Night had begun to fall by the time that the Insurgent Leader had awoken, barely able to move his sore, stiff self. His armor had been stripped from him, leaving him in a light-weight shirt and light-colored pants. Laid delicately on a long blanket, he stared at the canopy of branches for a few moments before casting an inquisitive look to the campfire that had been started. Resting a hand on his stomach, he stifled a groan as he felt a jolt of pain run down his arm.
“He’s awake,” the Advisor observed from a ways away. She stood with her hip jutted out to the side, machine gun strapped to her side. “Overlord! He’s awake!” Though his vision was hazy, he saw the Advisor’s hand grab the handle to her gun. A ways off, he spied what he thought was Sexist- either peeing on a tree or doing some other awkward thing. The Overlord was a ways away, though had turned her attention to the Advisor. The Grasshopper was busy poking the flames with a stick, giggling as the stick caught fire.
As the Insurgent Leader sat up, a hand shoved him gently back down. Glancing up to see the Soul-Keeper grinning and waving at him, the Insurgent Leader’s gaze darkened. The Overlord was next to the Soul-Keeper a few blinks later, and leaned over her younger brother with a rather stern expression. Holding out a hand, she quirked an eyebrow, “Truce?”
“With you?” the Insurgent Leader asked, apprehensively staring at her hand.
“No, with the Easter Bunny,” the Overlord retorted, but felt a wave of relief as the Insurgent Leader shook her hand. She plopped down next to him, shooting a semi-wary glance at where Sexist was leaning against a tree, attempting to either look cool or brooding and failing. She sighed, giving the others a pointed look to leave them alone. As the Soul-Keeper trundled off, the Overlord muttered, “What are we doing, Thomas? We’re taking things way too far.”
“What are we doing? We’re fighting a war,” the Insurgent Leader replied, mistrust evident in his dark brown eyes, “The same war we’ve been fighting forever. The war for freedom.”
“So what. The perspectives have changed?” the Overlord’s voice was light and airy, “Or have they stayed the same all this time?” She twirled a blade of grass in her fingers without even looking, casting her gaze about the ruined Insurgents’ camp. When the Insurgent Leader said nothing, the Overlord glanced out of the corner of her eye at him, “You don’t belong with the Dark Ice Brotherhood. And you know it. Your regret is clear.”
“How?” the Insurgent Leader asked simply.
“Inconcessus ars,” the Overlord muttered, so that no one else could hear the words. Glancing at him knowingly, she shrugged her shoulders, rolling them a few times, then sighed, a tuft of dark brown hair blowing in the wind, “So you panicked? Is that it? You can claw your way out of this one, but it won’t be easy.”
“You want me to join the ANF,” the Insurgent Leader quirked an eyebrow, “Is that why you tried to find me?”
“I came to find my brother,” the Overlord said firmly, losing all daintiness in her voice, “And I did find him. A broken, half-crazed idiot, but my brother all the same. And I came here for his help. Will I get it?” She looked at him levelly, eyes unblinking as they bore into his. The Insurgent Leader noted something different about her, whether it was the blood flecked around her features despite washing off after the battle or the determination in her gaze.
“And I’m broken and half-crazed?” the Insurgent Leader painfully stood up, using a nearby tree to support himself. The Overlord, in pure silence, followed suit, though merely watched him expectantly. “The Nemesis is not what you think. He’s stronger. Slyer. Difficult to pinpoint,” the Insurgent Leader exhaled loudly. “I’m not quite sure what goes on in his head.”
“He wanted my soul. That’s all I know,” the Overlord retorted, “And to be honest? That’s all I care to know.”
“Really?” the Insurgent Leader asked quietly, watching her carefully, “Are you sure?”
“Really,” the Overlord said apathetically, “He’s an enemy. I’ll defeat him like any other. Doesn’t matter what else he wants with me. Just have to put him down,” the Overlord gazed at her brother, then at the surrounding woods. It was suddenly very quiet, all except for a sneeze that the Overlord predicted came from the Soul-Keeper.
“Let me return to him,” the Insurgent Leader suggested, breaking the silence. The Overlord’s pupils flicked in his direction, a spark of an idea glittering on her features. Lip curling, she could tell what her brother was about to suggest. Perhaps they were related after all... “I can work from within DIB’s ranks.”
“Excellent,” The Overlord’s hand clasped the Insurgent Leader’s shoulder. He stared at her, blinking a few times before coming to an almost impossible realization. Eyes snapping wide, the Insurgent Leader stopped breathing- just for that moment, as he lowered his head slightly- lowered it to look down upon the Overlord. A fleeting smile crossed his features, just moments before the big, toothy grin.
“I’m taller than you.”
“What?”
“I’m taller than you!”
“Don’t be ridic-”
“No. I’m looking down at you!”
Staring at the Insurgent Leader with wide eyes, the Overlord’s dawning of realization came alongside a feeling of immense anger, coupled by a mere refusing to acknowledge the statement as being true. Eyes narrowing, the Overlord’s hand dropped from her brother’s shoulder, folding with her other arm as she turned her head away defiantly, declaring, “You’re lying. You’re a midget.”
“How tall are you?” the Insurgent Leader demanded.
“5’5. And three-quarters,” the Overlord answered nonchalantly.
“I’m 5’6!” the Insurgent Leader laughed triumphantly.
“... Proves nothing. You’re still shorter than me,” the Overlord turned on her heel and began to walk away, waving a hand as she went, “Weren’t you infiltrating the DIB forces?” Stopping on the edge of the clearing, the Overlord angled her head (mainly for dramatic effect) to where the Insurgent Leader was on the verge of her peripheral vision.
The Insurgent Leader grinned, clearly smug with himself, “I suppose so.”
---
And there Fort Effort stood, diligently watched by a platoon of armor-clad knights on horseback, though some trailed the walltops of the fort. The Ninja-Lord stood in the shadows of the crags and cliffs, silver hand concealed by long black gloves to prevent her from being spotted. “There’s seven on the walls,” she murmured, looking back at where the Lieutenant and the Captain were setting up a cannon hidden in the cliffs. As the two bickered, the Ninja-Lord huffed a sigh, drawing her katana and glancing off at where the ANF forces were hidden further back into the hills. “A battle we can win will require a lot of sneakiness.”
“Sneakiness? That’s our specialty,” the Lieutenant remarked in a rather sincere tone.
“Pfttttt, don’t lie,” the Captain retorted, “We’re not experts in demolition- the Sabotage Team is there for that. But they’re with Jamie right now. We’re really just experts in blowing crap up.”
“This is true,” the Lieutenant conceded with a shrug of his shoulders.
“For being zombie slayers, you sure haven’t been doing your job,” the Ninja-Lord remarked dryly.
“Hey now, just because the author doesn’t want zombies in her story at this present moment, doesn’t mean there won’t be zombies later,” the Lieutenant reminded her, looking through a sniper rifle at the armored soldiers pacing the walltops. “None of these people look like Insurgents.”
“The Nemesis must’ve withdrawn them after the last battle,” the Ninja-Lord replied, “They’re all Blondie’s henchmen. Stupid grunts and their clanky armor. They’re nothing against guns.”
“I see a few... Holy crap, I think my scope is jacked up,” the Captain frowned, looking through his own sniper rifle at the walls of Fort Effort. “I’m picking up random orbs of light. Different colors. Looks like energy?” He shot the Ninja-Lord a questioning look.
“Dang it! Pharisee must be here, too. Too bad the Evocator is with Jamie!” the Ninja-Lord gritted her teeth, “That’s the angle, isn’t it? I knew it’d be too easy if the Nemesis just had Blondie here. Jester and the Rebel Commander might be nearby, too. But that’d leave the Fortress defenseless.”
“Uhhh negatory, Ninja-Lord. I definitely saw a group of dragons flying about. Not the sort of defenseless I’m used to,” the Captain answered, setting his sniper rifle to the side. “The Twin must’ve started her approach by now. Hidden among the cliffs- good idea, eh?”
“It is... Until someone plunges to their death,” the Lieutenant retorted with a half of a laugh.
“And Centurion Ifill’s forces are coming to the front now!” the Ninja-Lord hissed, gazing at where the second-in-command stood on her horse before half of the ANF forces. Smiling to herself, the Ninja-Lord drew up her hood from her ninja uniform, thinking to herself, ‘A two-pronged attack. Pharisee and Blondie won’t see it coming.’ Glancing back at the Lieutenant and the Captain, the Ninja-Lord cocked an eyebrow, “And so you two will re-join our forces when...?”
“The gates are blown up,” the Captain gave the Ninja-Lord a thumbs up, grinning from ear-to-ear. “In which case, we’ll meet up with you and the Twin to kick some serious ass in this next battle.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” the Ninja-Lord nodded, then hopped down from the small cliff the two were situated upon. The sky was a dark crimson, the sun pulsing from behind the veil of gray clouds. She moved alongside the shadows, ducking behind boulders and sliding down slopes whilst making as little noise as possible. Katana in hand, she cast a glance at the cliffs once more, catching brief sight of Shinobi leading the other two ninjas alongside the Twin. Unfortunately, she had to run the outer gate battlefront. Sneaking into the base was all up to the Twin.
Stealthily slipping into the ANF ranks, the Ninja-Lord emerged alongside Centurion Ifill, standing next to the warhorse she rode. As the ANF forces halted quite a number of yards before the Fort Effort gates, the Ninja-Lord caught sight of one of the elemental summons brought to the field by Pharisee. Twirling her katana deftly, the Ninja-Lord proclaimed, “In the name of the Overlord... It’s time you surrendered this fort, DIB!”
“And who is to say otherwise?” a voice rang from the walltop. The Ninja-Lord didn’t have to look up to realize it was Blondie. From behind her mask and hood, the Ninja-Lord smiled, though not joyously. A bitter, stinging gleam took to her blue-green eyes and she dropped into a fighting position.
“Bring it.”
She was echoed with:
“Dark Ice Brotherhood forces! Attack!”
---
The Twin had made her way across the cliffs with relative ease- though found herself holding up the ninja team, who was accustomed to moving through such terrain quickly. Fish and McCoy were accompanying her as her main bodyguards, Fish equipped with a sword and his chains while McCoy merely carried his machine gun. The Twin led the way primarily, moving swiftly and silently along the small path that wove through the craggy hills. The trail led to a cliff that overlooked part of Fort Effort’s interior- the part she needed to enter in order to reclaim her position as its owner.
“I wonder if we’ll meet much resistance,” Fish brought up in his typical quiet voice.
“Blondie never struck me as one to keep a lot of guards around. And if he did, they’d all be at the front by now. Quite a show they’re putting on, eh?” McCoy remarked, glancing back over his shoulder. Holding his hat steady with a hand as the wind blew violently through the cliffs. Walls of rock surrounded the troops as they marched, eventually blocking their view of the front of Fort Effort.
“I’m not worried about Blondie,” the Twin said suddenly, holding up her hand to slow the troops. “Pharisee is more... conniving.”
“Ooh. Conniving,” McCoy chuckled, “We’re even more so conniving if you think about it. Using secret passages like this.” He petted Mooka atop his head very thoughtfully, then shrugged, “Y’know, the only flaw I could see with this plan is that the DIB forces realize you’re not even out there on the battlefield and suspect a sneak attack.”
The Twin glanced over her shoulder, frowning, but shrugging, “It’s possible,” she agreed, resting a hand on a rock and raising an eyebrow as she peered over the edge of an overhang before continuing down the path, “We’ll just have to hope.”
“Hope. That’s cute,” McCoy sighed, tipped his hat, then watched as the Twin slowed to a halt, bow strung with an arrow. Looping and knotting a piece of rope around the neck of the shaft, the Twin aimed at a wall facing the hidden path, crouched down so that she was not spotted by the guards.
“We break in now,” the Twin’s breath was quiet, yet firm, her fingers releasing the arrow with deadly precision. Embedding itself into the wall of the guard tower, the arrow protruded awkwardly from the stone, a few feet over an armored knight’s head. The Twin tied the loose end of the rope around a large boulder, grinning mischievously all the while.
“Am I going to even calculate the odds of the success of this sneak attack?” Fish remarked under his breath as the Twin flung a scarf over the taut rope and began to descend towards the walltop. Fish sighed, blew a tuft of hair from his eyes, then glanced at McCoy, “I think it’d be best if we just left the odds out.”
“Agreed,” McCoy fastened his hat atop his head, wincing as pulled his trenchcoat off. Flinging it over the rope, he winced as Mooka drove his nails into his shoulder, but didn’t say a word. “It doesn’t seem like this entire story is very likely to begin with.” He offered a shrug to Fish, then followed the Twin onto the walltop, ducking as she sent a guard flying overhead with a with-placed kick to the stomach.
---
“Well this sucks,” the Apprentice muttered from where she was crouched next to Jamie and the Evocator. Though shrouded by a thick veil of bushes, the lights from lanterns could be seen illuminating the pathway. The silhouettes of armored warriors, mounted upon horses, could be seen in the dim light, the canopy from the forest blotting out most of the light from the sky.
“These are just normal foot soldiers. We could take these guys out really quickly,” the Witch complained softly from where she was sitting back, leaned against a tree and halfway shrouded by shadows. Picking at her nails and watching the guards patrol dully in the night, she stifled a snort of disdain before quietly rising to her feet.
Jamie’s hand cut her off from speaking, or making a move for that matter, “Wait.” Her signal to stop changed to a point up ahead, “The map marks this path as the quickest to Kvatch-” there was giggling inserted here, “... And it’s on a hill...” Her finger pointed to a hill upon the horizon, “... Which means that THAT is Kvatch.” She frowned, eyeing the swirl of black clouds over the hill, and quirking an eyebrow.
“Looks like we’re in for a storm,” the Evocator pointed out, eyes narrowed as she stared at the churning gray clouds. “And a nasty one at that.”
“Uhm, so, I know I’m one of the youngest people here and all, but...” the Animal Tamer began uncertainly, “Those clouds... Aren’t moving from the hill. Actually, they’re surrounding the hill. They’re centered on the hill. And they’re not moving. Which is usually a bad sign. Just speaking in general... I mean... dark... ominous clouds have never been a good sign in the past...”
“Your point being?” the Witch quirked an eyebrow.
“Skingrad is starting to sound like a better option for our destination,” the Animal Tamer suggested meekly.
“Dark clouds, ominous-ness... Sounds like fun!” the Apprentice spoke a little too loudly. As the guards turned towards the bushes, the Witch sent out a blazing swirl of flames, leaping over the bushes as she did so. Jamie pulled her cutlass out from its sheath, dropping into a fighting position as she did so. As one guard jumped off his horse, she ran forward, the hilt of her sword colliding into his helmet. As the Apprentice yelled a semi-apologetical, “My bad!” (and promptly began playing a battle song- which so happened to be ‘Eye of the Tiger’), the Evocator sent a flash of lightning magic at one of the guards, shouting over the melee.
“Conjure! Vengeance spirit! Invidia!”
As a swirling mass of black shot from her fingertips and struck a third guard, it manifested into a snarling, salivating panther, its claws interlocked with the guard’s ribcage. The Animal Tamer had clashed blades with one guard, who was much larger than she was. As the guard pinned her against a tree, he pulled a knife from its holster around his upper leg, aiming to stab the Animal Tamer between the eyes. However, crack from the tree’s lower limbs sent him flying, and the Maverick emerged from behind the massive trunk.
“Maverick sensed that clangy guard needed a clangy on his head. One-Who-Tames-Large-Lizard... Are you well?” Maverick helped the Animal Tamer to her feet, leaning upon her gnarled staff heavily.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” the Animal Tamer bounced to her feet. “Whew... That was close.”
The Witch sent the last guard flying over the trees and into the distance with the flick of her wrist, sighing as she did so, “Too easy.” Glancing at where Jamie had gotten on one of the deceased guards’ horses, she quirked an eyebrow, asking, “Do we really need more of those?”
“Well, it beats walking to Kvatch,” Jamie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, “Everyone, grab a horse. We’re gonna be in Kvatch before dawn! And once we get there... I’m so renting us some rooms at an inn.” She glanced at the Apprentice, who was continuing to loop ‘Eye of the Tiger’ with her boombox, then frowned, “APPRENTICE!”
“Yes ma’am?” the Apprentice saluted Jamie.
“Find us some traveling music!” Jamie declared loudly, cutlass held high over her head.
“Traveling music, she says! The woman wants traveling music!” the Scribe piped up from somewhere in the back of the army. The Witch responded by dealing him a hefty whack upside the head. The Apprentice bowed her head, and obliged to Captain Jamie’s orders, ‘Eye of the Tiger’ replaced almost instantly by a cheerful ‘We’re Off to See the Wizard’.
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