Best of the Best - Chapter Fifteen

          “Y’know, Logan you’re a nice guy!” Jason said loudly, his words slurred. “I don’t get you, Thalia. Why’s he restrained?”

          “Because I don’t trust him.” Thalia replied bitingly.

          Jason rolled his eyes a bit exaggeratedly. “Women don’t make any sense!” He shouted.

          “I know right?” Logan asked.

          Jason ignored him and looked at Thalia, “I think you LIKE him!” He exclaimed. Thalia facepalmed.

          “I think you’ve lost your mind.” Logan said. He glanced at Thalia and for a moment saw a look of gratefulness cross her eyes. Then it cleared and she looked away.

          “I might be crazy!” Jason shouted. “But if I’m crazy, then Jefferlo… then Jeffy… Then pigs fly!”

          Thalia growled. “Why do WE have to Jason-sit?” She shouted.

          “Because if you don’t, he’ll get himself killed.” Ty replied without pulling his gaze away from the night sky. “Besides, it’s partly your fault he’s like this.”

          Jason poked Logan. “Logan Lerman, I’m boooored!” He whined.

          Logan raised an eyebrow and exchanged glanced with Thalia. “Well why can’t you watch him?” Logan asked.

          “Because I have to watch for Sky’s reply.” Ty replied.

          Jason stood up. “Imma go get a sharp stick…” He started to walk forward, but instead of resting his foot on the ground to take a step, he went straight down, falling face first on the ground. Then he just laid there.

          Thalia facepalmed again. “Being a Captain on a crew full of men is one thing… But this is hell…” She muttered.

          “Is he… sleeping?!” Logan knelt next to Jason and examined him closer. After a moment, he looked up at Thalia, an astonished expression on his face. “He is!”

          “No way!” Thalia inspected Jason herself, but found that Logan had been right. Jason had knocked himself out. She sat back on her heels and stared at Jason, a dumbstruck expression on her face. “Unbelievable.”

          Suddenly Thalia heard the distant sound of someone running. She stood up and looked to the sound to see Drak sprinting towards them. She beamed. “Drak!” She shouted to her, happy that she was returning. “Did you find any food!” Drak didn’t respond, but instead kept running. As she grew closer, her panicked expression could be distinguished.

          Thalia’s smile faded to a look of worry. “Drak…?” She asked cautiously. Drak panted to a halt next to Thalia and glanced back the way she’d come worriedly. As she arrived, Ty looked around and stood up, but didn’t move from his position.

          “Drak, what is it?” Logan asked.

          “T-Take cover!” Drak said, still trying to catch her breath.

          “From what?” Thalia asked. Suddenly the ground shook beneath them. Thalia looked at Drak, her eyes wide in fear. “What did you do?!”

          “Drak what’s happening?” Ty asked as he jogged up to the group.

          “Take cover.” Drak said. “NOW!”

          “Where?” Logan asked.

          “In the trees!” Drak climbed swiftly into a tree and reached down. “Lift Jason up to me.” Ty nodded and dragged Jason to the base of the tree.

          “Drak, what are we taking cover FROM?” Thalia asked.

          Drak opened her mouth to reply, but then a rumbling noise arose in the distance. The sound rapidly grew and over the edge of the hill about a hundred meters away, a cloud of dust rose into the air. Ty and Drak froze as they were trying to get Jason into the tree and looked to the hill, waiting to see what was coming.

          Then, suddenly, dozens and dozens of cows hurtled over the hill – heading right for the group. Their collective mooing sounded like roars as the maddened herd thundered towards them. Ty’s eyes widened. “Oh fu-”

          “STAMPEDE!” Thalia cried out in her trained, loud Skylord’s voice.

    Drak and Ty worked as fast as they could to get Jason in the tree. Finally, Drak propped him against the trunk, safely out of reach of the cattle, and held out a hand to Ty. Ty took it and climbed into the tree next to her. Next, Drak held out a hand to Thalia as the roaring of the stampede grew louder – and closer. “Thalia, come on!” Drak urged.

          “No room!” Thalia sprinted over to another tree before anyone could try to tell her different. She grabbed the highest branch she could with both hands, but before she swung into the tree, she saw Logan out of the corner of her eye.

          He was kneeling on the ground, facing away from her sever meters away. His head was hung. He’d lost hope. His hands were still bound tightly behind his back. He couldn’t get into a tree.

          Suddenly, Thalia understood what he felt. To be a free spirit – die restrained, unable to even defend yourself. And for an airship captain, even a former one… What a way to go…

          Thalia’s mind raced. She hesitated, both hands still wrapped tightly around the branch above. She glanced to the cattle. It was already more than halfway there. Her eyes narrowed. Then there was no time to lose.

          Thalia let go over the branch.

          “Thalia, what are you doing?!” Drak shouted.

          Thalia ignored her and pulled her sword out of its sheath. She hefted it above her head as she forwards and brought it down hard.

          Logan’s head shot up as the cut ropes slid off his wrists. He looked behind him at Thalia, an astonished expression on his face. Thalia grabbed his forearm and pulled him to his feel, practically throwing him forward. He bolted towards the nearest tree and swung up easily.

          Thalia sheathed her sword and ran after him. As she reached the tree, she risked a glace to the stampede and gasped.

          She was too late. The stampede had already reached the clearing.   The cloud of dust created by the hundreds of hooves pounding into the earth blinded her so she couldn’t even attempt to run. But then she felt something grab her arm from above.

          Thalia opened her eyes. All around her was gold-orange dust. She couldn’t see anything further than five feet in front of her. But she heard the roar of the maddened cattle rushing beneath her loud and clear. She felt someone rest a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Logan sitting right next to her, staring down at the stampede.

          He smiled, panting, and looked up at Thalia, a relieved expression on his face. “Thank you.” He breathed.

          Thalia smiled speechlessly back and started to breathe again as she realized she’d been holding her breath. The two waited in silence as the stampede went on its way, thundering out of sight on the horizon. As the dust cleared, Logan jumped down from the tree.

          Ty stared silently from his, Jason’s, and Drak’s tree at the tree Logan and climbed into. Where Thalia had gone had been hidden from view by the dust. As he watched, Logan jumped down and scanned the area for any stray cattle as he brushed some of the dust of himself.

          After a moment, he looked up into the tree. “You comin’, Skylord?” He asked.

          “Shut up, I’m not good at parkour!” Thalia replied from out of sight.

          "Clearly." Logan said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

          Drak breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at the night sky, staring up at the stars. Ty looked behind him at Jason, who had now started to drool on his shoulder. Ty shuddered and wiped it off hurriedly, leaning as far away from Jason as was humanely possible. Beside him, Drak gasped. “Deadlox, look!”

          Ty followed her gaze into the sky to see a little bat carrying small package flapping towards them. Not far behind it, another bat carried a letter. Ty beamed. “Celino, you brought Dillon with you!” Celino nodded as she landed on the branch next to Drak. Dillon squeaked happily as he landed on Jason’s shoulder. Drak untied the package from Celino’s foot to see a little dark red bottle inside. Wrapped around the bottle was a note with quick, messy handwriting on it. Ty untied the note and read it aloud.

          “Yes , Drak, I know this is a potion of harming.”

    Ty raised an eyebrow at Drak. Drak rolled her eyes. “Damn Sorcerer…” She muttered. Ty smiled knowingly and continued to read. “But when you throw this at him, it’ll snap him out of it. After that, just give him a TON of water. If it seems like too much, let him take a leak – then give him more.”

    Ty facepalmed. That was definitely a doctor’s order directly from Seto. Drak looked over Ty’s shoulder and read the rest.

    “And don’t forget about your own healths, either. If I have Sky coming into my quarters at three in the morning asking for a complicated splash potion again, you’ll be receiving my sincere gratitude when you get home!”

    Ty laughed. Drak smiled. She held the splash potion in her palm and glanced at the sleeping Jason, a mischievous glint in her eye that came for her once in a blue moon.

    Ty caught it and looked at her, alarmed. “Drak, no, he’ll fall out of the-” Drak completely ignored him and threw the bottle at Jason. He shouted in alarm and fell backwards out of the tree.

    Ty peered down at him hesitantly. “D’you think it worked?” He whispered.

    Jason groaned and rubbed the back of his head. He glared up at Drak. “What the hell was that – Dillon!” Jason laughed as Dillon squeaked happily and flapped mindlessly around Jason. “What are you doing here?”

    “Yeah he’s back.” Ty jumped out of the tree. Jason smiled and stood as Dillon flew over to Ty and landed on his shoulder.

          Jason raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Last this I remember, everyone was about to rip each other to shreds and you lost it.” He said.

          “You wanna know what you did?” Ty asked.

          “Not really.”

          “Oh, I think you do.”

          “Ty?” Drak held the piece of paper that had fallen off of Dillon’s foot in his attack on Jason in her hands. She looked up at Ty and held it out. Ty took it curiously and skimmed through it. He looked up.

          “It’s from Sky.” At hearing the name, Thalia and Logan rejoined the group to listen as Ty read the letter.

“Dear Ty,

          I hope this works… I had to wake Seto up in the middle of the night. He MAY have still been sleeping while he was brewing the potion. But if he was, he sure does curse a lot in his sleep.

          Anyway, tell the others I said hi. I really hope you conditions get better.

          Oh, and before I forget, Bodil has released a new Epic Jump Map, and you’re not gonna believe what he did. He really is running out of ideas. Remember that Star Wars one we suggested when we were doing the Troll Map with him and Jason? Well he did that. And he looked so damn proud of himself when he told me about it.

          The recruits are dying to see you and I try it. But bro, the way Bodil described it, we’ve GOTTA bring Jason along. He will LOVE all the space references!

          Anyway, I wish all of you good luck on you mission, and I hope to see you all back at the base soon – and I want you all alive.

Sky

          Ty raised one eyebrow.

    (And to Keyes; I look forward to seeing you again. If I remember correctly, you and I have a score to settle.)

    “What? It doesn’t say that!” Logan took the letter and read it himself. “Holy shit it does…”

    “Logan, do you know Sky?” Jason asked.

    Logan shook his head absently. “Maybe… I mean, I once knew a kid named Adam who really hated squids, but that couldn’t be him.”

    Ty and Jason exchanged astonished glances.

    Logan noticed the exchange. “…Could it?”

    As the three continued to discuss the matter, Drak noticed her. She looked up as she heard the small thudding noise to see that Star had landed. She looked around at the wreckage left be the stampede, the two bats flapping around nearby, and at Logan’s unbound wrist.

    “What… did you do…?