Chapter 20
BOOM!
Alex awoke to the sound of cannon fire. He shot out of bed to peak through the window. Outside was an entire battalion of armoured warriors, mostly holding axes. The lack of sun light made it hard to see, but he could tell that Each one of them had a single bulging eye in the centre of their foreheads. Cyclopes.
Alex jumped to the door, just in the nick of time. A cannonball smashed through the wall on top of the window, causing the entire corner of the room to collapse. The wind howled through the open wall, followed by an ugly cheer from the crowd below.
Alex opened the door, crawling out of the now damaged room. Chill and Whirlwind were in a similar type of panic, with Whirlwind picking debris out of her feathers and Chill frantically gathering weapons. She was dressed in her full armour. She went to Alex 's bad arm and crushed the cast. It broke into several pieces, each one falling after another. He hadn't noticed that his arm had healed.
"Here" she said to Alex, passing him a metallic shield and bright blue sword.
"What am I to do, I've never fought before" cried Alex in a state of panic.
"Just make sure they don't hit me. Once the leader is dead, then the rest will flee. Oh yeah and don't die" said Chill.
"In here" cried a manly voice from the bottom of the stairs.
"Let's do this" shouted Whirlwind, firing beams of light from her horn.
Alex raised his sword and shield, ready to run down the stairs. Chill went first, shouting a battle cry, followed by Alex who was silent the entire time. Adrenalin rushed through him as the thoughts of battle clouded his mind.
At the bottom there where five Cyclopes, one being much bigger then the rest. Chill threw her spear at one of the smaller Cyclopes. It went through it's eye, knocking it to the ground. It stayed there motionless, until it faded away into those same glowing orbs as before.
Alex cried out, stabbing one through the chest. It cried out in pain as he pulled the sword back out. Alex had to focus on something else. The guilt of killing another would drive him insane. The other two smaller ones raised their axes, attempting to swing at Chill as she retrieved her weapon. Alex ran an jumped, catching them with his shield just in time. Chill once again threw her spear, but this time it was caught by the largest. He crushed it in is fist then swung his double bladed axe at Alex, who once again stopped it with his shield. But the huge force pushed him into a wall, causing him to lose grip of his weapon and shield.
"Argh" he cried as as he hit the wall.
Chill raised her palm into the air. It shimmered and the air around it grew cold. She quickly pointed it in the direction of the largest Cyclopes. Three more spears flew out, identical to the first that she had just lost. Two of them buried themselves deep into his leg. The third stuck out of the wall near Alex's nose. The cyclops shouted out a cry of rage.
"INSECT. You dare harm me, one of the MacPherson clan. I will have your head".
He held onto his axe with both hands and swung down at her. She stopped the blow with her shield, barely. The cyclops swung twice more, one shattering her shield, the next leaving a large gash in her right arm. She cried out in pain. Dark blue blood gushed out of the wound. The sounds of fighting intensified out side, as if moral had been raised.
Chill sunk to her knees. Alex knew that if the blood wasn't stopped, she would die. The cyclops rose his axe too her neck. One blow would sever her head.
Alex saw red. His rage was about to take over, and he let it. His right arm burst into flames, but it didn't hurt. The two smaller Cyclopes swung their own axes, attempting to attack him. But the metal melted as soon as it touched him. The larger cyclops turned to face him.
"Finally, a real fight" he shouted at Alex.
Alex bent down and pulled the spear out of the wall. It too set ablaze, but took no damage from it. He ran at the one eyed brute, throwing the spear. The cyclops tried to hit it back with his axe, but mistimed it. The flaming spear cut right through his arm, sending his weapon clattering to the ground, in front of Alex's feet. Blood gushed out of the wound.
"You will die for that worm" he shouted back.
The cyclops charged at him. Alex picked up the double bladed axe and swung, cleaving the enemy in half. Both halves hit the wall either side of him. The body, including the severed arm, faded away, leaving those glowing orbs behind.
Alex quickly turned his head at the two remaining Cyclopes. They shouted something at him then ran outside. The red faded away and the fire went out. Chill had collapsed to the ground, in a pool of her own blood.
Alex quickly rushed towards her, dropping the axe. He picked her up over his shoulders and carried her up the stairs. Whirlwind was at the top, firing what looked like a rainbow from her horn at the doorway, preventing others from getting in.
"There are some bandages in the box in the room to the right. I'll make sure your not disturbed by any of these losers" she said.
"Thanks" he said back.
He quickly ran in, still carrying Chill on his shoulders. She moaned in pain as he set her down on the bed and removed the armour on her arm. At the foot of it was a large, icy blue box. He opened it to reveal all sorts of medical stuff.
He grabbed some bandages and a bottle of ethanol from inside.
"Sorry, but this is going to hurt" Alex said with regret.
He poured some of the ethanol on the wound to disinfect it. She winced in pain.
"It's okay. Nearly done" he said comfortingly.
He then carefully wrapped the bandage around the wound. The pressure stopped the bleeding.
"Thanks" she said weakly before passing out.
Alex removed her helmet and set her head on the pillows. She sighed. He then left the room to deal with the problem at hand.
"What was that then, with the fire and stuff?" Whirlwind asked
"I don't know, but I need it again. It would take a miracle to fight our way out" Alex replied.
Suddenly the sounds of cannon fire shot through the air. But not at them. Alex peaked out of the nearest window and gasped in awe.
Six gold and blue warriors stood on the edge of the cyclops invaders. Each one wielded a shield and a sword. The Cyclopes cannons fired at them, but they didn't even flinch. One by one, they sliced into the horde to the direction of the cannons. Any who didn't flee we're cut down. One by one, the cannons were destroyed, forcing the invaders to flee, leaving their dead and there weapons. The dead faded away.
The warriors then changed their path after the last cannon was destroyed, heading for the house. Alex ran down the stairs, picking up the axe again. It seemed ten times heavier then before and he needed both arms to even carry it.
The six warriors approached the door way. Each looked almost identical, except one had an extra feature on it's helmet that looked like a laurel wreath. Each one had blue boots, gauntlets, torso armour and helmets, each with out linings of gold. Their limbs appeared to be that of a skeleton.
"We have come to serve you, master" the one with the crown said.
With this, each one sheathed their sword and bowed.
Authors note
I SWEAR BOREALE IS GOING TO BE THE END OF ME. f
For those who are wondering what that previous statement is, I am Captain Diomedes, the editor for the owner of this account. Due to some technical issues he can't actually post any more chapters of this story, so I'm doing it for him. And he messed up big time. The chapter labeled 'Chapter 20' was actually just a note, so when I started uploading for him (starting chapter 21) I never knew that he only actually posted up to chapter 19. This usually wouldn't be a problem, but this chapter contains some rather major plot elements, relevant to the next 8 chapters that have been up for 2 days already.
- A very annoyed Captain Diomedes
Author's note