PLATFORM 26 - PART 4

Dead Eye Dan

Dead Eye Dan was the best long distance rifleman the old west has ever seen.

So far the plan was going as they had discussed last night. Just after dawn he was laying flat on his stomach at the top of a hill and looking down the barrel of his riffle at the battle below when a smile came to his face. He had just saved Murphy’s life for the third time in a month. James would owe him big. Dead Eye noticed something down on the battlefield that he hadn’t seen before. There was something or a group of someones moving near where Agent Carr should be. From this distance it was hard to see what it was.

Before he could figure out that mystery he heard someone approaching behind him. He rolled over and simultaneously drew his colt. About to fire he noticed his visitor was Kaemon Awa. “Is something wrong? You and the Izumi are supposed to be watching my back so I can watch Murphy’s.”

“Don’t worry, the Izumi are in position” began Kaemon and Dan began to lower his gun. Before he could blink Kaemon had one shot off from his bow and was reloading. Dan took an arrow to his shoulder and had to drop his colt.

Dan knew another arrow would soon join its brother. So agony or not he rolled over and scooped up his rifle. One good shot is all he needed. An arrow shattered as it hit the bolder next to him.

Dan pulled the trigger. Immediately he was distracted by the glint of an arrowhead aimed for his skull. As the third arrow pierced his forehead, Dan smiled because he knew he had hit his mark too.

* * *

James Murphy uncoiled his whip from the dead Orc and continued his run to the Orc Camp. He felt more confident as he saw Sergeant Drake in the distance doing his thing and he knew Dan had his back. He thought that Agent Carr should be to his left but he hadn’t seen him yet.

Agent Carr

Agent Carr reached the edge of the Orc camp. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he realized what he heard in the Mud house meeting room. It wasn’t clicking sounds of insects or Marr-speak. It was bamboo! The outer layer of a samurai’s armor was made of bamboo. When samurai don their armor it makes a similar clicking sound. There must have been several Samurai near the meeting last night.

Only the team of five knew about the timing of their attack plans. It was clear to Carr now. Kaemon had betrayed them. The high ranking Einar warrior clearly had a larger plan in play. Before he could ponder that more he heard drakes whistle. It was time to attack the encampment. At this point, without any more knowledge, Agent Carr had no options. He had to proceed as planned because all the others were counting on him.

With his heightened senses all coming online he pushed all fatigue away and replaced it with adrenaline. This is when he noticed the jungle around him was not quite right. He was not alone on this edge of the Orc encampment.

The Agent stealthy moved through the trees and then he saw them. In a nearby clearing four full squads of Samurai archers were getting in to attack formation. What could they be doing there? If the archers fired into the encampment… That is when Carr realized the full scope of their betrayal. The Einar forces were planning to be the sole survivor of this battle. Carr knew what he needed to do. He altered course to take on the archers himself. As he stalked closer to the squads he admired how well the trap was laid.

Agent Carr carefully chose where he would leave the protection of the tree-line. He needed to limit his exposure to their arrows. Since he could not delay any further, Agent Carr charged the Einar.

The Archers didn’t react to his charge. They continued to prepare to fire upon the Orc camp. At first he thought they didn’t see him. As he drew near he saw that there were three among them that were different. Three wearing red armor and drawing their swords. Carr recognized them as the infamous Izumi samurai warriors.

Carr was up to the task. He engaged the closest warrior with fierce intensity and was ready to take him down when he was forced to engage two at once. Now constantly on the defense he needed to avoid the blade of the third one.

After a few seconds of this dance Carr managed to kill one of the three. The Agent then carried his momentum through and killed the second one before they could regroup.

He was about to kill the third one when a huge commotion occurred nearby. The 4 squads of archers aimed up in the air and let loose a volley of arrows followed by a short primal yell. Then very quickly they had another set ready, released, and a second yell. As the fist volley reached its apogee the squads let a third volley fly with a final accompanying yell. In a couple seconds dozens of arrows would descend upon everyone within the Orc camp.

Distracted by the thought of James Murphy and Sergeant Drake being killed Carr did not see the blade of the third Warrior until it was too late. He had let them down.