started kicking and punching her, putting my body and soul into harming her.  I think I definitely would have killed her if Napoleon hadn’t wrestled me to the ground.

“Stop this right now,” he said, using the voice he would commonly use to give the other troupe members orders.

“No!  This woman deserves everything that is coming to her and more!  SHE NEEDS TO DIE!”

“I agree with you, Connor, but right now we need her alive!  Without her we have nothing, and all of this, all the work we have put in over the past 2000 years will be WASTED if we can’t get the Intel we need from her!  For that, we need her alive!  Then, once we have what we need from her, I promise you on my honor that you will be the one to finish her off.  However, there will be nothing to finish off if you don’t calm yourself.  Alright?”

 I knew he was right.  From what Napoleon had told me, The Ringmaster was the key to the Colony now that the Minister was dead and Melchior had sided with us.  If she was alive and in our possession, then we could take over in the ensuing chaos using the intel she provides for us about the government and its operations.  If she was dead, then she would be a martyr for the Colony loyalists, and then a real war might break out with people fighting and dying in real battles with real weapons.  That could not be allowed to happen.

So, after taking some deep breaths I finally stopped pushing against Napoleon and relaxed.

“Alright, I won’t kill her.  But when this is all over, she is mine.”

Napoleon got off of me and offered me his hand.  “Of course she is, my dear boy.”

I took his hand, and he was in the process of pulling me up when there was a huge blast that shook the machine and threatened to knock us out of the sky.  I looked out of the window and saw a large cloud in the shape of a mushroom forming where the Circuses had been just a few moments ago. 

“So ends an era,” Napoleon whispered, his face solemn. 

All were silent as we watched what was left of the Circuses burn.

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Author's Note

Sooo.... the Circuses is dead now.  So are all the people inside.  I kind of feel bad about all the dead people, but if I'm being honest with myself, it was definetly a mercy killing.  After all, if I didn't give them this swift, uncomplicated death, the Ringmaster would give them a long and interesting one. 

So, just to recap, here's the list of people who have died in this book: Rachel , Mr. and Mrs. Bianchi, and all of the prisoners and C-Men in the Circuses (I would include the Minister on this list, but he's not really a person, so....).  Pretty hefty body count, wouldn't you say?  Oh well.

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