5th Galena, 208
No!
Poor little Musher.
A goblin snatcher came out of hiding, and rather than steal the nineteen day old baby away from his mother, chose to slice his arm off. I'm sending Fischer in to deal with the scum. Here's hoping she ends him slowly.
Let there be a day of mourning for Musher, son of Mincer and Uvash.
It is a sad day when a child dies... It is a sadder day when a child has not yet had a chance to live.
Fischer, the smart man that she is, took the goblin down in fifteen seconds instead of the half second it would've taken her normally. She cut its arm off, replicating what it did to Musher, watched it collapse in pain, recover, attempt to crawl away, before she ripped it to shreds, and left it to bleed out.
She came back in with a grim look on his face, and the head of the goblin.
"Reudh, I approve of what you did just then," she said. "Here, you might want this. Show Spearbreakers how you deal with enemies, and hopefully you can recover from your initial blunder."
She flicked the head at me lightly, but with the strength she has, it was like someone had thrown an arrow at me. I managed to catch it but not without bruising.
The spinning Dostngosp Snustkutsmob's head strikes Lord Reudh in the upper arm, bruising the skin!
Fischer leaves, grumbling "I need to clean this filth's viscera off myself. Be back soon, 'Lord'."
Perhaps my order has redeemed me, in Fischer's eyes. That's a good thing, right?
I called everyone available to the main hall, gingerly carrying head by the hair, occasionally dashing it against the rock walls as I walked.
Most of the dwarves I passed smiled, although No-Hair squeaked with horror and hurried Some-Hair away from the grisly sight. I hopped up onto the table, twisted Dostngosp's head's nose so hard it broke, and began to speak.
"Dwarves of Spearbreakers! I come to you in a time of grief. Our dear friend Mincer, and his wife Uvash, have just lost their son to goblin scum. He caught Uvash while she was hard at work, and she paid the price for it. I come to you bearing the scum's head."
A roar of both outrage and commiseration came from the crowd. I caught a glimpse of Fischer in the background, newly cleaned of the filthy guts of Dostngosp, nod slowly.
Splint stood near her, ever ready to intercept if I became foolish. It was his job as baron, after all. Accompanying him was his Baron's Hammers, Thumper, Crusher and Rose. Rose! She must've liked my gift so much! I haven't heard anything from her since I gave it, but she appears to be wearing it in an amulet made of-- hair.
Hair that's red.
My hair is red.
Oh god, did she come into my room?
Stammering slightly, I continued.
"I sent Fischer alone to track down the scum. I know that he would find him quickly and make his pain slow and intense. She returns."
Everyone turned to her and cheered. Fischer looked a bit grumpy by the fawning adoration, and redirected the crowd back to me with a swift manouvre.
"My friends, do not thank me. I am merely the grunt that carried out the order. It was Lord Reudh's thirst for vengeance that gave me the order to hunt the filth. Lord Reudh made the call."
And with that, the crowd turned back to me. "Lord Reudh! Lord Reudh! Lord Reudh!" they cried.
Oh, how pleasing. I let a smile pass over my face.
"Mincer, Uvash, I present the head of your biggest foe to you to do as you wish. With your permission, I shall build a memorial slab to little Musher."
They quietly nodded. Mincer accepted the head, hefted it about from hand to hand, before tearing its nose off and throwing it to a stray dog. He silently handed it to Uvash, who popped both of the head's eyes out, then ripped at its hair. Mincer took it back, and ripped both ears off with two twists of his hand, throwing more scraps to the dog. The crowd thought this was great, it was like a public execution to them. They roared with pleasure, "VENGEANCE!"
Oh, wow, how amazing the mob is. I feel myself swept up along with them. As a final gesture, Mincer and Uvash held one side of the bloody and misshapen head, and simultaneously punched their fists together, caving the head in. The head slipped from their grasp, shattered and beaten to a pulp, barely recognisable as a goblin, where it was pounced on by a giant emu, terrifying tall creature looked at the head, drummed at us all, marking the head as "This is mine now", and picked it up by the eye socket to take it away and eat it.
The crowd cheered. I was oddly... happy. Rose appeared happy too. I would call this a rousing political success. Fischer even smiled. Splint gave me an evil grin, mouthed the words "well done" at me, and walked back to his room, followed by the Baron's Hammers.
The giant emu, thinking we were congratulating it on its acquisition, pranced around on its ungainly feet, drummed thrice more, then left the room in peace.
What a day. Whew.
((Oddly enough, Uvash and Mincer are both still ecstatic from the birth, so his death hasn't even affected them. "Oh, we can have another one." "Sounds like a plan."))
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2281513 times)