Chapter 34
The Strategists
The headmistress Lucy was mad when she found her four members dead in the hill. When they heard the loud bang from the hill, they came to see what happened. The group of assassins who shot at Nina’s army gathered there too, explaining to Lucy.
“It… it happened so fast…” murmured one of them. “They came out of nowhere…”
The members of the Assassins’ Chamber were talking amongst themselves. Ned, who was leading the rogues, was with them, looking around the field.
‘How was it possible for the enemies to escape?’ he thought.
“The haunted ground, field full of skeletons,” murmured Ned.
Lucy was crying out with rage, leaping around. She demanded the answers from the one who initialized an attack. But they merely said they were shooting at the ‘invisible’ intruders. Lucy didn’t listen and started accusing them that they were the one who betrayed her and killed their own division.
“Get a sense Lucy,” said Carol, one of the assassins who attacked the hill.
“Your group fired at the spot where our allies were standing,” said Lucy, raising her gun toward her. “Not checking whether they are alive or not!”
“Ha!” said the other assassin, pointing at Lucy. “See everyone? This is what I’m talking about. She is not fit to lead our group.”
“Shut up Casey, this is not the time,” said Carol.
“So, invisible?” snorted Lucy. “The enemy was invisible, is that what you are telling me?”
“Yes,” said Casey, shrugging.
“Look, we didn’t attack our allies. We attacked the spot little away from their position because those enemies set off our booby traps,” said Carol.
“Why are you acting like a blockhead? You know Nina Polchinski uses the cloaking devices,” sneered Casey.
Lucy didn’t know what to say back, so she merely stared at them. Ned came near them.
“It is true, they were wearing a cloaking device,” said Ned.
“How do you know?” growled Lucy. Ned, without speaking, threw the small device to Lucy. Lucy caught it in the air.
She saw the microwave device that enables the cloaking. Lucy frowned at it. Although damaged, it was recognizable; she has seen a similar device in Cassandra.
“Should we search the regions?” said Carol.
“Yes, yes,” said Lucy. “Look through the corpses.”
They searched the region. It wasn’t too hard to find the ‘invisible’ corpses as the power was getting low on cloaking devices. Some of them were flickering on the ground.
Lucy approached one of the corpses and looked closely at it. It was James; his face was covered with worms and ants. Lucy doddered off the bugs from his face. The assassins didn’t even bother to examine him further; he was the one who contacted Sharine Pestice to the ghost ship operation. Every member in the Assassins’ Chamber knew his face. There was only one group that fits the description.
“In that parched hope and shivering despair,” muttered Casey, giggling. “I guess she survived.”
Lucy burned with rage.
“I’ll kill… I will kill you Nina Polchinski!!!” screamed Lucy. Her voice echoed in the mountain.
At the time, Karl was still tied up in the camp. He looked more haggard than ever. Sharine and Alvin went near Karl and talked to him. Sharine brought some dry biscuit and started feeding Karl.
“Nice doggy,” said Sharine.
“…” Karl didn’t reply, he just bit the biscuit and munched it.
“Well, many militants come to conquer. Most of them won’t survive,” muttered Sharine.
“We need to go to the creek,” said Alvin.
“I don’t mind but, most of them will die on the way,” said Sharine. “But if we just sit here, then we will be engulfed by the war. We need more army.”
“I’ve seen many drones flying around these days… We have to move into caves or the underground or they will try to remove us by air bombing…” said Karl.
“No, they won’t,” said Alvin.
“Why is that?” said Karl.
“Simply, bombing cost money,” said Sharine. “But providing us with the weapons, will bring profit. Unfortunately that’s a privilege for the pirates now; we have to go to the shore.”
“Very good, was that your agenda in the Assassins’ Chamber?” said Karl.
“Exactly an opposite,” said Sharine.
“… How do we find the merchants even if we get to the shore?” said Alvin. “Cassandra is shit right now and we’ve got nothing to trade.”
“What do you suggest then?” said Sharine.
“We have to move to the creek and meet Nina,” answered Alvin.
“You seemed to be too trusting on that little girl,” sneered Karl.
“Mind your own business,” said Alvin.
“Machina suits which Nina is using are pretty good things to have but it’s not enough. Ideally, we need Ricky on our side,” said Sharine. “The problem is that my boyfriend is born ADD and got PTSD after his leg got chopped. He doesn’t have a clue how to go back to village.”
“Well, that’s that. I’m not too worried about other militants; what I’m afraid of, is your friends. They are going to come to this island soon or later,” grumbled Karl, looking at Sharine.
“Why do you think that?” said Sharine.
“Well, the pendulum has fallen and I doubt they will be killed by those lame creatures. What choice do they have, other than coming here?” said Karl.
“My old friends are quite disturbing,” said Sharine. “We don’t have a chance against them.”
“Is that for real, oh oh, headmistress of the Chamber?” said Karl, with a mocking tone.
“Yes, we don’t have a chance,” said Sharine.
“Are you thinking of truce?” asked Karl.
“They won’t listen,” said Sharine.
“Disappointing…” said Karl.
“I need land mines and wires. Does this camp have it?” said Sharine, but Alvin shook his head.
“Nope,” said Alvin.
“This girl is scared now,” chuckled Karl. Sharine frowned at Karl; Karl smiled her back.
“Where is Ms. Polchinski?” asked Sharine to Alvin.
“… She went into the tunnel,” answered Alvin.
“Huh… is she alive?” said Sharine.
“Haven’t got a clue,” said Alvin.
“If she is alive, is she going to get you?” said Sharine.
“Yes,” said Alvin.
“Faithful little fella, are you that naïve?” said Karl.
“Yes,” said Alvin. Karl rolled his eyes.
“My mouth is really dry… Will you be kind to hand me that water?” said Karl to Sharine. Sharine grabbed the bottle and spattered at Karl’s face. The water dripped from his face.
“Nice doggy,” smiled Sharine.
“Thank you very much,” said Karl, licking at his lips.
“We all have to move. If Poe doesn’t listen, we’ll have to do the coup,” said Sharine.
“What?” shouted Alvin.
“You know, to keep things under control,” said Sharine.
“Are you nuts?” said Karl.
“If we don’t stay here, we are going to die anyway. Poe is much easier to deal with than the assassins,” said Sharine.
“So you are saying the assassins will soon attack us?” said Alvin.
“One way or the other,” said Sharine. “Eventually the strongest will hit us hard and my bet is on my friends.”
“Bullshit,” said Karl.
“If we have a coup, aren’t the other militants going to attack us? Then it is all over,” said Alvin.
“Quite right,” said Sharine, putting her hand under her chin; she thought for a moment.
“Maybe it is lucky to have a humongous island,” sighed Alvin. “We will have to move to the creek after all.”
“No, go back to your mooring area,” sai
d Sharine. “Where the rest of your armies are at.”
“Why makes you think I have a reserve?” frowned Alvin.
“I presumed it is stupid idea to give your ships to the enemy.” said Sharine, charmingly. “It wouldn’t hurt to have some reinforcement. At least we don’t die like a pack of farm animals.”
“So, after we get our army, are we going to prepare war against the Assassins’ Chamber?” said Alvin.
“No, find Ricky, we want to hide there,” said Sharine. Karl rolled his eyes.
“But,” said Alvin.
“From my understanding, Nina took her best men to get to the creek but they failed to come to the creek. Is that correct?” said Sharine.
“Yes,” said Alvin.
“Sorry to discourage you but, you can’t fight against the Assassins’ Chamber,” said Sharine. “In Cassandra, we let Nina grow in the first place. We’ve been planning the coup for ourselves way before you guys did. But as Nina did a pretty good job, I wanted to make a truce with her. That is why I did the ghost ship operation. If it wasn’t for that, Nina would be dead long time ago.”
“Really?” said Alvin, offended.
“Yes, we are the string of the pendulum. No schemers can breach our territory,” said Sharine. “And I guess if they are indeed in the island, they will be coming for my neck. Lucy will be delighted...”
“Quite a friend you’ve got there,” sneered Karl.
“Fuck you,” smiled Sharine.
“I guess we are out of options, then,” said Karl.
“Exactly,” smiled Sharine and turned to Alvin. “Good luck convincing Poe. If we are lucky, you might see your queen after all.”