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The Righteous Way Chapter 33
James charged with a powerful lunge. Alex parried his thrust and thought he had an opening, but James twisted out of the path of the blade by mere inches. He fell off balance, rolled and stood again in one swift motion. Neither man had had this much fun in a while. It was good practice and Alex was impressed by James ’s speed and increased prowess with a blade. The battle raged on with more and more stalemates as each man swung, ducked, kicked and blocked over and over in a perfect dance of combat.After many minutes, James misjudged however and Alex struck him on the shoulder. James gave a yelp of pain and rubbed the spot. He stretched for the next round and held up his sword. This time James was on the attack giving fast flurried swipes that Alex narrowly blocked until he too erred and James struck him on the side.The score now tied each smirked and switched the swords to their dominant hands. “Truly sir” James bantered, “You are weak without a shield to cower behind,”“
The Righteous Way Chapter 34
Isabelle and Ruby sat upon horses trotting along the path. Tied to the saddles were rolled tents and bedding. For the last month, Ruby had been talking with Isabelle to no avail. She would wake screaming every night and would have to be restrained until calm. James had given Ruby the idea of time away from the farm for the two girls to enjoy themselves. Behind the horses, Franklyn walked with his halberd over his shoulders.“How much farther today?” he asked,“Not far,” answered Ruby, “there should be a comfortable spot up ahead.”After another hour, they stopped their horses and secured them to a tree. “This will do,” she said. The woodland they had entered was full of foliage. Ruby looked up to Franklyn who shrugged. He lowered all his gear to the ground and began to tear up bushes and shrubs until there was a patch of clear earth. Isabelle and Ruby set up their tent while Franklyn explored the perimeter.“Why is he here again?” Isabelle asked,“Alex asked him to accompany us,” Ru
The Righteous Way Chapter 35
There was a snap of a twig and Franklyn turned to see what was approaching. A man with an eyepatch suddenly appeared from behind a tree. Franklyn reached for his halberd. “Who are you?” he asked,“I am a poor wanderer,” the man said putting up his hands, “I apologize for startling you, but I smelt your meal and couldn’t help myself,”Ruby gave him a look over. He had blonde hair held up by a headband. His right eye was covered by the patch. He wore a cloak, but she could make out a metal breastplate underneath.“I must ask you to remove your cloak and weapons,” Franklyn ordered. The man obliged and removed his cloak. On his back was a shield that once he removed it Franklyn relaxed. “That’s Alex ’s shield!” Isabelle gasped. Franklyn took another look and noticed the same. He again lifted his weapon to the man.“Alex ?” the man asked, “You know Alex Tolbert ?”“We do, how do you have his shield?” Ruby asked,“This is not the shield of Alex , it is mine, I am a former knight of Korryn
The Righteous Way Chapter 36
Alex led him to the mill house. There was little wind to drive the mill, but Isaac and Alex hitched up a team of oxen inside. The oxen walked around in a wide circle causing the millstones to grind the wheat. “Well this is a rather stale job,” Isaac said as he walked alongside his ox.“It is not the most exciting, but it is important, the mill gives us flour for our bread,”“Yes, but couldn’t James ’s little ones do this petty work?”“They are too young, should the oxen lose control they could be harmed,”“I just don’t see the point of us walking in circles with these smelly beasts, maybe Scarlett or--”“This is the job which Coltyn has tasked us, now hold your grief and be happy you have meal to eat.”Isaac sighed and continued to walk along. After the two men had filled bag after bag full of flour they began to haul it from the mill to storage. Bayle met them along the trail. Now her belly was showing protrusion and she wore a loose dress for comfort compared to her usual tighter
The Righteous Way Chapter 37
“We weren’t training; we were enjoying a good fight one warrior to another. Even with his disability I would trust Isaac’s battle skill with my life, just as I trust yours,”“Odd to hear a compliment about your least attended student,”“I have no doubt about your skills James , I’ve fought you with a blade and combat is no stranger to you,”“And what about them?” James motioned to the guards and other students,“They are inexperienced in real battle, but they learn well.”James nodded. “At least Ruby’s getting the hang of it.”They both looked in her direction. She was fighting one of the guards and continued to pummel him with her sword. “Then again, compared to you that man has the grace of newborn calf.”James bid farewell and headed off. Alex continued to instruct the class until the sun began to set. He returned home to Bayle and a cooked meal awaiting him. Isabelle also sat at the table. “I hope you don’t mind, I invited her for dinner,” Bayle said, “She is always welcome i
The Righteous Way Chapter 38
“You think you’re ready!?” he yelled at Ruby who struggled to breathe, “These are real swords! They cause death! Unlike me your enemies will try to kill you, are you prepared to die!? If you cannot fight against me, then how can I expect you to fight—“Without warning Ruby grabbed his arm and lifted her legs off the ground. She wrapped her feet around his neck and applied pressure. He let go and she dropped. But she didn’t stop. She pushed off the tree and tackled him at the waist. He was surprised by her strength as he went up and then slammed into the weeds. She then took a dagger from her boot and held it against his neck drawing a small drop of blood from his skin.He knocked her away, but she ran and grabbed a sword and shield. They fought and she did not hold back. Alex clutched his chest after a few swings and fell. “Don’t think we don’t know what we need to do,” Ruby said as she held her sword to his head, “You are family and we will do anything for you, anything!”Alex look
The Righteous Way Chapter 39
Alex and Claude clashed again. “You fool, what makes you think you can win against the Knights of Omega!” Claude laughed between blows,“What makes you?” Alex retorted as he kicked Claude back and swung for the shoulder. The sword contacted the armor plating, leaving a sharp dent. Claude returned with a strike to Alex . Alex raised his shield to block the blow and the two fighters took a moment to find an opening. Alex quickly dodged an incoming knight crashing to the ground before him. Isaac was then at his side. “I told you commander,” he said, “They are not as we were,” Isaac then stared at Claude, “We are legend.”Claude now angry swung furiously at Alex . Both he and Isaac worked in unison to block and strike. Many of the hits were to Claude’s armor, but eventually Alex pierced him under the arm between the plating. Claude dropped his shield and Isaac sliced at his side scoring a hit.Claude dropped to his knees and clutched at the wound. Blood began to drip through his gaun
The Righteous Way Chapter 40
Long live the king! Long live the king!” everyone shouted including Alex ’s friends. Again, Alex lifted his hand to silence them. “Go back to your business, you have your new king.”Everyone cheered and began to disperse. Alex stood watching them go until the square was empty. He and the others returned to castle. Alex and Bayle dropped onto the bed inside the royal chamber as the sun began to set. He felt the crown fall away onto the sheets. He picked it up and placed it carefully on the end table.“All in a day’s work for the Great Alex Tolbert ,” Bayle said, “Infiltrate Korryn’s greatest stronghold, capture its king and then take the kingdom for himself by vote of the people,”“Another tale,” said Alex , “But what of Coltyn and James , Michael and Ruby? Franklyn and the others? What will we do without them?”“Those are questions for tomorrow.” Bayle put her head upon Alex ’s shoulder plate as he pulled her in close. Either was too exhausted to try and remove his armor. Instead
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Feeling his back pockets, Alex told him, “Well come with me, we drops down to Bank of Montreal. I needs a bit of air, and a smoke maybe.”The door to Jimi Jak's opened, sound blowing out to the street for a moment or two and then gone, muffled inside. Alex lit his cigarette while he and Staunch went down the steps, which were now soaked in beer, streaks of blood, and littered with smoked down cigarettes butts from a successful, savage night. The Bank of Montreal only across the road from the bar, they crossed over once cars whizzed past.Nobody was inside the bank's ATM lobby. Alex passed Staunch the rest of his smoke before heading up towards the doors.“Not sure which one'll work,” Alex said thumbing through a handful of stolen debit and credit cards. “Might be a few minutes.”Alex went in to the bank machine and Staunch stood alone, drunk, in the dead of night. Occasionally, a car passed, a sound of laughter from the bar flew on the breeze, and a short time Staunch actual
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Chapter 104
Inside, the wood stove crackled nice and hot. The evening outside, even in summertime, cooled enough to put a chill in the bones. Brian and tom sat at a medium-sized kitchen table; they'd just finished off a good feed of minced moose burgers and deep-fried home fries. Don cooked a lot of things, but the boys loved their late night lunches – usually the same every time, burgers and fries or moose sausage and fries. As they relaxed in their chairs, Don brought them each a glass of ginger-ale, and a good portion of liquor for himself. The boys drank their pop and Don got his kit: one cigarette rolled, and a joint, as well.“Gimme a smoke,” Brian said, hand out.“Yeah, right,” laughed Don. “I ain't that nice, boy.”Brian laughed and Don lit his smoke.“That was wicked grub, Don,” Tommy told him. “Thanks again. Was friggin' starved.”“Today's been a long one,” said Brian.Between puffs of smoke, Don asked, “What'd you two shits get up to all day?”The boys looked nervous at one another, sl
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Chapter 103
The majority of the poor girl's murder only came back to him by way of time. Once months went by, the nauseating days of his freedom stretching on, and on, he pieced together several images from the night he first made death; him, the craftsman, making death by hand. Her throat bulged under a tight grip of his clenching fists. She tried to grab him, poke at his eyes, but the force of his hands clamping into her skin and taking the breath out of her heaving lungs kept him safe from any real damage, save a couple scratches. He did not actually orgasm; all the same, his penis shot up erect and stiff like a great monolith against her and he pressed it to her, putting the entire weight of his body down on hers, crushing the clutching bits of life from her flailing, pathetic existence still trying to hold to this world.From the start, he made a fine and thorough killer, an efficient machine created for the sole purpose of killing. Her body would never be found; it still sits buried, rotted
- The Righteous Way
Chapter 102
He lived on a decent cul-de-sac in Grand Falls, down near the river. Out back of the house sat a spacious garage separate by a large concrete pad, itself leading up into the long driveway. In the garage he had a nice spot for all his woodworking equipment: table saw, bench, racks of drills, hammers, handsaws, wrenches, and plenty of storage space for fresh wood and the like. At the back of the garage stood a door, behind the door, a room, and in that room were secrets. Locked away with only him and the stale air of the garage's workshop, those secrets grew, multiplied like mould in the dark, and he had a place where his wife would not disturb him; she left him to his business, and without her knowledge his rotten secrets, only coming out when he wanted her there. The man even installed a state-of-the-art security system for the entire property, including the garage, which came with intercoms; often, he would simply call his wife on the intercom to let her know it was fine to bring him
- The Righteous Way
Chapter 101
Back over under the Canopy and its branchy cover, Tommy and Brian stopped in an inlet of trees and alder bush. They were scared. Still, the boys were beyond determined to be done with the whole situation. Only trouble was neither of them, with all their heart, wanted to relinquish their hold on the money, those pieces of jewelry, all of that. Even as all the trouble of the world might perilously be wavering only inches above their heads, like one of those cartoons were an anvil hangs on a thread about the coyote's head, all Brian or Tom managed to see were the endless possibilities the contents of that bag could provide them; the images of a future path different than their own dominated them, overthrew those young and impressionable minds.“We could just toss the duffel bag in the woods someplace,” Brian remarked; half sure of himself, half kidding himself.The look gave his friend spoke enough on its own.“This is fucked up.”“We can't just get rid of it – not now,” Tom told him.“Y
- The Righteous Way
Chapter 100
Then, Staunch saw the wide birch shooting up near the lake's edge. His heart pumped in short bursts, rapid, and then short, slow again; a combination of nervous fear and the traces of meth still beating around in his brain. Alex stepped ahead of Staunch, who straddled behind wanting to stay but needing to follow. The hole sat only feet away now, closer with each and every stumble. Any minute now they would be right upon it. Stopped for a breath, frozen even in the pulsing rays of daylight, Staunch collected his emotions, his swollen and frayed nerves like wounded and exposed electrical wires, and he caught up to Alex . The two men stepped in around the birch alongside one another, with its hollowed middle, and Alex knelt, no words, at the edge of a roughly bore hole in the muggy earth; a hole where once they deposited all their stolen goods, a hole now empty, void.“Why'd you push me in the fuckin' trees like that?”“I just told ya,” Brian said, “there were people comin' and I di
- The Righteous Way
Chapter 99
The car parked a few lengths away from them. Two men got out of the driver and passenger sides; they looked normal mostly. One man – tall, tattooed and fairly muscular, the type who spends his free time lifting weights and self-obsessing over the tone of their muscles, bronzed and starved to death – went to the trunk, as the other – smaller, not much, than the other, and with the look of still being in high school due to his teenage way of dressing, but donning a cane in one hand, limping considerably and aching from an obvious back injury – looked to be moving slowly towards Alex and Staunch. They both walked towards the waiting Firebird.Staunch and Alex each got out and greeted the men.The smaller one extended a hand. “You Alex ?” He shook Alex 's hand. Turning to Staunch he asked, “And that must make you – what's it – Stench?”Alex cackled a dry couching laugh. “It's Staunch, actually.”“Shit, sorry.”Staunch looked calm, but underneath a volcano boiled, bubbled fierce in
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Chapter 98
Brian understood. He knew now, and along really, what Tommy felt wasn't a mental illness, a real delusion making him paranoid and insane; they both felt it, in different ways. It was the yearning for a new and different life instead of the shit existence they'd both experience up until now. While Brian and Tommy tried to create their own identities and shape the future of their lives, no matter how savagely they fought to do so, they were and always would be inhibited by the families which gave them life, shackled to a dirty destiny. Their parents each were destructive and heartless people; more concerned with their own lives and failed expectations and schemes than bothering to worry about the tiny, lonely humans they created from thin air, leaving them to grow into ungardened plants with no discernible paths ahead of them aside from anguish, despair, torment, and days on this wretched earth long and hard as the road to Hell.This gauntlet of living is what truly made Tommy lie and c
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Chapter 97
Brian decided it best to save his breath for the walk out from the station, especially considering Tommy planned to dig in three different places all around the area. He kept seeing more money, enough to dive into like Scrooge McDuck, and the thought made everything else fade away.But Brian's conscience, the well of his soul, wouldn't let him rest comfortably. He knew letting Tommy's delusion go on was risky; for days on days now, near a week, Tom has talked of nothing aside from the treasure, pirates, and all the like, and it slowly consumed his sanity, each day that passed. He kept on letting Tom pursue the dream of a legend that most likely was not true, in the slightest, and his spying conscience eyed him, judging, and made him feel as if his entire body were slowly being torn into quarters, drawn by horses, his every fibre wrenched in pain. Yet nothing stopped Brian. He certainly made no real efforts to curb Tommy's lust for treasure hunting.He went on watching Tom, who took hi
