Alcingeria Chapter Nine: The Scorpion's Uncertainty

Coming to the realization that both Don and Robert were bitten by Ignacio and may transform into vampires themselves, The Scorpions become uncertain of their future.

Chapter Nine The Scorpions’ Uncertainty:

Tuesday June 22^nd 1690

“’The Midnight Wraith’ meaning Vampire, correct?” I asked Robert.

            “Yes.” Robert said with sadness layering his voice.

            “What happens when you’re bitten by a vampire? What is the ‘unfortunate fate’ that your father told you of?” I asked with worry in my voice.

            “Well, in the horror stories that my father told me as a boy… If you’re bitten by a vampire… You turn in to a vampire.” Robert said.

My heart sank. Both Robert and Don had been bitten by Ignacio!

            “Wait, how do we know that story is true? How do we know that’s what will happen to us? After all, I was bitten, too. I feel fine.” Said Don, remaining hopeful.

            “What if we do turn, Shadow?” Asked Robert, there was worry, fear and anger in his voice.

            “I don’t want to think about that.” Don admitted.

            “We need to get out of this cellar. That should be our main goal. Our secondary goal is to kill Ignacio. From there, we’ll escape from this cabin. We can then go to Yutsa. We can follow the original plan.” I suggested.

            “There’s a problem.” Robert told us.

            “What is it?” I asked.

            “Well, if either Don or myself, or if both of us turn into vampires, that will complicate things. Don’t you think so?” Robert asked.

My heart sank at the thought again. I refused to give up hope.

            “Maybe it won’t come to that? Maybe all of those stories aren’t true, like Don suggested?” I said.

            “That’s a possibility. In any case, I believe that we should spend our time focusing on the present, rather than on a future that may not even exist.” Robert said hopefully.

            “Right then. So we’ll follow the original plan, like I said.” I told everyone.

            “What about the fifty thousand dollars?” Asked Macalister.

            “I hate to say it, but we may need to leave the money behind.” I reluctantly said.

            “I think that you’re right. As much as I hate to do it as well, we must first escape with our lives. The money won’t matter if we’re all dead.” Don told me.

            “We’ll discuss that matter later. Right now, we need to think of a way to escape.” Robert ordered.

            “Right, do you have a plan?” I asked.

            “No.” Robert admitted.

            “Unless we want to be stuck down here until Ignacio’s thirst returns, we need to think.” Macalister stated.

“Besides, when have we not been able to think of a plan before?” Asked Robert with a grin.

I had to admit, he was right there. We always had a plan. Always.

            “Ignacio stole our flintlocks. We have no weapons, but Kid suggested that we improvise a stake out of the shelves’ supports. Is that our only plan?” Asked Don.

            “Right now, yes.” Macalister confirmed.

            “Very well. Gentlemen, it appears that we have come up with our course of action. Let’s sleep now, and in the morning we’ll put our plan to action. Any objections?” Asked Robert.

There was silence.

            “Right then. I bid you all good night.” Robert said.

            “Good night.” Macalister moaned, sitting back against the wall.

            “Good night.” Don said, yawning.

            “Good night.” I said, reclining back against the hard, stone wall of the cellar.

I thought over our plan for tomorrow morning. I let it play out in my head: We would wake up, take the blood filled jars off of a shelf so we could break off the support without making a lot of noise. We would then wait for Ignacio to come to the cellar. We would stake him and run away in to the surrounding wilderness and make our way towards Yutsa. With the plan circulating inside my head, I let my eyelids droop.

 

***

 

Wednesday June 23^rd 1690

I awoke feeling as though I had never gone to sleep.

            “Rise and shine, Kid.” Robert said to me when I woke up.

I looked over to him. There was light coming into the cellar from very small window above us. Around me I could see Don, Macalister and Robert all sitting together about ten feet in front of me. All around me, there were jars of blood stacked high on each shelf. There were shelves on each of the four walls of the cellar. Across the room to my left, there was the door that Ignacio used to enter last night. It was the only point of entrance or exit in the whole room. The window that provided light was much too small to climb through, being at only twelve centimeters by twelve centimeters.

            “Is everyone ready?” Asked Don.

            “Yes, I’m ready to take back our freedom.” Robert said with venom in his voice.

            “I’m ready to kill that vampire and escape. Now, we must discuss whether or not we leave the money behind.” Macalister said.

            “Yes, right.” Robert said, recalling the fact that he told us we would discuss the matter of the money later.

            “Well, we don’t know if a wooden stake to the heart will kill Ignacio. If he survives our attack and we’re still in this cabin searching for our money, we’ll be in trouble. I say that we leave the money behind and escape with our lives while we can.” I suggested.

            “I say that we should leave the money and come back for it later. We should continue to Yutsa as planned, but come back to this cabin in the future.” Macalister suggested.

            “I agree with Kid. If we come back for the money, Ignacio could still be here, waiting for us. It’s too large of a risk.” Don said.

Robert was silent for a few more seconds. He was most likely contemplating what he thinks we should do.

            “I think Kid’s right.” He finally said with a nod.

I looked to Macalister.

            “Troll, listen. I’m sorry, but we can’t come back for the money, it’s simply too much to risk. It goes against all common sense to return to this cabin, please understand.” I told him.

Macalister nodded. I think that he understood the situation now.

            “Yes, yes I understand the situation now. I let my greed get the better of me. I now know that we can’t come back for it.” Macalister said.

            “I’m glad that you see things our way. Now we have no difference in opinion, and no objections to the plan. Right?” Said Robert.

            “Right.” I said.

            “Yes, the plan is a clever one. I have no objections.” Don said.

I could see Macalister look around nervously. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it soon after.

            “Y-yes. No objections.” Macalister said.

            “Good. Now, on with the plan. Kid and Troll, start removing the jars of blood from the shelves so they won’t break when you tip the shelf over. Make sure you make four stakes, just in case we need them. Shadow and I’ll watch the door and warn you if Ignacio comes. To your positions! Quickly now!” Robert ordered.

I followed Macalister over to a nearby shelf. My heart was pounding in anticipation and fear. It was time to put the plan in action. We were going to face off against a vampire and escape from this cabin in the woods.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!

Reviews

[KeithKVH]

Hmm. I must be honest, it feels a bit like a filler chapter. It was already a bit clear their plan was to use a wooden stake to kill Ignacio, and the main new points seem to be the concern over turning into vampires and leaving the money behind. Group discussions over important planning is good, but here I feel like it's a bit overdone. There are multiple times where it feels like they're restating what the others said earlier, sometimes in almost the same fashion.

Pruning the dialogue a bit would be my suggestion, but that might shorten it a bit. At that point you might want to add something for some extra spice or maybe even combine a pair of chapters. One thing I did catch that gives me an idea, I feel at the end Troll seems to still be hesitant about leaving the money. That stuttering of his gives me that feeling. I don't know if that's what's happening or if you want it revealed yet, but perhaps you could have a short session where he's in his own thoughts stressing out over the loot?

My apologies to give mostly advice again, I do still look forward to the next chapter. I get a strong feeling Troll is about to do something rash.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review! I have been told that I need to 'prune' the dialogue a bit, which I will get around to in due time.