Chapter 17 - On the Horizon
I could hear Todd pounding on the cage far above me, screaming my name both through his Noise and his voice. I wanted to scream "I'M FINE" to him, but my voice wasn't working. My throat had become rough, dry and scratchy suddenly, and I craved water. The only liquid I could see near me was the acid moat, and although I told myself not to, I could feel myself being drawn forward towards it. Stop, Viola, stop, I willed myself back and onwards in the challenge, but my throat would not allow me. It must have been in the bucket, I thought. Whatever it is that is making me feel like this - its in the bucket. Slowly, I dragged myself away from the moat and urged myself onwards towards the next challenging obstacle.
For this, I had to go into another room (luckily this time it was not via a cog) where there were armed Spackle in each corner. But there were not just four corners - there were eighteen. It was a very oddly shaped room, in case you didn't already figure that out. The grand doors slammed shut behind me, and as I jumped slightly I looked around the room. No water, for a start. That sucked.
Next to the doors, there was an armour stand with poorly kept chainmail and a leather helmet. Crap armour, I know - and that was my only defences for this...Spackle battle? Thats what I had figured it was, anyway. One by one, the Spackle came forward. At the beginning, I was weak because of not only my throat, but also the aching, neverending pain in my left ankle, which made it harder. I was sure the third one was going to slaughter me, but no - it fell to the floor with a bang just like the previous two. And I still had fifteen more to go.
As I went on, I began to know their tactics, and it became easier to kill them off. I would have been pretty good in the Spackle War, I thought to myself with glee. Numbers 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 were over and done with pretty quickly, and then I faced the final three - all of which came and crowded around me in a team. "HEY!" I shouted to the ceiling. "THAT'S NOT FAIR! THEY'RE NOT ALLOWED TO TEAM UP ON ME!" Childish, I know, but I didn't want to die. But I knew that I was lying to both him and myself - it was his game, and his rules. He could do what he wanted. So I looked at the floor and began to fight.
I brandished the feeble sword I had against theirs in smacking movements. On and on it went, my throat burning with every weak move I made. One Spackle fell. The two remaining creatures went closer together, surrounding me like I was the nerdy one at lunchtime and they were the bullies.
I clonked one on the head with my iron boot I had nicked from one of the dead Spackle, and it fell to the ground - last one. And no doubt the strongest. Neither of us spoke (not that I could), and we didn't need to, we just paced around the cold floor slowly, waiting for one to take the first move. I did - and I could tell that he didn't see it coming. I took his sword right out of his unexpecting palm and threw my old one to the floor. I struck his leg with the blade and let him hobble around the room as the doors on the other side of the room to the ones I entered with were flung open by some kind of magical force, and I walked cautiously through.
I was pretty sure that the end of the story was on the horizon.