District 42-Chapter 249: Defensive measures
Once those words came out of Ivar’s mouth, the group looked between each other. Casper was the most flabbergasted among them.
The image he had of Ivar was completely different from the man he was showing to be at that moment. He seemed to be just an addicted-in-fight, a mad man who could be named an Aesir because of his crazy strength. However, that wild warrior wasn’t just muscles. There was leadership behind his words and way of action as well.
Seeing how much surprised Casper was, Brenna encharged herself to explain to him.
"He is like this sometimes, when he gets serious. He is just an idiot who likes to beat other people, but deep inside he knows how to deal with us. He doesn’t do it all the time because he finds it to be a hassle." She whispered to him, trying to not interrupt the speech of her comrade.
"Also, Ivar is our second leader when the boss isn’t here. He doesn’t like it the least, but in the end, he needs to take the lead all the time." Freygar complemented.
Now that Casper understood the situation, he looked to Ivar from another perspective. He couldn’t judge the man at all, not after he heard what he had to say to his friends and him.
Ivar was still doing his speech as they talked, and although they were somewhat distracted with their explanations, they could still follow the course of that conversation without getting lost there.
"First of all, we need to move on and plan something. The Ridires are unoccupied by now, so we will be taking those idiots to do something for the Castle. And I am not talking about a whole troop or two, but the entire organization. I will find a way to convince Thor to make the Sgails cooperate as well, which will not be hard for me. All the healers we had must be prepared to go to the rearguard to assist the other warriors, so I am counting on you for this, Rurik. If possible, it would be good to take some help from outside the Castle too."
He had his arms crossed and was walking back and forth as he spoke. The way he talked without gesturing or any mannerism was quite forced. He clearly wasn’t too comfortable in acting as the leader there.
Brenna raised her hand. The White warrior rolled discreetly his eyes, thinking that another childish question would come up.
"You are trying to mobilize three different organizations: the Ridires, Sgails, and Healers. What’s up now? Are we preparing for a war or what? I mean, the Castle has a bunch of floors, and all those people would be enough to cover all of them. Are you implying that all the floors are going to be attacked?"
Ivar nodded his head for her. The girl already knew the answer, but asked anyhow, since the others should know about that detail as well.
Grimly, the Wild Aesir looked at all of them. He was feeling a bit ashamed to be saying something like that, but it was just the truth, after all.
"I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know anything about what they are planning. We would need more time to analyze their previous attacks and come up with a conclusion of what they really want, also as find other moves they did before and we didn’t notice. We have a puzzle here with lost pieces and a strange image that we can’t decipher.
"That said, what I am doing here is nothing like a counter-strategy or something. I am just trying to defend all the Castle at once so we won’t be attacked by surprise in any part. Got it?"
They could feel the tension that Ivar’s affirmation had. They were going to fight blindfolded. It was the same as protecting the Castle from an invisible attack.
All of them were Aesirs. Their title meant that they were comparable to gods, but it wasn’t like they were omnipotent.
’Now I see...’ Casper thought, narrowing his eyes and glancing at all the individuals in that room. ’That’s how tough it is to be an Aesir. That’s the responsibility they carry on their shoulders. When nobody can get up and move forward, do anything to turn the table, they are the ones that need to keep trying regardless of their pain, weaknesses, or disadvantages.’
The soldier could empathize with them. They were all crazy people, with some peculiarities that were difficult to bear, but also good people trying to fulfill their duty, just like he was before in the Yanke Forces.
The soldier couldn’t help but feel their pain and the weight that befell them. All the lives of that Castle were now on their shoulders.
"There is something I still don’t get, Ivar," Canute asked. He was laying on the hospital bed, trying to get up from time to time, but not having the strength to do so. His face was bandaged all over, and as far as Casper knew, soon a special treatment to cure the damage on his brain and skull would be made.
"What’s it?"
"I don’t understand why Casper is here as well. That’s nothing personal, by the way. I was just wondering what’s his utility on this mission. Ari, Brenna, and Freygar have a lot of influence over the Ridires, so they can manage to gather all of them. Rurik is the boss of all the healers. You are the favorite of Thor, and your attempt to defend the Castle wouldn’t be denied by him. However, what will Casper do?"
"That’s a good question, Canute. I was going to talk about it. Now seem to be the time." He cleared his throat before continuing. "Well, the White warrior is directly involved with this mission, to become with. Also, the enemies seem to have an interest in him. These two reasons made me call him to act with us."
All of them seemed to still be a bit confused about it.
"Ok. Those seem to be good reasons for you, but I still don’t get how Casper would be helpful just because he is directly involved in this and have the enemy’s attention." Ari pointed out, crossing his arms.
"Ok, let me clarify this. Back when we were stuck in the office, Casper was the only one in which Rat choose to talk. He got beside him and said something. Also, during all the mission, he wasn’t trying to kill him, just incapacitate or, rather, play with him. There is something on Casper that they want, which leaves me wondering if he is not the next step."
Freygar raised his brows behind the mask, having a realization.
"So, whatever they are planning to do on the Castle, maybe Casper is a resource that they need?"
"Yes. That’s it. And I bet that it has something to do with the absence of a mask on his face. The freedom that the White warrior has is something that everyone could take advantage of in District 42. So, if Casper stays with us and we protect him with all we have got, then the enemy will be stuck! That is, if my guessing is right..."
"So, we are basically gambling here? How sad, man..." Rurik complained, rubbing his mask and sitting on a chair.
Ivar’s frustration was rising as the flaws of his plan were appearing. He didn’t know what he could do more to turn it better, particularly because of the short time they had. That Aesir was in an internal battle with himself all the time since he left the hospital, trying to sort out what to do.
"I am sorry for this." He stated, raising his head to look at everyone. They got surprised again. Ivar saying sorry was something that you wouldn’t be seeing quite often.
"But that’s the only thing we got for now. There is nothing we can do except gamble, risk, and suppose. We are being fooled since the start and we couldn’t catch up with the enemies. It’s our fault that it ended up like this and now we are paying for our mistakes." Rurik was the most realistic Aesir of the seven. Always when something was hard or there was a truth that nobody wanted to accept, he would state it.
After what the red-haired Aesir said, they all fell silent. His sincerity hurt them, but they needed those words to accept the situation and work with what they got.
"If that’s the case, if they really want to take me because of my... my power, then we can work with it to counter them somehow."
All the seven Aesirs looked to Casper. He remained silent since the start of the meeting. They weren’t expecting that he would come up with something so early.
"I have a plan better than yours, probably. But it’s too risky, people can die, you all can die, but the Castle won’t fall completely!"
