by Jeff Sabean
“That is a fair question, my brother. I believe my path is clear before me, I need to do this. I will not think any less of any man, or woman, who feels like this is a fool’s errand and would rather go wait on the ship. To answer your question, this is not simply because Jim ‘pissed me off,’ and not because he tried to use me for his own designs because I did not know what he was asking me to do. I look around this town and I see a city under the shadow of a dictator. I see good people who are oppressed by a tyrant. You served with me in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Tiane: were we there for oil? Were we there to protect a drug trade? No! You know better. We were there to help the people of those countries because they were being oppressed by insurgent terrorists.
That is how I see Terminus. We can either leave on this pirate ship and never look back at the pain and suffering of the people who live here, or we can make a difference. I choose to make a difference and remove this dictator from power, allowing the people here to get ahead in their lives. Will it help? Maybe. But we must try, and personally I would rather die here helping people than out on a pirate ship, so the reward more than justifies the risk. Do what you will, but my path leads to The Portal this morning to end this.”
As he spoke, one at a time the members of the party who had been questioning their decision to attack Jim moment ago all looked down in embarrassment. Silence hung like a wet blanket over the group, each one struggling with the thought of a suicide mission but not wanting to walk away from the people of Terminus.
Tiane broke the silence first. “Top, you know I was going to follow you anyway. I didn’t mean to ever sound disloyal; I was just asking a question. You always had me with you, but now I want to go to help, not just because I will follow you anywhere.”
Heishi nodded his approval as he clapped his hand on the shoulder of the young sniper.
“I owe you my life. Do not take that for granted, human. I would follow you until I repay that debt anyway, but I also owe Jim a debt of a different sort. I will not leave Terminus with that overgrown minnow still drawing breath,” Gabrielle finished with a wicked grin.
One by one, every member of the party acknowledged their willingness to walk into certain death either to be with Heishi or to repay Jim for one wrong or another done to them. As the conversation continued, it became obvious the bartender was having a difficult time ignoring them, and he crept closer and closer to the group, listening to their plans.
Jumping to his feet and smashing a table to pieces with his mithril war hammer, Yutri stared the bartender directly in the eye as he addressed the small man: “Do you hear something of interest to you?”
“Oh, no, sir, what you and your companions discuss is of no concern to me! I was simply straightening up and cleaning the tables while I wait for the morning crowd,” the nervous bartended stuttered.
Waiving the bartender away, Yutri returned to the table as Shenroc explained, “That was a clear warning to us: there will soon be a crowd of people coming to break their fast. We need to be gone from this place before that happens, because if he does not report our discussion, he will be held accountable to Jim should we fail. I do not fault the little weasel for this, it is just what he must do if he wants to continue living in Terminus.”
“That settles it then,” Heishi began. “I think our path is clear before us: it’s time to make the green grass grow.”
Chapter 13 – The End and the Beginning
The sun was up, and the streets were stirring with morning business when the companions exited the inn, tossing a few extra gold pieces to the bartender with he unspoken threat to keep his mouth shut until they were well away. Abandoning all pretenses of a peaceful stroll down the street, the group picked up a wedge formation with Yutri leading, parting the crowd before them, and Di’eslo protected in the rear where he could focus on keeping them alive. After the first block, pedestrians began parting well in advance of the approaching group, armed for battle and faces set in the direction of The Portal.
Yutri, being in the lead, was the first to reach the front door of the bar, which he subsequently kicked off its hinges and sent flying across the room. The companions slid into a single file as they cleared the door jam, then spread back out into the bar: Heishi and Tiane to his right, Shenroc and Gabrielle to his left, with Di’eslo in the center of the formation, weapons out and facing into the room for any danger.
The little bartender, seeing them burst through the door, let out a yelp and went scurrying toward the door to the office occupied by Jim, bumping into every table and chair along the way as his eyes spun about crazily in his head. As he ran, Heishi had a moment of compassion, desiring to let this miserable wretch live. He thought better as he remembered the bartender laughing as he set Heishi up to fight a hungry Chondri, and he whipped all three daggers across the room in rapid succession, burying them between his shoulder blades and sending the whelp bouncing against the door.
“That’s one for me, try to keep up young Staff Sergeant,” Heishi said with a grin.
“Doesn’t count, Top, that one was running away, and my granny would have hit him from here,” Tiane replied, smoothly pulling an arrow from his quiver, knocking it, and letting it fly into the face of the first Chondri who opened a side door to enter the room. “That one, however, does count.”
“Petty humans, you will never beat me at this game, or in love,” Yutri stated as he let out a full belly laugh and rushed toward the door where the first Chondri guard had fallen.
Before he made it across the room, four more guards piled through the door and into the room. Tiane was able to put an arrow into the shoulder of the first one, who move surprisingly quickly for someone so big, but then Yutri was amid them and more arrows flying would endanger his friends. He slung the bow on his back, jerked his kamas from their holsters, activating the blades and flames with a thought, and rushed in behind the giant dwarf.
A hidden door on the right side of the room opened, with six more gigantic Chondri guards spilling through it into the room, and before the melee could be joined with these six, five more entered through the front door behind the companions.
Whipping his claymore around toward the front door, Shenroc roared in blissful rage as he rushed the newcomers. “Now THIS is my idea of a fair fight!” he bellowed, severing the sword arm from his first opponent before he had time to realize the orc was coming towards him headfirst. The half-orc swung with abandon, taking small hits in exchange for huge swings of his claymore, removing body parts from his opponents with each swing. As he rushed the door, more of the Chondri piled in from somewhere on the street, replacing each fallen opponent with two more.
Behind Shenroc, Heishi turned toward the six guards who entered through the previously hidden door, recalling his daggers to himself and letting them fly toward the latest attackers. He scored no fatal hits with the projectiles, but they slowed his opponents as he focused on the air currents to speed himself up. His sword blazed with emerald electrical currents that flared with his focus, leaping from the blade to enter his victims before his blade even made contact. His entire body became a weapon, sliding past blades aimed to decapitate him, landing an elbow to the face of an attacker here, a knee to the groin there, and always following through with a swipe of his deadly sword that left at least one piece of the Chondri on the floor.
To the other side, Yutri was singing again, this time a tawdry song more appropriate for a brothel than anywhere else, but he was effectively pushing his opponents back against the wall, and with nowhere to run he was crushing bone with each swing of his war hammer. Tiane worked around his large companion, putting his flaming kamas to work. The hammer would swing high, and a kama would follow low at the same time, crushing bone and slicing through flesh simultaneously. The two quickly found a symbiotic rhythm, and within moments all four had been prepared for an undertaker; however, more guards continued through the door, pressing the two back a few steps to regroup before pushing forward again.
&n
bsp; Di’eslo was kept busy through this simply keeping the companions alive. He thoroughly enjoyed putting his flail to work when the opportunity arose, but these companions of his were reckless, attacking with abandon and assuming he would keep them from meeting their maker. So be it, Di’eslo thought as he kept a steady stream of healing light poured on the wild Shenroc, if Jim falls because I kept these maniacs alive, it is almost as satisfying as if I split his skull myself. Pulling his cloak from his face to better focus on his companions, he saw a few of the Chondri take a step back in surprise. His companions, no novices to battle, did not miss a beat and cut them down while they were distracted.
It was beginning to appear the fight would be won with no trouble when the rear door burst open and Big Jim stepped through, hurling lifeless corpse of the bartender across the room and into Yutri like a missile. Yutri never missed a beat as the body crashed into his side, swiping it away and finishing off the last of the guards on his side. Yutri and Tiane turned toward Big Jim when their sector was cleared, ready to fend off any attacks from the massive Chondri. Likewise, Shenroc was just clearing the doorway, hacking guards to pieces and leaving them to writhe in agony as he finished off the rest in his way. He kicked his last opponent in the face on the ground and whipped around to face Jim, the whites of his eyes not visible through the red, and his mouth covered in foam around his tusks where he had whipped himself into a frenzy. Heishi finished off his opponents with style, the lightning flashing as he removed the head from his final opponent and turned to face Jim.
“What do you think you are doing, you ungrateful wretches?” bellowed Jim as he donned his helmet and ripped his massive sword from its scabbard, his armor casting blood colored reflections around the room in the light from the missing front door and the fireplace on the wall where Yutri had launched a dead guard who was now aflame. “I allowed each of you to live and work in MY city, I even offered to pay you to return my orb, and you come in my bar like THIS? Killing my men?”
Heishi stalked across the room, never taking his eyes from Jim, and stopped just out of range of the massive sword the Chondri boss had pointed his direction. “I suppose selling this elf maiden was just business. And sending me to my death, I should thank you? You knew what was down in those caves. You knew how powerful the orb made Sgel the Nasty. You forced my companions to go to their deaths, while tricking me into unwittingly going.
“But that is not the worst of it, Jim. You are being held accountable for your treatment of the people of Terminus. That is right, you little tyrant, we are relieving you of your hold on this city and giving it to the people. No longer will they live in fear of you and your thugs. No longer will they eat scraps while you live in opulence. Normally I would give you the option to turn around and walk away with your head attached,” the lightning on the blade of his sword flared as he spoke, “but not today. Today, I am going to do what is best for people everywhere: I am going to remove your head and kick it down the street as the vendors set up for the day.”
As he ended, Jim attempted to take advantage of his monologuing, shifting his weight forward and taking a swing with his sword, the light glinting off the blood red edge of the blade as it arced toward Heishi. Far from being caught off guard, Heishi slid back a pace as the sword moved, but was startled when a blue light flashed over his shoulder, smashing into the sword arm swinging it. When the light connected with the sword, ice began to form around his arm and sword, startling Jim as well as his opponents. Heishi risked a glance over his shoulder and saw the source of the light: Gabrielle stood with her palm open and facing Jim, the last fragments of the ice leaving her palm and flying toward the behemoth before her.
She saw Heishi glance her way in confusion, shrugged a bit, and stated, “What can I say? I like ice…”
Roaring in frustration, Jim jerked his arm away from the ice forming on his armor, crushing it and sending flurries of snow around the room. He used the confusion to bring his massive shield between him and his attackers, the ruby eyes of the shark god glowing a brilliant shade of crimson, and a line of fire spat back at Gabrielle, melting the remnants of ice and super heating it to create steam. As the companions rocked back on their heels to avoid being burned by the steam, Jim swiped to his left with the shield, the golden shark teeth flashing in the light as they ripped through the chain mail, leather, and into the flesh of Heishi’s left arm, severing muscle and leaving it hanging limp at his side as he rolled to the right to avoid the attack.
Yutri leapt into action to defend his new friend, thrusting his shield forward to block the sword which swung back toward Heishi to decapitate him. He successfully blocked the attack, but mis-judged the power behind the swing, which connected with his shield and left his arm a bit numb as he attempted a counter swing with his mithril hammer. The swing connected, and although he was fully balanced and put all his considerable power into the attack, it thudded against the plate armor covering Jim’s chest and did nothing more than slide him backward a pace or two in the blood and guts covering the floor. A look of shock spread across his face as Jim grinned, rows of sharp teeth glistening, and the golden teeth of the shield slid back across and connected squarely with the shield Yutri presented, sending him flying back across the room and smashing into Heishi.
Di’eslo slid behind the fighters, focusing on the spider web on his shield, and releasing the stored energy within the web. A large purple web flew across the room, glowing with unrestrained power, and wrapped around Jim’s sword arm, immobilizing it against his body. He then turned his attention to Heishi, who was bleeding out from his limp left arm as he struggled to detangle himself from Yutri and gain his footing again. The healing wave reached out toward the man, and the muscle and tissue began to knit back together as he charged back into the fight.
Shenroc, seeing his oldest friend tossed to the side like a toy, bellowed in rage, rushing forward with his claymore swinging in a figure eight motion, swatting aside the deadly shield and connecting with the crimson armor behind. His first blow did nothing more than make a loud screeching sound as it connected with the armor and was turned away, but he reached the blade back and aimed for the joint in the armor over Jim’s left elbow, and was pleased when the kris blade bit into the joint and slashed through bone and tissue, coming just short of severing the arm completely. As the triumph showed in his eyes and he slid his blade over his head to finish off his opponent, Jim head butted him in the face, flattening his nose as it broke, splattering blood across his face and knocking him from his feet.
As Shenroc fell to the side, a trio of arrows fired in rapid succession flew from the back of the room where Tiane had taken up a position on top of a table where he could get an angle without hitting his companions. The first two arrows bounced harmlessly off the plate armor, but the third buried itself in Jim’s right shoulder as he ripped his sword arm loose of the web Di’eslo had entangled him in with a roar of defiance. Jim looked back at Tiane with disdain as his eyes rolled back in his head, showing only a dull black protective covering over them. He swung what remained of his left arm holding his shield toward Tiane and loosed a blast of fire from the ruby eyes of his shark god, ripping through the end of the room and catching it on fire. Tiane deftly rolled to the side, avoiding the blast and keeping up a stream of arrows flying toward the wild Chondri who was wreaking havoc on his friends.
Gabrielle let loose another blast of ice toward the monster, who deflected it with his shield by wildly swinging his limp arm as the blast of fire from the shark god eyes continued flashing around the room. The ice melted and turned to steam, causing Di’eslo to duck behind his shield and pause the healing energy he was directing toward Heishi just as the fire bolt struck his shield and shoved him backward as well.
Jim maintained the constant blast of fire emanating from his shield as he swung his arm wildly in every direction. He screamed in defiance as he set fire to his own bar, the blood and sweat flowing as he desperately glanced around for an exit. As the fire crept
up to the second floor, the front wall appeared to be weakening so he rushed toward it to crash through and escape into the street.
Heishi, having recovered enough to stand, rushed toward the dictator, the green electricity of his blade flashing out in direct proportion to his anger. As Jim put his head down and pushed past Yutri like a football linebacker, Heishi spun and brought his blade down in a flashing arc, connecting with the back of Jim’s neck and decapitating his hated enemy. The fire bolt from the shield ceased immediately as his head rolled from his shoulders and his body crashed into the floor.
The companions paused for a moment, watching the head roll across the floor and listening to the sound of the walls and ceiling burning. Di’eslo kept the stream of healing coming, alternating between members of the group to relieve each of their pain as quickly as possible. The rest stared at each other, unable to comprehend that they had lived through the battle. Without a word, Heishi walked over to the severed head, picked it up, and walked toward the shattered front door. As he stepped into the street, he noticed a crowd had already gathered to see what was happening. Heishi lifted the severed head with both hands as high as he could reach, and as the onlookers realized what he was holding, he threw it into the street, rolling toward the vendors selling their wares.
Without a word, the companions headed toward the dock to meet with Tylo and escape this place. The fires inside The Portal continued to burn, and all activity on the street came to a halt as the citizens of Terminus watched it burn.
◆◆◆
Standing on the dock in front of the Slip Away, the ship belonging to Tylo the Blue, Shenroc stopped and grasped Heishi’s hand. “My friend, this is where Yutri and I say goodbye. This was a difficult decision for us, but Terminus is our home and we need to stay here and help rebuild. There will be a power vacuum left in the wake of removing Jim from power, and if no one guides the power shift the people here could be left with a tyrant who is worse than Jim ever was. Please understand that we owe you a debt of gratitude we can never repay and would do anything to assist you in the rest of your quest, but we have an obligation to our people here.”