Chapter Seventeen
“Don’t move an inch you little worm,” a foreign voice grunted in his ear, “or I’ll shove this knife in places you’d much rather it wasn’t shoved.”
Stan recognised the voice as Vlad’s, and knew that they had been betrayed. Even if he had wanted to disobey the traitor’s orders, he couldn’t, as he was completely frozen to the spot in fear.
“Vlad, please,” a voice croaked from the back of the room, “don’t hurt anybody else, you can have the Emerald, just set Stan free, I beg of you.”
Stan’s stomach churned at the sound of Maximus and the use of the words ‘anybody else’, which he assumed meant someone had already been hurt. Stan had his back to the group, and tried to turn his neck to see them, but Vlad grabbed his hair and pressed the knife more tightly against his skin.
“I warned you not to move boy!” Vlad growled furiously. “Next time I’ll take an ear, maybe you’ll listen to that warning!” Vlad laughed at his joke, and continued, “Marvin, you useless lump of lard, tie everyone else up, and do it quick, else I might decide your friend here will look better with just the one ear anyway!”
Behind him, Stan heard Marvin nervously fumbling about, and could picture his friend’s awkwardness. In the back of his mind, he considered which of his friend’s it could have been that Vlad had injured. Meanwhile, Vlad was licking his lips, and could barely contain his excitement, constantly glancing over to the emerald. However, Stan could feel him growing restless, and prayed for his own sake that Marvin finished tying everybody up soon.
Thankfully he did, and as soon as he was done, Stan was dragged to the lone chair in the room, which he was violently shoved into by their captor.
“Him too now boy, nice and tight or it’ll be your ear I’ll have!” Vlad ordered, standing aside to allow Marvin to tie Stan. Stan tried to catch his friend’s eye to reassure him, but Marvin was too focussed on the rope, which he had to fight to hold in his trembling fingers. When he was finished, Vlad pulled the rope tighter, so that it burnt Stan’s chest.
He then looked Marvin up and down, before sneering at him and shoving him into a corner. He made his way over to the fireplace, and scooped up the emerald. His greedy mouth was beaming at the sight of it in his grubby hands and Stan found himself praying for something to happen, for him to fall down the hole, or set off a trap.
This however did not happen, and he made his way towards the door, whistling to himself as he did so. When he reached the door, he paused, and turned back to the group.
“You know, it is funny, I have pursued this emerald for so many years, and as soon as I arrive in Oadford, you launch a party to go and fight for it!” He strolled over to Maximus, calmly, like a man who had all of the time and power in the world and knew it, and stroked his face, squatting down to be at his eye level.
“You really have gifted me this, you know, it has been like taking candy from a baby,” he continued, holding the emerald mere inches from Maximus’ face, “you really should have done your research.”
“He who trusts, is a man who would put his life in someone else’s hands, ” he continued, gazing into Maximus’ eyes, before giving him a cheeky slap, as if they were brothers who had been play fighting, “and that man is a fool.” Following this, he squeezed Maximus’ cheeks and rose, turning for the door.
While Vlad had been toying with Maximus, the wind outside had picked up substantially, and the hut had begun to shake slightly. Vlad stumbled as he turned, and had to grab out against the wall to stop himself from falling. The wind continued to increase in noise and volume, and it sounded almost as if the Gods were wailing their disapproval of Vlad’s actions, and for a moment it seemed to Stan that the entire hut might implode against the wind. However, the wind eventually eased, and Vlad chuckled, saluting Stan as he left and adding “my thanks, friend.”
As he said this, the wind reached speeds and levels that Stan didn’t think possible, and suddenly the roof came crashing down upon them. He tried to cover his head with his hands but the rope was too tight, and so all that Stan could do was close his eyes and pray he wasn’t struck. Branches and trees tumbled down around him, but he was by some miracle uninjured, and when the wind completely ceased moments later, he was relieved to see that his comrades were also uninjured, if shaken. Ponch was lying in a dazed heap, from Vlad’s attack Stan presumed, but he too was squirming and coming to his senses.
Several branches lay strewn on the floor, but most notably was a huge oak tree which had somehow been blown out of its roots, and had landed on top of the hut. From somewhere came a muted whimpering, and Marvin, who was the only free captive, cautiously pulled at branches to explore the source.
“Stop, Marvin!” Maximus shouted assertively, “that is Vlad, and somewhere in that mess is the emerald. Don’t touch it, else the curse which struck our foreign friend will strike you too. Now come and free us.”
Stan thought back to that conversation in Maximus’ hut and remembered the mention of a counter curse, and realised that the curse must have been what brought on the unexpected wind. Speechless, Stan watched as Marvin cut the rope binding the group, before walking over to do the same to him.
“The booby traps?” Stan began to ask.
“They must have been turned off when you opened the fireplace,” Roxie replied, before throwing her arms around him. “Ernest…” she whispered into his ear, fighting back the tears, holding onto Stan tighter.
“I know, it’s horrible,” he replied, quietly, “but we need to be strong, for Maximus.” Over Roxie’s shoulder, Stan watched Maximus approach the debris, and clear it cautiously, until he came across the emerald. Instantly, he stooped down to it, and mumbled foreign words, which made no sense to anyone else.
“He’s been there for us, now we need to be there for him,” Stan continued giving Roxie’s hand a squeeze, “let’s make sure Ernest didn’t die for nothing. This emerald must stay in our hands.”
Simultaneously, Maximus scooped up the emerald, and turned to the group. “The curse is lifted,” he stated, forcing a smile. “We’ve done it.”
As he finished, a groan came from the door, and Ponch waded through the sea of branches to the source, which was a trapped, dying Vlad. Ponch smiled, and pondered for a moment, before bending down to him.
“All these years you claim to have been searching for this,” he whispered, so that only Vlad could hear him, “and you knew nothing of the curse. Deary me, you really should have done your research.”
With this, he drew his knife, and, as casually as if he was slicing an apple, swiped off an ear, before turning away and strolling out of the hut, whistling, oblivious to the screams of pain.
The group quickly followed, but Stan hung back, by the side of Maximus.
“What about your brother, Maximus?” Stan saw the glisten in his eyes, and immediately regretted asking.
“Stan, my brother will still be here tomorrow, and the day after. Right now, the priority has to be getting this to Oadford, before Gustavo gets to us,” he sighed, holding up the emerald, “it’s what he would want.”
Stan nodded in agreement, and slowly began to fall back to the others, to leave Maximus alone in his thoughts. However, before he could reach them, Worgan and Loose came crashing through the trees, shouting, “GOBLINS!”