We play a lot of truth or dare along the trip, with the exception of Trixie, the psychopath mainly keeps to herself. She would, and I quote, "rather jab myself in the chest a thousand times with a dagger than play with you".
So, whatever.
Do I look like I care?
Anyway, we play a lot of it. I'm random, so I alternate between truths and dares. Angel does a lot of dares, and you know what happened when I truthed her about her crush. That's probably why. Kev mainly sticks to truths, and when asked truth or dare, Goodie replies, "Story!"
Pish.
It takes us a full week's trek to get to the land of the Gold Miner Hunters. Here's a record of what we do:
Evangeline:
35%: eating, resting or sleeping
5%: on night shift
25%: playing on her phone
25%: playing truth or dare
1%: playing other stuff
1%: dueling practice with me
8%: arguing with Trixie
Conclusion: In general, she's just a play-girl.
Goodie:
70%: eating, resting or sleeping
0%: on night shift
5%: playing on his phone (how does a kid that small have a phone? I only got mine when I was fucking 13!)
5%: playing truth or dare
20%: asking/listening to stories
Conclusion: Will he ever get bored of stories?!
Kev:
30%: eating, resting or sleeping
69%: on night shift
1%: playing truth or dare
Conclusion: wow.
Orson:
30%: eating, resting or sleeping
10%: on night shift
3%: playing on my phone
10%: playing truth or dare
7%: turning down story requests
10%: combat practice with Evangeline/Trixie
40%: nothing
Conclusion: I hate my life
Trixie Alluni:
0%: eating, resting or sleeping (wow)
0%: playing truth or dare
0%: talking to us
5%: on night shift
7%: combat practice with me
8%: arguing with Evangeline
80%: on the phone with Helen
Conclusion: Man, I'm impressed.
Anyway, when we arrive, we're stopped by two gold miners wielding impressive-looking, razor sharp, deadly-looking, exquisitely-pointed...pickaxes?
"Halt!" they shout. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
I spread my wings. "My name is Orson Goldbloom, and these are my friends. We are ambassadors of the Angels, under the rule of the All-Father. He has sent us to speak to you," I say as humbly as I can.
The miners exchange a few looks. "Come," they chant in perfect unison again. "We shall take you to our king. He shall judge you worthy...or not."
"Um...what?!" asks Angel, turning to the rest of us.
"If your intentions are good, you have nothing to fear," they say. "Come!"
So that is how we enter the headquarters of the Gold Miner Hunters.
The Gold Miner Hunters' lair is a gold mine, with gold carts everywhere. I can't stop looking about, and now, I notice that all the hunters have weapons of pure gold.
We're escorted into a cart, and after spiraling through tunnels and caves, we finally reach the king's throne room.
The throne room is made of pure gold. I look over at my peers, and see that the others are also impressed. Evangeline, in particular, has her jaw wide open.
"Like it?"
We turn to see a man dressed elegantly in gold robes staring at us. He's about thirty, with a black bushy beard and hair. Probably Arabic.
"Yes, sir," says Kevin, stepping forwards and bowing. "It's magnificent."
The king smirks. "We Gold Miner Hunters settle for nothing but perfection."
He thinks he's so great, but I think that he is a plain, boastful, fucking whore.
"What do you little runts want?"
Called it.
We briefly explain the All-Father's orders.
"So," muses the cold king. "You want us, the respected Gold Miner Hunters, join ranks with the lowly Angels? Why would we do that?"
I sigh. "Because Satan is rising, and we need to stop him!"
"But are you worthy of having us on your side?" he asks.
Kev replies swiftly, "Yes, sir, I would like to think of us as worthy. We Angels are weak as individuals, but words cannot explain how much we can accomplish when we work together."
"Pfft," sneers the king. "We'll see about that. We'll have a Tournament tonight. It will start at midnight, and it will take place on our battle grounds. The five of you, against ten of my most loyal warriors, two dozen hunting dogs, five drakons and anything else we can fit in. Until then, I'll summon you-"
"How?" asks Evangeline.
"Do not interrupt! I am a Gold Miner Hunter. I have my ways. We'll see if you can prove your worth. Till then we meet." the king snaps his fingers, and sends us away.
When our cart moves into a little Gold Mining village (yes, everything was made of gold!), we set off to explore.
We ask around what a Tournament is, and we've managed to piece together what it is.
A Tournament usually begins at midnight. All the competitors in it (usually traitors of the group) are sorted into two teams, as fairly as possible. They are locked inside the battle grounds area, and are forced to fight to the death.
When all the members of a group have died, the other wins.
And judging by statistics, this isn't going to be a very fair fight.
We settle down at a tea shop and try to decide on a strategy.
"Since we can all win, we should all gang up together," I say.
Everybody agrees except Trixie.
I dismiss that and ask, "Trixie, how do you kill a drakon?"
Trixie insolently shoves her knife through the tablecloth yet again. "It's a secret. You wanna know the secret to doing it?" she motions for us to lean in close, and we do.
"It's a secret!" she whispers, and we all groan.
"Be serious, Trixie! This is live or die!" I snap at her.
Trixie just stares at me oddly, and keeps on acting like she's drunk the whole time we plan our strategy.
The waiter, who's standing nearby while we talk, takes our orders, and comes back pretty soon with glasses and mugs made of pure gold, filled to the brim with drink.
It's odd, in such a colourless village, that everything else is golden and we're not.
But sometimes, a little change is good, right?
YOU ARE READING
A Demon With Wings
Science Fiction***Book Two of the Orson Goldbloom tetralogy*** "The time?" I ask. "Three thirty in the afternoon," replies Evangeline Youngspire. The summer sun shines in the distance, flashing like a gold curtain string on a silky blue drape, and believe me, I'v...
