Links to the original post and the story so far (in order) can be found in the Tale of Two Pizza's Archive Post
Delilah and Henry rode in silence. They could not talk openly with guards escorting. Delilah had hurried out quickly after her father had dismissed them, she wanted to be well on their way before he realized that his folio of plans was missing. As brilliant as he was he was somewhat scatterbrained and Delilah knew they had at least a little time before he remembered where he had dropped the plans and connected Delilah and Henry with their disappearance. As they had begun their journey back to the Fruit Baron's estate she had made a point of complaining loudly to the guards about being caught in the rain earlier that evening and how dreadful the fog and mist was. They had quickened their pace in response and were soon trotting along the old highway that Delilah in her folly had abandoned just a few hours ago in search of a shortcut.
The dense fog that had sprung up after the rain made the night dark and the three guards that rode with them carried oil storm lanterns on long poles to see by, a luxury that gave Delilah a clue to at least one other contributor to her fathers plots.
The Preda's must be involved in this as well, Father would never waste oil on something like this!
She was torn though- from the size of the gathering she and Henry had witnessed their plans must be coming to fruition and she very much wanted to warn the Pizza Baron- but she had not had an opportunity to read through the folio and discover exactly what they planned. Did she dare risk going all the way home just to read the folio? What if she couldn't slip away again to warn him? Half formed plans to lose the guards and make her way to the Pizza Baron's estate bubbled in her mind. She had already made the mistake of getting lost once this evening... She would need Henry with her in order to have any chance of success... She was impressed he had managed to follow her earlier and had faith that he could lead them to the Pizza Baron's lands if they could evade these guards. She looked over at him and smiled. Then winked. His face fell slightly, but he didn't dare to speak.
She urged Jet to move a little faster, coming up alongside the guard that led the way.
"How much farther until we are home? I'm sick of riding in this cold damp murk. I wish the sun would come up so we could see where we are going!" The guard glanced at her and she feigned a shiver. He took pity on her.
"Hold the lantern for a moment and I'll lend you my cloak." He slowed his horse as he spoke. Delilah brought Jet to a halt and Henry and the other guards passed them, taken by surprise . He and Delilah stopped completely and he called out to the others. "Hold up a moment while I help Miss Delilah!"
The sound of hooves ringing on the old roadway slowed to a stop, muffled by the fog that had closed in around Delilah and the guard. They could see a glow in the fog ahead of them where the others had stopped but nothing more. The guard handed Delilah the lantern and began to take off his cloak. She hefted it slightly. The lantern was quite light and attached securely. He was distracted and not expecting any trouble. She struck him in the temple with the butt of the lantern pole, he cried out, but she struck him again, pushing him off his horse. She thought she heard a crack as he hit the ground but she turned Jet anyway and rode to the rest of the group. She sobbed loudly as she approached the lantern light.
"Help him! He fell off his horse!" The two guards looked at each other and then rode back along the road.
"Wait there!" They called back as they went. Delilah kept up her pretense as they disappeared into the gloom.
As soon as their lanterns faded into the murk she turned to Henry. He eyed her somewhat warily, then shrugged.
"What now Lilah? What happened?" He knew her too well.
"I knocked him off his horse Henry! Now we must go before they come back. I need you Henry, I could never find my way to the Pizza Baron's estate alone!" She moved Jet closer to him and touched his arm. "I need your help Henry!"
Henry hesitated for a moment, staring at her. Then shrugged again and smiled wryly.
"Well we'd best get off the road then, but not right away.. We'll never outrun them. We'd better stay on it for a bit first so they think we just followed it." He said thoughtfully. They heard one of the guards cry out... He must have found his injured companion. "Are you sure Lilah? We might never be able to go back to your Father this time." Henry said quietly. She nodded to him, leaned across the gap between them, and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you." She whispered as she drew away. She handed him the lantern. Together they turned their horses and took off swiftly along the road away from the guards whose shouts were quickly swallowed by the fog and darkness.
The rules for this week remain the same as previous weeks!
I'd like to continue building on the story of the Pizza Baron and his post apocalyptic world. Each week I'll pick a winner that becomes the next piece of the story and wins 20 $PIZZA and a 2 SBI sponsorship from me. I may award additional prizes if I feel multiple entries expand the story well. I have adjusted this prize structure a little this week given recent events (HIVE PRICE WTF) I may still hand out 5 SBI sponsorships though if the mood strikes!
Each week I'll write a post announcing the winner and then I will write another chunk of the story and open it up again for the next weeks competition. I'll compile the winning entry for each week. If we reach a conclusion of the epic tale of the Pizza Baron I'll divide another TBD amount of PIZZA among all the winning entries throughout the whole story and publish the finished story here on Hive with all the contributors as beneficiaries. If this goes well we might have the first open source blockchain novella on our hands! 😂
The first weeks contest established a secondary storyline that may be tied back into the main plot if you so wish!
Bear in mind this is an experiment as well as a competition so we will see how many entries I get and how well it goes!
Rules:
Entries must be more than 200 words but less than 1000.
Entries must use the hivepizza tag
Entries must comment on this post with the link to their entry
Entries must fit in the world/scenario that has developed from the previous weeks contest(s). You are free to develop characters, introduce new ones, invite aliens to the feast, I don't care as long it makes some kind of sense in the context! The Pizza Baron should remain relevant to the plot!
(I've named it a Tale of TWO Pizza's for a reason HINT HINT)
