In a grave and grim humor, I present you with an update.
Hans and Urist awoke inside the barracks, tied to chairs quite firmly. Hans was first awake, and he quietly hummed to himself for the few minutes it took Urist to wake up. Hans said, "You okay?"
Urist strained against the bonds a bit, but they were tied far too well. "I'm okay. My knee hurts and I'm a bit sore everywhere, but I'm alive. What about you, Hans?"
Hans shrugged, unconcernedly, "Oh, I'm alright. Neck's a wee bit sore. Nothing too bothersome though. Wonder why the barracks is empty?" The last was said in a curious musing tone of voice.
Urist gritted his teeth grimly, "Promotes disorientation, allows the interrogator to make a suitable entrance, and allows us time to reveal precious information to anyone listening."
As he finished speaking, the door banged open, Fischer stormed in furiously and said, "Bastard, weren't supposed to tell the half wit that." She punched Urist heavily in the face, and his chair fell over sideways, bouncing his head off the stone floor. A couple other militia dwarves came in behind Fischer and righted Urist's chair. Fischer said, "Why did you help the spy? You both were level-headed, good dwarves before these events."
Hans shrugged, "She's a nice lady." He received the butt of a sword in his stomach from one of the militadwarves. Hans gasped for breath, and Fischer cussed at him for a few minutes.
Finally, her rage subsided, and she continued a bit more calmly, "We'll start with Urist. I never liked him much anyway." She grabbed Urist's chair and skidded him across the floor in front of Hans. Once in place facing Hans, she spitefully tipped the chair forward. Urist landed heavily on his face, and his nose started bleeding as the two dwarves righted him again. "I want to know why you helped that little rat-bitch."
Urist gritted his teeth and said nothing. Fischer waited an interminable amount of time behind him, silent and implacable. Finally, she stepped in front of him, and kicked his cracked knee from the side. Urist yelped in pain, and Fischer punched him in his nose. As the blood poured out of his face, she slapped him. Then again. She stopped for a moment, visibly controlling her rage with an iron will. When she finally calmed down again, she said, "You will not like it if I have to ask you again."
Hans glared at her from behind her back and said, "I use ta like ya, miss Fischer. You was a good boss and a tough soldier. Now you're just being a bitch." Fischer turned and smiled sweetly at him for a moment.
Then she turned back and punched Urist viciously in the stomach. As he gasped in pain, she kneed him in the face, knocking his chair over for the third time. She turned back to Hans and punched him square in the nose. Hans took the blow grimly, and she punched him again. When the second punch didn't have an effect, she turned back to Urist.
Hans cried, "Wait!"
Silence reigned in the room, and Urist inwardly groaned. As bad as the beating was, now Fischer knew what their collective weakness was. Hans didn't want to see Urist hurt any more.
Fischer turned to Hans, and gestured at the two militadwarves to pick up Urist and bring him close. She grabbed Urist's hair, and smiled once more at Hans. She said, "Do you have something you would like to tell me?"
Hans sighed, and looked at Urist. Urist shook his head, and received a brutal backhand for it. Hans grunted, and said, "No."
Fischer looked at him grimly, and asked, "No?"
"No." Hans said it adamantly.
The beating began. Fischer lifted Urist by his hair, and shook him. She dropped the chair and kicked it over to one side forcefully. Before it even finished bouncing, she was on Urist. She kicked him in the face, then the stomach. She stomped on the side of his knee before he could even register the first two attacks. Fischer paused for a second, letting the two dwarves right Urist again, then started calmly punching him. The face, the stomach, the nose, the ears, she kept it random, striking at a different target every time. Urist began to scream as she beat him viciously, and finally, after what seemed like an age, Hans cried out again, "Stop! I'll tell you! Just stop before you kill him!"
Urist wanted to reproach Hans, but he couldn't. He could only thank him mentally. Urist was in almost more pain than he'd ever been in before in his life, and none of the injuries was truly serious.
Fischer stalked in front of Hans, and said, "Are you sure this time? If you try to resist again, I will kill him. No amount of pleading will change that if you don't tell me now."
Hans had tears in his eyes, but he said, "The little miss wanted her bracelet. It was important to her somehow. I don't know anything about no spying, that's all I know.'
Fischer nodded, and turned to Urist. She said, "Urist. Look at me." She let him recover for a moment, then said, "Urist, if you don't tell me why you helped that little spy, why you betrayed all of us, then I will kill Hans. I will kill him more horribly than you can possibly imagine. I'll feed him to the spawn if I have to. TELL ME."
Urist wasn't crying but he was sobbing, "Okay... Okay. She saved my life. Before, in the Spawn Research Center. I owed her. And I wasn't going to let her rot in that dungeon with the spawn. I didn't know anything about any spying either."
Fischer grinned coldly, "And after you realized she was an elf... What then? Why did you keep helping her?"
Urist knew what was next, but he gritted his teeth and replied honestly, "I owed her. Elf or no elf. A debt of honor is a debt of honor." Fischer didn't beat him like before, but she socked him solidly in the mouth and then stomped on the foot she'd stomped on in their fight. Just enough to bring back the pain.
Fischer shook her head, almost amused at this point, "Well, I have what I need to know." She turned to one of the militia dwarves, "Awl, go to Mr Frog, tell him I know what I need to know. Then go to Splint and tell him to continue with the planned executions of these two. Noon today." She turned away from Urist and Hans, letting the other dwarf slide their chairs to their original positions, and stalked out of the room.
Urist asked the dwarf before he could leave, "What time is it? I'd like to know how long until I die."
The dwarf avoided Urist's eyes, and said, "It's the eleventh hour. You don't have any time left."
Urist and Hans sat in a sober silence for a long time, then Hans said, "I'm sorry I stopped her."
Urist laughed hysterically for a moment, then said, "It's okay, Hans. I thank you for that. I couldn't bear it any more. You did the right thing."
Time ticked away, far too fast for the two condemned.
Soon, dwarves filed in with chairs, setting them up on either side of the two chairs, facing Hans and Urist. Then, the Hammerer came in with two large stone blocks and set them in front of Hans and Urist on the floor. A squad of soldiers came in and untied the bonds on the two condemned's upper body and arms, and retied them to the stones. Once this was done, the soldiers took seats. Last to arrive was Fischer, and she took up a perch near the doors, leaning against the wall, a self-satisfied smile on her face.
The Hammerer, a dwarf named Weaver, unfurled a short scroll, and said, "By order of the current Overseer, Splint, soon to be baron of the mighty fortress Spearbreakers, the two dwarves before us are hereby deemed traitors to the dwarven nation. They have committed the highest crime, that of treason, of aiding and abetting an enemy spy, of assaulting the noble warriors of this fortress in mortal combat, and of casting shame on their clans. For these crimes, they are hereby sentenced to death by hammerstrike, to be carried out immediately by me, Weaver, Sanctioned Hammerer of Lokumokab. May Armok be pleased by the blood shed today." Weaver handed the scroll to a dwarf in the front row, and picked up his hammer.
Weaver raised his hammer high, held two handed, and brought it down viciously.
"STOP!" An authoritative voice cried from the doorway. Weaver paused curiously, and turned to look at the mysterious cloaked figure in the doorway. All the dwarves turned, murmuring to themselves at this imposing figure.
Fischer started forward and said gruffly, "Explain yourself!" Her step faltered and her eyes widened slightly, then narrowed just as suddenly. She growled dangerously, "You again..." She grabbed her pike and stalked forwards, "This will be the last time."
Just as Fischer came into range of the suddenly much less imposing figure, the figure waved about a piece of parchment furiously and said, "Wait! Mr Frog wanted me to bring this to you!"
Fischer took the piece of paper roughly, and scanned it quickly. Her dangerous eyes flicked back up at the figure, and she spat out, "I hope you know what you getting into, runt." She turned to the crowd of curious dwarves and nearly snarled, "Show's over people. Mr Frog pardoned them. Weaver, release them."
Weaver set his hammer down, more than a little disappointed, and cut the ropes off the two dwarves. Urist and Hans stood up carefully, and gazed on their rescuer.
Vanya.
She nearly sprinted across the room, and threw her arms around Urist in a tight hug. "Urist, I'm so glad you're alive!" She said it so happily. Urist was stunned for a moment, then found himself returning the hug. He felt old emotions well up in his throat, and coldly shut it down before it could show. He couldn't shut down the pain from her tight hug.
The accumulated bruises and cuts from Fischer's violent beating ached throughout him, and Vanya's hug was pressing tightly on more than a few of them. Urist gasped out, "Be careful. Be a little gentler. I'm glad to see you too." The last was out of his mouth before he could stop it, and it was a tiny leak in his dam of self control.
Hans stepped a bit closer to the two of them and said, "Good ta see ya missus. I thought we weren't comin back from that scrape." His smile was a little forced, the events of the last few hours weighing heavily on his simple mind.
Vanya gushed, "I'm sorry, I came as fast as I could." She examined them both carefully, noting the bruises and cuts. "Are you both all right?"
Urist cut off Hans before Hans could say anything about the torture, "We are fine, Vanya."
Vanya went a little white and she furtively looked around the room, "V... Call me 'V' when we're not alone." She whispered, obviously hoping none of the lingering dwarves had heard.
Urist nodded, and said, "All right, but why did Mr Frog order our release?" He wanted to ask why Vanya wasn't dead, but he thought that would be a bit crass.
Vanya bit her lip and looked away as she said, "I promised Mr Frog I would work with him if he let you go..." She seemed ashamed.
Urist and Hans gaped at her openmouthed, neither able to speak. Hans wasn't able to speak because he couldn't quite understand how this had helped, and Urist because he was so overcome with admiration for her. Vanya continued somewhat ashamedly, "I didn't have any choice. I couldn't let them kill either one of you."
Hans looked at her pityingly, knowing full well Mr Frog's reputation, and said, "When are you supposed to start workin' for the dwarf, you know?"
Vanya gaze dropped to the floor, and she appeared to examine her shoes quite thoroughly as she said, "Right now..." She looked up at Urist, almost pleadingly, and said, "But I wanted to spend some time with you first..."
Urist almost choked up at this, but before he could speak, Hans said, "Mr Frog ain't one to cross. You better get back there quick." He looked away, a bit uncomfortable suddenly, "Anyhow, I'll say it's been a wild time, but I better get back home." He looked at her, and said almost fervently, "And thank you again, missus." Hans didn't wait for them to reply, he turned a left.
Urist looked over her, trying not to let his feelings show. If things had been different, he would have swept her up and kissed her. He would have poured out his admiration. But things were not different. Instead, Urist stroked his beard and said, "Hans is right, V... Mr Frog can be a dangerous dwarf when he feels like it, if the rumors can be believed. And we'd expected to die as we tried to save your life." The last felt cruel to Urist, but he didn't want to get her hopes up just to crush them again immediately.
She smiled very sadly, and pushed him gently. She said, "I had to rescue you, Urist. I couldn't let you die."
Urist tried to ignore her soft hands pushing at him, and failed quite miserably, "But to force yourself into Mr Frog's employment... Why would you do that? You must have heard the stories too."
Vanya looked him square in the eyes, and her sad smile evaporated. Urist was suddenly struck by how beautiful her eyes were, and she said, very softly, "Urist." Urist loved how his name sounded in her voice. An ugly word, dagger, transformed by her lovely voice. Her next words were barely audible, the quietest whisper, "I had to." He looked her carefully in the eyes, his throat squeezed shut as if by a steel band. He felt what was radiating out from her, in her body language, the way she formed her words, the way she was looking at him.
She loved him.
Urist couldn't let himself falter. This was not meant to be. Mr Frog was going to take her from him within the next instant, as soon as this conversation was over. Urist could not tell her how he felt. For a long moment, he was silently forcing his emotions down. When he felt he could, he nodded, then spoke, and to his relief, there was no quaver of emotion in his voice, "Thank you, Vanya. You've saved my life twice now, and I won't ever forget that." He meant it, with every fiber of his being. He would dream of this beautiful elf maiden for the rest of his life, every single night.
Vanya looked down for a second, and her face was twisted gently, sadly into a frown. She said, "But what if I never see you again?"
Urist softly said, "Armok willing, you will. But thank you. You've given me new hope. My best wishes to you, V." He wanted to say more, to say her full name again, to say anything more. Instead, he kissed her gently on the forehead, eyes desperately screwed shut so she wouldn't see the tears building, and turned away. He walked out of the room, brushing roughly through the milling crowd, and into the hallway.
Once out of the room, the tears flowed freely down his cheeks. For the first time since his wife had left him, Urist cried tears of grief. He staggered through the fortress in a haze, when Hans swept up beside him and grabbed his forearm gently. Hans gently tugged Urist along, quietly saying, "Urist, it's okay. C'mon Urist, let's go get you a drink. It's okay."
That night, Urist cried himself to sleep.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2278123 times)