Enjoy!:
Chapter 9
(PREVIOUSLY ON THE SACRIFICE)
When Skylar woke up, she was standing with her wrists bound by rope. Kaz stood next to her, his wrists also bound. A few men wearing long black cloaks stood behind the two of them. All the men had the hoods on their cloaks pulled down. One of the men held a sack filled with something.
…
Suddenly, a bald, but very muscular man, wearing a black tank top with matching sweatpants walked out of the trees and stood in front of Kaz and Skylar.
"Ah, the sleeping beauties awake," the bald man said.
…
Skylar widened her eyes. "Why do you want to kill me?"
The bald man held out his arms. "Because I…am Deathblade. I am the final villain Oliver must defeat if he is to become Caduceo. I have to say, he's lasted a lot longer than I thought he would."
"He'll defeat you!" Skylar said. "I know he will!"
"Really?" Deathblade said. "For your information, there have been less than ten Caduceos and I have battled over 400 candidates. Do the math, miss. I rarely lose."
…
"I still don't understand why I need to die!" Skylar said.
Deathblade sighed. "Because when you're dead, I can use that to my advantage when I fight Oliver. If he knows that you're dead, he will be too distraught and distracted by his emotions to focus and fight properly. I'll win for sure. Heck, it may be one of the easiest wins I ever get."
"Well, if you want me dead, then why am I still alive? Why didn't you just kill me right away?"
Deathblade snapped his fingers and one of the cloaked men (his henchmen) cut the ropes on Skylar's wrists, freeing her.
"Because I may be evil, but I am sill fair," Deathblade said. "So I'm gonna give you a fighting chance. The only way you will survive is if you defeat me in a one on one battle."
…
One of Deathblade's henchmen emptied a sack in front of Skylar's feet. About ten swords, all varying in length, fell out and clattered on the ground.
Skylar picked up a sword with a twenty five in blade. "I'm more of a hand to hand combat kind of girl, but a sword will make this much easier."
"We'll see about that." Deathblade held his arms out at his side. "Come at me, bro!"
…
Deathblade held his sword out and pointed it at Skylar's neck, preventing her from going anywhere.
"I have to admit, I enjoyed this fight," Deathblade said. "You got better as it progressed. Yet, you're still not good enough to win. But don't be sad. Now that I'm about to kill you, Oliver will be joining you soon enough and you two can be together again.
Skylar was not going to be the reason that Oliver died. She did a roundhouse kick that connected with Deathblade's outstretched arm.
Deathblade dropped his sword and Skylar performed a follow up kick that knocked him on his butt.
Skylar picked up the sword that Deathblade dropped and swung it down towards him.
Deathblade quickly recovered, got on his knees, and held out his hand to catch Skylar's arm and block her attack.
…
Deathblade walked towards Skylar. "You almost had me there. You know, if you were a normo, you would've made a great Caduceo candidate. This is one of the best fights I've had in quite a while, but all good things must come to an END!"
Skylar looked up in fear as she watched Deathblade raise his sword and prepare for the final attack.
Suddenly, Deathblade jerked twice, his eyes bugged, and he dropped the sword.
Skylar moved out of the way as he fell forward, landing on his face. Two arrows stuck out of Deathblade's back.
…
"What the heck…" said Skylar as she got closer to Kaz. "Who shot the arrows at Deathblade? Was it you?"
Kaz rolled his eyes as he held out his bound wrists. "I want you to take a good look at me, and then decide if you want to ask that question again."
Skylar was so confused. "But if you didn't shoot him…then who did?"
…
Skylar scratched her head. "I don't understand. The arrows had to have come from somewhere." She turned to Kaz. "Do you have any ideas?"
Kaz shook his head. "No, but I'd love to help you if my hands weren't tied together!" He waved his arms up and down for emphasis.
"Oh, right." Skylar walked over to Kaz and untied him.
"Thank you," said Kaz as he rubbed his wrists. "I think I have rope burn."
Skylar ignored him. "Who shot the arrows? Was it…" She perked up. "Was it Oliver?"
"NO!" boomed a voice that came from the trees.
Skylar and Kaz whirled around and saw Caduceo step out from the trees.
"Wait, you shot Deathblade?" Kaz said. "Wicked aim, dude!" He held his hand up for a high five.
Caduceo walked past Kaz and over to Deathblade's dead body.
Kaz frowned. "Are you just gonna leave me hanging?"
Skylar shook her head at Kaz, so he put his hand down. The two of them walked over to Deathblade's corpse and stood a couple of feet behind Caduceo.
"What are you doing?" Skylar asked.
Caduceo held his arm over the corpse. A transparent blue cloud of energy formed between Caduceo's hand and Deathblade. "Vim, excitare! Evigilare faciatis vivere! Vim surge Mortui estis! Vim surge Mortui estis! Vim surge Mortui estis!"
After the spell finished, the cloud of energy disappeared and Deathblade's eyes shot open.
Deathblade quickly got to his feet and charged toward Skylar, who jumped back in fear
"Stop!" Caduceo pointed his hand toward Deathblade, causing him to freeze in place. "You will not hurt Skylar Storm!"
Caduceo let go of Deathblade, who stumbled a couple of steps.
"Master C-Caduceo!" Deathblade stuttered. "W-were you the one who shot me?"
"Yes."
"But why?"
Caduceo crossed his arms. "Your mission is to kill the Caduceo candidate. Miss Storm is not a Caduceo candidate."
"But if I killed her, it would help me defeat Oliver!" Deathblade explained. "He'd be so distraught that it would be easy to kill him in battle."
"But that gives you an unfair advantage," Caduceo said. "If you are to defeat Oliver, you are to defeat him because of the skills he lacks, not the emotions he has. Besides, you has no loved ones he could go after."
"Exactly!" Deathblade said. "That's what makes it so great!"
"I will not let you kill Skylar Storm to make your battle with Oliver any easier!"
"But—"
"My decision is FINAL!" Caduceo snapped.
"Fine," Deathblade muttered.
Caduceo sighed. "Glad we're on the same page. Now go focus on Oliver."
"Time to get started on Plan B," Deathblade said. "He bolted into the forest.
Caduceo sighed. "I hope his 'Plan B' involves a fair fight."
"Thank you," said Skylar.
Caduceo raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"Saving me!"
"Oh, right. Well, I had no other choice." Caduceo waved his arm and a portal opened up.
"How did you know we were in here?" Kaz asked.
"I was notified when you two came to my mansion," Caduceo replied.
"And how did you know I was fighting Deathblade?" Skylar added.
"In my bedroom, I have a monitor of the island, so I have the ability to view anything important that goes on in here," Caduceo said. "I saw Deathblade kidnap you and Kaz, so I acted right away. When I got here, you and Deathblade were in the middle of your battle, so I watched from a distance. And when I saw him about to win, I shot him."
"If I were you, I woulda shot him from the get go," Kaz said. "Knowing Skylar, there was no way she was going to win. I mean, she doesn't even have any powers!"
Skylar hit Kaz in the stomach. "I don't need powers to do that!" she snapped.
Kaz doubled over briefly. "That hurt!"
Caduceo rolled his eyes. "Let's just get you two out of here." He led Kaz and Skylar through the portal, which opened into his bedroom.
Kaz nodded with approval as he looked at the king size bed, the forty eight inch flat screen TV across from the bed, and the large dresser next to the TV. "Man, you've got it made."
Caduceo closed the portal. "Thanks." He reached into his robe, pulled out an iPad and turned it on.
A live feed from the island appeared on the iPad screen, showing Oliver wandering through the forest by himself.
"There's your friend," Caduceo said. "He seems to be doing pretty well. Much better than I would have anticipated."
"I'm surprised he didn't wuss out," Kaz said.
"Oh, he tried," chuckled Caduceo. "You should have seen him the first four or five nights on that island. He'd be up all night sobbing, begging to the sky for me to take him out."
"Why didn't you?" Kaz asked.
"He made a commitment," Caduceo answered. "Plus, he was being a big baby. There's a reason that I never had kids."
Skylar, who was still looking at the iPad, frowned. "Is there any way to make the live feed bigger?"
"Wow, ungrateful, much?" Caduceo said.
"I know, right," Kaz agreed. "You should have seen her at the party Oliver and I threw for her. Not once did she say thank you to either of us!"
Skylar looked up and spread her arms in protest. "What the heck? First of all, I planned that party! And second of all, I didn't have time to since Mighty Med was being attacked by villains!"
"Still, there's always time to be polite!" Kaz said.
Caduceo nodded. "He's right you know."
"Thank you, Caduceo!" Kaz said. He looked at Skylar. "See what I mean?"
Skylar rolled her eyes. "I give up!"
Caduceo scratched his beard. "Actually, there is a way I can make the video feed larger." He reached under his pillow, pulled out a TV remote and turned on the large flat screen.
The live feed from the iPad was now playing on the TV too.
The three of them watched the feed on the TV for a couple of minutes. There was a knock on the door.
"Enter!" said Caduceo.
A butler opened the door. "Someone's at the front door."
"I wonder who that could be." Caduceo led Skylar and Kaz down to the first floor and to the front door.
Caduceo looked through the peephole. "Finally! He's here!" He opened the door.
Even though the person who stood in the doorway wore prison clothes with a badge that said "VOLUNTEER" and held a tool box, Skylar couldn't believe who was at the door.
"Experion?!" Skylar said incredulously.
What is Experion doing at Caduceo's mansion? What is Deathblade's "Plan B"? Find out in Chapter 10 of The Sacrifice.
~Jameer14
