He moved todisable the next bunker.
“Wait,” Fibian said, “I have an idea.”
The froskman pointed to the next gun. Cyrus and Fibian watched from a distance as the guards loaded theirartillery.
“Do as theydo,” the froskman said.
Cyrus and Fibian began to mimic the guard’s actions within their ownbunker. Fibian loaded a paper parcel of powder downthe weapon’s barrel. Cyrus loaded a lead ball. Fibianpushed a powder-coated wick into a small aperture at the rear of the cylinder.Cyrus picked up the dropped torch and lit the fuse. Fibianaimed the weapon at the cliffs across the mine. The fuse fizzled and sparked.
BOOM!
The artillerybucked like a spooked horse, its muzzle flashing white-hot. The centermostcannon on the opposing cliff burst into two. Munitions erupted in the bunker,raining down rubble and klops flesh into the oily pitbelow.
Thesurrounding cannon guards looked about frightened.
“Again,” Fibian shouted.
Cyrus and Fibian fit the weapon with another fuse. They turned thecannon on the klops to their left. Fibian flashed his eyes and made sure they noticed. Theygave the creatures time to retarget their artillery, then lit their own emptycannon. Fibian grabbed Cyrus by the collar and pulledhim back up onto the parapet. The klops’ weapondischarged. Cyrus and Fibian dove down behind theparapet’s three-foot wall. The abandoned cannon exploded into a mess of flameand steel, scattering the two dead klops across thenight. Cyrus’ ears rang. He peeked over the small wall. The remaining cliffguards looked about terrified. Unsure who had killed their kin, they pointedtheir cannons at the guards across the quarry. The targeted klopsre-aimed their artillery in defense.
“Cease fire,cease fire,” a distant klops voice shouted, from thewestern bunkers.
“What are theyhollering?” a cannon guard asked, from the eastern line.
“They are aboutto fire!” Fibian shouted, his voice contorted and klops-like.
The guardsbegan to panic.
Cyrus and Fibian ran down the parapet, diving behind the wall as far fromthe cannons as possible. Behind them, all-out war waged amongst the cliffcannons. Cannon guards tried to destroy the others before they too were blownto grimy bits. Powder satchels detonated with deafening blasts. Several klops leaped from their perch. Others tried to flee fromtheir bunkers, back up onto the parapets. All fell to their doom or were scatteredacross the cliffs.
In the end,only one piece of artillery stood ready to continue its assault. Cyrus and Fibian crept across the parapet like cats on the hunt anddropped into the bunker.
The klops stood shaken and confused.
“We have totell the Queen,” one klops whined.
“We have tostop the yeto,” the other countered.
The second klops aimed the cannon at the group of yeti trying to breakthrough the door guard. The first cursed, then lit the wick. Fibian pounced on the second guard’s back, piercing hisskull with a poisoned blade. He followed the creature to the floor and chuckedthe knife at the remaining klops. The blade struckthe creature in the gills. The scoundrel clawed at his neck as he melted to thefloor.
Cyrus rushedto the cannon and adjusted its aim. The artillery erupted, shaking the cliffsas it blasted a hole in the queen’s door guard, four soldiers wide. Cyrus’ heartleaped. The yeti began to force their way through the gap.
“They need ourhelp,” Fibian said, picking up a klopscrossbow.
“We can’tleave this one intact,” Cyrus replied.
He began toload several parcels of black powder into the weapon’s barrel. Then he loadedit with four lead balls. Fibian fitted it with a wickand lit the fuse.
They jumpedfrom the bunker and dove behind the waist-high wall.
BOOM!
The cannonbucked, its barrel splitting like a cracked pea pod.
Cyrus peereddown into the pit, watching the clashing yeti and water klopsbelow. Many yeti lay dead in the slush and mud. Cyrus thought of Tier. Hethought of his brother Niels.
“We need toget down there, help them break down that door,” he said.
“We must use stealth,”Fibian replied, shouldering the crossbow, “We willpick away at the klops from the shadows.”
“There’s notime for that,” Cyrus said, taking Fibian’s rope.
He secured oneend to the ruptured cannon, then threw the other end over the cliff wall. Hebegan to rappel down into the mine.
“Wait,” Fibian shouted from above.
Cyrus ignoredhis cry. He had waited enough. He had klops to kill.
Chapter 33
SUPERIOR NUMBERS
CYRUS DESCENDED INTO THEBLACKENEDpit far below. Among the machinery and slag, yeti wielded klopsswords and scrap metal. Oil fires burned in puddles throughout the snow.Smoldering cannon holes pitted the earth.
Cyrus hid behinda pile of mis-shaped iron and looked beyond. The klopswere beginning to encircle the yeti, forcing them down into slushy quarries.Archers picked away at the giants from their flanks. If Cyrus and Fibian did not do something soon, the yeti revolt would beover before it had started. There was one broad-backed batalhastanding over a quarry, opposite Cyrus’ hiding place. His aim was especially true.Cyrus remembered his promise to Tier. Die!
Cyrus flew outof the darkness and drove his shoulder into the brute’s back. The batalha’s fiery bolt shot wide. It arched over the yeti andstruck an eastern platoon. The big klops spun around,raging.
“You clumsyfool!” the beast shrieked.
Cyrus grabbedthe soldier by the beard. His broken hand throbbed. He buried his blade intothe batalha’s belly.
“Gahhh!”
The klops grasped Cyrus by the helmet and threw him to the ground.Then he lifted a heavy steel and leather boot and dropped it down on Cyrus’head. Cyrus had just enough time to cover his face and roll. The foot smashedthe earth beside his head. Cyrus looked up, blinking and confused. The batalha was stumbling backward, gurgling blood. He clutchedan arrow piercing his neck. Another arrow punched him in the head. Cyrus lookedtowards the cliff, from where the attack had come. Two blue eyes glowed in thedarkness. Fibian. The large klops crashed dead into a puddle of slag and slush.
Four more batalha broke off from the eastern flank. Cyrus mimickedthe dead klops beside him.
“I saw bluelights,” shouted one of the brutes, “Something’s loose around here. Spread outand find it.”
The foursomebegan to scour the edge of the cliffs. Cyrus held his breath as the beastscrept near. Three continued to walk past. The fourth stopped right above Cyrus.He kicked and prodded Cyrus’ side.
“AAAHHHRRR!”
Like a ghoulfrom the
