WHAT UP!
Well everyone, we are getting closer and closer to revealing who the man in black is (Although, if you haven't figured it out yet, I think it might be made a little more obvious in this chapter). If you do know, please don't ruin it for anyone else.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Austin & Ally or The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Chapter 7
Chuck, the Scheming Sicilian?
The man in black ran from the rock quarry, hoping he could still catch up with the other kidnapper and the princess. He couldn't say for sure how far they could have gotten, but if he knew the leader of this band of misfits, he was almost sure he hadn't of gotten far. The leader liked to play games and he wasn't going to go down without one. What that game was to be, however he hadn't the slightest clue. As he came to a grassy clearing, the man in black got his answer.
There seated at a rock table was the leader, Chuck, he remembered the Spaniard and the giant telling him that, and the princess, who was blindfolded and had a knife pointed at her neck. The man in black noticed that the table had two goblets and a bottle of wine atop it, something that seemed vastly out of place. Were they going to have a party of some sort before the man tried to slit the princess's throat?
"So it is down to you, and it is down to me." Chuck said as the man in black continued forward. He was stopped however, when Chuck pushed the knife closer to the princess's throat. "If you wish her dead, by all means, keep moving forward."
"Let me explain-"
"There's nothing to explain." Chuck said, cutting the other man off. "You're trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen."
"Perhaps an arrangement can be reached?" The man in black asked, trying to gage how far he could get with the man. However, he did not get far.
"There will be no arrangement," He said. "And you're killing her."
"Well if there can be no arrangement," The man in black said. "Then we are at an impasse."
"I'm afraid so. I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains." Chuck said with an air of arrogance about it. The man in black looked at his opponent with a little contempt for no one had ventured to talk about his smarts, but then again, most were dead before they could.
"You're that smart?" He asked, careful to mind what he said around this man. God knew how it could come back to haunt him.
"Let me put it this way:" Chuck stated. "Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?"
"Yes."
"Morons." The man in black was taken aback when he said that. Did he really just call the fathers of modern thinking, idiots? This man was either very smart or truly full of himself, the latter seeming more likely.
"Really?" The man in black replied. Then an idea popped into his head, one that might but him some time. "In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits." Chuck, at that moment, became a little weary of his opponent, but a battle of wits was nothing for him.
"For the princess?" He asked, pushing the blade of his knife a little closer to Ally's throat. The man in black nodded his head in a 'yes.' "To the death?" Again, the man nodded his head. "I accept." And then, Chuck sheathed the dagger and attached it to his belt.
The man in black smiled, knowing his opponent thought him witless, and moved to sit down on the rock stool by the table.
"Good." He said, seating himself on the stool. "Then pour the wine." And Chuck uncorked the wine bottle and filled the two goblets with wine. The man in black then reached into the small bag on his waist, pulled out a vial filled with white powder and uncorked it. "Inhale this," He said as he moved it in front of Chuck. "But do not touch." Chuck took a whiff and then gave a confused look.
"I smell nothing." And the man in black gave a small smirk in reply as he pulled the vial away.
"What you do not smell is called Iocane powder." He said. "It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among more deadly poisons known to man."
"Hmm." Chuck said back, not completely in awe of what the other man held.
The man in black reached forward and took both of the wine filled goblets in his hands. He turned around, so Chuck could not see, and poured the poison into one of the goblets. He turned back around and placed them back on the table.
"All right. " He said. "Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right…and who is dead." Simple and sweet as that, but Chuck wasn't about to agree with that.
"But it's so simple." He said, stating the obvious about the battle of wits. "All I have to do is divine what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me."
"You've made your decision then?" The man in black asked as he reached for the goblet in front of him, but Chuck was far from it.
"Not remotely." He said. "Because Iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you." The man in black arched an eyebrow at his opponent, not the least bit weary of what he was saying. For he only spoke the truth.
"Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
"WAIT TILL I GET GOING!" Chuck said, excitement dripping in his voice. "Where was I?"
"Australia."
"Yes, Australia and you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me." The man in black was beginning to get very annoyed. He had been in plenty face offs like this one, but never had he faced someone so arrogant and, not to mention, annoying.
"You're just stalling now." He stated the annoyance clear in his voice as he stared at his opponent.
"YOU'D LIKE TO THINK THAT, WOULDN'T YOU?" Chuck yelled. "You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong, so you could've put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me."
"You're trying to trick me into giving away something." The man in black said, seeing through the short man's intricate way of thinking. If only he knew he was only prolonging his decision.
"IT HAS WORKED!" Chuck yelled again. "YOU'VE GIVEN EVERYTHING AWAY! I KNOW WHERE THE POISON IS!"
"Then make your decision."
"I will, and I choose- What in the world can that be?" He said, pointing in front of him. The man in black turned around, unaware of what was happening behind his back.
With the man's back turned, Chuck quickly switched the goblets and sat back like nothing had happened. If his plan worked, which he highly doubted it wouldn't, the man would drink the cup with the poison, thus killing him and allowing him to then kill he princess. He was no fool, he knew that the poison was obviously in his cup. Only a true, honest to God fool would place such a deadly poison in his own cup and not that of his opponents. This simple switch, like the simple battle, would ensure his win.
The man in black turned around, completely unaware of what had just happened.
"I don't see anything."
"Well, I-I could have sworn I saw something, no matter." Despite his need to keep a calm demeanor, Chuck couldn't help the small smirk and chuckle of arrogance that escaped his throat. The other man arched his eyebrow when he heard it.
"What's so funny?" He asked. Chuck quickly regained his composure, though the smirk never left his face.
"I'll tell you in a minute. First, let's drink. Me from my glass," Chuck picked up his goblet. "And you from yours." And the man in black picked his up. They gave a small 'cheers' and then both of them drank the wine from their goblets. After finishing their drinks, the men set the goblets back on the table and waited. The man in black was the first to react.
"You guessed wrong." He said, pointing at the man across the table.
"You only think I guessed wrong!" Chuck said. "That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" Chuck then broke into a fit of laughter as the man in black simply watched. He would have said something against him, but the laughter soon stopped.
Chuck's laughter stopped and he dropped completely off of his seat and onto the ground, dead. The man in black got off of his seat and walked over to Ally. He undid her blindfold and she stared at the man, who she didn't know whether to call him her hero or another kidnapper.
"Who are you?" She asked as he cut through the ropes on her hands and feet.
"I'm no one to be trifled with." He said. "That is all you ever need know." He stood up to brush the grass and dirt off of his pants. Ally looked over to see her former captor lying dead on the ground, the results soon settling in her mind.
"And to think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned." She felt a tug on her arm as the man stood her up from the rock.
"They were both poisoned." He explained as he sheathed his dagger, but what he had said, stunned Ally more than needed. How could he still be alive if both of the goblets were poisoned? Shouldn't he be lying on the ground dead like the other man? "I spent the last few years building up immunity to Iocane powder." And without another word or thought, the man in black tugged on Ally's arm and began running down the grassy hills with her in tow.
After the day she has had so far, Ally wasn't about to go down without a fight. This man was the last one to try and kidnap her ever again.
Meanwhile, Dallas and his men were not far behind them. They had just come across the area the man in black was and the prince was now retracing the steps of the battle.
"Someone has beaten a giant." He said as he looked over the remains of the rock quarry. Broken boulders and an imprint of a fallen body, much too large to belong to a regular man, was on the ground. He knew that only his countries sworn enemy could have hired such monsters to do their dirty work. "There will be great suffering in Guilder is she dies." The prince moved from the quarry and mounted his horse again.
He clapped the reigns and took off down the way, his men following behind him.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Next one will be very special because we finally find out who the Man in Black is. So, leave those reviews, favorites and follows for me!
Thanks and remember, stay ROSSOME!