Nightriders The Battle Continues Part 22

    “Cowabunga!” Axl fell to the ground as he felt someone tackled him. To his surprise, the figure began to laugh uncontrollably as they struggled for a moment until he managed to pin him on the ground. Lying flat on his back, Axl used both of his arms to hold down the front and both of his legs crossed over to hold down his legs. Jingle bells, Jingle bells, jingle all the way! playfully sang his seemingly insane prisoner.

    “What the heck is wrong with you?” sneered Axl. This only caused the figure to once again burst into hysterical laughter. Keeping his prisoner’s arms pinned behind his back, Axl began to force walk him back to their camp, as he carried Lucinda’s bag with the teeth of his mouth. He found Lucinda still standing there armed with one of the logs Axl had found earlier.

    “Who the heck is he?” asked Lucinda gazing at their unusual intruder. While they approached the embers of the fire, they were able to make out certain features of their captive. He appeared to be an aged scraggly badger dressed in raggedy pants and what appeared to be an extremely worn marooned vest.  

    “I! AM! SPARTA!” shouted the badger as he again erupted into laughter. Axl dropped Lucinda’s bag from his teeth to speak.

    “He’s a maniac, that’s who he is!” Lucinda picked up her bag and began going through its contents insuring everything of importance was still there. When she took the map out, the badger’s goofy demeanor immediately dissipated.

    “Ah, the Zendaar Tablets!” mused the badger appearing completely entranced at the sight of Lucinda’s map.

    “What’s it to you!” growled Axl. “Are you with the music terrorists?”

    “Not so, not so,” sang the badger. “Dr. Bryan, I am. Famous archeologist to ever archeologize these parts!”

    “I’ll bet you are,” scoffed Axl doubting the badger’s credibility. Lucinda snapped her fingers.

    “Wait a minute! I think I’ve heard of you.”

    “Really?” said Axl now slack jawed.

    “Yes!” -answered Lucinda with a chuckle. “There was a badger by the name of Dr. Bryan who vanished on this island twenty years ago. He was presumed missing along with many other explorers that have vanished over the years.”

    “I’m not missing. I’m right here!” replied Dr. Bryan appearing confused.

    “Go ahead and let him go, Axl,” ordered Lucinda. Axl released his arms from Dr. Bryan as Lucinda handed him the map. “Do you know where we need to go to find the palace?” Bryan barely glanced at it before he handed it back to Lucinda.

    “Yeah!”

    “Can you show us how to get there?” asked Lucinda.

    “Yeah!” answered Bryan again as he began to walk away. “Goodbye.”

    “Oh, no you don’t!” barked Axl, moving forwards to restrain him again.

    “It’s OK, Axl!” shouted Lucinda as she moved in front of Bryan putting her hand on his shoulder. “Dr. Bryan,  I understand it’s probably been a very long time since you’ve spoke with another person, but we could really use your help. The fate of the world could lie on whether or not we can find the Zendaar tablets.”

    “Mmhmm, I’ll take you there,” answered Bryan before releasing a loud yawn.

    “Thank you!” said Lucinda while embracing him with a hug. “We can get you off of this island as well so you can get some help.” Bryan smiled as his eyelids began to drop from exhaustion.

    “This island was getting a little too much fun, anyways.”

    So once again, they settled in for the night. Dr. Bryan slept upside down on his head while Axl and Lucinda resumed their bedtime postures. Despite his weariness from the trying day, Axl now found it difficult to relax knowing an ‘insane’ person that has been isolated in the jungle too long was sleeping only a few yards away. Axl lied there with his head turned in Bryan’s direction keeping one eye slightly open. An hour past by and apart from the occasional loud snort, Bryan appeared to remain inactive. But what if he was just waiting for his chance? Maybe he was now a cold-blooded killer or a cannibal and he was just waiting for Axl, the strong one, to fall asleep so he could bust his skull with a rock. Despite his efforts, Axl’s right eye continued to droop from exhaustion until he too was sound asleep.

Illustrations by Bluepisces97 

  Thanks for reading!
 

Nightriders: The Battle Continues Part 23

 

Nightriders: The Battle Continues Part 1

 

Sequel of

Nightriders:  Battle of the Bands