Menagerie - Martin Day [51]
She strode over to the knight, smiling. 'I'm glad my lord does not find my shaven head too ugly.'
'Whoever did this to you had some sense.' Araboam stroked her cheek with his hand. ''Tis a suitable punishment for a whore. And it is not your face that I am interested in.'
He reached out and squeezed her breasts, smiling appreciatively. 'Not bad,' he said, as if commenting on livestock.
'I'm glad I please my lord,' whispered Kaquaan, averting her gaze. 'I can think of many more ways to bring you pleasure.'
'Good,' breathed the knight, beginning to tug at her coarse blouse.
'And none more exciting than this.' With that, she thrust her knee hard into his unprotected groin. The man collapsed with a shocked moan.
She grappled for the man's huge helmet, and swung it at his head. It took a number of unsuccessful attempts before she managed to club the unresisting knight into unconsciousness. Eventually her hands came away speckled with blood and hair.
She took the knight's sword and keys and carefully unlocked the door. She checked that the corridor beyond the sleeping chamber was deserted, locked the door behind her, and then fled into the shadows.
Diseaeda stood at Zoe's side, tears rolling down his cheeks. 'What can we do?' he whispered.
From their vantage point towards the rear of the tent they could watch the creature in action. It was tremendously strong and quick, darting from group to group, slashing with its four arms, snapping with its gaping maw. It blurred and came straight through tent walls and people, turned on frightened animals and ripped them in two. Its original colouring was lost now under a thick film of brown blood, and it turned its head at every new sound, every scream.
One of the animal trainers, knocked to the ground by a falling caravan, tried to struggle to his feet. The creature swung its head lazily in his direction and, ignoring the monkeys that screamed and dived for cover, extended one arm towards him, secured the man's neck in a serrated vice-like grip, and squeezed.
Zoe swallowed down her bile. 'I'm not sure what we can do,' she said quietly. 'The monster is clearly not killing for food or for any other purpose. Its aim is to kill all living creatures.'
'Can we hide from it?' asked Raitak.
Zoe turned her face away from the carnage. She had just watched a man seeking refuge behind what appeared to be a chess-playing automaton, but the creature stalked over in his direction regardless. It forced a claw straight through the device, and lifted the man to its smooth snout, staring at the creature quizzically through concealed eyes. Zoe hadn't wanted to see the rest. 'It seems to be hunting as much by sound as by sight,' she speculated. 'Unless . . .' She paused in thought. 'Perhaps it's tracking its prey in a different way.
Get me a torch.'
'A what?' said Diseaeda. His voice sounded slurred with shock. 'Why do you —'
'Just do it,' she hissed.
Diseaeda slipped into the tent.
The creature paused for a moment, as if to survey its surroundings and to watch the people that streamed away in every direction. When Zoe had first seen the creature fathers had rushed to protect their families and had been torn in two. One of the strongmen, a mountainous figure fully twice Zoe's size, had been battered to the ground and left like a broken toy.
By now, people had recognized what they were up against. This was no game, no part of Diseaeda's freak show. The blood was real, the slaughter enormous, and the thing seemed to be only just getting into its stride. It leapt on to the top of another small tent and forced it to the ground, spilling conjuring tricks and magic boxes. It stared up into the sky and, just for a moment, brayed at the wind. It was a laughing expression of satisfaction.
Diseaeda returned with one of the flaming torches used by the jugglers. Immediately