“Hand over all yer gold and jewels!” said the bandit in the lead. We were too stunned to react, so we just stood and stared at the bandits. The bandits looked at each other uncertainly and one of them suggested, “Maybe they are deaf?’
The lead bandit scratched his head with the end of his pistol (Do NOT do that at home!) and muttered, “Errrrr… This complicates things. Do any of you lads know sign language?” He looked at the other bandits, who all shook their heads and shrugged.
I shook off the surprise and said, “Ummm, we aren’t deaf.”
“Oh! Well why didn’t you say so!” He cleared his throat, “Now, hand over yer gold and your jewels!”
Hector stepped forward. “We have neither of those. What are bandits doing in California? For that matter, what are bandits doing in this time period?”
The leader stood up a little straighter and said defensively. “Bandits and highwaymen never go out of style! I will have you know that we are part of a family that has been bandits for generations! None of these folks have any respect for lineage! That other group didn’t either!”
Kam interrupted his tirade, saying, “Other group? A boy and a girl?”
“It was a boy and TWO girls!” said a bandit from the back of the group. The lead bandit shook away the comment, saying, “But that doesn’t matter! They had no respect for our legacy! They disrespected us right up until they escaped! Why, we have been pillaging people for centuries! We draw our lineage back to the famous Manny the Slayer!” He lowered his voice menacingly when he said that, like he was announcing a monster truck or something. All of the other bandits shouted in agreement.
I looked at Hector and Kam quizzically, but they shook their heads. “Who?” I asked.
“Argh! That’s what the other ones said too! No respect! None of you have any—”
Kam interrupted him again, “Why did you let them go? If they were so, erm, disrespectful, how did they get away?”
The bandit leader looked at the ground at his feet, but one of the other bandits spoke up for him, “They tricked us by telling us that they were our distant cousins.”
The leader turned on the other bandit and yelled, “We still don’t have any proof that they aren’t! Our family has spread far and wide!” The highwaymen began to argue amongst themselves, splitting into two groups. One group seemed to be agreeing that they were distant cousins, while the other group was saying it was just a trick.
I shared confused looks with my companions. We had a quiet conversation while the bandit family was busy arguing and agreed that our best bet would be to trick the brigands ourselves. After all, they didn’t seem very bright.
When the bandits finally stopped arguing and turned their attention back to us, we were ready to implement our plan. The bandit leader turned on us angrily, “GAH! We will argue about this later! You! Hand over all of yer valuables! Quickly now!”
Hector held up a hand and said, “Wait! We are part of your family too! Don’t you remember us? We are your aunt’s husband’s brother-in-law’s cousins twice removed. I can’t believe you don’t remember us from the last family reunion.”
“Really?” the leader said incredulously, but his gun lowered anyway. The other bandits howled behind him. “Prove it!” one of them yelled.
Hector shrugged, “Well, I guess it’s not surprising that y’all don’t remember. You were pretty drunk that night.” This was obviously an educated guess, which was risky. Fortunately, a few of the less bright highwaymen nodded slowly. Most of the bandits still weren’t sure, but Hector was beginning to sway the crowd. Seriously, this guy missed his chance in Hollywood.
“Well,” said the lead bandit, “we can’t rob our own kin. Still, it seems odd that we would run into family twice in one day.” One of the would-be-bandits that was on the brighter side finally yelled, “That’s because they are tricking you Bobby-Joe!”
The leader whirled on him, but before that could begin arguing again, I stepped forward. “That’s right Bobby-Joe! Remember, our umm… kin have spread all over the place! Heck, we have even made it to Antarctica last I heard from Aunt Lucy.” (I actually do have an Aunt Lucy, but she doesn’t live in Antarctica.)
The leader looked stunned, “See? He knew my name! That proves that they are family.” Seriously, he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed…
Before the more sensible of the robbers could point out their leader’s mistake, the rest of them swarmed us, roughly patting us on the backs and shaking our hands. We did our best to smile and growl and whatever else seemed natural. The intelligent bandits started to speak up, but before they could sway the crowd I yelled, “Hey! That’s not nice! You shouldn’t say stuff like that about Bobby-Joe!”
I had leaned in closer to the guy that had argued with the bandit leader. I said it loud enough that the rest of the bandits went quiet. Bobby-Joe’s face turned red. “What? What did he say about me?”
I shrugged my shoulders and did my best to look reluctant as I said, “Well, he said that he would make a better leader than you. He said you are too stupid to be a good leader.” The bandit next to me howled in outrage, but he was quickly drowned out by the angry yelling of all of the other bandits.
Kam and Hector caught on, and they loudly commented on the rude gestures and unfair accusations of the bandits against each other. They said things like, “Hey, that’s not nice!” and “You shouldn’t call him that!” The bandits were confused at first, but soon they were getting angry and yelling at each other. Before long, the bandits started to make real rude gestures towards each other.
There was so much yelling going on that the smartest of the bunch couldn’t be heard above the clamor. A couple of bandits tried to yell and point at us, but nearby bandits misunderstood and thought they were trying to insult us. Pushing and shoving ensued, and by the time we began to walk away, the bandits had descended into fist fights and name calling.
Five minutes later we could still hear them fighting from a long way down the road. I finally spoke up, “So, what myth, legend, or folktale did they come from?”
Hector laughed, “None! That is just normal weirdness right there. Sometimes the craziest things come from the most normal places. I don’t think anybody could make that stuff into a story.” Garrett and I chuckled. Maybe the Argonaut world wasn’t that different from the normal world after all.
The sun was in front of us, slowly heading for the horizon in the distance. I didn’t realize how much time we had spent with the bandits. Hector seemed to have realized this too, because he said, “We lost time with those bandits. Hopefully we didn’t fall too far behind Nyka. I would really like to catch up with them before they reach the mountains.”
We walked until the sun was nearly gone and then stopped to set up camp. Hector looked towards the city and said, “We should hit the city tomorrow evening and hopefully catch Nyka and Donovan at the same time. With any luck, we will meet Vienna by the end of the week!”
I nodded and sat down on my sleeping bag. I munched on leftover grapes for a few minutes before finally going to sleep.
22
Whoops!
KAMARON
I didn’t really like that Garrett took a second watch so that I could sleep in last night, so I decided to pay him back. I intentionally waited until he fell asleep and then asked Hector to let me take Garrett’s watch. Hector agreed, making it pretty obvious that he couldn’t care less. With that, I went straight over, climbed into my sleeping bag, and fell right to sleep.
Unlike the previous night of dreamless sleep, this time I went straight into a dream meeting. Two warriors stood before me, partially translucent and glowing. It was difficult to make out details, but I could still tell that one of them was much larger than the other.
“Hello you two” said a voice I didn’t recognize. The voice was deep and powerful and seemed to come from the larger of the two warriors; though, it was hard to tell. Wait, two?
The other spoke, “We have some advice to give yo
u before the coming fight tomorrow.” This voice I recognized. It was Phelix. “There is something amiss, something that is missing that will be revealed tomorrow. Prepare yourselves, each of you will have to make a decision tomorrow that will directly affect the safety of the world.”
I looked to my left and made eye contact with Garrett. We were apparently sharing the dream, which was new to me. I guess being an Argonaut always keeps you on your toes. I turned my attention back to Phelix and the other spirit, who I assumed was Bione.
“We cannot tell you what the decision will be because we honestly do not know. Also, be aware that there are other entities in play that you may not know about. Both Phelix and I believe that there is some unseen person behind the scenes moving chess pieces. Until this person reveals themselves, we really can’t be sure what their plans are. Until that time comes, rely on each other and on us. We are all stronger if we are working together.”
I nodded in agreement and the dream faded away. I awoke with Hector standing over me. He whispered, “You must have been having a good dream. I thought for a second that you weren’t going to wake up. You’re up for watch, like you asked. Good night.”
With that, he flopped down on his sleeping pad and within a few minutes I could hear his heavy breathing. The night was completely silent other than the crackling of the fire and the breathing of my comrades. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and with no light other than the fire you could see every star in the sky. I stared at them for a long time. It had been a while since I had seen them this clearly.
They reminded me of the times I had gone camping with my dad. My mom was not a huge fan of the outdoors, but my dad loved it. He would take us camping at least twice every summer. We got really good at wilderness survival because of that. I remember always being able to look up into the sky and see the stars really clearly. At one time, my dad taught me about the constellations and some of the stories behind them. A lot of his stories about the constellations had a basis in mythology, which he knew that I loved.
To my surprise, I started to tear up. The thought of my dad brought back all the pain that I had been bottling up. For the first time, I allowed myself to miss them. I really did miss them. My dad with all of his jokes and puns, my mom’s smile and soft, caring voice. I allowed myself a few minutes to get lost in the memory. That was a mistake.
A voice spoke behind me, “Your grief. I can smell it. I have been tracking you by your grief for days.” I turned and a hand came out of the darkness, smacking me aside. My feet left the ground and I landed on the hard path. I shouted an alarm and saw the figure for the first time.
“No… You’re dead! I killed you!” I yelled at the Bakshazani. He smiled with malice, his eyes glowing red like a forest fire in the night. In anger, I screamed at him and pounced. My daggers appeared in my hands and I brought them down on his head. He caught me by my hands lazily, as if I was just a gnat that was bothering him.
“Hahahahaha! I can’t believe you really thought I was dead. I don’t go down that easily.” He held me up so that I was nose to nose with him. His breath smelled like rancid sardines and his eyes burned with glee. Where was my backup? I tried to look for my brother, but I couldn’t see him. “Looking for your companions? They are preoccupied at the moment.” I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew it wasn’t good.
I struggled to get out of his grip, but he was too strong. He smiled at me again and pulled a jeweled dagger from his belt. It was the same dagger that Garrett had! I was sure of it! He raised it and I knew that nothing was coming to save me. “Get ready to meet your parents!”
He swung his dagger and, in a rush of what sounded like flapping wings, the dagger got knocked out of his hands mid-swing! “Wha—!” He tried to say, before something smashed into him. I was thrown aside and I landed on the ground again. This time, I had my armor and was able to recover much faster. Still, getting thrown around was starting to get annoying.
The first rays of sunlight shined on the battle going on between the Bakshazani and a winged figure. I finally got a glimpse of the angelic person. It was the blonde girl I had seen right after my fight with the Banshee! I watched her while she flew around with wings as large as I was. She was wearing full armor that contoured perfectly to her lithe figure. She was small in comparison to the Bakshazani, but her wings made them almost even. Using her wings to maneuver around, she slashed at the Bakshazani and then jumped back to avoid his attack. When the Bakshazani got too close, she would use her wings to push him back.
I realized that I was standing there like an idiot when I should have been doing something. Find your brother! Phelix shouted in my head. Garrett! Where is Garrett? I knew I should probably help the person who just saved my life, but she seemed to be doing pretty well on her own. I had to find my brother and make sure he wasn’t hurt. That was my job. That was my promise.
I was disoriented from getting tossed around, but I finally turned in the direction of the campsite and found the army standing there. It was a mix of Acephali, Fenrir wolves, animal-human hybrids, and lots of other horrible, disfigured creatures I didn’t recognize. They seemed to be very disorganized, more like a mob than an organized army. Most of them were weaponless and unarmored, but they still seemed dangerous enough. Some of the more human looking ones carried crude swords, spears, and shields, while a couple of others were fully armored and well equipped. They seemed to be the leaders of individual squads within the army, but it was impossible to tell for sure with the constantly moving mass of monsters.
At the front of the mob were two Acephali with their spears at Garrett’s neck. “Move and he dies! Call off your angel demon!” yelled the lead Acephali. Despite the serious situation, I almost snickered at the oxymoron. I muttered under my breath, “Hey Phelix, a little help?” I heard what sounded like a chuckle and took that as a yes.
I raised my hands and the bow appeared with an arrow already nocked and drawn. It sunk between the eyes of the Acephali on the left before he could even blink. The one on the right disappeared in a flash of silver. Where he used to be, there stood a small, metallic silver dog. Wait, no, not a dog. It was a fox! The arrow still wasn’t enough to put the Acephali down, but it distracted him long enough for Garrett to draw his sword and cut him down.
Garrett turned and faced the army, ready for any monster that was feeling brave. The fox did some sort of growl at the rest of the evil army and shuffled in next to Garrett. Garrett glanced at the dead Acephali I had shot. “Thanks! Nice shot!”
I walked up next to him and nocked another arrow, staring down the rest of the evil army. “Where is Hector?” The army seemed to be warier of the fox than of me, but either way, they didn’t attack.
“I don’t know. He wasn’t around when I woke up with a blade to my throat. Your warning was just a touch too late.” His armor had appeared and he had replaced his sword with an axe. The army in front of us tensed, as if getting ready to attack. I pulled the string back, ready to ruin somebody’s day. There was no way I could defeat the entire army, but I could definitely take a few of them with me. I could also give Garrett a better chance, however slim it might be. Before anything could happen, I heard a scream of pain behind me.
My angel friend landed next to me, blood streaming from her right wing and staining her white feathers. Blood was also coming out of the corner of her mouth, which she swiped at with the back of her hand. She shakily got to her feet and said, “Well, I believe we have lost the element of surprise. Now is when we run.” She turned to the fox. “Ranger? You know what to do!”
I thought I saw the fox smile, but I couldn’t be sure (Can foxes even smile?). In a flash of silver, he disappeared into the army. What followed was absolute chaos. He ran at light speed through the Dark Legion ranks, stopping just long enough to bite, knock over, and generally annoy individual monsters in the group. They became enraged, trying to attack him and hitting their allies instead! They were packed so densely together that whatever they did simply hit
their fellow monsters. After doing this for a couple of seconds, Ranger ran away from us and the army followed, completely forgetting about us.
“NO! You idiots! Come back here!” The Bakshazani yelled after his army. We turned on him, and it dawned on him that he was now outnumbered. “We will meet again. Next time, I won’t be nearly so gentle!” He melted into shadows with a hiss of hatred.
The girl turned to us. “Let’s go. Nyka and Donovan aren’t too far ahead. They will be happy to see you two. Let’s meet up with them and figure out a game plan while we have a chance. That army is going to figure out their mistake eventually.”
Just like that, her wings folded into her back, her armor disappeared, and she looked like your average blonde haired blue-eyed teenage girl. I finally said, “I am definitely not arguing that we need to move away from the giant army, but we are supposed to bring Nyka and Donovan to justice, not ask them for help.”
The girl’s eyebrows furrowed, and she asked, “Bring them to justice? For what?”
Garrett spoke up, “We will explain on the way. I want to get as far away from here as possible.”
“Agreed,” said the girl and I at the same time. We grabbed our bags and got moving, all the while explaining what happened at Argos before we left.
23
A New Definition of Frenemy
GARRETT
The girl was a really good listener. She never once interrupted us, and by the looks that kept crossing her face, she really wanted to. She seemed very surprised that we were searching for Nyka and Donovan because they were traitors. The more I explained the story and saw her facial expressions, the less I wanted to believe it.
We were just getting to the part about the abandoned town and the Banshees when Ranger arrived. In a silver streak, he was there. He looked at the girl and gave a little yip. I knew what that meant.
The Wish Box Page 14