Flash Gordon 5 - The Witch Queen of Mongo (19 page)

“Guard, if I hear so much as a peep out of you, I’ll have you killed,” said Prince Barin, and, pulling Queen Azura after him, slammed the door of the cell shut, the noise echoing along the entire corridor.

In the darkened hallway, he held Queen Azura closely to him and looked her in the eye.

“Now, Queen Azura, lead me to the suspension vault, if you please.”

Queen Azura, unable to act against Prince Barin, and shaking in terror, accompanied him through the winding corridors of the palace to her suite.

Guards stiffened to attention as she passed, and Barin made sure that she did not attempt to signal any of them. She was totally subdued, a tribute to the drug which she had encouraged her scientists to perfect for her.

“It should interest you, Queen Azura,” he whispered at one point, “how effective your anti-courage drug is, particularly when applied to the one who used it with such success on Flash Gordon.”

The queen was not amused, but she was unable to turn her apprehension and fear into anger and action against Prince Barin. She continued to cower beside him as she led him into the chamber of the suspension vaults.

Willie stood in the vault—the boy whom Prince Barin had just heard about from Flash Gordon.

“Guard!” shouted Prince Barin. “The queen wishes the boy released from the nerve drug.”

One of several guards approached and saluted the queen. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

Prince Barin prodded her. “Yes,” Queen Azura said dreamily. “Do as he says.”

“Release the boy from the drug,” snapped Prince Barin.

The guard nodded, went across the room to a cupboard, removed a jar from the shelf, and brought the potion over to the suspension vault.

Within seconds, Willie’s eyes flickered and he smiled at Prince Barin.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Prince Barin stood quietly watching him. “I’m Prince Barin, lad. Are you Gordon’s young companion?”

“Yes, sir,” said the boy. “Gee. You’re Prince Barin? I’ve heard about you.”

“And I about you,” said Prince Barin.

“Where’s Flash Gordon?”

“In another part of the palace,” said the Prince.

“Hey! I wish we were there with him,” Willie said.

Prince Barin blinked in astonishment.

No sooner said than done. They were in Flash Gordon’s cell and—

The moment he had fallen to the floor, Flash understood exactly how Ming had tricked him with the helmet. But he was powerless to bring his adversary to judgment.

Ming lunged at him, the sword flashing.

Flash rolled quickly out of the way.

Ming laughed, once again recovering his stance. “You should have killed me when you had the chance, you merciful fool!” he gloated, waving the sword.

Flash stretched out his hand for the second sword which lay over a foot away from his outstretched hand.

Ming’s foot stamped on Flash’s wrist.

“No!” he said. “I’m not going to let you have another chance at me!” He raised the sword in his hand and brought it down toward Flash’s shoulder.

“Oh, no,” Flash said, countering by flipping over and stabbing up with his booted foot at Ming’s knee.

Ming went backward, the sword flying loose.

“I’ve got a few tricks left, Ming, before I cash in!” Flash cried.

Ming went down on his back, hard. As he hit the floor, he reached for the sword he had lost.

“No, you don’t!” exclaimed Flash. “We’re going to have this out hand to hand.”

Flash jumped on Ming and foiled his attempt to reach for the sword.

“Hands?” Ming growled, as Flash rose, holding Ming’s forearm to bring him to his feet. “How about feet? That gentle art of ‘savate’ as you call it on Earth?”

Ming smashed his foot into Flash’s solar plexus.

Flash fell, crumpled to the floor in pain.

“You can’t run now, Flash,” Ming crowed in triumph. “You’re finished.”

He reached for the sword, got it, and straightened up to deliver the final blow to Flash Gordon.

Willie stared in dismay at the scene before his eyes. He saw Flash Gordon on the floor of a dismal prison cell, with a big bearded man standing over him.

I wish you’d stop, Willie thought.

Instantly the big man stood stone-still, frozen in time and space.

Flash Gordon glanced up at Willie, saw him, and smiled faintly.

“Willie,” he said sighing. “You’ve saved my life again!”

Queen Azura stared in disbelief. “Magic,” she muttered. “Real magic!”

Flash rose, removed the sword from Ming the Second’s hand, and threw it to the floor.

“Ming,” he said sadly, “it looks like you’re going to have to be put away for the safety of the planet.”

“Amen to that,” said Prince Barin, walking toward Flash with Queen Azura in tow.

“Willie,” said Flash, “get me some rope.”

“Okay, Mr. Gordon,” Willie said obediently and ran out.

Flash stared at Queen Azura; then he frowned at Prince Barin.

“Barin, what’s the matter with the queen? She seems totally subdued.”

“So much so that I had no trouble at all finding Willie and bringing him out of the effects of the nerve gas, which is called paralysis mist, according to Queen Azura.”

“How do you account for the queen’s docility?” Flash asked, again staring at the beautiful Azura.

Prince Barin laughed. “The truth of the matter seems to be that Ming the Second found out about the drug that had been used on you, and procured some of it for himself. When Azura began leaning on him because of his treatment of you, he resented it.

“The nearest thing I can figure out is that he decided to turn the drug against the queen, and give a delayed-action dose of it to her. He figured to kill Prince Barin”—Barin smiled and waved his hand—“that false one in the torture chamber, and then kill you. After that, he would be in control of Azuria and Arboria and the Free Council. He would be ruler of Mongo.”

“Who helped him?” Flash asked.

“The dwarf, Qilp,” Prince Barin said, laughing. “His cousin!”

“How’d you know about him,?” Flash was puzzled.

“You forget that I’ve got it all stored in my memory under Jado’s memory bank.”

Flash grinned. “Son of a gun,” he said. “That’s right. You do know all about the palace intrigues.”

“I also know that Jado himself wanted to overthrow the queen. Only he figured he would do it for himself, and not cut in Ming.”

“It gets so you can’t trust anybody.” Flash sighed. He turned to Azura. “You heard all that?”

“Yes, Flash,” she said in a low voice. “What are you going to do with me?”

“I haven’t figured it out yet,” Flash said thoughtfully.

Willie ran in with a length of rope and started to tie up Ming the Second.

It was a sunny afternoon on the dining balcony of the palace in Arboria. At table were Flash Gordon, Dr. Zarkov, Prince Barin, Dale Arden, and Willie.

“Hey, ice cream!” Worriless Willie cried in ecstasy.

“Just for you,” Barin said. “Doc Zarkov told me about your sweet tooth.”

“Gee! It’s the best dessert there is!” He plunged in and the rest of them laughed.

“Well,” said Zarkov, turning to Prince Barin, “how goes the Kingdom of Arboria?”

Barin relaxed, smiling. “The Free Council is convinced that we have no more worries about the secret army Queen Azura was mounting against us.”

“And the queen?”

“The effects of the delayed-action drug administered by Ming the Second and Qilp have worn off. She’s as mean as ever—it’s just her nature—but I think she’ll behave herself for some time to come. We threw a pretty big scare into her, you know.”

Zarkov shook his head. “What frightens me is the existence of Ming the Second! Can you imagine that? Nobody knew Ming the Merciless had a son.”

“Oh, there were rumors for years,” Barin said slowly. “We just didn’t follow them up as we should have.”

“He ought to have been executed,” Zarkov snorted.

“No,” said Prince Barin. “The Free Council has acted on him already. He’s to be kept in prison under the aegis of the council itself. Even if he were killed, we would have others coming up pretending to be descendants of Ming. No, it’s best to have the real Ming the Second where we can watch him.”

“Maybe,” said Zarkov.

“I never did understand about that personality transference,” Dale said. “What happened to the real Azurian courier?”

“Jado?” Prince Barin smiled. “Well, we rescued him from the torture chamber and brought him back here to Arboria to undergo transference in reverse. He’s back to normal, and working for the queen now.”

“I would have executed him,” Zarkov said darkly.

“You’re a blood-thirsty tyrant, Doc,” Prince Barin said good-naturedly. “I know Jado has plans to become ruler of Azuria, as king to the queen, but it’s only a dream. Nobody thinks it can happen.”

Zarkov shook his head. “Weak-kneed administration of justice,” he snorted.

“Whatever happened to that capering dwarf, Qilp?” Flash Gordon asked after a moment’s silence.

“Well, he’s still the queen’s right-hand man, but the rumor is that she’s keeping him under heavy security so he can’t turn against her ever again.”

“I would have given him the fear drug—pacifist mist as they call it—and let him be her vassal,” said Zarkov.

Prince Barin looked stern. “You’re being silly, Doc. We took all the formulations and pills we found in the Blue Magic laboratories and put them to the torch out in the middle of the Great Mongo Desert. Scientifically speaking, Queen Azura’s right back where she started.”

“I wouldn’t trust her too far,” Flash warned. “She did it once, and she can do it again.”

“But not for a while,” Prince Barin said.

Dale turned to Willie. “How’s that ice cream?”

“Swell,” Willie said, grinning at her.

“Willie, when are we going home?” Dale asked in a soft voice. “I’ve got work to do.”

Willie’s face fell. “Gee, I didn’t think we would want to go back for a while, Miss Arden.”

Dale raised an eyebrow. “Oh, come on, Willie! You’ve had enough adventures for a lifetime, haven’t you?”

Willie’s face assumed a vacant expression, and they could all tell that he was daydreaming again.

“Hey,” he said. “It’s really exciting here on Mongo. You know?”

“What’s exciting, Willie?” Prince Barin asked tensely.

“Trouble,” said Willie, his face lighting up. “Big trouble. Far away from Arboria. I kind of wish we—”