Red Rock

Chapter 27: It Must be Done

Chapter 27 It Must be Done

Jacob shook his head as he bathed his face in a bucket of water turned red by blood. The cut above his nose was already healing and blood flow had slowed to a tiny trickle. "We should've left," he said, wishing he had been more firm with Daire earlier.

"No. We can still beat this!" Daire replied, equally as stumped as Jacob.

"This isn't some fantasy. You have to get me out of here, and then we need to go."

Daire looked around for any eavesdroppers and was content to see none. "The guards are only under the command of Luke," he said, trying to shake the thick wooden bars that separated them to show that there was no way of escaping. "He'll let you go soon. And besides, you did this to yourself. What the hell were you thinking back there? What happened to your survival instincts?"

"If I'd been following my survival instincts, I'd be on the other side of Mars by now. But I trusted you with this society and now it's blowing up in your face."

"It's not and it won't," Daire said, continuing to think. "I say we stay and follow Luke's plan."

Jacob looked at Daire as if he'd given up on life. "And then we both get our asses skewered by a fucking spear. Great idea, Daire!" Jacob finished sarcastically.

"This is the best idea yet!" Daire countered. "If Luke thinks we're on his side, then there would be no way for him to expect us to do anything."

"Then we get to die being morons instead."

Daire was piecing a plan together. "Not if we act first. We know Luke's plan. Now we need one to counter it."

"We know that he wants to kill us tomorrow. Nothing else. We're dead if we don't leave." Jacob felt stressed that Daire was so persistent with making a plan and not listening reason. "Come on Daire, we have to go."

"No," Daire said, with a revealing smile. "We go to the cannibals, and plan an assassination of our own."

"Jesus," Jacob said in complete disapproval. "There's no way we're making another deal with the cannibals. Don't you remember what I told you? The cannibals die or we die! That's the only way this relationship ends!"

"And that's the way it shall," Daire said, confirming the statement. "The cannibals won't make it out of the battle alive. Once we get Blud to kill Luke, our forces won't take too kindly to the assassination and will turn on him, killing every last one of them. It'll be over."

Jacob shook his head, nursing his cut a little more aggressively. "It won't go through like you think it will. Involving the cannibals has never ended with us in favor. They're not stupid. And now that we are also the enemy of the head of our own military, we're going to get hammered! It's a free for all. Everyone has their own interests here. Goroth wants our land, Luke wants to take your nation away, you want to retain your title, and the cannibals want... whatever the fuck they want, but I guarantee you it has to do with killing all of us. To think you can eliminate all three problems at once with every side trying to do the same thing is idiotic! It's foolish."

Jacob was right. Four different factions were going to meet tomorrow on the appearance of two sides. The hidden agenda was present but not spoken. It seemed every side knew something that another didn't. "I'm smarter than Blud. I have more influence than Luke. And we outnumber Goroth severely. It will be an easy victory, Jacob."