Novels2Search
Dream a Little Dream
Chapter 16: A Beat Down Long Coming

Chapter 16: A Beat Down Long Coming

She stops only once they reach the mountain, scanning for a sign of an entrance, anything to get them in.

Chago heads for Genny as she searches once he's landed. In a way, he had the easier trip even with the stop to gather the hammer she wanted. He moves to get in front of the searching satyr and reaches for her arm. "Genny. Wait." It's said softly, but with clear demand in his tone. It's as much an order as he's ever given her since they got together. "Catch your breath. Go in ready to fight, not just off a hard run. Let me and Shova pick where we go in."

Genny spins as he touches her, gaze wild. Passion locked...she's rarely in this kind of condition but Chago has seen it more than most. It's one of the problems with being a satyr, wild mood swings and passion lock that makes it so there's almost two of them in there fighting for control. Anyone else likely would have been kicked back down the mountain already, but it's Chago, so she hesitates.

Her fingers flex and Shova arrives, looking between the two, but sooo not going to actually get between them.

One heartbeat and another and Genny very slowly inclines her head, shaking his hand off of her arm and turning away to look down the mountain. "Fine. But hurry."

Chago nods once and then moves toward Shova. "You know it." he tells Genny as he walks away, knowing that, in her state, anything else would be asking too much of her.

Shova gets an appraising look as the redcap approaches, to be sure he's ready before Chago nods again. "You know where his place is in there? Where we might be close to a wall? I'm good enough to open a door through some rock, but I need to know we're close enough to reach all the way or it's not gonna open." See Genny? Hurrying, and thinking.

Shova looks ready and...well...highly impressed. "I may have been wrong about the brass balls...got to be tougher than that." It's a mutter mostly for Chago's ears before the satyr turns and looks over the stone. His eyes go a bit distant, not passion lost, but remembering. He walks several yards up and rests his hands against the stone there, glamour flicking about his fingers though using it makes him wince and shudder.

"Here."

Chago's grin returns at Shova's mutter and he nods. "Hell, I half expected her to knock the shit outta me, but she had to stop long enough to be worth a damn." he returns in an equally low voice. Then he follows the other satyr and touches the wall where he indicated.

"Genny? You about ready?" he calls, to catch her focus and let her know they're almost there. Then he reaches as high as he can and rakes his Gauntlet down the wall, then another rake and a third, marking a door with the weapon by scoring the rock with it. He works quickly, adding a push bar with a sweep of his arm and some decorations with more movements, until a sharp imagination can pick out the marks and stain pattern of Kink's old door in the way he works the design.

Once satisfied, Chago nods and turns to Genny, to be sure she's rested enough.

Genny turns back when Chago indicates they're ready. Her breath has slowed and she doesn't show any outward sign of the strain of the run. Then again, she prolly won't feel much of any strain until the passion ebbs. She inclines her head, loosing the whip, but not yet drawing it. "Open it. Let's kick ass."

She said let's...that means more than her...maybe...

Chago is no fool. "I'll be heading for the girl he's got. You take this son of a bitch -hard-." he tells Genny as he steps toward the door. "Shova... try not to get squashed. Kiersten would be crying and I hate to watch a sidhe act like a pussy." His smirk at that is wide and clearly teasing as he cocks a leg and -kicks- the door he drew with a release of the built glamour in the completed bunk.

The created door shatters inward at volume, rock pounding against other rock. The area they've come into is not the workshop itself, but a pale red light just down the hall shows that they're close. If Chago had tried to open a door down there the stone would have been too thick, but it seems Shova found him a nice bend in the hallway where the stone was thin.

A scream comes from down that hallway and Genny is already moving, darting past Chago and down that hallway. Nothing that's going on down there can be good.

Chago doesn't wait to see what's happening. As soon as he's kicked the door, his fingertips drop into his 'cantrip' pouch at his belt and draw out, holding his hand out as Genny rushes past and blowing across his fingers. A few stray bits of hair are caught in the rush of air and motion and drift after her.

Wait? Hair? That's fur. Her fur in fact, and as the glamour of this tiny bunk is sparked it darts to join the satyr, granting her a hasted boost at about the time she reaches the red glow.

That done, Chago runs after her, hopefully in time to see what Genny does to the knocker... and if those embers thrown at his face did them as much good as the redcap hoped.

The magic kicks in and puts Genny across the room in a huge hurry. The knocker is just looking up from where he's cut two long gashes across the young satyr's belly. His eyes are burnt around the edges and raw, and he's certainly not seeing well. Much less well when Genny impacts with him, hitting hooves first in a flying kick many a martial artist would be proud of. The strike sends him into the wall and she raises the following him to the wall. Oh yeah...pissed satyr. The wild thing that looks out of her eyes isn't really Genny...it's hatred and passion and when she raises her voice she draws on the deepest gifts of her kind, the song of pan that draws out emotions and passions in anyone who listens, and guess what passion she's got in mind?

Shova moves in after the pair, making it only as far as the threshold before he begins clawing at his wrists as though he too were bound.

And, for the very observant...something lunges out of the corner of the workshop, warped and twisted, wrapped in a long cloak. A knife nearly long enough to be a short sword is raised in bonelike hands as it lunges after Genny.

Well, Chago is observant. And the last to arrive since he's the slowest of the trio as well. There not much time to react to help her either so he does the fastest thing, he lunges in, his Gauntlet ripping to disembowel the robed figure (assuming, of course, he has any to rip out considering that hand) and his jaws going for the weapon hand. Forget taking the blow or any such nobility. Heck no. He's going for removing the threat instead.

Noble moves or not...well...they likely wouldn't help in this situation. The Gauntlets rip up a lot of robes, but there's not much to grab onto underneath. Whatever this is the slender nature of it isn't exaggerated...literal flesh over bones shown as the robes rip. As for chewing on the weapon and the hand it's attached to...it's hard to tell who takes more pain. The jaws hit the knife which proves to be made of cold iron...screaming all the way around.

For her part Genny's first strike sends stone flesh skittering along the floor, and knocker blood oozing all over everything. He roars, lashing out at her and missing. The speed spell is doing its work and she slams the hammer into his gut, more stone chunks. This is why she wanted the hammer and not only her whip.

Chago’s lips burn and split from the chill of that iron, drawing a blood spraying growl from the redcap that just bites down harder and then shakes his head like a pit bull until the hand is torn free of either his teeth or the arm it's attached too. He turns to spit the blade, and whatever bits of hand he caught, to the side before squaring up on his foe.

Of course, he may get blindsided for turning his head, but when your mouth hurts as much as his did from touching that iron... yeah. It was worth it.

Fortune is with him as he manages to rip the creature’s hand off, and its busy with agonizing pain of its very own. There's no blood that flows from the wound, but it turns on him, opening skeletal jaws and pouring glamour into a breath that brings with it flames.

It's too late to stop the flaming breath, but not for Chago to attempt a desperate move to protect himself. His hands snap out in a grabbing motion and jerk upward, sending a wash of his glamour to be certain this trick works, and he levitates the torn robes the creature wears to lift and shied himself from the fiery breath. It's not a lot of help and the heat still washes over the redcap, but the actual flames get a different home. "Screw you and your chili breath, bitch."

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Between that little stunt and the touch of the iron, Chago doesn't have a lot left to play magical games, but he may not need it after that.

Need it? Umm...no. The knocker didn't create his beast to be brilliant, just deadly given the right circumstances. Chago circumstances aren't what it expected. The noise that it makes it terrible, a shrieking that tears down the spine and it slowly collapses on itself, still burning with a wretched stench.

For their part, the battle between the knocker and Genny has become both fierce and bloody on both sides. The hammer has found it's mark more than once, but he's recovered from the barrage enough to defend himself and is doing it with an iron rod with the grip wrapped in an odd cloth that protects him from the effects of the cursed thing. For Genny it means a wrenched shoulder and a terrible gash down her side that she's ignoring as she pounds the hammer into his face. The embers Chago threw have made it hard for him to see and she's using it to her advantage.

Chago watches the thing go down and spits on it once, with some of his blood in the spit but hey. Then he turns to check on Genny and growls low in his throat, taking a step toward her before catching himself. She's doing well enough for the moment to judge by the gravel around the knocker and the fact she's still fighting well despite the injuries.

He lets her fight for the moment and turns to the bound satyr girl to check her bonds and to quickly chomp through them.

The bonds holding the satyr girl are a combination of odd things. Leather straps hold her to the table, easy enough to bite through, but the chains around her hooves and wrists are a conglomeration of metal spikes, iron worked among them. No wonder they separate a body from the dream. She doesn't even fuss over having a redcap hunching over her. She may not even see him.

The Knocker and Genny have broken apart, both breathing heavily. Blood drips off of both the bar and the hammer, showing damages done on both sides. The Knocker snarls, barely able to see her, but it's enough. "I will not kill you, girl. I will save that pleasure for the master...he will return...by blood and oath and he will rip you asunder."

Genny snorts, shaking her head. "Shove it up your ass and blow."

Chago makes short work of the leather and helps the girl that was on the table off it. The chains will have to wait until there’s less fighting going on. "Hey! Smallnuts!" he shouts as he supports the dazed and wounded girl. "You need her to bring this asshole back right? Tempting as it is to let you so she can kick his ass -again-, I think it'll be more fun to watch your happy ass dreams go up in smoke."

Not going to directly involve himself, no. A distraction though? Oh, hell yeah. Chago has placed himself where he's mostly behind the 'sacrificial' satyr and his jaws gape, as if about to eat her. That should muck with a spell that needs her, yes?

The Knocker turns, his attention going to his prize. Apparently, he missed Chago taking his monster apart. "NO!" Dramatic, cliche...stupid Builder.

Stupid enough that Genny can take full advantage of the situation. She slams the hammer into the back of his neck and then kicks his knees out from under him. As he falls he lashes out, the iron pipe catching her across the hip with a terrible sound of something breaking. Genny doesn't let it stop her, leaping to his back and riding him to the ground. The hammer shatters away the stone around his throat and the barbed whip takes it place. Not yet killing him, but for one reason only. "Where is the key to their bonds? Where do you hold Shova's dreams?"

Chago gives the injured satyr he's got a shove to send her stumbling toward Shova. Hopefully, he can catch her. If not... oh well. She's not Genny. He moves in at last and crouches just out of range of that iron bar. "Talk you son of a bitch, or -I'll- do things to make you wish she'd killed you when it's my turn." he growls out before picking up a piece of the shattered stone skin and popping it between damaged lips to swallow. "And I -will- follow you to Arcadia and back if I have to to manage it." he ads after the small gesture.

Shova catches her...sorta. Kinda two satyr lumps on the floor hanging on to each other so they don't completely fall down.

Genny doesn't seem to even notice the words from Chago, her fingers pulling the whip tighter around the Knocker's throat. The blades worked into the whip, tear into her hands, but she doesn't notice, growling. "Tell me."

The Knocker struggles to move, but he's got a busted knee and a satyr sitting just where he can't get leverage to get her off. He paws for the iron bar, but it's out of reach. Which to fight, the lady or the...redcap...much worse than a tiger. "Nothing...nothing you do...will break me."

Genny frowns again, then scowls calling up moving magic with a sharp whistle of sound, a bunk woven into the tune something from an oil derrick where pipes clank and move and the iron rod shoots to her outstretched hand al la Luke Skywalker and slams down on his back.

Chago curls his lips back and starts to say more when Genny goes for the bar. He turns and takes a position to match his arm to hers, and mirrors her gesture, but pulls his swing a bit where she doesn't seem to be doing it. Not much, but it's enough for a very weak pull of his own to try and hold back her swing. "Don't kill him yet." he growls, not backing down from the pain he's expecting for checking her swing if she realizes he did it.

Then he backs away and moves toward the satyr that was just bound to take a closer look at her bindings, just to see if he can make heads or tails of the design. He is an artist after all. Maybe he'll see something that means something to him. Or at least a way to remove them and maybe put them on someone else...

After all, the knocker -has- had time to improve his design. What if they work on more than satyrs now?

Genny's gaze goes to him for a moment, a snarl on her lips. She realized what he did alright, but to hit him would require letting the Knocker loose and she isn't about to do that. "Not plannin' ta kill yet...jus' knock him apart one chip at a time." The rod slams down again, not a killing blow, but taking him across the backside. That has to hurt.

There's no obvious link between the metals of the jewelry and the cuffs, but the patterns are there. For those that survive, the patterns of what they were bound by, so they never forget. Looking at the bonds of the young satyr the patterns are there, but they've been improved of and they interlock with themselves. It's a puzzle. One that you need the right twists and turns to remove the iron latch so that the rest of the pins can be accessed.

"You watched Hellraiser to damn many times, mula." Chago grumbles aloud as he looks the bracelet over. Then, under his breath he mutters "First you twist it, then you pull it, then you twist a little more... gotcha." He rises and runs a finger over some of his piercings as his head slowly turns to sweep the room. Then his split lips curl into a grin that sets them bleeding again.

"So, dipwad... you got this shit here to drop in there and it releases that fecking iron bit." he explains as he heads back to the table to get the dropper he found before he found a piece to take off and try to thread into the tiny hole.

As he moves back toward the latest victim, he pauses to spit at the knocker and add "These are gonna look good on you, and this shit will taste pretty damn good after they're locked on." Then he moves on to the satyr and drips a drop of the... go figure... quicksilver into the tiny hole he found.

The knocker begins to thrash under Genny, screaming obscenities, but she's hard to shake. She's sitting forward enough on his shoulders that he can't get any leverage and there's a bladed whip around his neck that's slicing his bared skin to ribbons, all without killing him. Genny apparently likes the idea of binding him.

The quicksilver beads on the hole and then sucks in all at once. Glamour flows through the bracers and a single note sounds as the latch flips open. The rest of the puzzle box of the chains is easily untwisted and as they're removed the girl sighs in relief, blinking and finally seeing Chago. Which leads to a scream until Shova grabs her and begins reassuring. Around Shova's ankles and wrists bracers begin to form, rising right out of his skin.

Chago flashes the screaming satyr a toothy grin and drags the chains away from her to hold up in one hand while holding the mercury in the other. "Wanna help him get the bonds off too?” he asks before setting the bottle in easy reach without getting closer. He turns then to take a few steps toward Genny and the knocker, softly chanting "Lalala. I can't hear you." in a mocking singsong.

Once he's just out of reach, he swings the bonds toward Genny's free hand. "Let's get 'em off Shova before we hook Dipshit up, okay? Make sure he's good." Then he turns his head to see if his are as easy as hers were before turning back to the trapped knocker. "Or do you maybe have more to tell us to try and keep your sorry ass from the chains?"

The screamer takes a minute to calm down before her fingers close around the mercury. Another few minutes before she figures out what she's supposed to do. Fortunately, the same trick works and the bracers fall out, though his seem to be an older version and smoke as they hit the ground turning into a pile of steaming ooze.

Genny catches the bonds on the pipe and trades one for the other. Seeing the bonds the Knocker manages to jerk upward, wrenching her hip in a way that turns her pale under her natural tan. She cusses and backhands him, the whip scoring deeper into his throat and blood splashing over the floor.

"This will never be over, girl. Never!"

She stomps with her good leg, swinging it around and snapping his elbow so he can't stop her from latching the first bracer around his wrist.

Chago moves at last, once he's passed off the bonds and has his hands free. He lunges in and grabs the knocker's head like a large melon and drives his face into the floor, trying to daze the rocky bastard without knocking him out. "The hell it won't." he growls as he grinds the monster’s face against the floor to keep him pinned in place.

He's not getting in the way past helping with restraining the guy though, unless Genny asks for more.

Genny doesn't say 'thank you', but there's a flash of gratitude in her eyes. The hip is making it a bitch to hold and bind him. With Chago holding she twists around and secures the other bracer. The knocker makes a loud unnatural sound, a squeal of agony and Genny leans close. "I remember what you did to us. Every moment. Trapped in your own mind I hope you suffer as much as I did." She hisses the words before pricking her thumb with her whip and letting the blood drip into the hole that Chago poured quicksilver into. The Knocker's eyes roll up into the back of his head and the flesh beneath the bracers bubbles as the metals are absorbed into his skin.

He's noises break off into babbling that causes the blood flowing from his nose to bubble, but he's no longer seeing...anything.