Garrett looked equally mystified, but said, “Well, I have no problem with going on a tour. Lead the way!”
Nyka nodded and led us out of the Arena through a different doorway than we normally took. I had noticed the doorway before, but it never really occurred to me that it must lead somewhere. We followed Nyka down a different street with a completely different setup than the Argonaut Quarter. It was a lot cozier looking, with actual houses and stores with people streaming in and out of them. Though there were less people, it seemed to be really busy. There were a few people that I could see with wheelchairs and casts.
“The Horatii Quarter?” I guessed. All of the people looked like they could be warriors, but it was a little difficult to tell. There weren’t any weapons in view, but there usually never was unless they were being used.
Nyka gave a slight nod and continued down the street. She greeted a few people as she walked down the street, even shaking hands with one or two of them. We continued to walk down the street, though it was tempting to veer into some of the shops. One of the bakeries had some of the most incredible smells coming from the open doors. It smelled like my mom’s chocolate chip cookies. The combination of the amazing smell and the nostalgia was so enticing that I unconsciously took a step in that direction before falling back in behind Nyka.
Nyka was a natural born tour guide. Not only did she give us the names of the shops and some of the people that we passed, but she also explained the history behind some of them. She even went so far as to identify possible ambush points and blind spots for when we were on guard duty, which really impressed me. I almost felt as if I needed a notepad to write stuff down. I tried to summon one, but no such luck.
When we reached the end of the Horatii Quarter, there was a huge gate that led out of the castle. Nyka pointed at the gate and said, “This is the only way in or out of Argos. This is also the only possible direction from which we can be attacked, which is why the Horatii Quarter is right in front of it. This is where the most recent assassination attempt was, which was about a month ago.”
“I thought Vienna was kidding about that! Who would try to assassinate her?” I asked.
“And why is this the only place Argos can be attacked from?” added Garrett.
“The Dark Legion is always trying to assassinate the leader of the Argonauts. We do it to them and their allies all the time, so it’s only fair that they get a chance too. They aren’t very good at planning them though, so they usually aren’t successful. The whole fortress is protected by some sort of impenetrable barrier. The only hole in the barrier is through this gate. Nobody really knows how it works, but it’s been that way for as long as anybody can remember. It also camouflages the fortress so prying eyes can’t see inside.”
I made a mental note of this, hoping that the spirit might remind me later. I also threw out the whole idea of taking turns on guard duty. It would be just my luck for a big nasty to come out of nowhere during my turn on guard duty . “Where exactly is Argos? I can’t imagine it would be easy to hide an entire fortress.”
Nyka smiled, “That’s the cool part. Argos isn’t connected to anywhere. You know how the Argo was a ship that traveled to wherever Argonauts were needed? Argos appears wherever we are needed and finds hidden places to settle whenever we aren’t. There are hundreds of islands all over the world that nobody knows about, so that’s usually where we end up. It sure is useful though when we have urgent situations to take care of. That is one of the only reasons that we can save people from the Dark Legion. Argos brings us as close as possible to the location where we are needed.”
“That is so cool!” Garret exclaimed. “Will we get a chance to go outside?”
Nyka thought for a moment and then said, “Usually people only go outside when the Edicts assign them a mission. We can take a peek over the wall to see where we are though. Horatii guards are always patrolling the wall to keep an eye out for threats, so a few extra people up there shouldn’t be that big of a deal. We can get a bird’s eye view of the city while we are up there to get you guys acquainted to the layout.”
She led us over to the gate and then into a door next to it. We walked up a stairway and out another door, ending up on top of the wall. The view was incredible. All around us were sandy beaches with crystal clear water. I saw a sea turtle moving along with dozens of fish swimming around. I leaned so far over the palisade that Nyka grabbed my shoulder to make sure I didn’t go over. I have been to Hawaii before, but this place blew it out of the water.
Like Nyka predicted, there was not another human soul in sight other than the two guards watching the bridge that connected to the gate. They gave us quizzical looks but didn’t say anything when they saw Nyka with us. One of them had an eye patch under his helmet. The patch was painted to look like an eye, but it didn’t fool me.
“Wow! This is incredible!” I exclaimed. Garrett nodded in agreement. We watched the sea turtle as it swam with fish swirling around it. We stood there and looked at the scenery in awe.
Suddenly the whole scene disappeared and was replaced by a swirling, black void. I noticed both of the guard’s tense and Nyka frown. It felt like we were moving, but it was hard to tell. “What’s going…” Garrett started to say, before coming to a halt. The darkness dissipated, leaving us in a forest clearing with a large city in the distance. There were massive, dark clouds looming overhead, as if they were preparing to release a torrent of rain. The clouds shielded the clearing from the sun, casting strange shadows on the ground and the trees.
I looked down at the bridge where a small group of people stood. Correction, one person and two humanoid things. It took me a moment to see what was wrong with the other two. For one thing, neither of them had a head. Instead, both of them were shirtless and had faces on their chests. They stood on either side of a very muscular kid who had his hands tied in front of him.
Out of one of those faces came a ragged voice, like someone who had been a smoker for a long time. “Tell your leader that your assassination attempt failed and our leader is alive. This was an official act of war and we will respond in kind. You will regret this act greatly. Though we have never been allies, we haven’t been enemies either. That is going to change.”
The spirit in the back of my head shouted a warning. I immediately dived to the right and tackled the guard standing there as a javelin flew over us. We hit the floor together, and my armor and weapons appeared as I got to my feet. Garrett’s shield was up just in time to block another javelin. Nyka managed to smack one of the projectiles away with her spear.
The other guard with the eye patch wasn’t as fortunate, and one of the projectiles slipped under his buckler and lodged in his stomach. I heard his groan and, before I knew it, I had an arrow nocked. It was pointed at the humanoid on the left and flew straight and true. The arrow hit him right above the eyes where his forehead should be, causing him to drop the javelins he had just drawn. The creatures were able to throw two at a time, like their arms had minds of their own. He reached for two more as if the arrow was nothing more than an annoyance. Before he could pull more javelins out, there was a flash of metal, and he disappeared into darkness!
While they were distracted, their prisoner had escaped whatever bonds they had given him and was swinging the biggest sword that I have ever seen. His bright blonde hair caught the light as he took a swing at the other one, which wisely stepped out of range. Hold on! Big sword! That must be Donovan! That explains why he has been gone! Focus! One thing at a time! Like a drill sergeant barking orders, the spirit called me back to the fight.
The other humanoid turned and ran away as he shouted, “This is only the beginning! You thought the Dark Legion was bad? Wait until…” He was cut off by one of my arrows, which went wide but encouraged him to close his mouth and focus on running. By the time I had another ready, he was out of range.
The guard that I tackled looked at Nyka and said, “Should we send a team to pursue him?”
“No. The
last thing we need to do is walk into an ambush. Go and inform Vienna what happened. Give the order to open the gate as well. Kam, check on Paxton and get him to the infirmary if you can. Garrett, come with me and help me get Donovan inside.”
After a brief pause, all of us snapped to our given jobs.
9
Mystery Solved
GARRETT
I ran down the stairs behind Nyka. Running wasn’t exactly easy in my armor, so I was noticeably slower. By the time I finally caught up to her, she was helping Donovan off of the ground. He was a lot worse off than he had looked from on top of the wall. He was covered from head to toe in little nicks and scratches, like he had run through a bushel of rose bushes. He was bleeding in multiple spots and had a knot the size of my fist on his forehead. His right eye was swollen shut.
It must have taken all of his strength to fight. That is one good warrior. I mentally agreed and rushed over to help Nyka lift him up.
“I got him!” She barked. “You keep your eyes on the tree line. Kill anything that comes out of there.” I nodded and stepped to the edge of the bridge with my sword drawn.
I watched the tree line but couldn’t really see anything. The forest was black as midnight with the clouds overhead. A herd of elephants could be 100 yards away and I would have no idea. I heard Nyka and Donovan begin to stumble towards safety behind me.
I heard a twig snap, which brought my attention to the trees at my right. All I could see were a pair of glowing green eyes. It was like a classic horror movie scene, except the eyes didn’t look malicious. In fact, they radiated intelligence and… protectiveness? Just by the eyes I could tell it didn’t intend to hurt me. The eyes flicked towards Donovan and Nyka, then back at me. It looked like it was trying to say something, but I didn’t understand. Was it telling me to follow them?
Just then a howl echoed through the forest and the eyes disappeared. Across the clearing, four giant wolves walked out of the woods. And when I say giant, I mean they were only slightly shorter than I was.
Their eyes were definitely not friendly, glaring at me like I was their prey. I was pretty sure I saw one lick its lips, but I couldn’t be sure from so far away. They ran towards me at a slow trot, snarling and growling. It almost sounded like they were describing what they were going to do to me in wolf-speak. Or maybe they were calling dibs on which parts of my body they wanted. I didn’t speak wolf, but I got the gist of what they were talking about.
“Uhhh, Nyka? You may want to hurry!” I sheathed the longsword and pulled an axe from my back. It was incredibly light, definitely made for throwing. It had metal axeblades on both sides, but other than that, the rest of it was made of wood. It had a leather grip seemed to fit my hand perfectly. I kept my axe ready, waiting for them to come into throwing range. I was a terrible throw with every ball imaginable, but hey, maybe I have a secret axe-throwing talent. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to happen this week.
As the wolves sprinted towards me, I felt myself shift unconsciously. I fell into a fighting stance, left foot forward and right foot back, like I had done this a hundred times. I heard Nyka behind me calling for help right as the spirit in my head yelled, NOW! I threw the axe as hard as I could and it spun through the air like a boomerang, embedding itself into the wolf on the far right. I grabbed another axe, which had appeared on my back, and hurled it at the wolf in the lead, but they learned quickly. It sidestepped and pounced at me, closing the 15-foot gap between us in seconds. I didn’t have time to pull out my sword or even to reach for another axe, so I instinctively slammed it aside with my shield. I heard the satisfying sound of every bone in the wolf’s face cracking.
The other two were a bit slower, giving me time to pull out my sword. I swung a wide arc, just missing one and slicing through the other. It melted into darkness with a furious growl. The second wolf took a step back, second-guessing his attack. I was starting to think I could win this when a sudden burst of pain erupted in my calf. The one I had shield slammed had gotten behind me and sunk its teeth into me. I yelled in anger and pain and brought my sword around. I slammed it down between the wolf’s shoulders and lost my grip on it as the final wolf pounced on me.
We both crashed into the ground and my recently broken ribs screamed in agony. The snarling wolf’s head covered my vision. The only thing that saved me was my armor, which the wolf was having trouble getting through with its razor-sharp claws. I struggled to get the wolf off of me before finally just smashing my fist into its head with all of my strength, which was enough to get it off.
I sprung to my feet, grabbing at my belt. I groped around for my weapon but grabbed nothing but air. The sword! I glanced over to where the other wolf had limped away with the sword still embedded in it. I refocused on the threat at hand, grabbing for the knife that the Bakshazani had left me. The last wolf was eying me warily, circling slowly around me. It looked at my bleeding leg, as if trying to find a way to exploit the injury. I had nowhere to go and the wolf was evidently coming to the same conclusion.
The wolf gave me one last malicious glare and jumped at me. Time slowed to a crawl as a fresh burst of adrenaline coursed through my veins. This is all I can do to help you for the time being. My powers are at their limit. Make the best of it.
Time slowed as my dagger came up and the wolf’s teeth inched closer and closer to my lightly armored neck. With the last bit of strength that Bione had given me, I jammed the knife into the wolf’s chin and used its momentum to throw it behind me. The light left its eyes and it melted into darkness before it could even touch the ground.
I stood there for a couple of moments, allowing my mind to catch up. I turned in the direction of the two injured wolves. My sword sat serenely in the grass where one of them had crawled away and melted into shadows; the other was crumpled on the ground. I limped over to my sword and picked it up. I stumbled over to the last wolf and said, “You should have left us alone.” With that, I brought the point of my sword down on it.
I stood there for a few minutes, lost in a dream. The adrenaline had worn off, leaving me feeling like I had just gotten hit by a train. I didn’t fall over (that would have been embarrassing), but I certainly didn’t move either. Finally, I heard Nyka’s voice. It sounded like she was speaking through cotton; I had to concentrate on her voice to actually understand her.
“—happened? Are you ok?” In a daze, I looked up into her eyes, noticing but ignoring everyone else. I must have been slightly delirious because all I could think about was her eyes. They were deep blue, piercing blue. They looked like the ocean. They looked better than the ocean.
I mentally shook myself, trying to come out of the daze. It didn’t work. Nyka’s concerned voice broke in, “Garrett?” My heart fluttered. “Garrett, I think I know what happened. Your spirit used its power to make you stronger, right?”
“Yeah! That is exactly what my spirit did! Oh, and I single-handedly killed all of those wolves too because I am amazing! You all saw that, right?” This is what I attempted to say, but what came out was more of a groan/gurgle. Strange, I thought, I don’t typically make that noise.
I again tried to shake myself out of the daze and this time I was a little more successful. I was able to blink my eyes and focus. There was a rather large group of people around me, some looking quizzical, others suspicious, and still others looking mildly impressed. Nyka was the only one who looked genuinely concerned. Almost everyone was looking at the black powder everywhere that used to be the wolves.
I pointed lethargically to the woods, managing to slur out, “I thin’ I got ‘em. Bad dogs.” Looking back on it, I probably sounded really stupid. At the time though, I wasn’t very concerned about it. To my sluggish surprise, the majority of the crowd gasped. A few of them muttered about demon dogs and “Fenrir wolves.” Apparently, I had actually said something that made sense. This world is crazy.
Nyka ignored the whispers and told me in a soothing tone, “Okay now, Garrett? Listen carefully. All that energy
you just used was borrowed. You’re gonna feel pretty terrible for the next hour or so while you repay it. Why don’t you come with me? Food always helps.”
All other thoughts melted away, replaced by one burning desire: FOOD! Did she say food? I think she did! She must have! She started slowly walking away and my body followed automatically. In the back of my head, I wondered what exactly my spirit did, or what the difference was between normal wolves and Fenrir wolves was.
We reached the mess hall at some point; time blurs when you are bone-tired. Food bags were waiting for us, and for the next few minutes my only focus was on filling my stomach with delicious sustenance. I ate my fill, leaned back in the chair, and fell fast asleep.
10
What Did my Brother do This Time?
KAMARON
“My brother did WHAT?!” That was my response to the guy who had come to the infirmary to let me know what happened.
I had gotten Paxton there pretty quickly, which had apparently been a good thing. The medic that was filling in for Nyka said time was of the essence and I needed to get out while he worked.
I walked out of the infirmary just in time to see Nyka walking up to the infirmary with Donovan. I asked her what I could do, and her only reply was, “Stay here and don’t get yourself hurt!” Then she ran back out to check on my brother.
So, there I was, standing outside the door twiddling my thumbs while my brother went to play hero. It seemed like every time he got injured I was just left standing on the sidelines with nothing to do but worry about him like everyone else. I wish for once I would be the one to get hurt really bad so that he would learn his lesson! No wait, I think that came out wrong.
The Wish Box Page 7