Chapter 3 Deception
Brick finally surfaced and took in air, then suddenly he felt himself get pulled out of the water, and back on the Chimera. "Welcome back Brick." Said Boomer, Brick saw all the crew had gathered around him, he heard one of the crew, Timmy say, "Man, I'm glad you're alive!" He turned to his good buddy, Jimmy and said, "Pay up, he lived." Jimmy sighed and tossed Timmy a few coins. "What happened down there?" asked Boomer, as Brick got to his feet. "Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Said Brick taking off his boot and pouring water out of it, "Try us." Said Butch. "Okay here goes." Said Brick putting his boot back on, "Bell, you know the goddess of chaos? She has a major crush on me, and invited me back to her place." There was a silence, then everyone burst out laughing, "That's a good one Brick!" said Butch, "Oh, I'm writing that down!" said Boomer heading back to the helm. "So what now? We don't have the book!" said Diego upside down, "Calm down Diego." Said Brick, "It's not like we don' know where it's going." He put his arms on his waist and watched as Dexter's ship went away, Dexter was watching him, smiling, and as he sheathed his sword, he ordered, "Make all sails to Syracuse."
Later
As Dexter sailed into the Syracuse port, he felt more proud of himself, then he ever had before. Everyone was cheering like crazy as four soldiers carried the Book of Peace on a large pedestal like thing, and placed it on the top of the tower made for it. Later that night at the celebratory feast, Dexter's father, Jack said, "After long last, the thing that has kept us alive all these years is finally in Syracuse." Suddenly there was a commotion over by the door, and the sound of swords being drawn, Dexter and his father hurried over. They saw Brick standing there with Boomer, Butch, Diego, and Courage, the guard's swords all pointed at them. The young thief said, "I told you, this is what happens when you use the front entrance Boomer." "Uh, huh." Said Boomer. "What is he doing here?" said Jack disapprovingly, Dexter smiled, placed a hand on his father's shoulders, and said, "At least he's not out robbing someone." "That's because everyone worth robbing is here!" said Jack, indignantly, as Dexter walked over. Brick smiled looked, looked a guard in the eye and said, "I'll bet you 10 crowns you're about to put those swords down." "I'll take that bet." Growled the guard, "Men lower your swords." Said Dexter as he reached them. The soldiers backed down, as Dexter said, "I don't see you for years, now twice in one day? Your smothering me Brick!" " Ah, I just knew you'd want to thank me in person for saving your life." Said Brick placing one hand on Dexter's shoulder. "Oh you probably only came because we had free food." Said Dexter, "You hear that guys?" Brick turned back to his boys, clapped his hands and rubbed them together and said, "Dinner and drinks, are on the prince." "Come on there's someone I want you to meet." Said Dexter, guiding his friend to the center of the room. "Get to work." Whispered Brick as he walked away, his crew was about to follow, when they where stopped by some of the guards, and one said, "Weapons." Boomer looked a the others, then suddenly whipped out a pair of knives. He placed them on a table next to them, Diego pulled out a pair of mismatched knives and drove them into the table slightly. Next was Butch, who pulled out some knives, along with a grappling hook, next came a jagged short sword, followed by some grenades, next was one of his blade claws, followed by a crossbow, and a claw cannon. While Butch was unloading his weapons, Brick followed Dexter as he lead him through the crowd. As they walked Brick grabbed a goblet from a noble, and took a drink as Dexter said, "Brick, I'd like you to meet my fiancé, the lady Blossom, ambassador from Thrace." Brick's eyes widened as Dexter led a girl over to him, she had long red hair, held up in a red hair bow, she had pink eyes, and she wore a golden head band with a pink jewel at the center, she wore a red choker with a pink jewel on it, she wore a short sleeve shirt like garment that seemed to be made of two materials, the parts that covered her upper arms and left shoulder where pink, the other part was a darker shade of pink and covered her chest and left shoulder, light pink material covered her stomach, and she wore a dark pink skirt like garment with a bunch of pink jewels on a string around it. She looked Brick up and down as she said, "So this is the infamous Brick. I heard all about this morning. First you try to rob Dexter, and then you save him. So which are you Brick? A thief or a hero?" Dexter and Blossom looked away slightly as Dexter said, "Brick wanted to give me the opportunity to thank…" They looked up again to see Brick had disappeared, "him." Finished Dexter, as the two looked around for Brick.
Courage had occupied himself by eating his way down the buffet line, while Diego had occupied himself by grabbing what food he could, the Mexican already had some oranges, a watermelon, a large fish and a smaller one, a roasted bird, a tentacle of some kind, and other items. As Diego was loading up he said to a servant, "Months at sea, with only eggs and pickles? You don't know what that can do to a guy." As Brick walked up, Diego, gave a cry, dropped some stuff, and said, while backing into Boomer, "It's almost to easy, there's only a handful of guards." "Forget it." said Brick, and he walked back to the exit "Lets get back to the ship." "What!?" whispered Boomer, "Just like that? But the Book is almost ours!" They turned back to the direction where Brick had come from, and saw Blossom and Dexter, "Oooohhhh." Said Boomer, "What? Who is she, an old girlfriend?" "I'm afraid it's not that simple, come on lets go." Said Boomer, and the two followed after their leader. They came to the table where they had left their weapons, where Butch had just finished unloading his weapons. "Butch, pack it up." Said Boomer as they passed. "What!? But I just…" said Butch, then he groaned, and picked up the pile of weapons, and hurried off after them, Courage at his heels with a loin in his mouth. As they left the hall, Bell watched them from a rooftop, she giggled to herself, and said, "Oh, this just to easy!" She dissipated into a shadow, that flew towards the tower where the Book of Peace was kept.
Dexter and Blossom walked out onto the veranda of the hall, as Blossom said, "Look at it this way, now that Brick's gone your father can finally relax and enjoy himself." Dexter laughed and said, "Well you're right about that. You know, he's really trying no to show it but he's so proud to have the Book in Syracuse, he's been planning for this day his entire life." "And one day, you'll be responsible for it." said Blossom, "We'll be responsible for it." said Dexter. The two looked off in different directions, Blossom at the sea, and Dexter at where the tower where the Book was stored. "It's beautiful isn't it?" said Blossom, still not looking at Dexter. "It is." Said Dexter, thinking she meant the tower, "My father spent years preparing it for the book, there are guards on every level, and if you look just there…" Dexter suddenly trailed off, as Blossom pulled on his arm slightly, he looked at her, as Blossom gave him a look of slight exasperation. "Oh, you where taking about the ocean, weren't you?" Said Dexter embarrassed, and he placed one hand on the back of his head. "I only wished I'd seen more of it." said Blossom, "I use to dream of a life on it, sailing far beyond the Twelve Cities, discovering the world." She laughed slightly to herself then said, "Just look at it Dexter, it's just so full of wonder." "Blossom." Said Dexter, he took her hand, and had her sit down on a bench that was next to them, "Our marriage was arranged many years ago, it was expected of us, and I know it's not going to happen for a long time. But politics is no reason to get married! And I don't want you to do it just because it's your duty." Dexter took a deep breath, and said, "I'm asking this on my own now." Dexter took Blossom's hand in his and said, "Blossom, will you marry me?" "Blossom smiled, and said, "Dexter, I…" "Ah there you are!" said Jack, suddenly coming up on them, "I've been looking for you, the delegates from Manoli are giving a toast. Well I'm not sure actually, they're doing something with their knees." He took Blossom's hand and said, "Blossom I need an ambassador." Blossom looked at Dexter, he nodded. Blossom smiled and said, "Of course sire." Jack led her away, and Dexter followed them.
At the tower
Unnoticed by the guards, a shadow slowly slid up the side of the tower, it slipped under the door at the top, and snaked up a column, still unnoticed by the one guard. Suddenly a torch across the room extinguished, "Huh?" said the guard, he drew his sword and walked towards it to investigate. The guard took a look and saw nothing, "Must have gone out by itself." He thought, sheathed his sword, and he decided to take a look at the Book. As he was looking, a shadow started to build up on the door behind him, out of it came Bell, smirking. She reached out her hands around a pair of torches, and they closed on the torches, extinguishing them. As soon as they where out, Bell flew away, the guard whirled around and said, "Who's there!?" Bell snaked around out of sight, until she came to a pillar to the left of the guard. She conjured a suit of Brick, she phased into it, and conjured a knife like Sinbad's. She walked into view, as the guard turned to her, he growled, "Sinbad!" The guard ran at her with his sword, but Bell blocked with the knife, then knocked the guard out with one well swung punch. As she walked by the guard, the suit faded, until Bell was her normal self, she held up the knife, and said, "I love playing dress up. " She dropped the knife, and it lodged itself in the floor in front of the guard. She dissipated and reformed in front of the Book of Peace, the young chaos goddess held the book up and said, "All the pieces are coming together." With that, she slammed the Book shut. The effect was almost instant.
Back in the palace
The palace began to shake as pieces of the palace began to fall away. Dexter and Blossom ran out onto the veranda and saw a whirling cloud of shadow poured out of the Book's tower, it grew and grew, and spread all over the sky. Dexter realized what had happened, and cried, "The Book of Peace!"