CHAPTER 2

THE TOURNAMENT

That next morning all of Escamar was bustling with excitement. News had reached the small town that a jousting tournament was going to be held there, and the cardinal himself would attend. The weather was perfect, big white clouds flooded the ocean sky. The flowers were finally in bloom and the greenness of nature had awakened.

Stacker opened his eyes. He stared at his ceiling and listened. The sound of rhythmic hammering could be heard from the street below. He slowly rose out of bed and yawned. He shivered a bit, for he had left his window open from when he had arrived back in his room earlier that morning. He slowly walked down the stairs to the smell of fried potatoes, fresh picked turnips, plump tomatoes and homemade glen. Glen was one of the Dukovs favorites. It was hot spiced milk, with fresh cold berries floating about in it.

“Good morning son!” said his father Dane. “Sleep well?”

“Yes sir!” replied Stacker. “Sure does all smell nice Momma!” he said as he lifted the lid to the glen.

“Now leave that lid on lest the glen go cold.” said his mother Hunter as she walked in from outside. “There is nothing worse than cold glen. Did you sleep well last night babe? Or should I say this morning?” she said with a sweet sarcastic smile. Stacker smiled and blushed.

“Yes ma’am.”

Dane rose to his feet and stretched. He looked down at his feather pen and rolled it in his fingers. After some time he jerked a little as if coming back from his dreams and old memories. He looked down at Stacker and smiled.

“Back when I was your age I also would sneak out too. I would go out with my friends and cause pranks on the town’s constable. Mr. Brown was his name. He was old but still quick. Some of us learned that the hard way.”

Hunter placed down the plates and sighed, “That poor man. Trying to do his job and you hooligans always trying to give him a heart attack.”

Dane smirked and gave a wink to Stacker. He leaned over and whispered to Stacker

“Your mother does not know this, but Mr. Brown had a heart attack. It was once when we really upset him. And the next day he passed away. It was shocking to us.”

Dane then smirked again and walked off towards his study. Stackers face was white and fear stricken. Little did he know Dane was merely trying to say bad things usually come from going out at night and used a white lie to get his point across. Dane walked back out holding a flyer in his hands.

“Did you ever get caught Dad?” asked Stacker with a light voice.

“Almost, but never caught.” Dane replied in an nonchalan voice. “Well we better get a move on Stacker, that is if we want to beat the crowd to the Jousting Tournament.”

“TOURNAMENT !?” shouted Stacker as he jumped up from his chair. “Here? In Escamar?”

“Yes, and even the Cardinal himself will be attending.” said Hunter as she smiled over at Dane. Stacker wasted no time. He ran out of the kitchen and into the mud room. He quickly put his coat on and tied his shoes, then ran his hands through his hair, making it if anything even more messy. He then ran upstairs, grabbed his lucky hat and bolted down and out the door, forgetting his father and his breakfast.

“Don’t forget your breakfast Stacker!” yelled out Hunter as she placed a napkin inside a brown bag of hot steaming food.

“Hey don’t forget your old man either!” Dane said as he gave Hunter a hug.

“Ah who needs you?” she said with a sarcastic laugh. She kissed him on the cheek, and then Stacker. “Have fun you two!”

Stacker ran out the door and nearly slammed into Reed.

“There you are.” said Reed. “What took so long?”

“What do you mean? I just found out about the tournament.” replied Stacker

“Well come on, wouldn’t want to be late. Ryans saving us a spot.”

As they walked along they saw all sorts of new and extraordinary sights. Men were hanging up colorful banners that shown great paintings of knights on horses with wavy flags flying about in the wind. Barrels of Escamar’s finest ale went rolling across the street, with small children trying to balance on them. One small little girl was having a rough time of it. She couldn’t get on top of the barrel without it rolling out from underneath her. Reed walked other and smiled. He stuck his hand out and said

“Here you go little miss lady!”

“Thank you!” She replied with a toothless smile. She grabbed hold of his arm to steady herself and jumped up onto the barrel, and away she went. Stacker and Reed continued walking for some time, admiring the hustle and bustle of the streets, when they heard a familiar voice behind them. They looked around to see Stackers dad Dane talking with Ryan. Stacker looked to Reed with a grin.

“Of all the nerve. He’s suppose to be saving us seats! Ryan! What are you doing here?” shouted Reed as he strode toward his poor prey.

“Reed?” Answered Ryan with a confused voice. “I thought you were saving us seats?”

“Me!? We said you would!”

“No we didn’t. You said you would this morning.”

“No I . . .” Reed paused. He stared up into the sun as his face turned a shade of red.

“Oh yeah. . . “ He said sheeplishy. Reed quickly walked on and tried to change topics with Stacker. Ryan thought of continuing this battle since he was on the winning side, but his personality was inferior to the idea. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Anyway, where were we Mr. Dane? Ah yes, I remember, so what would I use to make an object float on water, but not add weight to it? And it should be able to dry easy as well.”

You see, Dane was a very smart man who built just about anything for anyone. He looked at his feet as he walked, and then started mumbling to himself. After a quick pause he looked up, “Wax” he said with a triumphant tone.

“Just take any material that floats and coat it in wax. Should work fine.”

Ryan pushed his glasses up, and rested his chin on his right hand, that was resting on his left arm. He walked this way most often, making him look quite deep in thought. Once his eyes opened a little, as if coming to a conclusion, he then quickly took out a small blue notebook and scribbled away. Ryan kept all of his ideas and thoughts on paper. He loved to create and build things. One might call him the “Brains” of the three. Making Reed the muscle and Stacker the Leader. Each one fit their role very well.

As they all arrived at the stadium, Dane bought popcorn and Ale for all the boys. He said it would put hair on their chest. Dane walked between the crowded lines and found his way to a small tent. The front was cut out and a table stood in its place. Behind the table stood a jolly round man. His cheeks were red, his nose was shining, and he wore the most ridiculous lime green hat. Or at least Dane thought so. Dane quickly realised his mistake tried to turn around, but it was too late.

“Oi, you over there! Would ya like so’m fresh beer? Popit corn as well we sell.” Dane sighed out. His eyes shut. His back was to the man. He knew if the man saw him buy those things at another tent he would get a glare. He opened his eyes and smiled. He turned around and walked up.

“Well perfect!” Dane put his hands on the counter and looked at the menu above.

“Alrighty then. I’ll take three of your stout beers, with two large popcorn.”

“Good choice, good choice.” Replied the jolly man. He turned around and pulled up his pants as he shouted through the tent. “Three Stouts and two Large pops!”

Dane noticed no one else was in line at this tent, but all the other tents had many people waiting. He looked around and realized people were staring. He did a quick cough and took a sidestep away from the counter.

“Alright dat’s gonna be 2 silver. Or one one gold if you want to leave tip as well.” Laughed the jolly man as he turned back around, facing no one.

“Oi, where you go?”

“I’m just here, thank you.” replied Dane as he put an arm out, getting the man’s attention.

Dane quickly handed the man a gold piece, grabbed the tray of goods and walked briskly towards the boys.

“Oi! Thanks for the tip!” Dane kept walking, mumbling under his breath.

“And that’s not even the worse part of it!” Said Reed as spat on the ground. Stacker stared at Ryan, who had a dumb expression on his face.

“Yeah that really stinks man.” replied Stacker with no emotion in his voice. He scanned the crowd and yawned. His head was spinning a little from lack of sleep. The edge of his vision was blurry. He opened his eyes wide as if trying to stretch them. When his eyes came back in focus he realized his father was standing in front of him.

“Boys.”

Dane held out the tray as Ryan and Reed grabbed their drinks.

“Thank you Mr. Dukov.”

“Yes, thank you sir.”

“Stacker?”

“Oh yeah, thanks dad.” Stacker sat up and took his drink. He took a sip, his eyes opened. His mouth quivered. He gulped, and quickly ate some popcorn, trying to rid the taste of the ale from his mouth. He looked over to Ryan who seemed to have the same expression and grinned. As for Reed, he gulped half of his down. Grinned ear to ear with an ale mustache across his lip.

Dane started walking toward the entrance of the stadium with the tray of popcorn.

“Come on lads.”

Ryan’s face was now going yellow. He stared at his ale as if he had just realized it was poison. He groaned and rubbed his stomach. Reed laughed and took Ryans mug without any resistance.

“Come on.” laughed out Reed as he gestured toward the entrance. Stacker walked with Ryan, one arm under his. He tried to make it look like he was helping him walk, when Stacker really needed Ryan for balance as well. As the group made their way through the entrance the noise grew.

“Ah, look at this joker.” said Reed as he pointed across the field towards the opposite entrance. A massive crowed had gathered, which was made up of mainly young ladies, who were throwing roses at a knight who slowly rode out. People scrambled over one another just to touch the knight.

“What’s so special about him? Honestly?” retorted Ryan. “He probably smells like, sour milk or old eggs under that armor. And after being battered so many times I bet his brains are fried.” Ryan kicked a patch of mud into the air. It went farther than he anticipated. He realized this when a woman shrieked. A lady in a white lace dress, with fresh curled hair was covered with hot sticky mud. Stacker and Reed looked up trying to see what the matter was.

“ That is a bummer.” said Reed with a slight grin. Stacker stared for a bit. He looked at the lady, who was red with anger now, and yelling at her stout husband to find the brute who caused this. He then noticed Ryan was dodging people and quickly making his way toward the seats, away from the scene. Stacker smirked. He, Reed and Dane followed Ryan up into the stadiums, forcing their way through the packed crowd. Reed leaned over to Stacker and whispered

“You still thinking about last night?

Stacker nodded his head slowly. “Yeah.”

“Well, I went to the library this morning.” Reeds face focused.

“And?”

“And I found that golden viper symbol. You know, the one of the carriage. Anyways, It is the symbol for the King’s royal messenger.”

Stacker’s mouth opened a little. A small audible ghast came out. He stared at Reed for several seconds, his mouth slowly widened into a grin.

“So what those guys behind the tavern said was true.” said Reed. “About the KIng and Cardinal that is.”

Stacker twiddled his thumbs. He looked around the stands of people as if looking to make sure no one was eavesdropping. He noticed that his neck was burning and placed his hand on it. It felt cool, and the sun was behind a few dark clouds coming in from the east. Yet his neck felt like it was burning. Stacker ignored it and looked back to Reed.

“What do you think those men were doing here? They said something about a deed that needed to be done, and that it was a secret, of sorts.”

“You fellers want some taffy?” Ryan broke in suddenly.

“No thanks” replied Stacker. His face grimaced as he placed his hand over his stomach, still feeling the effect of the ale. Ryan gave a nod and started down the wooden bleachers. As he hopped over the railing onto the walkway, Reed shouted

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Get me some strawberry taffy!” Ryan gave a jerk of the head to show he had heard Reed, and then disappeared into the crowd.

As Dane sat there, waiting for the jousting to begin, he realized he had forgotten his sitting pillow. You see, without it his back went into a terrible state, and he just had to have it. He stood up and turned side to side, keeping his feet planted. His back cracked as he did this.

“It would seem,” Dane yawned, “That I have forgotten my pillow. I will be back shortly boys.”

“But you will miss the first joust of the tournament!” exclaimed Stacker.

“Ah that is fine. There will be many, and besides, the first few fights are the novices. I’ll be right back.” Dane slowly made his way towards the exit and then disappeared just as Ryan had.

The crowd finally quieted. The tournament workers moved off the field, and the royals walked through the Main gate. The crowd did not cheer for them. Why? Well, no one exactly is a fan of a rude prince, and a sharp eyed penny pincher, also known as the Cardinal.

“Jeeze. Seems like a funeral.” remarked Stacker as he took everything in.

“Not quite. A funeral is a little bit more lively than this.” laughed out Reed. Stacker turned to Reed, and they both joined in laughter together.

As the royals took their seats the crowd came out of their hushed whispers. The prince stuck out his nose high into the air, as if trying to show everyone his hairy nostrils.

“Mmm what a ladies man.” Reed said in the most sarcastic tone one can imagine.

Stacker looked towards the entrances and back to Reed. “Looks like it is just us for the first joust.”

“Yup.” replied Reed. He stretched his arms and yawned.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” cried out the speaker. “Boys and girls!” then the speaker waved his arms out towards the people of the stadium as he walked in a circle. “The well respected!” at this the crowd cheered. Then the speaker pointed to the criminals in the wooden stocks. “And the not so well respected” The criminals then cheered. “Let the Tournament begin!” A flood of sound erupted from the stadium.

“I give you, Lord Jockavich!” Anyone who thought the cheering couldn’t get and louder were very much wrong. The crowd boomed with shouts and cheers. Young ladies and a few quirky men threw flowers onto the young knight, who entered the arena on his fine steed. The speaker was still announcing the young knights heritage. If you could hear the names of his father, and grandfathers you would certainly laugh, for they were outrageous names. But alas, the crowds noise drowned out any and all words of the speaker.

“I’ll bet that he’ll be the first to go.” Reed said with a pointing finger. Stacker followed its direction which pointed at the young knight. “He just seems too overconfident.”

Stacker shaked his head up and down slowly, with his arms crossed. He then cocked his head to the side and replied.

“Well, the ladies sure do like him, so he has got at least that going for him.” Reed then stood up, and stared. His his eyes widened.

Stacker look up at him and asked “Are you alright man?” Reed just stared. He muttered a few things then said quietly “It’s, it’s Ryan.” Stacker looked out towards the arena, and started laughing. For right at this moment Ryan appeared, but not with taffy nor by the other two. He was across the field holding the young knight’s lance! Reed looked in disbelief and Stacker was still chuckling.

“How does he do it?” said Stacker with a grin. Ryan smiled to the crowd and followed the young knight about. The knight halted at his end of the arena and took his lance from Ryan. The young knight looked down at Ryan and gave him a nod, then looked at the top of his lance. They both exchanged a few words that no one else could hear. Only the movement of their mouths could be seen. Ryan then gave a nod back and ran to his squire post.

The small announcer strode out towards the center on the arena. Everything was still, and only the sound of the small mans feet shuffling against the ground could be heard. He straightened his arched back, breathed in deeply and opened his mouth to start the match. But as his first word came out his voice cracked, and a high squeak came out as he said “Knights!” then he quickly stopped himself, swallowed, and started again. But this time his voice was so subdued and apathetic that he added no excitement to the arena. His stale voice milked the air with boredom. “Knights, ready your lances.”

He then arched his back again, and lamely stared at the ground, his face expressionless.

“Ah man I forgot to wear black.” Reed whispered to Stacker with a smirky sarcastic tone.

“What?” replied Stacker.

“I am now confident this is a funeral.” Reed gave a jest towards the arena with his head as he said this. Stacker looked out, he noticed the small announcer and his stale voice, he realised that the crowd was not making any noise, and the sun had gone behind the clouds that had just flooded in. It truly seemed that at any second pallbearers would be walking into the arena with a casket. Stacker took a palm full of popcorn, ate a piece, and looked at Reed with a smirk. “Yeah I forgot to wear black too.”

The young Knight dropped his helmet visor a little lower and steadied his lance. On the opposite end of the arena a rather beefy fellow sat on a small horse. His name was Liem. His armor was dented in several places including his helmont. See, even though he was a knight, this did not mean he was rich. Some knight’s were even nearly as poor as the peasants. But where they lacked wealth, they made up in popularity. This fat, dented, small horse riding knight was known throughout the surrounding towns as Large Liem. The two Knights faced each other, lances at the ready. The arena was silent enough for a pin to be heard hitting the ground. Someone from the crowd shouted. “Lets go Liem!”

A blast of horns split the silence of the air. The knights spurred their horses, kicking the animals sides with a strong swift kick. The horses stood up on their hind legs neighing. Like lighting they thundered towards each other, without hesitation. The speed of each knight was unbelievable. Reed stood up from his seat and stared in amazement. The rest of the crowd followed, with many a person screaming from excitement and wonder. The horses kicked up dust leaving a trail of dirt flying through the air. Large Liem lowered his lance down, aiming for the head of his opponent. It was an amazing sight to behold. The distances between the knights dwindled as fast as a lit fuse. Within mere moments the knights met. Like a quick flash the younger knight slammed his lance down into the attacking position. As soon as he flung it down there was a cracking noise that sliced through the air. Bits of lance and armor scattered through the open air and rained down on the ground. Both knights rode at a trot for a few paces. They halted. Large liem leaned forwards on his horse, then fell to the ground in a heap. The crowd boomed with cheers. Flowers were thrown from all directions onto the young knight. He left his helmet on unlike other knights, who bathe in the glory and make sure all can see their face. He did a half wave towards the crowd and rode off into the stables. He won the match by knockout. As soon as Large Liem was dragged off the field and the announcer dismissed the royal family for the halftime show that was going to be held in the adjoining field, Stacker and Reed jumped over the stands railings and bolted towards Ryan.

“ How did you do it old chap!?” said Stacker in wonder.

“Did you get to meet any of the royals?” cried Reed in awe.

Ryan slouched his back and placed his hands in his pockets. He smiled towards the ground, then looked up at them. He opened his mouth as if to say something but then shut it. He removed his glasses and blew on them. He then rubbed the spectacles with a handkerchief. Then put his glasses back on, pushed them in the correct position with one finger, which he often did when feeling smart. He turned his head towards them, eyes closed, smiled then opened them.

“Gentlemen, with a brain like mine one can achieve anything.”

Reeds excited face faded away into a sneer. “Yeah no one cares about your brain. Now tell us how you did it.”

Stacker laughed softly and looked at Reed. Then to Ryan. “Hey I think your brain is awesome.”

“Thank you Stacker.” Ryan said in a polite, dignified tone. You know with the amount of books I read and . .

“Don’t stretch out the compliment, just take it as it was.” Broke in Stacker, as he raised his eyebrows, but still had a smile.

“Oh uh, sorry,” Ryan replied. He realized he was losing the attention of his small audience and quickly started telling them the story of how he became a knights page for a day. “Well, I ran pass his tents security easily enough, then dodged a few hooded figures and bumped right into him. He was the only one to spot me in the tent, which is strange since I am rather good at slipping by, and espiecally since the fact he was also wearing a helmet.”

“Just get to the point you Bazoink.” interrupted Reed as he crossed his arms and leaned back on one leg.

“I’m getting to it.” replied Ryan in a humble tone.

“Well he asked me what I was doing there, and to how I even gotten in the VIP section of the tent. I told him that I was seeking a knight, to ask to be a page too. He said all knights already had their required amount of pages and no more were needed.”

Then Ryan’s face drew into a bashful smile and his face turned a little red as he spoke,

“And then I showed him this.” Ryan handed Stacker his small notebook. Reed leaned over Stackers shoulder and the both them read the notebooks contents. As Stacker flipped through the notebook, Ryan pulled out some of his leftover strawberry taffy and began to chew on it. Reed looked up from the notebook and stared at Ryan with tasty eyes.

Stacker finally stopped at one page and examined it closely. A grin crept over his face. He looked up at Ryan slowly, then said “Why you little conniving cheat.”

Reed looked from Ryan to Stacker, then back to Ryan. “What?”

“So that young Knight didn’t need you for another page, he wanted you for this.” Stacker flipped the notebook around so Reed and Ryan could both see it. On the paper, pencil sketchings showed a lance, but the end of it was cut off. The center of the top and bottom had been drilled out leaving it hollow. Then a tight fitted pole was placed into the lance. Attached to the un covered portion of the pole was the top half of the outside lance portion. So once slid in, it looked like an ordinary lance, but if slung down the end would extend, making the lance longer.

“So that is how he won, by your genius.” Stacker said. He was truly impressed. His wide eyes and opened mouth gave that away. Ryan’s cheeks went red, and he bashfully blushed. He looked over to Reed to see if he had heard the compliment he had just received from Stacker. He and Reed always had some sort of competition going on, they both liked to stick it to the other when one of them either received praise, or if the other was wrong about anything. Reed didn’t show anything close to being impressed. But inside he was amazed. Ryan wanted everyone to be happy in the midst of his triumph, so he handed the last piece of strawberry taffy to Reed, who took it with a happy smile and scarfed it down rather quickly. As he was swallowing his last bite, he spilled out a few words over the noise of chewing.

“I knew something was up.” Reed took a few more chews and spoke again, “There is always something up with you. You’re a pretty smart guy I guess.” He finally swallowed and stared at Ryan, hoping he would be presented with another piece of taffy after his small bit of a compliment, if that is what you can even call it. Ryan stared back, and Stacker stared at the both of them. For several moments no words were said. Stacker looked back down at the notebook and studied it further. His head nodded a little, and his eyes brightened up like embers.

“So that is how he won, eh? I was wondering why the young knight waited till the last moment to swing his lance down. He waited so at the last moment it would extend, knock his opponent off his horse, and let the lance be destroyed into pieces. No one then would be able to see the lance size difference since he waited to extend it with the swing, and the evidence was shattered into a million pieces.” Stacker finished sharing his thoughts, and looked up to Ryan for confirmation.

“ Impressive Stack.” replied Ryan.

Reed quickly blurted out “Yeah, I knew that too. Just wanted Stack to have a moment to figure it out. Because like, the physics of. . .”

“Just stop.” interrupted Ryan. “Don’t embarrass yourself.”

Reed knew he had no clue to how it worked, so he stopped trying to act like he did. Once again everyone went quiet. This time Reed broke the silence.

“Well I can still beat you any form of combat. “ He crossed his arms indignantly.

“So? Stacker can beat you in combat. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.” replied Ryan.

After Stacker was done reading the notebook he looked to Ryan with a grin.

“You old boy, this will be quite a story to keep in your back pocket.”

Before Ryan could answer, a flash of lighting lit up the ever so darkening sky. A roar of thunder followed and boomed, loud enough to hear from miles around. The three boys looked up into the sky. It was gray, without a trace of blue. Rain slowly started to fall half a mile out, slowly sweeping in like a wall. The first to run was Reed. He absolutely hated being wet. He bolted towards the arena entrance, hoping it would not already be packed.

Stacker and Ryan stared on at the oncoming wall of rain.

“That is something else.” remarked Stacker. Ryan turned around, and started walking towards some shelter. “Come on Stack.”

The two walked side by side, hands in pockets as people ran by them. The rain slowly started to pelt down on them. Then as if a switch had been flipped, a downpour of rain fell from the skies. The field, and the stadium were now empty. Only Stacker and Ryan were still in it, both walking and enjoying the rain. All the shelters were bustling with people. The two boys decided to jump the stadium wall and climbed up onto the bleachers. They made their way to the royals section and sat down under the roofed section. Stacker sat where the cardinal was, and Ryan sat were the prince had been. Stacker’s face lightened up. He looked over to Ryan and said,

“Look at you Ryan. You were a page to a knight, now you are a royal.”

“Well we both are.” Ryan replied.

Stacker put his feet on the railing and leaned back in his chair, watching the rain as it slowly turned the field into a pond. It was so very peaceful. For a few minutes everything was quiet. Only the sound of rain could be heard.

“Stack. . .” whispered Ryan.

“Yeah Ryan?”

“Someone is below us.” Ryan pointed with his eyes towards the floorboards. Stacker sat in his chair, trying hard to hear anything but the rain. He tuned out the sound of the water hitting the ground. He heard a ever so slight creak. It sounded as if someone was not exactly staying still, but was trying too. Stacker peered between the floorboards, and then smiled to himself. It was Reed. Stacker winked at Reed, and Reed winked back. Stacker looked back up to Ryan and yawned as he stretched his arms.

“Ah it is nothing. Just the wind walking around down there.”

Ryan stared for a moment, then decided the same for himself. He leaned back in the comfy chair and nestled into the pillows. As he shut his eyes, a small wooden rod came up through the floorboards. It made its way towards Ryan’s foot, and quickly poked it from underneath. Ryan quickly sat up and lifted his foot up. He stared at it for a moment then placed it back down. He looked over to Stacker who was turned the over way, and appeared to be sleeping. Stacker actually had a grin on his face and was trying to hold back laughter. Ryan looked around, he checked his foot one more time and then laid back down. He shrugged his shoulders and shut his eyes again. The rod came back up. This time Stacker grabbed onto the end of it, and gave a wink to Reed. Stacker then picked up a wooden bucket that was next to his chair, turned it upside down and placed it over the rod. Reed then moved the rod forwards and backwards, making the bucket move across the floorboards. It started to make a scratching noise. Stacker quickly turned back around and pretended to sleep. The bucket kept moving about. Slowly, Ryan’s enyes opened. His head dropped a little bit as he stared at the moving bucket. He slowly took his feet off the ground and placed them in the chair. He wrapped his arms around his knees and stared. The bucket had stopped moving.

“St . . .Sta . . . Stack . . .” Ryan mumbled.

“Mhm” Stacker replied, without moving.

“The bucket. . .” Ryan stammered.

“Yeah?” replied Stacker, trying his hardest not to laugh. His face had now turned red.

Reed then moved the rod up, making the bucket rise off the floor, looking as if it was levitating.

“HOLY BUCKETS!” cried Ryan. He flew back into his chair, trying to get as far away as possible from the floating bucket. He slammed against the back of the chair making it fall over. Ryan scrambled about in pillows and blankets yelling in fear. As soon as this happened Stacker could not hold back any longer. Stacker fell out of his chair, laughing as he slapped the ground. Tears formed in his eyes as he tried to catch a breath. Reed opened the nearby trap door, and looked with a smirky smile at Ryan who was still in the pillows, trying to scramble away. He burst out laughing. Together he and Stacker laughed and pointed at Ryan, both trying to talk.

“Your fa” Stacker couldn’t talk, his laughs kept breaking in. “Your face” he cried out.

“Was so white.” he laughed out. He finally controlled himself and breathed in slowly, and back out. Ryan, who was still scared, and now confused quickly got the blankets off of himself and looked at the bucket. He cautiously rose to his feet and walked towards it. He stared at it, then kicked it over. He saw the rod now. He turned towards Stacker, than noticed Reed’s head that was sticking above the floorboards from the trap door entrance. He quickly put two and two together and realised he had been fooled, and from non-other than Reed.

“You!” he said loudly. His face became stern. His nose wrinkled. He pushed his glasses up into their correct position. Reed kept laughing and shaked his head.

“I will avenge myself, if it is the last thing I do! You better watch out Wood!” Wood was Reeds last name, which Ryan often called him when upset.

“I don’t care.” laughed out Reed. “It was so worth it.” He climbed up the ladder and then helped Stacker to his feet, who had been on the floor the entire time, still trying to catch his breath.

“Alright alright.” Stacker said. He dusted his pants off with his hands and looked to Ryan with a grin. “Holy buckets?” He then started laughing again. Ryan’s face turned a little red but then he too started to laugh, making Reed join in too. The three boys cleaned up their mess, then walked shoulder to shoulder back into town, talking about the past days advents. Little did they know, it would be their last normal day, and things would never be the same again.