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The Pagemasters Vol 2 Sidestory 5

Author: Literataku

Sidestory 5:
Even If I Let The Night

Patience is the key to many things. Patience is a virtue of the meticulous planners. Patience is the virtue of the plotter who wishes to foresee everything that is to come.

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!”

With his crew singing along to their favorite drinking song on deck, Captain James Hook kept himself bent over the table studying the maps in the Captain’s Quarters. Charts and scribblings of words scattered over every inch leaving not a trace of the fine cherry wood underneath visible. They had broken free of Neverland’s grasp for the first time in over fifty years. At least he was certain it was around fifty years, with as many times as he had to deal with this new Pagemaster brat he wasn’t sure how remembering timelines that didn’t exist anymore worked out with his calculations.

Mr. Smee was standing quietly to the side tucked against the wall near the door, humming quietly along with the crew as he dozed away waiting for the captain to speak or do something that would require a wakeful presence and eye. Hook frowned slightly as he looked that way, but left the man to his drowsing. It was in bad form to sleep in front of a superior officer, but most men weren’t capable as the captain about showing proper form at all times.

It did better if the first mate was sleeping while he consulted the pair of books in his possession. Mr. Smee might know of them but their contents were strictly for Captain Hook’s eyes only. The fewer who knew what was inside the better, it made plans for revenge much easier when you didn’t have to worry about some random mug speaking in the hearing range of pixies, savages or mermaids.

He understood the mission of the Pagemasters, his creator had been one after all. And finding the outer worlds in such disarray convinced him that he would have to plan an act of revenge far more suitable than just stringing up the hapless Pagemasters by their necks from the yardarms. No, he wouldn’t simply sit idly by and let the world fall apart because he wanted to skewer them like pigs. But he would make them pay.

He would make sure that every story was earned through pain and suffering. Those happy endings would only come from the Pagemasters causing the pain and torment on the main characters. Become the villains, the adversities that plagued heroes of yore. Those that would recall, if the tales were reopened again in the future, would revile the Pagemasters for years to come. A fitting revenge on the Pagemasters as a whole over just a simple vengeance of two or three hapless fools.

Looking over the hand-drawn map, the captain smiled and etched out a course, his mind working on the first piece of his revenge. Those poor souls wouldn’t know what hit them when he was done. Consulting his charts, Hook decided on the course his ship would make for its first foray against the Pagemasters.

“Mr. Smee. Give the helmsman our new heading, we’re lifting out of the sea and heading for deep inland.”

Smee jolted out of his half napping looking around confused and stumbling over his tongue before he regained his focus.

“Eh? Wha? Oh! Yes, Captain! Right away!”

Hook frowned slightly and shook his head while his first mate quickly departed outside the cabin. “Such bad form…”

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Patience is the key to many things. Patience is the virtue of the deceiver. Patience is the virtue of the con artist.

Leaning back in his chair, Hook gave a deep sigh and glanced around the darkly lit tavern. They had arrived a few weeks ago and there had only been signs of the girl Pagemaster, so far. It had been relatively simple to start, Eton educated that he was the people were easily manipulated. The main trouble was making sure his men knew what to say and how to say it. He wanted to be a beacon, to challenge the Pagemasters to come to him directly. Subtlety was only needed if you didn’t want to be caught, or you knew you couldn’t defeat the people in direct confrontation.

However, he had no knowledge of when the blue one would arrive. Merely that it should be soon. He tried to resist the temptation of checking the book again. He was still aware of how things are now, surely there hadn’t been another use of that strange power to avoid a conflict with him. That would be in extremely bad form to simply run away like some cowardly leaf wearing character he frequently dealt with.

“Captain. There is a strange fellow in red outside.”

Perhaps his worries were unfounded after all. Red clothes though? Was there Paggemasters he was unaware of all this time? He smiled quietly however, this would work well enough for him. If the girl and this new one were here then the Blue Pagemaster couldn’t be too far away, could he?

“Give him an invitation inside. I want to meet our new ‘friend’.”

Standing up, Hook moved to the fireplace and faced it while waiting for this stranger in red to enter. After all, it never hurt to have a flair for the dramatic when it was called for. He needed them off guard and questioning his plans and motives for as long as possible to get his plan to work properly.

“I wonder if our new friend knows what his colleagues have been up to?” He asked himself while straightening up and preparing to greet this new element to the adventures.

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Patience is the key to many things. Patience is the virtue of the thief. Patience is the virtue of the ambusher.

Captain Hook had to laugh at how easily they managed to slip into the walls of the castle gardens. They had simply walked inside the gates that afternoon after meeting with the red pagemaster. and right past the standing guards without so much as a second glance. The magic they had been enchanted with for tonight was far too powerful.

They were far too trusting in their simple city-wide enchantments for determining wrongdoers. Granted though, the royal housing of the castle was much deeper inside the castle and much more heavily protected than where his crew was headed.

The wall was on the northern end, away from the main gates and just hidden enough that it would be relatively easy to get the job done. Pointing his sword to the wall he made a gesture to the rest of his crew and let them get started on setting up. With night starting to fall on the capital they would have plenty of time to get things finished before any patrols made their rounds close enough to here.

Hook let his men begin the excavation of the wall as he stood to watch while supervising. There were fairies in the vicinity and he waited to see what they would do. In his mind, a fairy was just as bad as a pixie, but these seemed to be a little more sportsmanlike. In fact, if it wasn’t for them He’d never be able to get this close to the castle normally. He let a toothy grin cover his face and tipped his hat in their direction. A rustle of bushes answered him as the fairy panicked and rushed away after realizing she had been caught.

He checked his watch as the hours passed on, even with patience he still had a time limit with the magic he had been granted for tonight. Everything had to be in place before dawn, then the world would notice him again. Those fairies were far too trusting with him to think he was merely going to use this time to help the Blue Pagemaster.

“Keep at it, men. The night may be young but there is far too much to do..”

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Patience is the key to many things. Patience is the virtue of the sniper. Patience is the virtue of the assassin.

Once the dawn had arisen, Hook laid in the upper buttresses of the main hall within the castle. He had just barely managed to reach this place before the enchantment faded away completely. He kept perfectly still and simply waited, it would be hours before his moment of action would come, but that moment was all necessary to his future success.

After nearly a century of waiting for revenge against Peter Pan, a handful of hours was nothing. The Lee-Endf*eld No. 4 rifle rested beside him, gleaming softly from it proper care and polish. Weapons from modern times were so much more fascinating compared to his muskets and pistols, while more complex the killing power was incredible. It was almost a shame that he hadn’t had time to procure more items like this. But he had barely managed to stow this and a few other trinkets away before he had been captured and sealed away again.

He watched the proceeding with a careful eye, keeping track of the violet and red pagemasters. For now, they seemed to be looking warily around for something, Though he doubted they were trying to watch out for him. He knew that his part wouldn’t take place until after the blue one arrives.

He was curious about how the people would react. Guns do not exist in this kingdom nor in the surrounding ones. What would they think when their monarch dies suddenly in front of them all? He smiled to himself quietly. He could hear the sounds of a small commotion behind him, right on schedule. Picking up the rifle he began to aim his sights on the King, in a few short minutes the world would be flipped upside down for everyone else.

“What will be your next move after this, Pagemasters? I have all the time in the world to exact my revenge, and the patience to see it through. How about you?”