by Charles Dean
“Well, ready to leave?” Dave asked as he walked toward the door.
“No!” Lee finally made a gut call. “This isn’t right. I have a bad feeling about this, and Augustus won’t tell us what’s on the other side. There should be a lot more soldiers in the room north of us, but I think it’s worth exiting through that one instead. I think it’ll be safer.” Lee took a deep breath to steady himself. We might get hurt or lose someone, but it’s better than walking into a trap and having us all wiped out or having someone die without even getting the chance to put up a fight. He remembered all too well exactly how David had been killed as soon as he opened the door to the bar when they went to take down Ramon.
The group pressed ahead and soon went through a slightly-harder spot. The fight should have been more brutal than it was, but the guards were all comparatively weak. They were throw-away fights compared to the ones that Lee and Dave had faced in the colosseum.
“Can we go through this door?” Dave asked as he kicked some dirt over the final blood spot. “Or maybe you want to go clean out some more of the prison and kill more of these corrupt Firbolg bastards as we leave?”
“Honestly”--Pelham twirled his wrist to fling off the excess blood from his blade--“I don’t mind that plan. It’s not like they weren’t going to kill us once the time was ripe. I have no problem returning the favor if you want to keep exploring the prison.”
Lee shook his head. “No, this door should be good. I still can’t tell what’s on the other side, but it should be okay.”
He readied his shield, hoisting it in front of him, and opened the door. It was pitch black outside, but the rodents’ eyesight was keen enough that he could spot out a lot of movement. Before he could even take one step backward, Dave, Pelham and the others pushed forward into the open street in front of this prison exit, preventing his retreat in the process. The excitement of freedom for those that had been locked in a cage and starved for over a month was too much for the people behind him.
“FRESH FREAKING AIR!” Dave shouted, dropping his two-handed flail on the ground as he stretched his arms and took in a deep breath.
“Hey, easy there, big guy,” Lee cautioned. We’re still making a prison break. No need to announ--” Lee’s unfinished word bled into the loud, thunking sound of steel burying itself into wood.
Lee was finally able to make out the faces of people around them, but he had already known exactly who they were as soon as he noticed that they were there: this was the same group that had been responsible for arresting him at the Hunter’s Guild, the one led by the female guard captain, Delilah, who had wanted to make him a slave. She was currently carrying a crossbow, and his instinct from Initiate Level 2 of Blood Shield kicked in the moment he saw it. His arm shot out before he even realized what he was doing, catching the bolt she had shot on his shield and saving Dave from a fatal blow. It happened so quickly that Lee didn’t even have time to think, and if the guard captain had pulled the trigger a second sooner, Dave’s brains would have been pasted across the faces of the guys behind him.
“Ah . . . you make me tingle, little man.” The guard captain’s lips slowly curled upward as her upper teeth jutted out and bit across the top of her lower lip. “So young, so vibrant, so talented . . . I can’t wait to take you alive and break you. They didn’t let me keep you the first time, but I’ll have you this time. I’ll be the first master of a slave Herald in all of Kirshtein, and I’ll be sure to abuse you as I wish.”
“What’s going on?” Dave questioned, reaching down and grabbing his flail. “Why are you here?”
“I’m kind of curious myself,” Lee said, looking at the group of twenty-one people. With their numbers, weapons and armor, he had no doubt there was a good chance that his small force would be overpowered if the fight dragged on. These weren’t the rinky-dink lackeys that Dave, Lee and Pelham had cut through earlier: this band was organized and looked to be veterans.
“What is going on? Well, I think it’s rather obvious, don’t you?” Delilah said. “I’m here because I knew he would be here,” she said, pointing to Lee.
Lee didn’t say anything. He just did his best to look dumbfounded and curious so that she would keep talking. The more time he bought, the closer Miller, Ling, Amber and the others would be. Once they arrived, things would be better. They had a number of capable fighters who would even out the odds, and then they would stand an even better chance--especially if Miller showed up before the fight broke out and flanked the captain’s group.
“Oh, that face is priceless,” Delilah chuckled. “You’re wondering how I knew you’d be here, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Lee said, baiting her into a longer villain’s monologue. “Why would you pick this particular exit? How did you know which one I’d use even when I didn’t?”
She licked her lips. “Ah, that question. The easy one. I picked this door because I didn’t underestimate you. Everyone else thought you were an idiot. They thought you’d take the first and easiest door, the one with the fewest guards. The Grand Warden spotted that Human scum from Connacht’s little worthless faction here and took from your speech that he had fed you intel somehow. We could only assume that he must have bribed a guard and gotten you keys and maps. If a fool looks at any of the maps, then there is only one possible exit that a fool should take--the one of least resistance,” she explained.
“But we didn’t take the easiest one. This wasn’t the best route,” Lee countered, pointing out the obvious.
“Right. But that’s why those idiots are all at the other door. They’re waiting for you with rows and rows of archers and guards, ready to kill you where you stand. It was a nice plan too since no one will say a word if they kill you and your merry bunch during an escape. Connacht will just have to admit his defeat and our Herald’s superiority. They were certain you’d take that door because it leads out into a dark alley that was almost always vacant and empty. It had very few to no regular guards stationed in the anteroom, and it was close to your cell. As for me, well, I liked their plan, but I knew better. I’ve watched every single fight of yours!” Her massive chest rose and fell, and her cheeks reddened. “I knew you were special . . . so special, so smart. I knew that you wouldn’t fall for an obvious trick like that. You’re just not the type.”
“So how did you pick this one?” Lee asked.
“Because it was the next easiest one if you were next to the door leading to the trap,” she said as she used her right hand to grab at her own chest. “It just leaves me so excited thinking about it: the rat caught in my trap. I thought you were a worthless dog when we first met, just another Human piece of scum with delusions of grandeur, but now I know better. You’re not a worthless dog. You’re a clever little monkey that needs to be spanked and beaten and punished for not knowing his proper place.”
“I would like to say I’m much more handsome than a monkey.” Lee did his best to smile despite the fact that her sexually-aggressive tone, the nature of her words and the way she was moving were all both arousing and incredibly disturbing. She’ll be dead soon--or you will be--so don’t worry about what she’s saying.
“I wouldn’t push your luck,” she cooed, clearly aroused. “Monkeys at least have a reason for their scruffy and unclean faces. But I think we’ve spent enough time--”
“Wait.” Lee stopped her before she could switch from dialogue to combat. “I have to ask: what’s with the slave thing? Are you having trouble getting a real boyfriend?”
“Captain would never--” The man on her right started to speak, but she yelled at him the second he started.
“SILENCE! Did you think that you were allowed to join the conversation? Know your place,” she lectured, pulling out a sword and slashing at his armor hard enough to draw blood.
Wow. Lee blinked. She’s full-on psycho. Wolfe had always told him that good looking women were prone to be crazy since so few people would call them on their nonsense and risk losing a chance at bedding them, but thi
s woman was the first time Lee had actually seen the mythical ‘crazy-yet-hot’ situation in such vivid and striking detail.
“I gotta be honest, boss. She does it for me,” Pelham said from Lee’s left. “She just does it for me.”
“Well, that’s too bad because I’m only going to keep one little slave boy, and it isn’t you,” the captain said. “So, tell me: which one of you wants to die first? Or maybe you can turn yourself in to me? Make the process less painful now and much less painful later.”
We could barricade ourselves inside the prison and force them through a choke point until Miller and his crew arrive . . . Lee looked around, trying to figure out exactly how he was going to handle the situation. Or . . . “I have one last question first,” Lee started again. He had no illusions that he could buy them even a minute longer. The captain’s face made it plain that she was getting antsy, and he could feel that she was likely getting ready to attack them no matter what, so he decided to give out his formation order to the others in a way that wouldn’t immediately trigger the battle.
“What’s that, my little monkey?”
“Can you . . . Men, throw the dead bodies in front of us! Make a line of them! Quick!” Lee shouted.
“What?” Pelham and Dave asked the same question simultaneously, but those behind did exactly as they were told. An entire night of barking out orders along with getting them through the maze without a single casualty or injury had instilled enough trust in the men with him that they didn’t bother questioning him at that crucial point. They rushed forward and stacked up the twenty-five odd bodies to create a pseudo-barricade between his group and the guards. The captain had cleared out a large, double-laned street, leaving about thirty paces between the two, so space to work with wasn’t an issue. The only problem was the terrain was too even for his taste.
Lee moved forward and positioned himself right behind the corpse wall. He hadn’t learned much about battle from his fencing instructor, but between Alexander’s lessons and his saber instructor’s notes, he had learned exactly how important terrain was. The bodies in front of them might not be enough to block projectiles, but it seemed like the only guard with a ranged weapon was the captain. She might actually be able to shoot one of the men who didn’t have a shield every now and then, but the mound of bodies helped even the odds. They were slippery with blood, and they created uneven surfaces that the enemy would struggle to get over if they charged. They would break momentum and force the attackers to be cautious with their assault. Footwork was one of the most important parts of a fight, and that simple barricade had created a hazardous trap for their foes, forcing them to choose between unsure, poor or inconvenient footholds or simply remain at a distance.
“Clever, clever monkey,” the captain said, noting the line of haphazardly-tossed corpses with a smile as she threw her crossbow to the side and pulled out a zweihander. “It seems I’m going to have to bend you a little before you’ll break. Men, charge!”
Lee’s men rushed forward to man the wall, pulling out their swords.
“Dave, go to the right flank. Kill anyone who tries to get around and surround us. Pelham, you take the left.” Lee wanted his two best fighters to guard the most vulnerable spots. The lines of corpses were solid, and they had the prison building at their rear, so his only real concern for the moment was stopping the initial surge. If he couldn’t do that, what little advantage he gained from the corpse wall would disappear completely, and Lee’s small band of escapees would be swallowed up like a paramecium being eaten by an amoeba.
Dave and Pelham quickly moved through to the sides, and two of the redshirts shifted to fill the openings. Lee had hoped that his little trick would give him a quick win, but the crazy woman just ignored the corpses, pushing through them. Just as she had almost cleared them completely, she jumped into the air and heaved her whole body at Lee. With the speed and ferocity of the swing, it looked to Lee as if she were trying to cut the sky above him in two, and when it hit him, that description felt even more real. Lee was used to being knocked around by strong opponents, but her momentum didn’t just knock him backward: it buried her sword into his shield and drove him down.
Lee’s arms flailed back as he tried to catch himself and dissipate the strike’s power, and by some stroke of fortune, her sword was torn from her grasp as the two went tumbling back. There was a brief struggle as she fought to remain upright, but then she lost her fight against gravity and collapsed forward as well, landing on top of him. Despite being disarmed, she had the advantage of leverage, positioning, and two free hands to work with. Lee, unfortunately, couldn’t even so much as wrestle his shield free from underneath her pressing weight, and when he tried to feebly attack her back with his sword, she pinned his other arm to the ground as well. She pulled back with her free hand and struck down, landing a solid blow across Lee’s jaw. His vision flashed to black as the blow struck, 17 health was ticked away, and he was left disoriented from the force of the blow. She struck out twice more in the same fashion before he could get his bearings, dropping him from 330 to 279 health in mere seconds.
“Suffer, my little pet! Suffer for me!” Delilah licked her lips sadistically before smashing his face in two more times with her fist.
Lee reflexively shrugged his head to the side and unsuccessfully tried to hide it behind the edge of his shield, but she still managed to strike him yet again. Desperate to get her off of him, he hooked his leg around hers and bucked his hips to the side, flinging her up and to his right. Her weight pressed down on his sword arm as she landed, causing him to drop his weapon, but she landed with a small yelp and a grimace, and Lee realized that she must have come down on her own dropped weapon.
He tried to bring his shield around and use it as a type of bludgeon, hoping to slam it into her face and force her off of his pinned arm, but she wasn’t having it. She reached out and wrapped herself around Lee, pulling him against her and squeezing tightly. He automatically wrenched his arm between them and pressed against her, hoping to push her away, and he watched as her eyes grew wider.
“You’re not supposed to touch those without permission from your master!” she hissed, even as he realized what he was pushing against. “Perhaps I’ll take off this armor and let you try them unobstructed if you behave. I might even let you give them a kiss.”
“Ugh! Will--” Lee pushed even harder, using his legs to create leverage and move forward as he did so. If he couldn’t create distance between them by pulling away, he figured he might as well switch things up and try pressing ahead. “Will you . . . just . . . shut . . . up?” Lee gasped out the words as the two fought against one another. He twisted around to the side and then climbed up onto his knees so that he could leverage his weight against her. Just as he positioned himself on top, his hand slipped forward, and he collapsed down onto her, his forearm pressed against her throat.
He had never choked anyone before, and he didn’t have a clue as to how the mechanic would even work in this world. He wasn’t sure if suffocation would be a slow-building ticker that would eventually cause a knock out followed up by fatality if the choking persisted, or if it would act as a damage-over-time that slowly drained her health. It was a huge oversight in Lee’s knowledge of the game, and his ignorance made him kick himself while he pressed down, taking advantage of the situation. Her face started to change colors after about a minute, and her slightly-bluish complexion gave him hope that it was working despite the lack of any technical way to verify that assumption.
“Lee, I don’t know what type of kinky stuff you Heralds get into, but you need to finish up quickly. We’ve got more company, and we’re having trouble holding as it is,” Dave yelled over the crowd. “There’s another Firbolg rushing toward us at full speed, and it looks like he’s bringing reinforcements.”
What? Reinforcements? A Firbolg? Lee blinked. It was at that point that he realized exactly who was coming and smiled as he switched tactics. Dave and the others might be panicked about the
newcomer, but with just a glance through a golem’s eyes, he knew exactly who it was.
“It’s Miller!” Lee shouted happily.
As if on cue, a giant spear soared through the air and tore right into one of the enemy Firbolgs. Dave’s relentless slaughter on the sands must have paid off in powerleveling the angry Firbolg. Even from the ground, wrestling with psychotic enemy leader, Lee could still see an improvement in both speed and power as the spear dug into the guard, the force carrying both the spear and the Firbolg several feet back and leaving the man gruesomely skewered.
Your party has killed Norman. Your party has been awarded 25 silver, 12 copper, a well-polished Iron Helmet and 756 Experience. Your share of this is 9 silver, 3 copper, and 189 Experience.
“Lee!” Miller shouted when he spied Lee grappling with the enemy leader. “It’s her! It’s them!” Miller’s shouts grew louder as he charged forward, pulling out another spear from his inventory and hurling it. “It’s those bastards who defied law and order and wrongfully arrested the very Herald of Augustus!”
Lee didn’t have any reason to feel bad or guilty for what was about to happen to the woman he was fighting with, but he did. He knew Miller, and he had read the letter. He had read every single word that Miller had written, and Lee didn’t doubt for a minute that he would fulfill each and every violent promise down to the letter if possible. “I’m sorry,” he said to the captain. “You win some; you lose some. But even a wench as crazy as you doesn’t deserve what’s about to happen to you.”
Letting go of his hold, he instead began climbing over her instead of trying to strangle her. He wrestled himself free a moment later, propelled forward and into the dirt.
“Huh? What . . . What are you . . . talking about?” she asked confusedly, gasping for breath. Whatever confusion she might have felt wasn’t reflected in her movements, however, and her hand instantly snaked out, trying to grab ahold of her sword.