ZwqYxO: Book Two

Louis: Unpredicted

  Louis listened intently while Maybelline perched beside him in a crouch on the high shelf coated with boxes and rusty old trinkets.

They had a leader among them, those strange fairies in red. He reached for his wings. They were absolutely useless.  Maybelline didn't have wings, but when she flew, the flowers on her hat glowed intensely, they must have something to do with her flying.

He watched as the twelve fairies regarded their thirteenth, they all wore red masks, but the girl in charge had a fairly large bell that hung at her waist. The bell made no sound at all when she moved. This strange group looked like the performers that had traveled beside him when he rode a spider. The Spider Lilians. Layers of red silk tight-fitted their muscular builds, and showed off uneven postures. They were no performers. They were badly trained warriors at second glance. That girl. He remembered. Saffron. Zipper and Zero had mentioned her to him before. 

Saffron spoke. " ...........It's important that we wait for the signal from that guard. We are hiding in plain sight after all. All of you will relay the signal down to our lowest rankers. It's tonight or never. A handsome reward. It will be an equal split. We already have half in advance. For the other half, we need only to decapitate the queen, simple as that. Although it is strange that a guard has so much on his hands. But not the matter, gold is what we focus on......."

Louis had heard enough. He narrowed his eyes.

Maybelline scratched the dust. She poked at a cardboard box. Teeheehee. She glanced at the back of Louis's head. A wonderful bushy ponytail. Ohohoh. She reached out a hand tentatively and gave it a slight playful bat. It twanged a bit. Again. with a bit more force.  It bounced harder. Teeheeheehee.

Louis's shoulder tensed. Maybelline sensed a change in the air around her. Danger. Oh well. She batted at his ponytail again. And agai...Louis grabbed her wrist all of a sudden. " Stop that." He hissed in a low growl.

He spun around again to find that the people in red were all gone. This was bad. There was going to be an assassination. But why should he care?He turned to climb down..........

It was only a slight change in the air but Louis felt it nonetheless.

Hands on the solid surface, Louis arched his back high into the air and kicked the dagger out of the hands of a performer.  Arms bending, he flung himself into a flip and landed perfectly on his feet, hands at his sides. He frowned at the red assassins wielding daggers surrounding the shelves around him, their eerie yellow eyes following his every move. They were all perched, save for the standing Saffron. She was on the shelf from across the wide main path. She waved her dagger at him.

" Greetings. Choochoo. Who invited you to our little conversation?"

He frowned at her.

" Ahh. My bad, I never did learn your name." She wiggled her dagger at him. Her giant golden earrings glistened. Her blood red lips widened into a creepy smile. " Would you care to answer?"

He glared at her. Saffron shivered a bit. " No." He said.

" Oh." Replied Saffron. She stared at him. " Never mind.  " She put a palm above her mouth." Oh ho ho. Not that it matters. You could join us you know, I see your skill in combat. Together, we could be unstoppable."

Louis kept glaring at them. His gaze raked across the whole group. A cold glare. " What makes you think I would lower myself to get involved in your repulsive group ? You are a loathsome bunch of sickening underlings in which I see no value within." He replied in a cool tone.

Saffron huffed with rage. " Well.  That's just too bad we still don't know your name because now we won't know what to carve on your tomb stone. " She tossed her dagger into the air and caught it and pointed it at Louis. " FINISH HIM QUICKLY! AND THE GIRL, TOO!" She yelled furiously.

The others turned toward him with wicked smiles while she sprinted away.

Louis snorted. Tossing his head back he raised his arms and moved into defense mode. He bumped into Maybelline. They were back to back.

Maybelline had no idea what was going on. The people were suddenly all smiles. She smiled, too. She waved at them. Hooray! A party perhaps? Were they here to entertain?

" Lend me your quiver and bow." Said Louis under his breath. His voice was smooth and deep.  She trusted this voice." Okay." She said simply. She gave them to him. " Take cover." "Okay." She walked a few meters and jumped over the ledge.

The burly performers came for Louis.

Louis patted the arrows, they were a tight fit. Three nearest him went for a strike. He black flipped into the air in slow motion, notching an arrow to the string, he pulled and let fly. In a blink of an eye all three were down and went crashing below. Three down. Nine to go. Another slashed at him, he sidestepped, dodged and cleared a gap to the shelf behind him. He ran down the long shelf, springing over boxes of stuff. Why not use them to his advantage? He started kicking down the things that were near his foot. They crashed below but would clear a path for the enemy, bad move. He stopped and spun around. String pulled taught he aimed and let go. More down. Two appeared and moved sideways on either shelf in front and behind him. Louis feigned walking forward and calculated the distance. Perfect. With a swift jump he was on his hands, twisting his hands around, he did a perfect split, knocking them to their bellies in startled gasps. They dropped their weapons.Two arrows and they were down. He flipped again, just in time to notch another and another.

Maybelline floated down in her dress. Bodies raining down beside her. When she reached the floor, all was still.Louis climbed down and stood beside her. The dusty ground was covered in splotches of blood gushed out from different angles. Maybelline glanced at Louis, a bit afraid now. " Here." He handed her back her bow and quiver. He didn't even break into sweat.

Saffron stepped out from the shadows. Her face in total shock. "No-o...." She knelt to the floor, swishing her hands in the blood like it was ketchup. She smeared the blood everywhere. " No....no...my comrades......dead and gone....." 

A needle whisked through the air and she was suddenly still. Then a dagger protruded her chest and she collapsed to the floor.

Hysterical laughter echoed through the store room. The door suddenly slammed shut.

A figure carrying a lantern stood before them. She cackled like a crazy person. She probably was.                                                        "HEEEHEEEHEEHUghhhhHAAAAAHAAGaghhhhhuhuhuhuuhhhhghhhuhuhuGHHHGAHHHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHUughhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Vanilla Penicillin.

Her eyes were wide like she haven't slept in days. She kept hollering with laughter nonstop.

Maybelline grabbed Louis's arm in fear and for support.

The blood from the thirteen bodies slowly criss-crossed into the grooves of the floor forming a giant octagon if you look from up above.

She poured something glowing red into the blood. The octagon began bursting into flame like hell fire. She laughed as the tongues of flame curled higher licking hungrily at the air above.

Louis and Maybelline were in the exact middle of the mayhem. Shadows danced across their faces.

Vanilla Penicillin began to chant in a hyper gleeful voice:

Thirteen bodies, blood for gold!

Sacred octagon, here, behold!

Pathway to the hellish Inferno!

Commence the journey incognito!

The octagon sizzled and the floor blackened and began to sink downward like molten lava. Maybelline and Louis held on to each other as they had no choice and they sank below into unknown darkness.