by Dave Hazel
‘Am I going friggin nuts?’ He wondered again and wanted to yell his question so the women would tell him that he wasn’t ‘going nuts’. ‘I can’t give myself away,’ he snarled at his weakening thoughts. He knew that being invisible for extended periods of time was having a negative impact on his thinking. ‘Just hold on,’ he thought to calm himself. ‘It’s not gonna be much longer. Once they go by me I’ll take Doninka outta here and worry about killing William later.’
Mykal tried to think of what was going on in his head. It was clearly the magic affecting his emotions and his thought process. He felt guilty while he looked at the two dead soldiers. ‘They had no idea they were going to die today. When Fronpar told them to take his wife and daughter and Doninka, they didn’t know they only had hours left to live,’ he moaned in thought and blamed himself as the bad guy. ‘They probably thought they would go home at the end of the day like every other day, and now they’re getting stiff sitting in a chair in a bar because they followed Fronpar’s orders.’ He mulled over his situation and felt a twinge of guilt since he acted rather hastily. ‘Did I act too quickly and kill these poor guys for nothin’? Or did I do the right thing? I wish Towbar was here,’ he moaned mentally and looked at the magic ring that seemed to be the source of his mental problems.
“Stop,” he said aloud and suddenly came back to his senses when the three women looked to the ‘sleeping’ soldier. ‘Damn it. I gotta stop this crazy shit,’ he warned himself in thought. The three women must have thought the soldier spoke in his sleep since they went back to their discussion. ‘These friggin guys woulda killed me or Doninka if we tried to get away. I did the right thing,’ he added and physically shook his head to help clear his thinking.
‘They are soldiers of the ultimate bad guy Zizmon-Tarl. They woulda loved making a name for themselves by taking us out,’ he snarled hatefully. He felt the pendulum of his emotions swinging the other way. He could tell the evil, mean and cruel Mykal was about to be unleashed. ‘If I have to take down this whole damn army of mounted soldiers to get to William I’ll do it. I’m so friggin fed up with feeling scared and worried,’ he hissed and knew he was looking at everything from a different lens than he was just a few minutes ago. He felt cocky, but not over confident because there were so many of them. He felt bold, but he wasn’t going to be stupid about it.
“Oh damn,” he whispered when four of the horses stopped in front of the tavern. Thankfully the rest continued on.
“Feelcom, what are you doing my brother?” One of the four asked when they stopped directly in front of the door. The four of them all carried long spears, and had swords at their sides besides the daggers in their belts.
“I am thirsty. Are you not thirsty Stanglehold?” Feelcom answered his friend with a question. He gave a slight laugh and rubbed down his long beard. His face seemed fatter than the other three who all appeared to be much more muscular.
“Yes. We are all thirsty,” Stanglehold replied. “However my brother this establishment appears to be closed for the night. We do not wish to incur the wrath of the commander for a mere drink, do we?”
“If we wait until all the others pass by, then there will only be four of us to be served,” Feelcom suggested with an evil laugh. “I am sure the inn keeper will not report us if we pay him well. It will be worth it after the long ride we rode today. Would you not agree?” He asked and looked to the three who stood with him.
“I will agree,” Stanglehold replied. “What say you Heapret?” Stanglehold asked and turned to the largest of the four.
Heapret reminded Mykal of a Viking. The man had long red hair and a long red beard to match his hair. He looked to be the strongest and seemed to be the quietest of the four. Mykal could imagine a helmet with horns protruding from the sides of the headdress from the red haired man.
“I will do what you three agree to do,” Heapret said. “If you say ‘stay and quench our thirst’ I will stay and quench my thirst. If you three say ‘stay on our mounts and ride off,’ I will stay on my mount and ride off. How say you Mootmass?” He turned to the oldest looking of the four.
“I will agree to stay and wash away this thirst after the rest of the mounts are out of view,” Mootmass said and watched their fellow soldiers ride past them. “Should we bring our entire group in here, I am sure the commander would become angry with us. I too do not wish to incur his wrath.”
Mootmass had gray hair and seemed slightly older than the three but he was clearly a fellow soldier and not a leader.
“We shall ask if the innkeeper has some daughters he will allow us to play with,” Feelcom suggested and laughed. He licked his lips like he wasn’t concerned if he found consensual pleasure or not. He clearly wanted his selfish desires satisfied either by consent or force. It would be all the same to him.
Mykal saw Feelcom as being the instigator of trouble. Obviously he wasn’t as concerned with going against his commander as the others were. Mykal believed it was this type of soldier that Fronpar feared his wife and daughter would come in contact with. Thus Fronpar said he would release Doninka to the officers personally.
While Mykal listened to them he saw the rear of the column approaching and the horse drawn carriage was pulling up the rear. Mykal saw there were still two drivers and he believed there were four soldiers guarding William inside the primitive vehicle. Mykal’s heart nearly skipped a beat. He didn’t want to miss an opportunity to kill William, but he didn’t want to sound an alarm either.
‘What the hell am I gonna do?’ He wondered while he listened to the four men joke and laugh. At the same time the slow moving craft was putting distance between them and Mykal. ‘How in the world do I get myself in these crazy situations?’ He asked in thought and had to laugh. ‘If I was to explain this to someone they would say I was crazy and making it up.’
As the armed caravan slowly pulled away the four men who were looking to quench their thirst all turned and walked several feet away from the front of the tavern to a hitching rail to secure their horses and they leaned their spears against the building. Mykal watched and wondered why they would do that and realized there wasn’t a hitching rail in front of the business. It made sense since the horses would leave large piles of manure that would be messy and smelly and would probably hurt business. An odd thought struck him that he would have to check out old western movies a little closer when he had the chance because he always remembered westerns as having ‘hitchin’ posts’ right in front of the business the cowboy heroes always entered. ‘But it makes sense cuz horses have to do their bidness as Roy Jr. would say. When they gotta go, they gots to go and it would be messy and smelly’ he chuckled at the odd thought.
This also gave Mykal a great opportunity. While still invisible he slowly lifted the two boards that served as locks on the inside of the doors. He gently set them down and hoped the women didn’t see them get removed for fear of thinking ghosts were at work. He managed to set both down and opened the door just enough to squeeze himself through to get outside and the women didn’t seem to notice. The four men approached him from where they secured their mounts. They were laughing while they discussed what they wanted to do to individual wenches or should they be forced to settle on one, they would be happy enough to share the same female if it came down to that.
Mykal turned visible and leaned against the building as if he had been standing there all along. With his camouflaged uniform he was sure the men wouldn’t notice he just appeared due to the fact he was standing in the shadows. He suddenly realized his face still had the cammy face paint which would make him look strange to say the least. He tried to play it off and hoped he could bluff them into leaving. His nervousness soared since he had no idea what he was going to say or more importantly how they would react.
“Excuse me gentlemen,” Mykal said politely with a friendly smile. “The bar is closed. There is no one there to serve you until the day light hours of operation occur.”
The four muscular men stopped
and looked at each other and then back to Mykal. “We just need to quench our thirst with a strong drink,” Feelcom, the trouble maker, said and eyed Mykal’s strange looking clothing as well as his stranger looking face.
Mykal held his Glock 17 with the silencer in his hand down along the side of his sword. He hoped it looked like it was all a part of the sword and maybe they wouldn’t notice it since he was out numbered. “The innkeeper is down for the night and asked not to be disturbed. I was sent here by Commander Fronpar to ensure his wishes were obeyed. After the disturbance earlier that led to the fire there was much work and once again, the innkeeper has retired for the night.”
Feelcom looked to his three men and then turned back to Mykal. “What is the innkeeper’s name? We would like to ask if he would spare some spirits, so that we four may take some fine drink on the road with us.”
Mykal didn’t know if he should try to lie. “I do not know the man’s name. I was sent here for a specific task.”
“Were you sent here with other people?” Mootmass asked. He was the older and wiser looking of the four.
“Yes. Commander Fronpar sent two soldiers with his wife, his daughter and another woman who is a guest of the family,” Mykal replied calmly which caused the four to stir uncomfortably.”
“We would like to speak to the two soldiers and the three women,” Mootmass said and the four men snuck glances to each other as if they had just stumbled upon a secret.
“We promise to be kind to the women,” Feelcom said and laughed. He sounded like he was trying to joke but it came across as a perverted suggestion due to his cravings of ‘wine, women and song.’
“They have moved on to another location,” Mykal said calmly and his story and words flowed smoothly as if he had prepared the message earlier. “After we arrived here, the innkeeper prepared a quick meal, they ate, and then the five moved on to a safer destination while I was ordered to remain here. My understanding, based on Commander Fronpar’s words, there was an attack that took place earlier to capture the third woman in the group. He felt she was in grave danger and wanted her to be taken away until the day light hours while Commander Fronpar and his men would battle the fires that arose because of the attacks.”
“Do you know who conducted such an attack?” Stanglehold asked and looked to his friends.
“Who would be so brazen to try such a deed?” Mootmass asked.
“Or who would be so stupidly foolish?” Feelcom said just as Mootmass got his words out. He tugged on his own scraggly beard and eyed Mykal with a hint of mistrust.
“I do not know. I was given orders to come here and watch over the Tavern on the Mound.”
“May I ask where do you come from?” Heapret, the large redhead asked. “Your speech sounds different and why do you dress so different?”
“Ah, very good question,” Mykal said with a friendly laugh. “Commander Fronpar came up with this ingenious idea and suggested this may be the trend in the days to come. Commander Fronpar suggested such clothing and such face paint to help hide one when one is in the dark or amid trees and brush. He says that it helps to conceal one’s presence. I would say I agree. You four did not notice my presence until you nearly stumbled over me,” he chuckled and deliberately avoided answering the question relating to where he came from. “I personally think Commander Fronpar has come up with an ingenious idea,” Mykal lied and used his hands to point to his uniform.
Heapret the large redhead seemed a little confused. “I would say, if you are ordered to guard the tavern, there must be a very good reason for guarding an inn,” Heapret suggested. “What reason would there be for standing guard over a tavern unless there was someone of great importance inside,” the redhead submitted and tried to look past Mykal into the closed door. “It would not make much sense to guard a sleeping bar keep unless he would be a person of great importance,” Heapret added to bolster his view. “Who of great importance is resting inside?” The quiet redhead suddenly became very talkative.
“I believe the wench we were sent here to deliver to the One is in there,” Feelcom said and snarled his words. “I need to get inside the tavern to ensure she is not inside these walls,” he suggested but he didn’t sound to be asking. “We four can inspect the tavern quickly or we will come back and inspect the premises with our entire group,” he added and nodded to the force that just rode up the road. He was hoping to be allowed inside so he could confiscate some strong drink and maybe find a female who would be a willing party to the games he desired to play.
Mykal knew he wasn’t going to win the discussion. “Sure,” he said with a friendly smile. “You may inspect the premises so long as you do not wake the innkeeper. I was ordered not to allow him to be disturbed,” he added and continued to smile while he raised his Glock 17 and fired off two rounds into the chubby face of Feelcom who flopped backward without knowing what hit him. Mykal quickly adjusted his hand and fired another two rounds into the face of Heapret the big redhead. ‘Big Red’ crumpled like a sack of red bricks. The other two didn’t know what happened but instinctively jerked backward when two of them dropped suddenly like dead weight. It came as a shock that there was hardly any noise and no contact, yet the two experienced warriors dropped and began to bleed freely.
The two men reached to pull their swords as they stepped backward. Mykal readjusted his direction again and fired off two more rounds striking Stanglehold in the forehead and the left eye before he could raise his sword. Mootmass raised his sword but Mykal turned invisible and stepped backward. Mootmass froze in place as if he couldn’t believe what just happened in a matter of moments. He blinked a couple of times and looked at the bleeding bodies before him. He knew his three friends were dead but they never uttered a sound. The man with the funny clothes and odd looking face paint never got within striking distance and yet all three of his friends were dead within moments and displayed ghastly wounds.
Mykal pulled his sword and stepped to the side. He swung the weapon to ignite the red flame, the bright burning blade appeared and then he turned visible which took Mootmass completely by surprise. “You seem like the wisest of the four. That is why I didn’t kill you,” Mykal declared. “If you wish to live you will drop your weapon right now.”
The muscular warrior, who looked as if he had seen his share of battles and probably won countless times, at the moment he seemed to hyperventilate as he hesitated to decide what course of action to take. Mykal knew the man wasn’t fearful to face another warrior. He believed the man’s fear presented itself because of the magic Mykal employed. Magic was forbidden. The man quickly dropped his weapon and held his hands out before him with his palms up to show he had no weapons. “I wish you no trouble my friend. Honestly I did not desire to stop here. I was only following the lead of my friends,” he added and nodded to the bodies bleeding on the walk way.
“I know,” Mykal agreed and held his sword toward the man. “You wanted the rest to ride away because you didn’t want to incur the wrath of the commander. I don’t have a problem with you, meaning if you help me I will let you live or if you hinder me I will kill you just like these guys who wanted to see if the innkeeper had any daughters you guys could play with,” he added to show Mootmass that Mykal heard everything.
“Please my Lord, I beg you for your forgiveness,” Mootmass said sadly and dropped down to his knees and held his hands up in a submissive manner. “My days of being a soldier are nearly at an end. I desire nothing more than to retire to spend time with my family and grandchildren.”
“Okay, I’m running outta time. I will allow you to prove to me if you wanna see your grandchildren again or not.”
“Yes my Lord, I will do all that you ask.”
“Do you know who is in that carriage you guys have with you?” Mykal asked.
“I do not know who the person is other than he is an important catch for the Supreme Ruler,” Mootmass explained. “It is very important that we brought him here to identify the female we were supposed
to collect. She would be with the women who are with Commander Fronpar’s wife and daughter. I do not know her importance either. I only know we were tasked with taking her back to the Supreme Ruler’s castle.”
“Okay, first of all do you have any other weapons on you?” Mykal asked.
“Yes, I have a dagger in my belt and an axe attached to the back of my belt,” Mootmass confessed.
“Slowly drop them on the ground,” Mykal ordered and put his sword in its sheath. He raised his Glock 17 and pointed it to Mootmass. “This is the weapon I killed your friends with. It is much more deadly than any blade you carry as you have witnessed with your own eyes. If you try my patience or if you don’t do what I tell you to do, I will kill you just as quickly as I killed them and then I’ll be on my way. If you help me, I will let you live and you will be able to spend your retirement days enjoying your grandchildren. The choice is yours.”
“Yes my Lord,” he replied and humbly lowered his head while he unfastened his belt which allowed his small battle axe and dagger to drop to the ground.
“Now, get up. I want you to go into this door and tell Doninka, that is her name, Doninka. Tell Doninka that Mykal and Towbar and Commander Fronpar sent you here to bring her out. She will know that it is me requesting that she come out. Tell the other two women to remain seated because Commander Fronpar is just a few minutes behind you. Mootmass, I’m telling you right now, I will kill you and I will kill those two women if things get out of hand. The two soldiers in there are dead and the women don’t know it yet. The three women are sitting at a table in the back and the two soldiers are at different tables and it appears they are sleeping. So speak somewhat quietly like you are trying not to disturb them, but the truth is I don’t want the innkeeper to be awakened.”
