by Justin Wayne
***
A rider? Who would come this way anymore? Everyone goes out of their way to avoid this accursed place. Up to no good I wager. Well let them try and harm me already abandoned home. I’ll show ‘em just how terrible this place really is.
A figure crept from the bushes nearby and made its way to the pub, setting down the water bucket it carried. It slipped through the door quickly and having memorized the room’s arrangement since making it their home, was outside again within ten seconds. A small axe appeared in its hand now as it eyed the prone man atop the horse.
That damn steed will hear me coming long fore I can get there.
Crouching low, the figure moved around the side of the building and as swiftly as it could go with one free hand, scaled the ladder propped up against it. It stealthed across the low roof, going extra slow to choose its footing carefully, and tested the balance of the axe for throwing.
“Beautiful.” it whispered and prepared to throw. Something pressed into its back, a slight pinprick, just between its ribs.
“It is a nice spot isn’t it?” a smooth voice whispered from behind. The figure stiffened and began to turn. “I really wouldn’t.” Outsider said and pressed a bit firmer. “Drop the axe and you’ll get to see the sun rise.”
The axe clattered and slowly slid down the sloped roof with a metallic scrape. Suddenly the figure leapt forward off the roof, hit the ground feet first, and caught its axe.
Jiff saw the movement and bucked backwards away from it, sending Thom to the ground. The fall knocked the wind out of him and he lay there stunned trying to regain his breath. He searched the darkness with his eyes but couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face.
His hand!
He scrambled across the ground until he found the feather, snapped into three pieces. “Curse it all! he gasped and threw them into the air. “Stupid horse, there’s nothing there!”
“Oh I wouldn’t be so certain!” a rough voice bellowed from a few feet away. “So there’re two of ye’. Twice the pleasure then to kill ye’ both!” The figure charged forward at the helpless hobbit and swung the axe down with all its force.
But the blow never connected. The figure was thrown off balance by a kick to the back of its right knee and thrown to the ground. It rolled to its feet in an instant and turned to face the attacker.
Outsider pressed forward, dagger drawn, and took stock of the situation.
Thom’s fine, just thrown from Jiff who was only startled, and I’m facing a wild dwarf with a single handed axe. Simple enough. He ducked to the side, dodging a thrust of the axe’s blunt head, and responded by grabbing the dwarf’s thick wrist and punching its elbow upward. A loud pop resounded and the dwarf grunted.
“That all ye got?” he growled. “Me mother spanked us harder as children!”
“For your information, had you been human or elf, your arm would be broken.” Outsider replied. “As it is, you now have a torn muscle, inhibiting your right arm’s effectiveness.”
The dwarf laughed and twirled the axe in his other hand. “Good thing I’m left handed then.” A surprisingly fast swipe came next, just narrowly missing Outsider’s hood, and followed it up with a flat-footed kick which caught his shin. He jumped at the man who had slipped to one knee and brought the blade of his axe down on his head.
Instead, the dwarf’s own blood splattered across his face as the man rolled to the side and threw his knife into the dwarf’s shoulder. He grunted again in pain, clenching his teeth, and growled angrily as he slid the knife from his shoulder and dropped it to the ground. “Now we’re talkin'.” He charged again, full tempo, and frenzied against the unarmed man.
Outsider dodged and ducked the furious attacks, arms in his cloak, then spun on his heel and brought his other foot into the flat of the berserker’s face, cracking his nose. Then he dodged the blind swing that followed, grabbed the dwarf by the throat, and placing his foot behind the dwarf’s, slammed him into the ground. A second knife flashed into his hand and appeared beneath the bushy beard.
“Remain still, dwarf, or I will end you. Make no mistake.” he whispered in a manner so certain even a dwarf with an axe wouldn’t push too far.
“Fine. Ye have me. Just be done with it, coward!” The furious warrior spit in the darkness of Outsider’s hooded face and hit em over the head with his axe just as the hilt of a knife struck the dwarf on the temple. Both fighters lay still on the ground, semi-conscious.
Thom watched the whole ordeal from where he fell and remained so for several moments as he struggled to tear his eyes from the scene. When he did, they landed on the small glint nearby: Outsider’s first knife. He exclaimed in glee and fumbling slightly, cut the ropes around his wrists.
As soon as they fell, he reached out for his captor and gripped his collar as surely as something gripped his mind. A fierce anger took hold of him and his vision flushed red.
“Take me in to prison will you? I think not.” a whisper said alongside his voice. He raised the knife at his short arm’s fully extended length and aimed in the darkness for the bounty hunter’s chest. Outsider lay still and dazed as the knife was drawn. Just then the dwarf sat up with a loud gasp and screamed before falling back to the warm embrace of unconsciousness.
However, Jiff, at the sudden movement and loud cry took off full sprint away from the source, dragging Thom away by the rope around his ankles down the street and into the woods. The last sound in the town that night was the hobbit’s screams as his flesh was torn away by the frozen ground.