AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thanks to MMM, lovesgod12, and Naruby7 for commenting on last week's chapter. Naruby7, for now all I'll say is...you may be on to something! ;)
The reading below is a continuation of the previous chapter's action…
Chapter 18 - Reconnaissance Gone Wrong
For about an hour, the six Yellow soldiers remained in their hiding place in the woods, watching the Purples cut down trees and load them into the wagon.
Cole rolled his eyes. By himself, he could chop down as many trees as four of those Purples.
The Yellows also were able to hear some of the enemy soldiers' banter in between the chopping sound of their axes.
"If General Chen was in charge, we'd be halfway to Ouroborus by now," one Purple was heard to say.
"And by now we'd have this stockade built and filled with prisoners," another Purple commented.
From the Purple chatter, the Yellows were able to gather that a prison camp, which would be called Kryptarium Prison, was going to be built adjacent to the village and that it would hold about 2,000 prisoners. They also learned that General Chen was an underling of the Purple Army's commander-in-chief but was considered to be a more aggressive military leader.
Eventually the Purple soldiers filled their wagon with cut trees and got ready to leave the area. Not knowing where the Purples were going to head next, Zane decided that it would be best if the six Yellows left their current position and reconnected with Lieutenant Pierce's group. He quietly directed Michael Donlan to lead the retreat, then for Rusty to follow him, then Rowan, and then Cole and Kai. Zane figured that if Rowan's equestrian inexperience proved to be an issue, then Cole - the strongest of them all - would be right behind to handle Rowan's horse as well as his own. Zane himself would be the last to proceed.
As Zane turned his own horse, Shard, into the woods, he felt a weird sensation on his chest and then heard a small crunch of leaves on the ground next to him. He quickly realized, to his horror, that the leather strap of his binoculars had come untied at one end, and the glasses had fallen somewhere on the ground.
Zane swiftly dismounted Shard. He didn't want to lose those binoculars. They had once belonged to his great-grandfather and had been passed down through the generations. Not only that, he had attached to them a piece of leather on which he had written "Zane Falk, Garmadon Ranch/Ninjago Town" in case he misplaced them at Camp Goldland. If a Purple were to find the glasses, the discovery would alert them that a Yellow presence had been doing reconnaissance on them. Ninjago Town was known for its Yellow sympathies.
Where are they?! he frantically thought to himself, trying not to panic as he scanned the leaf-littered floor of the woods for the missing binoculars.
After what seemed an eternity, he finally spotted them. He picked them up and was a second away from shoving them into an inner pocket of his uniform when a voice said…
"Hands up, Yellow!"
Zane whirled around to face one of the woodcutting Purple soldiers on horseback. From the uniform insignia training he had recently received, Zane could tell that this man was a lieutenant. His gun was drawn and aimed at Zane's chest. His other hand held a sword.
"I came this way to answer the call of Mother Nature, and here I find there's some human waste already here," the soldier smirked.
In the second that followed, the young corporal realized that he would be killed if he reached for his firearm. He did have one other option he could take to get out of this dangerous situation, but as reluctant as he was to utilize it, he had no other choice.
"And that human waste is you!" Zane hissed. Then, using the skill at hitting targets which had won him a first-place finish in Company C's recent skill games, the Yellow corporal mightily hurled the object in his hand - his prized binoculars. His target was the hand of the Purple officer which held the gun. Once Zane threw the binoculars, he began to climb onto Shard, trying to make his escape.
The pair of binoculars reached its intended location. The lieutenant dropped the gun, yelping in pain at the impact of Zane's metal object on his hand.
At the exact same time, Kai and Cole had returned to the Yellows' hiding spot. They had noticed Zane was not following behind them and had backtracked to find out why.
Before Zane could urge on his steed to retreat, the Purple soldier slashed at Zane with the sword in his other hand.
Kai and Cole watched in horror as blood spurted from the face of their friend. Zane's left cheek had been sliced almost completely off. The Yellow corporal slid off his horse to the ground in agony.
The Purple officer spotted the two cowboys who had just arrived. He had been about to deliver a second blow to the Yellow corporal but immediately realized he was outnumbered. So he swiftly turned his horse to gallop away.
Kai's shock at the sight of his friend quickly turned to anger. "That son of a ...!" the hothead cowboy declared.
"Go after him! I'll get Zane!" Cole urged.
As Kai propelled his horse Flame into a gallop, he held onto the reins with one hand and got his lasso ready with the other. He dared not shoot at the Purple, for the sound of the gunshot would alert the other Purples in the vicinity that there was trouble afoot, and the Yellows who were doing reconnaissance in the area would be in danger.
Meanwhile, Cole jumped off his horse Rocky. The cowboy grabbed his black kerchief from an inner pocket of his uniform and ran to Zane's aid. Zane had started to choke on his own blood.
Fighting nausea at the sight of the platinum-haired cowboy's injury, Cole tied the kerchief around the injured corporal's face as best he could. Then, with his strong, capable arms, he picked up Zane, slinging him over Shard and quickly securing him to the saddle. Remounting Rocky, Cole hurriedly guided the two horses to where Lieutenant Pierce and the other Yellows were convening, so that he could alert them about what had happened and then hurry back to the Yellow camp to get medical help for the severely wounded corporal.
Kai and Flame galloped hard to try to catch up to - and lasso - the escaping Purple lieutenant, but the enemy combatant kept doing evasive maneuvers, darting to the left and then the right, and unfortunately he kept getting closer to being within earshot of his Purple comrades who were halfway back to the village with their wagonful of trees. Kai would soon have to retreat, or he would be in danger of being captured, especially if that lasso-practicing Purple Company, with its one hundred men, realized that a Yellow was in the vicinity.
Suddenly, two Yellow-mounted horses appeared, galloping at full speed. Wisp, with Jay riding atop him, was one of the galloping animals. Jay made a wide berth to the right and then circled back toward the Purple lieutenant in an attempt to get in front of him and head him off. The other horse, carrying Michael Donlan, came galloping on Kai's left, his rope ready for lassoing.
The strategy being carried out by the newly arrived Yellows was successful. The Purple, his path cut off by Jay, slowed his horse down, allowing Kai to catch up and rope him and allowing Michael to rope his horse. Kai jerked on his rope, yanking the enemy off the horse and onto the ground.
Kai quickly dismounted Flame and gathered up the rope as he hustled toward his captured target. With the gathered rope, Kai quickly trussed up the new prisoner. Jay, who had ridden up to join his two companions, jumped off Wisp and grabbed his blue kerchief out of his uniform pocket, tying it around the mouth of the man to prevent him from trying to shout for help.
They slung their prisoner over his horse's back, and with Jay leading the way back to where their Yellow contingent waited, and with Michael guiding the Purple steed, the small group quickly rode into the woods, out of the sight of the Purple Army.
