A Fantasy Story Chapter Six

Chapter Six

My Friend the Prisoner

            The brave and courageous Van of Coronach, whom has ventured to faraway lands and battle against nightmarish monsters, is now the prisoner of five girls. I had such high hopes for him as well. Let us see how well Van does against a little test shall we?

            I can feel my body being carried like a sack of potatoes to an unknown location by a stranger. Though I don’t know what day it is exactly what day it is today, I can’t help to think its Monday. Several moments have past and we are now somewhere else outside. The girls, whom have kidnapped me, kept going on about a ship or a boat and whether or not to put me on it. Now my eyes begin to work again and they have sat me down on the ground while the girls discuss the appropriate actions to take. They’re voice started out separate but as they began to argue, they began to blur making it difficult to understand what it was they were saying. Only a few words here and there made sense to me such as; on the boat, leave him, said that, idea, heavy, what we’re here for, just throw him on the boat.

“Wait what?” I started to say as the one in black hoisted me up and tossed me onto their boat. My bound body hit the deck hard with a loud thud followed by the sound of a grown man crying softly.

“Come on Vivian, you missed the pile of soft pillows” I heard one of the girls say while I got a look at where I ended up.

“Oh, I must work on my aim” another said while I noticed that there where in fact no gatherings of soft objects for a body to land on.

“There ain’t anything to land on up here!” I yelled out in pain.

“Molly you liar” the same deep voice said again.

“Hey I was kidding. Your aim is just perfect as ever. I mean you got the boy on the ship with one shot” Molly said playfully.

“Stop fooling around you two and get on the boat. We failed to get the map here and now we should move on to Base. I’m sure if we look at more intel we can find where it is hiding” they continued on amongst themselves.

“We must have looked over two mountains of clues! Can’t we have a break Kat?” A younger voice asked.

“Well I’m sorry Bunny but our mission is imperative to our people. You know how much we can do with that tech, so we can’t slow down now that we’ve gotten this close” Kat said.

“How about, before we do anything else, we go and have something to eat? Yeah?” one of the other girls said.

            They all seemed to have agreed as they boarded the vessel. I was helpless to do anything but to watch from the ground for they had tied me up in ropes. Strong and tightly woven rope which bond my arms to my body retarding me from escape or defence. They were almost at the door that leads further down into the ship when the little one on pink spoke up.

“Hey wait! What about him?” she asked filling my heart with hope.

“Who him? We’ll send someone out to toss the dog a bone” the one in purple and black said crushing my heart.

“We shouldn’t show too much kindness to our prisoners anyway” the one in yellow and white said spilling the hope out of my crushed heart.

“Ouch, I’m sitting right here ya know?” said I trying to gain some sort of respect.

“So” all of them said in perfect harmony before walking through the iron door and shutting me out in the dark cold world. Well, perhaps it was summer and it also might have been a bright sunny day, but left out in the dark cold wilderness all the same. Moments after they closed the heavy iron door, it opened again and the one in pink poked her head out.

“Don’t worry doggy, I’ll make sure you get something to eat K?” she said with a charming smile before disappearing behind the door once again. Great, I thought, now I’m a prisoner dog who was captured by five girls, some of which were pretty damn good looking.

            The ship began to move with the rattle of an engine down below and as I waited for the next thing that was going to happen to me, I noticed that something wasn’t right. At first I couldn’t put my figure on it, but as time went on and I began to think about what I had, it hit me.

“They took my stuff!” they took my leather belt, they took my sword, and they took myself. Lucky me they left me the chain I plundered from one of the chests in the castle. The castle; I started to wonder about what it was exactly and why those ladies were in there.

“What was it they were looking for again? Something about a map” I started to day dream about my adventures in the catacombs of the castle, piecing together the answer one clue at a time. Then I remembered about the unknown map that was in my belt.

“I wonder if that would be the map they were looking for”

“Hey you!” Bunny said to me from the door way. She was holding a tray of food that looked delicious.

“I brought you something, just like I said” she walked over and set the tray down in front of me. I looked down lovingly at the meat and vegetables that were on the tray.

“Is something wrong?” She asked oblivious to the blatant obvious.

“Well you see I find it difficult to eat without utensils”

“Oh right I forgot about them, sit tight I’ll be right back” and then she was gone before I could say another word. Did she really not notice that I was all tied up and couldn’t use my hands; I wondered.

“Ok, I got you a spoon and a knife” she said setting them down on the tray in front of me.

“Why thank you very much, I would love to eat this delicious food you have brought me but if you haven’t noticed I’m a little tied up at the moment. Could you be so kind as to help me with this” I asked as patiently and as politely as I possibly could without losing my cool.

“Oh! Right, sorry about that” Bunny said knocking herself on the head lightly.

“Here I can cut this up for you and feed you”

            If my hands where free I’d be able to slap my forehead, but instead I just nodded forward as if an invisible hand was there slapping my forehead for me.

“Say ahh” bunny ordered with a spoon full of meat. I opened my mouth without question, for I was hungry and she was offering me food. I took a bite out of it and heaven had started to colonize its citizens on my pallet. The muffled moans of pleasure allowed bunny to know that the food was delicious.

“Do you like it? I helped Abigail cook this time”

“It’s amazing! The best food I’ve tasted in a long time”

            Take note that the last time Van had anything this good was when his grandmother made homemade hamburgers with fresh homemade buns and fresh garden vegetables she grew herself. Van’s grandmother had seasoned the patties just right that time and it truly was something else.

“Which one is Abigail?” I asked before taking another bite of food.

“She’s the robot” Bunny said playfully, making me stop to think about what I just heard.

“Which one is the robot?” My mind wondered imagining what each member of the team would look like if they were more cyborganic.

 “Abigail is the robot”

“Yes, that’s what you just said, but which team mate is Abigail?”

“She’s the robot, silly” I sighed and contemplated how much it would hurt if I happened to slam my head into the metal deck. It couldn’t be that hard could it; I thought.

“I mean who are all the people on your team? Like, my name is Van and your name is?” I tried to divert the conversation to something that doesn’t lead me into a circle. Her face lit up with just a little bit of excitement as she readied her introduction.

“My name is Bunny, cause I love cute little bunny rabbits. I am fourteen years old and I meet Kat when I was nine. Kat made me in charge of medical supplies when I first joined her team cause she was worried anything else would get  me hurt, but as time went on I proved to her that I was really, really good at spying cause of my small size right? But shhh, don’t tell anyone ok? It’s a secret”

“Oh Ok, I understand. I won’t tell anyone” I whispered back assuring her my loyalty.

“And that’s you, but what about the other girls on your team? Who are they?” I eagerly asked hoping that Bunny would spill the beans on the one in green and orange. Bunny’s face lit up as if she hadn’t had a new person to talk to in years.

“Well there is me and then there is Molly, Joy, Vivian and Kat”

“Hold on a sec. Which one is which?” I had interrupted.

“I was getting to that, be patient” Bunny said pointing her stern finger at me as if I was a child. With an exasperated sigh I played along with the scene.

“Fine, I’ll be patient”

“As I was saying; Kat is the leader. She gets everyone together and gets the orders. And even though she might act all cool and tuff, I know she has a soft spot for cute little animals like kittens, but don’t expect her to admit to it cause she’ll deny everything. She was the one who you landed on when you busted down the doors at the castle, taking us by surprise”

“OK, now just hold on! I wasn’t trying to do anything on purpose. I was being chased by a huge spider bot, which was huge! And the door was my only exit, I thought. I’m still sorry about that ya know?”

“I know you are. It’s the other girls that you have to convince, especially Joy, who thinks everyone is trouble, aside from us of course” She continued.

“When Joy first joined Kat’s team she was paranoid of everything, even things that couldn’t move were enemies plotting against her. She was a mechanic for one of the king’s army and one day someone she worked with attacked the hanger and everyone in it with something she built. But now she’s getting use to the idea that not everything is going to spring to life and start shooting.”

“How troublesome” I said imagining what it would have been like to not have any trust for anyone after they betrayed you and tried to kill you. How very sad indeed.

“But Molly helped a lot with Joy. She was playful and showed that sometimes you have to believe in people just a little bit to see who they are and what they want. Plus Molly is so funny when it comes to lightening up the day.”

“What does Molly do?” I asked curiosity burning to know more about these girls.

“Molly is in charge of gathering intel and figuring out and sometimes she coordinates battle plans and strategies. She was the one who found out about the Ravenblood castle, though it would have been better if we actually found what we wanted to.” Bunny started to trail off and think about something else. I wondered if she was talking about the map I found in that room, which was in my belt, which was not on my person and in their possession.

“I wonder if I should tell them about the map I found” I thought to myself during intermission.

“Though we didn’t find it this time and it bumps out some of us, Vivian keeps her cool and reinsures us that there is still hope and convinces us to keep going instead of giving up. She is Kat’s go to girl when there is something on her mind or if she needs help with something; I think it’s because Vivian is Kat’s best friend from they were just little kids. I still owe her one too.” Bunny said as if just remembering something.

“Owe her?”

“Yeah that’s right. Long ago, when I had just joined, I was sent out to the city to get some medical supplies. It took me a while to find the store and when I did find it, I realized that I didn’t know how to get back home. So I wondered around the city trying to find something that would let me find my way back or someone to lead me out, but I just got more lost. Then I was attacked by some guys in an ally, they were muggers who wanted the supplies I had just got along with all my money, which at the time wasn’t much to them, but a fortune to me. Then they started to push me around and bully me. It was Vivian who came to my rescue. Hey; she said, leave her alone or else you won’t enjoy the next five minutes of your life. The muggers got one look at her before they turned tail and ran away like wimps. Since then I’ve been trying to repay her, but for some reason she doesn’t get attacked like I was. And whenever I try saying her line to bullies, they always laugh at me, why do they laugh at me and run from Vivian?” She asked me.

“Um, well perhaps… It might be because” I tried to think while she waited for a logical answer.

“Well maybe because Vivian is taller?”

“Hmm, you may be on to something there”

            Sometime later and the tray of food is empty and my stomach is full of good food. Though I was still tied up, I didn’t mind as much with a belly full of food.

“Hey Bunny? I was wondering. Why are you so kind to me? Aren’t I your prisoner?”

“Yeah you are a prisoner and a bad guy, but just because you are a bad guy doesn’t mean you should starve”

“Awe. That’s really nice” lifting my spirit out of the cold seclusion of being labeled as the bad guy here.

“Besides we need you for working lots and lots, days on end even; and if you’re not strong enough then what good will you be, right?”

“Awe, that’s very terrible” dropping my spirits past the bad guy level and further into the darkness as a slave. But, as a man, I must try to weasel myself out of this slavery position and hope for the best by getting on their good side.

“What was it that you needed to find again?” I said hoping to Segway to spilling the beans about the map I found.

“I can’t say that to you. You might be a spy or something bad like that.”

            One might think that hitting your head against a metal floor would hurt but I learned that it doesn’t really hurt all that much.

“Is it a map?” I asked making Bunny whip her head around to me.

“How do you know? Who sent you? Who do you work for? Answer me!” she demanded as she jumped me and started to punch me in the stomach. They were light blows but they still stung enough to bother me, like being poked with a pin.

“Stop that, please stop that, it tickles” I foolishly said making her even more upset. And then she noticed something that I had no idea about.

“Well then let’s how strong you are without this!” she said taking the chain off my neck”

“Hey that Mi-“ She punch me again without the chain on and it hurt a hell of a lot more.

“Ah Huh, that’s what I thought. Your nothing to special without your enchanted wares are you?”

“My what? I just found that in the castle. I didn’t know what it was, it looks like a regular necklace to me”

“Well it’s an enchanted ware and a pretty good one at that. Here I’ll show you” Bunny put the chain on herself and walked over to me putting fear into me as I hadn’t any idea what she was about to do to me. Little does she know that no matter what kind of torcher she is willing to put me through, I’ll talk before she has a chance to do anything to me.

            Bunny, who was a fourteen year old girl, walked over to me and with her left arm lifted me up and over her head without breaking a sweat. All I could think of was please don’t throw, drop, skip, break, hurt, or suplex me then jump off the top ropes.

“See? With enchanted ware like this you become even stronger and more resistant to pain; which is why my punches hurt more after I took off this pesky thing”

“If I ask nicely will you put me down and give me back the thing that lets me be awesome?”

“Hmm that depends. Why should I?”

“Um, because I’m a really nice guy and you don’t feel like hurting a nice guy like me?”

“Tempting, but I think you can talk to me more if I walk over here” and she made her was slowly to the edge of the boat. I saw the water below break into white waves as the boat sailed through it.

“Well from this angle something does come to mind, yes”

“Well I’m waiting. In fact I think my grip might be loosening”

“My name is Van Jones – I come from Coronach, Saskatchewan – I’m eighteen – I like green – my hair is naturally red – I don’t know what I want to do after I graduate – I don’t excel in any of my studies because I don’t enjoy any of my studies – I have nobody that calls me their friend – I practice fighting when nobody is around – I’d play video games all day if I could – and though I can swim, I don’t know how well I can swim with my arms tied behind my back. Now if you put me down on the deck nicely I’ll tell you something that will make your day” I said as quickly as I could have in what seemed like one breath.

            Bunny seemed baffled and confused at my confession, but soon after she did set me down on the ground. I only had a moment to catch my breath before Bunny was on my case.

“So? What is it?”

“It’s a very important secret and I need my belt in order to tell anyone about it. Can you bring me it?”

“Sure thing Van, be back in a sec” and she ran to a trap door and jumped down.

            I looked on curious to how long it would take her to get back. Seconds seemed to turn to minutes as I wondered if I was doing the right thing by telling them about the map as well as all that stuff about myself on top of it.

“Here” Bunny said from behind me, scaring me just a little bit.

“Woah! How did you?”

“Never mind that, tell me the secret now”

“Ok, just give me a sec here. I’m trying to remember which pocket it’s in. Try that pocket for a surprise” Trying to make it into a fun game.

            She tore open the pouch and grabbed what was inside. At first she was excited, not knowing what there would be inside. And then when she realized that there was something that resembled a map inside; she entered a state of shock and awe.

“I know I’m not a spy working against you, and I know I’m not here to become your enemy. I’m just a regular guy who has a hell of a lot of luck”

            The iron door burst open, catching me off guard, and out walked Kat and Vivian.

“Bunny what are you doing giving him back his stuff? For all we know he could have had a knife in there” Kat started to rampage.

“Kat wait, our friend here has something for us”

“What could he have that’s so great?”

            Bunny held open the map that they have been looking for tirelessly for, what could only be guessed, years. The look on Kat’s and Vivian face lit up like a rising sun as they looked upon the map in all its glory. They began to cheer and jump around in excitement as I tried to figure out what the song was playing in my head. It sounded like “We are the Champions”.

“We’ve got to show this to Joy and Molly!” Vivian said with a slight smirk.

            And just like that they all left me alone again. Alone in the dusk of the setting sun.

“Well I guess it’s not all bad. I’m alive, I have been feed and there is this beautiful sunset. Got to enjoy the small things when there’s nothing big right in front of you”