Chapter Seven
A gun blast splits the air as Farla drops to the ground, her hands instinctively going for her knives. Gripping one tightly in her right hand, she looks up, and sees her attacker for the first time. A Drule, with beady black eyes and he's aiming a blaster at her head. As their eyes meet, he begins to talk to her. But she has no intention of listening.
Farla jumps to her feet and uses the distraction of his words against him. She impales her knife into his shoulder, causing him to lose his grip on the gun. The gun falls to the floor and meets her foot as she kicks it, then using the momentum she kicks the drule, hard in his stomach.
The Drule growls at the connection of her foot smashing his stomach, before lurching forward trying to punch her. His misses and Farla realizes he's not a soldier, she can easily counters his moves. But he is a drule. He's stronger than her, and a punch to her ribs cements this as she stumbles back on her feet, close to falling.
She fights to keep her feet and fend off his blows. She is vaguely aware the drule is still talking, but she is still not listening. She's too busy fighting. Making sure most of her kicks and punches hit the him hard. But he's not getting tired and Farla finds she is fighting harder and harder to stay on her feet. She needs to find an opening to grab her blaster and gain an advantage.
She turns, readying to aim a kick in the guy's face and grab her blaster. That is when she sees . The guy is a good foot shorter than Hunk but he's managed somehow to knock Hunk's voltcom off his forearm. And he has a gun aimed on Hunk's head. When her hand wraps around her blaster her instinct is to rapidly fire at Hunk's attacker instead of her own. She has no time to aim, she may even have missed him but she gave Hunk vital time.
But it causes her to lose her advantage. The drule punches her in the face, her vision sparks with stars and darkness,she barely manages to stay conscious and she drops her blaster. The drule has grabbed her by her hair, twisting her neck back to hold her at knife-point - with her own knife - she feels the edge of it cutting her skin. She has a quick idle thought, don't give bad guys access to your weapons. But now isn't the time for hindsight. She struggles against him, getting a few kicks, but he's too strong for her to fight off from her current position. She waits for the knife to slit her throat, sure he'll go for the kill, but instead he puts his face an inch from hers, bad breath and spit hitting her skin and says, "Listen when I talk!"
It is too absurd. She laughs in his face.
He snarls at her, pushing the edge of the knife deeper into her skin. Farla is sure she is dead. But with the speed of an eye-blink, the drule goes limp, his weight crushing her She falls hard on her tailbonebut her view is clear. Hunk stands there hefting his yellow hammer, with a big grin.
"Good work," Hunk says.
Making a face, she pushes the drule off her,. "Thank you, you saved me."
"Just returning the favor."
As she finds her feet, Farla realizes she's going to feel that fight later. She glances at Hunk, he looks no worse for wear, but then again one guy couldn't really make a dent in that wide, solid, six feet six frame. Her hand goes to her throat, coming away bloody, she makes a face.
"You gonna need stitches?" Hunk asks, stepping into her personal space, his own hand going up but stopping just short of touching, but his eyes are on her wound making a appraisal.
"Don't think so, just stings a bit. Will be fine." She glances at their attackers. We should leave before they wake up."
"Hmmph, that will be awhile but you're right," he gives her a look. "You want to head back or keep going?" Waves his hand at her neck.
"Pfft. Keep going, we don't have time to waste... But the rest of the way there, let's keep an eye out for foot falls and voices a bit better?"
Hunk laughs and motions for her to go head of him. "Hell yeah, Flower Lady."
~.~
Their quiet as they walk, too wary after the sudden attack to do anything but listen for trouble. Manset had not been kidding when he said people would not ask questions and just go for their throats. Hunk grimaces, looks over at Farla. She is right her cut isn't too deep, it looks awful though, not cleaned up, blood clotting... Maybe it will make their cover story about her all the more convincing. Bright sides, Hunk thinks, always gotta find one.
But there is a bad side. A real bad side. One that feels rather bothersome. He glances down at his voltcom; it looks no worse for wear and his hammer had materialized before his thought was finished as he snapped it back on his arm. But that was the problem wasn't it it'd been off his arm. No. It had been knocked off his arm. The guy had gone right for it. There was no denying it, his mind went over the seconds, the mere minutes the fight occurred. His attacker had gone after the voltcom. Gone after it as if he knew what it was.
And that...that was trouble.
~.~
He rubbed his hands together as he glanced at the clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock. The mercenaries he hired was sure to have run into the witch and her bodyguard. Yes, yes if the rumors were true someone was finally taking Wade's bait.
He had to be sure whoever it was was worthy of the challenge. If she could get by her men, then probably this witch, whoever she is could perhaps be the one to help him find the way to accomplish the spells. Suck tricky, tricky, beautiful spells. They would never give up there secret to just anyone. Not when they'd been created by a witch as renowned and devious as Haggar. No, no, he'd been studying Haggarium spells since before her death, they were tricksy, coy spells. Subtle and powerful. If they could be harnessed, ah the beautiful chaos he could wrought.
He shakes his head. He must not get his hopes up. So a witch finally arrived, claiming she knew what she is doing, making noise... Too much noise if you asked him. Yes, yes, there was something a bit off about who this woman and her cohort were...something he must be sure to find out. After all he can't use people if he doesn't know about who they are...
But the end of the day he will. He will have seen her, seen her protector as the other shop owners were calling him. He had his own theories based on logic, based on what little he does know about Wade's interests - based on the fact it is Wade who wants these spells.
Wade.
He must find out more about the Wade's motives. Their approaches may differ but he can't help but think his and Wade's ultimate goals may overlap. And that would be glorious. Because, yes, oh yes, he'll use anyone, anything he can to help him gain his most precious of wishes.
But one step at a time, he reminds himself. Detailed, careful, cautious steps. First he needs to know more about the spells, and if the witch has survived his first test - which if he's right about who she is, who she may represent... Oh, yes, she will survive. And she may, just may, be able to help him gain the knowledge he seeks. New knowledge, deeper knowledge to help him to use Haggar's magic as his own.
He rubs his palms together feeling giddy with anticipation.
