An Untitled Novel

“They’re too spread out, we don’t have enough explosives to thin them out” Basil yelled over ringing ears to Cicero, who had returned to the group by the craft. As he spoke they saw another group forming by one of the buildings along the wall. Whoever was commanding the Lizard King’s men was smart, knowing that the bombs would stop if they didn’t gather in the center of the courtyard. What they did not realize, however, was that ACE had no hesitation about bombing the walls; but had hesitation wasting the few explosives clearing small groups.

The small groups of people slowly grew along the walls and barracks as they flooded in, but in one swift move, all the attackers that had gathered were obliterated as well. Basil knew their commander would catch on quickly, and their numbers were still too high to mount a defense against - especially with all the holes in the wall that were now there. “I got a really bad idea” Basil shouted, and before anybody could say anything he tossed his rifle to Spiro and went running off through one of the new holes in the wall.

Basil sprinted as fast as his injured body would let him. He knew he only had a short window to make it through the front line before the soldiers re-converged from both directions to fill in the flanks now guarded only by their dead comrades. Quickly checking the live feed, however, and running around a corner he saw just the man he intended to find. This man was present when Basil escorted the Lizard King, which felt as if a distant memory, and the same man who had ordered his soldiers to stop a truck with their shields. This man had to be some sort of a general or other commander of some sort. “Traitor!” the man shouted in surprise seeing Basil run around the corner. He raised some sort of a pistol as the soldiers around him raised swords and rifles.

“Traitor?” Basil asked in feigned indignation. “I do all this for your king and the likes of you have the gall to call me a traitor?” The man looked thoroughly confused, but kept his pistol pointed at Basil. “You” he said, before pausing and seeming to recount Basil’s actions, but Basil spoke over him right before he went to speak again. “So either you’re a moron, or you’re not trusted. Or both probably.” Basil tried to sound as insulting as he could. “But” the man began to say, but Basil cut him off. “Let me make it clear, I was to trick the ‘demon’ into thinking I was there on her side, try to understand their technology, then sabotage the Redcaps and get out. I’m waiting for the Wizard, who should be here any second.” Basil gambled everything on the expectation that the incoming ship was the Wizard coming to check on his commander, and with the surprised look on the man’s face Basil assumed he gambled correctly.

“But you attacked us when we captured the Bloody One’s family?” the man asked as he lowered his pistol to a low-ready position. “Because your dumbass shot at me when I was driving over to help you. But I was able to roll with the punches and get the information I needed, and now they ran out of explosives so I was able to slip away. Get the Wizard, I need to tend to the injuries your men gave me in safety.” Basil’s demands seemed to satisfy the man’s doubts, watching the man order a soldier to go towards the now landing craft and another to go tell the troops to resume the attack. Basil started to walk in the direction of the Wizard’s ship, thinking that Spiro would be proud of the exchange that had just occurred. The walk turned into a jog, and the jog returned to a full-blown sprint as the sound of explosions rang out in the distance.

Basil made it to the back of an Elthrice ship and gave it a quick tap, receiving a notification on his PDA that he had gained control of the ship. There were now two more parts to his plan. First, get the seemingly invulnerable Wizard to leave to avoid needing to fight him. Secondly, and just as important, get out alive. “Here goes nothing” Basil muttered to himself as he walked to the front of the ship.

The Wizard looked shocked to see Basil, causing him, the Wizard, and the two soldiers flanking the Wizard to stare in silence for a moment. Basil began to worry that instead of leaving the Wizard would just guard the entrance of the craft until allies arrived, but finally, he began to talk - directing his words towards his underlings. “We are leaving now, do not let him enter. He can control the ‘demon’s’ machines if he touches their insides. Basil smiled and took several steps forward, hoping to speed the confrontation along without goading the Wizard into attacking. “Run away little man, I’m sure the so called ‘demons’ told you about Orbitals? Well, today you just found out why you don’t fuck with them.” The Wizard almost ran backward away from the man who had seemingly cut through an entire army, and the soldiers stood at the door, weapons drawn, until the door’s ramp began to move upwards and they ducked through the door at the last second. Basil took several steps back and watched the seemingly propulsionless craft slowly gain altitude before disappearing with a roar and a blur.

One more thing to do.

That one thing, however, looked as if it may be harder than expected as soldiers began convening on the location they saw the ship land on from all directions. A couple drew guns, but most drew swords. Basil looked in all directions, only two were coming down the road that led directly away from the capitol building. Basil opened fire, striking one of the two and causing the other to flee, but as he ran he could see a large group of much faster soldiers chasing after him. He made it around a corner, managing to dodge the bullets flying his way and very glad smoothbore muzzleloaders had poor accuracy. However, he had barely rounded it before he was swept off his feet by an explosion near where soldiers were now convening.

Basil regained awareness of his situation. His previously injured left arm was throbbing, but was barely noticeable compared to his right leg buried in rubble. He tried to move it, but a sharp pain even worse than before hit him as something cut deeper into his leg. The pain diminished the fog that clouded his mind and he picked up his head. He could see his body caked in dust and dirt, as well as little flecks of blood; likely both his own and that of the soldiers that were encompassed in the explosion where the collapsed building now lay. He again tried to move his leg, but the pain prevented him from moving it more than a few centimeters. Sitting up he grasped at the wood and stone that sat on his leg, but struggled to move it. He realized quickly he was lucky it was only a leg that was buried, as the rubble was very near to burying his torso as well, but he still couldn’t bring himself to feel lucky - especially with more soldiers shambling their way in his direction.

Adrenaline hit Basil hard and he managed to use the wood on his leg as a lever to push the stone off, revealing a long nail attached to the wood that had made its way through the flesh on the side of his leg. He managed to scramble to his feet, picking up his handgun and limping in the first direction that soldiers weren’t coming from. Blood flowed from the wound, an unclear amount under all the dust and dirt - which hurt badly - but importantly the bone did not appear to be broken. It would appear that ACE’s last-ditch effort to save Basil had left him more injured, but still running from soldiers. He fired several shots at those he was trying to limp away from, which seemed to force them to take cover, but he wasn’t sure how many shots he had left.

He quickly glanced at the slide on his handgun, which was closed. Though he did not know how many there were, there was at least one bullet left.