Rise of the Blade - Charles Moffat [71]
"So you kept chopping so you wouldn't get a headache?"
"More or less."
She smiled and stayed still. She wanted to ask more questions but couldn't think of any more at the moment. It would take time to adjust to thinking this way. "Who else knows about this?"
"Marque Draque, Rambertz the gardener and of course my father."
"Why would your gardener know?"
"You've noticed how its warmer in here than out in the city and the sun is a little bit brighter. Its because Rambertz is a sun druid and an old comrade when it comes to advernturing."
"Never heard of such a thing as a sun druid," Nicole said with a shrug.
"That's just the beginning."
Chapter 11
Chev stopped in the alley outside the tavern. His instincts told him this was a trap but not a typical one. He could turn around and leave but he had a stinking hunch that would only result in a crossbow bolt in his back. Taking out one sword, he advanced into the midday shadows.
A crunch of snow up ahead alerted him and his other sword was out and prepared. "Who are you?" he said slowly.
"Well, we're not Harpers if thats what you mean," said a deep voice off to one side, hidden in the shadows. The sound came from above meaning that the speaker was either really tall or was standing on something.
"Then stand out in the open," Chev responded, snapping his two blades together.
A huge ten feet tall hippo-headed beast stepped forward and levelled a pistol at Chev.
The warrior had no experience with such creatures and even less knowledge of guns. Nevertheless he decided that whatever the weapon was, the giff held it as a mage might hold a powerful wand and thus was to be respected. He waited, swords held at ready.
"I am Hiortan."
"That's nice."
The giff frowned and his fat face filled with bulging wrinkles. "I'm the leader of the gun trade."
"So? Whats this about?"
The creature's face turned a shade of red. "Why aren't you afraid of me? I could kill you in an instant!"
"Maybe. Whats your point? What's this meeting about?"
The beast growled and his big fist tightened around the handle of the gun. "I want you to kill Doctor Pierce!"
"Why?"
"Because he's stopped my gun trade! Ever since the explosion down on the docks no one has been willing to talk to me and since the Valentino d'Or died I haven't been able to smuggle in any guns because everyone's so afraid they'll blow up or something."
"Why don't you kill him yourself?" Chev asked, knowing by now that he was too valuable to kill and the giff wouldn't do so unless Chev became a threat. The mention of the d'Or hinted that the beast and the d'Ors had been allies at one point, a good excuse to kill the giff were he not so feebly armed. He had to determine how powerful this gun thing was before trying anything.
"Because no one among us can beat him in combat and we can't get a gun within a hundred yards of the Academy without Marque Draque's magic system sounding an alarm."
"You'll excuse me if I don't know much about guns. How do they work?"
"Like a crossbow. You just aim and pull the trigger."
"That's it?" Chev asked skeptically. He didn't like ranged weapons. They seemed too much like a cowards weapon.
"Yep!"
"And what's it do when you pull the trigger?"
"It shoots a small lead ball."
"That sounds pretty pathetic."
"No its not! Its so fast you don't even see it coming! Just the bang and then you're dead! Goes right through you!"
For a second Chev was scared but then he remembered he didn't have anything to live for anyway. Just as quickly he was disgusted by the fact that anyone could pull the trigger and kill so easily. It was too easy and too much like child's play. The very thought of it revolted him in a way he couldn't quite understand. All of his life he had made his life by the sword, perfecting the art of killing and along comes this tool, not a weapon a tool, that could kill with the pull of the trigger.
Without thinking Chev advanced on the giff and sliced off the