Redemption (The Alliance Series Book 1) (24 page)

Teaching a bunch of civilians who don’t know the first thing about firing a weapon or who to shoot is about the last thing I would have wanted to do. Now, however the idea of helping people stand up for what they believe in seemed like a good a job as any. The gryphon and I had made a lot of progress and if we kept at our present pace, the wall would be done ahead of schedule. I guess I could spare a few hours.

              Nathan started to walk out of the room, and I gave him a big manly slap on the back. I made my way outside, following the path that led me to the archery range. The area where Nathan and I fought the centaur and elves was clear of the trees we had driven into the ground. Sure enough, there were nine people standing around in a loose crowd. They all carried standard M-16’s on their shoulders, the barrels pointing up.

              I started walking over to them, as they heard me approach they all became quiet. I don’t think they were expecting to see me. I recognized some of them from the past few days. I scanned their expressions, trying to figure out what was wrong. I saw Gale and nodded, she nodded back.

              “What’s wrong guys? It’s not like he’s going to turn us into frogs.” She said, trying to dispel the tense atmosphere.

              She leaned toward me in a conspiratorial manner, “You aren’t are you?”

              I looked back and said in a serious manner, “That all depends, does anyone have any coffee?”

              The gathered men looked at me for a second and as Gale laughed the rest of them relaxed. It’s hard to be afraid of an evil wizard when he needs coffee to wake up.

              One of the men walked over to a thermos that was sitting on the ground and poured me a cup of steaming coffee. The conversation started again as I sipped the brew and winced as the heat scalded my lips. Most of the talk was about the battle to come. Everyone was worried about what would happen, some were especially afraid for their children. I just stood and listened, trying to get a sense of their attitude.

              “I heard they are sending a bunch of robots after us, like in ‘Terminator’.” One man said.

              “Don’t be silly, Bobby. That’s just a movie.” Gale said to him.

              “Well, we don’t know what they are going to do. I just hate all this waiting.” He said back.

              Gale turned to me and asked. “What do you think? Do we have a chance?”

              All their eyes turned towards me. I looked at them and saw something I wasn’t used to seeing. Hope. They hoped I could help them, they hoped I knew the answers; they hoped I could protect them. It wasn’t something I was used to. When I saw hope in people’s eyes, they were usually hoping I didn’t kill them.

              “I guess that all depends.” I said.

              “On what?” Bobby asked.

              “What do you want to do, do you want to run, leave this place and find a safe place to hide, or do you want to fight?” I asked.

              They all looked at me, uncertainty on their faces. I could see them thinking about it, really considering their options. There are times when circumstances sweep you up. When things happen in your life and you have no real choice in what to do. A mugger jumps out of an alley and you have a split second to decide how to react, or when someone you love gets sick and you have no control over what happens, you just make sure you’re by their side. Other times, you have hours to agonize over your choice. Deciding what college to attend or if you’re going to take a job that requires you to move away from home. These decisions are often times not life or death. They are big changes, sure, but in the end, you can walk away. In a situation like this, where you have days to worry, the waiting can be excruciating. These men have never had to wait for days knowing a fight was coming. This type of thing was hard for them. I had to make sure they understood what their options were. Once they knew and understood they had a choice, they could make it. Deciding on a path gives certainty. It may be the wrong path, but it’s always better to make a decision, then act, than it is to not.

              I watched as they all went through their own mental struggles, as they really thought about leaving and what that would mean. They also weighed what staying would mean, what could happen if they did, and what would happen if they fled.

              Finally, Gale looked at me and said with confidence, “I want to fight.”

              “Fight.” Another said.

              “I will fight.” Came another answer.

              “I’m here, aren’t I?” Said yet another. The rest nodding in agreement.

              Good, their decision had been made. I looked at them all, nodding in approval.

              “Okay, let’s get to work.” I said.

              One man walked up to me as the rest spread out in a firing line. He was short and skinny. He had brown hair that had been combed but refused to acknowledge it. He wore glasses, yet squinted at me as he spoke.

              “Is it true that you can turn someone into a frog?” He asked. He was clearly afraid of me, but had summoned the courage to ask.

              I realized that most of these people had no idea about magic. They lived their lives believing magic was fantasy and that monsters didn’t exist. Now they were preparing to defend their homes from things out of a nightmare and had a couple of wizards helping them. Here I was with what must be considered by them as the power of a god. It must have been a shock for some of them. I never even considered that until now.

              “I can’t turn anyone into a frog, but I promise I’ll turn anyone who tries to hurt us into a smoking pile of ashes, deal?” I said with steely resolve, as I held out my hand.

              He looked at me and paled, then nodded; shaking my hand in a rush, realizing my power would be used to help him.

              “John, nice to meet ya.” I said.

“Percy.” He responded.

I waited until he got into his lane. There was a table set up behind us and on it was several magazines. We didn’t have a lot of ammo to spare, but it was necessary for them to know what it was like to fire live rounds.

              “Listen up, the first thing you need to know about how to handle a weapon is respect. You have to respect its power, its ability to indiscriminately kill. The weapon doesn’t care if you’ve had a bad day, it doesn’t care if you’ve never held it before. It is an extension of your will, you control it. You can use it any way you choose and it will obey. In order for you to use it effectively and safely you have to respect it. If you don’t you could kill someone you know, or love.”

              “Now, look at your weapons and find the switch near the trigger. It should be in the safe position. That is your best friend. Whenever you have ammo loaded in your weapon, you must be obsessed with that little switch. It will help make sure you don’t hurt yourself or others. Until you are ready to shoot, you always keep that switch in the safe position. You will know it is in the safe position when it does not show red. Go ahead and switch it to fire and you will see what I mean.” I said.

              They all reached down and flipped the safe into the fire position. They looked up at me, showing they had seen it.

              “Okay, red means dead. Got it?” I asked.

              They shook their heads. Percy said in a squeaky voice, “Got it John.”

              I smiled.

              “Everyone make sure that the selector lever is set to single shot and not a three round burst. You won’t be using that anyway.”

“The next thing to remember is to never point an unloaded or loaded gun at something or someone you don’t intend to shoot. This is critical. Weapons can malfunction and you may think the rifle is in the safe position. As long as the barrel never points at someone they can’t be shot.”

              “Now, everyone turn and face your targets, check to make sure the safety is on. Raise your hand when you’re sure.” I said.

              One by one, they each checked their weapons settings and raised their hands. I walked over to the first in line and handed him a magazine.

              “Is anyone unsure how to load a magazine into their weapons?” I asked.

              Everyone indicated that they knew how.

              “Okay, I’ll come by and watch as each of you loads the magazine. If you have any questions now’s the time to ask.” I said.

              It went rather well, everyone had at least the basic idea of how to load the magazine. After everyone had their magazines in I said, “Now, everyone take out their magazines.”

              They all did.

              “Place the magazine on the ground beside you as well as your rifle; make sure the barrel is pointing downrange. Bobby, you are the first in line, stay where you are and we will start with you.” I instructed.

              They all did what I said and everyone but Bobby gathered in a small group by the table. I went to him and instructed him to reload the magazine as I stood next to him.

              “Let’s see how you would shoot.” I said.

              Bobby nodded then brought the weapon up in a standing shooter stance.

              “Okay, looks pretty good, but you need to make sure the butt of the rifle is snug against your shoulder or when you fire it will kick. Also, make sure your cheek is in contact with the stock. It will ensure you can see down the sights effectively.” I said.

              I noticed he held the rifle tighter on his shoulder and made sure his cheek was where it should be.

              “Alright, now, pull back the charging handle and release; it will load a round into the chamber.”

              Bobby did as I said. He stood with a loaded rifle and waited for my next command.

              “Okay, Bobby. I want you to line up the sights so that they show center mass on the target, slowly take a breath and then release, at the moment you are about to breath in hold it while squeezing the trigger. Make sure to keep the trigger on the center part of your finger tip, this will help keep your trigger squeeze true.” I told him.

              “Now flip the safety off and fire at your target.” I said.

              Bobby flipped off the switch and fired a shot downrange. He missed the target, but took a big chunk of wood from the tree it was on. A big grin spread on his face.

              “Fun, isn’t it?” I asked.

              The rest of the morning went the same, I helped them get the feel for their weapons and even found that some of them were pretty good shots. Gale surprised me the most by putting all five rounds in the target. I showed them all how to clear their weapons and what to do in case of a jam. I checked to make sure they had empty weapons and reiterated how important it was to practice safety.

              “That’s it, guys. You did great. Remember that your weapon can be your best friend or your worst nightmare depending on how you treat it.” I said.

              I watched as they all began to leave. They were excitedly talking to each other, bragging about how well they did or making fun of a few who didn’t. It was all in good fun and it made me feel good, knowing I had been able to hopefully, help keep them alive. Gale walked up to me and said, “Thanks, a lot of them were scared of you this morning. I don’t think that’s the case now.”

              “I bet it’s hard to be thrown into a mess like this, sometimes I forget how traumatic this all can be.” I said.

              She looked at me and smiled, walking off she said, “Good luck John, when this is all over I want an exclusive interview with the big scary wizard.”

              “You got it Gale.” I said.

Chapter 22

The gryphon and I went about continuing the fence that was already over half done.

              I quickly worked up a sweat. The afternoon passed in relative quickness. It's funny how being hard at work makes the time fly.

              Soon the afternoon was replaced by early evening. The sun crested, and was beginning its downward path towards the horizon.

              When the dinner horn blared, it came as a surprise. The gryphon once again landed and walked off into the woods. Once again, I didn't pursue. I had planned on trying to get her to talk to me this evening. I wanted to give her some space.

              I turned to go to dinner when I realized I had left my shirt laying on a tree limb outside the fence line. I walked over to get it when I started to see something strange.

              In the air, about ten feet from where my shirt was hanging, there appeared to be a blue light hovering five feet above the ground. It almost was too small to notice. At first, I thought it was an illusion, a trick of light. I rubbed my eyes and noticed it had gotten bigger. It was growing in fact.