Alcingeria Chapter Fifty Five: The Calm Before The Storm

This is it. It's now or never. The task force has a plan in place; all the explosives are armed and ready for use. They are going to get everyone out. Will the plan really go off without a hitch?

Chapter Fifty Five The Calm Before The Storm:

Wednesday July 7^th 1690

            After the rally, Ignacio ordered everyone back to their cells. He said that everyone needed to be at their best for the attack. In the morning the others and I awoke in the guards’ quarters as usual. Waking up filled me with dread, for I knew what would soon follow; the death of another witch or warlock. We were ordered to escort the prisoners to the mess hall, which we did. When we were there, we all stood in line to get food, then we sat at the tables and ate. I sat with Antoinette, Tabatha and Walden. I ate some meat and vegetables. I had to keep my strength up. I drank some of the water I had. While we all ate, I saw Ignacio walk onto the stage. Everyone stopped what they were doing.

            “Everyone, I have very good news for you. We have a sufficient amount of machine guns manufactured, and we are going after the queen tomorrow at first light!” He shouted.

Everyone erupted into cheers of approval. I looked at the members of the task force and saw that they all bore grim expressions on their faces.

            “What are we going to do?” Stella asked.

            “We need to warn the queen. We need to make sure she isn’t killed.” Edward said to us.

Gerald nodded in understanding.

            “Yes, although she has done many evil things, if the mafia kills her they will take control of Valgate and soon; all of Vulrock. With all these machine guns, they will be able to march on the other provinces and conquer them. Of course, that’s the worst case scenario.” Gerald said.

            “We need to destroy this place before any more machine guns can be made. We need to destroy the base and the machine guns along with it.” Edwin said.

            “We need to get everyone out first.” Macalister said.

Edwin scoffed.

            “Everyone down here is either a witch, a warlock, a fairy or a mafia member.” He said.

Tabatha started to get angry. She clenched her fist on the table.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked, standing up slowly.

            “Tabatha, now’s not the time to fight.” Antoinette warned.

Tabatha snapped around to Antoinette and got right in her face.

            “No, no it is! Edwin’s been bagging on witches ever since I’ve known him! I’m sick of it!” Tabatha exclaimed.

Thankfully, everyone was paying attention to Ignacio who was rallying the people and firing them up for the attack tomorrow.

            “A witch deceived and killed my parents!” Edwin spat.

            “I didn’t kill your parents! Neither did Antoinette, neither did Alice, neither did any other witch we’ve come across! The way you treat witches is unfair and I won’t stand for it!” Tabatha exploded.

Edwin stood up, refused to be talked down to by a witch.

            “Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?” He asked, slowly leaning over the table.

            “I may not have my magic, but I’ll take you on any day of the week.” Tabatha said, clenching her fists harder.

I stepped in between them.

            “You two need to stop, this isn’t the time or place for this. When we’re all safe… and I do mean when we’re all safe…” I said that last bit while glaring at Edwin.

            “We can sort this out. For now we need to focus on getting everyone out and destroying the base. If we time it right, we can destroy it before the attack is launched.” I added.

            “How’re ya gonna do that?” Walden asked.

Gerald looked around to make sure no one was watching and quickly flashed his explosives.

            “We brought explosives to get the job done.” He whispered.

            “I see. If we destroy the base in time, we won’t need to warn the queen at all.” Edward said.

            “Yes, but if we don’t time it right and the attack is mounted, the queen will be caught off guard and she’ll be killed.” Darwin said.

Gerald looked at us all gravely.

            “Everyone, the stakes are too high to play it safe. If we warn the queen and the attack is still launched, there is still a chance she’ll be killed. We need to destroy the base. That will stop the attack as well as the production of machine guns.” Gerald said.

            “What you’re proposing is bold. I like it.” Robert said with a grin.

Just then, a shorter man walked onto the stage and whispered into Ignacio’s ear. His face contorted in anger but he quickly regained his composure.

            “Everyone, I cannot lie to you. I just received word that several of our machine guns were stolen sometime last night.” Ignacio said.

            “How many were stolen?” Asked a witch in the crowd.

            “Four.” Ignacio answered.

The crowd gasped collectively. Someone stole machine guns from the mafia? Was there someone other than us working to thwart them? If so, who?

            “Well, that certainly put a damper on things. As long as things can’t get much worse, I suppose I must get down to business… The guilty party who has infiltrated us has still not been found. Needless to say, another witch or warlock shall be burned at the stake.” Ignacio said.

Everyone gasped. Some witches and some warlocks threw themselves into the arms of their companions. Some wept, some stood with stony expressions, awaiting to see who would die. Ignacio looked around the room. He extended a finger to a young witch.

            “You.” He said with a smirk.

The witch’s face went blank for a second, then contorted with fear as the guards descended on her.

            “No!” She screamed as she attempted to run backwards.

The crowd scattered when she tried getting away, but the guards were right on her tale. The witch was about to hit the wall, then stopped. She whirled around to face the guards. She extended her hand shakily.

            “F-fireball!” She shouted.

A few sparks flew from her fingertips, but extinguished before they even hit the ground. The witch gasped in horror, but didn’t run away, she was paralyzed with fear. She just sat there with her arm outstretched, shaking in fear. Her eyes were wide. The guards chuckled as they seized her. The girl screamed and kicked.

            “Let me go! This isn’t fair!” She screamed.

            “You’re paying the price for someone else’s treason.” The guard spat.

            “That isn’t fair! Please just let me go!” she begged, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

            “Take her to the mine, prepare a pyre!” Ignacio ordered.

            “No!” The witch pleaded as the tears began streaming down her cheeks.

The guards obeyed and took her to the mine. As we and everyone else got there, I noticed that a number of gallows had been constructed, most likely sometime last night. There were ten in all. The other guards began rounding up the others to make them watch. I did the same. We rounded up all the other magic users and got them into the mine, where the other guards were already helping build a pyre. The witch was still screaming and kicked in the grip of the guards. The pyre didn’t take long to make, and the witch was soon tied to it. We all looked at her with concern and pity as she sat helpless and crying, tied to her pyre. It was all because of us, the task force. A guard walked up and mercilessly lit the pyre with a torch. The witch screamed as her fate was sealed. She knew begging for her life was pointless at this point, so she just cried as she awaited the flame’s contact. As the flames touched her skin, she screamed in agony. My throat caught. I wanted to cry. We had already caused a death, and were about to be responsible for another. It wasn’t long before the witch stopped screaming. Minutes later the pyre burned itself out and all that was left was ash. Ignacio walked over to the pyre, walking on top of the ashes as if they were as meaningless as dirt.

            “Considering the fact that we have more than enough machine guns to kill Queen Yuka, I am giving you all the day off. Enjoy.” He said with a leer and a smirk.

With that he walked off. We escorted the prisoners back to their cells. I leaned in so the others could hear me.

            “We are breaking everyone out tonight, understood? We need to do this now. The attack is being launched first thing tomorrow. If we don’t destroy this place the consequences will be very, very severe.” I said.

            “Excellent plan, Redmond. I was doing some poking around earlier and found multiple exits throughout the compound that lead into various buildings in the city. There is an exit in the workshop, the mine, the mess hall and the weapon storeroom. In order to make sure the machine guns are destroyed, we need to make sure no one is in the store room when we blow the place sky high, so they can’t smuggle any machine guns out.” Gerald said.

Don nodded.

            “Right. We need to plant the explosives strategically so no one sees them. I can help with that.” He said.

            “Edward and I will help you and Gerald with that.” Darwin said.

            “I’ll lure any guards away from the weapon store room.” Edwin volunteered.

            “The rest of us will round up the prisoners and sneak them out the exits.” Stella said.

            “Sounds like a plan. Good luck everyone. We start now.” Gerald said.

            “Okay, tell us when the explosives are planted. We’ll take it from there.” I told them.

There was a moment of silence as we all thought about what to say.

            “Oh, we should probably give you these.” Stella said as she handed her dynamite over to Gerald.

I did the same and so did everyone else who wasn’t planting the explosives.

            “Thanks.” Gerald acknowledged.

We all spread out.

            “Okay, we need to do this quickly.” Stella said.

            “We need to lure the guards who are in the prison corridor away. How do we do that?” Macalister asked.

            “We could tell them there is a small meeting in the mine.” Robert suggested.

            “Great idea. That won’t give us long though.” I said.

            “That’s why we’re doing this quickly.” Robert added.

            “We need to wait until the others have planted the explosives, that’ll maximize the effectiveness of the distraction.” I said.

We all waited there, not talking. We waited for around an hour. We all put on patient fronts, but the suspense was killing us all. Finally, Don entered the prison corridor with us.

            “It’s done. Explosives are placed in every room in the complex.” He said quietly.

We all nodded.

            “Okay. You and the law enforcement officers need to get out. Wait for us in the queen’s castle, we’ll take it from here.” Robert said.

            “There is an explosive charge set up ender some weapons outside this corridor. Shoot it and the whole place will go up.” Don told us.

            “Okay, we’ll make sure to hit that one first.” Macalister said.

            “Sounds good. Just try not to blow yourself up.” Don joked.

            “Shut up before I go over there and give you a beating.” Macalister laughed.

The law enforcement officers came around the corner and followed Don out the prison corridor exit and up into the bar above. They were going to meet us back at the castle.

            “Okay men… And Stella. Let’s do this.” Robert urged.

Author's Note

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