So...I believe an apology is in order. I didn't realise it would take this long to upload this chapter, and I'm sure you all hate me for my tardiness. School has started again and I'm pretty loaded with work, so this story hasn't been all that high on my list of priorities for the last few weeks. Anyway, it's here now, and again I am very sorry it took this long. I'll try and work on it.
Disclaimer: Still in Chapter 1.
It had taken them a long time to convince Dr. Coop to let Iridian out that night, but they eventually convinced him when they explained why she was necessary for their plan. Alexi outlined the plan as they made their way into town, Maya and Keelan supporting Iridian as she hobbled along.
"How do you feel?" Asked Keelan when they stopped moving. She smiled, although clearly in pain.
"Like I got hit by a train."
"Alright, we're here. Time to get into position." Alexi said, clapping his hands together.
It was a mission in itself to get Iridian onto the roof of the saloon, where she would sit and watch for any sign of the thief. When she was perched comfortably on top of a chimney stack they left her to get into position themselves, Keelan heading straight for a predetermined location on the corner of two streets. He moved around for a bit to figure out where he would get the best vantage point, and then he leant against a signpost and waited.
It soon got dark, and he was still standing and waiting, hand on the hilt of his sword. He may not be a soldier, but it was compulsory that each Privateer had undertaken basic sword-training before beginning their work under the Commodore. Keelan was fairly certain he remembered it all. He began running through the steps and moves he had been taught in his head, and he was so caught up in his thoughts that he nearly missed the signal. He glanced up at the roof of the saloon where he could see the flashing light, and pushed himself off the sign and ran straight for the saloon.
When he got there Alexi and Maya were already getting Iridian down off the roof, and as soon as her feet hit the ground she was off, running in an odd lurching gait down the street and turning a corner. The three of them followed close behind her, relying on her keen eyes to guide them. Soon, Keelan began to see what she had been seeing; a tall, dark shadow running swiftly ahead of them, keeping close to the buildings. Suddenly the shadow put on a burst of speed and tore ahead, and Maya charged after him. Alexi and Keelan tried to follow but Iridian slowed them down, and she shook her head.
"Leave me here. I can follow on my own."
"Are you sure?" Keelan asked uncertainly, and she grinned and winked at him.
"Sure as the sky is blue. Now hurry up. I have a feeling you'll want to be there when Maya catches him." The boys nodded and gently let go of her arms, and she instantly dropped behind. Free of her burden they tore down the street, keeping Maya in their sights as she tracked the thief.
They ran out of town and down a rather steep dirt hill, and suddenly prey and hunter both vanished into a gaping, dark hole. Keelan didn't hesitate before following, Alexi hot on his heels. They were in an old mine shaft, but Keelan didn't register much more than that as he flew down the worn mine cart track after Maya. The tunnel was lit by the occasional lantern, and as they ran Keelan heard a noise, a light metallic clanging. A horrible thought entered his mind but it was too late to stop, so he kept running as he heard the noise he had been dreading.
The explosion rocked the tunnel, knocking Keelan off his feet and he rolled down the track, his shoulders knocking forcefully against the iron sleepers. Alexi hauled him to his feet and they carried on, rounding a corner and stopping in shock. Maya lay on the ground to one side of the tunnel, a massive gaping hole in the other. Alexi ran to her, rolling her onto her back and checking her pulse. Thankfully, she was still alive. The boy crouched beside her, calling her name. She didn't stir.
"I don't understand. What happened?" Alexi asked in confusion. Keelan sighed.
"A tripwire. She must have activated it when she was running. It was connected to a pile of explosives, probably hidden behind a boulder or something, and then...boom. It was her armour than stopped her being blown to bits." Alexi shook his head.
"If it was a tripwire, wouldn't the thief have set it off first?"
"Possibly. Unless he was the one who put it there." A horrified silence swept over them as they stared down into the dark tunnel, wondering just what kind of hell they had gotten themselves into. They stood for a few moments before Keelan drew his sword and began walking.
"Come on, we have to catch him. Now that we know these tunnels are booby-trapped, I think it'd be better if we took it slow." Alexi murmured his agreement and slung Maya over his shoulders, bending his knees awkwardly to avoid brushing the ceiling. They descended further and further into Cooper's Roost, Keelan leading the way with his sword held out in front of him, peering cautiously around every corner before continuing and his eyes peeled for any more tripwires or traps. Soon the ground levelled out, and they found themselves looking into a well-lit cave. Keelan exchanged a nervous glance with Alexi, who nodded, and he stepped into the open space.
He heard wind whizzing by his ear and ducked just as a viciously pointed serrated iron spear flew out of nowhere, lodging itself firmly in the area where his neck had been mere milliseconds prior. He raised the sword to block the next lunge, and dodged to the side as the spear swiped at his sword-arm. Whoever this thief was, he knew what he was doing.
Keelan took the moment's break to leap back into the centre of the room, kiting the thief after him. Honestly, he had never had to work so hard just to keep his head on his shoulders. He ducked, dodged, spun, parried, blocked, lunged and slashed like a thing possessed, hardly even noticing when Alexi joined in the fight too. The thief whirled and spun twice as fast as before, ducking underneath both swinging swords and managing to clip Alexi on the side of the head with the butt-end of his spear, sending him reeling from the sheer power behind the blow. Keelan raised his sword, blocking the fierce chop from the spear, the impact numbing his arm. He quickly swapped the sword to his other hand and blocked the next two attacks clumsily, the third catching him on the cheek and sending him spinning to the ground.
He looked up through his watering eyes as the thief loomed over him, the business end of his spear pointed straight at Keelan's heart. He raised it up and Keelan's eyes widened, but suddenly he hissed in pain and fell to the ground, his hand on his thigh as he tried to scramble away. Keelan blinked in confusion, wondering what had just happened as he watched, and then he looked up at Alexi's gasp. He craned his neck to see Iridian leaning against the wall of the tunnel, one of her pistols in her hand, the barrel still smoking from the shot. She was panting heavily with her free hand clutching her side, her weight off her left leg as she gasped for air. Keelan blinked.
"Never have I ever been so pleased to see someone as I am to see you right now." He said, and she smirked.
"Nice to see you too. Thought I'd come and join the party, and when I get here I find you started without me." She said between gasps, and he laughed from where he lay on his back. Alexi shook his head, rubbing his temple in an effort to fight off the headache he knew was coming.
"Seriously, though. Thanks for coming. If you'd been a second later, you would've been cleaning up a pile of corpses." Her nose wrinkled in distaste.
"I don't think so. Oh, and speaking of cleaning up, what are we going to do with him now?" She pointed to the thief with her pistol. He was leaning against the wall of the cave, one hand clamped over the wound in his leg to try and stop the bleeding. It didn't seem to be working, Keelan noted as he watched blood drip from his fingers onto the compacted dirt floor. Keelan winced as he got to his feet, walking over to him.
"We do what we came here to do. Take him to the Sheriff." He reached down to grab the thief's arm, but a voice stopped him.
"Hang on a minute, Keelan. Let's think about this." He turned to Alexi, a confused look on his face.
"What's the problem? Isn't this what we're going to do?"
"I know it's what we came here to do, but I've had a thought. Just, please. Hear me out." Keelan frowned in suspicion but nodded for him to continue.
"Well, when we get to the Machine, we're most likely going to have to lace explosives throughout in order to destroy it, am I right?" Keelan nodded again.
"You saw how he rigged up that tripwire. This guy knows how to work explosives. Don't you think he'd be a good person to have around when the time comes to destroy the Machine?" Keelan blinked at him, and Iridian put his thoughts into words.
"Alexi, do you even hear yourself? Do you even know what you just suggested? We came here to catch a wanted criminal, he almost blows Maya to smithereens and nearly decapitates the pair of you, and now you want him to join us? Has all that time you spent with those monkeys turned your brains to bananas?" Alexi frowned.
"Look, I know it sounds insane, but I'm just thinking about this logically. Surely it would be better for us to go into the Machine with someone who knows their way around explosives?" He and Iridian continued arguing, and Keelan lanced down at the wounded thief. He hadn't said a word throughout the whole exchange, instead focusing on his injury. Keelan's ears perked up when he heard a low groan from the tunnel, and he poked his head around the corner to see Maya lying where Alexi had put her before the fight. She was trying to get to her feet, a hand on her forehead as she struggled to co-ordinate herself. Keelan rushed to help her, looping her arm around his shoulders and his own around her waist, and she whispered a thank you as he helped her into the cave. Iridian and Alexi turned as they entered, their eyes widening at the sight of Maya and their argument temporarily forgotten. He carefully sat her down, leaning her back against the wall of the cave and she leant her head back, her eyes closing and her brow creasing in pain.
"How're you feeling, Maya?" Asked Iridian, seating herself beside her. Maya groaned and flopped her head forwards.
"...Like I just got blown up." Alexi and Keelan grinned.
"...Is that her?" Said an unfamiliar voice, and they looked around to find where it had come from. Keelan's eyes locked on the thief across the room. He had raised his head and was staring at them, a pair of deep green eyes being all that was visible through the gloom of his hood. Alexi frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"...Is she the one...who got caught in my trap?" Keelan nodded.
"If you mean the explosives, then yes, that was her." The thief stared at Maya, his eyes void of any emotion.
"...That much dynamite...it should have killed her."
"You'd better thank your lucky stars it didn't, or you wouldn't be alive right now!" Iridian exclaimed, her yellow glare fixed intently on him. He didn't respond, instead reverting his attention to his wound. Surprisingly, it was Maya who spoke next.
"You...you've never killed anyone before, have you?" The thief stiffened, and after a moment's hesitation he shook his head. Maya blinked.
"...You're lucky. To live with the death of another on your hands, is not to live at all. Trust me, you wouldn't want that. I know better than anyone." The thief raised his head.
"...How many people have you killed?" Maya shrugged, her face contorting with pain.
"More than I could care to count. It was part of my job, being prepared to kill for the good of the empire. I got used to it over time, but that doesn't mean it got any easier." The thief didn't respond at all that time, and Keelan cleared his throat loudly.
"Well, I think it's time we cleared out of here. We need to get Maya and Iridian back to the doc, and we need to take him to the Sheriff." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the thief, and Alexi frowned but complied, moving to lift him to his feet and drag him up the tunnel. Iridian insisted on walking on her own, so Keelan plucked Maya from the dirty floor and helped her up, moving so slow it was almost painful. When they emerged from the mine shaft Keelan looked around in surprise. It was morning. They'd been down there all night.
As they made their way through Cooper's Roost they got lots of strange looks from the townsfolk they passed, and Keelan realised what a sight they must look. They went to the doc's office first, Alexi hammering his fist on the door for a good five minutes before it was opened. Dr. Coop's sleepy face greeted them, and his eyes widened at the sight before him.
"You kids again? What the devil have you been doing all night?" He didn't wait for an answer, instead grabbing Iridian by the arm and dragging her inside, Keelan escorting Maya through the door before joining Alexi outside with the thief.
"Well, should we go to the Sheriff?" Alexi asked, a hint of bitterness in his voice that made Keelan wince. He glanced at the figure next to Alexi, finally getting a good look at him. He was filthy, was the first thing he noticed. His clothes were plain-a stained white shirt, black trousers, a weathered black hooded trench coat, worn boots, black gloves and a scarf tied around his mouth and nose. He looked terrible. Keelan also noticed that he was favouring his right leg, and suddenly remembered his wound.
"We should take him in to the doc, and get that wound seen to." Alexi raised an eyebrow at him but Keelan chose to ignore it, instead taking the thief by the arm and hauling him inside.
"We've got another one for you, doc." He said, and Dr. Coop turned around and frowned at him.
"Oh? And what's wrong with this one?"
"He's been shot, sir."
"...Oh. Where?"
"The leg." He pointed to the wound, and the doctor sighed.
"Oh, is that all? He'll live. Put him on that bed there."
Ugh. I know that was a random place to leave off, but I think I've explained that I don't usually write using the chapter format, so some of them cut off at pretty weird times. Anyway, this chapter saw the introduction of a new character (sort of), and with each chapter we're getting closer and closer to the end of this story. We still have a few more chapters to go, and I still actually need to write the last one because it currently does not exist. Well, you should know the drill by now. R&R if you want to leave me some comments, I do like getting feedback for my work. Plus, it'll make me upload faster. Ciao for now! XP