Conflict (Part 2)
1173 Words
“Why did his projection turn red?” Axel asked Jack, who stared at Ender with a worried face.
“It means this projection is being shown in the entire empire now,” he explained. “Not just Bluegate. This cannot be good.”
“To all assassins and bounty hunters from Rayfort to Rovan,” Ender proclaimed. “Our gates are open to you! Axel Brooks is a very dangerous terrorist! Find him and kill him, and you will be awarded with five million Argens!”
“Five million Argens?!” Jack exclaimed. “This means every bounty hunter from across the empire will be entering Bluegate to kill you! He’s painted a massive target on your back, mate!”
“And to Axel,” Ender said in a lower voice. “You and the rebellion’s vain attempts to kill me are amusing, but they end now. People will celebrate the end of your pathetic life. I will see your bloodied corpse paraded across my streets. You’ll share the same sad fate as your parents. That is my promise to you.”
Right as the projection went away, another explosion took place, destroying Jack and Axel’s cover and throwing them on the road. They regained their senses, got up and looked at the source. They saw Belle and Luna fighting against three warriors. The enemies were covered in strong yet light armour, and wielded two swords, one in each hand. Axel noticed a mage floating above, charging a massive fireball with a staff, staring right at him.
Just as he threw the fireball towards him, Axel stopped it in mid air using telekinesis with his staff. He threw it back at the mage, but he tried to do the exact same thing, and caught the fireball with telekinesis before it burnt him to a crisp. Axel flew in the air and the two began struggling for the sphere of flames.
The enemy mage suddenly waved his staff downwards, and the fireball began falling down on the ground. Jack noticed this and immediately created a large force field between the three warriors on the ground and Belle and Luna, which quickly grew in size and pushed the two away. Axel turned the fireball in the direction of the three fighters, who jumped to dodge, but in vain. The fireball created another large explosion that immediately killed one of the fighters and threw the other two back.
While Axel was looking down to make sure Belle and Luna were OK, the enemy mage shot towards Axel, and swung his staff with glowing energy. He knocked Axel straight into the jaw. Axel flew back, but balanced himself in mid air and pointed his staff at the enemy. He created a decoy of himself right where he was hovering; and then turned invisible and flew to the side. The mage blindly attacked the decoy, and went right past him. Axel summoned a strike of lightning from the air on the mage, who fell towards the ground. He then raised his staff in the air, holding it with both hands and charging it with energy; then shot down on the ground, and slammed his staff into the mage, creating a giant blast of white energy that evaporated the enemy mage.
In the distance, Belle and the twins were engaged in a battle with the remaining two swordsmen. Luna focused on one of the fighters, parrying all of his attacks with her dagger. She then went invisible and stepped right through the fighter and stabbed him in the back, then slit his throat, killing him. Belle and Jack fought the other one; Jack created small force fields while parrying with his swords to confuse him. Belle used this to s***h up the fighter’s armour. Jack then created a convex force field which pushed the swordsman backwards. He immediately tried to get up, but Jack hurled a small white orb at him, which pushed him back with a ton of force. He crashed into the nearby notice board, and as he lay on the ground, Belle drowned him with flames, and all that remained was a blackened corpse.
The four regrouped. Belle looked really tired but still ready for a fight.
“Who were they?” Belle asked, panting. “What’s going on? People have been trying to kill me for the past few hours! My team is dead!”
“They were bounty hunters,” Luna said. “Ender must’ve already alerted the ones in Bluegate to your presence, Axel.”
“Well, why did they attack me?” Belle said.
“That may be because of us,” Jack told her. “You see, when we protected Axel from the assassin, the king must have inferred that the rebellion is helping him. The bounty hunters are now after us as well.”
“Well maybe there is a way to fix this,” Axel suggested. “Your rebellion shouldn’t suffer because of me. I can distract the bounty hunters. You can deal with the guards-”
“Axel, stop,” Luna said. “Don’t say ‘your rebellion’. You are as much a part of it as the rest of us. And you can’t let yourself be hunted down and killed for us to progress.”
“I won’t be hunted down and killed. I can handle some-”
“No, you can’t. The entire empire is trying to hunt you down. Your best bet is with us.”
Axel sighed. “Fine. I don’t agree, but we don’t have enough time to argue.”
“Well, what’s our next move?” Belle said. “Whatever it is, we need to act on it quick.”
“What if we retreat to the safehouse?” Jack said.
“Jack, there are guards converging on our position right now,” Luna said. “And bounty hunters are scouring the entire city looking for us. Going back to the safehouse will lead them right back to us.”
“Well, staying out in the open isn’t very safe either,” Axel said. “We’ll be picked off one by one.”
“I think we go ahead with the raid as planned,” Luna said. “We split into two teams. Only we won’t be splitting into two for the raids.”
“What do you mean?”
“One team will fight the bounty hunters, while the other raids the tower and Economic Square. The rebels in nearby safehouses will provide support; I can’t have the people storming out of the hideout and revealing its position.”
“I don’t know sis,” Jack said, “Can we fend off against the bounty hunters and fight legions of guards at the same time?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. But unless any of you can come up with a better plan right now, this is the one we’re going with.”
The whole team thought for a moment.
“No? That’s what I thought. Belle, you’re with me; we’ll go against the bounty hunters. You two will conduct the raids. I’ll tell the rebels near the tower to be ready when you arrive. Once we’re done, we’ll regroup behind the Roven inn.”
“An inn?” Axel asked.
“It’s actually a front for the rebels.”
“Oh.”
Luna paused for a second. “Wait, I almost forgot. Belle, you did retrieve the weapons right? Are they still intact?”
“Absolutely,” Belle said. “I hid them next to an abandoned shop. It’s on the way to the tower.”
“Convenient,” Jack said. “Is everyone ready?”
“Yes,” Axel replied.
“As I’ll ever be,” Belle said enthusiastically.
“Good,” Luna said. “Let’s show the imperials their end is upon them!”
- Writer
