Chapter 26
Foolishness
In the Island of Riddles, Veron’s soldiers were having a rough day. For a whole past week, the numbers of the creatures have been increased exceedingly. The pirates didn’t do anything to help them, they didn’t even do it for themselves either; they were merely drunk at the beach, singing the sailors song.
When Logan sent a messenger concerning the reinforcement, the pirates laughed at him. Logan was furious but couldn’t do anything about it, as pirates were many in number. Titto, who was still in the cage, tried to read what was going on from the guards’ occasional remarks and their frustration.
One day the guard came and gave the watery porridges for them to share. Titto looked at the guards as the quantity was ridiculously small.
“Is there something more I should be depressed about?” asked Titto.
“Oh yes,” said the guard, spreading his chest. “We are going to build our empire larger and stronger than you ever did. We are smart, you know, we made a deal!”
“A deal?” frowned Titto.
“Yes!” said the guard, letting out the foolish laughter. “With the pirates, those low lives are too dumb to realize that the treaty is strictly advantageous to us! We went up and we made them sign the treaty! Those savages are scared of us…”
“Congratulation,” murmured Titto. “I hope you prosper. Maybe get a pretty girlfriend.”
The guard sniggered and punched Titto’s shoulder playfully. Titto frowned, and forced his smile.
“I think you are not a bad guy! I think, when we become larger, you might even be my advisor!” shouted the guard. “I’ll talk good about you to Logan.”
“How generous,” said Titto, sarcastically. But the guard didn’t notice the tone.
“Don’t worry, we won’t be harsh like that crook did,” laughed the guard, pointing a finger at Veron.
Veron was murmuring about his son in the corner. Occasionally he collapsed on the ground, grabbing his heart and in the next moment he just stood up, starting to hit his head against the log. After the guard was gone, Mrs. Thompson looked at Titto with concerned face.
“Pirates?” whispered Mrs. Thompson.
“Yes, I guess we have a hope after all,” said Titto, laying back on the ground, grabbing the handful of mud and dropping it.
“All we have to do,” he grinned, “is wait,”
The rain poured down in the evening, it started to fill inside the cage. Titto hugged Melady to maintain the warmth. The soil eroded. The guard ran back to the hut to bring his raincoat. Seeing the mud flowing down from the log, Titto stood up and started digging the soil to loosen up the log. Mr. Thompson noticed it and helped him. The hands were plunged to the rocky soil, and spattered on the ground. After few minutes of desperate struggle, Titto tried to lift up the log, but it didn’t move. The rain was shivering and the log was heavy. Mr. Thompson helped him and dug out the soil deeper.
Again, they pushed it but it didn’t bulge; they panted and leaned against the muddy wall. Mrs. Thompson and Melady came and grabbed the log together. Their hands were touching the wet wood.
“Ready?” said Titto. And they nodded. “Push!” At once they pushed the log with all their strength and it tilted, the soil eroded. They panted and let go of the log.
“Ok, one more! Push!” shouted Titto. The log got lifted up from the ground. They breathed heavily.
“That’s it, that’s it,” said Titto, lightly covering the soil on the top of the log for the guard not to notice.
“Did it work?” said Mr. Thompson.
“It’s weak enough, that’s good, that’s good,” said Titto, shaking the log, chuckling.
However, the guard didn’t come back, it was taking too long. A moment later, they heard the gunshots and people were yelling. They thought it was the creatures, but it wasn’t. It was a raid.
They looked at each other with wearisome eyes. But as the gunshots became louder and intense, they quickly stood up and to lift up the log.
“Now or never, PUSH!” shouted Titto. They yelled and pushed it; it popped up from the ground. They moved the log to the side and fell on the ground. They created the gap large enough for them to get out. They were panting on the muddy ground and let out the exhilarant howls.
As they were getting out from the cage, Titto glimpsed at Veron, who was sitting on the corner looking at them. Titto walked toward him and offered the hand. The cold rain soaked them and the thunder roared. Veron sniffed and grabbed his hand.
The battle was intense.
“Kill them! Kill them all!” bellowed Logan, angrily, shooting at the pirates.
Captain Baldi gave a maddening laugh, grabbing his rum bottle and shooting the officers with his pistol. Titto and others moved quickly and ran through the trenches, heading toward the forest deep.
In the midst of chaos, one of the bullets hit Logan from the back. Bleeding from his chest, he puked blood. He was kneeling and his hand touching the cold ground. He fired at the pirate who shot him. Logan coughed and looked at the dark sky. The cold wind grasped him. Searing with pain, he saw from a distance that Titto, Veron and Thompson family were escaping. He aimed and fired at them. But it missed, they safely got away. One of the pirates swung the sword at Logan and cut his head. Logan’s head fell and dropped it on the ground.
They ran and ran, deep into the woods. Melady fell on the ground as the road was swampy. When the sound of battle died off, they slowed down. But on the way, Veron stopped on the spot and overcame with sorrow. He dropped on his knees and sobbed. Others stopped and looked at him with horror; he was suddenly bellowing and screaming. Veron was trembling on the ground. He suddenly got up, let out a derisive laugh and started running toward the other way. He spread his arm and stumbled on the way.
“Come on,” said Mr. Thompson, grabbing Titto’s arm. Later they found one small cave. They went inside, shuddering from the coldness. Four steam of breathes fumed from their mouths.
They sat down and waited; no one pursued them. No sound was heard except the pouring rain.
Melady seemed to be in peace at last; she leaned to Titto, and fell asleep. The sight of her childish feature tortured his soul. She was only sixteen, but seen too many. He kissed her with pity. Sharp pain aroused from his arm. He just realized that one of the bullets hit him. But he too, felt safe now.
“God save us, we are the broken people,” said Titto, bracing her hair. His dried up sorrow cracked inside his heart. Slowly, they felt the darkest hours slowly passing away; the light is seen, slowly revealing itself.
Veron ran back to his base; the pirates were already gone, no soldiers were alive. Like a lunatic, he started hugging his dead comrades. He even bowed down to them, dragging their corpses and screaming loudly. And after a while, he started looking for Logan. After the maddening search, he eventually found the Logan’s head lying on the ground. He laughed nervously and fixed his gaze upon it.
Karl and Tyler, who happened to be near that location, went for the spoil as the gunshots died down. They approached and saw Veron crushing head on the rock, laughing. There were many corpses surrounding him. Tyler closed his eyes at the sight.
Karl frowned and realized that it was Veron Komer; he walked toward him. Veron didn’t notice anything. Karl cocked his pistol and shot him, the gun roared, the bullet went through his back. Veron gasped and tried to turn around. But before he did, Karl fired the second bullet which hit his head. He fell on the ground next to Logan’s head.
“… let’s go,” muttered Karl, Tyler followed him.