Nathaniel:
"Sir!" A woman bowed as she ran over to me. "The Saxons have surrounded us on all sides!"
"Good." I smiled.
"But that's not good, sir." A man joined her.
"Nathaniel?" Alvin questioned me.
"Now we can attack in all directions." I smiled.
"What?" The men and women gasped.
"Attack in all directions." I shooed them away. "Go berserk!"
The two left, hopefully to tell others my orders. I planned my strategy out in my head.
1. Attack in all directions.
2. Win the battle.
Perfect. I was so qualified for this. Seriously, a young boy who has next to nothing when it comes to military and has only been on this planet for a week... let's put him in charge.
"Your battle will be legendary," Alvin teased.
"Can it?" I smiled. "What do you suggest I do?"
"Let's use the catapults." Alvin pointed up hill where at least a dozen catapults sat.
"Oh." I turned to the people. "Change of plans! Use the catapults!"
I watched the people run up hill, loading rocks into the giant spoons, readying their aim at the seven ships coming closer and closer to harbor.
"Fire." Alvin whispered to me.
"Fire!" I repeated, not sounded as bold as he did.
The rocks flung into the air, hitting the ships all at once. The wooden ships exploded, sending splinters of wood into the air. Their warriors jumped into the sea and swam to our shore.
"Great plan, Alvin." I thanked my friend.
"I would suggest taking prisoners." He smiled, watching the ships sink into our harbor.
"People!" I yelled. "Get the Saxons that survived and put them in jail!"
My loyal subjects didn't oblige to anything I commanded them to do. They started rebuilding houses and digging swimming pools for me. Maybe being a leader wouldn't be terrible, I just hate having all the responsibility because if one person messes up, it's my fault.
I watch a black and silver butterfly fly past my head. It's gracious wings fluttered as the wind tosses it to the side, but the butterfly fought on, moving forward to where it wanted to go.
Why did this butterfly remind me so much of myself, Azun, and the other rebels?
"Can I buy you a drink?" Alvin asked as he supported himself on his walking stick.
"That would be okay, considering we just won a legendary battle." I followed Alvin as he lead me to a pub.
Inside I stopped to look around, not aware that Alvin had walked away. There were so many people out celebrating I could barely move my way through the crowd.
Although I was a small person and relatively skinny and very short for a young man, I finally found Alvin sitting at the bar table.
"Alvin!" I grabbed his shoulder, he parted the crowd for me to move through.
Alvin held up two fingers as the bartender poured us each a cup. Then he got right to the point.
"If you want to get out of office," Alvin began, "You need to listen to my advice, don't become friends with anyone but me, and whatever you do, don't smile and wave. We also got to make you look bad so everyone will want someone else to be their leader."
"So be a sad potato and shut my pie hole?"
"Exactly. Only fools shout to the world how they feel. Especially don't let anyone know your name and where you are from. Trust me, not everyone here can remember the vast empires in this universe. That's why they created gods to explain things. But never mind about that." Alvin and I clanged cups. "To a new start and a hope to get back up to the stars."
"Cheers." I took a sip of the strange liquid.
"Yo!" I heard a loud voice from across the room singing a nasty song. "Ey! This is Kaun! He has brought us a new age!"
"It's party time!" I heard a woman's voice yell after the man's.
"Like I said earlier." Alvin rolled his eyes, continuing to drink. "Fools express who they are. Just stay low and don't talk to anyone till we figure all this out."
I looked to where the voices were coming from. It was from three people, a boy and two girls. I recognized Glow from when she captured me, but the other two I didn't know. They toasted the cups against each others, their drinks spilled everywhere. They were laughing and partying. Obviously drunk as day.
"Yo!" Glow yelled. "I'm the best chugger in town. I've chugged two barrels of rum. Does anyone dare to do three!"
The crowd applauded, encouraging her.
"Hey, hey!" I heard another girls voice, pretty and delicate. She had thin wrists and a curvy waist that continued to curve down her legs. She wore a white dress with a gold string around her waist and a few pieces of silver armor. "My name is Stinger! And if you think you're better at chugging, no, you ain't."
"Bruh!" The boy yelled, banging the table. "My name is Uriah, my cousins Stinger and Glow. I'm up in this war, loving this war! Chug!!!"
A young man laughed at that remark.
"You wanna go, Tyler?" Uriah yelled at the kid. "Meet me outside and I will destroy you in a duel!"
"Hey ya!" Stinger and Glow yelled, bumping hips.
"Let's get out of here." Alvin whispered to me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door.
"Let's have another round!" Stinger yelled.
"To the rum of the gods!" Glow yelled, looking as if she was going to fall over from all that rum she drank.
"Cee!" Uriah yelled, as the three banged the cups together, spilling their drinks on the ground.
Alvin huffed his breath as we walked past them. He seemed as if he wanted to get away from those three.
"Well, if it ain't Alvin the smarty!" Uriah noticed us. "Joined up for another party?"
"Give us some words, drop it down." Glow said, dropping her cup on the ground. Her drink went everywhere. "Try and relax a little bit, nerd!"
"Good luck understanding." Alvin sassed. "Keep paying your wages on drink, I will become even richer than a king someday."
"Oooooooh!" The three drunk cousins booed, splashing their drinks on Alvin.
"This war is coming, Alvin." Stinger cooed. "Your brains are nothing against a sword."
"But without the brains," I interrupted, "You won't be able to figure it a strategy to win."
"Seriously, who is this punk?" Glow chewed her lip.
"Your little bodyguard." Uriah teased.
"No." I boldly stated my lie.
"Well, your friend's cute." Stinger set down her cup and walked over to me, "mind if I steal him? What's your name?"
"I am Loki, god of tricks." I smiled as I watched her hips sway each time she took a step. Ahh...am I staring at hips? What is wrong with me lately? My voice is getting deeper and I'm looking at girls like Azun does.
The room went silent.
"Hanging out with a God?" Stinger broke the silence. "He is far too low for that." She shoved Alvin at me.
"How about we show you who is right for you to hang with, puny god?" Uriah teased.
"With one look, I could strike you all dead." I threatened.
If only I could do that. I could probably beat them all with my knowledge of war from the great battles of Malison. Yet, I have fought in two battles so far, and I'm pretty sure the one an hour ago didn't really count.
"I want to see you do that." Glow mumbled under her breath.
"Hey!" Uriah slammed his hands onto the table, silencing the room. "Yeah, puny! Let's see you strike me down! Right here, right now!"
The crowd cheered, encouraging him.
"Ok then." I stepped back. "Right here right now?"
Oh boy, did I make a big mistake. I was fourteen, five foot five. Not tall for a teenage boy. This boy was sixteen at least, had the body of a sumo wrestler and a body builder, and to top it all off, he was seven feet tall. I on the other hand only weighed a hundred and five pounds. He probably weighed over two hundred fifty.
"Ha." I whispered to myself. "I am so dead."
"Let's go, Puny God!" Uriah yelled, tossing me a dueling gun.
Then I remembered something, these people envisioned me as a god, I could pull off any trick and they would think it was from my power. Man, I wish I could teleport somewhere. That would be nice. But I can only teleport to where I can see, that makes this so much more difficult. I couldn't see outside of the ring of people forming around me.
I tucked the gun into my belt. I didn't want to use it if I didn't have to. I have never wanted to kill someone like Azun did. My brother told me about his first duel, he was so nervous he shot a step early and killed the guy. I couldn't live with myself if my hands caused someone to die like that. The war my father put me in was pure defense, at least that is what I tell myself at night when I can't sleep.
Uriah ran at me, I looked around him, then teleported. He looked confused that I had vanished. Then upon spotting me, he charged again. I let out a beam of light, blinding him for a split second, swinging my bowstick at his legs, knocking him to the ground. The fight was over before it began.
"No so bad for a puny god?" I teased.
"Stupid boy!" Uriah growled.
"I believe you owe me an apology."
"Sorry, your highness."
"I don't want to hear you causing any more trouble, you hear?"
"Yes sir."
I looked over to Alvin, who sulked in the corner. He didn't want to be here. I walked over to him, grabbed his arm and dragged him out.
"That wasn't a smart thing to do," Alvin told me as we walked back to his house.
"Why not?"
"Uriah is the best warrior we've got." Alvin kicked at the stones. "You can't ruin his self esteem."
"I thought he was asking for it."
"Still, this is all going to come back and bite us in the butt. I said low profile. Not to mention, you almost exposed yourself as a Zodiac!"
"I'm fine, and I can't exactly keep a low profile if I'm a god to these people."
A man ran at us with hair that was bright red. I could see he had some tattoos on his chest and wore a hood that covered his head and back. His chest was bare. He only wore the cloak, some shoes and pants.
"Leaders!" He huffed, must of ran far.
"What is it, Magistrate?" Alvin asked.
"The Saxon prisoners have escaped." Magistrate wiped the sweat from his face.
"Great." I smiled.
"Not great." Alvin huffed and rolled his eyes at me.
"I do not care." I waved the boy away. "Let them escape."
"But-"
"Let them escape." I repeated myself to the boy.
"They have already left the island." The boy said.
"That is even better." I grabbed Alvin's arm and dragged us away from the boy.
"You really should be more concerned about that." Alvin whispered to me.
"I want to be kicked out, remember?" I laughed. "Let's see what we can do next."