If Johnny was smarter and sharper-tongued, he might have been able to strike back verbally. But he had never been faced with mockery like this before. It was a new situation for him. A humiliating one. He was flustered, and couldn’t seem to get his thoughts together.
“You... I’ll...”
“Shut up!” My voice rang with steel, and Johnny stopped in mid-sentence.
I stood up and leaned forward a little. Gesturing at Yorka with my chin, I did my best to hammer every word like a nail into his tiny head.
“She’s a good person. She decided to just walk away. She’s paid her debt, the problem is solved. She convinced me, even. So, listen to me, Johnny, you fat fuck. I’ll give you and your gang one chance, and I recommend you take it. We’re even. Nobody owes anyone anything.”
“I’ll kill you...” The fat lion hissed.
“You want me to keep going, pork sausage?” I asked, letting the steel fade from my tone. “Or have you finally figured out you can’t fight me with words? Fuck off!”
“I’ll mutilate you... Make you a worm... I’ll come find you every day and — ”
“Look at this, goblins! A talking tub of lard!” I shouted. “Praise decay for bringing lard to life!”
“I’m gonna...”
“Let’s go.” The woman grabbed Johnny by the shoulder. She was stately and tall, with eye-catching curves, and well-dressed, too.
It worked. Johnny turned around, with all the elegance of a hippo that had shit its stockings, and walked away. He was still trying to turn back to me, but the woman had his arm in a vice grip and wouldn’t let him. The others followed her. Who was the real leader of their gang? No, not the leader... The gray eminence behind the throne with a knockout chest. I noticed her glancing backwards and shouted:
“Don’t try anything with us! Or I’ll use my elven flower. Anyone who comes near us will suffer, mark my words! Anyone! Nobody messes with the elven flower!”
Johnny twisted fiercely, trying to break free. His companions stopped him and dragged him away. The woman cast one more thoughtful look in my direction. I would have bet my arms that everyone who heard me was wondering one thing:
“Now we’re definitely fucked,” Yorka said emphatically and laughed out loud, slamming the table with her palm. “But I don’t regret it! At least for now. But I don’t regret it at all! What was that you called him? What a riot!”
She was twisted over with laughter. I couldn’t resist smiling either, and hope that we could resolve the situation peacefully rose in me again.
“What are we going to do now?” Yorka asked me once she stopped laughing. “Kill each other ourselves? I’ll do you first!”
“We go about our lives as usual, that’s all.” I had my answer ready.
“Are you kidding me? This is war! We can’t even leave the clux — they could catch us on any path!”
“No, they can’t,” I disagreed. “We’re not idiots. Breathe, Yorka! Calm down! Everything’s gonna be all right!”
“Yeah, great, that makes me feel so much better. And what the hell was that you said about an elven flower? What’s that?”
“Quiet!” I hissed.
“What flower?”
“You saw it.”
“Are you crazy? That’s just some useless trash you found in a trash heap!”
“But they don’t know that,” I answered.
“So what? Do you think they believed a single word?”
“I have no idea. My job was to keep talking. I kept talking. Now it’s up to them whether they believe me or not.”
“And the elven flower... You... You...”
“Are we forming a party?”
“Yeah,” Yorka sighed. “Nothing left to lose.”
“The pose is pretty weird,” I admitted, approaching Yorka and putting my hand on her shoulder. She did the same thing. I raised my other hand and we froze in that strange pose, staring at the dome. We waited for about two minutes. Maybe the system was checking to see how serious these two goblins were.
Create permanent party: Eleven, Ninety-One?
Yes / No.
Emotionless and dry as usual. It was even a little insulting. Where was the fanfare and fireworks?
