The Tale of Gaven Morren--The Second Night: Though the Belly of Miir (Part 4)

Saints and Jokers

They aren't that far ahead of me. They make slightly less noise than a herd of cattle. I stow my blade--no sense alerting them too soon.

I can hear them talking to someone. Damn. That's Eric's voice. He sounds like he's trying to plead. There's some ugly laughs. He's cornered.

I pull the pistol from my belt. I guess I get to see if this thing works. I can see three, but I hear two more voices around the corner.

Five bullyboys total. Not great odds. But Kneebreakers like them tend to be cowards. Sufficient shock and awe should scatter them for a bit.

I raise the pistol and aim it for one of the bullyboys. Careful. Ready...aim...squeeze the trigger...

Well. *That* didn't go exactly as planned. The trigger pulled, but nothing happened. No click. No flash. No boom. No downed bullyboy.

What went wrong? No time to figure it out...one of them is turning my way. OK, time for Plan B--Shock and Awe the old fashioned way.

Yank the dagger out, grab the edges of the cloak, wave my arms, and run at them howling "BLARG! I IS THE REDCAP COME TO PEELS OFF YER FACE!" from web

There's something gratifying about watching grown men scream like little girls and try to run in five different directions at once.

I'm sure I'd do the same if I saw some lunatic with a glowing dagger and blood running down his face come swooping out of the dark at me.

I reach the first goon, who's frozen in terror. I smell urine--he must have voided his bowls. I whack him across the face with the pommel.

He shrieks as his nose breaks, which is a nice counterpoint to the howls of terror. That should convince them that something deadly is here.

They go scrambling away, and I reach Eric, who seems to be muttering something. Probably a prayer of protections. "Time to go." I tell him.

"Gaven?" he stutters. Probably never expected to see me again. I pull him to his feet, and lead him back the way we came, towards the fall.

"That won't stop them for long." I mutter. "As soon as they realize there's no monsters, they will be back, twice as mad. We should hide."

He nods numbly, and we hop down. I get wet. Again. But this time I'm expecting the ground. We rush down the tunnel junction, into the dark.