Fuel for the Fire

Fuel For the Fire, by JamesGinger and Redfiredog6

Prologue

-

Strider glared into the wind. It was a strong one, and it was in the right direction, but it also came with a warning.  He spared a quick glance at the receding safety of the shore of Britay. Perhaps it would have been more prudent to wait, but after these past two years on the sea, he liked to think he'd seen worse than this coming storm. Hopefully, he  and his skiff could ride the momentum and get to his destination all the sooner. 

He turned away from the wind, and peered ahead, to the north. On the far distant horizon to his right was the northern reaches of Ankoria, that cursed land, where nothing good grew.

But he wasn't going there. He was heading to the far north. Nordland, where he hoped to gain allies in the powerful warriors of North Island. Legend had it that when thedude first invaded the frozen north, they had been able to hold their own against his forces, and eventually routed him. However, in the past year, they had finally succumbed to the overwhelmingly increased  forces of thedude, and their stronghold of North Island was now thedude's northernmost outpost. 

Stirling wondered if their eventual downfall had something to do with hope. Perhaps, after seeing nearly every other nation fall, did the Nordeners not see any reason to hold out? 

He wanted to rekindle that hope.

Tacking the sails yet again, he peered worriedly up at the changing sky. 

Speaking of hope, he had to keep his own up. This storm was promising to be quite a rodeo.

---------

Chapter 1: Why you don't Argue with Enchanters

Kalaren was having quite a busy day. No, there were no attacks. He was busy with errands. From delivering laundry to stomping on wolf spiders, sharpening weapons, making some, and then delivering them to the armory! Tossing a salad for a delectable lunch! Still, Kalaren did prefer this to warfare, as boring as chores may be. Currently, He was feeding the goats, deep in thought. The past seven and a half years had mostly been uneventful. He was now a full-fledged soldier in the rebellion, as he was twenty three by now. 

So deep in thought was he, that the goats were now helping themselves to the hardy hay as he stared into the wind.

Kalaren was brought back to reality by one of the goats bleating. He shook his head before picking up the sack of grain and pouring it’s contents into the goats feed troughs.

He was soon finished and was wondering what to do.

‘I’ll check on Jellyfish and Methuselah, the enchanter to see if they’ve found a way to power our paradox gear.’ Kalaren did so, and started making his way to the magician’s bunker. 

Along the way, he ran along a group of kids playing kickball in the street with a patched up ball Jellyfish had put together for them. He stopped to watch.  

There was Jonny and Blake. They made one team.

Then there was Joshua and Rita. To the side, reading a small battered scroll was… hmm. Kal had to think for a minute. Ah yes, Rosa. She was the quiet one. 

Kalarens thoughts were again interrupted as his face met the kickball. 

Staggering backward, he wondered why his reflexes hadn’t saved him. However, it appeared that the last few years had traded some of those reflexes for pain tolerance. Shaking it off, he chuckled and kicked the ball back to the offenders, waving away their apologies.

The rest of the walk was entirely uneventful as he walked through the rest of Aragarth. 

Several minutes later, he arrived at the enchanter’s quarters. Until recently, it had only been a bunker. It was originally a cellar of some building, long reduced to rubble, though at the passing of Grimoir, the previous enchanter, his replacement, Methuselah, saw to the repair and fortification of the original building. The result was quite desirable for such a resistance. He approached the house’s door and knocked, waiting for Methuselah to answer. He soon heard a voice.

“Who goes there?”

Kalaren had forgotten about how Methuselah was a little too overzealous about protecting this bunker.

“Kalaren.”

“Very well. Do  you remember the password?”

Kalaren sighed. "Drowssap.”

“Very good! Now you put in the key code.”

Kalaren switched the numbers on the tumbler lock they had broken off a briefcase they found previously to the code. The lock didn’t even work, but who’s to argue with an enchanter?

“There, I put it in, could you let me in now?”

“Yes, of course! As soon as I open these other locks.”

Kalaren waited two minutes before he was finished. The door opened to show Methuselah. He had brown hair and a  thick chinstrap beard, along with his piercing grey eyes. He was dressed in a brown tunic, black pants and a navy robe. He had a rank 3 sorcerer's staff, Chosen because he thought he could utilize the maelstrom energy stored inside. Kalaren tried to separate himself from the paradox equipment as much as he could, as maelstrom energy was the same thing that had almost smashed his father. 

‘Vladek beat it to the final blow though,’  he thought, before his thoughts were cut short yet again by Methuselah.

“Kalaren! You should see what Jellyfish and I fixed up!”

“Great! Sure, I will!” 

Methuselah smiled. “Perfect! This will revolutionize our technology!”

Kalaren followed Methuselah through the bunker, observing the layout.

In this large sort of greeting hall, there was a Wormholer and two shinobi swords near the door, and a wooden bridge that was over a pit that contained sharpened stakes at the bottom. At the other side of the bridge, was a mechanism to wind up the bridge. Not only would the tilted up bridge block the entrance to the stairwell behind it(leading further into the bunker,) but it also formed a barrier against projectiles.

He started descending the staircase, noting the portraits on the walls. He knew there was various weapons and triggers to various traps behind them. Other than the portraits, there was a continuing bookcase containing most of the literature of Aragarth, and some weapons and switches hidden among the books, even a secret passage, he knew, that led into the forest surrounding the city!

It was like a typical wizard's tower, but in reverse. And more booby-trapped.

They passed many rooms, with simple traps devised to use little or no electricity, as you could hardly find a power source other than magical energy, which was largely corrupted. Halfway down, they passed through a small  room that Dr. Jellyfish had shown off before, which did utilize some energy. Mostly hot-wired by Jellyfish, there was an airlock that, when activated by one of the hidden switches could shut the doors and the four vents on the roof would release acidic, noxious fumes. 

They quickly passed through that room. 

Kalaren also noticed Methuselah appeared to be distracted, occasionally stopping mid-stride and muttering, before continuing on as if nothing had happened. Kalaren knew that Methuselah was actually multitasking. He had to in order to keep the spell going which kept everyone in the ruined city of Aragarth from being corrupted, though, even with his distracted demeanor, he was also clearly very excited about what he was going to show Kalaren.

They reached the bottom floor as Jellyfish watched several rodents running in hamster wheels trying to get the scraps of food hanging outside of the wheel. Currently Jellyfish was bringing them the small pieces of food and many of them stopped running to eat. Next to him was two wormholers, it looked like one of them was empty of ammo, and the other was bursting with energy. Jellyfish turned towards them and it was quite apparent he was especially excited.

“Methuselah! You brought Kalaren!! WONDERFUL!!! You’re just in time! I’ve finished going over the results from these two wormholers, and I’ve found the common denominator quotients that should correlate across all known Paradox Tech!”

“Eureka!” Exclaimed Methuselah. Kalaren was, as you would imagine, very confused.

“What?”

“Come see!” he cried, waving Kalaren over to the two Wormholers, having completely tossed all of the lunch-scraps to the rodents. Kalaren nodded and came to the table where the wormholers were located.

“Take a look. These two Wormholers were at varying charges , but roughly like 30% and 45% or something. Normally, we’d save these, use them in some fight, and once they were drained, they’d be utterly useless.” he gave a mocking frowny face. “Maybe broken down for parts. BUT! With the power of our combined genius, I and Methuselah have found a way to extract the Maelstrom from any Paradox tech, and inject it directly into another, revitalizing the energy pool, and extending the life beyond the total sum of the original two sums!”

Kalaren’s expression went sour.

“Lovely, we’ll use these things more often.” Kalaren said as he gestured to the weapons. “And what does these animals have to do with it?” Kalaren pointed at the rodents on the hamster wheels.

“Oh, those are unrelated! They are just creating a little more energy. They may be eating more food than they are producing energy, However.” Methuselah exclaimed with a frown.

Jellyfish shared his frown as he mused. “What we really need are electric eels.” 

Kalaren cocked his head slightly to the side. “Electric eels….?”

“Oh yes! When I was sane, and worked in a prestigious laboratory off-world with the Nexus Force, we had electric eels. They were fun to pet.”

Kalaren raised both his eyebrows.

“Oh, and they also powered the laboratory they were located in. Sadly, not mine, but that’s ok,” the scientist continued. “Mine ran on cold fusion.”

“Oh! Then we can power the entire city! We could overload Vladek’s Fort! We cou-” Methuselah was interrupted by Jellyfish.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have the components for either electric eels tanks or Cold Fusion reactors. Come to think of it, I don’t remember what we’d need for a cold fusion reactor.” He waved a hand to the hamster wheels. “Thus, one I do remember, kinetic energy.”

“I see.” Kalaren said. 

“BUT!” He swung his other arm around, nearly whacking Kalaren in the face, but Kalaren grabbed his arm with his robotic arm, and froze, stopping both.

“Oh, sorry Kalaren.”

“It’s ok, I’m the one who should be sorry.”

“Why?”

“It seems there is another technological outage. I can’t move my arm.”

“...Oh.”

They all stood there, awkwardly contemplating this development, which became even more clear as all of the technology around them began shutting off.

“It’s a good thing we can’t afford enough energy to get an electronic lock for the door.” Kalaren pointed out, much to Methuselah’s annoyance.

“But what if paradox rogues were out there? We have tunnels to escape, we don’t need the door to open!”

‘That’s why you don’t argue with wizards,” Kalaren thought. 

They all decided to try and make their way up the stairs, and tell everyone the news of how they could double the life of a maelstrom-powered weapon. Going up the stairs was very difficult as Kalaren’s and Jellyfish’s arms were stuck together. Meanwhile Methuselah stated how it might be nice to get an elevator for the several levels.

Chapter 2: Shipwrecked

The waves threw themselves on board Stirling’s skiff, but he hardly felt them anymore. He was numb to the bone, drenched entirely through, and had absolutely no control of his ship’s course, which, as far as he could tell, was drifting towards Ankoria’s shores. 

In layman terms, he was screwed. However, with himself being the only man aboard, he couldn’t call it quits, no matter how wet and cold he was. So, he was not too unprepared when a tall, rocky, cliff-shore loomed out of the sheet of rain and lightning, threatening to crush him and his ship to smithereens. Fighting both tide and wind, he was able to veer away from a full collision…

But on the harsh sea, even the slightest error was often costly. 

As he turned away from the looming cliffside, he heard the sickening squeal of merciless rock against his wooden hull, and knew that he now had mere minutes before his ship sank. He grabbed the essential supplies in the boat, grabbed the bag Peragrine, his old friend had given him, and the life preserver, (for all the good it would do,) and keeping them close, drove his boat with reckless abandon right along the coast, searching for a cove or beach where he would not have to climb far to find stable shelter. He didn’t find one in time.

“Perry could have done it,” was his last thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He woke up with an incredibly dry, raspy throat.

He was lying on his back on some form of sand, he tried to open his eyes, but the sand and sea salt made them sting. He tried to wipe them with his tunic, but that just made it worse, as his clothes were in the same condition.

He decided to bear the pain to take a look around.

It appeared he had washed up in a cave. There was a light up above, and it informed him that outside it had to be daytime.

As he sat up, he gritted his salty teeth as his body cried out as expected. 

“Too bad,” he thought. “It looks like I’m not going to get to rest for awhile now.”

Looking around the cave for an exit, he realized there was apparently none, except for an exit under the clear water, where more light was spilling from.

Did he miraculously go under the water, with his life preserver on, just to bob back up here, safe from the wind and the storm?  

Stirling rubbed his aching head.  This was not a priority to figure out right now. He had to get some water, and after that, it would be beneficial to look for any supplies, and find out where in the world he was.

Checking his person, he was relieved to find his canteen, his katana, (Oh man, that was going to take forever to clean, even with his more waterproof scabbard,) all of his armor, (again, going to need to be cleaned, and soon,) a compass in one of his pockets, the rope that he’d slung over himself, and...That was it, unfortunately. He sighed as he realized that included the pack Perry had gifted him, as well as his samurai rank 3 bow. As well as...

"Crux, Thingguy is going to kill me."

A rejiggered Nexus Force communicator that Thingguy had given him for safekeeping. It was probably at the bottom of the ocean now, beyond reach. Beyond repair. And with it, their only connection to the Nexus Force Armada, just waiting for the signal...

Stirling shook himself, before he could start kicking himself. If he was going to be alive for Thingguy to berate him, he first had to survive and figure out where he was.

Having satiated his thirst with his canteen and taken inventory, he once again looked around to see about getting out. And once again, he only saw the small opening far above him, too small to climb up and out of, and the opening below the water line.

After a moment’s contemplation, he left the life preserver behind, and since he was still quite soaked, he dove into the water and swam out the other side, being sure to keep a tight hold on the rock formation, as the tide was strong on the other side. ‘The tide!’ He thought.  ‘That must've been what got me in there. It must have been low tide during the storm, and by the time I woke up, it’s turned around to high.’  Breaking the surface of the water, he wiped his stinging, burning, salty eyes and looked out. To his right, was sheer rocky shore, with no clear ways up. However, to his left was a sight for sore eyes. A short break in the impassable cliff line revealed a gray-black pebbly beach. 

And did his eyes deceive him, or was there wreckage washed up over there?

Alternatively Swimming and grappling along the rocky formations, weighed down as he was, in his Samurai armor, he made his way to the not-so-distant shore.

A few minutes later, he reached solid ground, and refrained from kissing the ground stereotypically in favor of searching the debris for useful remains of his ship.

There was plenty of driftwood and flotsam, and there was an ill smell of rot on the beach combating the salty air from the sea. Most of the driftwood was far too old to be from his ship, which told him he had not been the first to wreck his ship along Ankoria. Perhaps the curse extended farther out into the sea…?

‘No,’ he thought. ‘I only have myself to blame for wrecking here.’ He had misread the weather, and was paying the price now. He'd challenged mother nature, and she'd humbled him. Now he had no choice but to continue to challenge her, stuck in the wilderness, somewhere.

There were various tools and even some small treasures scattered amongst the old remains of ships long sunk, but most of it was ruined beyond worth by it’s countless time spent in the elements. A spyglass with no glass. A gem splintered into shards. A half  of a map that crumbled to flakes as he picked it up. A grimy dubloon. 

But the greatest treasure of all was…

“Of course. I should have known.”

Perry’s Pack.

Relief washed over Stirling.

Somehow, the backpack had become snagged on a large piece of wood with a protruding nail, and now here it was, washed up on the shore, the waves lapping at the board, like a hand shoving it up onto the beach.

“Perry must have rubbed some of his luck off onto it,” Stirling chuckled to himself, as he released it from the nail with ease and looked inside. On the very top was a towel, with the words ‘DON’T PANIC’ embroidered on it.

Rolling his eyes, he took the sopping wet towel out, and inspected the rest of the gear.

Beyond all comprehension, the large majority of the tech, equipment, and provisions, and most importantly, his rewired Nexus Force communicator, were none the worse for wear, having been protected by the towel on top, and, as Stirling found out, another towel on the bottom of the pack, which had ‘42’ embroidered on it.  He shook his head.

“Wow. Perry, sometimes I think you’re a secret genius.”

After making a last cursory search of the beach, Stirling stepped off, feeling much better about his chances in the Cursed land of Ankoria.

~~~~~~~

Chapter 3: Explaining Maelstrom Revitalization

Kalaren, Jellyfish, and Methuselah climbed up and out of the Bunker, and walked towards the town hall, (Kalaren had been able to detach his arm from Jellyfish’s)  where Matheeas held residence. Over the course of his time as Leader of the Ankorian Rebellion, the Town Hall had become more akin to a war counsel, as most of the planning for Aragarth took place there. Thus was the reason why Kalaren, Jellyfish, and Methuselah were heading there now.

As they approached the Hall, Kalaren observed the defensive layout again. 

There was a lantern hanging next to the door, while on the other side an Ankorian Resistance flag fluttered lightly, displaying a red stripe on the top and bottom, and a orange stripe in the middle, with a blazing sword cutting into a warped evil-looking staff. On either side of the door, groups of outward-facing sharpened wooden stakes made access to the door available to only one or two people at a time. The building itself consisted of old stone.

There was a guard outside of the door, who recognized them.

“Hello. State your business.” He said, sounding bored.

“Well, we just discovered something that will change our way of life here, by giving us the power of electricity for years to come!” Methuselah replied proudly. The guard nodded.

“I’ll let em’ know you got something to work with electricity. Follow me.” 

Methuselah and Jellyfish were getting quite disappointed with their reactions, but nonetheless, they followed the guard inside.

Kalaren noticed a few guards roaming about the main hall, various closed off doors leading to a kitchen, closet, administrative offices… Very few of these areas still served their original functions, instead being converted into whatever was needed, such as an armory, barracks, or in the case of Matheeas, a bedroom, here where he was most easily available. The one room that hadn’t changed much, was upstairs, in the grand dome of the building, which, while mostly intact, had been more carefully repaired to at least resemble what it may have once looked like. The great Council chambers, which Matheeas still used to discuss important matters with his people, and discuss strategies, both domestic and military. They headed to this room. The guard went in, leaving the trio to wait at the door, before the guard came up and let them in, revealing Matheeas leaning over a table with a couple maps, and other officials.

“You wanted to say something about a power source?” Matheeas inquired. Jellyfish eagerly replied.

“Yes! Methuselah and I were experimenting with some of our Paradox weapons! We found out that if you took out the maelstrom energy in one blaster, and put it in another full one, it would multiply the energy! For example, if you added one quart of maelstrom energy to another quart, it wouldn’t simply make two quarts, but five! Then you could add yet another quart, and it would go to nine! Approximately.”

“So you found out a way to power the city?”

“Precisely!” Methuselah stated.

“That sounds great, but what happens when we run out of maelstrom energy to combine with the larger stack?”

“Well… nothing, really, unless we keep using the energy to power the city, which we undoubtedly will. Unless.. we could splice it!” Jellyfish realized.

“How so?” A council member queried.

“If we could slice a part of this maelstrom energy off of the main group, then add it back on, then it would create more!” Jellyfish explained.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous? If you have too large of a exposure to maelstrom, then you get infected!” Kalaren pointed out.

“Well, yes, you have a point there. But if we could capture a Paradox scientist or someone who worked on a generator from, say, Vladek’s Fort, then we could find out how to build a generator! Or at least discover their method.”

“Mount an assault on Vladeks fort? Are you insane!?!” One of the council members reacted.

“Why does it have to be an assault? We could try to sneak in.” Methuselah said.

“You could also be captured, and interrogated. We don’t have the manpower for an assault, and a stealth mission is almost too risky.” Matheeas said.

“Almost?” Methuselah asked.

“I’m thinking about it. How long could we have power, with our supply of energy?”

“Hmm, I’d say we have enough energy to last fo-JELLYFISH! Ahem, sorry. Enough for one year.

Thank you. We’ll talk it over. Methuselah, would you stay here as an advocate for your idea?”

“Of course!”

“Thank you. As for Jellyfish, you’re dismissed.”

“Very well.” Jellyfish left, muttering to himself.

Matheeas directed his next words at Kalaren.

“Kalaren, it’s yours and Kevin’s turn to patrol the perimeter. You two can choose between your goats who you want to bring.”

“Sounds good, Commander!”

Kalaren showed himself out, and made his way to the stables. As he neared them, he saw a minifig a few years younger than himself waving to him; Kevin.

“Heeey Kal! Whassup!?!”

Kalaren sighed. “Apparently we’re going on perimeter patrol together.”

“Dude, that’s awesome! I just finished my latest song! I can sing it to you alll along the way! In a quiet tone of course.”

“Please no!”

“Cooool. Afterwards.”

“Great.” Kalaren and Kevin decided to mount Kevin’s black goat, Surf. In short order, they headed out of the city. 

Chapter 4: Desolation

Stirling grunted as he climbed. Or was that his stomach growling? Or was it another mysterious creature, watching from below, waiting for him to fall?

“Probably all three,” he groused, as he reached for another handhold above. Three more feet and he would have a clear view above the treeline, to find out where he was in this forsaken place.

The initially positive outlook he had obtained upon discovering Peragrine’s Pack had quickly eroded under the silently soul-crushing conditions of Ankoria. He didn’t remember the details, but  he recalled the reports supposedly stating that there was some curse set upon the land that brought out the hidden evils in all living things, or something like that.

He tried not to think about it.  He didn’t need to, as it’s effects were seen everywhere. Everything was different shades of gray, from the dead trees to the ashen ground underneath his feet, to the stagnant pools of ‘water’ he’d come across in the forest below him. 

He hadn’t seen or heard any animals until just this morning, where he had shot down a deer, but upon retrieving it, he found that instead of antlers on its head, it had an antler-like structure all along it’s frame, as a sort of exoskeleton. This had made harvesting it rather lengthy and difficult, and his efforts amounted next to nothing as the precious little meat inside was either unbearably tough or appeared to spoil before his very eyes. 

Under normal circumstances, he felt that would spoil his appetite. But here, in Ankoria, he found that his appetite was never satisfied. Despite his best discipline, his food-stores were already running lower than he’d anticipated, and what plant-life he’d found to try and supplement it was either bitter beyond imagining, or definitely too sweet to not be poison. Or rotting.

His water reserves were even more desperate. His canteen was nearly dry, and although he had found a small pond in the forest below, where he had filled up a different container, the water was nearly black as ink, and had smelled most foul once boiled for safety… He didn’t want to drink the local water unless times were desperate. Which would be within the week, at his current rate.

Stirling looked out from the peak he had gained, searching for something to orient himself on the map he had found in Peragrine’s pack. There was no doubt he had shipwrecked upon the Cursed Land, but where exactly? As he peered back west he saw the coast. Following the shore north with a pair of binoculars, he perceived that the coast curved eastward, as the the glimmer of ocean was visible on the northern horizon.

“That must mean I shipwrecked on the very northwestern corner of this accursed place,” Stirling reasoned. Checking his map, the only thing nearby according to his map was one ‘Fortress of Lord Vladek’.

“Great. Just great.”

According to this map, Vladek’s old fort was almost due East of his supposed position. Who knew if Lord Vladek still used the old fort. Stirling didn’t intend to find out. 

The only other point of interest within Ankoria, on the map, was the small town of ‘Domead’. It lay far, far away to the south, on the very shore of the Cursed Land.

Stirling saw two options. 

Either head East towards Vladek’s old fort, and Morcia… 

… Or head South towards Domead.

Heading east would most likely be faster, but there was great risk in passing by Vladek’s Fort, as there were rumors that the evil Lord was using it as his private residence when not at the capitol by thedude’s side. However, if this was untrue, there could be valuable resources which would speed up his travel, allowing him to enter Morcia and continue his Journey northward with all haste via the ‘Bridge to Unknown’

On the other hand, heading South was safer. It avoided Vladek’s fort… He wouldn’t have to run into any enemies other than the natural predators of the land… 

But he would have to traverse the entire length and breadth of the Cursed Land. No minor feat, considering his trip so far… In fact… In light of what he’d seen the past few days… The sooner he could leave this wretched land, the better.

East it was.

~~~~~

Kalaren and Kevin had been riding Surf for some time, when Kevin had an announcment.

“I’m bored.”

“Wonderful.”

“What?”

“Nevermind.”

“Hey, I know, I’ll surf on Surf! Mind if we switch places?”

“Yes. I’m going to sit here like a civilized minifig being.”

“Oh, ok! I’ll just do it up here then!” Kevin said as he stood up on the goat and did your typical surfer stance.

“Cowabunga!”

“No don’t! Stop!”

“No, this is fine, dude! It’s like land surfing or someth-”

*WHACK* 

Kevin’s head met an oncoming branch, where he stayed, pushing Kalaren off Surf and into the brambles underfoot. Kevin, after recovering from the immediate shock, realized he had hung onto the branch.

Raising a finger, he said,“This is what Dr. Seuss would call ‘a lurch’.” 

Kalaren groaned as he tried to get up out of the thick prickly undergrowth without making too many tears in his clothing.

“Surf, come back!” Kevin wailed. The goat did not immediately appear to hear him, causing him to sigh gloomily. “Surf waits for no one.” But then the goat stopped, turned about, and began careening back!

“Surf! Come back! Wait, no, stop! No Surf!” Kevin cried, panicked, right before the big black goat knocked him down, to the left of Kalaren. Thankfully, the goat missed Kalaren. 

“Kevin, one of these days you will pay.” Kalaren muttered. as he got up and wiped the dirt and pulled the thorns out of his clothes.” He stared after the goat. “Halt, Surf!” 

Kevin had gotten up and put his hand on Kalaren’s shoulder.

“It’s no use. You can’t stop the killer wave.” He said. But Surf did halt.

“Woah. You killed the killer. You rode the wave. You turned the wind! You are, The Dudeman!”

“One, has it occurred to you that 'The Dudeman' sounds an awful lot like ‘thedude’?

“Well, no but it sounds epi-”

“Two, ‘The Dudeman’ has a challenge for you! Just BE QUIET for five minutes!”

“Hmm.. Ok. I can do both. Instead of The Dudeman, I’ll call you The Mandude, and I’ll be quiet tonight, when I’m sleeping!”

“Both of which alleviate NOTHING.”

“Sure they do! You don’t sound like thedude anymore!”

“I suppose. Come on, let’s get Surf, and continue scouting.

~~~~~

Stirling continued his path eastward, through the mountains. It was slow going, as the land was rocky, craggy, and there was no semblance of any path. Each step disturbed the earth, and raised the grey dust of countless lonely years. It was like walking on a moon. Except, with mountains. And full gravity. In his sandy, itchy, heavy armor.

The next day, he was attacked by something resembling an eagle. Or a Raven. Some hideous crossbreed thing. However, after defeating it, he reasoned there must be a nest nearby. A few minutes and a short climb up later, he found some eggs, which made a decent brunch. He only had to ignore the rotten smell, and their strange green and red yolks. Perry would have said they were ‘Christmas eggs.’

Perhaps they would make a better eggnog than scramble. All well.

Banking his campfire, he hefted his pack, and continued on. 

Chapter 5: The Dreaded Gigfran Eggs

Kalaren and Kevin sat behind a boulder on a small hill that rose above the dead tree canopy.

“It’s a campfire, alright,” confirmed Kalaren, as he gazed through a spyglass.

“Lemme see, Mandude!” Kevin demanded, trying to snatch the spyglass from him.

“Hang on, I’m trying to see the person who made it.”

“You’re too slow, lemme see.”

“Just give it a rest, I-”

“Aha!” Kevin cried, as he successfully acquired the spyglass. Kalaren just rolled his eyes and let him have it. “Now let’s see… He’s cooking something.. looks like one of those gigfran.”

“That’s not a very wholesome meal.”

“Wait, he’s tossing it to the side… He has some sort of egg.”

“Oh no.” Kalaren said, snatching the spyglass back.

“Hey, not cool, Mandude!”

“Just a second… It’s as I feared. Yes, he’s eating some eggs.”

“Oh. Oh no. Not THOSE eggs, right?”

“...”

“That poor, poor dude! We have to save him from the worst tomorrow of his LIFE!!”

“Shh! He could have heard you! Duck!” They ducked for a minute or two before bopping back up.

“Ok, it’s clear now. We can’t go over there because we don’t know if he’s one of Vladek’s agents or a goblin or a dark elf or a dwarf or...”

“Ohh. Good point, Mandude.”

“Would you please stop calling me Mandude?”

“Sure thing, Dudeman.

“That doesn't help.”

“Oh, ok, man, I mean dude. or man. uhh… Bro. Amigo. Muchacho. No, y’know what, Mandude is still the best.”

Kalaren groaned in agony. “Fine! Fine.” He looked through the spyglass.

“He’s putting the fire out. Maybe we can ambush him somewhere, and bring him to Aragarth for questioning.”

“Sure, but where, and how, Bro-haha?”

Kalaren flinched at ‘Bro-haha’, replying, “It depends on if he stays up on the mountains or if he comes down. Hopefully he comes down. That would make it easier.”

“That plan is off the chain!”

“Good to know?”      

“That plan is off the charts! No one but The Mad-dude could do it!”

“My plan is literally to come up with a plan later, and I don’t appreciate your enthusiasm!” Kalaren replied with a sarcastic smile.

“Oh sorry, I thought I was enthusiastic enough, but I’ll try to up my game, like this: SUPER-BROHEMIAN!!!”

Kalaren jumped on Kevin, and covered his mouth. Partly because they needed to be quiet, and partly because it helped him refrain from jumping off the mountain and taking Kevin with him.

A few minutes later, and some more use of the spyglass, they made their way back down to Surf the Goat, and followed the stranger eastward. 

The rest of their approach was silent. Kalaren assumed it was because Kevin was thinking about the poor stranger’s future plight, which involved various… unpleasant sensations.

Kevin shuddered. “That dude has got to be hardcore.”

“Yeah. Might lead to a tough battle.”

“Maybe the indigestion will hit him, and we’ll just have to knock ‘im out!”

“We can hope.” 

Surf’s innate goat agility allowed Kalaren and Kevin to move with near silence, at a speed comparative to a horse’s canter. They were about to exit the treeline when they saw the stranger up ahead, inspecting his compass as he walked. Kevin whispered some commands to Surf before they both dismounted and stealthily made they’re way to a ledge ahead of the man’s path. 

Kevin gave some confusing hand signals, consisting of his two fingers heading down the slope, then turning on their side and pinching his other hand, this hand falling over. then he brought the first hand back and made some wiggling figure movements.

Kalaren assumed this meant that Kevin wanted to go ahead and try to attack the stranger, while Kalaren cheered him on. Maybe it could use some adaptation. But Kevin jumped off the ledge and on top of the stranger anyway. 

Kalaren tried to find a place where he could see Kevin and the stranger fighting, but with them being just under the ledge, he couldn’t aim without the brittle edge sending down pebbles and giving him away. Instead,  he scrambled to the side of the slope, where he could see the stranger.

The stranger was  dressed in rusty chainmail, and had dark brown hair. He wielded a katana, which was raised to swing at a downed Kevin. Kalaren knocked an arrow and fired it at the stranger’s wrist. 

“Gah!” the stranger yelled, dropping his sword as the arrow sprouted from his armored glove. Wasting no time, Kalaren fired a second arrow at his right knee.  The stranger dove for the tree-line behind him, seeking cover, as Kevin charged after him.

~~~~~~~

Tumbling behind the tree, Stirling gritted his teeth as both arrows broke and embedded themselves into his armor and flesh as he moved. Hearing the man running up, he stuck his good leg out, and tripped him.

The blonde landed face-first in the gravel, but quickly rolled over, to receive the swift heel of Stirling’s boot to the same face.

Stirling had to hand it to him, he was tough. If young and inexperienced. Drawing his leg back behind the tree, another arrow appeared where his boot had been.

Stirling looked through his pack, searching for a ranged weapon. He quickly found one of Peragrine’s old Flintlock pistols. 

“Perfect.” he thought, as he loaded it with a satisfying ‘click’ that resounded off the rocks.

Aware he was dealing with an excellent archer, Stirling popped his head out from behind the tree-trunk for a mere second. In that second, he already saw an arrow zooming at his head. He noted the general direction, and ducked back, the whole length of the arrow whizzing past his nose.

“Ooookay.”

Tensing up, he swung out right after the arrow had gone by, and saw his second assailant. A cloaked archer, with bright red hair, perched on an edge half-way down the slope. He fired, and ducked back, as a mangled arrow skittered by his cover.

Stirling loaded the pistol and swung out to fire again. This time, though, no arrow came after him, as his first shot had destroyed the enemy’s bow, and knocked him off of his precarious perch. 

Stirling charged at the archer, firing his pistol and drawing a dagger. The shot hit the man in the arm, and the sound of armor rang out in tandem with the man’s cry of pain.

Stirling dove at the man, intending to pin him to the ground with his dagger, but the man stopped him dead in the air with his right arm. The one that had been shot.

“What on Crux-” Stirling began, before he was rammed into the stone, and then tossed like a doll back into the tree-line, where he landed on the previous attacker.

Fighting to maintain consciousness through the pain, he realized the blonde man underneath him had recovered, and was nonsensically slapping him. Stirling struggled to get up, but before he could, the Archer was standing over him.

“Worthless. Vagabonds!” Stirling spat.

The Archer pulled him up with the same ease he'd thrown him, and Stirling hardly felt the left sucker-punch, as the darkness swallowed him up.

~~~~~~

Matheeas set down the report. “All in all, fairly successful.” Looking up, he saw Kalaren’s relatively unscathed appearance, in comparison to Kevin, who looked like he’d been run over by a stampede of goats. 

“So, where is the prisoner now?”

“In the infirmary. Probably dying.” Kevin pointed out.

“You KILLED him?!” Matheeas exclaimed, shocked.

“No, the gigfran eggs did.”

“Or rather will.” Kalaren amended.

“Oh. Well, maybe I’ll check in on him. Until then, Kevin, you go to the infirmary, rest up, and Kalaren, you go to that Jellyfish. Get your arm fixed.

“Thanks, Commander!”

“Of course, Sir.”

Chapter 6: The Effects of the Dreaded Gigfran Eggs

Stirling woke up in immense pain. Opening his eyes, he noted that he was in some sort of medical facility, which didn’t make him feel any better.

“Oh great. If the highwaymen didn’t leave me, or rob me, they must want something else from me,” he reasoned. Sitting up, he let loose the most thunderous fart known to man.

Naturally, he was quite surprised, and looked around to make sure no one could pin it on him. Unfortunately, everyone had, including three guards stationed around him. He was in a old stone building, patched in various places with wood. All along this room, there were rows of cots on either side, only a few which were occupied by people now staring at him. A nurse scurried over.

“Come with me, sir. You will be needing to use the facilities.”

“Pardon?”

“The report is that you ate gigfran eggs. There is no known cure for the ailment, but considering your strong physical condition, you may not find it fatal.”

“WHAT?”

“Walk and talk, sir.”

Stirling swung his legs out of the cot, and with this sudden change to vertical movement, he found that he did indeed require facilities. Badly.

~~~~

A few minutes later, Stirling felt marginally better, as he sat on the edge of his cot, with only two of his original guards next to him.  Suddenly, someone a few cots down was waving to get his attention.

“Dude! Hardcore Dude!”

Stirling frowned. It was his blonde-haired attacker.

“You feeling better, man?”

Stirling stared him down. Or, attempted to. The blonde young man seem unaffected by Stirling's grave stare.

“Me and the Brohemian saw you eating those eggs, we wanted to help you, Man, but it was to late. Sorry Dude.”

Stirling’s only response was to blink in confusion. 

“I’ve never met anyone who’s eaten those and survived to tell the story. What’s it like?” the blonde continued.

Stirling considered a moment. Others had heard the loud one-sided conversation, and were now looking to Strider for an answer.

“Like eating a mad scientist’s chemistry set.” With this, he unceremoniously heaved. The people around the room responded accordingly.

“Oooh, pretty colors.”

“Look away, honey.”

“Henrietta, could you please bring a towel? Or five?” One of the guards said to the nurse, placing a nearby bucket in front of Strider.

“Ew.”

“Sorry,” muttered Stirling, accepting the bucket. He moved to get off of the cot, but instead of going to the floor to clean up, he immediately dashed off to the facilities. Again. Followed by one guard, yelling at him at first, but when realizing Stirling’s intent, he quieted down and followed the poor ill man.

~~~

When Stirling returned with the one Guard, (The one that had left originally had now joined the other guard in cleaning up Stirling’s mess.) there was a few more people waiting for him. 

There were a small number of soldiers hovering around a core group of 3 people. Two of them wore robes that reminded Stirling of politicians, so instantly, they faded into the background of Stirling’s assessment.   The other one of these garnered Stirling’s immediate attention.

He had black hair which consisted of a full beard, and regular length haircut. He wore a simple white tunic, with blue shoulders and an insignia on the front of it, depicting a knotted sinister-looking staff, crossed with a bright steel sword, burning with vibrant flames, underlaid with three stripes. A red stripe on the bottom and top, and an orange stripe in the middle. Strapped to his side, the black-haired man also had a sword, with a diamond pommel. The handle was fairly simple, steel underneath, with grey cloth wrapped around it. 

Stirling figured he couldn’t take them all on. Not with these infernal symptoms. So he listened as the main  figure spoke.

“I trust you feel better now?”

“Well enough.” 

“Splendid. I have some questions for you...”

Stirling shrugged, glancing at all of the armed people around him. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice right now.

“...Which we will ask somewhere else.” A guard stepped forward with a cloth in his hands.

Upon seeing the cloth, Stirling assumed they were going to drug him unconscious, which, impaired or not, he wasn’t going to take lying down. He dove forward, snatching the cloth from the Guard before spinning around and slamming it into the lead man’s face. Following through, he was able to get him into a headlock before any of the guards could recover from their surprise.

Blinded, the lead man drew his sword and deftly flipped it around to stab Stirling. However, seeing the move, Stirling dodged the attack, only to be met with multiple swords and spears pointed at him and his captive.  One of them belonged to the Archer from the forest. Only now, he had apparently come around the corner while these previous events were happening.

“Nobody move, and no one gets hurt,” Stirling commanded, taking control. “This I swear, on my honor as a knight.”

“Knight?” His new captive queried. “What sort of knight?”

Stirling glanced down at him in surprise. Surely he would have succumbed to whatever they’d intended to put him to sleep with. “One with honor, who doesn’t attack travellers for a living, or without reason.” There was a groan directed from the man. ‘Must be the poison,’ Stirling thought.

“And this is relevant, how?”  The man said.

Stirling lifted the cloth from his captive and checked his eyes. Totally clear. And annoyed. He squinted at the cloth. It appeared completely normal.

Slightly embarrassed, he wondered if they’d only meant to blindfold him.

Slightly confused, his grip on the man loosened marginally. “I’m sorry, wh-”

His captive took advantage of this to drop his sword, reach up for Stirling’s arms, yank, and flip him in front of him. 

Landing flat on his back, Stirling landed with a solid thump, accentuated by gas. Various pointy tips were set at his throat.

“I can answer questions like this,” Stirling said. “Just don’t move me.” He pointed at the now discarded cloth. “I thought that was a means of knocking me out, I apologize.”

He heard the lead man’s voice.

“Maybe if you don’t try to harm anyone else here, you may be forgiven. Where do you hail from?”

“Morcia.”

“Interesting. Who are you aligned with? Vladek, Thedude, or some rebellion?”

“Before I answer that, could you answer that same question for me, since you already have me dead to rights?”

“And then you gain our trust and run away, telling our enemy gathered intel?”

“It is so romantic that you think I want or need your trust. I’m simply travelling through.”

“Through Ankoria. Sure.”

Stirling shrugged as best he could from his position on the ground. However, it was ruined by an escaped toot.

“You’re specifically trying to be aloft- I mean, aloof. If you won’t answer that, then answer it later. For now, tell us where you got this.” The man said, raising a sword.

It was his samurai katana. That meant they’d gone through his stuff. Typical vagabonds.

“If you’re wanting more like it, I’ll tell you that’s not possible.” 

The man raised his left eyebrow and looked at the katana. 

“What, this? why would I want a Nexus Force Sentinel rank three Samurai issue Katana?” He said as he turned back to a neutral faced Stirling.

Stirling took a moment to study the people around him. None of them looked like Nexus Force. They were all battle ready, more or less. They had a variety of ethnicity, and most of them were very grim faced. Their gear was largely of a medieval make, though there was the occasional Paradox Rogue item. How did they know what Sentinel gear looked like?

Stirling decided that, no matter what their morals were, they were clearly not allied with thedude. This made it very unlikely, but not impossible, that they were not allied with Vladek either.

“I am against thedude.” he announced abruptly. 

The leader nodded, though somewhat surprised at his sudden answering of the previous question. “Are you allied with Vladek, then?”

Stirling shook his head. “Before I answer that, I would like to know your alignment.” The man seemed somewhat disappointed, but did reply,

“We would be foolish to answer that, but if you won’t answer that now, then we will ask you this: Where did you get this sword?” The leader said as he gestured to the katana again. 

“It should be clear enough, if you’ve rifled through my belongings,” Stirling growled, becoming irritated with his position. “I was with the Nexus Force, in a past life.”

“So you come from offworld?”

“I hail from Morcia.”

“How did you get to the Nexus Force, and how did you get back here?”

Stirling rolled his eyes. “You want my life’s story?”

“Actually, that would be preferable. In detail.”

Stirling shook his head, brushing the blades away with his gloved hands as he made to get up. “Nope, that’s it. I’m not accepting your ‘hospitality’ anymore.” 

The one who had been questioning him shook his head in frustration.

“Hank, procedure two.”

Hank, who was a nearby guard, said,“Yes sir!” Stabbing Stirlings left shoulder, and hitting an artery. 

“GAH! CRUX!” Stirling glanced down and noticed the man, ‘Hank’ had thrust so hard as to go through his mail. And by the excruciating pain, he might have nicked a bone.

The leader spoke up.

“Henrietta, how much time does he have left?” he asked, addressing a nurse.

“Approximately five minutes before he bleeds out, Sir.”

“Well, there you have it. We can treat you if you answer one of the questions, stranger.”

Through gritted teeth, he looked up at his antagonist. “It’ll take more than that, moron.”  Seeing his own blood, Stirling’s fervor was stoked, and he slowly stood up, a hand over his wound. Many people around him grumbled and muttered darkly.

The man, who had picked up his sword by now, looked Stirling in the eye.

“I said answer one question. I suggest you do so.”

Stirling spat at his feet. “You are without honor.”

“And you called ME a moron.” The man muttered, before looking back up, taking a step forward, and continued to talk. “I, am Matheeas Lancaster, and I just might be the most honorable knight here. I have killed countless, for the sole purpose to save countless. All you have done here is condemn yourself to death.”

Already, Stirling felt the cold touch of death as his lifeblood spilled over his chainmail. But he gave Matheeas a smile. “I would be lying if I said it was a pleasure to meet you, Lancaster. But I appreciate knowing who it was that killed me. Know that it is Stirling Silverstine whom you have slain, and that you will answer to Sir Thaddeus Thingguy the Second,  if he ever finds out thy hand in this.”

With this, Stirling collapsed amid rippling murmurs.

Matheeas closed his eyes, and facepalmed. “What an IDIOT. Henrietta, please try and save him. Hank, go get the Doctor.”

“Hardcore…”

“Kevin, shut up.”

Chapter 7: Poisoned, Assaulted, Maimed, Treated, Stabbed, Treated Again, and  Prison Time.

Kalaren was surprised at these turn of events. He thought back to his own first time with Matheeas. It had gone much better. Hopefully, this would end up much the same. Right now, he was assisting Henrietta in slowing the man’s, Stirling’s, blood loss, which mostly was just handing clean towels over, and wringing out used ones of all of the blood with hot water.

Thankfully, the doctor came over very quickly. He was followed by Jellyfish, Methuselah, and Hank.  Kalaren remembered that the Doctor’s name was Steph A. Skope, but as is the fate of many doctors, he was simply called ‘Doc’. He was a middle-aged man, who was balding before his time. His kind brown eyes were always framed by his spectacles, and accentuated his full brown beard. He wore a white overcoat similar to Jellyfish’s, and his grey carpetbag of doctor’s tools was never far from hand. Rushing in, he plopped right down, and took control.

“Have you staunched the bleeding?”

“Very nearly, Doctor,” Henrietta replied. “But it hit an artery."

“That is unfortunate!  Kalaren, I want you to hold his arm up and apply pressure. I’m going to sew this up, and then we’ll bandage it.

“Sounds good.” Kalaren said.

It was a few minutes longer, and then the doctor’s deft hands had finished with his patient. Tying off the bandage, he said,

“I don’t think he’ll be up and about for a few weeks, and he certainly won’t be fighting or doing anything physical with that arm for at least a month. I would suggest two, but I know that probably won’t happen,” he finished.

Turning around, he noted Jellyfish’s intense stare. “What do you think, Jellyfish?”

“Yes, it makes sense. It’s vaguely familiar. Perhaps it was part of something I learned in the Academy. Couldn’t you used a tourniquet?”

“I could have, but it wouldn’t have been a permanent fix,” Doc explained as the two labcoated men walked off.

Kalaren looked up at a tense Matheeas, who looked down at him and said, 

“Do you want to guard him? We’re going to move him into the brig and have personal doctor visits because clearly, he can’t be among polite company, even if he IS a knight.” 

Kalaren shrugged. “They’ll let anyone be a knight these days.”

“That applies to a lot of people, but I don’t think the KOTOS would accept someone who acts so arrogant.”

“The KOTOS?”

“Knights Of The Olde Speech. They fought in the grammar war, and Sir Thingguy was one of them. Supposedly, they’re quite noble. I thought they were all captured or dead, though there are rumors they still roam about.”

“Oh.” Kalaren looked at Stirling. He could be a knight.

“We better move him now.  Rick, Kalaren, think you could get a stretcher, and move him to the brig?”

“Oi reckon.” Rick drawled.

“Don’t see why not!” Kalaren said.

While Rick and Kal got the stretcher, Matheeas dispersed the crowd, apologising for the chaos. Once the other two got back and loaded the prisoner onto the stretcher, Matheeas excused himself to handle other matters. Methuselah wandered away toward his bunker where he would probably experiment more.

The trip to the brig (Which was the same prison room Kalaren had been in all those years ago except expanded, and patched up.) was uneventful, other than a couple confused or curious glances from nearby bystanders.

Once they did get there, they set him on a cot next to the wall and grabbed some long chains attached to the wall.

However, with the sound of chains, something within the knight awoke, and he groaned. The two guards started to panic.

“Oh no, he’s awake!” Kalaren muttered.

“Quoick, chain up hois oither oither hand!” Rick replied.

“You mean his other hand?”

“Yeh, that one!”

“No, this one,” the prisoner said, swinging up from his cot with his right hand in question balled into a fist. However, the guard, which happened to be Kalaren, caught his fist and smiled at the prisoner.

“Hey fella! Thanks for the tip!”

Stirling paled and fell back onto his cot.  While Rick finished chaining him up, Kalaren continued to talk and made sure Stirling didn’t try anything.

“So, how are you feeling?”

Stirling glared at the two of them. “I’ve had worse.”

“That’s good. Up for a few more questions?”

Stirling raised an eyebrow. “Depends, can you answer a few for me?”

Kalaren considered this.

“We probably can. After you answer ours.”

Stirling nodded his consent.  “See, that’s very sensible. The knucklehead I was talking with before didn’t seem to understand that.”

“That ‘knucklehead’ is my boss. Besides, you asked him to answer yours first.” 

Stirling made a barely visible shrug as he leaned back against the wall. “Fire away, Archer.” This surprised Kalaren.

“Oh, I don’t have authorization to question you. You’ll have to take that up with Matheeas.”

Stirling’s features quickly hardened. 

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. If you are reasonable with him, he’ll be reasonable with you!” Kalaren reassured, then added, “Oh, and my name’s Kalaren. or Kal.” Kalaren was hit with the sudden realization that he sounded a lot like Egbert, the one who had guarded him when he was in prison all those years ago. A sudden wave of sorrow passed over him as he remembered Egbert had fallen in war, seven years ago.

“Pleased to meet you, Kalaren. I’m not sure you heard me when I was talking to Matheeas. My name’s Stirling Silverstine.”

“Nice to meet you, too.”

Stirling appeared to study him closely. “Are you from the Nexus Force?”

Kalaren started to speak, but then frowned.

“I don’t think I can disclose that.”

“What is this, some sort of cult? Can’t you talk about your own personal stuff?” Stirling groused. Before Kalaren could answer, he continued. 

“I was in the Nexus Force, before I came here almost six years ago now.”

“Oh?” Kalaren might not be able to question him, but gathering information couldn’t hurt.

“Yeah. Before the Faction wars. I was a Sentinel. You know what the Factions are, right?”

Kalaren thought for a second.

“I might.”

Stirling continued. “Well, the Sentinels are guardians. Protectors. I was a Samurai, and, well, I guess you know that if you identified my stuff.” Suddenly, Stirling leaned in. “You’re keeping track of all that, right? I don’t want any of it missing when I get it back.” His expression ranged from curious to severe.

“Honestly, I dunno. I wasn’t the one who went through it.”

Rick butted in.

“Oi’m going to tell Mat’eas, the pris’ner’s awake.” He said as he headed for the door.

“You do that,” muttered Stirling. Turning to Kalaren, he continued.

“Yeah, the Nexus Force wasn’t all bad, but eventually I decided to come back home. Militiregnum is home.”

“I see. Did you know about everything that was happening here?”

“You mean thedude taking over? No. I crash landed here and found out pretty quick though.”

“Crash landed? How did you get past the blockade?”

Stirling froze for a moment, clearly holding back. “I’m a very good pilot,” he said.

“Really? What did you fly?”

“An old Nexus Force Shuttle a fr- I acquired.”

“Huh. So, you were a samurai pilot?”

“The Nexus Force Academy program is extensive.”

“And generous! I mean, you had one of their shuttles, and unless you stole it-”

“Yes, I stole it.”

“Wait, what?”

“Let’s go with that. I stole it.”

“Isn’t Nexus Force high security?”

“I had friends. But not anymore.” Stirling’s gaze dropped.

“Oh. I’m sorry for your loss.” Kalaren assumed. Matheeas, along with Rick, walked in then.

“Oh, here’s the…” Stirling checked himself. “Ahem. Mr. Lancaster.” Matheeas looked at Stirling in surprise, then at Kalaren, then back at Stirling.

“Er, greetings. So...”

“Kalaren tells me that if I answer your questions, you could answer mine. That’s something you should have led with, good sir.” Resettling himself against the wall, he listened to the reply.

“He did? That seems reasonable enough. We should be able to answer a few. Shall we get started?”

Glancing at Kalaren, Stirling replied, “Fire away, Lancaster.”

Matheeas winced at being called ‘Lancaster’, but due to Stirling's volatile mood, decided not to mention it.

“What Faction did you serve in?” he asked.

Again glancing at Kalaren, he answered “Sentinel. You know which one that is?”

“Yes. Moving on, how did you get into Ankoria?”

“Would you believe I crash-landed in a spaceship near the coast?” Suddenly, he shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t. You’d go looking for the ship. Sadly, there’s nothing left of my sea-faring vessel. I crashed into the rocky shore somewhere on the northern peninsula.” He thought for a moment. “I suppose you could check my effects and find my compass. It is somewhat corsair in design…”

“I do recall someone saying something about a similar compass. What were you doing traveling in Ankoria, or what were you heading for?”

Stirling sighed. “Well, since I thought I was dead, I told you that I am affiliated with the Knights of the Olde Speech. I suppose it can’t hurt to tell you now that I was heading north, towards Nordland. I wanted to speak to their warriors, find out what’s allowed them to repel thedude for so long. But now, being stranded here, I was walking east to take the longer land route north.” Suddenly, he remembered something. “Is Vladek’s fort occupied?”

Matheeas had been deep in thought, so he looked up at Stirling in surprise at the sudden change of subject.

“I’ll tell you in a second. How did you get to Militiregnum?”

Stirling rolled his eyes. “That is a very long question. Suffice to say that Morcia is my home, and I came here from the Nexus Force 6 years ago. I was shot down by the blockade when I refused to stay away, and I’ve been on the planet ever since.” 

“Interesting. I assume your spacecraft was a Nexus Force model?”

“A much older version, yes. But it’s been long gone by now. Somewhere in eastern Morcia.”

“I see. I have one more question. Is the KOTOS still around? I thought they were either all dead or captured.

Stirling appeared to consider his answer very carefully. “It depends on what you consider ‘still around’. The KOTOS are not what they used to be. Many are dead, some are captured; most are still in hiding. But there are some like myself, friends and affiliates, who would say that the KOTOS will never truly die.”

“That’s good to know! Well, now it’s your turn to ask any questions.”

Stirling nodded, still preoccupied with Matheeas’s final question and response. However, he appeared to shake it off soon enough. 

“First, Vladek’s fort. Does he still use it? I was planning to pass by it, but…”

“It’s probably a good thing you didn’t. Vladek himself isn’t there too often, but it is in use. He almost always has some sort of garrison there.”

“Well then for that I am glad. I would most surely be dead if you had not detained me,” Stirling admitted. “That brings me to my second question: Where is here? I understand if you cannot be specific, but I thought Ankoria was barren of civilization.” 

“We are in the City of Aragarth, it was ruined when the founders of our group came here and it has worked splendidly as a base.”

Stirling nodded, before quickly continuing to another question.

“Thirdly, WHO ARE YOU GUYS?!”

Apparently, this third question had been weighing heavily on his mind, and surprised everyone in the room. Matheeas answered promptly, and with a bit of vigor and pride, as he realized that this man was the one they needed to meet, and vise versa. This man could connect them to many allies!

“I, and everyone else in this city, (excluding you of course,) are the Ankorian Rebellion! We have been attacked by Vladek’s forces many times and yet we have survived! Our city is quite large so we were able to set ambushes and traps along the roads and paths. We would probably be able to harbor whatever allies you might have.”

“So, we’re relatively close to Vladek’s fortress?”

Matheeas hesitated to confirm this, but as Stirling had already assumed this, and Matheeas dearly wished to be able to relatively trust him, he did so.

“...Yes.”

Stirling paused, mulling this all over.  “Well, at least you’re not all brigands.” Looking up, he asked, “I assume my possessions will be returned to me in due time?”

“Yes, of course! I don’t see why not. If we kept them you would not be armed correctly for your journey, and then you may never reach allies to tell them of our existence.”

Stirling raised an eyebrow. “You want me to tell others of your little rebellion?”

“Only trusted allies. It would be beneficial to both of us.”

Mild confusion turned to thoughtfulness, which melted into a guarded smile. “Very well, Mr. Lancaster. I think we may have reached a mutual understanding at last.”

“I agree.” 

“All it took was my getting assaulted, maimed, treated, stabbed, treated again, and thrown in this quaint prison cell!” he summarized sarcastically.

“And don’t forget the gigfran eggs!” Kalaren pointed out. 

It appeared that talking about other things had kept Stirling’s mind off of this subject, and bringing it up brought several unsavory symptoms back.

“Right,” Stirling added, suddenly turning a sickly shade of green. “Add ‘poisoned’ to the list.” Then his eyes glazed over and he fainted.

Chapter 8: Visitors for the Strider, Part One

Stirling had feverish dreams. Another side effect of the accursed bird eggs. He dreamt of being chased by unseen horrors of nature, fighting faceless shadows demanding his deepest kept secrets. When he refused, he suddenly would find little black birds in his mouth which would start chirping away everything. Stirling closed his mouth, and tried to swallow, but instead the birds multiplied and spilled out of his mouth, only to turn on him and peck at his  eyes and face. It only took moments before he seemed to be covered in the never-ending swarm of hatchlings…!

Then he awoke, covered in his own puke, which he appeared to have rolled around in, and his eyes burned. Blinking a few times, he realized his visual acuity has decreased. He could still see, but finer details were lost to him. 

"Great. Just great."

Looking around, he got up off of the ground and realized he was no longer in the prison cell. Instead he was in a room more appropriate to a guest. It was a basic apartment size, decently furnished. It even had a small washroom adjacent to it. Looking up, Stirling saw the roof having been patched with wood and skins.  Stirling was surprised by the sheer space of the room compared to his cell. A guard right outside his door was able to explain to him that he was under a form of house arrest, under the authority of the Doctor, not Matheeas. Stirling thought that mighty convenient, but accepted this state of affairs nonetheless. 

Over the next few days ‘Doc’ visited and assured him that though he didn’t know how long it would take, his vision would clear, along with the rest of his symptoms. Much to Strider’s relief, the gastrointestinal issues did appear to be fading. 

As impaired as he was, Stirling nevertheless made use of the time cleaning his armor and talking with visitors, of which there were quite a few.

Various townsfolk were interested in someone new, as this was a rare occurrence. Stirling was somewhat surprised, but ultimately pleased when they came by. Apparently Matheeas trusted him enough to let his people talk freely with him. Stirling considered how to use this to his advantage, but also was careful not to lose said advantage, doing his best to be a good... 'captive host'?

There were also less common folk who came by. The occasional person with some fancy title or specific occupation inside the leadership would come by and ask him questions about things abroad. Stirling would answer them as generally as he could. As kind as this resistance seemed to be, his aching left arm warned him constantly that they could be ruthless.

And then came one other visitor who stood out from all the rest… 

Early the third day of this routine, the guard outside of his room let this visitor in to his room. Stirling could easily see that he was quite curious, and quite excited. As soon as the door closed, the brown-robed man gave a short bow, and greeted Stirling, who had just gotten dressed for the day in some casual medieval attire. His regular armor and clothing lay on a nearby table, still not yet fully cleaned from his travels.

“Welcome to Aragarth, Sir Silverstine!” the visitor said.

“How do you do, sir.” Stirling replied, unable to make out his features beyond thin, white hair, and no beard. “I’m sorry, I don’t recognize you. Should I?”

The man in front of him, opened his mouth to say something, then decided against it and thought for a second.

“No, no you shouldn’t. I am Doctor Jellyfish! The head engineer of the Ankorian Rebellion!”

“Jellyfish?”

“Yes! Ever tried it fried?”

Stirling squinted, wishing he could read this man’s face better.  “Noo… Can’t say I have. Are you pulling my leg?”

“No. That would be a strange thing to do!”

There was a long pause as both men tried to figure out the other’s reasoning for totally different … reasons.

“So, what brings you to see the half-blind soldier from abroad?” Stirling asked, shuffling over to the wood stove.

“Oh yes! I almost forgot! Well, to get to that I would have to start at the very beginning."   

Stirling glanced back, kettle in hand. “I was about to brew some coffee. Or what you folks call coffee. You want some?”

“Would you kill me if I said no?”

“Um, no?”

“Good. I know a friend who said no once.”

“Lemme guess. The friend died?”

“Hm? Well, of course! Who doesn’t!”

Stirling paused. What was the point of this conversation again?

“Anyways, would you like the long story, or the short story?”

“I’m going to brew myself some coffee, so give me the long story, and we’ll see how that goes,” Stirling said.

“Long story, ok. Would you like the deluxe version?”

Having got the kettle warming on the wood stove, Stirling turned to his visitor. 

“What on Crux is the deluxe v- no, you know what. I’ll take the extra-super. With cheese. Just start telling the story!”

“Well, I don’t have cheese, and I don’t know what the 'extra-super' is. So I’m afraid I can’t.”

Stirling facepalmed. “Just…” 

“Just...Ice? Justice? You seek justice? Do you have an attorney? I know a good attorney.”

Stirling shrugged helplessly. “Are you ok? Do you need a Doctor? How about a good psychiatrist?”

“I am a Doctor! And I have a psychiatrist. His name is also Doctor Jellyfish! Though he actually IS a jellyfish.”

“Lemme guess, you haven’t seen him in some time.”

“Number one, why do you ask me to 'let you guess'? You go right ahead anyway. Number two, he visits me in my dreams.”

Stirling nodded. ‘Yup. Certified crazy, if I ever saw it.’ he thought. Switching gears, Stirling said, “So, Dr. Jellyfish. Did you have something to tell me today?”

“Oh yeah! Would you like the malnourished long version, deluxe long version or the super-deluxe with cheese!” Jellyfish said, pulling out a slimy slice of cheese from one of his lab coat pockets. It had something green sliding down the side of it.

It took Stirling a few seconds to mentally bite back all of his sarcastic comebacks and exclamations, but he eventually replied, “Whatever you like.”

“Well, I don’t like being malnourished. And I don’t like cheese. But you like cheese! So we will do the last one!” Jellyfish said, before tossing the slice of cheese at Stirling, accidentally hitting his face, and adding, “Here you go. Oops.”

“Thanks,” Stirling replied dryly, as the slice peeled off, leaving a slimy film.

“Once upon a time, Four Adventurers journeyed to find the fabled-”

“Skip to the end!” 

“Everyone dies,” Jellyfish summarized solemnly.

“NOT THAT FAR END.”

“So, you want me to skip to the middle?”

Stirling took a deep breath. He could feel his blood pressure rising, geez.

“I’ve been in the Nexus Force, I know the beginning. Skip the tutorial.” 

“Press the spacebar to jump! You can do it!” 

Stirling turned to the 4th wall. It was shattered. 

“Hey, reader. Can you help me find the end to this madness?”

“Double tap the spacebar… To order a double patty with fried french Bacon!”

“Please?”

“You now have a coronary! Congratulations!”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was a robot with a malfunction!”

“Eat twenty-nine a day! part of your daily heart health!”

“If you decide to save me, please turn to page fifty-seven. If you decide to leave me to my misery, turn the page.”

(Next Page)

[It turns out, Dr. Jellyfish was actually a jellyfish piloting an advanced mecha. There was an issue with the processing center, which was powered by a nuclear micro-reactor. The micro-reactor exploded, and all of Aragarth was obliterated. The resulting fallout killed everyone and everything in northwestern Ankoria, which included Vladek’s fort. Vladek visits 3 days later, along with thedude. They both get radiation poisoning, and die. 

Congrats! You killed thousands of people and saved Militeregnum! A much lower death toll than an all out war!]

Chapter 8: Visitors for the Strider, Part two!!

(Page 57)

“So, what brings you to see the half-blind soldier from abroad?” Stirling asked, shuffling over to the wood stove.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot! Well, to get to that, I would have to start explaining from the very beginning.”

Starting a fire in the wood stove, Stirling said over his shoulder. “Go right ahead. I was about to make myself some coffee, or what you guys here call coffee. Want some?”

“No thanks. Please do not be offended, good sir.”

Filling the kettle with water, Stirling shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Thank you. Would you like the short story or long story?”

Having gotten the water boiling, Stirling ambled over to a chair. “I’ve got all day. Long story.”

“Oh. Well, the rodents should be fine for awhile. Well, would you like the deluxe version?”

Sitting down, Stirling glanced up at the doctor, who still stood by the door. “Sure. Why not.” he motioned to another chair. “Sit down, take a load off.”

“I’m not carrying anything. Well, except maybe this.” Jellyfish said, pulling out a slice of slimy cheese, and draped it over the back of the chair, and sat down.

Stirling stared at the slice, wondering why this doctor had cheese in his pockets. Maybe it had something to do with his mention of rodents…?  However, he didn’t stay distracted by it for long, as Jellyfish kicked his feet up and began his story.

“One bright and cheery day, on some distant planet neither I or the Author knows the name of, (as of yet,) I was born in a run-down hospital. I was named something.”

Stirling was about to interrupt, saying he didn’t ask for his life’s story, only what brought him here today, but the gaping holes that the doctor simply glazed over left Stirling confused enough to simply stay silent and see what else the strange fellow would say.

“As a child, I was quite intrigued about science, and cybernetics. Jellyfish’s. I learned about the Nexus Force, and would have enlisted as a scientist, but I had to be proved I was sane. Eventually, I was forced to take sanity medication, and was allowed in. Most of my work was helping some paradox scientists with devising cybernetics for different biological beings, such as horses, large dogs, and even wounded minifigures. When the-”

A connection fired off in Stirling’s mind. “Have you helped Kalaren?”

The scientist was surprised by this interruption, but replied.

“Why, yes! I gave him that arm from Vladek’s lab.”

A thousand mental alarm bells went off. “You were working for Vladek?!”

“Once. Listen to the story and it will make sense.”

Stirling settled down. “Fair enough.” He glanced around for his sword. It was out of his immediate reach, by his armor, behind the doctor. He began thinking of ways to get over there casually as his visitor continued his story.

“At the end of the faction wars, I was mistaken as a Paradox scientist allied with thedude. I was sent on the ‘U.S.S. Botany Bay’  which was doomed to crash-land here, on Militeregnum, as you know. I laid low and away from thedude, but he did force me to do the occasional job or two. When he took over, I took up a job as a doctor at the village outside of Thunderclap Kee-JELLYFISH!!” 

Stirling blinked twice in surprise, but otherwise remain unruffled.

“Ahem. Sorry. Ever since I’ve been cut off from the city, I haven't been able to get my sanity medication, which has jellyfish as the main ingredient.”

“That’s ok. Go on?”

“Thank you. What were we talking about again?”

“You lived in a village outside Thunderclap Keep as a doctor.”

“I DID? Oh. Yes. I did. Thank you again. Anyways, I did the odd job here and there, which largely consisted of giving advanced medical treatment to villagers. I was rivals with Dr. Crabapple. He had a quite dour personality. But he made very tasty cookies!”

Stirling could see this was derailing. He decided to try and tactfully steer it back.

“How did you end up working for Vladek?”

“He came to my shop one day and asked if I could work for him for a couple months in one of his labs. I didn’t have any long-term jobs at the moment, and I knew Dr. Cashewapple could handle the villagers illness’ while I was gone. Besides, everyone would love getting cookies more often.” Once Jellyfish mentioned the cookies he had a faraway look in his eyes.

“They were heavenly.” 

Ignoring the heavenly cookies mentioned, Stirling asked, “Wait, so you met Kalaren in Vladek’s lab? Was he working for him as well???”

“I’ll get to that. I walked out of my shop and was led to Vladek’s carriage. We rode in that for a very long time. We picked up two others. One was very friendly, if nervous. The other one seemed very sinister, and sat next to Vladek. They talked in low tones together. When we arrived at the fort, Vladek himself showed us our accommodations, and then showed us the downstairs lab, In which Kalaren was sleeping strapped to a table. Vladek gave us instructions to take DNA samples daily. We were also permitted to do small, meaningless experiments to him, such as poking him with a stick. We were also allowed to give him silencer.” After a second, Jellyfish added, “It does exactly what it sounds like.” Jellyfish sighed, and took the piece of cheese that was on the chair and started nibbling on it. Like a rat.

“So...He was a prisoner.”

“No. He was a doctor. And a part time baker. Why?”

“I’m talking about Kalaren. Are you?” Before the Dr. could reply, he waved his hands erratically. “Forget that, nevermind. How did you and Kalaren escape and end up here with the resistance?” 

“Well, one time, the other two scientists cut off his arm because the DNA samples were taking too long. I wasn’t there, though. When Vladek found out, he was not pleased. but the other scientists pitched the idea of cloning Kalaren directly, he calmed down. So they popped him in the cloning machine, and afterwards, he woke up and I was the only one in the room. I gave him a cybernetic arm and we stormed through the fort, out the window into the moat with sharks, then away across the plain and into the forest. We met up with the Ankorian Resistance and they knocked us out. Like you, except quicker. It was more of a ‘spur of the moment kind of thing.”

“Do you regret it?” Stirling asked.

“Yes. I will never have such delicious cookies.”

‘Again with the cookies!’ Stirling thought. Just then, the kettle whistled, and Stirling got up as fast as he could. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here today, though.” 

“Oh! Yes. Well, you wouldn’t be getting the Super Deluxe Long Version if I skipped over the hiatus in between my getting beat down and coming here and eating cheese while talking to you, Sir Knight.”

“Good point.”

“Alright! So, I woke up, and Kalaren filled me in. Basically, Kalaren was forced to tell Matheeas all about our escapades. Matheeas reasoned that Vladek would send out a search party, which could very well outgun us. Kalaren and I volunteered, and fought in the battle. It was difficult, and we had losses, but we were victorious! Then, and in subsequent battles! The latter being much easier, since we were able to prepare better. Anyways, I was elected as the head tech expert, and Dr. Skope’s head assistant over the past few years!” Jellyfish smiled with pride, and took an especially large bite of cheese, which made him frown in distaste.

Stirling had already poured the hot water and instant coffee-like mixture together. However, he hadn’t sat back down, instead opting to meander around the room to his sword. Now he leaned against the very table that the sword did, and took a sip of the bitter liquid. 

“Ok. Does that bring me up to speed?” Stirling asked over the rim of his clay mug. “Now will you tell me what your question was?”

“I didn’t know you were particularly slow. Why would this information make you faster?” 

This coffee wasn’t helping. Stirling’s blood pressure was rising. “Why. Are you here.” he enunciated. 

“Oh, no reason. Just to say hi to a fellow Nexus Forcer!”

Stirling stared at the back of Dr. Jellyfish’s head. ‘No reason? No reason?!’ His grip on the clay mug tightened. This was 15 minutes of his life that he would never get back, listening to a crazed lunatic who didn’t even know his own name.

Jellyfish turned his chair around and pondered for a second. Raising one finger, he said, “Oh! I just remembered!” He leaned forward. “How are things going in the Nexus Force? Did they place my infinite cookie machine derived from one of Brick Fury’s implants in the Venture League break-room?” 

Stirling’s mug shattered under his white-knuckle grip, and with it, whatever semblance of casual conversation with this so called ‘doctor’.

“You- It- COOKIES!” Stirling spluttered. He found that his mounting frustrations could not be voiced properly.

“Yes! If only they were Dr. Camelfish’s cookies…”

“AUGH!” he cried throwing his hands up in the air, as well as coffee. This alerted the guard, who burst in with two swords un-sheathed.

“WHO DIED?! DO WE NEED A DOCTOR? I MEAN, ANOTHER DOCTOR! DOES ANYONE NEED CPR!?!” The tense guard said.

The intrusion of someone other than the torturous Dr. Jellyfish brought Stirling some semblance of sanity. He pointed at the relaxed, well groomed man in the chair.

“TAKE HIM A- ahem. I mean…” He looked down at himself, only now realizing he’d spilled Ankorian instant coffee all over himself. “I mean, Um. Nothing, guardsman. We’re both alright. I just spilled some hot coffee.” 

The now embarrassed guard slowly sheathed both swords and walked out of the room awkwardly.

“Oh… My.. Apologies.”

Jellyfish looked at Stirling nonchalantly.

“You should have asked him for a towel.”

Stirling shook his head. “I have one over here in the washroom,” he answered. He picked up his sword and walked over to the washroom, where he pulled a towel off a rack. Then he came back to his armchair next to Jellyfish and sat down.

“So, you were asking about the Nexus Force?”

“Yes! Specifically about the Venture League cookie machine matter.”

Stirling shook his head. “I’m afraid I haven’t been off the planet in a little over 6 years. And I wasn’t part of Venture League, but you know that, since you’re probably who identified my gear.”

“Oh. Yeah. Well, what was the state of the NF before you left?”

“Well…” 

Stirling and Dr. Jellyfish talked more casually after that, mostly about the Nexus Force and other extraterrestrial matters. Dr. Jellyfish would occasionally go off on tangents, and Stirling didn’t bother to try and steer the conversation anymore. 

Hours flew by, and both men found a way to enjoy the idle chatter. Eventually though, Dr. Jellyfish excused himself saying he ‘really had to get back to the rodents’, whatever that meant. Much of the day had already passed, and surprisingly, no other guests called upon his hospitality that day. 

Stirling was relieved to see the back of him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 9: A Warrior's Rehabilitation

Time continued to pass. The next few days were dull and forgettable compared to Dr. Jellyfish’s visit. Eventually, Stirling grew Stir-crazy and expressed a desire to take a walk. His eyesight was returning well, and no new symptoms were coming up. He felt almost well. 

After his next checkup with Dr. Skope, he agreed a casual walk would be most beneficial. Matheeas wouldn’t let him free in his city without at least one guard though, so the guardsman who usually attended Stirling and his room came along with him.

“Remind me what your name is, guardsman?”

“Chris the negative 2nd, at your service!” He replied.

“Negative 2nd?”

“One of my relatives was named Chris. The whole family liked the name so much, we all decided to rename ourselves Chris. I am the original Chris’s uncle, and I am the same age as his father. All of the Chris’s after the original Chris are named positive numbers, while all of the Chris’s before him are named negative ones. Thus, my name. Get it?” 

Stirling blinked twice. “Yes. But it still doesn’t make sense.”

They strolled through the streets, garnering the attention of many eyes, but most people left the soldier and guardsman alone, going about their business.

That is, until they came upon a children’s game of ‘pretend’. 

A boy and a girl appeared to be fighting some invisible enemy being puppeted by a younger girl, who appeared to be the ‘bad guy’. At least, that’s what Stirling assumed, based upon her adorable attempt at an evil cackle.

“You knights will never defeat my dragon-slave! Bwahahahaha!” 

“Gah!” “Oh no!” said the two knights, before the boy peeked over his toy wooden shield. “Then it’s a good thing we’re not alone!”

Right then, a short, round boy came from a nearby ally, dressed in a bath-robe. “BEHOLD! IT IS I, ROTUNDUS MAXIMUS! FEAR MY STICK OF SIZZLING!” he screamed, slamming his broom-handle into the ground. All four kids burst into laughter, with the ‘lady knight’ commenting, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Just then, the ‘evil wizard girl’ noticed Stirling and Chris coming around the bend. She turned quite red and whispered something to her friends. Chris gave them a smile and a wave.

The boy knight’s eyes lit up and he ran towards Stirling and Chris, much to the embarrassment of the youngest girl. (The ‘Evil Wizard’).

“Hey! You’re the foreigner, right?” the boy yelled, pointing at Stirling. The youngest girl facepalmed. The others weren't sure if they should follow or stay.

Stirling smiled, squinting as he tried to make out the finer details of the boy. “Well, I’m certainly not a local!” he replied jovially.

The kid finally came into Stirling’s focus as he stumbled to a stop in front of him. “The name’s Jonny. Those other kids over there are Blake, Rita and little Rosa!” He pointed at the others in turn. Both Blake and Rita waved.  Rosa tried to hide behind them.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Stirling said. It had surprised him to run into kids here. Of course, it made perfect sense, now that he thought about it, but Ankoria hardly felt like the best place to raise a family. It seemed almost irresponsible to him…

Jon’s eyes lit up. “Hey! You were beat up right?”

Stirling stopped his wandering mind and looked back down at the kid. Jonny. “Who told you that?”

“I’ve overheard it at least three times now! My father mentioned it to me once.”

A wry grin settled on Stirling’s face. “Well you hear this then. Yeah, I was beat up, but it’s not about never falling down, it’s about always getting back up.” he flung his good right arm wide, his left one still in a loose sling. “And look at me, I’m back up again!”

Jonny thought for a second.

“Huh. I guess you're right. Anyway, do you want to be our prisoner? Joshua was supposed to be playing the captive king, but he got in trouble and now he’s grounded. So far, we’ve been fighting the evil Wizardress, Midnight Veil, for no reason whatsoever. It’s kinda.. Unexciting.”

Stirling glanced at his guard, who looked back at him with concern. Turning back to the kids, he smiled apologetically. “Maybe another time. I do appreciate your offer though.”

Chris visibly contained a sigh of relief, even as Jonny became slightly deflated.

“Oh. Ok. You’re welcome, Sir.”

“Come on, Sir,” Chris said to Stirling. “I think we should continue our walk and let the kids play.”

Stirling nodded in agreement. “It was nice to meet you, Jonny.”

“You too!” Jonny ran back to the others. “He WAS beat up! I told you so!” The other kids grumbled. Stirling managed to catch one of their statements, “You aren’t actually going to make me eat one of those gigfran eggs, right?”

Stirling chuckled to himself as they continued their walk.

~~~~

More time passed. Stirling’s arm was nearly healed. It was out of it’s sling now, and despite Dr. Skope’s best efforts and admonishments to take it easy, Stirling found ways to exercise it and get out of his apartment.  Since he was known around the city as a great fighter, (despite strong evidence to the contrary,) he was asked to spar. Stirling didn’t need to be asked twice. 

His ever-constant shadow, Chris, at first lent him his poor-quality one handed sword. It was heavy, but Stirling used it with the utmost skill. Nevertheless, he commented often to his beaten challengers that he could give a better lesson if he had his old Samurai katana.

It didn’t take long for word to get around, and. by popular demand, Chris showed up one day with Stirling’s Katana instead of the heavy sword.

From then on, Chris held the sword till they would go on a walk and get challenged by some foe or another, to which Stirling would accept the sword, win the sparring match, give pointers, and then hand the katana back.

At one of these points, Stirling and Chris were challenged by Stirling’s original attacker, Kevin, while passing the town square. He was followed at a short distance by a cloaked Kalaren. Kevin strode up, and began to speak.

“Hey, dude, up for a re-match?”

Stirling grinned. Clearly, this had been planned. A small crowd was hemming in the square. Quicker than normal.

“Why? You feel bad about losing before?” Stirling trash-talked.

Kevin stopped grinning and walking. His face reddened. He glanced around at the crowd, slowing his gaze ever so slightly at a small group of tittering young girls. He turned back to Stirling and said, “That’s not how I remember things.”

One of the people in the crowd spoke up. “Yeah! you told us you mopped the floor with him! Cleaned up every grain of dirt from the… Dirt!”

“Yeah! The mountain-top dirt!”

“Wasn’t it sun-down?” 

Stirling waved his hands. “Clearly, there’s a difference of opinion. How about we see the facts?” Here, Chris coolly handed Stirling his Katana, and produced a whistle and a black and white striped cap. He was suddenly turned into a referee. 

Stirling smirked at Chris. “Oh, you’re so official now,” he teased.

Chris raised an eyebrow. “You would be surprised.” With this, he stood in the center of the square as both Kevin and Stirling came forward.

“Ok, I want a good clean duel! I hope you two bathed recently. No dismemberment or extreme bloodshed. Remember, this is a friendly practice fight. The duel will continue until either opponent is forced to yield. So uh, hope there isn’t any blood feuds or anything, this isn’t a matter of pride. It’s a matter of the audience’s entertainment.” 

To this, Stirling raised a quiet eyebrow, but didn’t interrupt.  

“And lastly, don’t die, and don’t have too much fun.”

Stirling pointed his sword at Kevin. “You’re telling him to not die, and me to not have too much fun, right, Chris?”

“As referee, I am impartial...” Chris leaned towards Stirling and whispered, “But I’m betting my kid on you.”

Stirling’s eyes widened. “Surely, you jest.”

“No, no! My goat’s kid! That’s what you call them. Kids.”

“Oh. Right.”

Someone in the crowd called for the fight to start. Chris corrected them, saying this was more of an exhibition than a simple ‘fight’ and that started a conversation that derailed everything for about 3 minutes. Eventually, Chris just started the fight out of the blue, taking both swordsman by surprise.

The first to recover was Kevin. He swung his sword wildly at Stirling, trying to take advantage of his surprised state.

Stirling backpedaled from the center of the arena, giving Kevin plenty of room to flail. Stirling would have laughed along with the rest of the crowd, but he was too busy analyzing his opponent, now that he had the space to do so. 

Soon enough, Kevin stopped and stepped back, supposedly doing the same.

Various folks wished they had a camera, as the two opponents stared each other down in their two very different stances. Kevin’s stance was tight and controlled. He had both hands on his longsword. It was an aggressive stance.

Stirling’s by comparison, seemed quite sloppy. He held his Katana loosely in his good right hand, standing sideways to his opponent. He swished it lightly in the air, towards Kevin.

“Come on, ‘bro’. Come at me.” he taunted. Kevin considered it, but then relaxed a little bit and grinned.

“Oh no, dude, by all means, you go first.”

“Aha. You’re no amateur.”

Stirling raised his sword to point, in a more precise stance reminiscent of the corsairs. He jerkily shuffled through the dirt closer and closer to Kevin, who swung his sword in a diagonal downward swipe, trying to pin Stirling’s sword to the ground. However, his longsword was not fast enough for Strider’s lighter Nexus Force Katana though, which darted back to it’s owner’s chest, before zipping back out to tag Kevin’s neck with the flat end of the blade. Chris blew his whistle, and a disappointed sigh went through the crowd.

“You did well to be cautious, up until the point that you weren’t. I wouldn’t use such heavy swings against an opponent until you knew he or she would be too tired to dodge.” He paused, considering. “Or if they couldn’t see it coming.”

With this, Kevin stood up, deflated. He nodded in half-hearted appreciation before going into the crowd. 

Stirling felt just a bit bad about trash-talking Kevin so much now. After all, Stirling’s Nexus Force made Katana was just a huge advantage...

Chris stepped forward again and blew his whistle, “Next up, Kalaren Grimfire!”

“Wait, there’s more?” Stirling’s attention was called back to the spot where Kevin had exited the arena. There, his next challenger, Kalaren, was striding in with a spear. Today, he was very much bereft of his customary hooded cloak. Instead, he was dressed in light chainmail with a white tunic over it that displayed The Ankorian Resistance insignia. He had leather gloves and boots, and had a visored iron helmet on. Stirling noticed that there was some sort of dagger in Kalaren’s right boot.

“I see…” Stirling said. Undaunted, Stirling returned to the center of the ring, bouncing on the balls of his toes to get his blood pumping. Things were getting serious. Chris went through the rules quickly, not giving anyone amongst the crowd time to argue his semantics, and blew his whistle again. 

Immediately, Stirling jumped back to put distance between him and his opponent. However, Kalaren had been watching the previous fight. He threw his spear at Stirling, pressing the attack.

Stirling only just barely avoided the vicious thrust aimed at his torso, his attention was on the spear passing him by within inches. Turning back to his opponent, he saw Kalaren coming at him with his cybernetic right arm raised to punch his opponent.

“Oh. Right.”

Stirling lashed his Katana out at what would normally be a defenseless enemy, but Kalaren  was able to grasp the katana with his metallic hand and wrench it out of his hands, giving Strider blisters. Kalaren turned to thrust the sword away into the ground, giving Stirling the opening to slug him, with his non-sword hand, which dazed Kalaren. Unfortunately, that hand was connected to his bad arm, which he realized only after it twinged. Outwardly, Stirling muttered, “Agh, jeez.” Inwardly, he thought,“I’ll have to check that later.”

Though his hand was now cut, having struck Kalaren’s visored helmet, he was satisfied to see his opponent stagger from the ringing blow. Instead of pressing the attack, though, Stirling reconsidered how to defeat someone with such an overpowering right arm. Wrestling, pinning, fist-fighting, all out. He couldn’t disarm a weapon like that, it was a part of him, (And Chris had said no dismemberment,) so what did that leave?

Kalaren had recovered from his dizzy spell, and now pulled out the blade from his boot that Stirling had noticed earlier. Some in the crowd boo-ed at the fact a new weapon was being introduced mid-battle, but both opponents looked to Chris for a ruling. Chris was white faced by now, and asked the crowd for a knife.

“No, no,” Stirling said, neither combatant having moved. “I don’t need another weapon just handed to me. I’ll make do.” A young feminine sigh was heard from somewhere in the crowd, as well as whispering from the same area.

Chris sighed, sounding old and sad, and prepared to hand his kid over to Wilda. “Fine. But you better be right.” 

Stirling grinned dangerously. Chris blew the whistle, and Stirling dove behind himself for the spear Kalaren had thrown at the beginning of the match. Hearing Kalaren on his very heels, Stirling grabbed the spear, rolled, and twisted, landing the maneuver tightly crouched on his feet at the edge of the surprised crowd, the spear thrust outward towards Kalaren, who’s momentum carried him forward into a slide, and ended up underneath the spear butt.

The smallest of seconds saw the opponents staring at each other’s eyes in momentary confusion as to how this happened. Then Stirling turned the spear from it’s vertical thrust to a horizontal position, and tried to push it down onto Kalaren’s throat. At the same time, Kalaren tried to slash at Stirling’s neck, but it was blocked by Stirling’s pressing spear.

Chris then became a whistleblower, and blew the whistle. He then pointed at Stirling and shouted, “Winner!!” quite happily. Some were confused about who he was pointing to, including Stirling and Kalaren, but eventually the point got across.

“I won?” Stirling asked. “But, from what I understood, neither of us yielded,” he argued, still sitting on top of Kalaren.

Chris’s smile turned into a frown. Annoyed, he turned towards Kalaren (again, confusing.) and asked him, “Well, do you yield?” Kalaren looked down at the dagger and staff above his throat, gulped, turned back to Chris, and nodded. Chris nodded in satisfaction. He started to speak. “Well. I think that’s everybody so-”

“No! Not everybody.” interrupted a familiar voice from the crowd. Matheeas stepped out amongst much murmuring, and shrugged off his cloak. With his right arm, he was holding his helmet. He was dressed in full iron armor. His left arm had an iron buckler strapped to it, upon which, The Ankorian Resistance symbol was painted on. He spoke up. “It has come to my attention that there is an unbeatable warrior in this town.” He smirked and his eyes twinkled. “I decided to try my hand against him.”

Stirling stood up. Offering a hand up to Kalaren, he replied, “Well, you’re welcome to try.”

“Oh, I’ll try alright. And win. Even though I’m offering you a set of armor for this duel!” The murmuring intensified. As well as the whispering.

Stirling too, was surprised. “I…” he lowered his head in thought. Next to him, Kalaren shrugged. “You can borrow mine, I just found it in the armoury,” he offered, his voice tinny coming from the helmet. Stirling’s eyes darted to it. 

“Actually, I already have my Samurai Armor, though there are parts of it that I’ve lost over the years.” he said to Kalaren. Turning to his third, (and hopefully final) challenger, Stirling said, “I accept your challenge, and your gracious offer!”

Matheeas’s smile broadened, and he beckoned over to his armor bearers, who brought forth Stirling’s armor, which was quite similar to Matheeas’s, though noticeably lighter. They also brought out a buckler and kite shield, as well as a longsword, claymore, and broadsword for him to choose from. Stirling accepted most of the armor, as well as the buckler, for his left arm. Though he was loathe to not use his signature Katana, he took note of Matheeas’s broadsword, and regretfully handed the Katana back to Chris, who looked ready to faint.

“If I’m going to be losing my speed for defense like Matheeas, I’m going to need to pack a heavier punch.”

Chris wordlessly nodded, sheathing the Katana.

Stirling picked up the broadsword with both hands. He realized that his left strokes were going to be noticeably weaker, and realized he was going to have to fight off-stance for the strongest right swings he could manage.

Stirling blessed his lucky stars that he and Sir Thingguy had practiced so often with their respective off-handedness.

Chris hopefully ventured, “Shall the Commander have a handi-cap?”

Surprisingly, Stirling was the one who said “No.”

Matheeas turned to his opponent in mild surprise quickly, before turning to Chris.

Chris had lost all hope. His eyes bulged out at Stirling. “You’re killing me.”

Stirling shrugged as he got help getting his armor strapped on. “Hey, I signed up for one fight. These past two were not my fault.” He pointed at Matheeas. “Take it up with Lancaster.” Chris just shook his head and walked off while both duelists were preparing. A few minutes later he returned with a small chair and the goat kid. He sat down in the chair defeatedly and held the goat still. Snickers were heard from the crowd. Stirling was surprised at the goat’s size. It was the size of your average mature goat. Once he thought about it though, it made perfect sense. He’d seen the adult goats before on his walks; some were a little bit bigger than adolescent elephants.

Preparations were nearly complete, and it was blatantly obvious that the entire city had shown up around the town square, and adjacent buildings.

“HE’S GONNA GET BEAT UP AGAIN!” came a shrill voice from above. Stirling craned his neck to see a group of kids on the roof of a three-story building. He waved. They waved back. One of them almost fell over the side, but was pulled back.

The preparations were finished. Chris half-heartedly stood up.

“Do we need to review the rules? Again?”

“You’re the ref, you’re supposed to be told not to!” Stirling barked, his excitement getting the better of his tone.

Matheeas chuckled at Stirling’s joke. Chris just shook his head.

“I don’t have the energy to do it anyway. Go ahead and kill each other already.” Chris stepped back as the fight began…

~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 10: The Fate of Chris the Negative 2nd's Goat Kid.

Both Stirling and Matheeas rushed forward. Stirling made for a thrust at Matheeas, who parried the attack, changing his overhead swing to push the opponent’s blade towards the ground. Then he continued his forward movement and slashed diagonally upward to his foe’s neck, but was blocked by Stirling’s shield. Undaunted, Matheeas forced Stirling to step back and recover his sword, and followed this up with a series of vicious strikes that Stirling deterred. 

Backed up nearly all the way across the arena, Stirling blocked another brutal swing from Lancaster, before giving an almighty roar out of nowhere and putting his full body weight into his shield, ramming him bodily. This took Matheeas by surprise and knocked him down. Rolling away, Matheeas stepped back up to see Stirling charging at him, his open-faced helmet showing fiery eyes. Matheeas raised his shield and prepared to thrust. 

Seeing that Mattheeas had hunkered down, putting all of his     weight on his back foot, Stirling charged straight at him, spinning to his opponent’s right, in a terrific feint as he went for the back. However, Matheeas saw him at the last second, and raised his sword arm in an attempt to parry. However, he was too late to parry it fully, and instead Stirling’s full-blown, spin-aided attack ripped through the thin metal and shredded the chainmail underneath. Matheeas yelled in pain before turning around to face his attacker. He let go of his sword and his arm hung loosely. 

One of the bystanders yelled out, “Do we need an intermission?” 

“Nah! He’ll be fine!” replied Chris.

Stirling looked in askance at his sparring partner. Matheeas was breathing heavily, but shook his head.

Stirling unbuckled his shield, stepping forward towards Mathee- No wait. Stooping down, he picked up Matheeas’s sword, and advances on the sword-less Commander.

“Might as well finish it quick,” Stirling thought, hoping that the Commander was a good sport. After all, it wouldn’t be easy to lose with the entire Rebellion watching.

Matheeas wearily watched him. At least, he did until he threw his now unbuckled shield with full force.

The thin shield zoomed right past Stirling’s twin swords, the edge ramming right into his chest and face, where it’s spinning power made it run up into the air.  Entirely shocked, Stirling was sent staggering backwards, dropping both swords and landing in the dust. Extremely dizzy, Stirling was still coherent enough to grab a sword that had fallen close to him. Grabbing it with his left, he scrambled to get up, convinced that his enemy was about to pounce with the other lost sword.

Chris came over to check on him.

“You okay?”

He got a sword-point set inches from his neck. “Oh. It’s you Chris. Yeah, I’m fine,” Stirling said, even as he wondered when Chris had put stars in his hair.

“Yeah well, you better be better than fine! My goat’s at stake here.” 

“You can brand th’hat goat’h, it’s a’ good as’h you’s,” Stirling said, staggering to his feet. He turned to his opponent, who looked as tired as he was dizzy. 

“Lancat’her…” Stirling began, but no witty remark came to mind. 

Matheeas walked over to the other free sword and awkwardly picked it up with his left hand.

Stirling grinned. Suddenly, he realized there was blood in his mouth. He spat it out, along with a tooth.

“Aw Cru’th.” So that’s why his speech was off. He must look pretty ugly now.

Matheeas held his sword out towards Stirling warily, trying to assess the situation. 

Matheeas was bone tired, effectively one-handed, but otherwise, had escaped actual injury rather well. Stirling on the other hand, didn’t seem as tired as him, but somehow, looked twice as bad. Nevertheless, Stirling settled down in a two-handed stance with his broadsword, all the while grinning toothily. It was slightly unnerving. Which was probably why he was doing it.

Both advanced towards each other and did an upward swing. Their swords slid alongside each other, skipping the pommels causing the blades to end up near their respective throats. 

Stirling smiled and said, “Goo’th fight’h’.”

There was a stunned silence amongst the crowd, which Chris broke with a whoop.

“BEST OUT OF THREE! THE GOAT’S MINE!” Somewhere amongst the crowd, there was grumbling. Shortly after that, the crowd broke into loud cheering.

~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 11: Aftermath.

All three fighters received medical attention. Dr. Skope was nowhere to be found, so Dr. Jellyfish was treating the patients. Stirling answered a few questions from a nurse while he waited for the the doctor to finish treating Matheeas. 

Not long after a loud exclamation of “JELLYFISH!”, Matheeas came out of the Doctor’s office with a cast on his right hand that looked like a gigantic white boxing glove. 

Stirling winced as he made contact with the Commander. “S’th’orry about th’at. I th’ought for th’ure you’d block me,” he muttered awkwardly. Matheeas waved it off with his good arm.

“Consider it payback for when I ordered your arm to be stabbed.”

At this, Stirling felt much relieved. “S’th’ounds good. Hey, i’th th’at a doodle of a jellyfi’th on your ca’th’t?” 

Matheeas looked down at his cast in surprise.

“I KNEW it! He’ll pay! I’ll give him solitary confinement!” Matheeas said as he walked out of the room.

“You could ju’th ‘tharpie over it!” Stirling yelled after him, before realizing that Matheeas probably didn’t know what a sharpie was anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~

After Stirling’s physical health was cleared, (his shoulder was now declared totally clear by Dr. Jellyfish, though Stirling said he would wait to hear that from Dr. Skope,) Stirling instantly began considering when he would leave Aragarth. He had spent far too much time here already. The old impatience that continually spurred him onward was growing again, reminding him of his first and greatest mission, which could not wait any longer...

~~~~~~~~

Matheeas strode through the spacious dining hall he was in.

Aragarthians were laying food on the long table in the middle of the room. It had been years since it had pulled out at such short notice, and not prepared for a holiday. It would be good to gather everyone together, and take a break from the everyday worries that came with running a resistance. Matheeas thought over the plan that Kevin had laid out before him only a few days ago with the help of a surprisingly mischievous Methuselah and not so surprisingly Dr. Jellyfish.

“So, Commander Dude, The Hardcore dude is looking alot better, but Health Dude says he needs to recuperate for another week! Well, I came up with this plan!”

“Please, go ahead.”

“So, step one,” Kevin had turned around and gestured to Jellyfish. “Doc Jelly here will make sure Health Dude is occupied. Step two: Chris takes Hardcore dude on a walk. along the way, they come across this open area where most of us will be. There, I, and the Mandude will see if he really is unbeatable!” 

“They will duel him, and test his arm. If Mr. Silverstine’s arm is fine, then we’ll have a dinner all together, as a sort of going away party.” Methuselah explained.

“So, Dude, whaddya think?”

He’d considered it thoughtfully. “I don’t see the harm in it. It’ll boost morale as well.”

“So you’ll give it the green light?”

“Go ahead,” he’d replied. All three of the conspirators had grinned maniacally. It was infectious; he’d cracked a grin of his own.

He looked down ruefully at his cast now, with that ridiculous doodle that Dr. Jellyfish had drawn. Some hideous bloated monster that lived under the sea, from what he understood. He was beginning to regret that decision. Maybe he’d feel better once everyone was gathered together in fellowship, eating.

He saw someone walking towards him. He couldn’t recognize him due to the big helmet he had on, but he could tell that he was a captain of the guard according to the dark orange tunic that he was wearing. When he got close enough to engage in conversation, the Captain saluted, and greeted him.

“Commander! We just received a messenger gigfran from Deke and Mauss. The message says that they spotted some of Vladek’s rogues at one of the old mines. They saw three people come out  and talk to the rogues before they headed towards Vladek’s fortress. Deke and Mauss are still investigating.”  

“Three people who weren’t rogues?"

“No Sir. They were dressed in rags. one of them had an axe sort of weapon that looked rogue.”

“Describe them to me.” 

“There was one male, and two females, as well as our scouts could tell. One of them had long messy blond hair and an unkempt beard. He had an off-white coat that was in shreds, Similar to Dr. Jellyfish’s. About in his mid thirties. Another has long brown hair. She wore something that Dr. Jellyfish would describe as a space age mystic robe. the other one also had long brown hair, except with streaks of gray. She was dressed in a sweatshirt and pants.”

“Doesn’t sound like anyone we know. I’ll ask Jellyfish if he might know anyone later. Thanks, Bruce.” 

“You’re welcome, Sir.”

“Return to your post.”

“Yessir.”

Matheeas sighed. This break was going to be shorter than he might have hoped. He walked over to the table. The Ankorian Resistance couldn’t afford a feast by far, but they tried to make this dinner somewhat fancy. Something to remember. 

The centerpiece of the meal was to be a big, plump goat that had gotten too old to ride hard and fast, slow roasted in a covered ground pit. They also had two massive salads that were made from some of the few herbs and leafy greens that were edible in Ankoria. There was a variety of goat cheeses, as well as a cask of wine made from a strange type of grapes.  Water, and goat milk were also available, of course. Matheeas looked down to the head of the table. There were three chairs there. The center one for him, and on the right side would be Methuselah, followed by Kevin and Dr. Jellyfish. On the left would be Kalaren, followed by Stirling and Chris the -2nd.

Everything was nearly complete. They just needed to wait for the guests. Methuselah came over, followed by a distracted Stirling, who besides a few innocuous bandages, and a strange smile, didn’t look too bad. Then came Kalaren and Kevin, equally none the worse for wear. And finally, Jellyfish. Other residents of Aragarth arrived as well. As the guests began to sit down, Dr. Scope burst through the sizable double doors. His face was red with fury. He pointed at Dr. Jellyfish with one finger and shouted, “DR. JELLYYYYYFIIIIIIIISSSSHHHH!!!!”

Jellyfish gasped. “Oh NO! My compulsive jellyfish insanity is CONTAGIOUS!” Jellyfish turned around and started shaking Stirling as he passed by his chair. “WE’RE DOOMED!!”

Stirling seemed uncertain. “Perhaps, but I think right now you’re the only one in danger,” he replied, as Dr. Jellyfish continued to shake him.

“Oh, sorry, you don’t know.” He stopped shaking Stirling, leaned across Kevin and started shaking Methuselah’s arm. “IT COULD SPREAD WORLDWIDE!”

“We can’t let that happen!” cried the mage. “We’ll have to quarantine you and Steph!”

“Well, maybe we wouldn’t go that fa-” 

“No! I am perfectly fine thank you! Well, other than the fact that Dr. Jellyfish sedated me for your reckless tourney!” yelled Dr. Skope, still standing at the doorway, livid.

“It was all Kevin’s idea!” Jellyfish said quickly. Everyone present turned their eyes to Kevin.

Kevin waited for dramatic effect, then easily deflected. “Well, how was I supposed to know he’d put him under?”

Matheeas smiled. “Don’t try to cover for him, Kevin. It’s not worth it. We all know you’re fully responsible, Jellyfish. Why, I’m beginning to think your doctors license here in Aragarth should be suspended.”

“But I’m innocent! Right Kevin?”

“No way, dude. The Health Dude deserves better.” 

Jellyfish was now beginning to panic.

“But Commander, why would y-Wait…” Jellyfish’s eyes narrowed at Matheeas. “Oh. Oh. You know, that was a beautiful picture of a jellyfish.”

Matheeas raised a coolly mischievous eyebrow. “So that’s what it was?” Mattheas looked down at his sling, where Jellyfish had left his condolences. “I thought it was a picture of a goat’s bladder. We’ll talk about that later. But for now, let us eat!” Matheeas’s statement was met with many cheers. 

Matheeas was the first to serve himself, as was his right as the leader. Then, Stirling, being the guest of honor, served himself a little bit of everything. Then, the other competitors in the duel served themselves, followed by Jellyfish and Methuselah. Then the food was passed down the table.

As they began to eat, everyone relaxed. Jokes and friendly conversation were passed around throughout the dinner. 

Stirling had served himself some of the wine for a drink. Now, he took a sip, and found it to be rather more bitter and biting than he’d expected. His brief look of surprise was noticed by Kalaren.

“Not as sweet as expected?”

Stirling chuckled. “Where I’m from, it’s generally more sweet or fruity. This is…” Stirling searched for the right word. “Almost... acidic.”

“Our wine is made a different way than usual,” Kalaren said. “There were a few vineyards in the city when the resistance started. One of the earlier members tried one of the grapes, and died a horrible death. Not quite as bad as gigfran eggs, though."

Stirling gave him an ‘unamused’ look, before he continued.

“We named the grapes ‘The Grapes of Wrath!’ Soon after that resistance member died, they found a way to cut up and boil the grapes and make a safe, if bitter, wine. Usually, we put a little in our water supplies to purify it. We only give fresh water to our youth, however. We make an exception for holidays and such.”

“Like today?”

“Exactly! Though this was at much shorter notice than usual.”

Stirling chuckled. “Is there anything in Ankoria that won’t poison you without any sort of preparation beforehand?” 

Kalaren thought about this for a bit. “There are a few herbs. Some can even be made into medicinal draughts that can counteract poisoning from some other thing you ate in Ankoria. And then, of course, there are some things we grow and raise here in Aragarth that Methuselah guards from corruption.” 

Stirling smiled as he shook his head. “It’s impressive, this resistance against the very land that you all keep up.”

“We need to. If not, we would starve or be stamped out by Vladek’s forces.” Kalarens face darkened.

“But,” Stirling hesitated, before continuing more quietly. “What I don’t understand is, why not move away?”

“For some, we don’t want to leave our homes. Almost everyone here hasn’t been anywhere other than Ankoria. Otherwise, we would be at a disadvantage if we relocated. We already are in a defensible situation, and nobody wants to go to Ankoria, with the curse and all, leaving it for us. The only real threat we have is Vladek.”

“Is that why you stay? Because this is your home?” 

Kalaren’s orange eyes burned. “That’s part of the reason. The people here are the closest thing I have to a family, now. The other part is that I want to make a stand against Vladek. Someday make him pay.”

This garnered Stirling’s interest greatly. “Something personal?”

“You could say that. He slaughtered my entire family, if that counts.”

Stirling’s mouth went dry. Roughly, he swallowed his bite. “Vladek?” That sounded pretty ruthless, even for thedude’s right-hand man.

“He did it himself.”

“But… Why? How did you survive?” Suddenly, Stirling backpedaled. “I’m sorry, that’s rather personal; if you don’t want to talk about it I-”

“Not talking about it won’t do anything. I’d rather you knew than be ignorant of it.” Kalaren replied bitterly. Stirling nodded his understanding and leaned back as Kalaren began.

“I better start from the beginning. You’ll probably think I'm a lunatic, but would you believe I came from an alternate dimension?”

Stirling remained silent. He took another quaff of wine. Finally, “Yes. Not initially, but perhaps yes.” 

Kalaren turned his head and stared at Stirling.

“What.” 

“It says a lot about my life that it wouldn’t be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I see…”

“Also, I really don’t see why you would start a story like that unless it were true. Or you were pulling my leg. Which, due to the context, I’m certain you are not.”

Kalaren nodded. “In my dimension, Ankoria was a beautiful kingdom. But then, something strange happened. People from different eras began visiting the present. People began to have their own sense of time. For example, what was ten minutes for me was three seconds for my sister. And then, of course, since people from the future came to the present, they also brought the Maelstrom with them.” 

Stirling’s eyebrows knit together at the mention of the Maelstrom, but Kalaren was on a roll, and didn’t seem to notice.

“Once, they attacked the town I lived in, and though we were eventually able to fend them off with some Nexus Force gear, my father, who was the best blacksmith in Ankoria, was infected. My mother and the local doctor, along with a few Nexus Forcers that had been staying in the town did the best they could to keep him well. We never got to the conclusion of his illness, though. A couple weeks after the maelstrom attack, there was a barbarian raid. On my birthday, as a matter of fact. I was walking around the town when I saw the barbarians, but then I saw someone beyond them, who turned out to be Vladek, but what surprised me was that he was headed for my house. The rest of my family was there. I ran through the mob, mostly oblivious to the cuts and scrapes I received. But I couldn’t catch up to Vladek. His sense of time was faster than mine. Up ahead, I saw him enter my house. As I rushed through the door, I found evidence he had killed my sisters. I rushed through the house. I looked down one hallway and saw him standing over my father, who was sitting on the floor. I rushed down the hallway, and grabbed an antique weapon off the wall. I tried to put up a fight against Vladek, but he just whipped my weapon away and knocked me out... Or something like that. I don’t remember much after he flicked my dagger away.”

“What about your Mother?” Stirling asked.   

“I never saw her. Vladek must have killed her like anyone else.” Kalaren said, before taking a sip of his goat milk.

Stirling leaned back again, pondering what Kalaren had told him. Time itself being messed with? By Vladek? Alternate Dimensions?

If any of this were true… He had to put a stop to it.

Kalaren set his cup down and picked up his story.“Apparently, Vladek wanted to have a sword that could rival thedude’s sword. He came to my father for such a sword. He took me prisoner so that he could experiment on me or something, I guess. But then he found out that the sword could only be used by someone of my bloodline. So, he started taking DNA and blood samples to create a clone. Eventually, the scientists who were taking the samples got tired and cut off my arm to use that for DNA.”

“And later, Dr. Jellyfish built you that robot arm, right?” 

“...Yes, how did you know?” Kalaren asked, suspicious.

“I had a long, frustrating, conversation with your friend.” 

Kalaren laughed. “Jellyfish?”

“Jellyfish.”

“I see! Well, you know the rest then. Did he tell you I have a clone still somewhere in Vladek's Fortress?”

Stirling took a moment to digest the information. His eyes turned down towards his plate. “I think so… But more than that, you may have some sort of insanely powerful sword, a space and/or time manipulator, and Lord knows what else, all within reach of Vladek himself!”

“Yes. Which is why I stay here. I have to stay here and do whatever I can to stop him. So does everyone else here.”

Stirling had to physically fight the urge to get up and do something about what he was hearing. As it was, his eyebrows seemed to be fusing together in a deeply concerned unibrow for all time. So much so, that Kalaren apparently decided to change the subject.

“But, on a lighter note, you seemed quite distracted when you walked in. What caused you to be so?”

It took Stirling a minute to stop worrying about these new threats and think about more trivial matters. But with a little effort, he did.

“Oh. Actually, it’s this tooth.” he grinned toothily and pointed at one of his teeth. Kalaren peered more closely, and realized it was a silver tooth. “It’s silver,” Stirling confirmed, before closing his mouth. “Dr. Jellyfish put it in.”

“Because your last name is Silverstine?”

“Yeah. Also, I didn’t want a gold tooth. That’s just a good way to get robbed and lose it again.”

“Huh. Makes sense. I thought it had to do with the girl that’s been gazing at you dreamily throughout the dinner. Well, except for a little bit ago.”

Stirling raised a dubious eyebrow, but didn’t look back at the other guests. “Is that so? Which row? How far?”

“The opposite row. Nine chairs down.”

Stirling picked up a knife he had, and used the blade like a mirror. Unfortunately, the light in the room reflected off of the knife and caught her right in the eyes. Hastily, Stirling put the knife down. Nobody was able to pin it on him. Well, except Kalaren. But he didn’t speak up.

“She’s pretty, I suppose. But far too young,” Stirling commented to Kalaren, confusion and amusement crossing his face 

“I agree. But evidently, she is not aware of the fact. Kevin tried to duel you to impress her. It didn’t work in his favor, clearly.”

“Is that so?”

Kalaren nodded.

“Well look at you!” Stirling chuckled. “You’ve got all the juicy tidbits. I’ll have to remember that.”

“I can’t help that I’m trained in espionage. That, and, news travels fast in a town of approximately 40 people. Everybody knows.”

“You get trained in espionage as part of the resistance?”

“Well, not so much espionage, but they do train us in stealth.”

“Awareness.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

Stirling chuckled again. “Bet you could teach me some of that. I seem to be slipping in that regard, the older I get. Only thing that’s kept me alive is my sword and my shield.” He rolled his left shoulder. “And a mulish body that just won’t die.”

“Well, I stink at using a sword.”

“But you’ve got that cybernetic arm, surely you’re not a bad fighter!”

“No, no. I’m a good fighter, generally. I just resort to flailing at close quarters.”

Stirling tilted his head and spared a glimpse for Kalaren’s right arm. Right now, it was covered in a thick black mesh. Here and there were little holes and slits, for access to lights and the occasional discrete panel or button. The lights glowed a dark purple, almost blending in with the black around it.

“Have you ever considered pugilism?”

“Yeah, but when I asked the resident librarian, Linda, if they were any books on the subject, she said there wasn’t any. There used to be one, but someone dropped it into a canal. The military training I went through does give you a few pointers if you’re caught in a struggle, however.” 

“I’m surprised you haven’t taken more advantage of that arm!” Stirling said. “It must be very useful.”

“I keep on forgetting it’s there. It is useful in archery, but I try not to do anything super strenuous, because otherwise it runs low on power. Jellyfish has it rely on solar power, usually. But it does have an alternative energy source of maelstrom energy, unfortunately.”

“Interesting. Did you have to use maelstrom during our duel?”

“Yeah.”

“Fascinating.”

“Maybe so. Still, I wish I could use a sword like you,” Kalaren replied, taking another bite of his salad.

Stirling shrugged, returning to his own meal. “It takes practice. And I’ve had a lot.”

“That’s the thing! Nobody will practice with me. Not after I broke both mine and Kevin’s swords, and his wrist…” Kalaren mumbled.

“With that arm?”

“Yup. I got lucky and hit his sword, twisting both the swords and his wrist.”

Stirling tried to imagine how it must have happened. “You must have been using it like an axe…!” Stirling groaned.

“They’re both sharp, right? You swing!”

Stirling facepalmed. “No…”

“Well then how do you do it?”

Stirling looked up at Kalaren. “Swords require some finesse. You can’t just hack at your target like you would a tree.” 

“Oh.” Kalaren said.

Stirling paused briefly, staring past Kalaren.  “I never gave you pointers after the duel, did I? No, because Matheeas showed up.” He returned his attention to Kalaren. “I’d be happy to teach you some basics before I leave. Kevin too, I suppose." He paused. "I've been taught by some of the best swordsmen in the land."

“Thanks!”

“Hey, Super-duper-ultra-mega-Mandudesalot, you ever going to get some meat, or are you turning vegetarian with that salad there?” Kevin asked Kalaren from across the table.

“I would have gotten a serving of goat meat, but I didn’t have room on my plate. You should try the salad, it tastes pretty good!”

The dinner continued, and everyone enjoyed the food and company immensely. All in all, it was as lovely a time as anyone present could remember in months, if not years for some.

Chapter 12: Return to Action

Kalaren woke up the next morning in his quarters. He swung his feet off the bed and got up. Groggily, he pulled a plain shirt and tough pants from a chest, and tucked them under his one arm. Then, he went over to the stone arch window, and took his arm out of the sun, attaching it deftly, even half-asleep as he was. He threw on his clothes, and then started to make breakfast, which consisted of a slab of ham, scrambled chicken eggs, and a cup of Aragarthian coffee. As he was waiting for the coffee to brew, he heard someone rap on his door.

“The Commander wants you in the Town hall for a war Counsel. If anybody asks who told you, it’s Gerald.”

Kalaren glanced at the door, to the coffee, and back to the door. “Is it urgent, Urgent or Super Urgent???”

“Just Urgent.”

“Great. I’m going to brew my coffee first.”

“Oh, can I have some?”

“Sure, but don't you have other stuff to do?”

There was silence. Then a sigh. “Yeah. I gotta get other people. But, tell you what, I’ll be back later. If you just pour me a cup before you leave, I’ll grab it from here. I don’t even care if it gets cold.”

“Alright, sure.”

A few minutes later, Kalaren left a big cup of coffee on the steps of his house, and trotted off to the town hall.

When he got there, he found quite a few others. Matheeas and the other council members. Jellyfish and Methuselah were there, as well as the two scouts that had done perimeter patrol the night before. Stirling and Chris the -2nd were also there.

Matheeas seemed relieved to see Kalaren. “Ah, good, Kalaren, you made it. I was beginning to worry.”

“Sorry, I was waiting for my coffee to brew.”

Various people gave him dull stares. A few snickered.

“It’s important! Just ask Gerald.”

Matheeas was one of the unamused. “Yes. Well. This meeting is more important.”

“And now you can finally tell us why, right, Lancaster?” Stirling groused, arms crossed, eyes still blinking. Clearly, he hadn't had enough coffee yet. Beside him, Chris gave him a hard elbow to the ribs.

“Yes, yes.” Matheeas replied, annoyed. He took a deep breath, as everyone else grew silent.

“Last night, Deke and Mauss sent a messenger gigfran stating that they saw three people, supposedly prisoners, being guarded by Paradox forces investigating an old mine to the northwest of here." He nodded his head at Jellyfish. "Dr. Jellyfish believes he knew one of them. A scientist, who could help us in a number of ways." Now he turned to the two scouts. "Early this morning, Deke and Mauss here, finally came in. The two had gone against protocol and split up. Deke keeping watch on the mine, which, after the prisoners left, received other Paradox visitors, while Mauss went and investigated Vladek’s Fortress. He found a large number of slave-looking figures along with several rogues. The crowd there broke up into separate groups and went several different ways from the Fortress. Mauss followed one of these groups, and found it headed to one of the mines." He turned to the two scouts, an even expression on his face. "For the record, what you two did was reckless, but with good initiative. It remains to be seen if it will pay off. But for now..." He turned his attention back to everyone else. "We will be investigating once we pull together a strike team. I called you here, Stirling, because I thought you should know before you left. I wanted to give you the opportunity to help if you so wished. I will give anyone here the same choice, excepting Methuselah, he needs to be here to keep the spell up. I will also be going.”

Everyone was surprised at this, and a few council members began to protest.

“Who will lead in your absence?”

“What if you get killed?”

“Methuselah will, that’s part of the reason why he’s staying," Matheeas replied. "And if I do, Methuselah will take over for me.”

Beside him, Methuselah seemed mildly surprised, but said nothing.

“Now, who wants to come?” Matheeas asked.

Kalaren’s hand shot up, even as his brows dove down into a determind frown.

“I’ll to come to take a look!” Jellyfish said.

Stirling and Chris shared a look, and they both raised their hands. “I’d love to crack a few Rogue helmets,” Stirling growled.

“And I’m stuck with him.” Chris said in turn.

Matheeas looked around at the rest of the people in the room. When he saw that none of the others wanted to come, he nodded and began to speak. “The rest I will gather up from around town. Gather your things, we leave at one o’clock, after lunch. We will be riding goats double, as usual.”

“1300 hours,” Stirling translated for himself. He received several confused looks.

“What?” “Huh?” “Pardon?”

“1300 hours. Military time,” Stirling looked around, and suddenly remembered these were, in many ways, still just peasants. Well, except perhaps Jellyfi-

“Military time? What do you mean by that?” Jellyfish asked.

Stirling sighed. “Nevermind.”

Matheeas looked confused, then shook his head a little before wrapping it up. “Meeting dismissed.”

~~~~~

Stirling hurried out of the town hall, with Chris right behind him. They were both already dressed in decent armor, but Stirling still had to get a few more things from his apartment. So did Chris. They swung by Strider’s first. He picked up his leather cloak, Samurai Bow, checked his medkit, and his many-pocketed pack, and then headed off to Chris’s.

The house of Chris was abuzz with activity when they arrived. An older man came out of the house as the two came up.

“Chris! Chris the -3rd will be joining you on your mission. I’ve already gathered your things; Negative Third will be with you all shortly. He can’t find his cleavers.”

“I swear, I left them on the mantle!!!” A voice similar, but deeper to Chris the -2nd’s own yelled out from the house.

“Yeah, well, dunno what to tell ya, they ain’t there!” the older gentleman hollered over his shoulder. He grabbed a bundle of gear by the door and handed it to Chris and Strider. “Here you go, son.”

“Thanks, Pops,” Chris the -2rd said.

“Oh! Here they are. I left them in the goat-steak!” Chris the -3rd’s voice carried out.

‘Pops’ facepalmed. “Like I said, still getting his stuff together. Go on, he’ll catch up.”

“Alright, Bye, Pops! We should be back by midday tomorrow.” The two hugged each other, and then Chris the -2nd and Stirling left for the stables.

Along the way there, they ran into some kids trying to see who could throw a pebble the farthest. Stirling recognized most of them. Jonny, Rita and Rosa. Then there was another kid he had met around town, Bobby.

Beyond that, there was one other he hadn’t seen before.   But Stirling didn’t intend to stop and make acquaintances. His mind was already on the mission ahead.

Unfortunately, the kids had other ideas.

“HEY! It’s Strider!” Jonny ran up to Stirling. “Woah, what’s going on? You guys gonna fight some evil troll or sometin’?”

The others came up behind him.

“Wow, you guys are really decked out for a fight!” Rita complimented, pointing out their armor and gear.

Rosa seemed to pick up that they were in a hurry. “If they are, I don’t think we could help.”

Chris the -2nd looked over his shoulder at the kids.

“I don’t know for sure that we will get into a fight, but we are in a hurry.”

“Awwww!” Most of the kids collectively groaned as the two adults excused themselves and hurried on.

Next, they went to the armory, stocking up on arrows and other implements of battle and survival. Chris had already given Stirling back his Katana by order of Lancaster, but he still lacked a shield. So he took a minute to inspect the shields. Most were of a small, round buckler nature. He passed right by these, in favor of hefting the few kite shields. However, he shook his head in distaste after each one.

“I’m afraid I’ve been a bit spoiled with the shields I’ve had in the past,” Stirling said. “All of these are of…”

“Alot of them aren’t made of refined metal. You could probably ask our armorsmith to have one custom-made to suit you.” suggested Chris the -2nd.

Stirling considered it. “That might be a good idea...” he set down the last potential shield. “...But not now.” Turning to leave, he noted the various swords leaning against the wall.

“I think I’ll take an extra sword though, just in case.” Quickly scanning the swords and belts, he picked out a shortsword. Pulling it out, he flicked it around, before nodding. “This will do. Just something for when things get hairy.”

Chris stared at Stirling, confused. “You mean if we run into a Calagasphil?”

“Don’t know; hope I don’t ever have to.” Stirling said, as they headed to the Stables.

“You can sometimes mistake them for a 12 foot pile of snow, stone, or dirt sometimes. Look out for them on this crusade.”

“Basically, if it looks out of place, it probably is,” Stirling muttered. “Sounds just like my first assignment in Gnarled Forest.” Stirling shook his head. “Man, that seems like a whole lifetime ago…”

Before Stirling could get lost in the past, or Chris begin to ask questions about outer space, they reached the stables, where a few other warriors were already.

Seeing a few of the others having lunch with their Goats, Stirling asked Chris, “Where’s your goat?”

Chris stared blankly.

“Nowhere.”

“So… You don’t have a goat.”

“No, I did. But it got sent nowhere in a spell gone horribly wrong. The goat before that was sent somewhere with a rocket pack gone horribly wrong.”

“And I’ll bet before that, your first goat was sent everywhere in some other awful thing gone horribly wrong.”

“No, we ate that one. We were promised by a fortune teller we would never run out of meat again. Remember -3rd saying he left his cleavers in the steak?”

“You’re kidding me.”

“...Smells kinda funny now and then, but we eat it anyway, and then it’s fresh!”

Stirling had no words.

~~~~~

A short while later showed Matheeas returning with the remaining warriors. Stirling had met most of them at one point or another, either during his duals or walking around town. It appeared that they had had lunch elsewhere. Many of them came over, and mentioned they were happy to see Strider joining the mission. Strider replied that he was happy to be coming.

Matheeas yelled out that they were going to depart by the east gate. Once everyone got onto their goats, including Stirling and Chris on a newly requisitioned goat, they departed for this location. Along the way, Chris the -3rd rode  over with Dr. Jellyfish, one waving a cleaver, and the other his blaster. Kalaren and Kevin arrived shortly afterwards bickering about something or another. As they turned a corner and saw the gate, everyone noticed a small crowd ready to send them off.

Stirling leaned over to Chris the -2nd. “Is it normal for the others to gather like this so far out on the border of the city?”

Chris shook his head. “No, but we also haven’t gone out of the city in such numbers for years.”

Stirling searched the crowd as they cantered past. It was full of determined faces. One or two worried faces, but they were well hidden. Stirling recognized many of them, though not by name. The kids were also there, curious, but also serious.

It was a strong reminder of the hardiness of these men and women. For even though they didn’t ride to battle, there was every chance that some might not come back.

Since being discovered and brought to Aragarth, Stirling had heard of all sorts of horrendous fates people had met in the twisted nightmare lands of Ankoria, just beyond the invisible protections of Methuselah and his predecessors.

But like his friends, Stirling was ready. Moreover, he was eager for a round two against the Cursed Land.

~~~~~~~~

Chapter 13:Underneath the Cursed Land.

“I spy, with my little eye…”

“It’s a tree.”

Kevin groaned. “You’re too good at this, Mandude.”

Kalaren rolled his eyes, but then realized Kevin couldn’t see that, since he was sitting behind him on Surf. “It’s 50/50 between dirt and trees.”

“That’s totally not true! I could spy… Your hair!”

“Anyone could spy my hair.”

“But not just anyone is playing ‘I Spy’ with us as we ride my goat to one of these mines to scout it out.”

“That’s a good point. I guess not anyone, then.”

They rode on in silence for awhile, along with the rest of the group. The gray soil and sparse black trees zoomed by as Surf the Goat glided through the dead forest, along with 7 other goats.

As they rode, Mattheas would silently direct a goat or two towards a mine in the distance. Some had visible Paradox activity outside of them. Others looked much the same as they always had.

Soon, it was their turn to split off. Mattheas directed them, and the goat carrying Dr. Jellyfish and Chris the -3rd, to head down towards the original mine reported to have visitors.

“Here we go,” Kalaren muttered. As they split off, Jellyfish waved cheerfully to Kal, as if he was out on a Sunday jaunt, rather than investigating their mortal enemies.

Once they got closer to the mine, they all dismounted their goats quietly and laid down in the brush, along with the two goats.

“Looks like just three guards out front,” Kalaren said. “All Shinobis.”

Chris the -3rd turned to his team. Kalaren, Jellyfish, and Kevin. He was leading, as he was the most experienced, so he outlined the goal. “This mission is most successful if we don’t leave a single trace of ourselves. In and out, like ghosts.”

Kevin shuddered, as Chris continued. “I know that’s a lofty goal, but it’s one that every individual team is going to try for. So does anyone have any ideas to get rid of these guys?”

Jellyfish raised his hand. Kalaren immediately yanked it down before the guards saw a bush with a hand. Chris facepalmed.

“This isn’t a class, Doctor. Just tell us what you’ve got.”

“We  kill them.”

Chris was a consummate professional leader, and didn’t even blink. He’d heard about the doctor’s eccentricity. “But then Vladek will get a report of their deaths,” he explained.

“Hmm, well in that case I have something else!” Jellyfish said as he raised a glass vial full of green liquid out of his pocket. Kalaren pulled his hand down again before the guards saw a bush with a suspicious green vial.

Kevin leaned in. “Looks tasty. What is it?”

“Sleeping gas I gathered from the Dierth plant. Would you like to try it? It’s been concentrated into this vial, but should expand into a gas as soon as the seal is broken, but I-”

“On second thought, it doesn’t sound as groovy as I thought.”

“Right. Good plan, Jellyfish,” Chris said. “Throw it over to them, they’ll get knocked out, and then we’ll prop them up to make it look like they fell asleep on the job.

Kalaren pulled out a sandwich from his saddle bag.

“We can use some of my emergency rations.”

“Perfect.”

Executing the plan took less time than it took to concoct, and soon all four were stealing past the snoring, messy sandwich eating guards.

They snuck in and took a look around. Nothing was in the immediate vicinity excluding a few tools, and a box or two.

Jellyfish started scanning the walls with a rewired Paradox something of his own invention. “Mhm, yup. 100% Solid Rock!”

Chris raised a hand, stopping Kevin and Kalaren, who made a buffer-stop for the absentminded Jellyfish. “Hear that?”

“Can’t say that I do. Then again, can’t say that I don’t either. What do you hear? Does it sound like a Jellyfish? Because I can hear that. Also, does anyone remember the square root of 64? I forgot, and it’s very bothersome. Also my password on BrickBook.”

While Jellyfish muttered, the others tried to drown out his pointless (or maybe not so pointless, one never knows with Jellyfish,) blathering and listened forward into the cavern. The distant sounds of rock and work floated up, along with the occasional shout.

“I hear it,” Kalaren confirmed.

Kevin nodded. “Let me go ahead, and take a peek. Better one to scout ahead than … ALL of us.”

Both Kalaren and Chris nodded, and Kevin scurried to a t-section, and ran right. Around the corner and out of sight.

“Seriously, what’s the Square root of 64?! And did you tell him to bring back cookie’s, because I know who makes the best coo-”

“Dr. Jellyfish, please keep it down.”

“JELLYFISH!!”

-----------------

Kevin turned around the bend, noting the dim light and louder mining sounds up ahead. However, not seeing any shadows, he slowed only marginally as he came into the next area.

He found himself at the top of a large, round quarry area, about 40 feet around. There was a single artificial light hanging from the top of the cavern, which was a few feet higher than where Kevin was standing.  

To his right, a slope went down to a flat basin below him, where 8 plainly dressed people, guarded by 2 armed Space Marauders and a Sorcerer, were mining a glittering mineral that was scattered throughout the basin. However, they didn’t appear to be using pickaxes, but instead, small, precise lasers.

There was also a large laser drill at the far end of the basin, which was busy boring into the glittering wall. It was this that Kevin had been hearing with the others around the bend. It appeared to be very effective, as it was making visible progress as Kevin stood there observing.

All in all, it was very pretty, and rather quiet, even with all the work going on.

“JELLYFISH!”

At least it had been.

All eyes turned to Kevin, who paused for only a moment before yelling: “Hey Dudes and Dudettes! Ready to Party on DOWN!?! BONZAI!!”

Kevin jumped off the railing as he unsheathed his sword, heading towards the Sorcerer. Just as he was preparing his spell, Kevin landed on him, rolling off with the sorcerers rank 2 staff in his offhand. The staff was charged with some paradox energy, which, as he turned to face the other two marauders, was released upon them. The other 8 people cheered. Kevin gave them a thumbs up.

“You’re welcome!”

-------

Chris and Kalaren starred in near disbelief at Dr. Jellyfish. “You win 'worst operative of Aragarth ever' award.” Kalaren said.

“I’m sincerely sorry. Nice knowing you all. Hope Kevin brings the right cookies back so we can die happy.” Jellyfish whispered, his face absolutely serious.

“Nevermind. C’mon, Kevin probably needs help.” Kalaren said as he followed an already standing Chris. They ran to the T-section where they had last seen Kevin. As they reached it, they heard and saw several Paradox running in from the opposite direction Kevin had went. One of them, a Rank 3 sorcerer yelled, “Intruders! Get them!” As soon as the wormholers started whirring, Chris grabbed both Jellyfish and Kalaren and yanked them back towards the entrance to gain cover.

“Okay, so they’ve seen us, and we still haven’t finished our mission. We fight,” Chris said. “Doctor, you check on Kevin, We’ll cover you.”

“Yes, sir.” Jellyfish said.

Kalaren could hear the Parodox rapidly approaching. As they were almost upon them, he and Chris jumped out, covering Jellyfish as he ran the other way.

In moments, Chris was dual-wielding his cleavers, duking it out with a shinobi, and Kalaren was hacking at his armored opponents with wide, wild arcs. The ring of his iron sword against the superior space-age alloys of his enemies echoed madly against the stone walls. Very soon, his sword was nothing more than a sharp metal bar, but having no other weapon, he continued to use all of his considerable strength in each swing, keeping his enemies off-balance, and sticking too close to them to use their guns. One of the Marauder's thrust his wormholer directly at his chest. Kalaren attempted to block it with what remained of his sword, which was now little more than a metal stake, but it practically disintegrated at the force of the wormholer. In desperation, he raised his cybernetic hand to stop it, but the chainsaw chewed right through it, until it jammed, stopping just inches from his face. With what was remaining of his hand, Kalaren yanked the wormholer away from the surprised Marauderer and turned it around, even as he bore the pain that his metallic sensors were transmitting to him.

“My turn.” Kalaren said, restarting the Wormholer and firing in a wide arc at the other paradox rouges, including the one Chris was standing off with, just as another group came from up ahead. This time, the chances didn’t look so good.

“BONZAIII!!!”

Both Chris and Kal glanced back to see Kevin, Jellyfish, and some impromptu foot soldiers heading their way, echoing Kevin’s battle-cry.

“BONZAI!”

“BONZAI!”

“BONZAII!!!”

“BANANA!!!”

“BONANZA!!”  

“BONANZAI!”

“BRUCE!”

“BRUSAI!”

“JELLYFISH!”

“That’s better.” Kalaren said, a small grin coming onto his face, before he turned around to continue to pepper the oncoming troops.

Chris dispatched one of the final first wave. “We have what we came for, let’s move!”  The crew turned towards the ramp up to the entrance, where the gray light of Ankoria’s filtered down with such promise.

“GET THEM! THEY CANNOT ESCAPE,” boomed one of their pursuers. Kalaren and a few others who’d acquired ranged weapons shot back at them, as they backpedaled behind everyone else.

Shots flew past Kal and others, who laughed at their poor accuracy.

Then suddenly, one Rank 3 Sorcerer raised his staff and pointed it at the arch of the entrance, before slamming his staff on the ground. In response, just as the most eager of the prisoners were running underneath, the roof of the entrance collapsed atop them, bringing darkness, and the crushing weigh of rocks and lost hope with it.

Chris took a deep breath before turning around to see the lit-up forces of Rogues coming up the ramp after them. “There has to be another exit, but we have to fight our way through! C’mon!”

One of the prisoners who wasn’t giving into despair turned to Chris the -3rd, pulling him by the arm to get his attention. “HEY! We were about to break through to another mine when Commander Kevin jumped down! There would be an exit there! We just have to get through the quarry!”

Chris nodded to the level-headed freedom fighter. “To the quarry then!”

Kevin repeated the command, and it was carried by the rest.

“TO THE QUARRY!”

“TO THE QUARRY!”

“TO THE QUERY!”

“TOOT THE FAIRY!”

“TOUR DE’ AIRY!”

“JELLYFISH!”

Kalaren and Dr. Jellyfish, as well as the other ranged folks who’d been at the back, were now at the front, and they rushed forward to close the distance before they were picked off, having no cover.

Dr. Jellyfish pulled out a strange vial, and threw it at the enemy, causing a thick smoke to fill the corridor.

“SMOKE BOMB,” Jellyfish yelled, as a sort of explanation to EVERYONE.

“HOW COULD THAT POSSIBLY BE USEFUL RIGHT NOW?!?!” Kalaren demanded, as the deadliest game of laser tag began.

“So they can’t see us. I thought you would know that.”

“SURRENDER, AND YOU WILL GET FULL PENSION AND BENEFITS. INCLUDING DENTAL CARE, WHEN I GET TO YOU WITH MY FISTS, YOU INSUBORDINATE SWINE.” boomed one of the Paradox.

“FOLLOW MY VOICE MEN!” ringed out the valiant tone of Chris, as it passed by Kalaren. “TO FREEDOM!”

“TO FREEDOM!”

“TO FREEDOM!”

“TO TREEDOM!”

“TO LEEDOM!”

“TO FREIDHELM!”

“TO FREDDY’S HOUSE!”

“TO MY HOUSE!”

“ISN’T THAT A PRISON???”

“WHO’S VOICE ARE WE FOLLOWING?!?!”

Nearly a dozen voices cried “MINE!” and pretty much everyone on both sides froze.

“Jellyfish.”

“Ok, we’re following Jellyfish. Whoever he is.”

“Wat.”

“Shh. Leaders are confident.”

“Oh. Yeah. Not Quackers. Ok. Everyone head to the quarry then.”

“Ok, Boss.”

“Sounds good.”

“Over and out.”

“Right, then we’ll fight those Paradox scum.”

“Roger Roger.”

“Oger Oger.”

“No, WE’RE the Paradox scum. We’ll fight the upstarts.”

“...at the Basin, right?”

“Yeah.” “Uh-huh.” “For sure.” "One-Hundo-Percent."

So it was that the whole group of people jostled and shoved and bumbled their way along the dark corridor, around the corner, and into the dim, sparkling grotto, where the laser… was gone???

“Hey, where’s the drill?”  A Shinobi asked.

“I think it must have reached the other side by now,” a worker next to him replied.

“Oh yeah. Makes sense. We should probably go check on it and make sure it doesn’t keep going and destroying stuff.”

“Probably.”

“But first, let’s fight those prisoner scum,” growled another Paradox Sorcerer.

“Yeah!” said a Marauder

“Exactly!” said another.

“Precisely!” said Kevin.

“JELLYFISH!”

Chapter 14: Digging for Answers.

Mattheas rode on to the final mine. Behind him, only one goat remained. The one with Stirling and Chris the -2nd.

Looking ahead as they came upon a rise, Mattheas could easily make out Vladek’s Fortress in the distance. This final mine was mere hours away from the dreaded Fortress, and so held the most inherent risk. Therefore, he chose it for himself, and their strongest warrior.

Also, he thought it would be best to keep Stirling close for his first mission with the Resistance.

Chris the -2nd pulled up alongside Mattheas's goat. “Oh. That’s close,” he exclaimed softly, noting the dark edifice blending with the suddenly lengthening gloom.

Stirling glanced up into the sky. “Surely the day’s not over yet?”

Matheeas nodded his head. “It hasn’t. the sun isn’t down yet. It is darker around us because evil emanates from the Fortress.”

Chris shuddered. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this close before.”

Stirling peered past Chris’s shoulders, and glared into the heart of the gloom.

Vladek’s fortress was not as large or as grand as other castles Stirling had seen in his travels, but it was indeed the most imposing, even from this distance.

All of the Stonework was a uniform jet black, as if the entire Fortress had survived the fires of a dozen ancient dragons. Its dark walls were thick and monstrously tall, hiding all but the tallest of towers that stuck out at clearly strategic points.  The only other detail Stirling could make out from here was the equally large and monstrous gatehouse, closed at the moment with a door made of the darkest wood stirling had ever seen. The only splashes of color were the solid red banners that billowed atop the gatehouse and the tallest towers.

It was a Palace of War.

After a moment of silence Matheeas pointed down the slope, and back into the forest. “Come on, let’s stay on task.”

Stealthily, the goats picked their way down the loose gravelly slope, where Matheeas had them all dismount and continue for a short while longer. Soon, Mattheeas ducked behind a tree, and the others followed suit. He pointed ahead, where two Shinobis were patrolling around a huge, wooden trapdoor, at least three yards across. At the far end of the platform there was a smaller trapdoor, large enough for a single person, where you could see the top of a ladder peeking out.

“There’s only 2 guards so far. Ideally, we would sneak past them and enter without them noticing, but there isn’t enough cover from here to there. Not without a distraction,” Mattheas explained, as he pulled out a small pocket mirror. “I’m going to reflect some light towards them from the bushes over here. Hopefully they’ll investigate, and while I lead them off into the treeline a bit, you two can sneak in. As soon as I can, I’ll lose them and follow you, got it?”

“And if only one comes?” Chris asked.

Matheeas handed Chris a second small mirror, which was little more than a roughly round shard with a messy molten iron frame. “Then you distract that one as well.”  

Chris nodded. “Sounds like a good plan.”

Stirling nodded as well, before sneaking off to the left with Chris, as Matheeas began fiddling with his mirror and the light.

A minute or two later, Stirling and Chris heard one of the guards exclaim.

“Augh! Something just slapped me in the eyes, Dobson!”

“What is it, Dobson?”

“I dunno, it was like light was reflected into my face.”

“Weird.”

“Look! There it is! Do ya’ think it’s a magic pixie?”

“A Pixie? What conspiracy theories have you been reading, Dobson? Clearly it’s a fairy!”

“What even is the difference between a pixie and a fairy?!?”

“Well… Uh… Hm. One is more mischievous than the other? I think???”

“Well, then this one was definitely a pixie!”

“So you think it whacked you in the eye?”

“....Yeah?”

“Huh. I would guess that it’s either A: Trying to blind you for all eternity or B: Testing you for glaucoma.”

“GAH! It did it again!”

“Definitely A, then.”

“That does it! It’s going in a jar!”

“I wonder how much money we could make off of that!” ‘Dobson’ said as they chased after the ‘magic pixie’.

Stirling and Chris poked their head’s cautiously through the brush, and saw the two guards scamper off into the forest, leaving their post completely abandoned.

“Wow. That worked unbelievably well,” Stirling said.

“Indeed.” Chris said.

The two wasted no time in stealing across the now empty clearing. Stirling immediately jumped down the open smaller trapdoor, falling a short distance. He landed with a grunt, and looked up to see 3 Paradox rouges, turning to him in surprise, sipping coffee. There was one from each kit: Marauder, Sorcerer, and Shinobi.

“Aw, nuts.” Stirling groaned, as Chris slid down the ladder.

“You’re not authorized around here, are you?” the Sorcerer asked, lowering his coffee to the table, as his fellow compatriots reacted a bit faster, dropping their mugs and scrambling for their weapons.

“I work here. I’m just on break,” Chris began with a straight face, before Stirling’s Katana lanced the Shinobi who was going for his own blade.

Chris turned around with a face of utter shock. “How could you!”

Stirling turned back to look at Chris for the briefest of moments, just long enough to give him a look of ‘what?’ before he spun around and struck the blaster out of the Space Marauder’s hand, before rushing forward and pinning him to the floor.

Chris the -2nd turned from looking at Stirling pinning down the Marauder, to see the Sorcerer pointing his wand at him.

“Hasta la vista, rebel,” the Sorcerer mocked, before an arc of lightning flew from the tip of the wand, and hit Chris full in the chest, sending him flying across the small room, and into the hard-packed dirt wall, shortly before falling to the floor upside-down.

“Chris! No!” Stirling slashed his Katana across the neck of the prone  Marauder before arcing the blade up to strike the wand out of the Sorcerer’s hands.

But even as he was disarmed in one hand, the Sorcerer pulled out another weapon with his other. His sorcerer orb in the offhand, from which he spoke an incantation, and a ripple of Paradox energy blasted Stirling back.

Stirling half-rolled with the blast, beginning to go down a gentle slope that went further into the mine. In the time that it took for his head to stop ringing, the Sorcerer was now standing above him with the Shinobi’s blade.

“Take this, scumbag,” he said, before he fell limp to the floor. Standing in his place was Matheeas, with his sword pommel raised.

     

“Lancaster! You’re a sight for literally sore eyes,” Stirling muttered.

“Where’s Chris?”

“Back there, at the far wall.” Stirling got up and picked up his Katana from where it fell when he was thrown back. He pointed to Chris, who was still upside down and hadn’t moved…  “He got hit by the sorcerer’s lightning…”

Both men rushed to Chris the -2nd. Matheeas attempted to pick him up, but instead was shocked quite nastily through his metal gauntlet. “Ah! Looks like it was conducted through his armor.”

Stirling pulled off his mail gauntlet and slapped Chris’s chestplate a few times, bringing forth a smaller and smaller discharge. Once the shock dissipated considerably, they rolled Chris over to see the area where he had been hit. The armor was completely charred,to the point that it was reduced to a thin, brittle sheet.

“Oh no, Chris. Dang it.” Stirling muttered.

“We need to inspect the wound,” Matheeas urged. “Help me sit him up so we can take this armor off.”

As they began to take the chestplate off, Chris woke up with a gasp. “Augh…!”

The cloth cushioning was widely burnt away by the heat flash and the skin underneath was badly burnt as well. Thankfully, the armor had absorbed most of the force, making sure that the hit had not penetrated Chris’s vital organs. however, the burn’s total radius had been spread out by the armor conducting it. Chris’s entire front was a huge burnt bullseye. First degree burns on the edges narrowed down to a roughly fist-sized third degree burn in the center of his chest.

“What hit me?” Chris asked, in a mix of surprised, irritated, pained, and impressed.

“You were hit by a Paradox Sorcerer’s lightning, Chris,” Stirling said.

“Wow. This is almost as bad as that fireball that hit me last year.”

Matheeas nodded. “Yeah, that was bad.”

Stirling turned to Matheeas. “Do you want to continue forward with him in this state or…?”

Matheeas thought for a second. “Let’s search the surrounding area, but I don’t think we can go too far down leaving you alone, Chris. You could come with us, but with the hole in the armor, you would be extremely vulnerable. If we don’t come back within thirty minutes, or you hear yelling and screaming and bloody murder, then you should take one of the goats and head back.”

Chris was about to object, but after thinking a bit, he agreed.

“Yeah, I guess you're right. If I don’t make it back, Chris -3rd will never find his cleavers again.”

Stirling smiled, glad that Chris the -2nd still had his sense of humor. “All right. We’ll be fast, then, Chris. You just stay conscious and hold tight.” He stood up and looked around at the mess he’d made. An old part of him made him feel some small sense of remorse for the killing he’d done, but he quickly and easily shoved the guilt aside, clearing his head.

“Hey, Lancaster. I’ve got a stealthy idea.”

“Oh?”

~~~~~~~~

An ill-fitted Paradox Marauder and Shinobi flanked a visibly perturbed Paradox Sorcerer, as they walked through the mine. One rogue greeted them with a simple ‘Hey’, to which the sorcerer nodded briefly.  The occasional worker or slave spared them but a glance, as they passed by.

The Shinobi, with his very tight uniform, leaned over to the Sorcerer and whispered, “Is the leadership chamber much further? I think I’m getting a wedgie, and I can’t take much more of this. Maybe I should just stab you now and be done with this charade…!”

The Marauder continued the threat. “Or we could burn you, like you did with our friend.”

The sorcerer began sweating more profusely than he already was. “I swear, it’s just two more rooms over and a right. The whole plan’s there, lined up on the walls. Just don’t kill me!”

The Shinobi growled. “No promises.”

They went through two more chambers, and turned right, where a door with a tacked on parchment labeled it ‘Management’.

“It’s right in here! I promise!” The Sorcerer said, nervously.

“Anything else we should know about what’s in there?” Matheeas growled, his hand on his Marauderer blaster.

Stirling poked the dagger he held up against the Sorcerer.

The Sorcerer mumbled something intelligible.

“What was that??” Stirling said as he prodded considerably harder.

The sorcerer yelped as he reached out and pushed the door open in one fluid motion.

Inside, there were three other Paradox Rouges. Two seemed to be Marauderers without their full gear, helping a taller man who was clearly in charge. They were all leaning over a table with various papers.

The man in charge was wearing what Stirling had always imagined Rank 4 Paradox gear would end up looking like. What armor he was wearing at the time had translucent wires pulsing with maelstrom energy. His chestplate was thin, jet black, and light looking. His trousers and arms were similar, though there was a Paradox Rouge symbol on his shoulder. His boots had many wires, and large soles which added more than a few inches of hight. His arms had various slim compartments. Other than the gear he had on, there was a backpack leaning against the wall behind him. His helmet was equally slim, with a fully clear face-shield over which three retractable holographic lens’ loomed over one eye. which he had out at the moment.

“Then if everything is going apace, gentlemen-” he paused and turned casually to the three who had burst in.

Shinobi Stirling, Marauder Matheeas, and the sad Sorcerer, all stood there briefly.

“... I shall report to Vladek the good news,” the commander finished, as he began to stride towards the exit, currently blocked by the other three. He showed no signs of stopping, and seemed to expect the subordinates to move.

“THEY’RE REBE-” The Sorcerer screamed, before gasping as he was stabbed.

Matheeas shoved the body at the leader.

Stunned, the leader flinched on instinct, and swatted the sorcerer’s limp form away.

Only to meet maelstrom energy bolts from Matheeas’ pistol, which clanged and resulted in burn marks on his arm and chestplate, but did not penetrate.                             

Both Stirling and Matheeas stepped into the threshold, and Strider shut the door behind him, smiling grimly under the tight shinobi mask.

Only now did the two other Paradox Guards behind the leader react, reaching for their weapons that were close at hand.

The leader’s eyes had widened in surprise, but now, they narrowed frighteningly. “Traitors.”

Strider barked a harsh laugh at the irony he found in the word, as he threw one of his Shinobi blades past Matheeas’s head, aiming for the jetpack. However, the leader deftly snatched the blade out of the air as it passed between him and Matheeas, and sprang forward towards Matheeas with a downward strike.

Seeing this, Matheeas moved in the only direction he had available in the narrow room. Forward. Rushing to dive underneath the blade that he could not parry, he then drove his entire body up into the gut of the leader, attempting to haul the leader in a shoulder-toss of sorts.

Both men were heavy in their armor. the Paradox Rogue leader was not able to twist quickly enough to strike Matheeas properly. however, Matheeas was not quite strong enough to throw him quite how he’d wanted to. They both landed in a dusty heap in front of Strider and the two Marauders, who were just now observing the situation and pointing blaster barrels just about everywhere.

Stirling put his remaining blade to the neck of the leader, while staring at the other two lackeys. “Drop your weapons, or I’ll slice through this soft rubber tubing that makes your leader’s fancy neckpiece,” he commanded.

The two Rogues looked at each other, then at the strange Shinobi.  “Why don’t you withdraw your blade first, Shinobi?” the one on the right said. His voice was even and clear.  It was the voice of someone who was moving up in rank, and knew how to give commands of his own.

Stirling shook his head. “There’s only one of my blades. Two of your guns. Remove a gun, and I’ll remove my blade.”

While this was going on, Matheeas tried to get back to his feet, but the leader grabbed him by the neck, and yanked him back to the ground. “No you don’t,” he said. “You’re staying down here with me.”

“No,” He replied. “You’re down here with ME.”

The leader blinked twice. “Is that the best retort you could come up with?!”

“No, I was about to say that I wish your face shield was opaque.”

The two rogues looked back at each other, then back at their boss.

“I won the annual beauty contest three years straight, what did you do?”

“Didn’t even need to do any sort of contest, just had to look in the mirror.”

The two rogues looked back at each other. The first one who had spoken nodded to the one on the left. “Fine,” the left one said, dropping his pistol. His tone was one who just saw this as a day job.

The commanding rogue now turned to Strider. “Now you.”

Stirling was glad this mask covered his grin. Maybe he would keep it. After glancing once more at Matheeas, hoping he would be ready for it, he pulled out a knife from his boot, and tossed it underhand at the rogue.

The spinning blade was shot aside by the ready rogue, but the simultaneous sound of slicing flesh and the mad rush of the shinobi dragging his blade from across his commander’s neck and into an upward swing at him took the yet-young lieutenant by surprise.

“...At least I didn’t need hair plug- Oh. Oh!” Matheeas took the sword of the now decapitated commander, and went forward towards the other one that Stirling wasn’t on. The one that was quickly recovering his dropped blaster. As he did, he saw Stirling swing his shinobi blade up and into the arms of the rogue with the gun, and ruin his shot, which went flying just shy of Strider’s left ear.

Matheeas didn’t focus on that for much longer, as he tangled with the other remaining rogue.

The two lieutenants were dispatched quickly, and easily.                                                                             

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about being stealthy anymore.” Matheeas remarked, amidst the wrecked and bloody room.

Strider sighed, quite relieved, pulling off the hat and tossing it languidly. “Wonderful.”

Matheeas turned to the other objects in the room. The Sorcerer had spoken truthfully. All along this room were various maps and charts showing the many levels, passages, and tunnels underneath Ankoria. It did not take him long to see the full scope of the plan arrayed here.

“These maps…” Matheeas said, moving from one to the other. “They’re individual mines… But here. This one’s not a huge mine…”

He turned to Stirling, who was looking at the jetpack. “Strider, they’re intending to connect all the mines.”

“Yeah, okay. Hey, check this out. There’s a whole pistol in here! Talk about space saving!” Stirling said, pointing to a pistol that had sprung out of the side of the jetpack at the press of a button.

“The mines the other groups are all in!” Matheeas enunciated.

Stirling picked up on Lancaster’s urgent tone, one he had not quite heard before from the usually cool-headed leader. He turned from the fascinating pack and gave his full attention to Lancaster’s discovered map. “That’s a big project," Stirling conceded. "But what’s the poi…”

Even as he began to ask the question, Lancaster confirmed his answer.

“It all connects back to Vladek’s fort. He’ll be able to move his forces much faster, much farther, without us seeing him…”

Stirling raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never known Vladek to be sneaky like that.” he turned to a table and began ruffling through papers. “There must be another reason he’s doing all this.”

Matheeas nodded. “Previously, he simply threw rogues at us, before he lost interest.”

Stirling shuffled more papers around restlessly. “So if he’s not interested in you guys, why is he interested in these mines?”  He turned back to the Jetpack, tapping it to see if it was a special alloy. His rusty blacksmithy analysis told him no.  “Is this seriously just for raw materials?”

“I don’t know, but we have to warn the rest of our forces in the mines! Let’s gather as many plans as we can, and then we must get Chris out of here, and from there get to the others!”

Stirling nodded, and continued fumbling with the Jetpack. “Thing’s got to have a…”

“...What are you doing?”

“Aha!” a slot opened up on the Jetpack. “Thing doubles as a standard issue Nexus Force Backpack,” Stirling said. “We can stuff everything in here.”

Matheeas looked at the dead corpse of the leader. “How much?”

Stirling followed his gaze. “Um. Well…”

--------------

As the duo walked out of the ‘Management’ room, Shinobi Stirling shouldered the loudly-humming commander’s Jetpack. According to the energy it was emitting, they had crammed it full to it’s experimental capacity. Basically EVERYTHING but the computer banks and the table.

They casually walked back the way they came.

“It’s been longer than 30 minutes,” Stirling whispered. “I think our friend has left. Or at least he should have.”

Lancaster nodded. “He will have followed orders.”

As they neared the exit, they became aware of a consternation up ahead. They barely had time to think, before a contingent of Paradox troops, came tromping around the corner, nearly bowling the other two over.

The leader of this group addressed them. “You two, follow us, we’re on lockdown. Someone’s infiltrated the mine. The Perimeter guards are missing and the entrance guards are in barrels, naked and quite d- wait.”

“Yeah, abou that-” Stirling began, but Lancaster interrupted his sentence by firing his newly acquired rifle at the first line, blasting several.

“DIE, YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING BLIGHT-BRINGING TRAITORS!” roared the Leader of the Resistance, dressed as a Marauder. As many of them fell, Stirling grabbed him by the other arm and began running, knowing that these men would only be surprised for so long.

“Looks like we aren't leaving the same way we came!” Stirling said. Once he was sure that Matheeas was running of his own accord, he reached into the Paradox Commander’s pack and pulled out a map of the mine. “Let’s hope to God there’s another way out!”

~~~~

Chapter 15: Further into Fear

Kalaren fell to the bottom of the basin with a groan. The battle was not going in their favor.

Most of the slaves had been either knocked unconscious or killed, and Chris, Kevin, and him had been pretty banged up, Jellyfish had been fine because nobody could get a clear shot at him with all the gaseous fumes from the potions he had been throwing around him. One of which had thrown Kalaren off the edge. As he got up, Kevin backed up against him.

“Gotta say, Manotaur, it was an honor!”

“What is WRONG with ‘Kalaren’?!?!?”

“Don’t talk about The Manotaur like that! You’ll hurt his self esteem!”

Kalaren decided now wasn’t a good time to club Kevin, so instead he fired his stolen wormholer at some oncoming Shinobi. Some of them were able to deflect the shots, or they simply stood behind the people in front of them. Unfortunately for them, one of Jellyfish’s explosives hit the group as they ran down the ramp.

“I’ve got your back, Kalaren!” Dr. Jellyfish hollered from the cliff above, before getting brained by a rock from behind.

It was then that Kalaren heard some yelling behind him. He turned around. It was coming from the newly drilled tunnel…

“aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” As the noise grew louder, a shinobi came into view… He was… Flying? with a Marauder on his back???

“DUCK!” Kalaren cried.

“... Dude?” Kevin asked, staring at the flying twosome. Then he gasped. “IT’S DUCKDU-” he began, before getting bowled over by the flying Shinobi and Marauder zooming past him. Kevin narrowly avoided the onslaught of foes that rushed forward to his prone state, rolling this way and that as shots and blades slammed into the cave floor around him.

Meanwhile, the two newcomers flew up to the clifftop above, and were lost to Kalaren’s sight. However, he heard the fighting resume strongly, and…

“This is the way out!” yelled the same voice. Something about it was familiar...

“Then let’s gather the troops and push forward!” said another, which Kalaren recognized immediatly.

‘Matheeas!’ Kalaren realized. ‘What’s he doing here?’

The Marauder reappeared at the cliff top, before ripping his helmet off. “Let’s bring this party outside!” he roared. Everyone in the room spared a moment to look at this newcomer.

“Who the stars are you?!” cried one of the slaves.

Another person came up next to him. A shinobi, who ripped off the facemask. “We’re the blasted calvary, what more do-”

“We are two Knights of the Olde Speech, here to save you from certain doom!” Lancaster crowed.

Next to him, Stirling, for it was Stirling, now that Kalaren saw them without the disguise, did a double-take. However, before they could say anything more, Kalaren felt he should mention a minor detail…

“That’s great and all, but the entrance to this tunnel is blocked.”

At that moment, Kalaren heard more sounds from the tunnel behind him.

Stirling and Matheeas turned to each other, both looking quite pale. Then they looked down at a sheet that Stirlng was holding… Slowly, they looked at each other, then down the tunnel that Kalaren had come from originally. There were a number of Paradox Rouges, watching them curiously. Clearly fresh reinforcements.

“Looks like it’s the belly of the beast for us,” Stirling said.

One of the Paradox rogues below in the basin with Kevin and Kalaren, shook the slave who’s shirt collar he still held.

“So we gunna fight or not?”

From the tunnel, several rows of organized marching rogues appeared, causing the other (admittedly disorganized) rogues to cheer.

And the battle commenced again.

“To me!” cried Matheeas. “If you value your freedom, to me!”

Kalaren threw a grenade behind him into the new troops from the tunnel, and ran to the ramp, chainsawing a sorcerer who stepped too close with his right hand, and hauled Kevin to his feet with his left.

“Thanks, dude,” Kevin said, stumbling to his feet. Behind them swarmed the few surviving slaves that could still run.

“Anytime.” He muttered.

Upon reaching the clifftop, Kalaren saw Stirling using a Wormholer to drill his own gruesome hole into the other oncoming Paradox Rogues, even as Matheeas used a shield in one hand, and slapped Dr. Jellyfish to consciousness with his other.

“Wake. Up. Doctor.” he said, punctuating the words with slaps. “Time to Run. For the hills.”

“Arguum… Wha- oh. Oh. OH! Yes SIR! Where are they?”

Matheeas pointed down the hall that Stirling was shooting. “That way.”

Dr. Jellyfish leaned to see around Stirling, who was actively getting shot at. “Oh. Jellyfish.”

Matheeas nodded. “Jellyfish indeed.” Then he turned to the others as they arrived. “Here is the plan. We’re going to fit into a circle, putting the weakest in the center, we’ll move down the tunnel behind me, and past the entrance to this tunnel. It won’t be as fast a mad rush, but we should go farther. We can still make it!”

A few of the weary slaves turned fighters cheered, Kevin and Kalaren with them, but Matheeas could tell they were near their breaking points.

“GREAT PEP TALK,” Stirling yelled. “NOW LET’S MOVE, PEOPLE!!!”

So they did. Commanders Matheeas, Kalaren and Stirling headed the movement, all armed with Wormholers to better mow down the attackers. Kevin and Jellyfish formed the rearguard. Jellyfish with his explosive potions, and Kevin with a rocket launcher and blaster. In the middle with many of the slaves was Chris -3rd, who was badly injured.

Moving down the corridor, the three in front shot at anything that moved. Kalaren glanced at Stirling, who had clearly already been shot  in multiple non-vital areas while he’d cleared the tunnel during Matheeas’ speech. The jetpack on his back appeared to be pulsing, and small batches of nanobots were scurrying from the backpack, moving across his shinobi armor, causing him to grunt and twitch from time to time.

Now, they pressed the advantage Stirling has earned them, trying to keep the tunnel clear. Up the short tunnel, past the collapsed entrance on their left…

“Contact!” yelled Kevin from the rear. “Those bad dudes have caught up with us back here!” The sounds of gunfire echoed from behind the group.

“Hold them back!” Matheeas yelled, even as they heard a familiar explosion and hiss from the Doctor’s concoctions.

As they continued to advance, they soon saw their enemies retreating rather than standing to face them.

“Tactical retreat.” Stirling muttered. “They’ll regroup up ahead.”

“So, it’s a trap?” Kalaren asked, glancing between the two. “Do we press forward?”

Matheeas shook his head. “Not much of a choice.”

Stirling waved an arm. “This whole mine was a trap. Gah..!” He grunted, as a group of nanobots reached a wound and burrowed in, disinfecting it. It served as a further reminder of the fact.

They rushed as quickly as they dared down the ramp and followed it as it curved gently right. It led into a dimly lit corridor, with room for barely two people to stand abreast. The walls and ceiling were absolutely covered with light purple crystals that jaggedly reflected the light.

Stirling grimaced. It was the perfect murder hole. The perfect place for a trap.

He roared, rushed forward, and fired blindly into the dark. Crystals shattered with the sound of glass, and as some shards hit the ground, there was a telltale beep, and then an answering roar as a dozen mines went off, creating an inferno that was channeled both ways.  Matheeas yanked him back around the curve of the tunnel to relative saftey as shards of crystal and fire zipped past both of them.

Stunned, Stirling muttered, “Better me than everyone. Way’s clear.”

Kalaren stared at him, before saying in a voice quiet enough so no one behind him could hear, “We could have thrown one of the half-dead slaves instead.”

Matheeas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he hissed as his brain alerted him to a deep gash in his left arm.

He examined it. A clean cut, straight through the thickest part of the Marauder gauntlets he was wearing. Beyond that, he could see he was bleeding no small amount through a cut in his muscle.

Surprised and intrigued, he pulled the gauntlet off, and saw the cut was a few centimeters deep. He quickly pulled out a bandage and wrapped it tight, as Stirling recovered his feet and the rest of the group piled up next to them.

“Why are we stopping?” exclaimed a hooded woman, bumping into Kalaren. “The Paradox are pressing us from behind!”

“They are laying traps up ahead. We are… disabling them. Watch your step, there are sharp shards of crystal on the floor.” Matheeas exclaimed. “Kalaren, you’re expendable, go in there and shoot the rest of the room up quickly, just in case the explosion left anything. You’ll lead on after that.”

Kalaren raised his eyebrows before Stirling interrupted, staggering to his feet.

“No, no. I’m fine.” he reached into his Nexus Force backpack and pulled out a Venture League flaregun. “How do I fire this thing?”

“Hey, I can do it. You cleared most of it anyway, and I will be more careful than. That.” Kalaren said.

“Y’know what..!” The hooded lady said as she snatched the flaregun from Stirling’s hands and chucked it into the room. Nothing happened.

She turned to Stirling. “There, see? No more traps there. You’ve got more?”

Stirling looked into the backpack. There was tons of junk here, and once again Stirling wasn't sure to bless or curse Peragrine's packrat tendencies. “Sure.”

He ran forward, only to hiss as he started limping. Taking a quick glance, he noticed there were multiple thin gashes through the fronts of his leggings.

“Oh. Curious.” However, he didn’t stop.

“‘I’m sure you're fine’.” Kalaren said as he hurried to catch up with him.

The corridor was covered in crystal, and Stirling could feel the sharp edges cutting into his Shinobi boots. He could only guess what this was going to do to the slaves, but it wasn't’ like they had a choice. He and Kalaren ran as the corridor began to slope uphill slightly. As it did, Stirling stopped Kallaren with an arm, and said, “Cover your eyes.” Then, he threw a flash bang from his pack.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the sound of an engine turning on in the distance.

The others caught up with Stirlng and Kalaren.

“That’s one of the laser drills!” A slave yelled, recognizing the sound. “They must be pushing it down the slope that's up ahead!”

Sudden panic threatened to overwhelm the group as they realized they would soon be between a rock and a hard place.

“We’re boxed in! We can’t break past their forces behind us!!!”

Stirling looked at Matheeas, who in turn looked at Stirling, frustrated. The leader of the resistance threw his hands up helplessly.

That was all that Stirling needed. Ripping off the Shinobi shoulderpads, he reached into his pack and pulled out his Samurai pads and helm. Then he yanked the Paradox Jetpack off his back and dumped EVERYTHING on the floor. Dozens of papers, several weapons and armors, and grenades.

“EVERYONE, GRAB SOMETHING AND GET READY TO RUN," Stirling commanded.

As various people picked up supplies, Matheeas watched Stirling as the knight shoved a final grenade into the jetpack, then closed it back up.

“Stirling, you’re not going to-” Matheeas began.

Stirling studied some buttons on the jetpack, even as the sound of the drill grew louder, keeping above the renewed din of the Paradox forces having caught up with them from behind.

He pressed a few buttons, and the jetpack’s engines revved up.

“Go with the jetpack?” Stirling asked. “No. I’m reckless, not stupid.” And with that, he sent the jetpack rocketing up the ramp.

Just as it went out of sight, a terrific explosion rocked the entire structure, followed by the sound of a second explosion. Various people screamed, and it felt like they were in the center of an earthquake.

Kalaren looked up just in time to avoid a large section of the ceiling falling down on top of him.

“WE’RE GOING TO DIE!” someone yelled.

Stirling rushed forward, even as the corridor began to collapse. “RUN! FOLLOW ME, YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT,” he roared over the crashing rocks, the screaming combatants, the raging inferno up ahead, and the crunching of the armed troops behind.

Matheeas and Kalaren rushed after Stirling, shooting debris as it rained down upon them and their charges that followed. However, to their surprise, when the ceiling fell, it didn't’ reveal more rock, but instead, a much wider open ceiling many yards away. Seeing as the way further into the tunnel just included more crashing rocks and debris, this seemed like a good place to go. Stirling scrambled up some rocks that were conveniently piled on a wall into the room, and the others followed suit.

They emerged into a wide open cavern, with mine carts and tracks leading to and from many various tunnels, including one massive tunnel across the room. Stirling spun around once. They’d just created a massive sinkhole in the middle of what he now identified as a fledgling ore processing center and hub.

“Crux.”

At least 22 rogues in the immediate vicinity were staring at them, along with countless slaves of all sorts of ethnicities.  

They were, of course, the center of attention.

Chapter 16: Only the Beginning of the Madness

And then the room exploded with activity.

Stirling rushed forward, repeating his cry to all the slaves in the room. “FOLLOW ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE.”

The cry did not immediately affect the slaves in this new room, as they were still processing what just happened. However, the outpouring of Matheeas, Kalaren, and all of the others, including the fighting slaves, from the fissure in the floor brought the realization forward, and friend and foe were stirred into action.

Stirling pointed to the largest tunnel, and said to Matheeas, “Think that’s our target.”

Matheeas nodded. “Sounds good. Might be able to use those.” He said, gesturing to the mining carts on tracks that went up the tunnel.

Stirling nodded. “Women and Children, with one fighter each. As many as we can.”

“We don’t have any children here. Maybe older teenagers. Don’t forget the elderly.”

“Minors then! Non-combatants!”

“They’re all miners,” Kalaren said as he threw a sorcerer mightily high into the air with his cybernetic arm.

“YOU GET THE POINT!” Stirling spluttered as he dove behind a minecart, not having a ranged weapon to fight back against the ranged combatants all around the room.

Matheeas shrugged and yelled the order. “EVERYONE UNABLE TO FIGHT GET INTO THE CARTS ON THIS TRACK!”

Dr. Jellyfish raised a hopeful hand from the back. “I’m getting to that point, Commander! Only so many beakers left!”

“Then make them count! Defend the slaves as they mount the carts, and light the track up with something NON-EXPLOSIVE!”

Chris the -3rd appeared from the crowd and slumped next to Stirling. “Hey, Strider. Been meaning to ask: Where’s my bro?”

Stirling glanced up, and surprise flashed across his face. “Oh yeah. We had to leave him behind.”

“What?!”

“No, not like that! He was badly injured. We-”

“You left him there?!?”

“No! Well yes, but-”

Chris the -3rd began spluttering incoherently, giving Stirling just enough time to finish his explanation.

“-last I saw him, he was given orders to make his way back to base if we didn’t return in some amount of minutes. We didn’t return. Yet.”

“Oh.” And then Chris dodged a lightning bolt from a sorcerer who was shooting from a higher vantage point. The sorcerer was instantly retaliated against by multiple laser blasts.

“That’s what hit him.” Stirling said, indicating the lightning blast. Then he gripped Chris’s shoulder hard. “And if you want to see him again, you’re going to hold on and help me get everyone else out of here. Got that, soldier?”

Chris looked at Stirling in surprise, then his features hardened and he nodded grimly. “What do you want me to do, commander?”

“You’re going to be on the first cart out of here. I need you to spearhead the convoy out of here. Be sure to get a wormholer.”

“Yes sir.” Chris sprinted up towards a cart that was farther ahead, cleaving a few rogues on his way there, and grabbing an aforementioned wormholer.

Stirling turned his attention to getting a weapon of his own. “Right. Enough hunkering down.” And he stormed into the fray.

~~~~~~

Kalaren looked further up the tunnel as the cart he had hitched a ride on came up the tunnel. Up ahead, he saw Chris the Negative 3rd fighting off the last of the Paradox guards in the room, with the hooded slave that had talked to Matheeas and Stirling earlier at his side, swinging a shinobi katana at their foes.

The other slaves had rounded up a group of scientists in typical labcoats or outrageous goggles and other sciency gear. They held them hostage by waving tools and blunt objects menacingly at them. Kalaren jumped off of his cart and headed past the rest of the stacked up carts. The further they came into the room, the more familiar it seemed in shape…

Then it hit him. This room looked like a mirror image of his original holding cell! Only, instead of being a dimly lit torture-slash-expirimental test subject chamber, this was some sort of geological study laboratory.

“Kal! Give me a hand here,” Chris called, wrestling with a Paradox Marauder and bringing Kalaren back to the situation at hand.

“Oh, yeah, sorry!” He yelled back as he unsheathed his shortsword and ran over. He grabbed Chris’ assailant and stabbed him, before rushing over to the hooded lady, who was desperately fighting off a shinobi. Kalaren proceeded to stab that foe as well.

“There we go.” Kalaren said as he helped Chris back up to his feet.

“Looks like the free ride is over,” Chris said, pointing to where the mine carts stopped against a bumper in the middle of the room.

As he spoke, the line of carts shuddered again as more carts arrived with more people.

“Gonna have to use your old tired bones!” Kalaren jested. “I used to have a holding cell like this.”

“But then you took an arrow to the knee?”

“Axe to the arm, rather.” He said, gesturing at his right robotic arm.

“Oh.” The color drained from Chris’s face a bit more as he realized the perfect reversal that Kalaren had just done in equal parts jest and seriousness combined.

“You were a slave too?” The hooded lady said as she walked up.

Kalaren’s eyebrows knitted together. “Not quite. It’s hard to explain. Let’s see what’s on the other side of this door.” He said, as he walked up to the thick steel door at the end of the room. At the moment, it was locked. Kalaren braced his foot against the wall and ripped out the handle and lock with his mangled, but still functional, right hand.

Various sounds of exclamation and approval from all conscious came from behind, but like a boss, Kalaren didn’t look back. Part of the reason being his face had slightly reddened. Instead, he heard the hooded lady say to the other hostage scientists, “That’s right. That’s the kind of secret firepower we’ve got! So now you can either escape with us, or stay out of our way, you… you…”

The other slaves came to her rescue.

“Torturers!”  “Maniacs!”  “Evildoers!”

A few of the scientists stood up with their hands in the air. “I hate this job anyway! The food’s lousy and I don’t get dental.”

The slaves just looked at each other, then at the scientists.

“Oh. Yeah.” One of them said.

“It wasn’t that bad, especially the fried land-roving squid!” Jellyfish said as he ran up.

One of the scientists gagged and fainted.

The first one that had spoken up first did so again. “Look, we won’t stop you. There’s even some here that would join you! Take me, anything’s better than staying down here in this stinky dank dungeon investigating Crisilau!” He paused. “I’ve always been more interested in the zoology of Ankoria,” he stated wistfully.

“Like land-roving squids!!!” replied Jellyfish.

The rest of the scientists murmured their agreement, and some began hotly debating if the land-roving squid was truly still a squid with land-roving capabilities, or an entirely new animal.

“Doesn’t matter right now,"Chris said before turning back to Kalaren. What's on the other side of the door anyway, Kal?”

The previously mentioned individual held two unconscious guards by the scruff of their necks, before dropping them simultaneously in mock guilt. “Nothing!” Kalaren said, a grin slowly creeping up on his face. “Also, there is a cell block. If there are any prisoners in there, we can free them."

One of the scientists reached towards a dead guard, before one of the slaves knocked his hand aside.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doin’?”

“Ow!” The scientist sucked on his stricken palm, and with the other, he pointed at some keys on the dead guard’s belt. “Fu muh mu fat mu muwock the mrulls.”

“Say again?” The slave asked.

Next to him, another scientist translated the palm-sucker’s words.

“He said,  ‘You can use that to unlock the cells.’  Really, Dave, it couldn't have hurt that bad.”

“mru mrrts mru mink!”

The slave shrugged and grabbed the keys, before tossing them to Kalaren. He nodded his thanks and headed down the corridor. Four cells on either side, each with a heavy iron door. He stopped at one door and looked in through a rectangular viewing port that opened and closed with a thin iron sheet.

It was a cell, but there were just more crates of crystal in them. The next few cells all contained more crystals, though some had scientific equipment and information on fold-out tables or taped up corkboards filled with notes. Each cell seemed to be set up to investigate something different about the crystals. This Crisilau. The same crystals that had cut through Matheeas' and Strider's armor in the mines below.

As Kalaren reached the end of the corridor, there was another iron door, but thankfully this one was ajar.

Walking into the large circular room, he saw three more doors like the one he’d just come through. Looking up, he realized that this central chamber also had a large winding staircase that looped around and around and around the inside of this tall interior. Far up in the distant ceiling, Kalaren could see a pinprick of natural light.

He looked back down the hallway he had come through, as he saw Chris leading a swarm of slaves.

“The others have come up the tunnel, and so have their pursuers. What’s up ahead?” Chris asked.

Kalaren gestured to the cells. “No prisoners in these. Just crystals and notes. This door leads to a room with a stairway leading up, and three other cell blocks.”

“There are a few prisoners in the next cell blocks, maybe we could free them too.” The wishful zoologist ventured helpfully.

Kalaren nodded. “Alright, then you’ll lead us through the cells. Five of the others will come with me. Chris, you stay here to tell Matheeas and the rest what we’re doing, and keep everyone here until we come back.”

Chris the -3rd nodded.

“This one first,” the scientist said, pointing to the one left of where they’d come from. It had a plaque next to it reading ‘N’.  The others, Kalaren now realized, also had plaques, reading ‘S’, ‘W’ and ‘E’. Compass points.

Kalaren unlocked the North door, and as it groaned and protested, two guards sprang out and fired point-blank at Kalaren with their blasters. One shot hit Kalaren’s cybernetic arm, and the other one grazed his left shoulder, but this gave the other slaves that were following Kalaren time and room to shoot and hack at them.

Chris rushed forward to check on Kalaren. Wordlessly, Kalaren waved him off, and Chris instead turned back to the others, and those coming through the West door, up from the mines.

After that short debacle, Kalaren and the others following him quickly cleared out the Northern Cell Block, which rather more resembled a micro-community, with each cell being a tiny house, and the central corridor more of a general hangout.

All in all, while everyone here was absolutely a prisoner, they seemed to be treated humanely while not actually working in the mines. Most of them agreed to come with them in this prison break, but others rejected the offer, and they were thrown in a cell together so they couldn’t, or wouldn’t stop them from escaping.

The strangest part of the cell block was at the end, however. A final door at the far end was easily opened without force or key to reveal…

“Oh, this is our hottub lounge and general breakroom. Good for relaxing those muscles at the end of a long day’s work.” The scientist explained.

Two masked Paradox Marauders looked up from where they were chilling in the hottub. They appeared to only have their helmets and swim trunks on. They turned to the newcomers.

“Hey. This is our break. Come back later when we are high-strung and ready to shoot,” one of them said.

“No... Dobson, these must be the guys that are causing all those alerts,” said the other.

“Wonder why…?”

“Dunno, Dobson.”

“What should we do, Dobson?”

“We’re on break, like you said. It’s not our problem.” Dobson turned back to Kalaren. “Take what you want, just leave the nachos. Those are mine.”

Kalaren stared in disbelief, before turning around and closing the door.

“He seemed nice!” came the distant voice of one of the Dobsons.

Kalaren kept walking down the corridor. “Next!”

Meanwhile, while Kalaren and the wannabe zoologist were clearing out the North Cell Block, Stirling, Matheeas, and everyone else arrived to speak with Chris, who brought them up to speed.

Stirling growled a curse under his breath. “We don’t have time for this.”

Matheeas shrugged. “We’ll never get another chance like this.” He dropped his voice to a lower volume. “Besides, some of them could join the resistance, and I won’t say no to that.”

“Fine!” Strider said. “Then let's split up, you and me, and get the other two corridors. We’ll be out of here faster.” Stirling said, before looking up the staircase. “We’re sitting ducks here for all manner of things to be rained down on us.”

“Then, like you said, let’s get out of here as soon as we can!” Matheeas said, and then proceeded to turn right, heading to the eastern tunnel. Stirling growled, and barged south.

Fishing some keys from one of the comatose Guards, Stirling flung the south cell block open.

Two guards spun around the doorframe, as Stirling expected. He reached out and grabbed both of the Marauder's blasters and pushed them upward just as the two fired. As the blaster fire shot harmlessly into the ceiling, Stirling shoved them both back into the room, and spun around on the one to his right, getting the guard into a chokehold between him and the second one.

The free guard yelled as a small mining laser hit his visor and melted, fired from a slave outside the corridor.

Stirling grinned with grim satisfaction, then snapped the neck of the guard that he held, dropping the body unceremoniously.  He stepped forward to the other rogue, who was scrabbling with their helmet on the floor, desperatly trying to get the melted visor off of his face. A quick sword cut, and there was silence.  

Stirling looked around the cell block.

This cell block was distinctly more dismal. A number of curious and anxious faces leered out from the individual cells that lined this prison block.

A trio of slaves stepped into the block behind Stirling.

“That was… Very… Effective.” One of them said, grimacing at the bloody mess they had just stepped over.

“It’s only going to get worse,” Strider grunted.

“Excuse me, but are you here to let us out?” said one of the voices from the cells.

“...Or kill us?” Ventured another.

Stirling moved to the one that spoke first, partway down the hall. It was a woman in a baggy burlap habit with the hood up. A strand of dirty, matted, red hair was visible. Stirling thought he noticed some silver in it too.

“I have keys. I don’t have your freedom,” he said, as he unlocked the cell door. “That, you’ll have to fight for.”

The trio that followed Stirling in found other sets of keys and began opening other cells as Stirling continued to talk to the red-haired woman.

She nodded slowly. “Better than this, I suppose.” She lowered her voice and leaned closer to Strider. “Everyone else in the cells should be fine to release, there are a few eccentric ones, but fairly harmless, the real person you should be careful around is the one inhabiting cell number 17. That’s Tillman. He’s their… Test subject.”

Stirling turned and looked over his shoulder at cell 17, further down the cell block. Inside was a man in a similar habit, rocking back and forth on his cot. He seemed to not have noticed anything outside, and was just staring ahead.

Stirling looked back. “Duly noted, miss…?”

“Amras. Is there a weapon I could use?”

Swinging the cell door open, Stirling withdrew his dagger and handed it to her hilt-first. “Till you can pick up one of their guns, or a drill, or something.”

Amras looked at it a little disappointedly. “Better than this shard of a rock I found, I suppose.” Then she took it.

Stirling chuckled, then got back to unlocking more cells. As he did so, he felt a hand grip his shoulder.

Instinctively, he whipped around, backhanding the freed prisoner in the face.

“Why you little...!” the stranger said, clearly offended. “Who are you? What do you want?!” he asked, as a poor means of beginning a conversation.

“I’m Stirling Silverstine. I’m here to get you out, apparently,” Stirling said, turning to free other prisoners. But the stranger wasn’t done talking.

“Well, that certainly depends on who you are and who you serve.”

This gave Stirling pause. He looked back over his shoulder and regarded this young man. Like a lot of the prisoners, he had muscle, and was well-built from hard labor. He had a full head of black hair and a full beard, both roughly cut. His eyes were simple, dark green, flat, and searching.

Stirling turned back around to face him fully, and slowed down, as everyone else continued to mill around him, Amras, and this stranger. This stranger who was smart enough to question his motives...

“As I said. I’m Stirling Silverstine. I serve no one, and seek to make that choice possible for everyone. I’m against thedude, and Vladek, and any other tyrants that would restrict your freedom to live as you will.”

He noticed others were listening to his words, and that most of the cells were open now, except for cell 17.

“Does that answer your question, sir…?”

The stranger opened his mouth to speak, lost in thought. “Vikky.” He mumbled.

The sound of others sniggering brought ‘Vikky’ to focus. He shook his head. “AHEM! I mean, uh, Victor.”

Stirling reached out and grabbed ‘Vikky’s’ shoulder. “Nope, it’s Vikky now. Are you willing to fight for your freedom?”

“No one calls me Vikky. No one but my sister. Got that?" Victor said evenly. He changed the subject again before anyone could object. "I don't mind fighting if it means I can go home.”

Stirling narrowed his eyes slightly at the prisoner, then shook the shoulder once. “Fine. Next time, don’t sneak up on me. I could have done a lot worse.” Then Stirling gave a final grim smile to Victor and the onlookers as he walked over to cell 17.

As he approached the cell, he observed the prisoner within.

‘Tillman’ had not noticed him, and continued to stare at the wall. As Stirling looked closer, he noticed ‘Tillman’s’ skin was sand green. He also lacked hair. But the oddest part about him was his fingers. They were long and spindly, holding his legs up to his chest.

“Mr. Tillman?” Stirling asked.

Tillman’s head snapped to look at Stirling, as he stopped rocking and let his thin anemic legs fall to the floor, and his eyes squinted.

“Ah! John! How good to see you! Have you brought…” His eyes darted from side to side, before he whispered mysteriously, “... the barnacles?”

Stirling held up the keys and jangled them. “Something better. I’m here to let you go.”

“Let... me go? No. I can’t do that. No food out there. No power.” He said, gesturing to a power cord hanging from the ceiling.

Stirling looked up. “No… Power?”

“No power, no food, no sustenance, more hunger, more pain, more quiet. It’s too quiet in here. And yet, too loud. All because of fear. Too much fear. Maybe not enough. Healthy fear. Good to lose weight on. Also hair. You got barnacles?”

Stirling shook his head. He didn’t have time for this. This was like talking to Dr. Jellyfish. But more freaky.

“Tillman! Focus.” Stirling jangled the keys again, and began unlocking the cell.

“Yes! I have the payment. You got barnacles? Is that thing in your hands a barnacle? I need bar-”

“I’m opening this cell. You can go and get your own barnacles. Outside. People will try to stop you, but something tells me they can’t stop you, if you really want barnacles bad enough.”

“You sure that’s a good idea…?” One of the slaves said.

Stirling turned back on him more brusquely than he intended. “I don’t have the time to judge each one of you. We’re wasting too much time already.” He swung the cell open.

Tillman peered outside cautiously, as Stirling and others backed up. “No power. Can’t come. Unless… You have other food?”

Stirling blinked furiously. “You eat electricity?”

“Yes. Sort of. Not very good. All I have…”

Stirling pulled Peragrine’s pack off and began rummaging around.‘Alright, Peragrine, I'm calling on you again here.’ Stirling’s hands wrapped around something sizable and metallic. He pulled it out.

It turned out to be a Boombox. Stirling set it down on the ground in front of the test subject.

“Ok, Tillman. Can you take the battery power from this?”

Tillman looked down at it. “Maybe.” He wrapped his fingers on it, and his entire body started to glow as he started humming in delight.

Sufficiently disturbed, but glad that he’d made the strange… Man? Creature? happy, Stirling turned to the end of the corridor, where a number of slaves were attempting to unlock the far doorway with a number of keys… The only question was which ones to use, as these double doors had four differently colored locks. The others had already unlocked three of the four, but were having difficulty finding the last one.

“Not this one… Not this one… Which of these is it?!”

“There’s too many locks on this stupid door! What’s so interesting behind here?” said one of the slaves that’d come from the mines.

“Weapons.” Amras clarified. “At least, I think so. I see guards go in there without weapons and come out with weapons.”

Stirling grinned wolfishly. “Then that’s certainly worth a minute.” He glanced back at the main room, noting how the other leaders hadn’t quite come back yet, and the main force of the slaves was holding back the guards in the mines. “But only just a minute.” he growled, noting the treasure-filled glee among those around him.

“Ah! Here’s the final key!” The slave said. “Wait. No. I was wrong.”

“Oh, let me!” Said one with a mining laser, who proceeded to cut through the final lock. Sirling strode forward and pushed the heavy iron double doors open.

The room was filled with various weapons, mostly Paradox. Wormholers hung on the wall, racks of shinobi katanas, boxes of sorcerer wands, and various armor pieces were scattered about the room. Here and there were other more antiquated armaments, like black spears, sets of red armor with black skorpions emblazoned on them, and dark, foreboding helmets entirely black. Along the back wall were seemingly more special items in glass cases.

There were also two stone statues of knights on either side of Stirling, which started to glow an eerie red.

“Well, Crux.” Stirling sighed.

Chapter 17: The Clarity of Insanity.

Matheeas and Jellyfish opened the east cell block, and they both handled their individual guard. Matheeas by a quick parry and thrust, and Jellyfish by a quick dodge and countershot to the head. They sauntered into the block.

“Yup. Mhm. Place looks familiar.” Jellyfish said as they looked around.

“Really?” Matheeas said. The place looked fairly well maintained. Good lighting, although the doors were steel with only a sliding window to look in.  Matheeas walked up to the closest one and peered in. Inside appeared to be a knight wearing dark armor, sleeping on a cot. A cherry-red light activated within his helmet, and he sat straight up, giving Matheeas a look inside his helmet. It appeared that one half of his face was covered in metal. His right hand, also appearing to have a metallic glint, shot a short, thick, blade. The knight quickly grabbed his right arm with his left and held it down.

“Greetings. My sincerest apologies. It is simply my right side’s reaction. Have you come to bring me supper?”

“No, I have actually come to break you out of here, if you wish.”

The cybernetic knight- for surely, Matheeas thought, this man reminded him of Kalaren’s cybernetics- frowned.

“Break out? Out of this cell.” He paused, considering Matheeas. “Then… Thou art not with the Lord Vladek?”

“Not in the slightest. You?”

The knight stood up. “Let me out, and I shall slay our foes.”

Matheeas’s brow furrowed. “Swear on your honor as a knight that you won’t harm me or my allies.”

The cyber-knight paused, so Matheeas added:

“At least until we get out of here, you won’t attack any of my comrades. Then we can talk about it more.”

The cyber-knight was silent for a moment. “I am afraid I cannot do that.”

“Why not?”

He motioned to his cybernetic arm. “This arm. It is encoded to kill. I cannot guarantee that I shall not harm thee. Tis why I am enclosed herein. I am one of the greatest swordsmen in this fortress. With few exceptions, we wouldest meet little resistance in our escape. But I cannot say with veracity that thou wouldest be safe with me thereafter. Or indeed, before.

Matheeas nodded slowly. “So, if you think you went ahead a little bit, and thought about killing only Vladek’s troops, we would be relatively safe?”

“...Perhaps.”

“Great! We’ll come back for you later so you can lead the way.”

“...Very well.”

Matheeas closed the slot, and turned to look at Dr. Jellyfish, who was standing outside one of the cells, door open.

“This… This was my room.”

Matheeas walked over. Inside was a bedstand with a sheet of metal, and a pillow, with straps welded to the sides to make a very low-grade operating table. All around the room were bits of machinery on the ground, on other tables, hanging from stands and small power-cranes. There was even an entire generator in the back of the room, which was hooked up to at least a dozen items. From the other cranes, to the bright surgical lights, to a few humming machines.

“This room is definitely used for cybernetics. Fitting, that was my specialty.”

“Still is, Doctor. Think you could take any of this?”

“..Oh. Oh. Oh yes. Yes indeed! Give me a few minutes, I want to analyze the generator!”

Just then, the door at the far end of the corridor opened, upward with a hiss of air, and a tall, gaunt man in a white lab coat and gloves stepped through a blue force field.

He paused when he saw Matheeas and Jellyfish. Jellyfish turned to meet him.

“Sylvester! Good to see you! How are the tests going? How’s Collin?”

Matheeas observed this ‘Sylvester’. Tall, gaunt, very much a scientist like Jellyfish, but he seemed to have a more... Sinister air about him. He was wearing goggles, but they did not make him look goofy. Instead, they accentuated the pinprick-like eyes he had, with their minimalist blue irises. He had slick black hair, and a neat, close trimmed, mustache.

“Johnathan.” he said. His voice was low. Surprisingly low, for someone so thin. His tone was neutral. He was clearly still processing what he was seeing.

“Was that my name? Yes, I suppose it was. Anyways you didn’t answer my questions, so here’s another one… Have you tried out my fried jellyfish recipe?”

Sylvester considered Jellyfish as he thought about this question. “Yes. It was nutritionally and palatably terrible. A recipe not worth repeating. What is your business here?”

Matheeas was about to speak before Jellyfish beat him to it.

“We are commencing a jailbreak! Aaaand raiding whatever we come across!” Jellyfish waved his blaster at the room they were just in.

“I hope that excludes me.”

“That is up to the Commander here!” Both of the scientists turned expectantly at Matheeas.

“You two know each other?” Matheeas asked.

“Oh yes! We were colleagues.” Jellyfish replied.

“Associates.” amended Sylvester.

“We both worked on Kalaren!”

“Subject O’Bryan.”

Matheeas shook his head. “Is he a threat, Doctor?”

“Yeah, kind of, pretty much.”

“Actually, I agree. But you can’t touch me.” Then, he stepped backwards, into the forcefield.

Jellyfish let out a small bark of laughter. “You’re relying on the same security system I assisted in installing!”

There was no reply, except for the door closing with another hiss of air.

Jellyfish strode forward. “I’ll have this down in five minutes!” Once he got within a foot of the archway, he was met with a blast of electricity that discharged seemingly from the door itself.

“JELLYFIIISSZZ!” he squealed as he flew back down the corridor.

Matheeas stared for a few seconds, before cautiously walking over to check on Jellyfish. The tips of his face were somewhat singed, and parts of his coat was blackened, but other than that, the electricity had not conducted too far past his leather coat. Matheeas shook him awake.

“You ok?”

“Yeah,” Jellyfish wheezed. “I think. That’s new. That never would have conformed to Collin’s safety regulations…” Jellyfish paused as they heard a grating metal sound behind them. they both looked back to see the Cyber-knight stepping out of his cell.

But he clearly wasn't’ here to help. His face spoke only of murder. A long blade slid out of his right arm.

Then he turned and ran out of the cell block.

“ “Jellyfish.” ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stirling dove into the room as he heard the two stone knights groaning and creaking with movement. Snatching a sturdy-looking spear from a stand, he twisted around to block any oncoming attacks, and sized up his opponents.

They were just now turning towards him. Slowly, they stepped off of their pedestals, and Stirling realized how tall and lumbering they were, about twice his height, they had huge stone halberds that they lowered in his direction. They seemed to go faster the more they moved.

Glancing back towards the door, and all ofthe people beyond, he began to back up, hoping that the others would catch onto his unspoken plan. The room wasn’t very large, and was filled with weapons, but he hoped to lure the stone knights further in, so that the others could sneak up from behind and defeat them… Somehow.

The knights began to thrust at him. Realising he would probably not be able to block or parry their massive stone halbard attacks, he began to duck and dodge and scamper backwards.

Amras watched, her hooded eyes assessing the situation. As one of the miners began to step forward, she held an arm out and stopped him.

“Don’t cross the threshold. Use your mining lasers.”

“Fine by me.” The prisoner said, raising his laser to fire at the knight, slowly deteriorating the stone. The others followed suit, and soon anyone with a ranged weapon was helping.

“Focus the fire,” someone said. “If it’s magic, it might just heal or something!”

“Go for the arms, who knows if it even needs a head.”

“I have a rocket launcher here, when do I fire that?”

“Why not now?”

“Okay! Bombs away!”

Stirling tried to watch as he rolled to escape the ensuing explosion of rocks and rubble. he continued to dodge and evade as the room quickly became an absolute wreck. Not to mention the fact that other racks of weapons had fallen and were set off. Including rocket launchers.

But even in the chaos, he took a moment to appreciate how the prisoners were working together.

After a few minutes of frantic evasion, Stirling unbent his knees and looked around at the dust settling. The stone giants were obliterated, the walls and floor were scarred and chipped, and at least a quarter of the weapons exploded.

That went better than he’d expected. He should do jailbreaks more often. Standing up, he was inordinately pleased to find that he’d gotten away with only a few cuts and bruises for all his frantic tumbling.

He turned to the doorway and called out to the bristling guns and lasers. “Good job, men. Seems safe to come in and take what you can use.”

“Woo-hoo!”

“Finally!”

“I never knew mining rock would be an important life skill!”

“Look at all this STUFF!”

“Remember, only what you can use,” Stirling reminded. “You don’t want to be bogged down during out escape. We still need to run like the dickens.”

“I’ll take the laser gun, the purple glowing ninja sword, the OTHER laser gun, and that knife over there!” Victor exclaimed, pulling armor on and gathering weapons.

“What did I just say,” Stirling muttered, knowing that with a crowd this large, he wouldn’t be able to control or save everyone.

Amras came up to him with a spear and some sorcerer armor. She handed him his knife back.

“Here you go. I wonder why they have all those swords along the back?”

Stirling turned around and realized that nearly all the items in the glass cases were ornate swords. Walking over, he picked up a sword that had fallen out of its smashed case during the fight.

This sword was made of unusual materials, with a gold hilt and crossguard and a silver blade. On one side of the blade was a depiction of a peasant with a sword. On the other, a wizard with a sword. Presumably the same sword. As Stirling lifted it, he found it was extremely unbalanced and  forward-heavy. Showing his disgust, he tossed it and said to Amras, “Nothing more than an ornamental, I’m afraid.”

However as Amras’s eyes went wide, Stirling looked back at where he’d tossed the sword, and it swooped through the air, and plunged itself back into Stirling, who gasped in surprise…

But not pain.

He looked down at his armor. Patted himself.

He was perfectly fine. Unscathed. He turned around, looking for the sword, but it was nowhere to be found. Murmurs and exclamations came from others, but Stirling wasn’t having it.

“What the blazes was that?!” Stirling yelled.

Amras simply had an eyebrow raised. “Perhaps they’re all magical swords.”

That triggered an excited rush to the swords. Everyone wanted to claim one.

“Ooh! I want one!”

“Maybe this red one shoots fire?”

“This one looks like a dagger.”

Stirling and some of the other more cautious people also rushed forward, with words of warning, but they were outnumbered, and in moments, every sword’s hilt was in the hands of a curious miner, with various effects.

The red and orange sword was indeed a fire sword, and the miner that held it yelped in pain as the sword burst into flames, scorching his hands.

Another lifted his sword over his head, and a rickshaw appeared with a flash of thunder complete with a strange young lad, who began yelling incoherently.

And yet another sword, wooden, and ornately carved, leapt from the would-be wielder, turned around and began assaulting him.

“Cursed!” yelled someone, even as his chosen blade, a dagger, began teleporting him around the room. “They’re all cursed! They gotta be!”

Amongst the instant chaos, which included a thunderous blast, the first verse of 99 cans of cola, and a blinding flash of light, came another sound. The sound of clanking metal boots speeding down the corridor and screams of pain. Stirling turned around just in time to see a dark-clad figure in red and black come at him with a long blade in one hand.

Stirling’s practiced instincts kicked in, and he raised his Katana, parrying the blow at the last possible moment.

But the dark knight had momentum on his side, and Stirling nearly lost his balance as he slid backwards through the debris, the force of the shock reverberating through his thin blade and into his stolen Shinobi gloves. He grit his teeth in pain and annoyance, all too aware of the heavy notch the blow had made to his own blade. He didn’t have time to initiate a counterattack, much less breath or assess his assailant, as the attacker spun around to deliver another blow at him which he ducked out of the way of. Stirling threw a quick stab at his target, but only met hardened steel and left himself open as the dark knight backhanded the off-balance Stirling with his sword hand into the debris.

‘Who the heck is this guy?!’ Stirling thought, as he stared down the length of his opponent's sword at his neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kalaren walked down with the last of the prisoners from the north cell block. A small army in its own right. Next to him, the helpful scientist verbally reminisced about all the zoological pursuits he would follow once he got out of here. Kalaren had almost tuned him out.

And then he saw him. A figure dressed in red and black armor, running out from another corridor.

It had to be him. The Murderer. Vladek Verilus. Only this time, he wouldn’t let him get away. This time he would catch him, and make him suffer.

He sprinted after him as the dark knight sliced through the back of a miner with a sword in his right hand. Kalaren rushed down the corridor even as a red mist obscured his eyes. He chased the Monster into a cell block where there was a line of prisoners handing weapons and armor down. Two more fell, even as the red and black knight sped up, leaving Kalaren a few seconds further behind him. ‘Always just out of reach…!’ The knight disappeared into the room ahead. As Kalaren burst into the room, he saw the knight standing over another victim. ‘Finally!’ Kalaren thought, as he slammed into the knight bodily, throwing them both against some of the sword cases that lined the back wall. As a sword fell from its mounting, Kalaren grabbed it with his one good left hand, and, feeling a surge of energy, rolled off and slammed the sword into the evil knight's sword, one that apparently was protruding from his arm.

The knight rolled to his right, putting distance between himself and Kalaren. “Clone? I was not aware of thine activation.”

He was answered by incoherent roars as Kalaren erupted in fire and leaped at him.

There were no coherent thoughts in Kalaren’s mind. Only Death. Revenge. His next swing. His next strike. Flashes of pain. Vladek Verilus would not survive this confrontation. He’d finally caught up with his family's killer. Nothing existed except him and his chosen target. A rack fell as the two duelists crashed through it, a mess of fire, metal and blood.

Kalaren pinned his tormentor to the ground, ready to cripple him. Not kill, that would be too fast and easy a punishment...

And then he heard a voice. Distant at first, it sounded vaguely familiar as it fought its way through the bloody haze he found himself in.

“Kalaren! Stop it! you’re burning everything!”

“Forget him! We have to get out of here!”

“No! We need him!”

Kalaren turned around and stared at the origin of the voice. A woman in a brown habit. Red hair. Green eyes. Familiar tone of voice, familiar face...

“...Mother?”

And then everything went black.

~~~~

The evil knight stood over Kalaren now, having knocked him out with a solid strike to the back of the head.

“Guess it’s my turn again!” Stirling yelled, rushing forward to save Kalaren as Kalaren had saved him moments ago.

But before he got there, the other sword wielding miners attacked first. A woman with a broad Orange and Gray sword swung at the Knight, who easily blocked it, but not the subsequent thunderous shockwave that threw both of them both away from each other, and the unconscious Kalaren.

Even as the Knight rolled into a standing position, the Dagger-weilding miner blinked and zipped across the room to stab the Knight in the hip.

“Ha!” the miner crowed. “I think I’m getting the hang of-AAAAH!”

He was cut short by the knight cutting both of his hands off. however, this was distraction enough, as a half-dozen other miners, some with the power of swords, and others with the more common weaponry all assaulted him in a haphazard and frenetic effort that even the expert combatant could not defy.

Meanwhile, Stirling rushed to Kalaren, who was no longer on fire. He checked his pulse.

“Still beating. Really fast.” he said to Amras, who was staring at the sword in Kalaren’s clenched left hand. When she didn’t say anything immediately, Stirling added, “He called you ‘mother’.”

“Not the time.”

“I expect to hear all about it if we make it out of here alive.”

“‘If we make it out alive’. That’s the kicker.” Then she knelt down to Kalaren and bandaged him quickly with his own cloak. “We need to get him and everyone else out of here.”

Stirling nodded, lifting Kalaren up, and grabbing the sword. “Might as well take this,” he said, as he pulled it from Kalaren’s grasp.

As Kalaren’s hand slipped off of it, the sword buzzed irritably in Stirling’s hand, but he simply ignored it as he focused on hauling Kalaren’s limp form over both his shoulders.

“OK, LET’S MOVE!” Stirling yelled.

As he and the many others rushed back up the South corridor towards the middle room, they were met by a weary looking miner who ran down the hall yelling, “They’re gonna break through! We need to go up, now! We can’t stop them from coming up from the mines!”

Stirling bit back unhelpful sarcastic remarks, and instead said to the miner, “You’ve done a heroic job holding them back this long. Let’s blow this pop stand.” The miner nodded and bolted back to relay the message.

As they all rushed back into the main room, Stirling took note of the key players he knew by name. Commander Matheeas was at the foot of the stairwell rallying everybody to him. Dr. Jellyfish was coming from the East cell block, his hands and pockets filled with datapads and mechanical parts. Following him were a number of other scientists similarly loaded down. Chris the -3rd was bringing the majority of the slaves up from the mine entrance, chased close behind by laser fire, while Kevin was in charge of 15 slaves who were covering the escape. Behind Stirling came the strange Mr. Tillman, Amras, and Victor, who held a glowing, mint green longsword. Victor was cheering the other slaves on as Amras helped Tillman along.

“To me!” Matheeas cried. “Forward, onward, and upward! TO FREEDOM!”

Jellyfish spoke up. “I wired the generator back there to overload these four cell blocks, so we should be out of here in five minutes or so. Hope that’s okay.”

Stirling glanced at Dr. Jellyfish with wide eyes, as laser fire zipped by him. “Oh, sure. Add that to the brickin’ list.”

Matheeas blinked. “Double-time it, people!!!”

Matheeas charged up the stairwell, followed closely by Stirling and the various magical sword wielders. Behind them came a small horde of slaves. About one third of the way up, they heard a hissing sound, and a marsh green, heavy gas started to pour down from somewhere near the top of the stairwell.

“Gas!” Stirling yelled. “More than likely lethal! That’s deadly, for all of you illiterate numbskulls!”

“Let me have a go at it!” said the fire sword wielder, who had found some leather gauntlets, which were already smoking. He pointed his sword at the lowering gas….

Nothing happened.

“What are you trying to do?!” Someone else asked, as the gas drifted down closer.

“Shoot it. With fire. Ignite it.”

“You mean like this?” A miner who was still stuck with a mining laser asked sarcastically, as he shot the mist, causing it to explode in flames.

The resulting fireball roared as the gas expanded in the heat and combustion, and the small army stared into what would be their imminent demise.

That is, until another sword wielder, with a icy blue cutlass of unique wavy shape burst forward from the crowd and stabbed upward into the oncoming inferno.

“NO! Not today!” cried the miner, as a beam of cold white light shot from the tip of her blade into the inferno, where it spread into a thin sheet of ice that the fire evaporated into steam.

When all the fire and steam was dissipated, the Miner sank to the steps, her forearms now blue and black with ice, frozen to the sword in an ‘A’ formation.

Matheeas rushed forward to check on the brave female miner.

“You all go on,” she moaned. “I’ll hold them here. I will just slow the rest of you guys down.”

Behind Matheeas, the Fire sword wielder knelt down next to the Ice wielder, even as others began to rush onward, led by Stirling.  He pointed at her arms. “If you’re already dead, do you mind if I try?”

She shrugged. “I guess.”

That was all the Fire wielder needed. He took his gloves off, and holding the sword in one hand, he put his other on her frozen arms. The fire sword roared to life, and Matheeas watched as the fire-wielder began to give off heat as with an intense fever, which caused the arms to thaw.

The fire-wielder opened his eyes and looked at the last of the miners passing Matheeas. “I think I’m a little dizzy, but I’ll stay back with her, sir. I think we can do better together.”

“You can come up with the rest. We already have some people covering us.”

As Kevin rushed up to them, a loud explosion, followed by many screams cut short resounded from below.

“They’re right behind me, dudes and dudettes, but they got a taste of Doc Jelly’s bad mojo! Let’s split!”

The three stared at Kevin for a moment, deciphering his words.

After a few seconds Matheeas spoke up. “There is a wave behind him, but behind that the other paradox just blew up, And.... I think we should run?”

“That’s what I said!”

Matheeas turned back. “Are you coming or not?”

The two sword wielders looked at each other. Then the Ice wielder turned back to Matheeas. “I guess I sounded pretty silly being so dramatic.”

“The time for great sacrifice may still come,” Matheeas said, standing up. “There are many that already remain behind, but your time is not yet, it would seem. Come on!”

“Wise words, Commandude!”

The four stragglers rushed up the stairs, following the others, just as two metal half circles began to close over the circular opening.

“Ah, right! I forgot about this gate here,” Jellyfish said from his point in the line. Some stopped charging up just to stare at him. Others sped up, blasting the doors with various explosives and lasers, with little to no effect.

Suddenly, one of the miners appeared with the magic dagger in his teeth at the top of the stairs, slipping through the trapdoor at the very last moment with another person with a different magic sword, just as the gate slammed shut.

“FLOYD!” yelled one of the miners next to Stirling. “YOU BETTER NOT ABANDON US, YOU NITWIT!”

Stirling shook his head, and gave a final push, taking the stairs two at a time, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to make it to the gate on time.

As Stirling and the others leading the charge ran up the final steps, they could hear muffled sounds of combat, and thunderous booms that sounded like rolling thunder, echoing throughout the metal walls.

As the escapees reached the top of the stairs, Matheeas called out to the front of the line.

“Silverstine! What is the holdup?”

“There’s a trapdoor over the top of these stairs, and no visible way to open them!” Stirling called back, even as one of the miners began using his laser on it. “We might be here a bit as we cut through it!”

Matheeas looked back down the stairs. All was quiet for now… But as Kevin had said, there were more. Not to mention Jellyfish’s electrical explosion countdown.

Suddenly, Stirling and the laser-drilling miners took note of the fading echos of thunder from beyond the door. The miner stopped drilling for a moment.

“You think Floyd and that dagger-guy won?” the miner asked.

“More like they ran off, and the other Paradox are waiting for us.” another miner said.

Stirling pondered this. “I’m no-”

Suddenly, the doors began to creak and slide back, to reveal an awful scene of violence. At least a dozen rogues lay dead, as well as many darkly-clad knights; Vladek’s personal guards. The knife wielder, and the sword wielder among them. The sword wielder with his arm hooked over the lever.

“Floyd!”

A number of the miners ran over to the sword-wielder on the lever, who mumbled something and then handed the sword off to one of them.  Others went over to the knife-wielder, but he was already dead. They took the knife and followed Stirling, who didn’t give any of the bodies a second look. Instead, he looked at the multiple exits to this large domed room and turned to Jellyfish as he came up from the stairs.

“Which way, Doctor? Quickly!”

Jellyfish pulled out a pen and started drawing imaginary calculations in the air while speaking.

“Welllll, we could go out the same way Kalaren and I did, but that’s a lot of jumping, and the main gate is too risky. Losses too high. Orrrr we could go to the main tower and construct a zipline down!” This he punctuated by throwing his pen at a miner, who yelped. “But that’s too long. So we hijack a ship.”

“A boat?” said a miner with a glowing mint-green sword. The one Stirling recognized as Victor.

“No. A ship.” Jellyfish said, gesturing helplessly at Stirling. Stirling nodded in tired sympathy, before realizing the implications of what Jellyfish had said.

“Wait, a spaceship?”

Jellyfish hopped in excitement. “Yes! Thank you! Hopefully an experimental one! That way!!!”he said, pointing and shooting once down a hallway that curved up and around to the left.

Even if the other leaders had disagreed with this course of action, they could not have stopped the wild stampede of liberated slaves rushing down the hall in excitement after the old Doctor. Not only would they be free, but they would get to ride on a spaceship!

To cries of “SPACESHIP!” the ragtag army rushed forward,

through beautiful, but dark and gloomy halls. The iu

occasional piece of artwork here or there, but never in the way. Never cluttering the hall. Never obstructing the path for this army. Or any other potential army. The red carpeting was never bunched up underfoot as the escapees rushed. The walls were all a dark gray stone, and every door was solidly built to withstand an assault. Up above, the stonework curved into an arch, and at even distances, timber beams held heavy, sturdy-looking wrought-iron lanterns in which were brilliant flames, but despite its large, radiant flames, each one seemed to accentuate the darkness surrounding it, rather than lighting the area as much.

Beneath it’s luxury, it was a fortress of evil, and of war, and every detail did well to remind its occupants of such.

---------------------------

Inderlude: Chris -2nd

Chris the -2nd rode back into town. Fairly quickly, he was greeted by the general populace, even as someone ran to get Methuselah.

“How did it go?”

“Did you see any of the others?”

“Are you alright?!”

“I’ll be fine,” He replied. “I’ve been burned a bit, but I need to see Methuselah first.”

“What about the others that were with you? The Silverstine, and the Commander?”

“They’re still there. They’ll come back.”

This caused a small sigh of relief, before he added:

“Probably.”

A few short minutes later, Chris the -2nd met Methuselah halfway, and they were now sitting outside a vacant ruin, sipping some strong tea that Methuselah had steeped.

“...And then I got hit by lightning.”

“Oh. We’ll have to get you to the infirmary.”

“Yeah. It stopped smarting on my way back here, but… Anyways, the other two told me to wait for thirty minutes while they explored, and if they hadn’t come back I was supposed to take a goat and ride back.

“I take it they hadn’t come back,” Methuselah said.

“Nope. Waited 40. But they had a prisoner and disguises, so they seemed pretty well off.” Chris sipped some of his tea.

“Whatever it was in those mines, it looked like they needed to be able to move large items or large groups in and out. Least, that’s what I gather from the ramp that was there that I told you about.” He stared into the murky tea. “This stuff’s good. I don’t recognize it though.”

Methuselah smiled absentmindedly, still thinking about everything Chris had said. “Thanks, it’s a special new blend I’ve put together.”

Others listened to Chris and Methuselah. Others who now, sensing that Chris was finished, turned to Methuselah for some sort of verdict. Maybe a summary.

“Right.” Methuselah looked out at the small crowd. “Well, we’ll wait here for the others. We can’t send any more parties or troops, we wouldn’t have enough here. So we’ll carry on as normal everyone.”

Properly sensing that this was the most civil ‘move along people, you’re dismissed’ they’d ever received, the crowd began to disperse with uncomfortable murmurings.

Methuselah turned to Chris. “But let’s get you to the infirmary.”

Chris nodded, looking down his nose at his chest. “Do you think my chesthair will grow back?”

“Don’t want to try to figure that out, Chris. Let’s go.”

---------------------------

Chapter 18: Tower Battle

Kalaren awoke to the rhythmic bouncing of his body. He vaguely remembered something very important happening, maybe a fight, but he couldn’t quite recall it. Just a red mist. He looked around him. He was being carried up a staircase. He looked up to see the sweaty back of Stirling’s head.

“Gah!” He yelled as he lurched back.

Stirling teetered for a brief moment, before people behind him shoved him forward and back on balance again. “Kalaren?” Stirling said, unable to twist his head around to look at him. “You awake?”

“Yeah! I’m awake.”

“Good. We’re running through Vladek’s fortress at the moment. Going to the top of this tower to steal a spaceship, according to your pal, Jellyfish. That make sense to you?”

“...No. You know what else doesn’t make sense to me? That you’re carrying me. Can you let me down??”

Stirling gave it some thought as he continued to stride up the stairs. “Maybe. But I’ve got a rhythm now, and I’d hate to-”

Suddenly, the front of the group came to a screeching halt, and Stirling found his stride broken as he ran into the back of Matheeas and Jellyfish.

“Hey! What’s the holdup?!” Stirling said, putting Kalaren down.

“Madame…” Matheeas said, as everyone behind him strained to see who he was talking to on the stairs.

Kalaren looked up. Matheeas was standing next to Jellyfish. They were both looking at someone in front of them. Kalaren shifted his head to look over.

Standing in front of them was a well dressed lady who was looking at the scene in front of her with a dismissive but irritated stare that had just lifted from her book. She had black hair, pale skin, and red eyes. Overall, she was the most beautiful lady Kalaren had ever seen. His jaw started to drop before he caught it. He looked down at himself quickly and remembered he was dirty, bloody, unshaven and slightly maimed. Well, to be fair that was his metal hand, but still.

The point was, he wasn’t presentable. And for the first time in a very long time, that bothered him.

Shifting his ragged cloak, he looked back up as she spoke.

“Valerie. Madame Valerie. And you are?” She said as she tucked the book under her arm.

Stirling, Jellyfish, and about a dozen others of the various miners in front all turned to Matheeas. Kalaren continued to stare at the madame Valerie.

Matheeas looked back slowly. “Uh… A revolt?”

Stirling whispered to Matheeas. “I’d hate to fight the lady, but just say the word, boss.”

Valerie paused for a moment. “I see. I take it you’re heading up this tower to take a spaceship?”

Matheeas blinked. “Well, yeah. That’d be nice.”

“Well then, I’ll be out of your way. Excuse me.” She said as she started to walk forward, flipping her book open, and beginning to read once again.

As Matheeas and Jellyfish parted, Stirling motioned for everyone else to do the same, as did the next person, and so on.

After a second Kalaren hopped to the side. Next to Kevin.

As she passed by Kalaren, she called back, “Do make your way directly up the staircase. Any unnecessary pillaging will be met by my extreme prejudice, understood? Thank you.”

As Kalaren followed her with his gaze, he eventually met a grinning face. It belonged to Kevin.

“Don’t worry. We’ll plan more attacks on this tower, dudeman.”

“Shut up.” Kalaren said, flushing redder than his hair, as he became the first to move forward up the tower.

Matheeas shrugged and followed.

After a few seconds, Jellyfish spoke up. “Ya’ know, I don’t think the ship will be able to carry us all.”

Without stopping, Matheeas turned his head to him. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

Stirling was less stoic, stumbling on the stairs, and cursing as he regained his footing.

“Will the ship have guns??” Kalaren asked.

Jellyfish thought about that. “Probably. Most likely. This is a fortress after all.”

“Great. Some of us can cover the rest of us with it then, while we climb down. Do we have rope?”

“There might be some in the ship. Or line.”

Stirling laughed mirthlessly. “Looks like we might use all your ideas, Jellyfish. Ship, zipline, Guns, Explosions, Jumping into the moat.”

“Zipline! Perfect idea!” Jellyfish exclaimed as he quickened his pace and caught up with Kalaren.

Matheeas kept climbing. “Sounds like our best shot. Kevin, you relay that to the others, will you?”

“You got it, Commandude!”

Next to Stirling, Victor spoke up. “Also, don’t forget these magical swords that some of us have. They might help.”

Stirling scowled, but nodded, glancing at the magical sword in his hands. “Good point.”

The group met no further resistance through their charge up the tower, until they reached the top.

Bursting out of the trapdoor, Kalaren looked out with a blaster he had grabbed. They appeared to be in a large flat area, which was the top of the tower. Other towers inside the fortress were taller than this one, but this elevation still gave an unparalleled view of the northern wasteland of Ankoria. There was various supplies on the platform, and a large object in the center, covered by a tarp. Kalaren called down and let everyone know it was clear, before he clambered up.

However, as soon as he stepped out, a laser blast narrowly missed his human shoulder.

Behind Kalaren, Jellyfish popped out from the trapdoor and shot back at the sniper, who was on a different tower.

“Yeah. So there should be other rogues out here, and a few barney-bots, also anti-aircraft cannons,” Jellyfish began muttering, as if commenting on a kickball game. “So it might be a little tricky. Humph. I missed.”

Multiple shots began raining upon Kalaren now, as everyone began rushing out of the trapdoor.

Amras brushed by Stirling and yanked the sword out of his hands. “Excuse me, gotta-AAHH!” She yelled as she half dropped, half slid the sword on the ground towards Kalaren.

Kalaren looked back, seeing Stirling’s magic sword sliding towards him. Looking up once at Stirling, who seemed to be arguing with one of the hooded miners, he grabbed the sword with his one good hand, and turned back to pull the tarp off of the-

'Woah'

He felt energy flow from it into his arms and into his body. It seemed to warm his very blood, filling him with a sense of well-being. ‘Huh.’ He glanced down at the sword, and realized he had seen it before. He couldn’t remember where, but he knew that it had something to do with what happened before he fell asleep.

It’s blade was a dark steel, and was inlaid with five gems, running up to halfway up its length. They were red, orange, yellow, blue, and purple. It had two ornate gold spheres on either side of the crossguard, which was wrapped with a faded red cloth, along with the hilt, which had lines where the steel was slightly depressed, so it had a design that evoked something like a classic unicorn horn. It ended in a faceted black gem for the pommel.

Even though he only had a moment to take this all in, Kalaren suddenly felt a kinship with it. However, his train of thought was interrupted by another shot coming from a large reptilian-like robot hovering over and onto the platform. followed by others very similar.

“Ah, CRUX!”

Kalaren turned to look at Stirling, who’d just lain eyes on the flying metallic lizards.

“BARNEYBOTS!” Stirling roared, before charging madly at the first one with nothing in his hands but a nicked katana. “ALL YOU SUCKERS ARE GUNNA DIE!”

Kalaren decided it might be a good idea to help him out while the others got the ship running and found the line.

He rushed forward with a speed that surprised him, reaching the ‘barneybots’ before Stirling did, and gave it a good swing. He was surprised when that lifted it into the air a few feet, causing it to activate some sort of jets. A large section was now melting where he had sliced. Grinning, Kalaren started going to town, swiping left and right at these confused robots, who started firing on this new assailant, even as he dodged with inhuman speed.

Stirling stopped short, watching Kalaren slice into the quickly growing swarm of Barneybots filling up from over the edge of the tower.

‘Wow. That’s a great sword.’ Was all that Stirling could think for a moment, before noting that the swarm was getting thicker, and Kalaren’s sword technique, while effective, was not very defensive. Probably due to a lack of technique. At all.

He rushed forward to cover the kid’s back.

Meanwhile, Jellyfish and Matheeas had now gotten into the ship, as others were pulling the tarp off.

Matheeas looked at the mass of buttons, levers, and switches on the dashboard, his eyes fighting to stay in their sockets.

“Don’t worry! I got this Commander! I used to pilot a hover-cart back home! It crashed, but this looks like it has stabilizers!”

“I trust you, Doctor,” Matheeas said, realizing he didn’t have another choice. “Just get this up in the air. I’m going to find some line and someone to operate a turret.”

Jellyfish glanced around at the panel. “Looks like this ship only has forward guns.” He pointed at a set of controls in a different color scheme than the rest. “There’s your shooter controls.”

“I’ll find someone with a wormholer then. Or a co-pilot. Someone with a pulse and working hands!” He said as he walked out. Looking up, he also noted the other ships on other towers.

Another thought occurred to him “Who else can drive a ship?!” he yelled. Two hands were raised among the crowd, one empty, and another one on the other side holding a bundle of nylon rope.  Matheeas’ eyes were drawn to Stirling, who was hacking at a fallen barneybot, while Kalaren and the fire and ice sword slaves were taking on the rest of the swarm.

“Silverstine! Can you drive?”

One of the barneybots turned to Matheeas. “Only if he has a valid driver’s license. LET ME SEE YOUR ID.” As the Barney bot started to advance, it was cut short by steam frying it’s circuits, evidently from the ice and fire sword. Stirling began to run up, as the other two pilots came up to Matheeas.

“Found line! looks like at least 70 feet. I can fly as well.”

“In a pinch, I can as well.” Said the other. “The gal who picked up the blink dagger took a few miners, a scientist, and that cool kevin dude to another tower.” He pointed at the nearest one, where a rogue was falling off of now, screaming in a very high and long pitch. “They’re going to eliminate snipers and rogues and the such so we don’t have them sniping at us. Those of us with rockets are trying to fire at any AA cannons we can find, but they are pretty well hidden.

Matheeas nodded. “Grab a few people who can fight, and meet us here. We’re going to have to pilot a few ships.”

As recognition dawned and grins appeared on the pilot’s faces before they turned away, Stirling arrived.

“What do you need, Lancaster?!” Stirling yelled over the commotion, even as he was getting shot at by additional assailants.

“You have some experience with tech, so I figured you might be able to pilot a ship if you needed to!”

“Yessir!”

“We are going to hop to each tower and drop pilots off so they can drive those shuttles, with a few of them we should be able to make it out of here.”

Stirling grimaced. Matheeas clearly saw Stirling’s incredulity at saving everyone, but Stirling didn’t voice it. Instead, he said. “Yessir.”

The various pilots scrambled up into the shuttle, as Jellyfish finished familiarizing himself with the controls.

“Aha! Here’s the button.” Jellyfish exclaimed, pulling a lever.

The shuttle lurched up and into the air, and in response to more button pressing, spun around, and fired at the swarm of barneybots, destroying the current wave.

Then he jammed the controls forward, toward the tower which had been cleared, even as they saw some shadowy forms wisping across to another tower. They dropped one of the pilots there with one or two normal prisoners for backup, and kept flying to the next one. There, they dropped the other pilot with other fighters, and finally, with a steep pull up on the controls, Jellyfish careened over the final tower, which was taller than the others.

A large, dark ship with red highlights and two rotating turrets on the top rested on its top. 6 or 7 dark-clad knights were running out of the trapdoor there, before Dr. Jellyfish blasted the first two and covered the rest in rubble. Unfortunately one of the back engines of this large ship also sparked as rubble sprayed across it.

“This is you, Stirling.” Matheeas barked. “Looks like you’ll need the extra people to man the ship, so I’ll let the rest off with you. We’ll be providing aerial support until we can get everyone evacuated from the first tower. Everyone out, before they clear the rubble!” Matheeas said, as the ship lurched and fired, punctuating his command with a whirl of his finger in a circle, indicating the door.

Stirling growled an incomplete acknowledgement before leaping out of the shuttle door and landing. As he ran for the larger ship, he spared a glance at the attackers who were already trying to extricate themselves from the rubble, and making good progress.

These were clearly Shadowknights. Stirling had never really seen one before, much less fought one. The stories were relatively clear though.

In the last war where Vladek had fought against the Knights of Morcia and King Matthias, a large part of his army had been these minions.  These men were sworn to Vladek, sometimes unwillingly, through some sort of dark magic.That was evident enough by the unnatural darkness that hung inside their helmets, obscuring their faces in a uniform evil.

Stirling knew that nothing short of death would stop these assailants. He and his crew had moments before the Shadowknights freed themselves and began their relentless assault. He dashed into the shuttle’s entry ramp, making a beeline for the cockpit.

Behind him, the three miners, one of whom was Victor, ran into the shuttle, and then turned around, firing their various ranged weapons at the Shadowknights as they sought to get up.

Stirling stormed into the cockpit. He yanked the snoring pilot that was there out of his seat, tossing him roughly behind him, before shutting the cockpit door behind him via the door panel. One more glance at the controls, and Stirling realized that this was not your standard Nexus Force setup. He immediately began pressing likely buttons, and hauled up on the controls.

In response, the ship’s engines screamed to life, but only slowly began to rise.

At that moment, he heard a crash and rumble from somewhere outside and behind the ship, followed by exclamations of surprise from Victor and the others.

“HOLD ON!” Stirling yelled back, before seeing the flashing ‘Close Ramp’ button and hitting it. Stirling pushed forward on the controls, and the ship half fell, half burst forward, but then it stopped, apparently snagging on something just before it cleared the tower.

The ship vibrated with the sound of metal tearing from it’s sockets and welds, and a primal scream. Suddenly, the ship lurched forward, and Stirling saw on a glowing display of various ship systems the back right engine flash red, before losing color completely.

“Port Engine Integrity at Zero Percent,” the ship intoned, even as the ship veered drastically to the right.

Anti-aircraft cannons tried to fire at him, but given Stirling’s complete lack of a flying pattern, none hit. However, in doing so they revealed their positions, and were either gunned down by other ships or those operating it were too distracted to continue firing.

“Crux!” Stirling cried as he yanked the controls around haphazardly, losing some altitude and barely missing other  towers and ships.

As he spun around a full 180 before stabilizing, he saw the source of this damage.

There, level with him now and standing on the tower…

Was Kalaren.

Yet, it wasn’t. This Kalaren was shirtless, wearing practically nothing but some swimming shorts, and slick with… something slimy. His eyes were wild, red, and his hair, while very much of the same style as Kalaren’s, was a murky blonde, and longer. He was taller than Kalaren, but by how much, he wasn’t sure. He was also very muscular, as evidenced by the tossing of the engine that he was returning to Stirling. But most of all, he saw Kalaren in his jawline and face. Disturbingly, he also seemed to share other characteristics that echoed around in Stirling’s head…

And then, as the shriek died out, and the eyes flickered, the creature dropped the remains of the engine and collapsed onto the stone, and was dragged away by the shadowknights, as they retreated back into the cover of the rubble, since some of the miners had rushed up into the turrets and began firing on them.

Deeply distrubed, Stirling shoved these thoughts out of his mind for now, as the ship’s controls continued to scream at his poor handling, and rapidly falling altitude.

“Guess I’m falling with style today,” Stirling growled, as he focused on swinging his way out from the towers rather than gaining altitude. Futily, he yelled back, “DOES ANYONE SEE KALAREN?”

Above the sounds of a scuffle, the others replied.

“HOW CAN WE, WE’RE ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE BETWEEN THE TOWERS!”

“YEAH! DON’T WE GOTTA GET UP AND SHOOT MORE ROGUES?”

“I’M WORKING ON IT!” Stirling replied, as he banged the damaged side of the ship against a final tower before being free from the majority of them. From here, he spun around, to try and gain altitude before heading back into the fight, if there was still one to be had.

Just then, a blaster shot was heard, followed by the door to the cockpit being opened. Victor hopped into the co-pilot’s seat. “Can we contact the other ships from here?”

In response, Stirling snatched and tossed the ship’s onboard radio at him, the distraction almost sending them spinning again.

“Uh, right.” Victor muttered as he activated it. “This is Victor on the bigger spaceship thing with Stirling! We’ve been mauled by an abomination from the deep! Or something. If someone could direct us to the first tower we would.. Survive I guess. Over?”

“Roger Charlie Blackhawk Alpha nosedive!” came the voice of Dr. Jellyfish. “We’re heading out! This colony of flying jellyfish is all up in the air! It’s time to avoid the sharks, just like last time!”

Other voices crackled on the radio.

“Is this what’s throwing everyone’s voices around?”

“-Button here? I press th-” “-And it-” “-vates?”

“Head south.” Matheeas’ voice came through.

At that moment, something hit the left side of the cockpit and scraped it, and turning, Stirling could see the sword Kalaren was holding earlier pointing to the front and left.

“Thaph way!” He seemed to yell, though muffled by the windshield and metal.

Stilring sighed in relief. Kalaren seemed normal. Red hair, determined demeanor, glowing magic sword…

Well, relatively normal. At least he didn’t seem to be cursed. Plus, he still had a shirt on. A sure sign of sanity.

Stirling twitched the controls in that direction, then properly compensated for the lost engine, and the ship shuddered and whined pitifully, but dutifully. Above and around them, Stirling could see the other ships in similar bad shape, but all mostly flying…

A few more freed slaves and miners and people leapt from the towers as they passed, and Stirling did his best to maintain stability, even as rogues also lept down and fought others on the top of his ship.

As the lowest and last ship in the fleet, Stilring saw four small shuttles as they rose, escaping the fire and ranges of the hidden AA guns. All of the shuttles were badly damaged, but flying. The radio chatter began to fill with cheers, and nervous laughter. Next to him, Victor gave a shuddering sigh.

Despite himself, Stirling smiled.

Then the ship directly in front of them blew up.

The Windshield was engulfed in fire, and shards of metal flew into the ship, piercing the hull and shattering the windshield. A cry of surprise and pain turned into a roar came from his left, where Kalaren was holding on, and then the flames suddenly were shoved back, and around them as with an invisible hand.

There was silence on the radio for a second.

“Everyone report in, starting with Shuttle 2.”

“Here. All vital systems functioning.” came the voice of a miner.

“Shuttle 3?”

Only Static responded.

“Shuttle 5 here. Damaged but we can go awhile. Who was on Shuttle 3?” Came another Miner.

“We don’t have time to sort that out right now, and we can’t afford to go back right now either, the blink dagger wielder and the fire and ice sword pair can only give us so much time. Stirling, you there on Shuttle 4? Over.”

Stirling nodded to Victor, who responded. “Yeah, we’re here, one of our propellers is missing but we are compensating?”

Stirling nodded again, poking at some sliding dials to balance the energy outputs better.

“Wait, they’re staying behind?” came Shuttle 2.

Shuttle 5 crackled in. “Yes. The Dagger was.. affecting Joanne, and it wasn’t practical for her to come. She agreed to cover us.. And I saw the Swords talking to that red-haired guy before he jumped onto Shuttle 4. Is he okay by the way? Over.”

Stirling glanced to his left and leaned out of the broken windshield. “Kalaren?”

Kalaren leaned forward slightly. He had some burns and various pieces of shrapnel stuck in him, in addition to other wounds he had acquired from bullets, but he still doggedly held onto the side of the ship via his mangled hand jammed into a crevice between panels.

Kalaren gritted his teeth, grunt/yelled affirmation, and pointed south again.

“..We think so?” Victor replied to the Radio.

“You wanna climb in?” Stilring asked Kalaren casually, motioning to the open, shattered windshield, before having to duck back inside to adjust the ship’s trajectory.

Matheeas’ voice came in again. “Okay. Everyone, follow Shuttle One. We are going to have to cut radio transmission as long as it pertains to direction, as we are using Vladek’s frequencies. Don’t want him to know more than he needs to. We got a bit to go, so hang in there, got it?”

“Affirmative.” Came Shuttle 2.

“Fine. Ah, Over.” Growled Shuttle 5.

“Sounds good, Cap. Over.” Victor replied.

“Understood. Radio silence begins now.” Shuttle One finished.

“...That’s the button on the left side of the radio! JELLYFISH!”

There was a collective groan as the static gradually became the only thing on the radio, before Stirling shut it off as well.

Kalaren rolled over the edge of the windshield and landed on the floor with a thud and a groan, hitting a few dozen buttons and dials on the way, which Stirling frantically corrected, as Victor grabbed the controls and kept them relatively on course.

“They…”Kalaren wheezed. “Got some jets out there as well, but after a second those back there managed to divert them away. Still… Maybe alert your-” he grunted. “-laser cannon people. The others back there pretty much got the giant metal- ah. Lizards.”

“You mean Barney bots.”

“Barney bots?? What a stupid..phew..name. Who comes up with this..akh..stuff?”

“Beats me. It was like that when I got here.” Stirling turned to Victor. “There should be two holes in the ceiling, with ladders you can pull down. Get the others into them, if they’re not already in there.”

As Stirling said this, another face appeared at the top of the broken windshield. “HEY! There’s a couple people out here who’d like to get out of the wind!”

Stirling facepalmed. “Of course. I’ll lower the ramp.”

Kalaren heaved himself onto his sword with another grunt of pain, and replaced Victor in the co-pilot’s chair.

As Stirling and Kalaren sat in silence, they heard the ramp being lowered, people climbing in, and then milling around… The laboring hum of theirs and others ships…

“All things considered..gaff.. I think this went considerably well.” Kalaren spoke up.

“We’re alive, which is impressive.” Stirling agreed.

“And we’ve freed at least ¾ of.. Vlad’s slaves. And most of those  are alive.”

“If you’d told past me we’d do this, I would have said you were crazy.” He glanced at Kalaren. “And I’d be right.”

“Crazy.. But alive, anyway. If we make it back without those jets shooting us down, at least.”

Stirling nodded, looking grave. “You know you can’t stay now. An attack this massive… Lord Vladek won’t abide you all anymore in his lands.”

After a moment’s consideration, Kalaren agreed. “Yeah. I guess so. Previously we were just an area he couldn’t send patrols around. But now we stole most of his slaves and-” Kalaren coughed, and his mechanical arm shuddered, it’s lights flickering. “Ships. Running low on power, shutting it down for now.”

“Now you’re a threat.” Stirling said, focusing on the conversation.

“Yep. At least, we can’t stay in Aragarth. Maybe we can still split up into smaller groups, maintaining communication.. I don’t know. We’ll have to talk to Matheeas.”

Stirling reached out and patted Kalaren in an attempt to comfort. “I’m sure Lancaster is already thinking about it.”

Kalaren replied in between grunts and gasps. “Probably… The Miners.. Won’t wanna stay.. not most of them… anyway.”

“What I want to know about,” Stirling said, withdrawing his pats, “is that insane sword you’ve got there.”

“Well… It’s magic. And strangely familiar. But it seems to… Harness things around me… and in me. That’s how I pulled the fire back.”

“And how you cut through those Barneybots so quick?” Stirling asked. Then quickly added, “Did you lose your shirt at any point?”

Kalaren slowly turned to Stirling. “In my life? Yeah, I… Guess. Today? It’s… Been shredded, but no.”

“Then I’m either hallucinating, or you have a twin,” Stirling said. Then he proceeded to explain as best he could of the person who’d ripped off the Starboard engine, and who’d nearly thrown it back at the ship before seemingly falling to exhaustion. He explained how it’d looked like Kalaren…

“But it also looked like…” Stirling shook his head. “But that’s crazy.”

Kalaren was confused, but then realization dawned on his face, and he knitted his brows together.

“That must be the clone they were… Making, of me… That I told you about… At the feast.”

Stirling was quiet for a moment. “If that’s so, your clone is made up of more than just yourself. No offense, but you’re not that strong. The only other person I’ve seen with that kind of strength…”

Kalaren looked thoughtfully at his sword for a second, before turning to Stirling again. “No offense… Taken. I rely on my robotic arm a lot.” He chuckled, which turned into painful wheezing. “..Gah. You were saying?”

“There’s a man where I’m from. From the Nexus Force. His name was Brocktree. He was a very strong and powerful knight. A Sentinel, like myself. Used to be a very kind and stalwart person. But once he came here, thedude somehow got him to work for him…” Stirling’s jaw worked as he ground his teeth in frustration and fear. “It’s not too much of a stretch for someone as crafty as Vladek to maybe have some of that man’s DNA.”

Kalaren looked up, confused. “DNA?”

“Uh… Blood. A sort of scientific blueprint of him.”

Kalaren thought for a second. “Huh. How do you know it was him though? I mean, maybe he was just a really good body-builder, or maybe someone else was that strong?”

“No one I’ve met -until today -had that strength… Besides, He has that same mad look. Similar to how Brocktree… does.”

“Oh.”

“But if Vladek’s scientists have got a hold of Lord Brocktree’s DNA… Who knows what other persons and skills your clone has…!”

Kalaren laughed. Then turned apologetically towards Stirling. “Sorry. It’s just that it is a bit…. Of a relief to not be the only….. One contributing to that thing.”

Stirling noted Kalaren’s longer pauses between breaths. “Hey, you ok?”

After a grunt, Kalaren replied. “For now, but I’m gonna find… some first.. aid, just to be sure. I’ll send someone up here again, and tell them a bit more of the… plan. Find more weapons… That stuff.”

“Alright. Hey, Kal?”

“Yeah..?”

“...It was an honor to fight by your side today. Uh, don’t die.”

“Thanks… Same.” He grunted as he hobbled out.

Stirling sat in silence for a bit longer as Victor joined him. Then, the barney fighters found them again.

~~~~~