Chapter 8

Ambush

 

            Near the end of the trail, rustling was heard throughout the bushes and the treetops.  Gello looked around while he continued to walk. Darq relinquished his mallet and stopped in his tracks. Ricarde pulled out his war-axe and also stood still. Marlo jumped into the trees. Gello continued to walk. THOOM! Within seconds, Gello was tackled to the ground. The clang of swords and armor rang about and ten warriors tied him up with rope and put him in shackles. Ricarde shot a glance at Darq; Darq nodded quickly. They leapt from their places and attacked the ambushers. Ricarde began hacking left and right, a tall man with bright red hair screamed as his throat was split and blood began to pour from his neck as from a decanter. Darq chanted his Reptu Ki spell and set his mallet ablaze whilst he thrashed violently about. Large and small men alike seemed to fly back and burn to their deaths as Manus struck them. Suddenly, a yellow flash flew out of the trees. three men instantly fell over dead. Darq blinked violently as he tried to figure out what had happened. Marlo stood at the very end of the path untying Gello as a few of the warriors retreated. Ricarde gave a shrug and hurried over to them; Darq followed.

            “Ye Gods…” Gello screeched, “It’s about time somebody saved me…I mean…No need to help, I’ll take care of this.” Marlo finished unbinding Gello and Darq shook his head.

            “We could’ve just left him like that….That way we wouldn’t hear so much complaining on our journey.” Darq said.

            “What….with me tied up, you wouldn’t stand a chance against all the enemies that you’d face!” Gello retorted.

            “Tch tch tch…Gello, my dear companion, look around you. Several brave warriors lie dead on their bellies.”

            “Luck….Twas only a fluke.” Gello arose from the dirt ground and dusted himself off. “Now….if you don’t mind…Let us be off!” With that, the 4 comrades left the forest trail, and entered the Port City, and capital of Kronu, K’ron.

            “Alright guys…Here we are, K’ron. From here, we can sail to Nairus in the south and from there….we’ll find out what to do next.” Ricarde said in his usual booming voice. Marlo nodded and smiled. Darq and Gello, on the other hand, were halfway across the town looking at a kingdom-wide bulletin board.

            “Not true! I look nothing like that…Not at all!” Darq argued as he looked at a local bulletin board. K’ron was bursting with community, old and young about walked through the streets, smiling. The weather was warm and the trees were bright green and in full bloom.

            “Oh really…I think the hair is really quite thoroughly accurate!” Gello replied pompously. Ricarde and Marlo ran over to them to find out what in the world they were doing.

            “Yet…the price seems quite good for such a novice as you. 500 gold coins, a hefty sum.” Gello said.

            “Yeah…hahahaha…practically nothing to your ‘10 coins, if you feel like getting him’ price.” Darq replied. Ricarde and Marlo laughed under their breath at the comment. Gello turned around, his face bright red; he soon turned back around stubbornly.

            Minutes later a loud crash was heard in the distance. All four of the fellows turned around to see what the ruckus was about. In the center of a large, round park area two children were fighting one another with sticks and kitchen pots and pans, next to a large fountain. CLANG. “You’ll never destroy me Krane!!! Hahahahaha. Eat my scythe!” one of them said. He wore a scrubbing board in front of himself and had in his hands a large stick with a small branch popping out at the top like a sickle. The other child was flat on his back and lying on the ground with a large branch in hand and a pot on his head.

            “Defend thyself Gor, for this shall be your last bout with such a noble warrior as myself. Prepare to taste my axe Garborakian scum!” With that the child with the large branch and the other with the sickle stick thwacked each other about the head until both of them were sitting in the grass crying and accusing one another of cheating and not playing fair.

            “Wow,” Darq said, “kids today sure do play weird games! I wonder who Gor and Krane are…”

            “More than likely Gor is a famous warrior from the Kingdom of Garborak in the west….The other child, ‘Krane’, called him ‘Garborakian scum’ therefore it would only make sense,” Gello replied. Marlo ran over to the two children and pulled out his gigantic blade.

            “ALRIGHT KIDS….Let’s fight…Two against one, c’mon!” Marlo was standing in his awkward fighting stance, golden feathers swaying in the wind, but he seemed very serious. The two children stared at him with an inquisitive look about their faces. They had never seen a Klikeno before.

            “Ummmm…..WHOA COOL SWORD!” the child playing Gor said.

            “Neato! I wish I had a play-sword like that!” the child playing Krane said.

            Ricarde, who was standing in the distance, shook his head and walked over to Marlo. He then picked the little Klikeno up by the back of the neck and set him down a few feet away. “Sorry kids….Bird can’t play. Go home and take a nap or something.” Ricarde looked at them with a stern face and they soon ran away screaming. Marlo’s feathers ruffled up as he shook his head and snorted with discontent.

            Darq was writhing on the ground, laughing his head off. “TAKE A NAP?!? Oh that’s rich…Whew…” Gello kicked Darq in the back with a swift boot, and pointed to the not-so-far-off docks.

            “Listen up you dawdlers…Those ships are leaving…and CoOH,L is after us. We need to get going, otherwise our arses are grilled Kronusian beef.” Everyone’s face turned serious and they all began to walk along the village path to the docks. Darq was still snickering under his breath about how freaked out the two little boys must’ve been by the giant surly woodsman.

            Ricarde began to run along a cobblestone path and then stopped in front of a big ship. “Look at it men….Isn’t it breathtaking? What I wouldn’t give to be sailing the high seas…” The ship was magnificent. It was a large wooden commerce ship with five grand white sails. On the bow was a wooden carving of a fish, and five windows dotted the starboard. A crew of at least twenty men were all aboard, washing the deck and preparing to set sail. Darq, Gello, and Marlo all looked at Ricarde and whispered amongst themselves.

            “STOP RIGHT THERE!!!!” Like a loud jarring note, those words blared and disrupted the whole town. The four travelers all turned around and looked up towards the red-tiled roof of an Inn. “Ha! Thought you could escape the wrath of…uhh…us?!? Well you were wrong…SO THERE! Prepare to meet your fate you ninnies!” The man atop the roof wore green robe and a tall sorcerer’s cap. It was Rogget, from CoOH,L. “How was that Hazel???”

            A little old hag, floating on a broom slapped Rogget upside the head and started to rave and rant. “YOU IDIOT!!! What in Kronus was that supposed to be, huh? ‘So there’??? ‘You ninnies’??? Geez Rogget, sometimes I wonder where your training in the Academy went wrong…you really need to take six more years there, maybe at least then you’ll learn some proper theatrical dialogue routines!!!”

            Marlo was looking at the two oddly dressed people atop the roof with his head cocked to the side, trying to make out what they were doing. “Whad’ya mean by ninnies? Does that mean you don’t like us? Are ya trying to kill us, huh huh huh???” Marlo asked.

            “Ummm…YES! That’s right you little yellow feather-brained nincompoop!” Rogget replied.

            “Ohhhhhhh….Ok then.” Not one second later, five giant paper-thin ninja stars went flying towards the rooftop. They pegged Rogget all squarely in his wizard’s cap. “Just warnin’ ya….Leave us alone, or yer gonna get beat up…Hee. See-ya mister!” With that, Marlo turned around and headed towards the ship.

            “Your not gonna take that are you?!? That little creep just said he was gonna murder you if you so much as tried to follow em’!” Hazel said to Rogget in a rather pressuring tone.

            Rogget looked at her, and the back at the four traveling vagabonds. “Well,” he said as he straightened his cap, “no matter. We’ve got reinforcements this time boys. And we intend to turn you all in.” A huge lightning bolt flashed through the air and zapped Marlo right in the buns. “WOOOO!!! YEEEEOOOOUCH!!” Marlo ran around in circles, and finally jumped into the sea to douse the fire on his buns. Five well armored warriors carrying pikes came from behind the inn. Two of them fished Marlo out of the water while another confiscated his razor sword. “So that’s how the game is played huh?” Darq asked. “Well then…TWO…I mean,” Darq looked around and counted on his finger how many were involved in the fight, “ELEVEN…can play at that game maestro!” Darq whipped out good ole Manus and set it ablaze with his powerful fiery hand, but not after taking a swig from his oh-so trusty flask. Ricarde unfastened his axe from his belt frogs and thongs and held it tightly with both of his hands. Gello tried, but had immense trouble, and got his rapier out of its sheath.  Marlo was foaming at the mouth, barking in an odd bird cry. Hazel flew on her broom down to the battle ground and hopped off. Rogget practically flew off of the rooftop and landed right next to her. Hazel immediately began tossing tiny blades at Darq, Ricarde, and Gello. The three desperately dodged the razors and achieved success. Rogget dashed toward Darq as his unveiled his silver broadsword. Darq’s eyes widened as he quickly flung Manus in front of him and blocked Rogget’s attempt at attacking him. Ricarde charged Rogget and tackled him to the cold stony ground. Marlo chanted in an ancient language until a giant wave of water enveloped him and threw the the warriors around him off a few meters away.. While the little witch was trying to dry herself, Gello mowed her down with his reliable rapier.

            Meanwhile, Rogget was steadily dueling with Ricarde. Clang after clang of mighty sword and axe resounded in the peaceful little capital town of Kronu. The two CoOH,L reserve warriors left, bum rushed Ricarde and pounded on him. Darq stepped in and dealt Rogget an awesome blow to the head with manus, while he was distracted. Rogget fell to the ground and began to slip into unconsciousness. Ricarde grabbed the two warriors attacking him by the hair and slammed their heads together, rendering them defeated. He quickly stood himself up and kicked both of them lying on the ground.

Darq rushed toward Hazel. The tiny witch had flung Gello through a portal, which led to a tavern somewhere in town. She had also disposed of Marlo by teleporting him into the sea once more. Darq, however, was getting impatient and was ready to get out of Kronus. He became stressed. His hair began to stick up and thunder rumbled in the sky above. The fire engulfing his mallet soon flickered and shifted into a peculiar electrical cloud. Darq threw down his mallet and outstretched his arms. He charged Hazel and squeezed her in his hands. The small hag began to cry out as she was electrocuted and literally shocked by Darq’s attack. He tossed her into the air and picked up Manus. When she fell back down, Darq hit the little wench like a baseball and sent her flying through the air and through a building. “Uuugh.” Darq collapsed and fell into a deep slumber. Marlo and Gello made their way back to where the battle was taking place and met with Ricarde, who had threw the unconscious Rogget in a garbage bin and was currently trying to figure out what was the matter with Darq.

            Everyone ended up carrying Darq onto the large ship and continuing the trek south by sea.