The Golden Amulet (PJO, Sequel to The Silver Ring)

Chapter 63

For a moment I just stood there in disbelief. After all of this adventure, all of this escaping, this was the way I was going to get caught? In a dark alleyway as though I was going to get mugged?

It wasn't as though I could do anything to escape. Lugging around Omega's limp body severely disabled my mobility, and no doubt the moment I moved the soldiers would draw their swords. Riptide would still be in my pocket when they'd stab me.

And yet, something was off about the soldiers.

The ones in the front seemed slightly taller than the ones in the back—but their legs were the same size. Furthermore, the soldiers didn't seem to be wearing any armor, and if they did have swords, I was as blind as a bat. 

A disturbing thought came to me: were these soldiers or thieves?

But I shook all of my thoughts away, figuring that my observations were just my anxious mind coming up with unfathomable things. These people were no doubt soldiers; six of them had just burst into the tavern and any army worth their salt would know the oldest trick in the book: to be prepared for anything and guard the exits.

And yet, they stood there silently, as though waiting for me to make the first move, even though this was the best time to attack me.

As the seconds ticked by, I couldn't stand it any longer. "What're you waiting for?" I asked. "Kill me!"

The soldiers stepped out of the shadows, revealing who they were.

I gasped. "Charlotte?! Fauvel?!"

Charlotte did a horse's impression of a smirk. Our disguise was convincing, right?

"O-of course," I stuttered out, surprised. "But how did you get here? Not that I'm not happy, of course."

Well, after Fauvel and I left you at the inn, we ran around the city, trying to escape the chasing Chaos soldiers that we distracted for you. Charlotte narrowed her eyes at me. I never got a thank you for that, my lord.

"I'm planning to give you a big thank you after all of this," I told her. "Thanking somebody every time they save me is exhausting."

Don't thank her, Fauvel cut in. She endangered my master's life as well as yours, milord.

Charlotte gave him her best impression of a stink eye. It was an accident, you dork.

Before Fauvel could retort and spiral into an argument that would knock us off track, I interrupted, shifting my attention to Charlotte. "How, exactly have you put us in danger? And wouldn't that also be your fault as well, Fauvel, since you're accompanying Charlotte?" I asked teasingly.

Fauvel blanched at the accusation, while Charlotte remained unmoved. When we thought we'd lost the soldiers, we turned back to help you guys escape, she said honestly. But apparently, ANOTHER brigade followed us . . .

". . . And you led them right to where we were," I finished, rubbing my eyes blearily. "To be honest, I expected that. This city is crawling with Chaos soldiers."

And am I correct to assume one of those said soldiers hurt my master? Fauvel asked pointedly.

That's when I realized I still had Omega slung over my shoulder. Partly influenced by a desire of easing Fauvel's obvious agitation at having his master unresponsive—and mostly because my shoulder hurt from his weight—I gently laid the primordial on Fauvel's back. It wasn't the comfiest of beds, since Omega's feet stretched out way past Fauvel's behind, but given that neither horse nor man complained, it was more than enough. I then wrapped the reins around Omega to prevent him from falling if Fauvel shifted.

"Omega rendered himself unconscious on several wine bottles," I said, stepping back to inspect my handiwork. "Literally. Though some Chaos soldiers definitely helped with that." I glanced at the back door. "We better leave before they come to know how I escaped."

Lord Omega can't ride like that! Charlotte protested. He'll fall off the second Fauvel starts galloping! You'll have to wake him up.

I studied Omega's limp body, all out of ideas. If the noxious smell in the kitchen didn't wake him as well as the shouts of the injured Chaos soldiers, anything short of smelling salts or a nightmare wouldn't do the trick . . .

Try slapping him, Fauvel suggested. It always does the trick.

"You want me to slap him?!" I asked incredulously, stepping back a few more feet. "No way. I don't have clearance. That's what mothers do."

You don't have a choice, Charlotte told me. The Chaos soldiers are coming.

I fell silent and listened. Sure enough, I could hear the clomping footsteps of the Chaos soldiers as they traversed through the kitchen. They would be here within seconds.

So I turned back to face Omega and held my breath, praying that I wouldn't lose my arm. 

And then I slapped him.

Well, I tried to slap him.

To my surprise, his body tensed when my arm sliced through the air as if he could sense it. His hand shot out, grabbing my forearm and twisting it behind my back. 

A few seconds later, I found myself flat on the ground with my arms restrained behind my back and my legs pinned down by Omega's knees. Omega was sitting right on my back, and I could barely breathe—which turned out to be a good thing. As I learned at this moment, a city alleyway wasn't exactly . . . clean. The stone smelled like garbage that'd been sitting in the blazing sun for a few months, coupled with the disgusting smell of feces—which I hoped wasn't from a human.

"Omega!" I yelled out. "Get off me this instant or I'll smush your face into this ground, drag you back into the kitchen by your hair, make you eat a bug, and cook you into a soup myself!"

Given that my face was smushed into the ground, though, it came out more like "Mfffffsdddd ksdshhh bgdfffffff!"

Still, Omega understood. "Okay, okay." He leaped up to his feet and helped me to my own. "Though you were going to slap me." He glared at me. "Which wouldn't have been nice."

I took a deep breath of fresh air—which wasn't that fresh in an alleyway, but it was better than smelling the said alleyway's floor. Then I turned to Omega and hurried to defend myself. "It was Fauvel's idea!"

Omega studied his horse for a few moments, then turned back to me and sighed. "He sure knows me more than anybody else. "

Of course, Fauvel said haughtily. I'm around him the most, after all.

"Your horse just said that you have no friends save for himself," I informed Omega immediately.

Fauvel bristled in offense. That's not what I said! 

Meanwhile, Omega regarded me with a patronizing stare. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Er . . . Do you?"

"Apologize to Fauvel immediately," Omega ordered. 

"Why?" I asked. "He was the reason you attacked me!"

You still should, Charlotte told me. Because if you don't . . .

. . . I'll trample you beneath mi-hooves, milord, Fauvel finished.

. . . On second thought, don't apologize to him, Charlotte said. He doesn't deserve it anymore.

"Does that mean I'm off the hook?" I asked hopefully.

"Maybe with this, but we have another problem," Omega cut in.

At the same moment, the back door of the inn burst open, depositing the six soldiers into the alley behind us. I didn't know if I was imagining it, but the two soldiers that'd been squashed under the bulky one looked significantly thinner. And angrier.

Before we could move, though, six more soldiers flooded the alleyway from the north. Their swords gleamed in the sun.

"I assume you're talking about that," I said sadly, and Omega nodded.

I gulped. We were trapped.