Down the Trade Route

Growing more confident in their abilities, especially after their easy victory against the AssMachenstani troop, the sisters and Marco set out to find the AssMachenstani base in LusciousLocks. Estonia would use her spatial abilities to sense the immediate surroundings for enemies, Latvia would freeze them in time, and Lithuania would make them vanish and reappear in a faraway universe, or as she liked to call it, “burst them”. If they suffered another power drainage, Latvia and Estonia were to take cover and yield to Marco and Lithuania’s firepower. If worst came to worst, Latvia would whip out her quilaire and hope for the best.

“No matter what happens,” Marco said as they marched through the woods, in the direction of the trade road, “We steer clear of the mist woman. She’ll render you powerless. And my bullets won’t work against her.”

“Good old fashioned bullets don’t work against her?” Estonia asked, incredulous. “How do you know? It’s not like we’ve tried.”

Marco frowned. He knew the woman resisted bullets, though he didn’t know how he knew. “She’s telekinetic, or something,” said Lithuania. “When I traveled to that other universe and found Marco, she—Delilah—just wrenched my gun from my hands without moving a muscle. What I don’t get is why she’s—why she’s not a villain in that other world.”

Marco felt a wave of confusion sweeping over him. His memories from the other world were jumbled. “You never told me,” Lithuania said to him, “What she did to you in the other world.  I mean, she simply handed you to me, unconscious. She didn’t seem to mean us any harm.”

Marco shook his head. He wasn’t sure he agreed, but he couldn’t remember enough to prove the contrary. “I don’t think she can die,” he said. Lithuania looked at him questioningly as they walked. He focused on the ground. “I can’t remember much but—I think I might have tried to kill her. I don’t think she was good. When the woods caught fire and AssMachenstan revealed itself as one and the same as LusciousLocks, I might have—I dunno.”

Lithuania continued to look at him, sympathetically now. “It’s OK. Your memories should return, in time,” she said, hoping it was true. “I just wonder, when you say LusciousLocks and AssMachenstan were the same over there, how much of that holds true in our universe.”

“I don’t know if they were one and the same, exactly,” Marco said. “But they seemed to be celebrating AssMachenstan. They were either newly converted, or a part of AssMachenstan all along—I don’t know. This whole other-universes thing still kinda blows my mind.”

“You know what I find strange?” piped in Estonia. “How you guys seem to be able to do anything I can do, but I can’t do what you do.”

Lithuania stopped and looked at her sister. “What?”

“I mean our powers,” said Estonia, tucking her red hair behind her ears and looking everywhere but at Lithuania’s eyes. “Sorry, I’m off-topic, I know, but—Did I get the short end of the stick?”

“Space. Time. Infinity,” said Latvia. “If I remember my quantum physics correctly, infinity encompasses space and time. And time encompasses space. Space is the most basic.”

“Exactly,” said Estonia, avoiding her sisters’ gazes and resuming the march forward, “which explains why you can do what we can do,” she said to Lithuania, “And you can do what I can do,” she said to Latvia. “and I’m the lame one, right?”

Latvia frowned. “We do seem to lean towards our respective abilities though,” she said. “I mean—I haven’t been able to teleport without you—or outside of a magical high. And I can’t do that thing you do, sensing your surroundings like that. I also haven’t been able to teleport other objects.”

“I have,” said Lithuania. “And I’ve teleported, alone, though I was pretty charged up at the moment.”

“I mean, technically, we can both move through space, if we can move through time,” Latvia said to Lithuania. “And since you can move through worlds, moving through space and time should be a piece of cake for you, right?”

“I sure as hell can’t do those time tricks you do, returning laser beams to their guns and what-not,” Lithuania said.

“But you could, if you tried, couldn’t you?”     

“OK then,” Estonia said, resigned to her fate, “So I did get the short end of the stick. Which is fine, I guess. God knows teleporting gives me enough of a hard time—”

“Don’t look at it that way,” said Latvia.

“Oh come on, don’t patronize me,” said Estonia. “I’m OK with it, really.”

“Maybe in theory Lithuania’s got the most going for her,” Latvia said. “But that doesn’t mean we each don’t have a specialty—a focus, of sorts.”  

“What are your focuses?” asked Marco. “I know it’s the whole space, time, infinity thing. And I was never great at physics, but I’ve seen you all do a hell of a lot of crazy things that seem entirely unrelated.”

“They’re not,” said Latvia. “Estonia can move through space, move others through space, and sense the space around her—to a distance. As for me, I guess I’m occasionally psychic. Not Psychic-mind-reader psychic. It’s more like I catch glimpses or feelings about what’s going to happen. Except that doesn’t seem to be happening much anymore. And I can’t really seem to control it… I guess that’s why mom left me that fortune telling kit.

“And when supercharged, I traveled through space and time, once. And I can control time around objects, meaning, I can basically make things fast-forward, rewind, or pause.”

“Damn it woman you get all the cool stuff,” said Estonia, kicking a twig. Her tone was more harmlessly, almost jokingly envious than resentful.

“As far as I know,” said Lithuania, “I can burst—er, send things into other universes or move them across space, and move myself across universes and space. If, as you guys say, I can mess with time… well, I haven’t figured that out yet.”

Marco gave a short whistle. “Who would’ve thought you three would become, like, superheroes or something,” he said, looking at Lithuania. “I can’t say I’m not jealous.”

Lithuania laughed. “Stop looking for praise, you know what you’re capable of.”

 “That sounds dirty,” said Estonia. Latvia snorted. Lithuania smacked her. Marco felt his face flush but pretended not to notice.

“Sooo,” he said. “Estonia, can you sense anything nearby yet?”

Estonia looked up abruptly, alarmed. “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?” said Marco, Latvia and Lithuania at once.

Estonia blinked hard. Something was off. Something was different. “Lithuania, did you just do something?”

Suddenly everyone had a split-second case of double vision. “What the hell?” cried Marco, rubbing his eyes. The colors around them seemed to have shifted, almost imperceptibly, into slight variations of themselves.

“I swear it’s not me,” said Lithuania, alarmed.

“Oh my God,” said Latvia, looking at something behind them. Lithuania, Estonia and Marco all turned around—and their jaws dropped.

Standing just a few feet away from them, exactly where they had all walked just a few seconds before, were themselves. Another Marco. Another Estonia. Another Latvia. And another Lithuania.

Their expressions were equally stunned.

Their Mission

Suspecting the mist woman’s betrayal, Marco, Felix, Winfry and Isa dashed top speed towards the hollow. Once inside, the AssMachenstani men could look all they wanted— they’d never find them. “Don’t stop!” cried Isa, jumping nimbly over a fallen tree trunk as she sprinted. “We don’t know how long this spell will last.”

A laser beam grazed the tree Winfry was running towards. “Everybody down!” came Marco’s cry. They dropped to the ground, scrambling for cover on all fours.

“Damnit!” muttered Winfry, “We’re so close!”

Isa swiped her hand over the sparse grass, weeds and fallen leaves. A burst of blue erupted from the ground. “We’re close enough,” she said. “Marco, take cover, and try and target the enemy. The rest of us—charge up.”

More beams shot their way. The pounding footsteps of AssMachenstani soldiers grew louder by the second. Marco stood up, facing away from the enemy behind a thick tree trunk, looking around desperately, searching for the best shooting point. Then he looked up. In an instant he whipped out his pair of daggers, stabbed the tree, hoisted himself up, stabbed again, until he had deftly made his way up to the top of the tree.

As Marco climbed, Felix, Isa and Winfry were hugging the floor, rubbing in as much magic from the earth as they could get. Already they could feel its inebriating power coursing through their veins, as laser beams soared above their heads.

Winfry closed his eyes, apparently in prayer. Isa and Felix continued collecting magic, awaiting his signal. A second later, gunshot rang from above. Marco had made his move, and a soldier had fallen. Winfry opened his eyes. “I know where they are. I’ll guide you” he said.

Felix held Isa’s hand, Isa held Winfry’s hand, and the moment she did, the location of every AssMachenstani soldier flooded her mind as well as Felix’s.

Isa turned to Felix, “Alright. You freeze, I burst.” Felix nodded. “OK. NOW!” Together, Isa, Winfry and Felix rose to their feet, facing the troop of about ten AssMachenstanis storming their way.

Felix focused his power on the soldier nearest them. The soldier raised his laser gun, shot, and just before the laser beam smashed straight through Felix’s face, Felix opened his hands and released his magic, sending the laser beam magically backwards in time and soaring straight into the soldier’s gun. The gun exploded, killing the man on the spot.

From above, Marco’s gun continued to ring. Three down. Four down. Felix focused on suspending the numerous laser beams in midair, Isa spread her hands forward and burst the soldiers, one by one, into nothingness, while Winfry focused on teleporting the remaining soldiers high into the air, then letting them drop to their deaths.

A moment later, Marco, Felix, Winfry and Isa stood victorious in the forest silence. “Come on,” said Isa, “To the hollow.”

The moment they entered the magical grove, the identity spell faded. Winfry became Estonia. Felix became Latvia. And Isa became Lithuania. “Good job girls,” Lithuania said to her sisters. “And you, Marco.”

Marco nodded. “We owe everything to Winfry,” he said. “That was some pretty quick thinking he did, switching everyone’s identities with the librem…”

“They took our place,” said Latvia, clearly uncomfortable at the thought. “I was dying to say something—“

Lithuania shook her head, remembering what Winfry had once told her. “It was their mission. Winfry and Isa told me so themselves. They said they were supposed to help me. Help us. I think this is what they were talking about.”

“But what’s going to happen to them?” said Estonia. “I mean—once that mist woman finds out—”

“She won’t kill them as long as she thinks they’re us,” said Lithuania. “And if the spell fades, Isa, Winfry and Felix will be too valuable to her information-wise for her to kill. She’ll need them to get to us.”

“So we need to rescue them,” said Latvia.

“They’ve still got their librem. And a quilaire,” said Marco. Lithuania knew perfectly well what he meant.

“You don’t mean—” said Estonia, shocked. “You don’t mean to say we’re going to let them fend for themselves, do you?”

“I’m wondering whether we have a choice,” was Marco’s reply. “They came to Lithuania with one mission: help her. And that’s what they’re doing. They’re buying us time. The enemy thinks they have you three. This could be your best moment.”

“We could finish pinpointing the location of the AssMachenstani base here in LusciousLocks,” said Lithuania. “Then return to Econometric Elation and inform Foggistan. Those AssMachenstani emissaries won’t be hunting for us back home anymore, now that they think they’ve got us.”

Latvia couldn’t believe her ears. Estonia crossed her arms, unconvinced. “OK, God knows I’m not the brave one here,” she said, “And God knows I’d love to leave this place. But even I feel uncomfortable just leaving them behind. You saw what that woman did to Timoteo!”

Estonia had struck a chord. Lithuania’s stomach flipped uncomfortably at the thought of Timoteo’s severed head. The mist woman was indeed ruthless. “But we have to inform Foggistan about what’s going on here,” she said. “I mean—to them, LusciousLocks is still a clouded-over country where all their soldiers have gone missing. They don’t know it’s an AssMachenstani outpost. They’re still focusing on Styx.”

Estonia bit her lip. Then Latvia said, “I think we know what we’ve got to do then. We’ve got to split.”

Lithuania nodded. “Yes. I would much rather you two were out of the warzone, I mean—you’re not trained like Marco and I—”

“Oh no Lithuania, we didn’t come all this way just to leave you behind,” Latvia laughed. “You’re going home.”

“You’re both nuts,” snapped Estonia. “We’re supposed to stick together. We’re stronger that way.”

“Well if we split, I sure as hell am not leaving!” Lithuania said. “I’m not just gonna let Felix have his head lopped off—”

“Don’t forget Isa and Winfry,” Marco chimed in.

“—while I’m at home reporting. No. No. You two go home,” said Lithuania finally.

“Alright!” Latvia barked. “No one is going home. We reconnoiter, locate the AssMachenstani base, assess the situation, evaluate which powers, or abilities,” she said, with a nod to Marco, “are most appropriate for the rescue, and go from there. OK?”

A brief silence ensued. “But we’ll have to move quick,” said Marco.

Lithuania nodded. “We have to move now.”

Ambush

The sisters held hands, blocking the trade route in the middle of the forest as the hovertank came steadily at them. This was their third raid, and based on their knowledge from the AssMachenstani communicators they had swiped, they had managed to keep their identities intact. But security had been heightened. And though Isa was currently trying her best to heighten the sisters’ magic with her quilaire, the sisters were having no luck teleporting the driver from out the cockpit.

“Lithuania,” said Estonia, her skin shimmering bright blue. “It’s not working. He’s not coming out.”

“Focus,” was Lithuania’s desperate reply, as the tank came closer and closer. “They’ve seen us. We can’t fail now.”

The sisters were gripping each other’s hands so hard their fingers were tingling. They grew bluer… brighter. In just seconds they would be run over. “Open fire!” screamed Latvia.

From the bushes came blasts of fire from Marco and Felix’s rifles, which merely ricocheted off the tank’s impenetrable hull. “Run!” cried Lithuania, dashing with her sisters towards the bushes as Winfry lit the tank on fire with his librem.

The flaming tank veered, swerved, rammed into a massive tree, and a second later, from the tank emerged the woman of the black smoke dress. She floated high above the tank as it burned, made a strange gesture with her hands, and the fire was extinguished. Safe from the flames, a small group of men wrapped completely in black military garb jumped out from the tank, laser guns at the ready. The woma slowly settled onto the ground, her smoke dress wrapping itself tightly around her as she landed, acquiring what seemed to be a more solid, fabric-like consistency. Floating close behind her was a roughly football-sized, spherical object wrapped in the same mysterious fabric.

“Come out from the bushes, you idiots,” said the woman. “Come and face me, I know you have some magic tricks of your own.” Marco and Felix, hidden in the bushes, turned to Lithuania for direction. Estonia and Latvia also waited for their youngest sister to make the move. Isa and Winfry were silent, and Lithuania felt the pressure. They hadn’t accounted for this—not for the smoke lady to appear. She was stronger than any of them.

“Relax…” said the woman. “I wish only to speak to you…” Lithuania knew she was lying, but rose regardless. The smoke woman smiled. “Now that’s a good girl… you do know going up against me is useless, no?” Lithuania remained inexpressive. “Well then, let me give you a little update, shall I?” Her eyes glinted maliciously. “From the looks of it, and from what I hear from my emissaries, you’ve been hiding out in LusciousLocks for weeks now. So let me tell you where your side stands…”

The woman cleared her throat, suggesting everyone else emerge from the bushes as well. One by one, they did. Felix, Marco, Latvia, Estonia, Isa and Winfry, all looking at each other, wondering what the next move would be, hoping someone could think of something before it was too late. “Now don’t you try and escape,” said the woman, opening her palms towards the heavens. In a flash, millions of tiny specks of blue rushed to her hands from all around, extinguishing in a puff of blue smoke as she closed her hands into fists. Instantly, the sisters felt powerless. “Your magic around me is… useless. Now let me clarify you of your current situation, Foggistanis. Your home base, the Antioch Complex, along with everything and everyone in it, has been destroyed.”

Lithuania felt her heart drop. She felt the blood leave her face, and for an instant, she thought she’d faint. She looked to her sisters, who seemed equally stunned and weakened. Could it be true? Could the Antioch Complex have been destroyed so quickly?

“No, I am not lying, and yes, your situation is quickly growing hopeless,” said the woman, her smile audible in her voice. Then she brought the hovering, wrapped object to her hands and held it tenderly, as if it were a baby. “The countries of Nilbmah and LusciousLocks have, clearly, fallen under AssMachenstani rule… and Econometric Elation is soon to follow. A fleet from Styx is on its way there as we speak. As for your Foggistani outpost on your beloved moon of Attica, well… let’s just say we’re saving the best for last, hmm? But I assure you, their situation is equally hopeless.”

Lithuania didn’t believe it. At least she didn’t believe it was hopeless. Foggistan was a force to be reckoned with, and Attica was its heart. Though the Antioch Complex might be destroyed, Attica would not be taken over easily.

“Now… I’m sure you smart girls have come to the conclusion that I mean you no harm. I would have blown your heads off back at Lockton if I did.” Felix gripped his rifle tightly, shivering with anger at the memory of his fallen soldiers. “Back then, I had… other motives.” In a single motion she unfurled the spherical object from its smoky fabric, letting it drop with a thud and roll along the floor.    

A collective gasp, and Isa screamed, clasping her hand over her mouth, tears welling in her eyes too quickly for her to hold back. “NO!” she cried. “NO!”

It was Timoteo’s severed head.

Felix pulled Isa close, held her tight, rubbing her arms reassuringly. Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Marco stared aghast, as Winfry retched heavily in the bushes.

“Pardon the theatrics,” said Delilah, “I’ve just always had a soft spot for some good drama. Now… before I do the same to every person here who is not of my interest,” her eyes flashed quickly over Felix, Marco, Winfry and Isa, “I suggest you three sisters allow my men to lead you peacefully into the tank. Agreed?”  

Lithuania looked over at Felix, Marco, Winfry and Isa, her eyes full of meaning. “Promise me you won’t hurt them,” she said to the woman.

“Lithuania, no!” cried Latvia. “We can’t go with her—it’s the last thing—”

“Do we have a choice?” Lithuania cried. She turned back to the woman. “We will go with you, no tricks. Just let my friends withdraw into the woods. Once I know they are safe, we will go with you.”

“You are in no position to negotiate—”

Lithuania swiftly whipped out a blade from her belt and held it to her own throat. “Let them go or you will not take me alive.” The woman’s eyes opened wide. The men in black quickly aimed their weapons at Lithuania. Her hand was shaking, but she was definitely not kidding. She knew the mist woman needed all of them alive. She’d learned that much.

“Hold your fire, boys,” said the mist woman. “And you,” she said, addressing Winfry, Isa, Felix and Marco. “Disappear before I change my mind.”

In under a second, everyone had exchanged glances. It was the only way. Slowly at first, Winfry, Isa, Felix and Marco began to back away. “Go!” cried Lithuania, impatiently. “GO!”

The foursome began to run, deep into the darkness of the jungle. Once she could no longer hear them, Lithuania lowered the knife. “Alright,” she said, captive but not yet defeated. “Lead the way.”

The mist woman eyed her coldly, then with a swift gesture ordered three of her men to lead the sisters into the tank. As they did, she told the remaining men, “Find the ones who escaped. And kill them.”

“NO!” screamed the three sisters at once, each receiving a swift rifle butt to the face that knocked them out cold.  

“Find them. Kill them. And bring me their heads.” 

The Capture

winfry and isa had managed to escape but only to be left behind. After slipping out of their Foggistani imprisonment and evading the Assmachistani assault, the two spent the night in the woods just like they had before their Foggistani capture only now they had a rifle – the one they stole from their guard. When they woke, the Assmachistani forces had control of the tower but they were sending search parties all over the area. Lithuania must have escaped. Now how on Coralende were they going to find her again?

But isa soon figured out what to do. There were only two of them but thousands of Assmachistani agents scouring the forest for Lithuania. All they had to do was follow Assmachistan. So that’s what they did; all the way to Lockton. Within a few days, the pair found a couple of trade routes and decided to take the one with the most traffic, which led to Lockton. Where they found an Assmachistani encampment tucked in with the southern edge of the town.

In spite of the sundry of search parties sent out everyday, none of them seemed very concerned with the 200 meter radius around the camp. This made it more than easy for isa and winfry to observe the camp from the hill just south of the city. After two days of observations, they concluded that Lithuania must be somewhere no more than 20 miles southeast of Lockton. That’s where the search groups focused and some of the Assmachistani tents had sprouted decorations. It seemed like they were going to be there for a while. So that night, winfry and isa left Lockton heading southeast.

To make a long story short, winfry and isa didn’t have any better luck than the Assmachistani search forces. All they found was this strange yellow bird that seemed to follow them but would fly away whenever they realized it was watching them. At least they hadn’t much difficulty with all the Assmachistani troops trouncing around the area. Working at night and sleeping in tree hollows during the day seemed to help with this. On there second night searching they found a gigantic briar patch that took half the night to walk around. They thought they heard voices but they had enough experience with the forest to know it was just another one of its illusions. And a few days later it happened.

As they walked, the dark became even more oppressing than normal. winfry tightened his grip on the rifle and isa squeezed tight right behind him. Then, suddenly the darkness seemed to swoop together and with a chuckling the dark formed into a lady.

“You let me cap your access for a second time. Now you two really need step it up. That was quiet easy.”

winfry and isa’s confusion was obvious, but the lady didn’t seem to believe them.

“You must know there is nothing you can do now. So tell me where the others are. They can’t be far. You wouldn’t be that stupid.”
As the lady drifted towards them winfry opened fire but to no avail. She continued to advance. Like reflex they ran only to have their legs knocked from under them and their arms locked to their backs when they hit the ground. Something was paralyzing them. They couldn’t fight it.

With their faces in the dirt they couldn’t see her but she made herself clear. “Now tell me where the rest them are or experience living hell.”

winfry managed to sputter, “We have no clue who you are talking about. I think you are confused,” and then the pain ripped through them. When he woke up, he and isa were being dragged down stairs. The woman was still there.

“You will wait down here until you are ready to talk. Lock them in separate cells so none of them can see each other.”

The guards roughed them into their pitch black cells and they heard their footsteps decrescendo and the door slam and it was silent for a moment.

Then from a cell adjacent to winfry’s, they heard, “Castration! She got you too. That is the absolute last thing we need. Her with the librem and a quilaire to boot!”