Fairy Opera Chapter 10: Arbos

 

Arbos

“Are you still in contact with the Rebellion?” Orion picked up a strange-looking glass and peered into it.

“Rebellion? It’s been a long while, but I think I still have a contact. You know they aren’t doing too well right now.” Jastle packed several jars of fluid into a box that seemed to be a lot bigger on the inside than the outside. “They’re being hunted all over the Empire. There’s no way they’ll remain solvent for long.”

“We need to get to them.” Orion pointed at me. “This kid is a technomage.”

“Technomage?” Jastle stopped packing and looked at me. “Hm.” He continued packing. “That’s pretty cool. That may even change things if you do end up meeting with the Rebellion.” Jastle appeared hurried. “That could change everything, actually.” He turned and looked at me. “Tell me. What do you know about magic?”

“Everything Orion taught me. Beyond that, not much.” I shook my head.

Jastle laughed. “Well then, if we manage to get back to that ship of yours, then we’ll have ourselves a nice little lesson on Scode.”

A few minutes later, Jastle was done packing. The crate he had shoved everything into shrank to the size of a backpack. Jastle slung the crate over his shoulder, attaching it with ropes. The room was bare. Only empty shelves remained. Jastle turned to the entrance. “We’re going to have to sneak past the checkpoint that leads down the mountain.”

“How did you get past before?”

“Well, my picture wasn’t all over the place back then.” Jastle adjusted his backpack. “But in any case, I think I have a plan.” He took out a scroll. “A simple invisibility spell will solve things. Null Canus. Operate on X,Z,P, N. Create shield, disappear shield.”

My hands tingled and disappeared. When I raised my arm, it was gone as well. Jastle, Tae, and Orion had disappeared as well.

Orion: “Okay. Let’s get going.”

Tae: “Gotcha. Let’s hope they don’t notice our footsteps.”

Jastle: “We’ll meet at the great oak tree near the bottom of the path.”

We left the cave and walked down to the checkpoint. We passed through without any trouble. I arrived at the tree and waited a few minutes. Jastle snapped his fingers and the invisibility went away. I staggered for a moment as I adjusted to my body being real again.

Jastle grinned. “That was easy.”

A fifth person materialized right in our midst. Black armor covered his body, except for his face. His eyes were blood red, full of rage and evil. He held a single longsword made of ebony metal.

The man swept his sword through the air. “I caught you, Jastle.”

Jastle ticked his tongue. “Arbos.”

Arbos lowered his sword. “I’m sorry it had to come to this, Jastle.” He pointed his sword at Jastle. “But I’m going to have to bring you in.”

Tae stepped in front of Jastle. “We need him. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to leave.”

Arbos grinned. “Quite a brave young lady we have here, don’t we?” He lifted up Tae’s chin with the point of his sword. “You know I could strike you down right here and right now.”

Tae stepped back and pulled a dagger from her belt. “I’m not going to let you walk all over us.”

“You have no loyalty to Jastle. I know you just met him today.”

“My friend needs to find his sister. And I’m going to do everything I can to help him.”

“Tell me what that has to do with this situation.” Arbos appeared intrigued. “What convoluted logic brought you here?”

Tae pointed her dagger at Arbos. “One of your ilk captured her.”

“Oh, you’re talking about that terrorist girl who we captured from Bearskin.” Arbos shrugged. “Yeah, she’s doing fine. Quite the woman, I believe Malgor actually kind of likes the runt.”

“I don’t believe you.” I stepped forward. “You’re just making things up.”

Arbos laughed. “Well then. Perhaps we should start the battle that we all know is coming.”

Orion and Jastle stepped forward. “Sorry Rock, Tae. You don’t stand a chance against this man.”

Orion and Jastle took up positions around Arbos. Arbos struck first. With a step forward he flashed his sword at Orion. Orion deflected the sword and leaped backwards. Jastle charged Arbos. Arbos turned on a dime and slashed at Jastle’s neck.

Jastle ducked under the slash and aimed a stab at Arbos’s chest plate. Jastle’s sword deflected. Jastle rolled back and regained a fighting stance.

The three of them held a standoff for a few more seconds.

Orion threw a rock at Arbos. Arbos swatted it with his sword, but this gave Jastle room to stab Arbos. Again, his sword deflected off of Arbos’s armor. Arbos grabbed Jastle’s sword with his metal gloved hand and ripped it out of Jastle’s hand. Jastle fell backwards and hit the dirt.

Arbos aimed a stab directly at Jastle’s chest. Orion slid in between them and blocked the shot. He kicked Arbos in the stomach, sending Arbos flying backwards, where he slammed into a boulder.

Arbos stood up, a little unsteady on his feet. Jastle ran towards Arbos and feinted with his sword. Arbos fell for the faint and blocked the blade. Jastle slipped under Arbos’s arms and punched him in the jaw. Arbos staggered backwards.

Orion took the chance and tackled Arbos to the ground. Arbos dropped his sword. With a timely roll, he moved away from Orion and Jastle, drawing a shorter sword from his belt.

Tae turned to me. “He’s holding his own against two experienced fighters. He really knows what he’s doing.”

Arbos pulled out a scroll. “Null Bravos! Fire, set parameters two one seven!”

Orion pulled out a scroll. “Apac! Target similar!”

Jastle pulled out a scroll. “Null Bake, target in front!”

Arbos continued chanting. “Burn hot! Fire!”

Jastle continued. “Release energy, pulsation!”

A blast of fire came from Arbos’s hand, flying towards Orion and Jastle. Blue countermagic flew from Orion’s hand and smashed into Arbos’s magic. A black cloud emitted from Jastle’s hand and headed straight for Arbos.

Arbos ran towards Jastle, dodging the black cloud. The black cloud slammed into the boulder behind Arbos and melted it like acid.

Arbos tackled Jastle. Jastle rolled over and made it on top.

Orion leaped towards Arbos’s pinned head.

Arbos pulled out a scroll with his free hand. “Null Operatus. Teleport, location B two.” Arbos disappeared in a flash.

Orion and Jastle collapsed to the ground. Both of them were breathing heavily. Jastle clutched his arm, blood flowing down his skin.

Orion turned to me. “Thanks for staying out of that one.”

I shook my head. “There’s no way I would have survived.”

Jastle looked at Orion. “Just like the old days, eh?”

Orion chuckled. “Indeed. It’s been a while since we both fought an enemy together.”

Tae offered her hand to Orion. “But he got away.”

“With his tail tucked between his legs.” Orion let Tae help him up. “Now we just have to get back to the ship.”

“That won’t be too hard, will it?” I helped Jastle up.

Jastle continued to hold his arm. “I know a hidden path to Pirate’s Cove. Which is where I assume you’ve parked your ship.”

I looked at Tae and we nodded. “No more fighting unless we absolutely have to.”

We walked down the mountain and across the plains. When we reached Pirate’s Cove, our ship was still there. Jak waved at us from the deck.

“You’re back! Did you find who you were looking for?”

Jastle waved. “Hi.”

Jak nodded. “Great. Come aboard. We’ve reprovisioned and are ready to set sail.”

“Where are we going next?”

Jastle looked at me. “This whole adventure is to save your sister, right?”

“Right.”

“Then we’d best head to the Grand Castle. That’s probably where she’s being held.”

Orion tapped Jastle’s shoulder. “And this man knows a secret passage. That’s why I brought you to him.”

Jastle laughed. “Yeah. I suppose I understood that fact when you showed up at my doorstep like you did.”

“Your doorstep? That cave didn’t even have a door.” I turned to Jak. “Did you do something about the captured pirates?”

“Yeah. I sold them for a rock-bottom price as slaves to the dock master. He really seemed pleased about the deal he was getting.”

I sighed. “Well, it grates me the wrong way to participate in slavery in any manner, but I have to admit they had it coming.” I sighed. “It’s up to the gods to seal their fate now.”

We climbed on board and set sail, tossing off the mooring lines and heading for open sky.

I approached Jak. “How many slaves decided to stay with us?”

“Every single one of them.” Jak nodded. “They’re all far from their homes. And the promise of good food and good wages was enough to keep them all aboard.”

“Did you figure out how many experienced sailors we have on board?”

“About half of them have sailing experience. The other half, we can easily teach the ways of the open sky.” Jak turned to a slave who was standing next to him.

“What’s up, Henderson?”

“I’ve finished documenting our food stores. We have enough food to last this crew for at lest four months.”

“That’s far more than we need at the moment.” Jak nodded and turned back to me. “In any case, our mission is to save Ami. How far have you gotten on that front?”

“We know where she’s probably being held. We were attacked by an assassin of some sort and he said that Ami is still alive and is probably okay.”

Jak smiled. “Great. I don’t want to imagine what could have happened to her. She’s a strong lady but she won’t be able to withstand the life in an Imperial prison.”

There was a call from the crow’s nest. “We’ve got pursuit!”

I turned my gaze to the back of the ship. There, following us at about a distance of a mile, were three Imperial ships.

Orion took out a spyglass and looked out at them. “Looks like they were tipped off by Arbos.”

“Things just got a bit more complicated.” Jak turned to the sailors who were working on the mast. “Full speed! Tack into the wind! Man the cannons!”

“How many cannons does this ship have?” I turned to Jak.

Jak shook his head. “Only six on each side. Not enough to fight against three Imperial frigates.”

I watched the frigates in the distance, at this point only small dots on the horizon. They were gaining on us, but not quickly.

“How long do you think we have?” I turned to Orion.

“They’ll catch up with us by tomorrow morning, perhaps.” He took out a scroll. “We can probably delay them with some magic, but I can’t guarantee anything. Null Vision. Distance, two miles.” He continued to watch the ships, his eyes glowing bright green.

I walked across the ship and to where Tae was sitting against a crate. Tae looked at me. “That was an intense battle. It reminded me of how weak I am.”

“You’re not weak.” I tapped Tae on the shoulder. “They were just crazy powerful. You can hold you own in a scruff.”

“But that doesn’t amount to formal military training like Orion and Jastle clearly have.”

“There’s no changing that. Why don’t we ask them to teach us a little bit about the blade?”

“That would be great.” Tae sighed, leaning back and looking up at the sky. “I just wonder, sometimes, if we’re really doing the right thing. I know your sister is in danger, but how are we supposed to fight against an entire Empire to save her?”

“I’m going to fight to save her no matter what.” I crossed my arms. “She’s my beloved sister and I need to protect her at all costs.”

“That’s a good brotherly attitude to have. I wish I had something I believed in that much.”

“You have me. You can believe in me and I can believe in you.”

“Thanks, Rock.” Tae looked towards the rear of the ship, where the Imperial frigates were just visible. “We’re going to need all the belief we can muster.”

 

11

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