Hey everybody I'm back with the 2nd chapter of that story that took frigging forever to come out.
I apologize for the delay but I had a series of technical difficulties hindering my progression (Computer termination, exams of doom and the most heinous of medical problems: laziness
Want to thank all that have read it and hope you enjoy this chapter
I've also been asked if one of my vast array of followers (sarcasm I know) could submit their own OC's and the answer is Yes because I want to have as much fun with this as you do (although admittedly the crew slots are quite full already)
Xenovia groaned. Her whole body was sore and stiff as pain erupted through her every time she tried to move. Her eyes fluttered open and she discovered she was surrounded by all too familiar surroundings. She stared at the ceiling as the memory of her fight (or more specifically her beating) came flooding back to her. She tenderly rubbed her swollen jaw which still stung like there was a shard of molten metal still stuck in it and it was all thanks to that tall oaf. (She soon remembered a few other choice words but then she started hallucinating about a lazy writer and decided to drop it.) She sat up and shifted her body against the wall, allowing the cool stone to ease her tension. She didn't hear the footsteps outside her door and jumped when Reis stuck her head in the doorway and greeted her. "I see you're finally awake. Well it's about time. You know I hate it when I have to be the responsible one. Getting up early, cleaning up the place..."
Xenovia raised her eyebrow. "Cleaning? You?"
Reis giggled and sat on the edge of her bed. "I need to get some stuff from the market. Do you need anything?"
"Let me know if they're selling any payback." Xen's hoarse voice brought a pang of sympathy in Reis's heart but she dismissed it quickly as she knew that Xenovia was a big girl and would probably pummel her it if Reis mentioned it.
"I'm pretty sure they're fresh out but I'll check for you." Reis replied with a sympathetic smirk. She placed her left forefinger on Xenovia's head and pushed her back into bed. "Now get some rest." She added before turning to leave. Xen put up little resistance when her best friend tucked her back into bed as she was still a bit tired. As Reis was about to leave her room, she put on an exaggerated motherly voice and said loud enough for everyone in earshot to hear. "Now you be a good girl while I'm gone and no uninvited hunky farm workers." She quickly closed the door just in time to hear a thump echo off the other side of the door.
Meanwhile in one of rooms above the Stolen Coin tavern, Artherius lay on the bed comfortably snoring the morning away. Eddy, on the other hand, was already awake and reading a book to pass the time. He glanced out the window and then put the book away.
"Alright." He said to the three little golems in the opposite corner of the room. "It's well passed sunrise and Atherius did say he wanted to be woken up early. So which one of you three wants to wake him up?"
Each golem pointed to the left leaving the one on the left end pointing at empty air. Once the end golem quickly realised there was nobody else to throw responsibility onto, it held up his hands and shook his head, clearly not wanting to be the one to do it.
"Sorry mate. Looks like the vote is unanimous. Wait, is that even a word. Yuu-nan-uh-mus. Whatever, doesn't matter. Just go wake him up."
The little golem hung its head and trudged towards the slumbering pirate. Once next to the bed, it lightly poked Artherius in his engorged belly which jiggled at its touch but left the pirate snoring peacefully. The golem turned to Eddy and shrugged, probably in hope that his creator will change his mind but no such luck. "Put some effort into it." Instructed Eddy.
The golem's head dropped again and this time he punched Artherius in his belly several times. After no response, the golem turned back towards Eddy and shrugged again however it didn't notice a fist fly over its head and shatter it into a thousand pieces. Artherius let out a huge yawn and dragged himself out of bed. "Morning Eddy." He announced.
His gaze flickered towards the remaining golems. Reacting quickly, one of the golems pushed the other in front of Artherius who immediately picked it up and crushed it between his hands.
"So what's for breakfast brother?" asked the eldest of the two.
"Pork." Answered Eddy as he picked up the pieces and 'resurrected' the two broken golems.
"Excellent. What about lunch?"
"Nothing."
"What?" growled Artherius's
"We're out of cash." Eddy stated matter-of-factly.
"Well that's what I have you for." Artherius's said while his quickly mood snapped back to his normal cheerful self. "Go out there and get us more money."
"Will do. Oh and try not to burn down the island while I'm gone"
"No promises." Smirked Artherius as they both headed for downstairs.
The market was fairly busy but the friendly and flirtatious gunslinger had little trouble breezing through the lines. (The reason for this is still up for debate as to whether it was her tight fitting shirt or the vast array of pistols strapped to her person.) With the groceries done she headed home, that is until she saw a small crowd gathering just near the outskirts of the marketplace, usually reserved for non-local traders. (Legitimate or otherwise.) Curiosity getting the better of her, which wasn't that hard since she had nothing else planned that day, she approached the stand and discovered a familiar face. "Eddy?!" she called out.
"Oh hi." He answered. "You're one of those two that we fought with yesterday day, aren't you?"
"How sweet of you to remember. What are you doing here?"
"Making statues. Want one?"
"No thanks. Besides we can't afford it. Aren't you worried that some other Enforcers will attack you?"
"Worried, no. Hopeful, definitely. Are you sure you don't want one?"
Reis took a quick look at his wares which were well made with an incredible amount of detail. The various statues of ships, creatures and people of different sizes were made of either stone or wood but they shone in the sun as each one was well polished. Her eye wandered over to Eddy's main attraction, a large wooden statue of a four legged dragon with his front claw on a pile of gold, wings flared and it was breathing a large plume of fire into the sky.
"How much is that one?" she asked still in awe of the beautifully sculpted statue.
"Sorry. That one's sold already but I do have this one." Eddy dropped under the table and rummaged around a bit before popping back up with a statuette on a pedestal. It was a similar styled dragon except that it was clutching a human skull in the one paw and not breathing fire. He handed it over to her. "There you go."
"Eddy I just said..."
He cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Keep it. You did beat me at that chess game and you kinda left empty handed so..." His cheeks his flushed with embarrassment as he stumbled over his sentence. Reis took the statuette and lent over the counter and kissed the boy on the cheek and smiled at the boy.
"Ugh, gross. If I knew you were going to do that, I wouldn't have given you that infernal thing." Complained the boy with his face turning bright red from further embarrassment. Reis laughed at the boy and waved goodbye to him as she left.
Artherius was idly strolling around town, quietly thinking to himself about nothing in particular.
"Excuse me." Said a gruff voice off to his left side. "Are you the one called Artherius Pendragon?"
"Who wants to know?" he replied, cracking his neck.
"Our beloved mayor would like to speak to." Replied the deep voice in an incredibly droll tone. "If you would kindly follow me."
"And why should I?" replied the pirate while not bothering to face the messenger.
"He said he has an offer for you and will pay handsomely for your services."
Artherius perked up when he heard that but tried to play it cool. "So be it. Take me to your mayor."
Artherius turned towards the stocky man with short, dark hair and followed him down the street. After winding through the streets, they came up to a large two story building that had many people coming in and going out. They entered the building and headed up the stairs and entered a smallish office. There was enough space for some shelves, a filing cabinet and desk and chair but not much else. A young brunette in a nondescript grey dress sat at the desk, scribbling down notes on a pad and going through some miscellaneous paperwork.
"Thank you Theresa." She said without looking up. "That will be all."
The man that Artherius was following grunted and turned towards the door, revealing that he had breasts and was a woman. A shiver ran down Artherius's spine as he shook the weird feeling off himself.
"Just wait one moment. The Mayor will see you momentarily." Said the busy secretary.
Artherius merely shrugged his shoulders and leant against the wall. It wasn't long before the door opened and somebody came out and spoke to the secretary. "Is that all?" She asked
"Yes. Thank you for your time Xenovia."
"Xenovia? For some reason that name seems familiar." Thought the pirate who, this entire time, was gazing blankly at a row of books on a nearby shelf. He pulled his gaze away from the book shelf and turned his head and saw a blue haired warrior glowering at him.
"You." She hissed. Her hand flashed to her sword and she swung it at him but it jerked to a stop midway as it got stuck in the ceiling.
"Hi there." Grinned Atherius as he watched Xenovia trying to wrench her blade out of the ceiling.
Xenovia tore her sword out of the ceiling, pointed it at Artherius's throat and growled. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't gut you?"
"No fighting in the town hall." Stated the secretary who was busying herself with her paperwork .
'Well there's one reason." Smirked Artherius.
She glared at him for a moment before putting her sword away and stormed back home. Artherius chuckled at the young swordswoman knowing full well that she wasn't ready for a rematch judging by the slight tremor in her arm.
"The mayor will see you now." Said the secretary.
Artherius headed through the door and entered an office that was only slightly larger than the secretary's. The pirate sat down in a chair opposite an old man in a business suit waiting for him at his desk. "Hello boy. Glad you could join me." Greeted the old man as held his hand out.
Artherius shook his hand. "Hi old man. So what is it that I can do for you?"
"Straight to the point, I like that. Well as mayor of this island, I have discovered a plot against me and I'm making sure that I have the necessary man power to keep my interests safe. That's where you come in."
Artherius sceptically raised his eyebrow. "Mercenary work? I don't see why not but I can't see why a mayor with a small army of fighters needs the help of just one man."
The mayor chuckled. "Let's just say that it's an internal matter so trust is in short supply at the moment and besides, I didn't say I wasn't going to pay you for your services."
"Ha, I do like to get paid. Alright then, my price is food and gold. All the meat I can eat and a pile of gold will do me just fine. Oh and don't try to trick me with fool's gold because I can smell the difference."
"Sounds easy enough. I'll send someone to finalise the deal later on in the day."
"One more thing. If you want to hire my brother, I suggest that you speak to him as he hates to work for free. He was really pissed off the last time..."
"Don't worry about it. I already spoke to him earlier this morning while we were looking for you. Nice kid. Good sculptor."
Artherius got up and shook the mayor's hand in agreement and headed towards the door. The mayor stood up and headed to the window revealing that he was wearing a bright pair of yellow board short with palm tree motifs and sandals. "One more thing boy." Said the mayor just before Artherius left. "I'll be teaming you up with a couple of my enforcers so listen to what they have to say and try not to kill them."
Artherius merely grunted his response and left.
The sun was high overhead and the morning bustle had calmed down considerably with most of the people heading for lunch. Xenovia and Reis had decided to head over to the Enforcer headquarters (which was the repurposed warehouse on a nearby hill just east of the docks).
"I don't know about this Xen." Said Reis who was wearing a one of her woollen lined jackets despite it being a warm, sunny day.
"Then do what I do. Say as little as possible." Reassured Xenovia but thought to herself "If that's even possible."
"But we have so many friends there. There's Bill and Gary and Tom from accounting not to mention Julie, Jeanie, Alicia..."
Xenovia spun Reis around and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Enough. Just because the big boss suspects a coup doesn't mean that it's going to happen or who will be on our side. Let's just go in there and find out what is going on and then we'll decide, okay?"
Reis simply nodded and followed her inside. The place was pretty full with both fighters and support staff all huddled in various groups each discussing amongst themselves. Xenovia strolled through the crowds and headed to the leader of the enforcers' office. She flung the door open and threw a small sack onto the desk.
"Xenovia, come on in. It's always a pleasure to have you grace my presence." The boss's chair was swivelled to face the window in the back of the room. There wasn't anything special about this room other than that the boss used it when signing reports or conducting meetings. It was a very spartan in appearance that seemed to contradict his sophisticated demeanour.
"The money that's due." Said Xenovia as she tossed a bag filled with money on his desk and promptly left the office.
The Boss smiled to himself. "Loyalty and dedication. Two traits that have never wavered within you, my dear. Keep doing what you're doing and everything shall go along just fine."
Reis was leaning against some crates waiting for Xenovia and idly listening to the various conversations.
"Psst."
"Strange." She thought "Thought I heard something"
"Psst."
Upon hearing it a second time Reis glanced around to see if she could find the source.
"Try looking behind you." Whispered an impertinent young voice.
Reis turned around and saw Eddy crouched behind the crates and waving at her.
"Eddy!" she hissed in a low whisper which was difficult as the appearance of the young boy took her completely by surprise. "What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?"
"What! No!" Eddy whispered loudly. "I was told to find you."
"Really? Why?"
"To ask you if you made your decision."
"I... need Xen... since we're a team. Come to think about it, how did you get in here?"
"Through the side entrance."
"We don't have a side entrance."
"You do now."
Reis giggled at the youngster's matter-of-fact attitude.
"Reis, what are you doing?" Reis jumped as Xenovia approached her from behind. She looked over the crate that Eddy was hiding behind. "Oh, it's you. Are you stalking us?"
"Nooo." Eddy's face flushed with embarrassment.
"He wants to know what our plans are." Explained Reis
"The mayor did pay off the debt and I don't trust the boss. Our best bet is with the old man."
"Do you trust him as far as you can throw him?" asked Eddy impishly.
"I could throw him pretty far so no." Smirked Xenovia.
Eddy snickered. "Well in that case, my brother and I are at your disposal as per the agreement with the mayor."
Xenovia groaned.
"Relax." Reis said as she tried to placate her best friend. "Eddy's not that bad."
"I rather like Eddy." Replied Xen. "It's his brother that I have a problem with."
"I know what you mean." Eddy agreed in mock sympathy. "He can be a real jerk sometimes."
They all chuckled softly at Artherius's expense and decided to leave with Reis and Xen leaving the way they came and Eddy sneaking out via his 'side entrance'.
The trio arrived outside Reis and Xen's small cottage and headed inside. Eddy quietly sat himself down at the table in the kitchen and waited for the two enforcers as they took off their weapons and sat themselves next to the boy.
"So where's your brother." Xenovia asked bluntly.
"I sent a golem to find him. With any luck, he'll see the note attached to it."
"That's a very impressive ability you have, Eddy. I'm surprised you aren't living it up in some fancy place building stuff for the marines or the world government." Said Reis.
A shadow passed over Eddy's face. "Yeah. Working for that lot..." A smile quickly returned to his face. "Who cares about them. It's much more fun being a pirate and going on adventures."
Reis and Xenovia exchanged a look and both decided not to pursue the subject. Before they could continue their light conversation, a knock came from the door and Xenovia got up to answer it while Reis and Eddy discussed their plans for tomorrow. (Which turned into a contest of who could beat up the most enemies.)She opened the door as was greeted by the smiling visage of her most hated enemy.
"Hi there. Have you seen my brother? He's about yay big." Asked Artherius as he gestured a small round ball with his hands.
The door slammed in his face.
"Who was it?" Reis called to her friend who was still by the door quietly counting under her breath.
"It was my brother, wasn't it?" smirked Eddy. "Just let him in before he rips the door off his hinges."
Xenovia had a sneaky suspicion that Eddy wasn't completely joking and reluctantly re-opened the door.
"Hi there. Have you seen my brother? He's about..."
"Oh shut up and get inside!" Xenovia yelled at the pirate.
Artherius entered the house while Xen slammed the door behind him.
"Hey there, Arthur. What took you so long?" Commented Eddy as his brother walked in.
"You should know by now that I do what I want, when I want, why I want and ... uh, how I want."
"Can we please get on with this before my headache gets worse and I decide to do something about it." exclaimed Xen. "The sooner I tell you what's going to happen the sooner we can come up with a plan to stop it.
The others fell silent although the smirk on Artherius's face bothered Xenovia but she ignored it and proceeded.
"As you know, our 'beloved' boss is attempting to overthrow the mayor and take over the whole Island. The actual mayor wants us to stop him from doing so. Fortunately for us not all of the enforcers are on board with the whole coup but it's only a small handful that apparently will be fighting with us."
"Good." interrupted Artherius. "A bigger fight for me."
"Xen, this much has been obvious from the beginning." stated Reis. "But what I don't understand is why has it been so obvious. I mean the boss hasn't even attempted to hide the fact that he is attempting a coup. Everyone has been talking about it but not a hell of a lot has been done to stop it."
"I know, I know. In fact they're planning on just marching up to the front door of the town hall and demanding that they hand over control of the island. From what I managed to gather is that any looting or otherwise will be dealt with severely. " sighed the blue haired warrior. "It doesn't make sense. The boss is intelligent, very intelligent but broadcasting your motives like this is a stupid move even if it is just to make it appear peaceful, not to mention how does he expect to control the mob . I just can't understand it."
"Maybe it's just a feint." spoke up the young boy. "Just one big smoke screen to hide whatever else he's got planned."
"Agreed but we still don't know what his end game is."
"What do we know about this guy?' Interrupted Artherius
Xenovia shook her head. "Honesty, not much. He tends to keep to himself and I wasn't his biggest fan. All I know is that he was personally appointed by the mayor and has always been loyal to him or so we thought."
Eddy's gaze fell into empty space as he went deep in thought. "I'm hazarding a guess here." Eddy pondered. " But if he was personally appointed then that would mean he was close to the mayor and knows a great deal about him. It's probably some kind of long term assassination plot deal so he'll most likely have all the mayor's hiding spots covered. However..."
Xenovia smiled weakly at the boy, somewhat impressed with his intelligence for one so young.
"It's possible but unlikely." she replied but Eddy didn't hear as he was still lost in thought mumbling kidnapping or theft to himself. "Anyway , it doesn't matter . We're stationed at the Town Hall which means we've got the most to take on. Artherius, you're our heavy hitter which means you'll be in the thick of it doing the most damage."
"Did I ever tell you guys how much I love this place." Artherius said with a tear running down his face.
Ignoring him Xenovia continued. "Eddy, Can you build an army to slow them down?"
"They don't call me the General for nothing. In fact why don't I just build a wall around the place although getting the material I needed may be a bit of a problem."
"Excellent. Grab what you need and head to the Town Hall. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get some rest because tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day."
This chapter we focused a little more on Xenovia
As to why she is called Xenovia well blame Blazingreddragon (that and I kinda like the name)
As I'm sure you could figure out she is the beserker of the group and has the temper of a pissed off volcano god(dess) with to much free time.
However she is one of the more responsible of the group and is usually compared to an elder sister (an elder sister with a temper like a jalapeno chili on steroids with Small Penis Syndrome.) as she felt she had to take care of her best friend which is one of the reasons she puts a lot of pressure on herself to be in as much control as she can. (hence the anger management techniques which don't always work). Seeing herself as a protector is one of the reasons she chose the role of a swords-woman.
The reason for why she chose to wield a big sword is just to intimidate men especially when they decide to compare sword length with each other. As one of the physically strongest people on the island she does tend to rely on her physical prowess more than her mental ability but that doesn't mean she is an idiot (in fact she is quite intelligent and I'm not say that because she's standing behind me)