Istoria Online- Square One

by Vic Connor

  The voice is firm, yet not unpolite. With a slight Spanish accent.

  I swing on my crutches until I reach the border of the pyramid’s apex, and look downward…

  Appraising Gaze

  …seven armed men, standing in a wedge-like formation, like the tip of an arrow…

  …Mendez and Maldonado, the musketeers, at the outer flanks; Muñoz and Yañez, carrying long pikes, in the middle; Vigo and Lugo, both armed with short swords and rodelas—the small shields favored by Spaniards for fighting at close range. And between the rodeleros stands an old Spaniard noble, tall and slender with a neatly trimmed beard and cold, bright eyes, whose name flashes in dark red over his head: Barboza.

  The old Spaniard bows slightly before he looks up to where we stand. “My name is Don Diego Barboza,” he presents himself in an easy tone. “Which one of you killed Diego Armando, my dearest dog?”

  “Who killed your dog!?” I grit my teeth, part in fury, part in disbelief at his words. “You killed my father!”

  “Ah,” he says. “Well met, Señor Russel.”

  “How do you know my name?”

  Barboza sighs, closes his eyes, and scratches two slender fingers across his forehead, as if saying: “Do we really have to go through this?” He raises his head again and stares at me. “I’ve been watching you,” he explains. “Ever since you and your companions attacked me last week while I was traveling to Villarica. A most cowardly, unchivalrous attack, I’m forced to add.”

  “You” I repeat, feeling a cold fury rising from the pit of my stomach, “killed my father.”

  “But I did not,” he argues. His voice is icy, controlled, and commanding. He points a finger at the pirate. “He did.”

  “Ya lyin’ piece o’ Spanish filth…” Abe growls. “It be yarr Moorish lapdog that paids Wallace to have t’ man dead.”

  “His blood is on your hands, Barboza,” I spit. “And where is your lapdog, by the way?”

  “It appears the blade one of your henchmen stuck between his ribs was poisoned,” he admits.

  Heh. That impish gnome, Inktmeester, seems to be a master of concealing how dangerous he really is.

  “He shall live,” Barboza adds matter-of-factly, “but it will take him time to recover. Which is why I had to endure the trip here and take care of things myself.”

  Lost in her trance, Juanita chants louder and louder, her voice growing more powerful as she channels the pyramid’s energies.

  I sneer. “Truly honored you decided to pay us a visit in person. But we’re a little busy now, as you can see. I don’t suppose we can conclude our business later, by any chance?”

  His voice becomes even icier, but remains calm. “Let’s be civilized and reasonable, Don Russel,” he says. “My underlings caused the demise of your father, an excess for which I may be to blame. But in return, you’ve killed several of my men, slaughtered many of my best dogs, aided some of my property in their escape, and two of your underlings betrayed my hospitality and good faith by stealing from me after I opened my doors to them. Yet I’m willing to put it all behind us and call it even, if you and your friends leave this place and never come back. Which I swear you’ll be able to do alive, should you choose to be civil yourself.”

  “He be havin’ us bled like ‘em pigs as soon as he can, lad,” Abe grunts. “Don’t ya listen to this unhung ape.”

  “How did you find us?” I press.

  “I had you followed, of course,” Barboza says. “That’s why I allowed you to steal from my property and escape,” he adds. “I had a hunch you’d know better than anybody else how to decipher the map your father prized so highly, and you’d lead me to the buried treasure, in a manner of speaking.”

  The rage boils in my veins. “You allowed us to escape? While shooting at us? Allowed us to kill some of your men and your precious dogs?”

  He bows again, as if apologizing. “Every ruse needs some degree of realism, if it is to be successful.”

  “Yarr trice-damned minions,” Abe roars, “killeds our sweet lil’ angel!”

  Barboza rolls his eyes. “Yes, we’ve already established my underlings tend to kill those standing in my way. Like you stand in my way now.” A palpable tension grows among the musketeers, pikemen, and rodeleros. “So what will it be, Don Russel? Shall you leave this place in peace, or shall you leave in pieces?”

  [Surrender] We will take your offer. We’ll stand down and leave this place in peace.

  [Fight] You killed my father. You killed my little sister. I’ll kill you now, plain and simple.

  I don’t like the look of this.

  “This pyramid is the last step. No doubt about it.” I tapped over Barboza on the bird’s-eye view. “He’s the boss here. If we dispatch him, we’ll complete this Act.”

  “But can you, boss?” Sveta asked. “Dispatch them?”

  “He didn’t bring many of his men,” I pointed out. “Although these are his very best, from what I can appraise. Seven of them against four of us… Not great odds, but not bad either. And we hold the upper ground.”

  “Nine,” Sveta clarified.

  “What do you mean?”

  She tapped the bird’s-eye view several steps behind Barboza: two Impious Priests, encased in their black cassocks, stood in the rear.

  “Goddamnit…” I sighed. “My Appraising Gaze missed those.” The Priests had no names; I tagged them as Yellow and Sick Pale, from the insalubrious hue of the auras enshrouding them.

  “A single priest was problematic in the fight against the Lieutenant,” I confessed. “Two are going to be a major pain in the ass.”

  “And it’s only three of you,” she noted. “Your witch seems entranced in her reading. I doubt she’ll be of much help.” She looked over at me. “So the odds are three to one, boss.”

  “We’re not backing down,” I told her. “Not now, when we’re so close. And what guarantee do we even have that the Spaniard will keep his word?”

  “Probably none,” she admitted.

  I crackled my knuckles. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Leave your weapons up there,” Barboza commands. “Come down empty-handed, and I promise I shall let you go in peace.”

  Miyu’s razor-sharp hiss is eloquent enough.

  “You killed my father—” I reply to Barboza…

  Unflinching Calm

  “—now you die.”

  I feel a faint electric surge climb up my feet as I draw my first Langesnuit.

  “¡Muévanse!” Barboza shouts, and his men spring into action: Maldonado, armed with a musket, and Lugo, with a sword and rodela, circle the pyramid from the right…

  …Muñoz, wielding a pike, and Vigo—the other rodelero—flank us from the left…

  …Barboza himself starts climbing the front side of the pyramid with his rapier drawn, surrounded by the remaining pikemen. The last musketeer, Mendez, remains at the foot of the pyramid and raises his weapon.

  They’re smart; I can only shoot down one side of the pyramid.

  But we know this maneuver, too.

  “Abe! Drink your rum and take Maldonado and Lugo on the right!” I bark. “Time to make Barboza pay for all he’s done to us.”

  “Aye, me lad,” the pirate growls. “By death and damnation, it be t’ payback time.” He pulls his Rokovoko bottle out of his rucksack, his bloodshot eyes tracking Maldonado’s and Lugo’s movements along the right side of the pyramid.

  “Miyu—Muñoz and Vigo are yours.”

  The samurai leaps down the steps on the pyramid’s left face, gliding like an eagle after prey, shortening the distance to the pikemen and rodeleros.

  Barboza and Yañez are wasting no time climbing on my side; Mendez, the musketeer stationed at the foot of the pyramid, is getting his weapon ready.

  I set my sights on Barboza’s head…

  Careful Aim

  …coils of greenish-yellow fog, coming from the Yellow and Pale Sick priests, cocoon around him, shielding Barboza from head to th
igh.

  Shit.

  It would be a wasted bullet.

  Abe’s taunts reverberate across the cave. “¡Maldita sea vuestra puñetera Reina!” he yells…

  Sailor’s Curses:

  Success!

  …My Apprising Gaze informs me Maldonado, the musketeer on Abe’s side, has been struck by the pirate’s curse. With a bit of luck, he’ll go berserk and try to go toe to toe with Abe, rather than shoot from a distance.

  Mendez aims at me…

  …no greenish smoky shield for him, from what I can see, so that’s a good target. I aim, pull the trigger…

  Crippling Shot:

  Hit!

  …these guys are tougher than our previous foes: my bullet sinks into Mendez’s left shoulder, but while he recoils in pain and fumbles with his weapon, the musketeer remains in the fight.

  So does Yañez, the pikeman climbing my side of the pyramid. He seems encumbered by his large weapon, but has already climbed half of the twenty-three steps. Barboza has stopped, though, and seems to be brewing some kind of spell—sparks of electric lightning crackle between his hands.

  I hear Miyu’s warcry followed by the now-familiar sound of steel singing against steel and loud curses from Miyu’s foes, Muñoz and Vigo. I wish I could see what’s going on…

  …wait, I’m an idiot. Of course I can.

  On the left side, Miyu had descended at least seven steps. Vigo the rodelero had already suffered a deep gash on his left shoulder and had dropped his rodela, but with his sword still in his right hand, he seemed very much alive and kicking. He’d climbed to the same step where Miyu was waiting, denying the samurai the higher ground advantage. Muñoz the pikeman was three steps beneath them, and was expertly using his lower position to attack Miyu’s feet in an attempt to make her lose her balance.

  On the right side, things weren’t going much better: Lugo the rodelero blocked Abe’s blows with his small, round shield; Maldonado, recovered from the pirate’s taunts, had pulled out his musket and was about to shoot at the pirate from a safe distance.

  Juanita kept chanting and channeling, and it looked like the bluish scar of light had grown.

  “If I can get rid of Barboza and his minions on my side,” I observed thoughtfully, “and go help either Miyu or Abe, we may have a chance.”

  Sveta didn’t look convinced.

  “Do you have a better plan?” I asked.

  She nodded at the blue scar of light shimmering in the middle of the pyramid, which seemed now about three feet tall. “Perhaps retreat could be an option, boss…”

  I measured the distances. I was no more than five paces from the bluish portal. If I moved as fast as I could, I’d likely get there before any Spaniard could reach the pyramid’s top.

  But it was unlikely that Miyu and Abe, now some steps lower and in hand-to-hand combat with the Spaniards, would be able to outrun them.

  “No,” I declared. “We end Barboza here, and we end him now.”

  Yañez the pikeman charged straight at me, leaping over the steps.

  Pistolón time…

  Careful Aim

  …sharp, hot pain bites into my left shoulder: Mendez the musketeer has struck me well and good from the foot of the pyramid. But thanks to my left crutch, I don’t stumble backward…

  …Yañez’s pike is near enough to stab me in the belly…

  …my concentration torn to shreds, I hastily pull the trigger…

  Chest shot:

  Hit!

  …the pistolón’s brutal kickback makes my entire body shudder. My bullet slams into Yañez’s chest like a mule’s kick: He staggers, loses his balance, and tumbles down the stairs.

  My left shoulder burns like hell and bleeds profusely. I place a hand over it…

  Tepatiki:

  Tetsoliui

  …it’s not all bad news, for a change. Healing myself is easier than healing others, and the pain recedes as I feel my gaping wound closing.

  But while I heal, I can’t shoot, and I watch helplessly as Yañez, having rolled all the way down to the foot of the pyramid, is also being cured by the greenish aura from the Yellow and Sick Pale priests. I watch as Barboza collects more and more electric power between his hands. And I watch as Mendez the musketeer finishes reloading his weapon to shoot me again.

  Another musket shot claps and echoes around the cavern. In response, Abe curses and yells in pain.

  Shit.

  I really don’t like the look of this.

  Abe had been shot in his right thigh. An evil grin stretching across his face, Maldonado seemed ready to shoot again. At least Abe had managed to knock out Lugo the rodelero, who now lay with his head cracked open a few steps below the pirate; to engage Maldonado, however, Abe would have to descend several steps with a wounded leg.

  Miyu wasn’t doing much better. She’d had to retreat a few steps, and both Muñoz and Vigo were level with her now, coming at her from left and right. The steps had turned from an early advantage to a severe hindrance for the samurai: Miyu had lost the room to outmaneuver the Spaniards and keep them from flanking her.

  Yañez, the pikeman I had shot down, was nearly back on his feet.

  “You can’t win this one, boss,” Sveta conceded. “It’s either retreat or surrender.”

  “We’re not surrendering to Barboza,” I snarled. “No way in hell.”

  “Well, you can choose to fight until the bitter end, of course.” She looked at me from above her glasses. “I’m not sure if an epic poem will ever be written about your final stand, though. Your friend Barboza didn’t strike me as someone to praise the efforts of those he squishes under his boot.”

  I exhaled slowly.

  A tiny smile played on her lips.

  “All right,” I admitted. “You are correct. Which is your job, I suppose,” I added, trying to smile. “Surrendering is out of the question. He’ll kill us as soon as he gets the chance.” I measured each of our distances to the shimmering blue portal again. “But yes: Live to fight another day, that may be the wise option.”

  “Abe!” I yell. “Miyu! Pull—”

  My words are jammed in my throat as an electric jolt ploughs into my chest, blinding me with pain and sending me flying back.

  My skull slams against the pyramid’s floor, and my sight goes red.

  And amidst the overwhelming agony, I hear Juanita’s whisper inside my head. “It is done, my child! It is open, but it will not hold for long!”

  My skin crawling, my head feeling like an anvil pounded by a ten-ton hammer, and my vision blurry, I grope around, trying to find my crutches.

  I can’t.

  I drag myself on my elbows toward the blue light. “Abe!” I yell at the top of my lungs. “Miyu! Pull back!”

  “Wha’ in blazes—”

  “Come up here!” I bark. “Now! Now, or we die!”

  “¡A por ellos!” Barboza shouts, and I don’t need a translator to know he’s ordering his men to follow us.

  I feel Juanita’s hand on my arm, helping me forward. The blue portal, now as big and tall as a door, stands before me, so close I could touch it if I stretch out my arm.

  “Come, my child!” she urges. “Hurry!” She steps inside the portal, half her body swallowed by the blue light, and beckons me forward.

  I hear heavy footsteps approaching. “Ya be sure ‘bout this, lad?” asks Abe. He has made it to pyramid’s peak, limping: both his leg and his cutlass drip blood.

  “Where’s Miyu?” I groan.

  Her feral kiai answers my question: She’s still entangled in her steel dance with Muñoz’s pike and Vigo’s sword on the left side of the pyramid.

  “¡Que no escapen!” Barboza commands.

  “Hurry, my child!”

  No. Not again. “Go,” I tell her. “I’ll get Miyu.”

  “Young Jake…”

  “I won’t—” I say as I pull Hendricks’ gun from my right hip…

  Unflinching Calm

  “—leave her—”
>
  Careful Aim

  …I watch in slow-motion as Vigo raises his sword, about to strike Miyu from behind just as the samurai blocks Muñoz pike…

  “—behind.”

  Crippling Shot:

  Critical Hit!

  …my shot tears into Vigo’s right elbow, sending his sword flying from his hand in a burst of blood.

  Miyu manages to dodge Muñoz’s pike and reels backward, retreating. Still, Muñoz keeps up the pressure, following closely behind and skillfully using his pike’s length now that both have reached the top.

  A crack of electricity rings out as Barboza, too, reaches the last step. He pauses a few paces from us, a twisted grin in his face, his slender body protected by the greenish mist cast by the priests.

  “Abe!” I bark, “throw your cutlass at him!”

  With both hands and all his strength, the pirate hurls his weapon at Barboza. The cutlass hits the Spaniard straight in the chest: the green shield deflects the blow, but the force of the impact is enough that Barboza loses his footing and stumbles back from the top platform.

  It’s now or never.

  Following Abe’s lead, a swarm of bees furiously attacks Muñoz. Miyu is about to strike the pikeman…

  “No!” I order. “Retreat! Pull back now!”

  The bees return to the portal as Miyu, naginata in a defensive position, jumps to Abe’s side.

  “Ya sure ‘bout this unholy li—?”

  “Stop talking and move!” I yell. Muñoz has recovered from the swarm’s attack, and I can hear Barboza’s electric crackling again. I see his face, twisted in murderous anger and shrouded in greenish mist, as he climbs again to the top…