Chaos ensued around me as the ground was torn up and tossed into the air. I hunkered down as bits of wet earth slapped me against the side of the head. Men shouted and people gave orders back and forth, but I heard none of that as a pair of blue eyes looked up at me with interest.

  I expected to see at least a trace amount of fear, but there wasn’t any. There was just curiosity. Lady Isabella Ivanov studied me and said nothing as her men rushed her way.

  “I do say you are a most interesting man, Mr Blake, a most interesting man indeed,” she whispered to me. “It shall be my pleasure to watch you grow in the dirt that is Safe Haven.”

  Rough hands grabbed me and launched me to the side as her men picked her up and dusted her off.

  On my back I could now see the ship that had attacked us; it was no bigger than an escape vessel with two miniature rifles attached to its underside. A pilot manoeuvred it back around for another run as The Lady’s men fired its way.

  “I’m fine. I’m fine. Just deal with these incompetent fools who can’t even stage an assassination correctly.”

  Men erupted from the surrounding area and rushed our way. They looked the worse for wear with more than a few sporting bloody bandages and cuts. They ran and fired trying their best to cut us down.

  “Squad Alpha protect The Lady! Squad Delta to me,” Vlad ordered.

  His men didn’t hesitate, they took up their positions and returned fire with an accuracy that picked off our attackers one by one. They fell under the onslaught but their resolve never wavered. I dived for cover as another round of gunfire from above peppered the ground around me. As I rolled to my side a rough pair of hands latched onto me and lifted me to my feet.

  “Can’t have you dying on us, boyo, that would spoil the party,” José said, firing his revolver at a man who had crept past The Lady’s defences.

  “Who do you think is responsible for this—”

  I was stopped when a voice boomed from the speakers of one of the escape vessels. “How does it feel to be on the receiving end for a change?”

  Even through the speakers I could make out Arun’s distinctive tones. “I wanted to kill that bastard José and take the device he was going to give to you, Isabella, and claim the payment myself, but I think killing the both of you is a much better idea. I get to kill two rivals and with you out of the picture, Isabella, Paradise Lost shall be mine for the taking.”

  “Stupid fool thinks it really is that simple,” Isabella said, standing next to me. “If he kills me now the only thing he can guarantee is turning Paradise Lost into a war zone while the peasants try and claim a stake in what they think they should have. Vlad, what do you propose to do about this nuisance?”

  Vlad turned to his boss and held back a shrug that I could see building in his shoulders, José stepped forward loading his revolver while the chaos still raged on around us. “Tell you what, mi Se?ora, we’ll help you deal with this mess and I won’t even charge you for it.”

  “That’s an interesting proposition, José, seeing as you still haven’t given me what I paid for.”

  “It’s no good giving you something if you won’t be alive long enough to appreciate it,” he said, firing a single shot past us’ “Your men deal with the air attacks, my men and I will tackle the opposition on the ground.”

  “Fine. Vlad, deal with that, will you,” she said, pointing towards the vessel that occupied the sky.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Come on, boyo,” José said, tugging me along, “time to get our hands dirty.”

  We pushed forward as the rain increased, and rushed the men who came towards us. I fired the Peacemaker wildly not aiming for anyone in particular and trying not to cause any more damage. I had had enough death on my hands to last me a lifetime, but as bullets came my way and men shouted and screamed, I knew I wouldn’t get out of this fight without getting my hands caked in even more blood. I just wanted my freedom. I just wanted to do as I pleased. Was that too much to ask?

  A man jumped towards me and I squeezed my trigger without thinking.

  The blast took him full in the face knocking him off his feet. I didn’t turn around to see the damage but continued on. I leapt back out of the way of a man with crazed eyes who swung a machete my way, I fired towards him but found out I was empty. He smiled at me and hacked left and right.

  I ducked and dodged staying just out of harm’s way, but I had to do this all day and he only had to hit me once.

  Foot slipping on a patch of moss I fell backwards and knocked the air out of my lungs. I looked up to see my attacker smiling down at me, machete raised above his head. The smile still stayed on his face as a black blade penetrated his left eye. He didn’t make a sound but fell forward on top of me, dead.

  I rolled him off of me as Poppy bent down and plucked her knife out of his eye.

  “How you holding up—” she began, but my eyes widened as I saw a vessel bearing down on her from the heavens. When I kicked her feet from underneath her, she landed on top of me and I rolled us towards safety as a line of bullets tore the grass up to our left. I detached myself from her and began loading explosive shells as the craft circled back around, I could see Arun’s smug little face through the window of the cockpit and steeled myself for what I was about to do.

  Loading the last shell into the chamber I clicked my head left to right and sprinted forward. I weaved left and right and kept on moving. My shot had to be perfect. I couldn’t miss or he would know my plans. This was a game of chicken at the highest level. Well, for me anyway; for him it would just appear to be some idiot running towards him making his life a hell of a lot easier.

  He hadn’t fired yet. I could see him smiling at me as I sprinted faster and faster.

  The guns under his vessel spat bullets towards me chucking wet grass into the air. I held my breath as I waited for one to hit but none did. With each step, I could feel myself bracing for impact but as each step took me closer towards my target, I concentrated on what I had to do. Bringing my weapon up I slid forward on my knees, resting my finger on the trigger till I gauged the distance of the vehicle.

  It wasn’t close enough.

  I held my breath as the impact the bullets made got closer and closer. I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. But if I didn’t deal with this asshole now then it would be game over for all of us.

  Rain made the distance hard to judge but I took aim and fired.

  The end of my gun spat out flames as I squeezed the trigger again and again. With each blast from my gun, I was pushed back further and further back till a long groove could be seen from my original starting point up to where I rested now.

  The destruction the Peacemaker caused was total.

  The front of the vessel was in flames with bits of the craft falling to the ground as it came towards me, I couldn’t see Arun anymore but I couldn’t think he had survived. As I watched it approach, a horrific revelation dawned on me as I watched the small ship get lower and lower.

  It was going to crash into me.

  Getting up to my feet I was like a deer in the headlights as I didn’t move at first. Then I manoeuvred left and right, but whichever way I was going to run I knew it would not be enough. Dropping to the ground I put my hands over my head and shut my eyes and waited for the inevitable but it never came.

  Instead, I felt the vibrations from the ship’s engines pass through my body and I opened my eyes to see the ship pull up. Arun was still alive. The ship wobbled as it continued to gain altitude, but it didn’t get very far as it slammed into another ship in a spectacular explosion.

  If Arun had been alive he wasn’t anymore.

  I stood up and gawped as the debris from the two ships came tumbling down towards the ground. About to celebrate I stopped myself as I saw the explosion had blasted one of the ships back my way.

  “Give me a break!”

  Spinning on my heels I sprinted away as I felt the ground underneath me rumble. Head down I sprinted with everything I had but I realised at the last moment I was running headfirst off the cliff. Turning my head back around I saw I had no other option but to keep going as the burning wreckage of the ship was barrelling towards me.

  In a few more steps there would be no ground left. In a few more steps I was either going to die of drowning, being impaled by the sharp rocks below or crushed and burnt to death by the wreckage following me like a lost puppy.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

  I took one more look over my shoulder and saw I had no other choice but to leap. I closed my eyes and took the jump.

  “Fuck!”