Moving around the end of the bar, Jack opened the only thing in the tavern that appeared intact, the tall wooden door of the storage closet. The small room held several racks filled with an assortment of weapons and climbing equipment. The dim light from the main room danced across the shining surface of an intricately carved, double-edged long sword. Just as Jack reached for it, a shout came from behind.
He spun around to see three elf warriors running toward him. Each wore the same dark green body armor as they did, except for the multiple weapons dangling from their belts. They raised their swords high above their golden heads as they rushed toward him. Snatching the long sword, Jack freed it from its sheath and met the blows of the attacking soldiers without hesitation, his spirits soaring. Now it was his turn for the inherent traits to surface.
Nicole had no weapon and would be in danger if he tried to escape to the stables, so Jack stood his ground. After all, he was a barbarian, born to battle. Surprised at the speed and strength of his movements, Jack took control of the attack. He dodged the blows of his adversaries who were no smaller than the average hockey player on Hopper’s team. Jack lunged at the closest warrior, driving his sword deep into the young elf’s belly. The look of shock and intense pain came over the warrior’s innocent face. Blood poured from his mouth as he sank to the floor. The realism of his reaction took Jack by surprise. He’d expected to kill the enemy, but not to smell their sweat or see the anguish of death in their eyes. He staggered back shaken to his core. The distraction nearly cost him an arm as the two remaining elves yelled in rage, striking fast and hard.
Unnerved, Jack lost his taste for blood, and the battle turned into a defensive struggle. Jack attempted to force the fierce warriors back toward the entrance hoping to escape past them. A high-pitched war cry pierced the air. Nicole came crashing through a small boarded up window near the back of the tavern. Her petite form rolled as she hit the floor. Jumping to her feet, she rushed to Jack’s defense armed only with the stable boy’s pocket knife. The two remaining warriors separated. The one farthest from Jack met Nicole’s incredible onslaught. Distracted by the unbelievable entrance Nicole had just made, Jack stood gawking as she joined the battle. He was unaware of the warrior’s raised sword before him.
“Jack!” Nicole screamed while dodging the second warrior’s savage assault.
Without thinking, Jack swung his sword forward and sliced open the elf’s midsection as he ducked and rolled past the elf’s advance. Anger and sorrow filled the older elf’s face. He fell to the floor clutching at the pulsing flow of blood.
“That is so disgusting!” Jack muttered. Turning, he found Nicole standing above the body of the third warrior. Her chest heaved as her triumphant laughter filled the tavern. Before Jack could berate her for joining the battle in progress armed only with a knife, Hopper stormed through the tavern door waving a massive tree limb over his head and shouting to his friends.
“It’s over Hopper,” Jack announced, soberly. Turning to the Inn Keeper, he growled, “You set us up!”
“No!” he gasped, scrambling away as Hopper moved toward him. “I swear it! Take yer weapons and escape while there’s still time!” The frightened old man threw the gold coins Jack had tossed on the counter back at them, ducked under the bar, and bolted for the door.
“Oh man! You killed these guys?” Hopper asked. He looked around the room and was astonished at the sight of the bloody corpses lying around them.
“It was them or us” Jack replied.
“We kicked ass!” Nicole jumped over the slain warrior and searched through the closet for her weapon.
“Hopper, it was so realistic,” Jack managed, tearing his eyes away from the still form of the elf he had just slaughtered. “I thought we were going to be searching for talismans, not killing people.” Looking at his sword, Jack recalled the sensation of the blade as it tore so easily through the warrior’s body. The metallic smell of all of the blood caused hot bile to rise in his throat. He felt more like an amateur serial killer than someone on vacation.
Nicole called to them from the closet, “Let’s get our supplies and be on our way. You heard him; there could be more coming.” She returned with a small silver short sword and said, “This will do nicely, much better than that toy knife the boy gave me.”
“You didn’t kill him did you?” Jack asked.
“Uh, no. The boy was helping us, remember? Besides, he’s no threat. I can see the terror in his eyes when he looks at me.” Nicole stared at him as if he had lost his mind and added, “Snap out of it Jack.”
Hopper reached in, hoisted the climbing gear onto his back, grabbed a bundle of bedrolls, and moved toward the door, “I’m heading back to check on Sarah, you get the rest.”
“Nice club,” Nicole called after him, laughing as she turned to snatch a large leather satchel from the closet. “The room behind the bar is probably the kitchen. I’ll check for food. You grab anything else that looks interesting.”
“Niki,” Jack called after her quietly as he moved back to the closet and grabbed a set of long knives and a couple of empty water skins. “How’d you learn to fight like that?”
“Same way you did,” she answered nonchalantly. “Instinct.”
“But you didn’t know you could do that when you busted in.”
“I’m the elf warrior, remember? You can’t deny the fact, you needed help. What was I going to do? Stand outside shivering like a frightened little mouse?” she called from the kitchen.
“Didn’t it bother you when you killed that elf?” Jack moved to the doorway of a small pantry. He watched as Nicole stuffed skins of wine, fruit, chunks of bread, cheese, and dried meat into the satchel.
“Why should it?” Nicole winked as she stuffed the last of the food in the satchel and headed for the door. “It wasn’t real, Jack.”
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