Two Halves: chapter 24A Chapter by aaaa chapter 24 Nicolas sat on a barrel outside next to Zeckle. Bestalel was
still inside explaining the details of the plan to Darris and Machone. The two
of them gazed out over the silent black lake; even less lights were on in the
station. Most of the guards had abandoned their posts in order to join in the
party, and only one in three station still had a flicker of light from within.
The hint of a echo of music still drifted from across base, as the party
continued to gain intensity. “I’ll give em one thing. They know how to be carefree,” said
Zeckle, breaking the silence. “Even after they were just raided, they aren’t
worried. They seem to just want to enjoy life while they got it. Makes me all
nostalgic” she curled a lock of her hair around her finger and let it unwind
itself slowly. “What do you mean?” asked Nicolas. He had been thinking of
their next course of action. Bestalel had said that the last group to be
contacted was Sixteen Surgeons, and they only had another day until they were
supposed to be heading to Earth-2. Which meant that Bestalel already had a
meeting planned, hopefully. “ Your dad. Even when we knew we were on out last legs, and
that we were gonna lost the war in a matter of days. We never stopped having
fun. Every night in the base camp us and the rest of the guys would party up a
storm. Even when the base was being raided and we knew it was our final stand.
He never stopped laughing. Just stood there in front of three of Salex’s guard
captains smiling like a lunatic.” she propped her head on her interlaced fingers,
and gazed over the water. In her eyes was a touch of sadness. “I never really knew my dad. I was born right before the
Blaze War, so he was already gone by the time I could walk. I wish I knew him,
people always told me how great he was. Especially at the academy, every kid in
Cloudtop wanting to become a proper mage wanted to be my friend. They thought
being near the son of a clan leader would make them better.” responded Nicolas.
His eyes glazed over when he thought back to the academy. Even during the
height of the war Cloudtop never abandoned the academy. They always wanted to
educate the new generation of mages. He had gone there at the age of six, like
all other new students, and had trained there for over ten years. Even after
the Blaze War continued the education, and was the only school of mages to
survive the war. “I remember when you were born. Your dad and me left right
after we made sure you and your mom were ok. Cute kid, you were. Kinda squishy
lookin though, by the way, still got that big old birth mark on ya foot. I
always thought it looked silly.” she looked at him for a moment trying to keep
a straight face. Then she covered her mouth as she burst into a fit of giggles.
It was so powerful that she almost fell off her barrel, and as she ran out of
breath she drew in great ragged breaths. Then the door behind them opened, and
Bestalel stood in the doorway. “We are finished. We are almost late to our next
appointment. We have to meet a representative of Sixteen Surgeons. He plans to
meet us in the Cats Hotel, and lead us to his base from there.” he announced,
and started to walk away towards the other side of the base. Machone exited the
room and began to follow him, and from inside Darris yelled a goodbye. After
yelling back Nicolas turned around to see that Bestalel was already rounding a
corner farther down the base, and he had to run to catch up. “Who is going to be our guide?” gasped Nicolas as he caught
up them. They were crossing a rope bridge in single file, and he was in the
back. Bestalel was in the front leading the way. “I do not know. From the letters exchanged with Mr. Ernie
their leader carries the name of Mr. Q. This messenger is supposed to be one of
his black ops agents.” they reached the other side of the bridge, and Nicolas
sped to walk next to Bestalel. They approached the bridge leading into the
village. Nearly all the houses were dark, most likely because most of the
villagers were already at the party. As they neared the platform with the
elevator Bestalel increased his pace slightly. “Why are you goin so fast Besty? I almost have to run to
keep up” Zeckle said from the rear of the group, it was true. Her strides were
shorter and she had to keep nearly frantic pace to keep up. They stopped in
front of the platform, and Machone began to pull levers on a small control
panel. “You have never heard of the leader of Sixteen Surgeons have
ya? Ruthless b*****d. If he said his messenger was gonna be there area
particular time I suggest ya be dere. We have had dealins with him before. Had
to cut it off cause when one of our messengers was a few minutes late. He had
em gutted like a fish, and sent back in a body bag. We woulda started a war
over it, but dey are probably the most powerful guys around. They certainly outnumber
us, and startin up a conflict woulda left us both crippled if Salex decided
to “ said Machone as they waited
at the foot of the platform. A small object appeared at the ceils and slowly
drifted downwards. “If they did that, can we trust them?” stammered Nicolas “Yeah, course ya can. They hate Salex even more than you do.”
said Machone as the elevator slowly approached ground level. It hit the group
with a thud, and Bestalel stepped onto the wooden platform. “Why, what has Salex done to them?” asked Nicolas as the
elevator began to ascend upwards. “No idea, why don’t ya ask em yerself” yelled Machone after
us, and as we lifted up into the darkness Nicolas gazed out to see the beacon
of light that was the festivities of their victory. © 2010 aaaaAuthor's Note
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