Now it has come to my attention that my Pokemon story (Pokemon Treble, Alto, & Bass) is more popular than this story, with over twice the viewer and visitors. This makes a bit of sense, seeing how the Pokemon fandom on this site is larger, 70k+ stories out there. Still, if you could take the time, any visitors to Tungsten Cross, please review. Thank you!
Chapter VI
Commander Joel was looking not so good, especially after our last fight. The side of his head had a huge gash, which was assumedly my fault. He was sickly looking, pale and had a tired look in his eyes, like the strain of looking for me was taking a toll. He still wore his white battle suit and had surrounded himself with three guards. I noticed two people standing at a slight distance. I immediately recognized Giddel and his wife. They looked terrified of Commander Joel and shook their heads at Commander Joel's questions, then walked away. Commander Joel angrily slammed his fist into the nearby wall, causing it to crack slightly. I took a quick look at the commander's heart. It was still filled with the same darkness and malice as before, if not worse.
"Don't worry, sir. We'll find him eventually," Giddel offered.
"You," Commander Joel growled and began to stalk toward the fat man. Giddel shrank in fear while his wife gripped his arm.
"I'm sorry. I spoke out of line," Giddel murmured, continuing to try to make himself as small as possible. Commander Joel grabbed Giddel by the shirt and hoisted him up to eye level.
"You had him, and he escaped!" Commander Joel shouted, drawing attention from bystanders.
"Yes, I'm very aware of his escape. However, my wife did overhear him and the girl discussing about coming to this city to get a boat," Giddel stammered. Commander Joel dropped the man, who landed with a heavy thud on his butt. Giddel's wife went to check to make sure her husband was still okay.
"Very well. Do you know where they are going?" Commander Joel asked.
"To Galilee," Giddel responded, struggling to get his weight off the ground. He began to breathe quite heavily once he was on his feet.
"Then we will go to the port as our next place of search," Commander Joel decided. Giddel ran to catch up to Commander Joel, who had begun to stride away.
"Does this mean I can have my money, sir?" Giddel begged. Commander Joel glared at Giddel with an intensity rivaling Mara. Giddel immediately stopped walking and began to shrink back again.
"You will receive your reward if, and when, we find the criminal, you greedy innkeeper," Commander Joel sneered. The whole group soon disappeared into the crowded street. I was going to follow them when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I whipped around to see Mara.
"Where do you think you're going?" Mara asked.
"Commander Joel is here and he's looking for me," I explained.
"That man? He's evil and ruthless and..." Mara started to prattle. I raised my hand to stop her.
"I know. I've seen his heart," I said.
"How'd find us? I mean you," Mara asked.
"Giddel and his wife must've reported us, even after we had escaped," I guessed, but Mara seemed to agree with it.
"They're here to assume," Mara said.
"You assumed correctly," I confirmed. We decided we might as well head for the port, in hope we would make it there before them. We weren't so fortunate. When we saw the sign that the Tyre port was just up ahead, we ran into Giddel. Literally, we ran into them. I crashed into Giddel, whom I ended up tumbling over while he landed on his face. Mara was forced to stumble around us, but still ended up falling too.
"Watch it," he snapped sitting up. However, when he got a look at me, and recognized who I was, his eyes went wide.
"Amos, let's go," Mara warned. I struggled to my feet, as did Mara, but Giddel managed to call Commander Joel before we could disappear.
"Sir, I've found them, the criminal and his girl," Giddel called.
"His girl?" Mara asked, clearly annoyed at the comment. Commander Joel, who was further ahead than Giddel, turned around faster than what should've been humanly possible.
"I've got you now, you little imp," Commander Joel laughed, as he started to wade through the crowd to get to us.
"Run," I ordered, and Mara and I tried to sprint off. However, Giddel launched himself and latched onto our ankles. Mara and I tumbled to the ground again.
"Enough of this," I growled. I took ahold of my necklace and repeated the verse. It began to heat up and glow, which forced Giddel to release us, lest he go blind. My sword formed in my hand just as Commander Joel reached us.
"So that's the secret behind your sword? Interesting," Commander Joel mused. He drew his own sword and held it against my neck. I swung my sword and knocked it away.
"Don't make me beat you again," I growled, rising to my feet. I assisted Mara up and then pointed my sword toward Commander Joel, who just laughed.
"Last time was a fluke. I'll beat you this time, and then drag you back to Jericho in chains and barely alive," he cackled. Just then, Giddel tapped him on the shoulder.
"Sir, We've found him. May I have my pay?" Giddel asked. Commander Joel sighed and fished several gold coins out of his pocket. He tossed them to Giddel, who failed to catch most of them. Giddel and his wife scrambled to recover all their money before disappearing into an alley. Commander Joel flashed his sword toward me again. I got the message: it was time to fight. Commander Joel started, jabbing at my ribs. I sidestepped and parried with ease. I feinted to the side before slipping my blade between his arm and torso. I turned the sword so a clean cut ran across his side. The battle suit cut and blood was drawn.
"You've gotten better. Have you been training?" Commander Joel complimented, though it seemed layered with sarcasm. I didn't respond, preferring to focus on my movements. A ring of people started to form around our fight. I thought they must think we were some kind of street performance. We exchanged a fury of strikes and blocks, but quickly realized this battle was becoming a stalemate. Commander Joel turned his head and gave a slight nod to his guards. They understood, and a flash of little dots appeared on Mara.
"What are you doing?" Mara demanded. Commander Joel ignored her.
"Surrender or we'll blow your friend to pieces," Commander Joel offered with a wicked laugh.
"Don't listen to him. He doesn't have the right to do this," Mara cried out.
"My apologies, your majesty, but this isn't the palace. This is the real world," Commander Joel taunted. Mara gritted her teeth together. I didn't want to believe that Commander Joel would just kill an innocent person, but his heart said otherwise. This man loved to kill. The feeling of bloodlust was so prevalent inside him that it was overwhelming. I dropped my sword and raised my hands in surrender.
"You win," I mumbled. Commander Joel laughed while his guards bound Mara and I at the wrists. Another recovered my sword and handed it to Commander Joel.
"This is a fine sword. I'll keep it," Commander Joel sneered, sheathing his own sword and admiring mine. The idea that my death was very near in my future was making me feel sick, and I wanted to cry again, but I held it in. As Mara and I were led away, the crowd applauded us. At least my capture had provided entertainment. The guards and Commander Joel took us into the spire- like building, which was well furnished on the inside. I realized it was a hotel when Commander Joel and his guards abandoned us in their room. Commander Joel laid my sword on the bed, just out of reach. Just to be sure we couldn't escape, our ankles were bound as well. As soon as they left the room, saying something about dinner, I burst into tears.
"Do you always cry when the situation seems hopeless?" Mara criticized.
"I can't help it," I sobbed.
"It shows how much faith you have in God," she said. That made me stop for a second. She was right, I needed to prove I was strong, worthy of the gift and plan God had thrust upon me.
"Good point. We have to get out of here," I agreed.
"No kidding," Mara snapped.
"Any ideas?" I asked.
"I came up with the last escape plan. It's your turn," Mara said. We sat there and pondered any possibilities of freedom.
"Let's pray," I suggested.
"Really? Is that even an escape plan?" Mara asked.
"Maybe, maybe not. However, it's like how you said. We have to have faith that God will save us," I explained.
"Fine. Anything is worth a try. Father God, please free us from these bounds," Mara began. She continued to pray out loud while I closed my eyes to pray silently. I did my best to try to feel close to God, to trust He'd be with us. Eventually, Mara 's prayers started to sound like gibberish and it seemed like her voice was whimpering. My eyes flew open to see Mara curled up in the fetal position, eyes closed tight. Tears were flowing from her eyes like a fresh spring.
"Mara are you alright?" I asked, but she didn't seem to hear me. She just kept mumbling whatever she was praying. I took a look at her heart out of curiosity. The colors inside were still dull, but swirled about malevolently. It was almost like they were trapped, desperate to escape the confines of Mara's heart. Something seemed to warn me that her current state had to do with the fact that it had been a while since she had last prayed. Suddenly the entire building began to rattle.
"What's happening?" Mara asked, her eyes opening and her whimpering ceasing. It quickly donned on me.
"Earthquake!" I exclaimed. A crack formed in the ceiling. Mara was desperately trying to wiggle her way out of danger but I felt like I should stay where I was. The crack grew larger until a chunk of ceiling tile fell down and cut straight through the rope around my wrists. My hands now free, I quickly undid the rope around my ankles.
"This is impossible. How did we get this lucky?" Mara stammered as I worked on untying her restraints.
"Luck had nothing to do with it. God is giving us a helping hand," I explained, still working. I quickly took a look at her heart. The colors had reverted to swirling in their almost motionless state, but something seemed different. I couldn't tell or see what it was, but something told me that confusion had formed in Mara's heart. I finished on the bounds on her wrists while I recovered my sword. The earthquake had ended, but my legs felt shaky as I stood up. I nearly collapsed but caught myself on the edge of the bed. My sword had reverted back into a necklace so I had little trouble grabbing it and putting it on.
"Ready to go?" Mara asked, jumping to her feet. She wobbled a bit, trying to keep from tipping over, but was eventually okay. We ran out of the room and down the hall. We decided against the elevator and took the stairs. When we reached the lobby, a woman clad like a secretary came over.
"Are you folks okay?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you," Mara replied quickly, trying to get around the woman. I grabbed her wrist, because I knew it'd look suspicious if we were in such a hurry after what had just happened. I looked around the lobby and was surprised to see that nothing was broken, or even tipped over.
"I hope this incident hasn't ruined your stay. After all, Tyre does get earthquakes quite often," the woman explained.
"Really? I didn't know," I said.
"Yes, but all the buildings are built so that they don't collapse. Well, have a good day," the woman said, before swiftly moving by us and up the stairs. We resumed our running and burst out of the hotel. All across the ground, people were sprawled out, but no damage otherwise was visible in the city.
"That's bizarre. The room we were in almost fell apart completely," Mara said.
"It's a God thing," was all I could say. We raced our way to the port, which was also completely unharmed.
"Look for a small fishing boat," Mara instructed. I finally found it, and we walked over to it. The boat was pure white, and designed to look like a speed boat. A blue canopy hung over the part where the steering wheel was. Two benches, one per side, outlined the rest of the boat. The guy manning the boat had very dark skin and was bald. He was also very tall, easy a head taller than myself. What he wore was the weirdest garb imaginable; it consisted of a pink muscle shirt and a brown dried grass skirt that reached his bare feet.
"Can I help you folks?" he asked, rubbing his hands off on a light blue cloth, which was turning black with grease stains.
"Remember me?' Mara asked. The man stared at her for a while, and then his eyes lit up.
"Mara?" he asked.
"In the flesh," Mara said. The man grabbed her and pulled her into an unnecessarily tight hug.
"Can't breath," Mara gasped. The man released her, smiling earnestly.
"Sorry. It's just been so long," he smiled sheepishly.
"I agree David. First, can you give us a ride to Galilee?" she asked. David gave an eager nod.
"Sure. You got lucky though. This is my last time sailing for today," David said. We climbed aboard while David started the engine. The boat hummed to life, clicking with all kinds of noises. Just as we pulled away, I could see Commander Joel approaching. He ordered his guards to fire, but we were beyond range. The bullets were harmlessly shot into the water. Just to be childish, I stuck my tongue out at Commander Joel.
"I'm going to kill you, imp. You hear me? You're as good as dead," Commander Joel screamed, but his threats were quickly lost to the pounding of the waves against the boat.
"Who was that?" David asked.
"No one dangerous," I replied, with half a grin. Mara and David began to catch up, talking about politics and other boring stuff I didn't understand. As they chatted, I let myself just stare at the ocean's water as it rolled by. My thoughts began to drift and I sunk into a memory.
It was the first time I had ever been on a boat, or even near any kind of large body of water. The entire time it took us to drive there, I had kept asking where we were going. However, Uncle Saul just kept saying it was a surprise. We soon arrived at a huge lake, in which I couldn't even see the other side.
"Wow, it's huge," I breathed. Uncle Saul just laughed.
"That's not the end to the surprise," Uncle Saul said. We went over to a boat rental shack and rented out a tin rowboat. It was small, just barely enough for two people, but I didn't care. I had crawled in before we even got in the water. Uncle Saul forced me to put on a lifejacket, which I wasn't very thrilled about, and then we launched the boat out onto the lake. My uncle was the only one that rowed for an hour or so, while I kept looking in the water, trying to find a fish. I let my hand trail in the water, which was to me, surprisingly colder than the hot humid air around us.
"This is so exciting!" I exclaimed. Uncle Saul then offered me the oars, which I took ahold of.
"Want to try?" he asked. I did my best to row us, but only succeeded in making us drift a bit. I gave him the oars and he rowed us back to shore.
"I wouldn't leave your hand in the water. Something might bite it," Mara advised. I realized that my hand had indeed slipped into the water. I quickly withdrew it and let out a yawn.
"Are we almost there?" I asked. Dusk had begun to fall, and I wanted to sleep.
"See for yourself," Mara said. She pointed out on the horizon and saw an island quickly approaching. The closer we got, the better I could see the details. The island was a fair size, though I could see from one end to the other. Pearly white beaches ringed its edges and were studded with palms trees. Gently rolling grassy hills graced the interior, that had a variety of mansions and round-shaped huts that were clearly the homes of the locals.
"Which vacation home is yours?" I asked.
"The huge red one, at the top of the hill," Mara said, pointing to the correct one. The mansion she claimed was hers was much larger than the others, and equally as elegant. The walls were held up by huge pillars, with sections of red painted walls in between. The room gradually sloped into a dome, with a tall spire sticking out the top that glittered gold. Overall, it better resembled a temple than a summer home.
"You're lying," I accused.
"I am not," Mara pouted. We pulled into a dock and I was the first to disembark. The ride had been long and boring. I'm not the seafaring type. A group of people began to gather around us, obviously locals, with the same dark skin as David. The men were dressed exactly like David, wearing grass skirts and pink muscle shirts. The women were dressed similarly, except their grass skirts covered their feet, and they wore regular T-shirts that were more maroon-colored.
"Make way, make way," a cackling voice cried out. An old woman was working her way through the crowd, flanked by two old men. All three used an ornamentally carved staff that had been polished smoother than glass to walk.
"Who are they?" I asked.
"The elders who rule this nation. Show some respect," Mara snapped. The elders approached, and I could get an easy look at them. The old woman was extremely short, and had a square head. Her eyes were squinted so much they looked shut. The old man on the left was bald but had a beard and mustache that extended down to his waist, like he'd never heard of shaving. The last man, on the right, had no beard and had short white hair, but wore an eye patch for some reason.
"Mara, it is good to see you again," the female elder greeted, opening her arms in invitation for embrace. Mara bent down to give the old lady a hug.
"Elder Bathsheba, I'd like you to meet Amos," Mara introduced me, which I would have preferred to have done myself.
"Is your father with you?" Bathsheba asked.
"No, not this time," Mara said. Bathsheba nodded at that and quickly turned her attention to me. The Elder's eyes opened slightly more than before and she stared straight into mine. An uneasiness crept over me, but I couldn't pull away from Bathsheba's gaze.
"You appear to be one God has graciously given much mercy to," Bathsheba concluded.
"Thank you," I said, stunned. I couldn't decipher how the Elder had figured out what my gift was.
"However, you clearly have no idea how to properly use or even the limits of your gift," Bathsheba continued.
"Forget the last thing I said," I sighed. Bathsheba turned to the other Elders and they began discussing things in hushed tones. Bathsheba then turned her attention back to me.
"After some debate with Elder Josias and Elder Habel, I have decided it would be wisest for me to teach you about the Gift of Mercy. Perhaps not everything I know, but enough that it will do you much good in the near future," Bathsheba explained.
"With that, we must retire for the night. Come along Elder Habel and Elder Bathsheba," the Elder with the long beard, Elder Josias, advised. The trio hobbled through the crowd. The crowd dispersed, people occasionally greeting Mara, which seemed more of a formality.
"Time for us to go to my home," Mara announced, and we began the hike inland.
"What does Bathsheba..." I started.
"Elder Bathsheba," Mara corrected.
"Right, Elder Bathsheba know about the Gift of Mercy?" I asked.
"Well, I assume a lot, because that is her gift after all," Mara said. I sighed, defeated, and continued to follow. It was completely dark by the time we arrived. The summer mansion was even bigger than it had seemed from off shore. The entrance was flanked by a pair of bronze doors, that easily extended twenty feet up.
"This place is huge. Are you sure we'll be okay here?" I asked. Mara was poking around in a potted plant that sat by the door.
"Got it!" she exclaimed, holding up a bronze key. She slid the key into its keyhole and turned it. There were many large thuds, like metal bracers being moved out of the way. With a brief hiss, the door slowly opened with an ominous creak.
"That's creepy," I whimpered.
"After you," Mara insisted, shoving me into the dark foyer.