Index
CHAPTER TWELVE
Frederick's Adventures
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Around the middle of the night, I woke up. I didn't know how I could have woken up so easily in the middle of the night like that. I stood up, lit a small piece of wood made for that purpose. I put the torch in a small holder in the wall. I got dressed hastily, took my torch and went to the counter. There was one person in the bar, sitting alone in a corner. I went to him. He looked up, saw me but he didn't seem very interested in talking to me. I went to sit down and asked him if something was wrong, but he didn't reply. I looked at him, and his face told me something. I wasn't really awoken at that moment, so I tried my best to place that face.
I then remembered the fight. He was one of the persons who stopped my enemy. I looked at him, and asked again, he looked up, and this time, he got up, and started to move away from me. Moved to ask what was wrong, but the only words that came to mind were 'black hair'. I knew that danger would soon come, so I rushed to my room to fetch my stick. I came back to the main room, but the man was gone. Just then, a huge boom sounded, just like a rock hit some wood and other rocks, came out of nowhere. I walked calmly outside, and I saw what I war was really like. The village was getting bombarded, an army was entering the town, and an army was defending it. I stood there, doing nothing. I felt that I should do something, but it seemed it was no use. The projectiles were now changing. From the rocks that were thrown, it now was burning wood, in order to set to village ablaze. The soldiers were fighting, but it was clear that they wouldn't win on a long term. A noise made me get out of my little torpor of movement. A person, hidden in the shadows was coming towards me. When he got in a place where there was more light, I took the decision to be careful. The village was at war, he might be an ally, but he might be as well an enemy.
The person began talking to me, with a calm voice. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you, I'm an ally."
"Don't even make a step further, or I promise I'll knock you out for good." I replied.
"I only wish to tell you a secret."
"Yeah, sure, and at the right time, you would get rid of me."
"It's true, if you don't trust me, how can we trust ourselves."
I showed him my staff and told him to stay where he was.
He didn't feel a bit intimidated, he seemed furious. "You will regret your insolence, since your fate has been destroyed by your own words", said the mysterious person.
As I looked at the shadow, I could see that his eyes were red. I was stunned in place by that discovery. Was my dream premonitory of what I would see later on in my life, or was it just what happened that night in the city? I was soon distracted from by thoughts by a sound of metal. I held my staff where it was, but I didn't realize the sound was coming from the shadow. I felt a hard blow on my side of the staff and I saw it was cut in pieces. The enemy had a sword, and he had disarmed me. There was no way I could defend myself now. He tried to hit me his sword but I got away. There was no need to stay in the town, since I could be killed by any soldiers that came. I got out of town, and went to hide in the forest, in a small place where no trees could block the sky. I don't think hazard did a lot in this situation, but I fell on the hiding place of the enemy army's war machine. Balistas, catapults and other machines were shooting from there. As the sky became clearer, the enemy's general came to tell his troops to go to the hidden pit to hide. The troops scattered around the forest, and I upon my tree had been vanquished by sleep.
The next morning, the sun revealed what I never thought I would see. When I opened m eyes, an arsenal was laid out before me: catapults, ballistas, ammo racks and some weapons I never would use were lying there unprotected. I was surprised that they were unprotected and I was also surprised that no villagers had found this hidden treasure. I climbed down the tree, and started to walk around the machines. From the look of it, the machines had been built slowly in the woods, because the attackers didn't want the machines to break at the first shot of rocks or fiery objects. I started to look around looking for a catapult that I could use for a test. The one I picked was the one located in the middle of the arsenal. I went on it rearranged the angle, put a small stone on it, and tried to fire. Unfortunately, when I pulled the lever, it broke in my hands. Surprised I looked at the lever for several seconds and threw it away after a while. A thought came into my head: the battle that was raging in the town. I had to help them defeat this vicious enemy.
I carefully looked around to remember how the forest looked like, and I went back to the town, trying to remember the path that I had taken. I arrived at around mid-morning, and a terrible scene waited me. From the calm and peaceful town I saw, a scene of destruction. People were collecting the dead bodies, injured people were trying to get help by crawling on the floor, houses were destroyed partially, and you could hear some crying. As I walk to the inn, someone noticed me, and started to walk towards me.
I stopped and he said, "Please follow me, you have to talk with sir Shacks. He wants to know every new person that would come." I followed the person, without even thinking what could happen happen. Some little time after, we arrived in a lonesome part of town. "It used to be the gardens, but since the attack, we use it as a cemetery. We had to fortify the cemetery, because, the nights of the attack, someone raises the day people, and since we are unable to contain the dead, we lose." He stopped his walk for a moment, showed me the direction I had to take next, and went away. I followed the instructions and ended up in front of a gate. The guard looked at me, and let me pass the other side of the wall. In the cemetery, there were a lot of crosses. The village seemed to have had a problem with a plague, but if you knew what really happened, you could say it was horrific. In front of me, two persons were in front of a cross. I went up to them.
"You must grieve for their death."
"Yes, he was my helper," said the man standing just beside the tomb.
"I am searching for sir Shacks, is he here?"
"I'm sir Shacks," said the same man.
"Someone saw me coming to town today, and he asked me to come see you."
"Well, you've come at a bad time. We are loosing the battle. If only we knew the location of their arsenal."
"I have a little plan. I know where their artillery is."
"Marvelous, I shall send some of my guards there."
"It won't be enough, you'll have to destroy their machines."
"Unfortunately, that too won't be enough. We have to get rid of their leader. He is called Canon."
"What does he like most?"
"Well, as far as I know, he really likes to be here, in this cemetery, and in the wood. I heard one of my soldiers say once that Canon wouldn't like losing all his artillery."
"Then, give me a weapon that I can handle, some food, and I'm in. I have a plan to get rid of Canon."
That night, I was sitting in the wood, waiting for my destiny. My plan, if it worked, would get rid of the problems. During the day, some guards destroyed the artillery. One of the guards brought my message. I would duel Canon. The prize for him was the city, for me, getting rid of him. The wait was long, but finally, my opponent arrived, drew his sword, and prepared for battle. I grabbed my halberd, and prepared my self. On the first part of the battle, it was clear that I was loosing, I was always on a defensive position. After a while we paused in a defensive position, and our voices started resonating in the quiet forest.
"Are you the one called Canon, the one who ordered the attack of the peaceful village nearby?"
"Yes, but I must say you are a weak opponent."
"I would like to see you repeat that again."
"I' said that.."
"I know, I wanted to see if you'd push your luck."
"Clever, I would like to have a sergeant like you in my undead army."
"Better save that for later, you haven't killed me yet."
"It's soon going to come."
In the glow of the night we restarted the fight, but just as I was able to give the first hit on him, he transformed in a bat and flew away. I was angry, I didn't lose, and he won. At the same moment the army of Canon was attacking the village. I was furious, I could hit a tree with the halberd and cut a part of it. I was waiting to see if Canon would come back, when I felt something cutting my leg. I turned around and saw Canon, laughing. My leg hurt, but I didn't fall to the ground, because I was outraged. Treachery wasn't the ideal that had to rule over the world. Loyalty was the one who should stay. No world could be ruled by such monsters that backstab each other all the time. With that thought in my head, I violently hit Canon with my halberd. It went right to his heart, it was over. My enemy was disintegrating in the moon light. His sword fell on the ground, and his cloak fell on a flower, crushing it. I was feeling all right at that time, probably because I was happy I got rid of the vile creature. I went to the village, walking normally, taking hold on the halberd to help me walk. When I arrived, I saw the captain trying to help his guards contain the enemy. I waited until he had finished to give his orders, and I started to talk to him. The only word I said was: "win". He gave me a smile, thanked me, took back his halberd, gave me a stick, and went battling with his soldiers. I sat down near a tree, looked at my leg. It was pretty badly injured, but it wasn't safe to stay here. I took some leaves that were lying on the grass, put them to make my leg feel better, attached the leaves with pieces of rope that were lying around. It was feeling better, but I had to get out fast, before some undead would claim my soul. I got up, and went away to my destiny.
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