Chapter 9: Backfired
Juno glared at the shut and highly secured locked door. It seemed so thin, so unprotected, but she knew that there were tons of planks and other materials barging it shut. Juno would usually be prepared for these kinds of situations, but with this situation, it seemed pretty impossible to get out of, even when prepared.
Juno got up and tried looking around the door's edges of there were any slight cracks or holes in the sealing, but she found none. The door was barred shut completely, and there wasn't even a keyhole in, so poking a needle through the hole would be practically useless anyways, because there was no keyhole!
Juno never even thought of being prepared until now. Sure, usually whenever she went out to steal gold, she would always bring a needle with her just in case, but this was clearly after an arena battle, and she'd never thought she'd steal some gold straight after the touchdown match.
Besides, she figured Josh would've already been too scared to report her to the Executioners, because she could just go after him and stab him right? Apparently that wasn't the case.
Meanwhile with the Lead Executioner, he was on patrol duty, walking across the countless stone bridges every now and then, only to stop and chat with a few Hunters and Executioners and a few other people, but other than that, he was on strict patrol duty. To even fail his own task would bring such shame.
He was just about to cross another bridge when the same Executioner who was unsure about the barred door keeping Juno in walked up to him.
"I'm having a real bad feeling that the door isn't just enough!" The Executioner sighed.
The Lead Executioner was starting to get fed up. This Executioner really has a problem with questions of repetition. Juno was locked up in one of the most barred places in all of the Maximum Security Prison!
"First of, what makes you so sure of that?" The Lead Executioner asked, breathing out heavily.
"First of, why do you think she has barely said anything to us while we were escorting her?" The Executioner asked.
"Now that's I question that I don't know." The Lead Executioner scratched his chin. "But I can tell you that the door has plenty of security barriers."
"I'm not so sure." The Executioner replied.
"So what are you exactly saying?" The Lead Executioner scowled at the Executioner. "You are telling me that the bandit can get through a door that has been barred shut triple times?"
"Well-" The Executioner began.
"Are you saying that she can get past the thirty iron chains all strung attached across the door?" The Lead Executioner growled.
"But-"
"Are you saying that she can get across the fact that while leaving we installed a tripwire hook so when activated, two sharp pointed axes will swung down and cut her?" The Lead Executioner continued.
"I mean-" The Executioner gulped.
"And I doubt she will make it that far!" The Lead Executioner exclaimed. "Not when there is fifty different locks all attached to the iron chains!"
The Executioner didn't know what to say. That is a lot of security barriers after all. He wasn't even sure how to get through all of them himself!
"I'm not saying that." The Executioner tried reasoning out. "But we might not be taking these security measures quite that enough."
"We have done more than enough." The Lead Executioner growled. "We are receiving new Hunters and Executioners and other well trained guards each day, and they go on a twenty four hour cycle, and have twelve hour shifts daily!"
"That could still not be enough though!" The Executioner exclaimed loudly, trying to create a point. It was quite loud, that a few Executioners stopped their marching nearby to look at them to check if they were all right, then shrugging, before marching on as normal.
"Oh trust me." The Lead Executioner shot a dirty look at the Executioner. "We have over six hundred guards, and don't forget that we are going to torture her tomorrow! What can possibly happen in just one night?"
"I'll tell you what. Her escaping that is." The Executioner gulped.
"What are the chances of that happening?" The Lead Executioner started to walk away.
"I'm sure it's pretty slim, but still…" The Executioner started to follow him.
The Lead Executioner then pointed his axe towards the sky. "We aren't going to let not one single bandit escape this place! Now we can just forget about this mess. She's going to be killed for sure tomorrow, and there is nothing that she can do to stop that!"
The Executioner just sighed.
"Are you sure?" He kept on persisting.
"Yes, I am sure!" The Lead Executioner replied back as he kept on walking.
The Executioner just looked at the Lead Executioner. "You sure are so sure that this place is inescapable!"
"Oh you can count on it. This place is inescapable!"
The Executioner nodded slowly, before walking off to do his own thing. The Lead Executioner looked at the Executioner while he shook his head.
It was early morning, with the sun and the crack of dawn emerging.
For Juno, that was both good news and bad news. She spent almost all night consoling herself that it isn't the end and that she is going to be okay, but lying to herself is the least of what she could do.
It was good news because maybe the Executioners could be careless and provide even the hardest chance for her to escape.
It was also bad news for her, because well…she was going to be executed, guaranteed! Who cannot view execution as bad news?
Juno was across the door, or more of, sitting and leaning her back up against the wall right across from the door, her arms crossed. Her ears later perked up when she heard the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer, until finally, the door slowly creaked open, and the same four Executioners who escorted her here were the same ones standing across her this very instant.
"So, Most Valuable Player, you got any last words you got planned to say while we torture you?" The Lead Executioner snickered.
"I wouldn't count on that." Juno scowled.
The Executioners chuckled in unison as they gestured Juno to walk forward, with their axes all wielded and in place. Even so, Juno couldn't dash tackle pass them without getting hit with at least one of their axes. Juno slowly got up and walked slowly past them, before they followed her, and one of the Executioners, the Lead Executioner was leading and in front of Juno.
The Lead Executioner, Juno, and the three other Executioners behind her walked past some stairs and eventually towards the bridge that was leading outside of the Executioner Prison.
Once they were out, Juno noticed five more Executioners all of a sudden started walking with them, but the Lead Executioner smirked.
"Glad you could make it." He nodded.
"Yeah, Most Valuable Player, like we said, we aren't taking our chances!" one of the Executioners jeered.
Juno rolled her eyes in reply.
They walked further away from the prison, until Juno's eyes widened as she saw what was ahead of her a few minutes later.
Jungle Arena.
"Keep on moving." The Lead Executioner glanced back and smirked evilly again. Juno took a deep breath, looked at the other Executioners, and walked forward.
As Juno and the nine other Executioners walked closer to the river, Juno could see a large wooden like object that was extended from one end of the river to another. It was a bunch of tough looking and firm wooden planks attached together by some rope, and there were some more wooden planks at the edge of the board that was standing up, and there was even more wooden planks attached to that.
With a noose attached to the plank.
"Great." Juno sighed audibly.
Nearby there was a wooden crank that looked like it could be used to turn, which would probably be used for perhaps lowering the wooden plank into the water.
A crowd was watching nearby, which was mostly consisting of a few Goblins, Hunters, some men wearing leather tunics, Barbarians, and a few other people. Josh was around the front row in the middle, not looking amused. How come he didn't find this funny, he didn't know why.
One of the Executioners pulled out a rope from his pocket, and another Executioner grabbed both of Juno's wrists so the Executioner can wrap the rope around the two wrists. Once Juno was escorted to the top of the Torture Plank, six of the Executioners flipped Juno upside-down. Juno was surprised by this, but she wouldn't show it.
With her hands tied up, she didn't know what to do to get out of this, especially when there is a crowd and Executioners around!
Juno felt some more Executioners tie another rope to both of her ankles, so she could make no significant motion with moving her legs and feet. She all of a sudden realized that her boots were touching the top wooden plank, which could only mean one thing.
She was hanging with her feet tied to the top plank upside down.
Josh only sighed. Sure, Juno stabbed him before, and that sure did hurt, but for some reason, he didn't think Juno getting tortured this way was right. He felt that he had to do something…
"So Most Valuable Player! Any last words you would like to say to the crowd?" The Lead Executioner smirked, while casually pointing Juno's club at her.
Juno glared at the crowd, well; she was facing them anyways, so it would be easy to get whatever she wanted to say out to them.
"You seriously think killing me is going to end all of what we bandits do. There is still going to be robbing and stealing all over the place you know." Juno's voice was strangled. She didn't like that, and she didn't like the fact that the Lead Executioner was mocking her with her club. She was mocked and ridiculed before, but not with her own weapon that is.
The Lead Executioner smiled. "Oh, that's right! But we are killing a Most Valuable Player Bandit!" The whole crowd except Josh murmured and nodded in agreement.
"I-I can't take it no more. I have to do what I gotta do." Josh sighed as he said that quietly.
"Now you will see Most Valuable Player that either way, you will either drown or you will be suffocated. One way or another, you cannot escape." One of the Executioners laughed at her.
"I don't care…" Juno thought. If her voice was strangled and sounded terrible enough, what's the point in trying to win herself out of this?
Josh knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath, and gulped.
"I'm going to regret this." He gulped.
Josh quickly backed off past the crowd, until he eventually made it to the back of the crowd. He carefully and quietly snuck over to the back of the Torture Plank and noticed that one of the Executioner's axe was leaning up against the crank.
If he could get that and hopefully scare away the crowd, that could accomplish the first part of his plan. But it isn't like he was going to save Juno or anything like that.
Josh slowly picked up the axe, with both of his hands, and he soon began to realize how heavy it actually was. Well, he was just surprised by the weight of it.
One of the Barbarians in the crowd noticed Josh and looked wide-eyed.
"What's he doing?" he asked, wide-eyed.
The Executioners look back, but Josh was fast at that time. Josh gritted his teeth as he hurled the axe towards the crowd, right in the middle towards them.
"Look out!" The crowd shrieked and exclaimed as the axe came flying towards them, as they started their stampede away. Juno was taken by surprise. Out of the corner of her eye, an axe was thrown towards the crowd, but who?
"You!" The Lead Executioner gasped when he saw Josh.
"I figured I'm the one who will get revenge on her. Not you guys. You guys don't understand." Josh growled.
Juno's hearing was a bit too strangled, so she couldn't even recognize who was saying that.
"Young boy, you have to know that it's our duty to carry out executions! Not you!" one of the Executioners reasoned out angrily. Josh only narrowed his eyes at him.
"I'm not satisfied." Josh growled, feeling not contented enough.
The Executioners looked at the running away crowd, and then back at Josh, before taking out their axes.
"We'll do what we must then." The Lead Executioner didn't look afraid or surprised to be trying to kill a fourteen year old boy. The other Executioners nodded as they took out their axes.
Josh remembered Jack's voice echoing around him.
"Fight back Josh!" Jack's voice echoed around him.
Josh held up his fists in front of him, feeling ready, but his heart pounding so fast, he was sure his adrenaline would burst. Luckily, that wasn't the case.
Four Executioners threw their axes at Josh, while the other Five Executioners quickly ran towards Josh, using their axes as a melee weapon. Josh quickly ducked and jumped off the torture plank and rolled. He looked behind him, and there was already one Executioner jumping towards him, his axe ready to strike.
Josh took a deep breath before jumping back, then ducking a slice to the face, and then punched the Executioner in the chest, and grabbing him forward. He then held a fist in front of his face, and then uppercut him forward.
"Get him!" Josh heard other Executioners rushing towards him. Josh was screaming inside.
Josh quickly bolted around the Torture Plank, before ducking an Executioner's axe throw. Josh quickly jumped onto the Torture Plank and grabbed an Executioner's Axe when he tried to hit his legs with it.
"Josh, Josh, Josh. Do something already!" Josh could hear Jack smiling to him in his mind. Josh clenched his teeth. He would've just grabbed it and threw it at the Executioner, but instead, he yanked it forward, causing the Executioner to get hit on the face with the wooden board. The Executioner's eyes rolled around slowly as he fell down, unconscious, smiling weirdly.
Two More Executioners jumped up on the Torture Plank and tried to swing at Josh's face. Josh widened as he yelped as he ducked down. He then noticed the two Executioners lying down on the board, howling in pain. Looks like they both hit each other in the face with the handle of their axes!
Josh quickly counted the remaining Executioners barging towards him before running over the eastern edge of the Torture Plank.
"Five left to go." He muttered.
One of the Executioners was already on a roll and sprinting towards him, his axe ready to strike.
Josh looked around, but then noticed that there was a plank on the plank board that looked a little wobbly and loose.
"Hey…" Josh realized.
Josh then jumped in the air and landed on the edge of the loose plank, causing the opposite edge of the plank to wham straight into the other Executioner's face. The Executioner stumbled backwards, groaning in pain.
Josh then quickly grabbed the plank and hauled it over him, so it was now facing sideways on his back. Josh felt himself smile smugly slightly to himself. He was actually getting the hang of this. He didn't know why he was feeling good about this though. He was fighting on a drastic cause!
Juno on the other hand could barely see what was going on. She tried to turn backwards, but the rope keeping her secured in place made things clearly almost impossible for her.
Two Executioners bolted towards him, and Josh in reply ran forward and ducked forward, before slamming the wooden plank on both of their faces.
"Gah!" They exclaimed in pain as they toppled sideways on the plank board, with a thud.
All of a sudden, an axe out of nowhere flew towards Josh, and Josh on impulse jumped back, only to find his wooden plank like weapon cut apart. He groaned in frustration.
"Oh no!" he sighed.
All of a sudden, he was kicked from behind from an Executioner, and Josh yelped in surprise. Josh quickly jerked around and ducked a slice to the forehead, before punching forward. The Executioner blocked it and punched forward. Josh grabbed the Executioner's fist but then was swung backwards. Josh quickly kicked the Executioner with both of his feet while he was on the floor and successfully managed to fend him away.
"I just want to know…what you are doing?!" The Lead Executioner muttered under his breath as he clenched his axe and rushed forward towards the commotion, jumping up from the ground.
All in fast motion, Josh quickly ducked and jumped back as the Executioner kept on making swift moves to the face, at Josh kept on moving out of the way, even backing up against the vertical wooden plank, and when the Executioner tried to slice at him again, Josh side-step jumped out of the way, the axe slashing at the wooden plank that was pointing upwards, making a large crack on it, splintering it severely. Josh then jumped up and held onto the top wooden plank, using it like a monkey bar.
He then swung off the monkey bar like plank and kicked forward at the Executioner, before getting kicked back again by surprise. Josh and the Executioner all of a sudden kicked each other's foot at once, and by then, it started to drag on.
Josh and the Executioner were both kicking each other's leg repeatedly at this point, looking exasperated as they looked at each other. Finally, after what seemed like minutes after doing this, when it was just seconds, Josh finally broke away, before lashing out straight at the Executioner with a fake fist to the face.
The Executioner fell for it, as he covered his face with his hands. When he didn't feel anything, he slowly peeked, and Josh used that opportunity to punch him, the Executioner shouting in pain. Josh all of a sudden felt another kick to the back as he was sent flying forward and rolled nearly off the Torture Plank.
"I'm surprised you actually managed to get this far." The Lead Executioner growled at Josh. "You have done enough trouble to get your sentence to our prison about a mile long!"
"Yeah? Well it's too bad, because you are not gonna see me there when the sentence is read." Josh glared at the Lead Executioner.
"You are right. That's because your time is up." The Lead Executioner quickly cut the rope that was just above Juno's boots.
Juno's eyes widened as she managed to gulp in a deep breath before plunging into the water, both of her hands and both of her legs still tied up. Then the Lead Executioner hurled his axe straight towards Josh's stomach.
Josh took a deep breath. Betraying the people who healed him and helping someone who stabbed him? What in the realm was he thinking about?
Josh threw himself sideways, barely avoided the axe as it barely avoided his left arm. The Lead Executioner quickly ran towards him landing a series of vicious punches to Josh himself. Josh couldn't even dodge the punches, as a punch of the face was packed with so many force, that Josh was sent sliding of the Torture Plank and fell on the ground.
The Lead Executioner caught his axe with his right hand and his mouth curved an evil smile.
"Now it's time for me to finish this!" He exclaimed as he jumped in the air, as he held his axe over his head with both of his hands, ready to strike.
Josh shouted in fear, as he all of a sudden realized something. The Torture Plank had a few small posts that were inches above the ground, so the Torture Board wasn't completely on the ground.
Josh gulped. He then dove straight under the Torture Plank, and the Executioner slammed down on the ground, and was just about to look under when he was met with a punch to the face.
"OOF!" He exclaimed in pain.
He stumbled backwards very briefly and managed to turn himself around in the opposite direction. Josh licked his lips as he reached forward and pushed the Executioner's legs forward, since he was not in full stance. The Lead Executioner's eyes widened as he fell backwards, and crashed his head against the edge of the wooden plank, and lay still.
"I can't believe it." Josh breathed out a sigh, but his mouth was still open, and the adrenaline was shooting all-around of his body. Josh then remembered. The Lead Executioner had done the revenge thing himself! Josh didn't!
Josh crawled out of the Torture Plank and took a deep breath. He didn't like water, and very much didn't want to be around it. But he knew if he wanted to get revenge personally, he was going to have to take drastic measures. Josh took another deep breath as he glared at the clear green like Jungle water. He breathed in one more time before diving in.
Seconds into the fact that Josh was in the water, he remembered a few short swimming lessons that his brother Jack told him. Mostly about kicking and paddling, and how to float. Josh hoped he could put those lessons to good use.
It was just a few tens of seconds of complete silence outside the river.
Josh arose to the surface after it seemed like minutes, carrying with him Juno, who was unconscious. Josh managed to set Juno down near the Torture Plank, before finally stumbling and wiping out near the Torture Plank too, breathing out heavily.
Josh's mind was thinking that if maybe he took revenge on Juno personally, then it would be the cause of satisfying him, but that backfired apparently, due to the fact that he was gasping for breath. He didn't want to drown, but at the same time he didn't want to keep on living on the fact that the Lead Executioner took revenge on Juno.
It was just on how his mind worked out.
Josh could barely open his eyes as he took in what he had just done. He had done the opposite of what he was planning to do!
Josh slowly raised his left arm and clenched his left hand into a fist, before trying to reach Juno, but failed. He sighed, exhausted as he fell unconscious himself.
Juno opened her eyes a few seconds later, before stumbling forward before the pain kicked in, and started to throw up water from the prolonged dip she received. She fell to her knees and she kept on coughing out water, and taking in more oxygen, taking a short breather.
Juno looked down at her legs. The ropes holding her hands and her legs in place were gone. Maybe the water must've ripped them apart or something or someone.
Juno turned around. Josh was laying down face first, breathing out heavily.
"There's no way he could've…" Juno thought to herself. She shook her head.
She turned to walk away, but turned around again, looking at Josh, helpless. Soon, if the Executioners regained consciousness, now Josh would be the one on the Torture Plank.
She resisted the feeling to throw up, knowing that she did not have the time to do so.
She fought her mind with what she was gonna do, before finally, rolling her eyes as she walked over and grabbed Josh's sides, carrying him over her shoulder. She was extremely strong due to all that fighting in the arena, so it was no sweat, but she could feel her lungs starting to burn from watery overload.
Juno noticed the Lead Executioner slowly getting up and rubbing his forehead and picking up his axe. Juno glared at the other Executioners before dashing away carrying Josh on her shoulders, into the Jungle, but not before grabbing her blackjack on the way out.
She soon disappeared with Josh from sight after that.