Chapter 3 An Awful Idea.

Thomas had a choice to make. Let the sleeping magic take him and hope they didn’t search him while he was asleep or down the Wakening potion he had hidden in his coat. He had a split second to decide before the spell made the decision for him. He knew that someone would try to at least find a form of identification on him once he was out cold. He also knew that if they went searching through his clothes they would find a lot of things that no caravanner would have on their person. ‘Well, that makes that decision for me.’ He grumbled internally and lurched forwards drunkenly and ‘spilled’ the contents of the bottle on the floor.

In one quick and smooth motion Thomas slipped the Wakening potion out of the pocket on the inside of his coat and flicked the cap off. He took a large step forwards while tipping it back and swallowing it. All signs of drunkenness were gone. The potion of poison resistance he drank before entering had made sure the drunkenness would be purely a show. The drink he spilled on himself before entering made sure that he wouldn’t need to drink too much before a truly drunken state would seem realistic. “Get him!” A voice yelled from behind Thomas.

‘Time to play.’ Thomas thought to himself and threw the now empty bottle at the first of the patrons to move. Thomas lunged and jumped on top of the table that was between him and the door. He made it across two more tables before he ducked to the side. He heard a sound that reminded him of someone bracing a crossbow. The sound of wood sliding on cloth into place and slight clink of gravity affecting the internal metal parts tipped him off. The slight rattle of wood in a metal track only assured him of its presence. The fletching of the crossbow bolt left a tiny cut on the edge of Thomas’s ear as it flew past him before lodging itself in the old wooden door. ‘That was close.’

Him ducking to the side to avoid the bolt made the table he was on tip to the side. He deftly shoved off the still falling table and landed on his feet in a run. He was almost to the door. Once outside they wouldn’t be able to chase him. One ‘patron’ made it to the door before him. Thomas ducked under the man’s right hook and shouldered him into the door before grabbing his shirt and shoving him out of the way. Thomas could hear the rest of the ‘patrons’ chasing after him. He grabbed the door handle and pushed. The door didn’t budge. ‘Shit.’ He grumbled internally.

Thomas reached into his coat with his left hand and turned to face the incoming gang while throwing the three throwing spikes that were hidden inside. One would have struck true but the burly man it was aimed at ended up catching it with his palm. The spike almost passed completely through, almost. The second missed everyone and lodged itself into the bar while the third punched into a smaller man’s shoulder. Thomas now faced the gang with his back to door and held up his hands. “Now just wait a moment fellas.” He spoke and swallowed hard. The odds were not in his favor. One against eight. One of the eight had a spike in his hand, one had a spike in his shoulder, one was pushing himself up off the ground a few feet to Thomas’s side, the barkeep was reloading his crossbow and the others formed a ring around him. ‘Why did I sign up for this?’ Thomas grumbled internally.

“Just come quietly Edger.” One of the closest men told Thomas. “We just want to know who sent you.” He was lying. Thomas could read everyone he met like a book. Even Isaac to some extent. The man that spoke had every intention of killing him once he wrung out any information the spy had.

“The guy that hired me will know it was you that got me regardless. Just let me go and you all can get going before he shows up. You’ll have a nice head start.” Thomas promised. “Killing me won’t make a difference either way.” He assured them. “All of us can walk out of this.”

The barkeep finished reloading his crossbow and leveled it at Thomas. The man that Thomas had knocked down had joined the ring forming around him along with the two with throwing spikes sticking out of them. The fact that neither of the injured men removed the spikes spoke volumes of their training. The crossbow twanged and Thomas shifted to the side. The bolt hit his vest and ricocheted off the magically reinforced fabric and hit the door. ‘I’ll take that as a no.’ Thomas thought to himself and took the group’s moment of surprise to reach into his right sleeve with his left hand and draw his push dagger. He grabbed another set of three throwing spikes out of the left side of his coat with his right hand and met the first guy to lunge with his push dagger.

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“We… could have… all… walked out of this.” Thomas told the remaining gang members between deep labored breaths. He had a bolt sticking through his left forearm. It managed to miss the bones but was slowed by the magical reinforcements in his coat. All of the money spent on hiding the enchantments was worth it. He had his second push dagger still in his right hand but had managed to use up all of the throwing spikes before losing the ability to use his left hand. One dagger, two enemies.

“You won’t leave here alive.” The barkeep replied coldly as he walked out from behind the bar with a club the size of Thomas’s arm. The other remaining gang member pushed himself up off the ground and shook his head to clear it. Thomas hadn’t been able to kill that one because both of his hands were busy when he came at him. Thomas had kicked the man in the head and taken him out of commission for long enough to get rid of the rest of the melee combatants.

Thomas’s entire body hurt. He had half a dozen minor cuts across his arms and face, a bolt sticking out of his arm that had severed the tendons in said forearm, and a fractured rib from a stab that was intercepted by the magically enhanced clothing he was wearing. “We could call it a draw.” Thomas offered wearily. The barkeep and the other remaining gang member both lunged at him. ‘Or not.’ He grumbled internally.

Thomas sidestepped the descending club from the bar keep as he met the other gang member’s lunge with a push dagger to the nose. The magically enhanced blade punched through bone as if it were butter but it wasn’t long enough to kill the man. Thomas quickly pulled the dagger out and stabbed him two more times before jumping back and away from the barkeep. The stabbed man dropped to the ground crying out in pain from the three stab wounds on his face. Each one was an inch wide and two and a half inches deep. There had to have been some brain damage but most of the injuries were too low on his face to properly hit his brain.

The barkeep lunged again and swung horizontally at Thomas who took a step back up onto a chair and then again onto a table without looking. “Get down here!” The barkeep roared and kicked the edge of the table.

Thomas jumped backwards again as he did and landed behind the toppled table. “You don’t have to die, you know?” Thomas offered. His everything hurt and taking a prisoner was much better than killing them all anyway.

“I won’t let you live after everythin’ you’ve done.” The barkeep told Thomas and charged.

Thomas kicked a chair at the barkeep’s face causing him to bat it out of the way with the club and then lunged. He drove the push dagger into the larger man’s hand and then leaned back to avoid the back swing of the man’s club. Thomas kicked the man in the groin as he leaned back and caught himself from falling with his one good hand. The barkeep tried to fight through the pain but his right hand couldn’t hold onto the club anymore and he was going to be fighting with a hunch. Thomas rolled backwards onto his feet and jumped up with a wince. The fractured rib wasn’t pleasant.

“Last chance.” Thomas offered. “I’m not really one for wholesale slaughter.”

With only his left hand holding the club and rage in his eyes the barkeep jabbed the club at Thomas’s chest to make it harder to dodge. Thomas parried it with his injured arm and drove his push dagger into the barkeep’s forehead while stepping into the attack. Thomas whimpered from the pain in his arm even as his final opponent dropped to the ground with eyes rolled back. There was no saving him but his brain hadn’t shut down from the injury, yet. Thomas staggered over to the door and tried to open it again but it was still sealed. Thomas looked around at the crumpled and bloody bodies littered around the bar. Most of them were dead but a few were still actively dying. Two of them could have been saved by a healer but as it stood they were all locked inside the bar.

Thomas sunk to the ground and leaned against the door. He rested his head on the hard wood and tried to catch his breath. “This was an awful idea. I’m charging him double.” He grumbled and closed his eyes to rest while his opponents finished bleeding out. Thomas hoped the magical seal on the door would break after a while but he wasn’t going to bet on it. As it stood he figured he would have to get out through the window but that would take far more energy than he had left. ‘That’s a problem for later me.’ Thomas thought to himself and tried to tune out the dying whimpers of those around him. ‘I wonder how the others are doing. Hopefully better than me.’ He would have shaken his head if he had the energy left to do so. ‘Actually, scratch that, I hope Isaac is having an awful time.’