Chapter 16: Around the Bend
Courtney's Resistance was just leaving Boney Island, when Duncan asked, "Do you think that we can make it to the other side safely?"
"Of course," Courtney said, "Why wouldn't we be able to?"
"I don't know," Duncan said, "The fog is back, and… what do I see?"
"You see only me," a voice said, "And my army of ballisticians."
"What's a ball-o-pigeons?" Lindsay asked.
"Get down, you idiot," Eva said, blocking Lindsay. "It's an archer! One that can attack from far, far away."
"I wouldn't recommend that either of you ladies join our battle today," Harold said, "After all, the ballistae are dangerous to flyers."
"Well," Eva said, "I can't guarantee that you guys will do well without me, but I trust Courtney's judgment."
Courtney judged that she would take only thirteen with her. The thirteen she picked were Duncan, Harold, Heather, Cody, Noah, Gwen, DJ, Bridgette, Sierra, Trent, Tyler, Justin, and Eva. Lindsay was held back because she was in too much danger, but Courtney recognized that Eva had a point. The fog was not on the part of the lake edge where the battle took place.
Cody worked with Sierra, Gwen, and Trent once again trying to attack the ballisticians as quickly as possible. There was one sage working with the army, using an attack sending a meteor towards the army. The mage tried to attack Duncan but missed, Noah but didn't do any damage, and Gwen but missed (not that it would have mattered, since he wouldn't have done any damage).
Tyler, Noah, and Harold meanwhile attempted to bring the sage to justice. Tyler had been equipped with an axe that was really strong and he would have easily been able to kill the sage: that is, if he had made both of his hits. But he missed the first time, so the last bit of the kill was given to Harold instead.
Heather took up one of the ballistae that the previous archer had absconded from. She used it to attack the leader from a distance. "You need to leave," she said.
"It's a pity, Heather, that you've abandoned your ways," he responded, "Chris even considered making you his heir."
Heather responded, "An heir to Chris? I'd rather be a cold dead corpse."
"That can be arranged," he said. Heather managed to do a huge amount of damage to him, but then the ballista she was sitting on fell apart.
A group of strong swordfighters went to attack Courtney and Duncan. Many of them missed, but there was one who brought Courtney a critical amount of pain. Duncan decided to get back at that one, stabbing him mercilessly.
Bridgette and DJ stood close behind to keep Courtney from being annihilated. They were also ostensibly protecting Duncan, but everyone knew that Duncan dodged over ninety percent of the attacks that were thrown at him.
Eva followed soon after the ballisticians were eliminated from the battlefield, thinking that it was entirely safe from dangerous archers. She was half right. Most of the specialized archers on the battlefield were dead, but there were quite a few warriors with secondary bow skills—who had not completely disowned them like Tyler did. One of them included the leader, who attacked Eva thusly.
"You of all people should be aware Chris is evil," Eva said, noting that the leader was a producer who worked for Chris, "What is wrong with you?"
"Eva, you were always my favorite," he said fondly, "It's really a shame that you had to sit out."
Eva suddenly narrowed her eyes, and then began a tirade, "You think I don't know that you guys just liked me because I was a ticking time bomb? An endless source of drama? You think that my anger issues are worthy of ridicule! Well, I've decided I'm not going to take it anymore."
"Have I stepped on your toes?" the producer asked.
"No," Eva said, "That would hurt ME." As threatening as she was, she could not immediately get a counterattack in. However, the arrow missed her entirely.
Trent was attacked by several of the other warriors. One of them had an axe that was so powerful it could kill him if it aimed just right. Luckily, Trent managed to escape that attack, but two less powerful attacks hit him. Gwen healed his wounds, and then sent dark magic at the warrior who nearly killed him. She used the most powerful tome that she had. It managed to get rid of the warrior.
To deal the remaining blow to the producer, Harold appeared using a powerful light tome. He shouted, "Gosh! You guys really have some nerve!"
"Our leader is charismatic and evil," the producer said, shrugging, "What more could the youth want?"
"No one in history chose the charismatic leaders BECAUSE they were evil," Harold denied.
"Oh, really?" asked the producer.
"Yes, really!" Harold asserted, "They chose them because they didn't KNOW they were evil!"
"A history buff, huh?" the producer asked, "Well, you're about to become a part of it!" Harold would only have been able to deliver the final blow if he had done the strike exactly right. He was unable to, which left the warrior with enough energy to survive but not enough that he wanted to attack someone again. Meanwhile, Harold was harmed by the arrow thrown at him. Noah felt annoyed at having to heal Harold all the time—he did not himself get hit nearly as often—but did so out of duty.
The loyal producer decided to attack his next safe person…Tyler. He said, "Tyler, Tyler, Tyler…you always wanted to be a great warrior." He looked aside. "Too bad you'll never be as good as me."
"I'll make you eat those words with syrup!" Tyler shouted, "And not maple syrup either, that crappy fake American 'table' syrup."
"How threatening," the loyal producer said flatly. He was not as fast or as strong as Tyler but he did have one thing Tyler didn't have—accuracy. As a result Noah or Harold would have to heal him right afterwards. Noah didn't want to do it again, so he made Harold do it.
Courtney boldly attempted to match strength with the warrior, but that failed, so instead she tried using her magic. "Okay, this has GOT to stop," she said.
"I'm sorry," the producer said, "But I will never surrender. All hail Chris McLean."
"If you won't surrender," Courtney said, "I will have to kill you."
"I will not die in vain," the producer responded.
Soon there were no enemies left except for the loyal producer who decided to attack Duncan out of curiosity. "Are you the most loyal producer?" Duncan asked.
"I believe I am," he answered.
"But defecting is more fun," Duncan attempted to persuade him.
"I will be the judge of that, you delinquent," the loyal producer said, shooting an arrow at Duncan and doing something almost no man could do—hitting him. Luckily, DJ was nearby to heal him.
The final blow was actually landed by an impatient Noah who thought that the battle had been going on far too long. He used wind to deliver the final blow, but right before, the loyal producer said, "I will stand by Chris my whole life." After the wind hit, he said, "Chris… I kept… my word to you," and died.
"That was… unexpected," Courtney said, "But we all made it out alive."
"Chris sent his most loyal producer to fight us," Harold said, "Do you know what that means?"
"What?" Courtney asked.
"We're very close to defeating him," Harold said.
"Don't count your blessings 'til you keep them safe and sound," Heather said.
"I've… never heard that idiom before," Harold responded.
"Well, Harold, maybe you've never met anyone smart," Heather said.
"Break it up, you two," Courtney said, "This is no time for petty arguments. We have to head towards the film lot."
"Right," Harold said, "Because that's where Chris is."
Courtney's Resistance started to return to Camp Wawanakwa.
Author's Note: Goodies for this chapter include alternate battle dialogue (Ezekiel fights Loyal Producer), alternate versions of the beginning/ending dialogue (Harold died, Heather died, both Harold and Heather died; Lindsay/Eva died; Duncan died), Courtney and Alejandro's Support (Level A), Courtney and Bridgette's Support (Level A), Courtney and Duncan's Support (Level B), Bridgette and Geoff's Support (Level A), DJ and Duncan's Support (Level A), DJ and Leshawna's Support (Level C), Geoff and Gwen's Support (Level B), Gwen and Cody's Support (Level B), Tyler and Harold's Support (Level C), Tyler and Ezekiel's Support (Level B), Harold and Leshawna's Support (Level B), and Eva and Ezekiel's Support (Level C).