THE BEACH
The Ranger was carrying three large branches when he sensed a change in the wind, after that he heard sounds that could be interpreted as voices. "But all the way out here though?" The Ranger thought.
He instantly dropped the sticks where he was and ran to the coastline. As he made his way to the coastline his eyes widened in amazement. It was his ship! It was a ghost of its former self, weathered, holed and worn. It resembled a ghost ship, come to think of it, his ship had always looked kind of like that. Yep, it was definitely his ship. She had come back to him much like his trusty silver axe always had. The ship was part of him except for the hand-picked vermin that now infested it like a sick disease.
He overheard their voices and he hid behind a tree waiting for the right moment to reveal himself.
Wulfric, Edward and William came down the ropes over the bow of the deck.
"Alright, let's spread out a bit. He could be here, but let's not announce our presence." Said a cautious Wulfric.
A bit too late for that, The Ranger thought briefly.
"He could take us all out with one axe throw." Said William.
"Might even take less then that," The Ranger said. The three of them whipped their
heads around immediately.
The Ranger stood with his back to the tree line facing his treacherous foes.
"Well, it looks like you survived Captn'" Said Wulfric.
"Good observation" said The Eye-Patched Man, with his arms crossed in front of his chest, leaning
against a palm tree. "You're gonna wish I didn't."
The three men turned towards the voice with their hands holding their crossbows and daggers.
They stood facing him for what seemed like a lifetime. Each one waiting for the other to draw
their weapon. Who would be first?
William was the first to throw his dagger, Edward soon followed firing off an arrow from his crossbow.
The Ranger quickly bent backwards as the arrow zoomed past his chest by only a few hairs. He straightened up and
bashed the dagger out of the way with his axe.
He grinned, confident in his trained and honed reflexes. "My turn!" He quickly shouted then brought back his right hand then launched the silver blade forward. William ducked the spinning blade and it found it's bloody home in the chest of the man behind him. Fountains of blood spurted from his chest.
"Get him!" Wulfric shouted, pointing his short sword at The Ranger, their old captain.
The Mutton-Chopped Man sprang into the jungle-forest immediately jumping over the tall grass.
The remaining three chased after him. Edward stopped for an instant to ponder his actions, the jungle was immensely dense,then he ran through the tall grass.
All was going to The Ranger's plan.
* * *
The Ranger was already twenty yards away. He knew the jungle-forest very well after these many days. He yanked at his weighted camouflaged pulley lift and it hoisted him into the air, shooting him straight up as the giant stone next to it fell straight down. On the wooden platform where his make-shift long bow had been waiting for him, he grabbed it and knelt behind the brown branched railing. He thought for a moment, He could just let them get lost and let the jungle naturally take them, slowly devouring them with thirst and hunger. He could let them eventually kill and eat each other.
He decided against it, why let nature take away his fun of the kill? No, he would be merciful and play the part of death himself since He made the mistake of trusting them. He incorrectly misread their characters. He most now undo the mistake he allowed into this world, then he would give them back to the land. They would be Corrected and hopefully purified for the gods and land to re-use in a better way. She would use them to feed the animals and rejoin the soil.
His anger wouldn't allow it anyway, he needed to let his festering rage out of its cage. The whole process of picking them off would be a definite test of his skills, especially after being shipwrecked for many, many, days and weeks. After many days of boredom and solitude, this would be very fun for him. He was also curious to see if his man-sized snares would work.
Suddenly, he spotted William noisily brushing the thick grass and brush out of the way.
The Ranger then loaded an arrow onto the vine bow string. He then put the deadly bow and arrow down to just watch William slowly activate the stick trigger on the ground holding an green looped lasso.
He stomped on the trigger as he heard some rustling in the distance.
The loop tightened around William's ankle and hoisted the rest of his body about five feet in the air.
The Ranger descended from his rope vine and stealthily approached him weaving in and out of the dense vegetation until he finally faced his upside down ex-crew mate face to face.
"Why'd ya do it Willy?" The angry Ranger questioned.
"Captain look! Wulfric’s forcing me to kill ya. I didn't want to do it!"
The Ranger stood a foot away from him as he searched William's face for the truth in his words and found none, only panic grasping for any explanation that would do.
The Ranger's face tightened and he clenched his teeth as the dagger quickly slid across William’s neck. Blood sprayed onto his face. Willy seemed to speak as the crimson liquid rand down from his neck. He thought the traitor mouthed the words sorry, but he couldn't be sure, nor did he care. They were all way beyond sorry.
The Ranger sheathed his dagger."Too bad Willy, you were a decent row man."
He crouched and crept off to his next position.
Edward, in the meantime, had taken it upon himself to climb halfway up a tree. He brought his old telescope to scan for any traces of his former Captain. All he saw was green leaves and a few colorful birds perched on an odd branch. He didn't have time to sight see weird exotic birdies.
Frustrated and already tired, he descended the tree and spotted some shade and a place to rest.
A smooth rock seemed out of place among the grass away from the trees and gigantic rock wall. The wall itself seemed to move backwards, suddenly Edward saw a huge shadow grow over the ground as a huge rock fell off the top of the wall crushing Ed instantly.
The Ranger watched the whole action from a safe distance camouflaged in tree leaves around his head and shoulders. He stood up and looked at his mantrap in awe because he thought that out of all the traps this one would work the least. He approached Edward with his bow and arrow in hand.
Edward's torso was partially splayed out above the edge of the massive stone. Blood ran out of his mouth. The Ranger looked down at his eyes with a trace of remorse. Edward was instantly dead but to The Ranger Edward had always been the one to easily roped into bad situations like this. During his time on The Ranger's ship Wulfric and the others would always talk Ed into doing something for their own amusement. Whether that was a foolish school boy prank played on another crewman or a task that no one wanted to perform. Ed was the man to be suckered into doing in it. He feared that this was the reason Edward laid there bloody. Yes, part of him felt remorse for the trap could have killed the man that conned him into this doomed quest.
The Ranger shook his head, but wasn't Ed a man? Even naive men as slow as he, were able to make decisions. For those who weren’t quick, surely they can still think with their hearts? Hadn't Ed's heart warned him against this action? Was Ed so slow as to not listen to his heart? Perhaps yes, but in the end the Ranger had to reconcile that he picked him to be a crewman on his ship. It was his poor decision to take such a man upon their king blessed venture. The Ranger now felt guilt picking such a man for his crew. This all fueled The Ranger's anger even more towards Wulfric.
* * *
Wulfric chopped through the dense jungle. The green leaves seemed to grab at his arms. Still Wulfric hacked them off as he vigorously, with The Ranger's axe, left to right. Already, his axe was on his way back to him.
Wulfric swore at the effort it took to clear the jungle. His arms were like heavy weights pulling themselves down. Wulfric's anger alone allowed him to clear the final leaves. Finally, the jungle cleared and gave way to tree branches, grass and stones. The jungle had, to his amazement, transformed seemingly into a forest.
Wulfric used his heavy breath to scream for The Captain. He screamed out of exhaustion and frustration. The Ranger put him through. He didn't understand why the jungle had cleared into a forest clearing, but he was too angry to care. "Captainnn!!!!!!" Wulfric yelled into the air. His arms were wide, axe in hand. "Let's finish this!"
For several moments there was absolute silence, then the trees shook, branches snapped. He looked all around him not
knowing the direction he would come from. He heard light feet hit the ground behind him.
The Eye Patched Man tossed the rope vine behind him. It seemed to spiral but up into the trees, running home to a high branch. He and Wulfric locked eyes, their eyebrows smashed together in intense anger and concentration.
