Cotton Bear's Castle - Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Over a period of time Cotton Bear and Illinois Ben managed to escape the maze of the dungeon and make it to the castle’s main floor great hall. It was a magnificent room with many portraits of Cotton Bear’s ancestors neatly hung along the walls. There was a rich heritage of family legacy that traced its roots all the way back to the original family member known to all as just Bear. He was a very regal looking bear sitting proudly on the family high chair holding a fancy dagger across his lap. Illinois Ben remembered something about the dagger’s history but couldn’t remember the whole story.

Moving away from the hall the two of them made their way to the upper laboratory and the evil Voltran. As they slowly and cautiously edged their way up the stairs they heard a very loud and powerful crash, followed by an evil scream.
Looking at each other Ben exclaimed, “That didn’t sound too promising”.

Nodding, Cotton Bear agreed but pressed on upwards. It wasn’t too difficult to be quiet as the noise coming from the lab covered any noise they might make.

Then just as Ben was about to take another step he noticed his boot lace had come undone. Bending over to tie it, Ben felt a breeze travel by his ear and heard a “thunk”.

An arrow had narrowly missed his head.

Looking up, Ben saw one of Cotton Bear’s butlers with a crossbow in his hands. Ben quickly realized they were in the open and had to either make a break for the top of the stairs or retreat back where they had come from. Ben pushed Cotton Bear along as they quickly took the stairs two at a time. They quickly went upwards. The butler was also quickly reloading the crossbow and was now being joined by a maid, a housekeeper and a cook. Each one was holding a different type of weapon that intended to hurt Cotton Bear and Ben.

The maid was the first to shoot her weapon, a standard bow and arrow set up. The arrow flew straight but Ben was quicker and was able to dodge the arrow leaving it to stick in the railing behind him, just missing his butt. Then the housekeeper and the cook shot their weapons at the same time. The housekeeper’s deadly flying ninja stars, three of them, just ended up missing Cotton Bear by the closest of margins. The cook’s bolo flew with deadly accuracy but Ben was quicker as he ducked just in time leaving the bolo to wrap around a statue of one of Cotton Bear’s distant cousins. The butler by this time had finished reloading when Cotton Bear and Ben reached the top floor. Ducking into a corridor they were able to escape the butler’s latest arrow by a fraction of an inch.

“Any ideas?”, Ben asked Cotton Bear. “It’s your castle, where do you keep your weapons?”

Cotton Bear smiled a little and replied, “I don’t keep many weapons and what I do have, they’re using.”

“Okay” said Ben and decided to do something very brave and heroic. He grabbed his whip but kept it coiled up. With a loud yell he jumped out from the corridor and ran directly into the hallway, straight at the Butler, the Maid, the Housekeeper and the Cook. He raised his arm and threw out the whip at the housekeeper first. The whip flicked the stars out of her hands and into the ceiling above her, knocking some plaster loose and bringing it down on the housekeeper’s head.
A second crack snapped the maid’s bow string off the bow and back into the maid’s face, knocking her out. Then ducking down and sliding along a nicely polished floor, Ben slid over and took out the cook’s legs causing the bolos to spin off his hand and into his head. As the cook was going down hard, Ben leaped up and kicked the butler’s hand, knocking the crossbow up and over the butler’s head, only to land behind him against the wall, accidentally firing the trigger and sending an arrow into the butler’s butt. A loud scream came from the butler’s mouth and a smile appeared on Ben’s face. Cotton Bear then showed up with some rope he had found and they tied up the maid, the housekeeper and the cook. Leaving the arrow in the butler’s butt, Ben and Cotton Bear made their way to the laboratory to confront the evil Voltran.

end of chapter five