The Game Called Revolution, - [ebook reader 8 inch .txt] 📗

and one in that order, to get to Jean-Paul, but Farahilde held out her gauntleted hand, motioning for her to stop. “I would not be so hasty if I were you, fräulein. You may have noticed that each of these blocks hanging from the ceiling has an iron chain attached to it. Each of those chains runs up through the ceiling to the floor above us, where they are secured to that floor’s ceiling. That keeps nine of these blocks in place, and they won’t fall to the spikes below from the weight of people jumping around on them.

“How-e-ver, you probably also noticed that your bruder, too, is bound by chains that run up into the ceiling. Those chains are connected to one of these stone blocks in a fragile…how do you say, equilibrium? Each block weighs two hundred pounds—about the weight of a man. And if you were to jump on it, the block will fall, pulling your bruder up to the ceiling. How large do you think the opening in the ceiling that his chains are going through is? Certainly not large enough for him to be pulled through cleanly. Have you ever tried shoving a pig through a hole one foot in diameter? It is not pretty. The same will happen to your bruder if you jump on the wrong block.”

Was Farahilde lying? Maybe, but Jeanne didn’t have the luxury of putting that to the test. She could use her God’s Eye to reveal the secrets of the stone blocks…if only she hadn’t used it earlier. Now she was too drained mentally, and she had no doubt that if she used it now, it would overwhelm her and she would fall into the spike pit below.

Jeanne said, “Do you expect me to just sit here all day?”

“It is not so bad. As I said, I shall regale you with a story. And since you have nowhere to go, you will listen to it,” she said threateningly.

Jean-Paul sighed. “Not this again. She already tortured me with this story.”

Farahilde ignored him and began speaking. “It happened twenty years ago during meine first visit to Paris. Meine schwester was in the city on business, and I was so happy to see her for the first time since she had married Louis XVI and become queen of France. We were all so proud of her, our family. And naturally, I assumed the French people were, as well. After all, how could they not be proud to have such a beautiful, strong and elegant woman such as Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna for their queen?

“Oh, how naïve I was! You French worms are a barbarous people, lacking in even the most basic human morals. While in Paris, I witnessed meine schwester being assaulted by every vile word you people could think up. Not only that, but they accused her of every misdeed they could think up. Promiscuity; treason; bad fashion sense; haughtiness; these were just a few of the accusations that she had to endure—no, still endures to this day. Even a child such as me could see that all of France had gone mad. Here was a country forcing its cruelties onto its queen, whom they should adore with all their heart.

“After that I vowed to one day match their emotional cruelty with physical cruelty. And when I was finally given military authority within the Austrian Army, I had this prison built near the French border in order to punish you French worms whenever you dare invade us. And there has been much punishing to do as of late. It seems your country has grown tired of merely abusing its queen, and now seeks the conquest of meine beloved Austria. Fine by me; it just means more French logs for meine fire!”

Jeanne sympathized with Farahilde…somewhat. “I understand your desire for justice over the wrongs your sister has suffered over the years. I myself have witnessed some of those injustices. Having had a chance to get to know her personally, I can say without reservation that she didn’t deserve it.

“But this is not the way to right the wrongs of the past! All you’re doing is torturing people needlessly. Do you really think you can change anything by constructing an underground labyrinth of horrors? This makes no sense!”

Farahilde scoffed at her plea for sanity. “Sense? Ha! We have left the world of sense behind, fräulein! As did the French people when they began their torture of meine schwester. All I have done is built an environment to match their hearts. They can only blame themselves for this. Your country abandoned reason and compassion a long time ago.”

Jeanne shook her head. “I know your sister personally. And I know she would never approve of this. She’s a kind person.”

“I can vouch for that,” Jean-Paul added.

“Shut up!” Farahilde spat. “You dare claim to know meine schwester better than I do? I don’t care what you say! I’m doing this for her!”

She suddenly leaped over to the number six block Jeanne was standing on. The block swung a few feet as it adjusted to the new arrival.

Jeanne held on tight to the block’s chain. “What are you—?”

She was unable to finish her sentence as Farahilde jabbed at her with her gauntlet hand, while her other hand was clinging to the chain. Jeanne barely dodged the razor-sharp blades. Farahilde pulled back and thrust at her again, but Jeanne grabbed her wrist in mid-attack. They grappled atop the stone block for several moments without either of them gaining a clear advantage.

“Jeanne, be careful!” Jean-Paul cried out.

Jeanne yelled to Farahilde, “Stop this madness!”

“You want it to end? Very well…just stand still!”

In one impossibly fluid motion, Farahilde spun around, her gauntlet slicing the chain, before leaping back onto the number ten block. Jeanne reacted instinctively, jumping left to the number seven block. In mid-air she realized the mistake she had made: She had jumped without thinking. She could be jumping onto the booby-trapped stone block, sentencing her brother to die a grisly death…

Her mouth opened wide. She wanted to scream, to cry out in anguish for the death of a loved one that may now be inevitable. Instead, however, her cries were entirely inward.

She reached out and grabbed the chain on the number seven block, aware that doing so may kill her brother—but again, it was instinctive. To her surprise and immeasurable relief, though, the stone block held. She steadied herself and waited a moment, but still the block held.

Farahilde gave another twisted laugh from up ahead and to the right on the number ten block. “Why, you were positively wetting yourself there, fräulein. You thought that was the chain connected to your bruder. Don’t get too happy, though; there are still plenty more chains to try.”

Jeanne took a moment to compose herself. “Jean-Paul, I don’t suppose you know which stone block you’re connected to?”

“I’m sorry, Jeanne, but I don’t. They knocked me out and when I woke up I was in this position.”

“Surely, you don’t think I would be foolish enough to tell this dummkopf which one it is?” She laughed again.

Jeanne thought about it carefully. She knew the numbers six, seven and ten blocks weren’t traps since she and Farahilde had already jumped on them. Unfortunately, that still left seven stone blocks to test. There was a high probability that either Farahilde or herself would jump on the loose block and send Jean-Paul de Fleur crashing up through a hole too small for his body. There was even a chance Farahilde would jump on it intentionally; Jeanne wouldn’t put anything past her at this point.

Jeanne said, “No, I guess not.”

“You know, fräulein, the look on your face a moment ago was priceless. I want to see it again!”

Farahilde abruptly leaped onto the number eight block in front of Jeanne. Jeanne’s heart stopped beating as she watched the unhinged Austrian girl land on the block, not knowing if Farahilde was intentionally jumping to her death in one last attack on Jeanne’s psyche or not.

However, the number eight block held as Farahilde’s weight was deposited on it. Jeanne remembered to breathe again as she realized that this was yet another of the mad girl’s mind games.

“You’re insane,” she said venomously.

“I am merely living up to meine namesake. Did you know that in Norse mythology, Hilde is queen of Hell? When choosing something to aspire to, one can certainly do worse, don’t you think?”

Jeanne didn’t answer. She was tired of playing with this lunatic. Instead, she unsheathed her rapier and bounded over to Farahilde’s block, grabbing onto its chain. The Austrian was caught off-guard by Jeanne’s sudden attack and nearly found herself pierced through the abdomen by the sword. She responded by thrusting her bladed gauntlet towards Jeanne’s left eye.

She’s going for my blind spot, Jeanne realized as she barely managed to tilt her head just enough to the side to avoid the attack.

“Silly fräulein, your rapier is a poor fit for combat at such close quarters. You need several feet to make an effective thrust with that. With meine gauntlet, however, the space needed is much less.”

She was right, Jeanne realized. Farahilde definitely had the advantage in this environment. Although that was hardly surprising; the Austrian girl had had this chamber built for her. Of course she would play to her strengths in here.

After narrowly dodging several more of Farahilde’s strikes, Jeanne decided to switch tactics. She sheathed her rapier and decided to go hand-to-hand with her enemy. Farahilde crouched and thrust low at her, but Jeanne grabbed the chain and pulled herself up above the attack before kicking the Austrian in the shoulder.

Farahilde briefly lost her balance, and only managed to avoid falling into the pit by grabbing hold of the chain. Apparently deciding that they had spent enough time on this stone block, she used her gauntlet to cut through part of the chain and turned around to jump on the number nine block. The force of her jump was enough to sever the rest of the chain, and the block fell.

Jeanne held on to what remained of the chain and spent several moments dangling above the pit. Farahilde seemed to find this exceedingly amusing. “Are you having trouble, fräulein? Hang in there!”

However, Jeanne had not lost hope. They were getting closer and closer to Jean-Paul, who had for the most part remained silent so his sister could focus on this battle; only the number one block remained between him and Farahilde, and he was hanging mere feet from that block. Assuming that wasn’t booby-trapped, all Jeanne had to do was get past Farahilde, leap on it, and save him. Of course, when was it ever that simple?

Jeanne began swinging her hips back and forth, building momentum and carving a larger and larger arc across the chamber. She got her legs in synch to make the process as efficient as possible.

“You think I don’t see what you’re planning?” Farahilde said. “You mean to jump over here to me, but,” she held up her gauntlet, “I’ll knock you into the pit as soon as you try it. Your armor may be formidable, but nothing can survive a fall from this height.”

When Jeanne was satisfied she had built up as much momentum as she was going to, she swung towards the number nine block Farahilde was on and let go, but not before giving herself a little twist on the chain. She spiraled through the air above the pit, maneuvering her body in order to make the best landing she could.

“You’ve done it now, fräulein!”

Farahilde raised her gauntlet and swung it at the incoming Jeanne. To her surprise, though, on Jeanne’s last revolution