“Johnny, no! Don’t do it! Mother’s watching! She’s watching! Wait!”
She struggled to slow him down, let alone stop him. Johnny kept moving forward, one small half-foot step after another. That mountain of fat imbued with black malice was unstoppable. If he couldn’t get to me, he would just beat up his allies. The man-faced bitch had recovered from the kick to her stomach and would be the first to feel his anger.
“Show them who’s boss, Johnny! Smash ‘em! Smash! Crush them!” She bleated from the floor.
“Shut your mouth, bitch!” The other girl, who was clinging to Johnny’s arm, kicked her in the jaw. She tried to dodge, but couldn’t — her teeth rattled and she whimpered, covering her mouth with her hands. She must have bitten her tongue. That had to hurt.
A dome passed by above us. I grabbed Yorka, still yelling, by the shoulder and dragged her after me. She resisted. I growled angrily and pulled harder. I would need to do something about our party’s discipline. Turning back, I made my face look frightened — dropped my jaw, widened my eyes, and tensed my shoulders — as though I was expecting a hit, and shrank back in fear. My performance was noticed. Not by the fatso and his henchmen, but by their subconscious minds. A signal rang out in their heads, saying ‘These goblins are scared! They’re afraid of us! They’re running! After them!’
I turned sharply and dragged Yorka behind a corner. After a few quick steps, I glanced at the ceiling, dragged her closer, then pushed her forward:
“Stay low and run to the next corner. Wait for me there!”
A booming roar came from the hallway at our backs:
“I’m gonna kill you!”
“What about you?” She had only just come to her senses, still clenching her fist and breathing raggedly.
“Do it!” I barked, turning around. “Run! Don’t look back!”
Her retreating footsteps told me that she had followed my orders. I reached under the sling with my right hand and pulled something out, gripping it in my hand. I stepped forward and to the side, then slashed at Johnny’s thick throat as he ran past. I took a small step to the side so I could reach the girl who was pushing his back. She got her neck slashed next. I just had to reach out a little further this time. Without looking at the two of them, I hugged the wall. As soon as the last of the three turned the corner, I punched her in the face, forcing her head to tilt back, then slit her throat. I jumped back hastily, barely standing on my trembling legs, and leaned against the opposite wall. I waited until she staggered, still not realizing what had happened, then wiped the thing that had killed her on her back. I ran clumsily past Johnny and his girlfriend, who had slumped to the blood-soaked floor.
“Let’s go.”
“What?”
“Problem solved.”
“Solved? But… Where are they, Elb? What did you tell them? That was so stupid of me to yell all that bullshit… He’s gonna ruin our lives, that’s for sure! Listen… Let’s just run away. Right now. We can go to Murkwaters! I’ve heard Drainagetown is a fine place to lay low. Johnny won’t follow us there, he’s too fat and lazy. This place is his hunting ground. Elb, listen… Elb! Say something! I’m such an idiot, I screwed us! How bad is it? Where are they? Did you buy us some time? Let’s get to the clux as fast as we can. I’ll help you run! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, it all just kind of came out!”
“Stop it,” I ordered.
“But… I really didn’t mean to… Just... When I saw his ugly face… When I remembered…”
“Shut up!”
“All right…”
“Take a good look at me. What do you see?” I stopped and turned around slowly. “What do you see?”
“An ugly goblin.” Yorka muttered, passing her hand over her face. “Phew. There’s a dome here. We’re lucky.”
“That’s all you see?”
“Yeah. What am I supposed to see?”
“Nothing.” I smiled. “Let’s go.”
It was a clean job. I wasn’t stained with treacherously bright blood. Sure, it gets dark, but not as quickly as I needed it to. It wouldn’t have passed for grease or dirt.
“What did you do?”
That was an understandable question. She had come to her senses and realized something was off. We were being chased, and then her leader had ordered her to hide behind a corner. A few minutes later I showed up, told her everything was fine and no one was chasing us.
“I dealt with them, once and for all.” I said shortly, and raised my left arm. “With this.”
“Sweet mother of God!” Yorka gasped, turning pale.
I watched how she reacted. Was she going to recoil? No. She did the opposite — grabbed my good hand and dragged me after her, trying to get us running.
“What’s wrong with you? Why did you do that?! I mean, they were bastards... Scumbags… They’ve ruined so many lives… But you just… Just…”
“Yep.”
“With this?”
“Yeah.”
“Who are you, goblin? What you’ve done is just… We have to run...”
