Chapter #5 Dirty Dusty Chaos
Hey guys! Sorry it took so long like forever ago long! I was swamped with assignments and socialising and family and everything but writing pretty much and I didn't like how that last chapter turned out I was doubting that I should write anymore, also MAJOR case of writers block! BUT thanks to your kind words and encouragement, and maybe a threat or two I'm back and ready to write! Also side note, please tell me if there is anything wrong with my writing? Like I've kept the tenses correct and my sentences make sense and tell me if this is a really crappy fanfic, then I can try to edit it and make it worthy of being read. By the way all your reviews, guests and members, throughout the chapters have been really sweet and I feel so loved reading them, Yeah I re-read them, kinda a confidence boost. Got me all happy and motivated to write again! Thanks so much you guys! So because Of the lateness I've tried to make this as long as possible, without rambling. Oh and I'm thinking of sticking with the whole, Max and Fang only POV thing, with maybe another character if the story needs it, or I get bored and want to try something new.
Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own Maximum Ride… *sniff sniff*
Last Time:
I bowed to her lower than the usual tilt of the head, and looked up with a hidden smile, noticing to the side of her a servant had begun to open the doors "Your Majesty, it seems that our privacy is going to be compromised so I shall leave and start my scouting of the area" With that I disappeared into the shadows and made my way secretly around the castle. (If you've forgotten anything in the time it took me to upload (I really wouldn't judge because I took forever to update) pleas re-read, I've edited my chapters, hopefully you guys like them!) And warning this gets a little dark.
Max POV:
I stood in a dimly lit cave, its ceiling arched up high, in some place stalagmite and stalactites reached for each for each with the early morning sun light cascading in through little chinks in the roof of the cave, it caused the walls to glow and glitter with crystals that lay within them and there were a bunch of boulders in varying sizes that would serve well for seats and benches. There was a small fresh water stream running through it, the source of it unknown but welcomed. There were tunnels leading off to smaller caverns that would serve well for rooms. The rocks seemed to soak in the heat in certain places around the cave and stay a good source of heat, and other stayed cold and provided relief from the intense heat of the summer months, also food storage. The emerald green vines created a thick curtain for the front of the small cave entry concealing it from prying eyes. The only reason I found it was because I saw a small rabbit run in there trying to escape the scary monster that was Blaze.
"This will be a good place, if I can get some blankets and mattresses down here it would work as a safe house for the royals, I'll add this place to the map…" The sound of a branch breaking, brought me out of my thoughts. I crouched down and hid most of myself behind a boulder, I could never miss a chance to study my enemy with their guard down. I could hear my heart beat sped up slightly, I had been alone in the quiet for over an hour now and it was starting to get to me. I needed something exciting, a fight to lose myself in, not a death, just some exercise.
I saw the vines the entrance to the cave rustle and part slightly, I flicked my long sword's hilt so that an inch of the blade was glinting in the dark outside of its sheath. My heart beat elevated slightly and I felt my muscles tense as the vines parted to reveal…
… A rabbit. The same rabbit from before! So much for excitement of the fight. 'Damn, I'm so jumpy today, I guess it's because of those bandits who knows if they were a part of a bigger group or was it just those eight? If they are a part of a larger group, will the rest come for revenge? FLYING SHIT! My arrows were left in the bodies! Stupid stupid stupid! They're all black, the symbol for 'The Knight' and I have the symbol for my kingdom imprinted on the arrow heads. Shit, somebody would have found them by now… I need to go check on them" I though all the while picking up my equipment and clearing away all of the evidence of my visit. "Blaze, come here boy" I called as I crouched down slightly and pushed through the hanging vines, being careful as to not break any of the vine for fear of them revealing the entrance to the new safe place. Blaze trotted over to me, hearing the urgency in my voice, and lowered himself slightly as I swung up onto his saddle. Nudging him in his flanks I spurred him into a canter and lead him towards the path between the two kingdoms. I needed to see if anyone had discovered what had passed not two days ago. I needed to know if my mistake would end up being costly, well of course it was going to be costly, but I needed to know, for the sake of my family, whether it would be a price that I could bare to pay.
The trees whipped pasts in a blur of leaves, branches and flowers, all latching onto my clothes and irritating my already frazzled nerves. Blaze, being the amazing horse that he is, reacted to my inner turmoil by moving faster trying to gallop around the trees, leap over logs and thick hedges, responding to my every movement as soon as it was possible. I felt his muscled ripple through my trouser fabric as I stood crouched down, leaning forward on the saddle my thighs burning as I gripped onto his sides trying to avoid being thrown sideways as he avoided another tree and let him move faster. Guilt was clouding my mind, dozens or consequences for my blunder were making me sick. My family could be endangered because of my overlooking the finer details. All I had thought was to get everyone away from that place, I didn't even stop to think of the stupid flipping arrows!
It took a few minutes to get there but I had to sigh in relief and disgust. The bodies were there alright, some of them had become food for a bear or wolves, or even a bunch of carrion birds. I saw the arrows protruding from their chests, some still intact some broken either from the animals of the initial fall to the ground. I jumped off of Blaze and motioned for him to stay away, I knew that the smell would be too much for him. I walked over to the bodies closest to me and I quickly took out the arrows, cringing at the nearly over whelming smell of decay emanating from them, I was just glad my mask stopped most of the smell. I made sure to grab all of the broken pieces, and then I moved onto the next group of men. These had been the ones who became meals, their bodies lay there covered in flies and I had to push down my heaving stomach.
I have seen a lot of deaths, from sickness, injury or from old age, it doesn't make it any easier, it doesn't desensitise me at all, but I'm glad for that, it means that I am still human, I'm not completely different, I still feel.
I shook as one of the arrows that I pulled on made a cracking noise, but come out whole. I'd broken a rib. It was revolting and I shuddered, I feel horrible for taking their live, who knows if they had family, friends, and a home? I always think about every little detail and it's nauseating when I think of all the bad endings to my actions, I do well to hide behind my mask but some nights if I had any time to myself, I reflect upon my life choices and wonder at the innocence I lost because of who I wanted to be, I know I did cry the first time, but I've learnt although it does not get better, it gets easier to stop crying and stop thinking about the other details except my family is safe. I knew that it was only to protect my family from bandits and assassins and I wouldn't give that up, I just wish I did things differently, and I knew one day it would come to bite my in the bum.
But back to the present. I double checked that I hadn't left anything noticeable behind. The ironic thing about that scene was that in the areas around the bodies a multitude of plants had grown around and had started to cover them. I guess it was nature's way, like the old saying life after death, I don't know but there was something hauntingly beautiful about that concept, it's always enabled me to keep going with my life and decisions.
Blaze whinnied from his place across the clearing, clearly he didn't think the same as me. As I walked over to him, I glanced up at the sky and noticed the how high the sun rested in the sky. 'What time was I supposed to be at the demonstration…?'
"Damn it all to Hell! Mum's going to kill me if I'm late" I shouted looking wide eyed at Blaze. I ran up to Blaze, shoved the arrows in the carry bag closed it and jumped up on to his back, causing him to start forward. I kicked his flanks urging him to gallop down the path towards the kingdom and with no trees in the way he was happy to gallop flat out all the way to the palace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIME SKIP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once we reached the gates, the gate guard to one look at us and wrenched the gate up knowing that there would be hell to pay if he didn't. I had slowed Blaze down to a canter as we entered the village knowing that he lacked almost all steering ability at that speed and not wanting to crash into anyone. At the speed we were going we reached the stables with roughly half an hour to spare, swung my leg off, and started to take of the saddle reins. (A.N. is that right? If there are any horse riders out there reading this could you tell me if I'm right with that or not please?) And gave him a quick rub down trying to get the dirt out of his coat, he was extremely dusty, the dirt had worked its way all through his coat. I had thought idly that I should give him a proper bath and clean out his hooves when I got back, no use sending a poor unsuspecting stable hand to their doom if they were to try but it needed to be done, I couldn't leave him to stand uncomfortable after being so good today.
I yelled over my shoulder to the stable hands as I jogged out and to the servant's entrance "Hey can you chuck a couple of apples into his stall for me? Thanks, oh and who ever does that, can you clean out his hooves for me, that'd be great!" Ouch yelling in man voice is worse than talking!
The servants entrance lead me down a long hallway that eventually lead to the kitchens, I tried to remember how I was supposed to get to the training grounds from there, at the same time I was also trying to avoid knocking anyone or anything over. Cooks were running about everywhere getting ready to feed everyone for lunch after the demonstration, they literally had to feed an army afterwards, not to mention two royal families. It was really hot in there, flames were roaring and voices were struggling to be heard over the other, banging and scraping of kitchen utensils. I found the door after successfully navigating my way around the bustling kitchen workers, I may or may not have a bit of flour and or dusting sugar covering my shoulder but I ignored it in favour of escaping into the fresh cool air of the corridor outside the kitchens. When I exited the kitchen I heard the sounds of fabric swishing on the ground and two feminine voices floated down the hall way, which was followed by two familiar looking girls whom happened to be carrying chain mail that looked freshly polished and mended. They were a lot stronger than I had first observed, that was an encouraging and nice surprise. They did seem to be struggling a bit but I don't blame them, I know how heavy that can be, which is why I don't wear it. Although for that type of chore someone should be helping them, they obviously were only just managing the keep walking.
"Nudge, Ella are you going to the training grounds?" God I hated to use my "male voice" it had to be done unfortunately because these were servant girls and from what I figured out, they were the queens of the 'grapevine' of this castle, in other words once they know my secret the whole castle knows. They both tensed up a bit at my sudden appearance, they couldn't jump because the heavy chainmail was weighing them down, but turned around and smiled at me, politely bowing their heads and dipping a bit, careful of the weight of the chainmail. How they managed that, and why they bothered was beyond me but I returned the gesture, bowing you idiots not curtsying, duh, don't want to give myself away, besides I never liked to curtsy anyway.
"Why yes we are Sir Knight, would you like us to show you the way there? I don't think you were showed where it is yet but you really can't miss it, it's huge and dusty and you can hear the men shouting at each other and the swords clanging from ages away" Nudge said starting to ramble politely, which she managed to do surprisingly well.
"Nudge! Yes, we are headed to the training grounds, we need to give these to Igg- Prince James! And Prince Zephyr, you are most welcome to follow us there." Ella said, afterward both were sporting blushes, Nudge from rambling and Ella from her slip up with Iggy's, I guess, name.
They didn't give me any time to respond as they hurriedly shuffled down the corridor, seeing as with the chainmail restricted any other movement, I had assumed they were late by the way Nudge whispered loudly "We're going to be in so much trouble if we don't get there in time, I mean you remember what happened the last time! Gazzy brings it up all the times and it is just way too humiliating for me!"
They lead me through a maze of servants corridors, tucked away in the walls of the palace, cutting through main corridors into small pathways that I would have only noticed if I was paying attention. I made myself look for land marks and memorise the different paths and where they lead, you'd never know when it'd come in handy. The hallways would have been pitch black if it had not been for the torches burning every few paces, casting flickering shadows on to the dark grey stones that made up the palace. The only sounds that were heard were the clinking of the individual links in the chain mail, and the slapping and shuffling of the girl's shoes, the swishing of their skirts along the floors and a soft padding of my cloth bound feet echoing around us. The smell of smoke made my nose itch, I wondered if there were any ventilation pipes to get rid of the smoke, but I couldn't look to find any as we exited the last hidden passage way and emerged into the blindingly bright training arena.
With my sight temporarily taken away from me my other sense filled me in on the arena. I could hear grunts from many men, deep and gruff, the clanging of swords rung throughout the seemingly endless space, clinging of chainmail and heavy, stomping footsteps thudded on the ground, I heard horses whinnying and stomping in the distance, shouting coming from all around, groans of pain and shouts of victory. It reeked of sweat and the air was thick with dust and dirt. It was hot and humid out as well, I could feel the moisture in the air, it had already started to make me sweat a bit, causing my suit to cling to me, God it was unpleasant.
With my sight returned I stood to take in the details of the impressively constructed arena. As I thought, there were drills and practices taking place, practice duels of various types, with different arms and without. There were pairs and groups, some using horses, some by themselves, it was chaotic. There was no order. A writhing mass of men, hundreds of men, in shiny suits bashing each other. I had my work cut out for me. I noticed I had come out of the right wall, which meant to my left was the wall opposite the gates, this was where all the royals stood watching on a balcony. The arena was extremely large, it was encased in four high walls, with a large, and by large I mean taking up half of the two story sized wall (AN By the way these stories are taller than most, more like a normal two story house per one story if that makes sense?) two door gate way on the one facing the forest. There were viewing platforms halfway up the walls on the other three sides, halfway up being the second level of the palace. They had intricate railings carved in stone, allowing any viewing to be done from close up. I could see both royal families, well, my mother, the red haired wonders, and The King and Queen of Midnight, along with a handful of servants, they all stood by the rail looking out over at the training taking place, and laughing amongst themselves. Well the adults were laughing, my sisters, and yes if you hadn't figured that out already they are my full sisters, just a couple of years younger than me (AN By the way I don't know if you noticed but I did change the ages, just because I noticed a few holes in the story if they were really that age and yeah. Max used to be 16 turning 17 and fang 17 turning 18 kinda like the song I just realised tee hee!) yeah they're 16, yes young but at the age of marriage, or at least intended marriage. Anyway, my sisters were ogling the men, or more in particular the princes, who were ganging up on each other, every man for themselves type of fighting in the middle of the arena, it was hand to hand so no armour was needed, but I could tell they wore some protective padding over their clothes. It did look like they needed it. Fists and feet were hitting their marks hard and fast, these guys were good. They each wore looks of concentration, although it seemed that Prince Zephyr and Prince James weren't taking it as seriously as Prince Nicholas, if the small grins on their faces indicated anything. "I wonder why Prince Nick is so focused. It's only a small demonstration". I thought while watching them fight, I tried to pick out their individual styles as I did so.
After taking in everything, I realised that Nudge and Ella had made their way towards the princes with their chainmail. "Oh they must be going to fight with weapons soon, this should be interesting" I thought. And then it clicked. I was on the ground level and I was supposed to be up on the balcony with the royals, Nudge and Ella were all the way in the middle of the arena and hadn't told me how to get up. I couldn't walk through all those people and ask for directions! That was hardly the standard that I would like to set on my first day!
"Shit, what can I do?" I muttered under my breath, looking around for a way to get up to the balcony. I had three options, one, ask for help, two wander around the palace until I find the right way, three, try and get up there from the arena. One and two would end up taking too long, and be embarrassing, three was the only option I decided I had. I looked around to see if I could use anything to hoist me up. A grappling hook would be simple but make too much noise, same with the ladder and using a spear as a pole vault, and I didn't those last two would make it. I then wondered if I could climb it.
"Yeah the stones jut out enough to be okay hand and foot holds, and it looks rough, good grip, and it's the same all the way up…. Okay, let's try and do this without falling and killing yourself and without drawing attention to yourself" I mumbled as I made my way silently over to the left, just to the side of directly underneath the balcony everyone was on.
'Okay let's do this" I said aloud when I reached the wall.
I gazed at the wall looking for my first hand hold for a minute, grabbed onto it and heaved myself up. The grey stones was rough and jagged in some parts, small sharp bits of the stone poked my palms through the material of my suit. I planted my feet on the first stone and pushed up, grabbing for the next hold, trying not to make too much noise, I hoped that the shadows that were cast because of the balcony and noon time sun, mixed with the dark stones, would help me remain unnoticed. I tried to climb fast, and my arms and shoulders soon burned with the effort of climbing, but I had to take my time to find a new hold. I risked looking around at the arena as I reached the half way point. No one had noticed yet, no one was on either of the other balconies, so I was safe from being sighted from there, and the knights and princes, were all to wrapped up in their drills, focusing on their opponent and perfecting each drill as instructed, I could see them swap from each different drill. I was so glad that none of them were paying attention. I turned back around, "Come on Max you can do this, it's only a little more difficult than climbing trees! And you do that all the time, and if you fall it won't be too bad, there's a bit of mud from recent rain down below, maybe because this side's been in the shade all day it hasn't dried up yet, either way you won't die if you hit the ground. Keep going you can do it!" I though, giving myself a pep talk to climb a wall, crazy yes, but it worked. I had made significant head way in getting up, I was a bit below the bottom of the railing, which was only a meter and a bit in height, hey I may have keen eyes but I can't tell the exact measurements of something! So I had about a meter and a half to go, which was when my luck ran out.
And the wall lost all hand holds to a smooth surface. The wall was smother in that one section, the stones were caved in and didn't offer any purchase for me to grab onto. Great I was going to have to jump.
"Woo, okay no biggy, just push yourself off, twist in mid-air and grab hold of the top of the railing, without making a sound. Yep, totally doable." I muttered, panting a little, that climb had taken a bit more effort than I thought it would. I took a second to collect myself, my muscles bunching and coiling up like springs ready to be released and shoot me up to the railing. I counted to three.
One
Two
Three
JUMP!
I leapt up and twisted my body slightly reaching out with my hand everything stretched towards the top of the railing. And because I'm just that amazing, I just gripped the edge, enough to adjust my grip and hoist myself over, I may have made a bit of noise as I stumbled to get off the railing as the balcony occupants jumped and turned around.
"Oh dear Lord Knight! You gave us all a fright we didn't see, or hear you arrive! Come, come, you haven't missed much, the warm up drills are just about to end, so you're just in time for the real show!" King George called over the ruckus.
DONE! My first chapter in months! How'd you think I went? Please review and tell me! If any of you are still following this story have just started reading it I hope you aren't disappointed because I really tried to put in detail and improve upon my writing skills in this chapter, tell me if it worked or not!