Sometimes, the momentary calm of the sea makes us think our storms have passed, and the unanticipated blows of the continuation are always fatal.
Entranced by the peace this calm brings, Anelka watches buildings pass by with a smile on his face as his carriage wobbles down a rough pavement. He raises his hand to his chest and feels his heart beating fast and erratic. He knows it could be dangerous if doesn't calm down, but he has not been able to all day.
"If you keep staring your eyes will pop out." He looks away from the window to the slender woman sitting in front of him and is about to respond when he notices her soft voice was directed at a 10 year old girl sitting by her.
"But I've never seen uncle Nel smile before," the girls says without taking her eyes off him. "Why don't you smile more uncle?"
"I already told you why." The woman says
"Oh!" the girl whips her head away and looks at the woman. "Does that mean his heart is fine now."
"No… its not." She looks at Anelka with furrowed brows. "You should calm down, I don't think this is good for you."
"I'm fine," he says. "there's no problem."
"Well I think there is. Your hand has been glued to chest for a while now."
"it's a habit, you know I like to feel my heart beat."
"No you do.." she looks down at the girl, then exhales and leans towards him. " I'm just worried… and scared. I mean last time you almost…. I just don't want us to go through that again."
Anelka also leans forward and holds her hands, looking into her worried eyes. "Marie, When you said yes to me, my joy was uncontrollable. Like I told you, that was the most powerful emotional burst I've ever felt. But this feels different. I feel… free. And I want to hang on to this feeling a little longer."
"I still think you need to calm down. I don't like the thought of you dying of happiness."
"I'm fine, I promise." He says and takes one hand back to chest. "look, the agreements today ended 8 long years of struggle for us. So please don't worry too…"
He is interrupted by a loud bang outside, followed by loud neighs from the carriage horses that end abruptly. The carriage crashes into an object and comes to a stop.
He gets on feet to look out through the window, while clenching his chest. His heart beat is getting worse. Before he sends his head out, another bang is heard from the opposite side of the carriage, and the girls scream as the side is shattered to tiny splinters. The force of the explosion pushed them and the rest of the carriage the opposite direction slamming them against the walls of the nearby building.
His right shoulder feels dislocated from the impact. His vision adjusts and he's sees the girls unconscious and bloodied on the other side.
His heart squeezes tightly rippling a sharp pain through his chest. He squeezes his eyes shut and inhales. The pain is gone, and he opens his eyes again, wobbling in the carriage as the buildings pass by.
"But I've never seen uncle Nel smile before. Why don't you…"
"Nel! What's wrong?" Marie's voice is laced with caution as she leans towards him. "What did you see."
"Trouble." He says then gets on his feet and sends his head out the window and wind rushes against his face. He had not realized how fast they were moving. He yells for the coachman to stop the horses but the coachman keeps looking straight ahead, and gives no response.
"Nel, what's going on?" Marie carries the girl and places her on her laps
"We're about to be attacked." He sends his head back in. "We have to get out now." He crouches in the small carriage space and leans with his back against the door.
"Hold on to Gigi tightly. When I say, you'll lunge against me with your back"
"But you might die."
"I'll heal myself. If we don't jump we all die." He let's out a deep breath and Marie wraps her arms around Gigi's torso. "Jump."
At the command, Anelk turns the knob to open the door, and Marie bounces on the chair and kicks her legs on the floor pushing her back towards him. He opens his arms to receives them, and the all push through the door as he wraps his arms around the girls.
He falls with his back against the pavement, and an loud crack is heard on impact. At the same time, a bang is heard and the horse on the right is shattered to bloody pieces. The one on the left loses it legs and lets out a short neigh before collapsing to its death, and the carriage bumps into it sending the coachman flying.
The girls roll off Anelka and he sucks a deep breath of air into his lungs. He rolls to his side and clutches his heart in agony. The back of his shirt has been torn off, and pieces of flesh are missing from his back. He curls his body and squeezes his chest harder shouting out. The remaining skin on his back begins to multiply, and after a few seconds, he is completely healed.
"Nel!" Marie gets on her knees to examine him. "Nel! Can you hear me?"
Another explosion goes off, and the left side of the carriage turns to splinters, and the rest is pushed off the street and the wood shatters on collision with the nearby building.
"Gi…gi."Anelka whispers through heavy breaths
"She's here, shes fine." Marie lifts his head to her thighs "Are you alright?". He brings his hands back to his chest and squeezes his eyes shut in pain. "Calm down, it's ok, you're fine." She places her hand on his hands. "deep breath in." He opens his mouth and draws in a shaky breath. "one… two… three… out. Again. One… two… three… out."
His grip on his chest loosens, and he forces himself to sit up. He looks ahead at the carriage and further to the huge walls that stand not too far after.
"Marie." He coughs and points to the wall. "take Gigi, run as fast as u can. Ebua and the others are waiting for us at the gate."
"What about you?" She pulls Gigi from behind her
"I'll be fine. Just…"
"No you won't! I known your heart is still erratic."
"I'll manage some how."
"How? You won't be able to see properly."
"It's not that bad, I can manage."
"I'm not leaving you here to die."
"And I'm not willing to let you two die either. So please."
She stand up hesitantly and carries Gigi, and a spear immediately plunges through both of them. Anelka sees their bodies drop to the ground in shock, and his chest bursts in pain.
He closes his eyes and opens them again with the pain gone. Marie lifts Gigi once again.
"Wait." As he shouts, he feels something wisp past his ear, and a gas explosion follows, shredding the girls and spraying blood all around. His chest erupts in pain again and he squeezes his eyes shut.
The pain subsides and he opens his eyes once again to see Marie lifting Gigi. This time, the spear whizzes and sinks into his left shoulder, pushing him backwards. He shouts and turns to the girls to sees their bodies getting torn apart by a gas explosion. His heat squeezes once more and he shuts his eyes
"How? You won't be able to see properly." He opens his eyes to see Marie still on her knees talking to him
"STOOOP!!!" he raises his hands and keeps shouting. "DON'T SHOOT ANYTHING. I'M SURE IM THE ONE YOU WANT. SO PLEASE LET THEM GO." After a few seconds, he turns to Marie
"Go. We won't argue about this." Marie gets to her feet and he watches her lift Gigi with his heartbeat raising steadily. His visions have become inaccurate, and he holds his breath as he watches Marie move away hesitantly, unsure of what will happen next.
His heartbeat is getting worse by the minute. He would not be able to predict his opponent's next moves if he doesn't slow down his heart, but he can barely breathe, and his heart has been unstable the whole day.
Seeing Marie has gone a fair distance unharmed, he takes in a deep breath and releases it after a few seconds. He crawls to his knees and just gets to his feet when an arrow plunges into his left calf. He drops to his knee and is immediately hit with another arrow on his left shoulder, along with the pear on his stomach. He shuts his eyes as pain ripples through his shoulders and chest.
He opens his eyes again, and see Marie in a distance. He is about to get to his feet, but is instead hit by an invisible gas bomb that rips his right leg away. He falls in pain with blood gushing from what remains of his right side. His heart squeezes and his eyes close
He gets to his feet as fast as possible this time and jumps right, but the spear pierces his stomach mid-air, and an explosion immediately rips his legs away, and the rest of his body flips and lands forward. Pain ripples in his chest again and his eyes close.
He opens his eyes once more and see Marie with Gigi in her arms. Her sad eyes linger on his for a while and she turns around and starts running towards the walls. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in to stabilize his breathing and access his body's condition.
His heartbeat is still irregular and getting faster, and his chest hurts from the constant squeezing induced by the visions. It would only get worse if he doesn't calm down.
He opens his eyes, lets out the breath and sucks in air again. Marie is a fair distance away now, but not as far as in the visions. He doesn't know what will happen, but from the visions he can deduce that he has at least 3 ranged attackers – one left, on right, and one in front – and when Marie goes far enough one or all of them will shoot at him.
'It's almost time.'
He breathes out the air he was holding in, spins to his feet and lunges forward. A spear whizzes over his head mid-air, and an arrow bounces on the ground where he stood. He rolls forward and gas explodes behind him. The force of the explosion pushes him forward, away from the pavement, and he rolls to a stop at a building on the other side.
He sits against the wall with aching muscles and bruises all over, and squeezes his chest as pain ripples through from his heart. The cuts on his body close up and he takes in a deep breath. If the stress to his heart keeps piling up he may lose his life.