Alcingeria Chapter Four: The Escape

The Scorpions succeeded in stealing fifty thousand dollars from Jonathan Haywood! Queen Mycta has sent her guards after them as they make their escape. Can they escape the royal palace guards?

Chapter Four The Escape:

Monday June 21^st 1690

“Woo-hoo!” Shouted Don, clapping Macalister and I on the shoulder.

            “We did it! Fifty thousand dollars is ours!” Macalister yelled.

            “All thanks to the masterful planning, Don.” I said, happiness raised the pitch of my voice slightly.

            “Well, the plan was pretty perfect.” Don admitted.

            “Oh, stop being so modest!” I joked.

Macalister laughed. Just then, a deafening gunshot sounded, and a split second later, a bullet ripped through the rear of the carriage, narrowly missing Don’s head.

            “Woa!” Don exclaimed, ducking down, out of sight of our mystery attacker.

I peeked up through the rearward window and saw a dismaying sight; behind us, all on horseback welding flintlocks and swords, were five palace guards! Queen Mycta must have heard our gunshots and sent a few guards to investigate! She probably also saw the three dead bodies within the city; the man, his wife, and the carriage driver. I doubted that the four bodies of the border guards were noticed yet. I saw one of the palace guards aim at the window with his flintlock. I ducked down with Don and Macalister just as a gunshot sounded, sending a bullet flying through the wood next to me. Fear filled me, and I ducked even lower down, hoping not to get shot through the wood. I looked down to my flintlock. I had to reload it, because I had shot the carriage driver. I reached into my pocket, picked up the flask of gunpowder and poured it into the barrel. I then lifted put the flask back in my pocket, retrieved one of the bullets, and put it in the barrel the same way I had put the gunpowder in.

            “Take as many of them down as you can.” I instructed Macalister and Don.

They both nodded and reloaded their flintlocks the same way I had loaded mine. When they were both finished, I peeked up through the window. I took aim, looking down the barrel and lining up a shot. I placed one of Queen Mycta’s guards in the center of the sight, and pulled the trigger. The resulting gunshot was almost deafening, and the flintlock kicked back in my hand. I saw blood shoot into the air as the bullet connected with the palace guard. I ducked back down and reloaded.

            “Good work, Redmond!” Don shouted as he fired his flintlock.

            “Did you get one?” I asked.

            “I did, they’re down to three men now!” Don shouted triumphantly.

I saw Macalister peek up and line up a shot, but the carriage took an abrupt turn and it threw off Macalister’s aim. It was a good thing Macalister hadn’t fired his weapon yet.

            “Sorry about that!” I heard Robert call over the thundering sound of hooves and the wooden wheels across the ground.

Macalister peeked up again, by now Don and I had reloaded our flintlocks and we peeked up again. I placed a palace guard in my sights, but the carriage took another abrupt turn. I looked out the window to see that we were now out of the walls of Relin, and we were now in the surrounding wilderness. Despite the fact that we were no longer in the province of Relin, Queen Mycta’s guards kept chasing us. The terrain here was rocky and bumpy, so it was harder to line up a shot on the guards. When we stopped turning for more than two seconds, I peeked up again, but the carriage took another turn.

            “Would you mind holding this thing steady?” Yelled Don.

            “Yes, in fact, I do! Unless you want to crash into a tree!” Called Robert from the back of the horse that was pulling the carriage.

I heard a gunshot come from one of Queen Mycta’s guards. A split second later, our carriage lurched. Robert took another turn.

            “They hit a wheel!” Shouted Robert.

            “That’s just perfect!” Don growled with angry sarcasm.

Macalister peeked up to the rear window. I saw him line up a shot, his hand was vibrating up and down due to all the little rocks that littered the forest floor that we were driving over. Macalister held his hand as steady as he could and pulled the trigger. I heard a cry of anguish directly after Macalister’s gunshot. Macalister ducked back down and reloaded.

            “I just grazed him, he fell off of his horse! They’re down to two men now!” Macalister declared.

“Fine work, Macalister.” I told him.

***

An hour or two passed before the palace guards’ next gunshot came. The shot went through the wood beside Macalister. Robert swerved our carriage to the right. Robert had been swerving our carriage during the last hour, so it was impossible to line up a shot on the guards behind us. While Robert was swerving, Queen Mycta’s guards couldn’t get a shot in on us, either.

            “I’m surprised those guards haven’t given up yet!” Exclaimed Macalister.

            “I wonder what Queen Mycta is offering them for our capture?” I wondered.

            “Probably a lot of money. How much did those wanted posters say we were worth?” Asked Don.

            “I don’t think it had an amount on it, at least I didn’t see one. Did any of you?” I asked.

Macalister and Don both shook their heads.

            “Don, can I see the money?” Asked Macalister.

Don handed Macalister the wooden box that we had pulled out of the wall in the nobleman’s study. Macalister opened it and his eyes widened.

            “Wow.” Macalister gasped in awe.

I leaned over his shoulder. My eyes widened as well. Inside that box, I saw countless gold pieces.

            “Wow.” I said, also gasping in awe.

Robert served the carriage again. Macalister grabbed the box tightly before it tumbled across the carriage floor.

            “Nice save!” Remarked Don.

Another gunshot from Queen Mycta’s guards ripped through the air, and the carriage lurched again.

            “They got the wheel again! We can’t keep taking hits like that! Keep their heads down!” Shouted Robert from the horse’s back in front of the carriage.

I peeked up to get a view of where the guards were now. They hadn’t changed positions, but they swerved their horses, so it was hard to get a shot on them. I aimed down the sights, looking down the barrel and placed a guard in my sights. I aimed at one of the two guards who remained and pulled the trigger. A thundering gunshot sounded, the pistol kicked back in my hand, and a spray of blood, accompanied by a cry of pain from the guard followed, and he fell off his horse.

            “Yes! I got him!” I shouted.

I then reloaded my flintlock.

            “They’re down to their last man, let’s kill him and get out of here!” Shouted Macalister.

Don then peeked up. He aimed his pistol, I then heard a gunshot, but it wasn’t Don’s. It was the gunshot from the only remaining palace guard. In another second, the carriage lurched forward. Robert then swerved the carriage to the left very quickly, but we didn’t make the turn! Instead, I heard the crack of wood snapping.

Due to the sudden turn, the carriage was thrown off balance, and we tipped over, and we gathered momentum from the strength of the turn. The carriage kept rolling. The glass from the window shattered, raining down on Don, Macalister and I. glass shards fell across my face, slicing open my forehead and my arms. I felt the stabbing pain and the warmth of my own blood where the glass had fallen. I then realized that the snapping wood sound that I heard was the sound of the wheel snapping off. We were doing barrel rolls for about a minute.

We were tossed about inside the carriage. I felt the angle of the flipping carriage adjust, and we were rolling even faster now. To my horror, we were now tumbling down a steep hill! I tried to picture where Robert was right now, whenever the front window came in to view, I didn’t see him or the horse in front of us. Could he have cut the horse free from the carriage? I then saw the amount light in the carriage given by the dim sunlight.

The front window was now pointing skyward, and I could see that it had become overcast. The font window pointed skyward for all of one second and then crashed to the ground again. We completed six more rotations after that, and then the carriage stopped rolling with a jolt. The wall of the carriage to my right snapped and gave way. The snapped wood had a jagged, sharp edge, and the momentum of the carriage tumbling, and the sudden halt of the momentum threw me into the jagged, sharp edge of the broken wood. I hit the jagged edge with my chest, I felt a series of stabbing points of pain, and I felt warm blood saturate my shirt.

I cried out in my and pulled myself off of the stake-like edges of the broken wood. I gasped in pain as I pulled myself off of the broken wood, for that made the wounds on my chest burn with pain.

            “Come on! The guard is coming!” Yelled Macalister, he picked himself up from the carriage floor and was trying to help me up.

Macalister’s efforts to drag me up by my arm only intensified my pain, and I resisted him.

            “I’ll get up myself, you’re hurting me!” I protested. I stood up slowly.

The glass had cut me on my arms and my forehead, and the broken wood stabbed me in the chest, I was going to need medical attention as soon as possible, but we had to escape first!

When I stood up, I found that the carriage was on its side, with the door facing the sky. Macalister, being the tallest of the group, reached up, unlatched the door and pushed it open. He climbed out, then remained up on the outside of the carriage to help Don and I out. He reached for Don, when Don was out on top of the carriage with Macalister, Macalister reached down for me.

            “Take my hand.” Said Macalister.

I reached up to grab his hand, but my arms burned with pain. I fell back into the carriage.

            “Come on! The guard is almost on us!” Don yelled.

I reached up for Macalister again, my arms burned as Macalister pulled me up and out of the carriage. The pain receded when I was on top of the carriage. I heard the sound of hooves pounding against the forest floor. I looked up, hoping that it was Robert, but I saw only a palace guard riding towards us. At his flank were eleven other palace guards. They all wore the same white tunic and white trousers with the red crest on the tunic, it was the red crest of the province of Relin. There were twelve of Queen Mycta’s palace guards all together. She must have sent out reinforcements just to be sure we didn’t escape. My heart sank as I knew what would happen to us soon after we were captured; we would be killed. Charged with murder, treason, thievery and probably some other charges that I couldn’t think of at the moment. I noticed that the light wasn’t very good here, underneath the forest canopy with an overcast sky. I didn’t know why I noticed this above all other things at this time.

            “You’re The Scorpions?” Laughed one of the guards.

            “Indeed we are, and who might you be? The royal court jesters?” Jeered Don.

This earned a laugh from Macalister and I. One of the palace guards laughed as well.

            “Funny. It’s a shame that your sense of humor will go to waste, seeing as you’ll be dead by this evening.” One of the guards said ominously.

            “Say, weren’t there four of you?” Asked one of the other guards, looking around with a furrowed brown.

I then heard a horse galloping, its hooves pounding the forest floor. I then heard a thunderous gunshot, followed by a cry of pain by one of the guards.

            “Looking for someone?” Asked Robert with his signature cocky attitude.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!

Reviews

[The Black Warrior]

This is very good! thrilling...it called my attention right away! Keep it coming LOL :D

Thank you for sharing dear...

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review!

[KeithKVH]

Well now this was a thrilling chase! For a while now I've liked how you've used the single shot flintlocks, very authentic and gives an old world feel to the world. The way the carriage rolled and all the glass flying out injuring Redmond was a good touch too, captured how scary and chaotic that would be. I was like "Oh boy, it's curtains..." when freaking 11 other guards just showed up, but really raises my spirits as well to have Robert just ride on in cocky as always. Here's hoping they can pull together.

A few things, I noticed again the mention of dollars. I think I asked before and don't remember if it got addressed, is the currency dollars and the gold is worth that much, or is it an inconsistency? Also, there's nothing noteworthy of spelling and grammar really, except there is one part I don't really know what to make of.

I then saw the amount light in the carriage given bow the sun dim.

The way this is written, I don't understand the sentence. At best I can assume it's trying to describe the light from the carriage's bow (a term usually used to define one of the four directions/sides of a boat) getting dim. I am really not at all sure though.

Really a good chapter though, I'm liking it. Your works are very original themselves.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review! And yes, my apologies, I have not explained the currency. See, the way I planned it was to have the material currency as gold, but the name for it is dollars/gold pieces. I may change it to just gold, I don't know. I will fix that one sentence, I was working late at night on this chapter, so that is probably why it is very unintelligible...

[Ryan Henderson]

Yes, I fixed that sentence! It was supposed to say 'I then saw the amount of light in the carriage given by the dim sun' I was working late at night... Lol

[KeithKVH]

Just like always at late night, something goes wrong. Glad I could be of help, I'll check out the next chapter soon.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you!

[Cool Girl]

Wow! I's really good so far:) I like writing stories myself, but only post them on wattpad:)

[Ryan Henderson]

hank you for the review! If you post your stories on here, I will review them!

[Cool Girl]

Ok thanks! and your welcome:)

[Laura Lynn]

It's a great start, completely unlike what I would think of putting together. What is the impetus for it overall, or is it just the framework of a 4 man operation. It seems a lot like drafts for a blueprint or something