Chapter Eight
[Neo]
"And then what happened?" asked Parsnip. All
the rebels were standing around Roland, who was sitting on a tree stump
right outside his tent.
"Then he told me that he would fight extra hard
against us if we fought with him, because he hated Belisarius and me so
much," replied Roland.
"I can't believe this," said Tazor. "Why didn't
Neo get rid of you right away?"
"He said that as a knight, he still possessed the
honor that comes with that. He would in no way kill a man lying down."
Belisarius laughed. "Honor! If he had
any honor at all, then he would leave Marley's kingdom, and join our cause."
"Hey, who's that?" asked Spyder, pointing to a figure
slowly approaching the clearing within their camp. His hands were
above his head, as if he were surrendering. "Is that Flea?
What's he doing like that?"
"It's a trick, get ready for a fight," said Parsnip.
Roland stood up and drew his sword. "What
do you want?" he called out to Flea.
"Please, I know that my reputation with you has
not been to great," said Flea. "But I wish to change that."
"How can we know that?" asked Tazor.
"Please, you must believe me," said Flea.
"My master came to me in a dream, and told me to follow my true path."
"Don't give me any of that 'true path' shit," said
Roland. "This is all just one big trick. I see through your
plan."
"This is not a trick. I speak the truth.
I've come alone, and my hands are in the air."
As Flea spoke, General Neo emerged from behind a
tree, from the direction Flea had come. His sword was drawn, and
he walked with a frightening expression on his face; he ground his teeth,
and his eyes practically bulged out of his head.
"You see, I told you!" shouted Roland. Flea
turned around, drew out his sword, and swiped it towards Neo, making a
loud clang against Neo's sword.
"I knew you were a traitor all along," said Neo.
"You're lower than mud on my boots!" They fought fiercely, while
the rebels stood back in disbelief. Neo knocked Flea's sword from
his hands, and then ran Flea through the chest. Flea fell to the
ground, and Neo looked back at the rebels, holding his bloody sword poised.
"Flea was really going to join us?" thought Roland,
confused.
"You see what happens when you mess with Marley's
empire?" said Neo. "I will do that to all of you if you choose to
go against me." He pointed to Flea's body with his sword, and then
he ran away into the forest. The rebels all ran around Flea, who
was breathing with great difficulty. Roland knelt down by him.
"I would have joined you," said Flea weakly.
"Kill Neo, OK? For my sake."
"I will," said Roland.
Flea put his head down, and closed his eyes. The
group was silent as he stopped breathing. That night, they burned
his body. As everyone stood around the cremated carcass, Roland spoke:
"General Neo claims he has honor, and yet has killed this former thief
practically in cold blood, just because he wanted to join our side.
It is for reasons like these why the kingdom must go, now. I've hesitated
before, but this latest event has completely changed my way of looking
at this. As long as King Marley is on the throne, and Neo is first
in command, innocent people are going to continue to die." He paused
for a while. "I'm going into Marley's castle tomorrow morning, and
I'm not coming out until Marley is dethroned, and Neo's decapitated head
hangs dangling from my hand. Are there any objections?"
No one spoke. "All right then," continued
Roland. "Get some sleep, we have a really big day tomorrow."
[Belisarius]
Dawn broke over the group, and they began waking.
Parsnip woke first, and found Roland and Belisarius conversing. His
eyes glancing about for any sign of trouble, he approached the two.
"How long have you been talking?" Parsnip asked.
Roland looked over and opened his mouth, but Belisarius
interrupted, "All night. We started shortly after I woke Roland to
change watch, when he mentioned Neo. His actions were traitorous
to his supposed honor, and if Marley fights with no honor..."
"Then we'll have to kill him, just as we plan,"
replied Tazor. "Which brings up a good point. How do we plan
to kill him? He almost certainly has trained knights," at this, Belisarius
and Roland glanced at each other, grimacing, "archers, and a castle to
protect him. All we have are a few knights and spellcasters.
I hardly think we're outfitted to seige him."
Roland spoke up now, with the whole of their party
now awakened. "This is something else Belisarius and I were talking
about. Belisarius is recognized as something of a hero, which the
good general revealed to me. We may be able to get him in, and sneak
in through a window. He'll have to take some rope in, but this plan
may work. This only addresses half of the problem, however.
Once we've circumvented the exterior defenses, there are still a much greater
number of knights inside the castle than we have people. We have
only the first ideas of this part of the plan, but we're lacking some information.
"The knights will go on training exercises at least
once a week, which will take perhaps half of them out. If we go then,
we can reduce the resistance we encounter. The plan's not foolproof,
and it's hardly complete. We don't know when the knights go on their
exercises, for example."
The group looked between themselves, and no one
spoke for a moment. Parsnip looked up again, and then said, "The
sooner we destroy Marley, the sooner we decapitate the snake, the sooner
the body dies. If we die... then no good will have come from our
deaths. The plan appears somewhat sound, but there are too many cracks
for us to seal all of them. We may have to take it, however, if nobody
has any better ideas...?"
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