Chapter 10: The Other Side

Miguel looked down at the crossbow in his hand, which was now pointed at Chloe’s midriff. “Right,” he said, hesitating for a moment, before speaking:

Unequip crossbow

“We should get moving before Sid and the others catch up.”

Chloe nodded, ready to climb aboard once more. “I collected three ammunition cartridges in total. That will have to do, for now.”

Soon, they pair were back on the single raft together, and heading directly towards the central island with its glowing doorway. It wasn’t long, however, before they saw a need to rethink their plan.

Ahead of them, the man with the black pony tail – Youssef Gabriel – rose up from behind a boulder on one of the final islets, levelled a short bow, and sent an arrow directly into the chest of a woman who had just reached that same point from a different direction. The missile punctured her light leather armor, and she pitched wordlessly back off her raft and into the water.

“Damn,” muttered Miguel, stopping poling as he looked on. “I thought that Youssef must have gone through the gateway already.”

“Me too.” Chloe was crouching down on the slowly-drifting raft now, her new pistol still at her hip.

Miguel tutted. “He must have decided it was better to take out the other contenders as they approach.”

“Well, he was right,” she replied. “Pretty smart move, no? None of us can reach the target without getting through that last gateway, and he is in a perfect position to pick everyone off one by one. He could end up as the final contestant before even finishing this stage of the game.”

They were around two thirds of the way around the final loop. From the gateway where Youssef was positioned, there was only a short stretch of open water to cross before the central island. Miguel found himself admiring the man’s self-control; if it had been him, he would have moved straight through without delay.

To safety.

To the next stage.

“You think he’s taken out all of the others?” asked Miguel, looking around. There were still four rafts further out that he could see, the occupants no doubt including Sid, but there was no sign of Tarja or the others that he had seen ahead. If Youssef had taken out all of the other contenders that were ahead of them, Miguel realized, then the man may have done them both a favor.

If only they could defeat him now...

“It looks that way, yeah,” she said after a pause. “And now he’s probably going to do the same to us.”

“You have a pistol, Chloe. That’s better than a bow.”

“Yep. But he has a ton of cover, and we are on a raft.”

“Ok... then let’s think. We can work together and get on either side of him, right? We can’t pole our way into his line of sight, or we’re dead...”

“Right.” She looked backwards, her wavy brown hair falling across her face as she turned her head. “Then we use the islands again.”

“One of us go one way and one the other?” Miguel replied, pointing off to the side, and she nodded, then glanced down towards his feet. “I’ll take the long way around, I guess. Clearly you are uh... what’s a nice way of putting this? Clumsy.”

“Agility four.”

“Ouch. Oh my god. What have I teamed up with?”

With that, Chloe jumped lightly to the nearest islet and began making her way around the circular chain, leaping from one to the other.

Miguel again had to control the raft’s motion as it tried to spin backwards in response, but he was ready for it this time, using the pole and shifting his own weight as she jumped.

He then brought the vessel a little closer to the same islet and stepped gingerly off, regretfully letting the raft drift away from him afterwards, but holding on to the pole.

“Well, it’s victory or nothing, now,” he muttered to himself.

Chloe was already more than halfway around the ring. Miguel leaped to the next islet; each pair was separated by around two feet of water. He had hoped that the pole would help with his balance, but instead it caused him to lurch slightly to the right. It was all he could do to throw it away from his hand and steady himself. The pole made a noisy splash in the water, and out of the corner of his eye, he spied movement from the gateway.

“Shoot...” he murmured.

On instinct, Miguel ducked down low over the rocky islet he was now on, and felt a missile swishing just over his head and beyond, before splashing into the water in the distance.

Youssef had seen him, or perhaps heard him in the stillness of the lake.

Equip shield

Miguel knew that with his shield held up on his left hand it would be harder to make it from rock to rock, but he would have to try. Or alternatively, a ruse... and a way to make the most of his throwing stars.

“I am not going to harm you, Youssef,” he called out.

“I don’t believe you,” replied a man’s voice. Youssef spoke in a calm, sonorous way.

Keeping the shield high in front of his face, Miguel peered forward. Despite the gloom of the underground area, the light was a little better here, thanks to the gleam from the final gate. Nonetheless, he couldn’t get a clear shot. He could just see the very top of Youssef’s head; the man must have found a perfect hiding place, nestled deep within the rock of the gateway.

Miguel leaped to the next rock, landing on both feet and using his right hand to steady himself. As he had expected, another arrow flew out from the gateway, and it half embedded into the shield before falling to the water with a splash.

Notification: You have gained 5XP

He was now only three rocks away. Youssef’s raft, he could see, was tied close to the gate. Of course – the man would eliminate the other contenders first, but after that he would still need to pole his way over to the central island to complete the task.

And that meant that there was a chance that he and Chloe could steal the raft and do the same thing...

He glanced towards the east; he could just make out Chloe, who was almost as close to the gate as he was, now, despite having had to make her way around two-thirds of the circle. If she got closer while he still had Youssef’s attention, there was a chance.

Miguel then looked around towards the outer edge of the water maze. There was a cluster of rafts near the opposite side now. The number had not diminished, and Miguel wondered, with a sinking feeling, if perhaps Sid was teaming up with the rest of the contenders. The one advantage that he had right now was that he and Chloe were two-to-one against Youssef. But that advantage would be gone if the others attacked them four against two.

Perhaps he should lead with a bit of honesty.

“Youssef,” he said, “we all want to win, and I’m sure we’ll all put knives in each other in the end without a second’s thought. It’s the way it has to be. But look over there. Sid Geraghty seems to have teamed up with three other contenders, and they are coming at us in a group.”

There was a grunt.

“Are you sure you can take them all down at once?” Miguel persisted. “That guy is tough.”

There was a pause, and then Youssef spoke again: “So – what are you offering. To work as a team?”

“To an extent. I’ll let you go in peace to the island and pass the gate first, if you let us share your raft.”

“Us?” said Youssef.

And Miguel realized that he had just given away his advantage.

Shit.

It didn’t take Youssef long to think to look behind him; Chloe had reached a position two rocks away, but she was vulnerable. The best Miguel could do was keep Youssef pinned back in his position.

Unequip shield

Equip crossbow

He fired. It was a good shot; not a hit, but it sparked against the rock just above Youssef’s head, and Miguel saw the tip of the bow lower and the ponytail jerk as the man ducked down.

This gave Chloe just enough time to leap to the next rock and onto the gate itself, and soon the pair were locked into a furious hand-to-hand struggle. Chloe tried to wrest Youssef’s bow from him, and he tried to overpower her and push her into the water.

Miguel thought he had one more shot, but he wasn’t entirely sure. In any case, it was risky; he could easily shoot his ally by mistake.

Don’t be stupid, he then told himself. Ally? You are playing to win, in the end. But somehow, that didn’t feel like the right way to earn it.

Unequip crossbow

Equip dagger

Miguel took one further jump, reaching the twin–island of the stony gate himself, but on the other side from the pair who were still locked in a battle of strength. He could reach the raft – why, he could even pole away on it and leave them to their fight. But not without getting an arrow or a bullet in the back.

Instead he lifted Youssef Gabriel’s pole, reached out with it across the raft-sized gap of water that divided the two parts of the gateway, and rammed the pole as hard as he could into Youssef knees. The man stumbled towards the water, overbalancing, but he grabbed at Chloe’s hair as he fell.

Notification: You have gained 12XP

As fast as he could, Miguel rammed the pole forwards again, bracing it against the rock. This time it landed just in front of Chloe’s chest, and she clutched it as Youssef fell, stopping herself from being pulled in after. She yelped in pain as Youssef yanked at and then lost his grip on her hair as he fell backwards.

In just moments, the man who had been guarding the gate disappeared beneath the water, and the two partners, one on each side of the gate, looked at one another.

Notification: You have gained 15XP

Miguel nodded. “Good work.”

“Okay. Let’s do this thing,” said Chloe.

Soon they were stepping off the appropriated raft, and as he threw down the pole, Miguel breathed a sigh of relief. This is more my style, he thought. Dry land.

Notification: You have gained 10XP

The island itself was larger than it had looked from the distance earlier, with the outer part a ring of sand, and a flatter, stone area in the middle. The latter was piled up with boulders. They hurried across the outer sandy surface together.

“Well, we made it, ally,” said Chloe. “Here – take a look.” She held in her hand the three orange cartridges. “Time to divide these between us. There’s one for the pistol, and two for your crossbow. Twenty shots.” With that she handed the two sets of crossbow ammunition to Miguel, who kept a wary eye on the pistol that she had at her hip as he took it.

Notification: You have gained 5XP

Looking ahead, Miguel grunted. It was hard work running uphill across the dry sand. It was very slippery underfoot, his feet impacting deeply with every step and then threatening to slip out from under him. He found himself regretting leaving the pole at the island’s edge, as it could perhaps have been used to help him gain purchase. But after a dozen or so yards, the slope levelled out and they found themselves on a surface that was more like the stone of the corridor floors from earlier. The going got easier as they wove between the boulders, and Miguel broke into a sprint as they both ran for the glowing final gate.

“Hey – wait!” said Chloe.

But Miguel wasn’t going to waste the advantage provided by his best stat. He accelerated further, expecting to head into the doorway in first place overall, while hoping that this move wouldn’t piss Chloe off to the extent that she decided to use the pistol on him...