Chapter Ten: Deja vu
"Wake up! Don't die! Oh merciful gods, spare him!" I heard a voice clearly. I opened my eyes to see the sword stopped inches above my head. "Don't let him die!" The black figure hissed loudly. "You will not die today. Beware me, for the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky." It jumped at me.
"Don't kill me!" I swung my body up violently. I saw the Bowerstone Docks around me. A group of people were crowded around me. "He's alive!" a cheer ran throughout the docks. Ellie was right next to me. Her eyes were puffy from crying. "You're alive!" She hugged me tightly. Tears ran down onto my shirt. "Of course I'm alive… I'd never leave you." I looked down at where the bullet struck me. "You're damn lucky." Jessica emerged from the crowd. She had gloves, and a pair of tweezers. "Now shut up and stay still." I obeyed, waiting for the pain to begin. I bit my lip until it bled. Let me tell you, biting your lip hurts a lot more than the books make it sound. "All done." Jessica's gloves were stained with blood, but a small piece of metal was in her tweezers. "Want a souvenir?"
We soon figured out that all the contestants were pirates all sent by a 'bandit king'. All the real contestants were found unclothed, gagged, and blindfolded in a room at the inn. King must've been surprised. Gail brought me back here as fast as she could. She said I kept moaning something like 'go away' or 'not now'. I wasn't puzzled. Not after my encounter with the specter. I get nightmares from it even now.
On a brighter note, we won the first part of the competition by default and attempted manslaughter. The next part of the competition would take place tomorrow because of all the events that took place that day. That one day left us to create new designs. 'Us' was Gail and I. Since bandits were coming after us (and our submarine apparently after a few 'questions') we put second plates on the sub to protect us from any bullets, kraken, or even Will. Unfortunately, Gail put her smelting work on ME. Yeah, that's right. She made a gun-proof shield for me to wear. I called my self the 'Gun Knight' which got a few chuckles.
Day two: Bower Lake
I woke up again. It was the same as yesterday. I looked at the wooden ceiling, clutching my bullet wound and wondered what could've happened if the shot hit my heart. Would Ellie have a foster parent? Would everyone go crazy? No. everyone would only care at the moment, but soon forget me. I'm only one person of the millions in Albion. Life would go on. I picked up my armor and my weapons before I headed to the dock. "Ellie, it's time to go!"
"I'm downstairs!" She usually woke up before me, waking me up instead of the other way around. I saw her on the table with a fancy dress on. Her bright hair was pulled up in a ponytail. "You're going to go watch fishing with villagers. This isn't the Crucible with the king."
"So what? You're looking like an Old Kingdom knight!" I shrugged and clanked my way out the door. Did I mention that there was always a loud 'clank' whenever I stepped? Yeah.
Despite my awkward appearance, I still was able to talk to a few people at the docks. Ellie ran to the submarine. She said something about a Gate, but didn't mention anything else. Gail made a thumbs up sign to me as soon as I was in her sights. "So, when you get shot at you won't feel a thing."
"Other than mind numbing humility?"
"Better humiliated than dead." I chuckled heartily. I walked towards the dock, hoping I wouldn't crash through it. As soon as we entered the submarine, a Hero from the guild explained what to do. "We made a Cullis Gate here for this tournament. I'll send you to Bower Lake."
Cullis Gates have been re-established over the years thanks to the Hero's Guild, so transporting the vessels was a piece of cake. All we had to do was make sure we all were on the circle when we teleported. Our surroundings were cut out and we were surrounded by a white light slowly crawling on our bodies.
Our new surrounding was a bright landscape filled with water and the green shoreline. Spectators already were gathered on the shore. Hooded acolytes were at the Guild (now built on where it once proudly stood) hooting, hollering and cheering as our strange figures emerged. Gail pulled us to the shore. "Ellie, you did come here to make people stare, right?" My little sister giggled happily and jumped out of the hatch. I looked to see when she was off and closed the hatch. "You're so great with kids." I said to Gail. "You obviously don't like too many of them. The only kid you really like is Mark and Ellie." I sighed deeply at her truthful words. "Hey look, there's Jessica, ready to pull the trigger." Jessica was in the middle of the high bridge separating the shore from the Guild. She mouthed 'Begin!' and we heard a pistol shot. It was another day to fish.
Did we come up with a new routine? No. Did we use our speed to zoom around the Guild and amaze bystanders? No. We just beat the other teams into the dust. We unloaded our nets on the shoreline many times. Soon there were so much fish, people started to throw a few back in. "Why are they throwing our catch into the lake?" Gail angrily asked.
"I think we're taking too many from the lake." I responded. "Remember, we aren't fishing for food like we did on Knothole Island. We're fishing for fun. I'm pretty sure they're getting the numbers for our catches." She nodded slowly, piecing my explanation. The other boats were doing an ok job. They got a lot of fish, but just not as much as we got. This was the small routine for a while, until our easy day didn't turn out so well.
Bandits are not really the best thing to ever happen to the world. They lie, steal, kill, and of course almost killed me. They just didn't get the message that we weren't average kids. Anyways, what happened was that an iron ship emerged from the Cullis Gate that bore spikes all over the sides, and had guns mounted on each side. "They're back?!" I didn't believe it. "We need to make sure they don't hurt anyone." As I said that, the Guild started firing Will spells at them. Blades, fireballs, lightning, and even a few summoning spells were made. It wasn't quite enough. They responded with bullets, bullets, oh and did I mention a small ball they threw that exploded?
The first ship that went down was the rickety impression of the duck. Oh, I forgot to mention that they brought up every single ship that sunk since they had a free day. An explosion was heard and I gripped my helmet. "How can we take that thing out?"
"We can't do anything. Not unless we can board it." I had an idea. "Give me the wheel, I know what to do." Gail handed the controls to me the second time in two days and I hoped that I wouldn't be half dead by the end of the day. I drove near the Guild. "Hey! Bring in some of your best Will users and some good Heroes! We can get you on the ship!" Six heroes bundled into the submarine. "What's the plan?" Gail asked us. "We go on the ship and shoot everyone on sight." Gail raised an eyebrow. "I'm dropping you off at the shore. You'll be safer." I turned my head away from her. "Me? You'll get hurt way more than me!"
"Listen, you have more to look forward in life than I do." She could've said something, but by then the hatch was open and we literally threw her on the grass. "You better come back in one piece!" She yelled as we sealed the hatch.
"I'll watch the sub while you take them out. You get all the glory, all the fame and I stay in here." They nodded and had a strange look. Jealousy? Hate? Was it confusion of taking orders from a 13 year old? I didn't have much time to ponder this because we already arrived. I emerged from the depths of the Lake and fired a net onto the bandit's deck. "Go! Open the hatch, and climb the net." A sharp harpooned end of the net was stuck in the metal of the ship, making a ladder. They obeyed and scurried up the net.
I heard screams of pain, bullets fly through the air, and a body even fell on the submarine. I kept my eyes on the hatch and gripped my rifle tightly. Soon everything was silent, so I relaxed. I brought myself to the scope to take a look when a bullet struck me from behind. I turned around, a dent poking into my back and I saw a bandit with a pistol aimed right at me. He tossed the pistol and jumped on me. We wrestled around and punched each other for a few minutes. However, I got him in an iron grip and started to deliver deadly fists. I grabbed my swords and latched them onto my back. I brought out the rifle and aimed it at his face. "Who are you working for?"
"The b-bandit king." He stuttered. "Why are you after me?"
"He said you're too dangerous to live." I tilted my head to one side. "No. It's you who's too dangerous." I pulled the trigger and blood splattered all over the dashboard. I let go of the body which hit a lever.
I fell down onto the floor of the sub that was headed for shore. The dead body must've hit the high speed lever. I brought myself to the driver's area when an impact sent me flying. There were no screams. There wasn't any blood. There was just a great pain in my heart, knowing this time I would die for sure.