Flash Gordon 5 - The Witch Queen of Mongo (17 page)

“Ah-ha!” Prince Barin said in Jado’s voice, smiling slyly. “So that is how the Earthling has been made so docile. I had heard that Ming the Second has been having sport with the Earth hero.”

Queen Azura’s face hardened. “Yes, Ming has been taunting the prisoner. I am not sure I like that, but there is probably no harm done.” She looked at him. “You will feed the Earthling?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. I shall fix his food for him.”

“Do not tarry in the prisoner’s cell,” Queen Azura warned him. “It can be dangerous.”

“I shall obey.”

Queen Azura led Prince Barin out through the tables of test tubes and Bunsen burners and into the corridor. “Serve me well and I will not forget you, Jado.”

“I act on your command, Queen Azura.”

Azura smiled briefly, and moved away down the corridor toward her apartment. Prince Barin went the opposite way, down a winding stairway toward the dungeon chambers.

In the corridor outside the dungeons, Prince Barin met one of the prison guards wheeling a tray of food.

“Guard,” said Prince Barin in Jado’s voice, “the Queen commands that I feed the prisoner Flash Gordon. Can you lead me to his cell?”

“Certainly,” said the guard, after looking at Jado’s I.D. “This way.”

Prince Barin followed the guard with the serving table around a corner and down four cells. The door before which the guard paused was bigger than most, with a tiny barred window in the planking.

“All right, Guard,” said Prince Barin. “Leave me the tray. I’ll take it in.”

“Aye, aye,” muttered the guard, bowing. He moved off down the corridor.

Prince Barin glanced around quickly, removed the jar of CAP 5NC from his tunic, poured some of it in the plate on the tray, and quickly put the jar away. Then he took the food cart, lifted the latch on the outside of the huge door, and pushed inside the cell.

It was dark in the cell, illuminated only by a tiny glow of light in the high ceiling. It took Prince Barin a moment for his eyes to grow accustomed to the subdued illumination in the small room.

“Who is it?” a pitiful voice asked from the corner.

Prince Barin was shocked at the sound of Flash Gordon’s voice. It was Flash all right. He knew the familiar tones, but he could not believe the pitiful quality that seemed to infect the voice itself.

He could see him now, stripped to his powerful waist, his huge shoulders visible, naked and muscled, with the slacks and military boots scratched and dirty. The big man was cringing in the corner, trying to get away from Prince Barin, whom he obviously considered another threat. He was like a mouse!

“What do you want?” Flash whined piteously.

I wish I could tell you, Flash, Barin thought. It would help ease your ordeal. But not now, my good friend. Not till it’s time to make them cringe.

“I’ve brought you some food, Earthling,” Prince Barin said in the tones of Jado. “Here. Eat heartily! Maybe it will make a man out of you.” Jado roared with mirth.

“I don’t think I’m hungry,” Flash said in a whisper. “I don’t feel like eating.”

Prince Barin swaggered dorward toward his friend. “Eat that food, you lout, or I’ll pound it down your throat.”

Flash hung his head. “Please, please!”

“Are you going to eat?” yelled Prince Barin. “Or do I have to chew it for you?”

“All right,” whispered Flash. “I’ll eat. Don’t get mad at me.”

Prince Barin held the food out to Flash, and muttered darkly, “Sorry, old friend. I wish I could tell you this is your comrade Barin and that I’m here to help you, but I’ve got to be sure that antidote works.”

“How do you like it, coward?” cried Prince Barin in Jado’s voice. “Is it good?”

“Oh, it’s very, very good,” said Flash.

“I’ll tell the queen. She will be delighted,” Prince Barin said sarcastically.

“Queen Azura?” Flash repeated, dazed.

“Yes,” Prince Barin said, laughing. “Isn’t she a beautiful woman, Earthling?”

“Oh, yes,” said Flash, putting down his empty plate. “There. You can take it all away now. I’ve eaten.”

“Good for you,” growled Prince Barin. “You’ve licked the platter clean!”

“Yes,” Flash said with a smile.

Prince Barin gathered the empty plates together and put them on the server. He pushed it to the door, opened it, and was about to wheel it out into the corridor when someone moved quickly to his side.

He glanced up, startled.

It was Queen Azura.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Still here, Jado? I didn’t tell you to spoon-feed him. I simply told you to administer the drug to his food. You work very slowly.”

Prince Barin bowed as Jado might, his eyes avoiding hers. He could tell she was annoyed at the fact he had seen her. He could also tell that she was suspicious of him now. He had lingered too long.

But why was she visiting Flash? What was behind the visit that she so obviously wanted kept secret? Something was afoot; Prince Barin did not like it at all.

Queen Azura drew herself up. “I wish to be alone with the prisoner,” she said firmly. “Let no one enter the dungeons, Jado. Not even Ming himself, should he try.”

“The great Ming?” Prince Barin repeated.

“Yes.” The queen glanced up and down the corridor. “Now go, and guard the end of the corridor. You hear me?”

“I hear and I obey, Your Highness.”

Prince Barin pushed the server out of the way and hastened down the corridor to the end where the locked door kept it isolated from the other parts of the dungeon.

He could hear the door squeak open behind him as Queen Azura entered Flash Gordon’s cell.

Alone with the prisoner, Prince Barin thought. That could be dangerous. What if the antidote takes effect while she’s there? She’ll know that I gave it to him! I’ve got to work fast.

He shrugged helplessly. But how? Shaking his head, Prince Barin quickly secured the door to the corridor, and stood by it, his arms folded over his chest.

Was Azura going in there to kill Flash Gordon? Was that part of the bargain?

For Ming’s sake?

Yet she had said not to let even Ming in, should he try.

Prince Barin shuddered.

“I hope that antidote doesn’t take effect and tip off the queen,” he said aloud.

He felt suddenly cold in the corridor and shivered. He wished he knew what was happening inside the cell.

Q
ueen Azura gazed at Jado’s retreating back and frowned.

Too bad, she thought. No one must know of my visit to Flash Gordon. Word of it would get immediately to Ming. And I don’t like to think what he might do about it.

She sighed.

So Jado must die to protect the secrets he knows. And I wonder what took him so long with Flash Gordon.

She turned and pushed her way into Flash’s cell, using the master key she carried to all doors in the palace.

Flash was cringing in the corner, still unnerved from the visit of Jado.

“Don’t pull away from me, Flash,” she said in a soothing voice, and walked over to the corner where he was hiding.

He scrambled against the wall, trying to get away from her.

She reached out a hand to touch his naked shoulder. “Don’t be afraid of me,” she whispered. “I’m your friend.”

Flash turned and stared at her vacantly. “You’re the queen,” he said.

“Yes,” said Azura. “No one must know of this visit. I’ve come to talk to you, Flash.”

“I don’t want to talk,” Flash said, and turned his face to the wall.

“Please,” said Azura. “Talk to me.”

Finally Flash made up his mind. He turned toward her. “All right,” he said softly.

“That’s better,” said Queen Azura.

She stared at his huge shoulder muscles and his enormous chest. She could not help but compare his build to that of Ming’s. And she found Ming wanting.

“We have known each other a long time, Flash,” she said ingratiatingly.

“Yes, Queen Azura,” Flash said dutifully.

“Things have not really changed between us,” she added thoughtfully.

“How do you mean?”

“I have always felt that even though you pretend not to like me, you do,” the Queen said softly.

“Perhaps,” Flash said doubtfully.

“I mean there is more than ‘like’ there, Flash! When first we met, I thought we would spend the rest of our lives together.”

“Oh,” said Flash.

Azura felt a sudden anger at his obvious reluctance to talk about her feelings for him. She tried to hold her annoyance in check.

“Time has passed, Flash, but I find that I feel exactly the same about you as I once did.” She sank down next to him, barely touching him.

He stirred. “That’s interesting,” he said.

“Interesting!” she repeated. “What kind of a man are you? I’m talking about love—I’m talking about how I feel for you. Are you made of concrete?”

Flash shook his head. He was watching her. For some odd reason, she sensed a difference in him, but she could not analyze it.

“I am queen of the most advanced civilization on Mongo,” she said proudly. “The Azurian.”

Flash nodded.

“For some time now I have been preparing to take a king.”

There was silence.

“But the man I have chosen is not good enough to be King of Azuria,” she whispered.

She moved closer to him.

“I want you.”

Flash stared at her coldly. “You have always been an enemy of my friends on Mongo,” Flash said unhappily.

His defiance surprised her a bit, but she did not pause. “But that is easily rectified.”

“Then let Prince Barin go.”

Azura was at a loss for words.

Then she spoke. “If I let Prince Barin go, will you take me—and my kingdom—for yours?”

Flash Gordon stared at her for a long moment. He did not seem to be trembling as much as before. She wondered vaguely if the pacifist mist might not be wearing a bit thin.

But no—it was much too powerful to wear off in twenty-four hours.

“If you let him go and I can see him go free,” Flash said slowly, “then perhaps.”

“No!” she snapped, unable to control her temper. “We will marry first and then Prince Barin will go free.”

Flash shook his head. “Then I will not accept.”

She leaped to her feet, balling her hands into fists at her sides. She was seething with anger.

“You fool! Why are you so stubborn? What is wrong with me? Am I ugly? Am I deformed? Don’t you know I am the most beautiful woman on Mongo?”

Flash smiled faintly, looking up at her.

“I’ll have you killed if you don’t accept my offer!” she railed. “I’ll have you put to death.”

Flash stood slowly. “You’re beautiful. I’m not blind. But I can’t marry you, Azura. I simply don’t love you.”

“Love!” raged the queen, pacing up and down the cell. “What’s love? Something in a book. We go well together, Flash!” she shouted. “You’re a fool to reject me.”

“I’m being honest, Queen Azura,” Flash said quietly. “We would quarrel every day of the week, every hour of the day.”

“No, I can be very nice to my king,” Azura said.

Flash rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What happened between you and Ming, Azura?”

She backed away, staring at him in cold fury. “He’s an idiot,” she said angrily. “I made a terrible mistake when I teamed up with him. Oh, he can rally the Mingolites and we can win all right, but he’s going to be more trouble than he’s worth on the throne,”

Flash smiled.

“Don’t laugh at me!” she shouted. “He might be king, and you’ll be dead!”

Flash moved toward her. “You’d kill me because I wouldn’t be your king?” he asked quietly.

“Yes!” she cried. “I have no further use for you. Prince Barin is in chains, ready to be killed. Once we destroy you and Barin, we will take over Arboria, and then all of Mongo.”

“Your bargain with Prince Barin was simply a lie,” Flash said musingly.

“Of course it was a lie!” the Queen said. “A bird in the hand—”

Flash reached up and Queen Azura felt her wrists seized by his strong hands.

“—is worth two in the bush,” he said, laughing. “Take me to Prince Barin,” he ordered. “We’re going to set him free.”

“Get away from me!” yelled Queen Azura. “How dare you—?” Her eyes widened. What had happened to the pacifist mist? How had Flash Gordon been able to rid himself of his fear? He had grabbed her boldly, and he was holding onto her so that she could not escape.

“I mean it,” warned Flash. “Take me to Prince Barin and order him released, or I’ll break your wrists.”

Queen Azura felt fear well up in her. She could feel the hair on her head stiffen. Her throat was dry.

“You—what have you done?”

“I feel like myself for the first time since I’ve been in Azuria,” said Flash. “I presume the drug has worn off.”

Azura took a deep breath and started to scream. Flash anticipated the scream, and clapped his hand over her mouth after she had gotten out only a small cry.

“Quiet, Your Majesty,” Flash said ironically, and dragged her back into the shadows of the cell with him. “If anyone comes—”

But no one did.

“Now,” Flash said, pushing her forward, “we’re going to go to Prince Barin.”

“No,” Azura retorted, “I refuse to. If I call a guard, you’ll be dead in seconds.”

“Not when they see that I have their queen where I can break her neck with a chop of the hand.”

The strength drained out of Azura. “All right,” she said, “I’ll go.”

“You bet you’ll go,” said Flash.

He started dragging her toward the cell door. “Now give me that key and no tricks.”

“I promise,” she said meekly.

She fumbled in a small bag she carried at her belt and finally opened it. Tears of rage flowed out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

“You’re hurting me, Flash,” she said, sobbing.

He did not let go of her wrists.

Then, suddenly, she had a small knife in her hand and she spun around toward him, aiming the cutting edge at his bare chest.

Flash let go of her and drew back quickly to protect himself.

She slipped through the cell door and slammed it shut from the outside.

Angrily Flash grabbed the bars and stared out at her.

“And for that little bit of rebellion, my dear Earthling,” Azura snarled, “you’ll pay with your life!”