Chapter 29
I do not own Claymore
Several hours later, they stopped at the Broken Plow tavern for a meal and a drink.
After putting their horses in the corral and relieving them of their saddles and loads, the trio went inside the cool tavern and found an empty table.
Moments later, a young tavern maid came up to them with a cheery, "Hi! Welcome weary travelers, how may I help you?"
Riful looked the slender, fresh faced girl over and said cheerfully,"You must be new here! I would like a thick, juicy steak, very, very rare, in fact, raw would be just fine and a tankard of ale."
Without batting a lash, the girl replied thoughtfully, "I don't know if I'm allowed to serve ale to someone your age."
Teresa burst out laughing at the look on Riful's adorable little face and said gaily,"It's okay honey, she's of age, she's just small statured!"
The girl nodded her acknowledgement and asked,"Is there anything else you'd like ma'am?"
Teresa grinned, "Two small roasted fowls and two tankards of ale for my friend and I here." She gestured at Sheila, who merely nodded.
Their orders arrived in good time and soon, they were tucking into their meals and ale.
The food and ale was good and both quickly disappeared.
Riful ordered a second nearly raw steak and was soon demolishing that, while Teresa and Sheila nursed their second tankards of ale.
They were on their third tankards, when there was a loud clattering of horse's hooves outside the tavern and moments later, a small troop of loud, obnoxious, heavily armed men came barging into the tavern.
"Service!" yelled the apparent leader, "We want food, drink and wenches!"
He eyed the slender tavern maid and jeered, "Are you the best they got?"
The girl looked aghast as he turned to his fellows and cried, "This skinny little bitch is their tavern wench! Think she could handle all of us?"
He roared with laughter at his own jest while the girl went quite pale.
The landlord hollered bravely, "We're not that kind of an establishment...Please leave, we don't want any trouble!"
The leader laughed uproariously and yelled, "Who do you think you're talking to? We're not a bunch of hayseed farmers, we're entrepreneurs seeking a little food, drink and female companionship. Give us what we want and we may let you live!" He grinned and licked his chops.
Riful muttered to herself, "I've been such a good girl... As a reward, I think I deserve something sweet to eat!"
Teresa murmured in reply,"Do what you like, just be discreet about it. We don't need any witnesses."
The landlord bravely picked up an old sword and brandished it. "I know how to fight, I'm warning you!"
The bandit leader guffawed and declared, "Forget it old man! You're outnumbered eight to one. Even if you were in top shape, you'd still be outmatched...Just give up the food, the beer and the pussy, and maybe, we'll let you live!"
Teresa nodded at Sheila who then stood up. Towering over everyone, she stepped over by the beleaguered girl and said, "Sorry boys, to get to her, you'll have to go through me first." She drew her knife for emphasis.
One of the bandits squinted at her and said nervously, "Hey boss? Me thinks she's one o'them claymores, lookit 'er eyes!"
The bandit leader looked closely at her and laughed, "She's no threat to us! Don't you know they have a rule against harming any humans? If they break that rule they'll get hunted down by their own kind."
He grinned and said, "Besides, we still outnumber her by eight to one, how good can a claymore be against eight, armed men?"
Sheila whispered to the frightened girl,"Leave the room, take your boss with you and close the door behind you...Don't come back in until I call for you...Okay?"
When the girl nodded that she understood, Sheila gave her a playful swat on her pert fanny and she yelped as she scurried out of the tap room, dragging her boss with her.
When the stout kitchen door slammed shut behind them, Sheila stepped in front of the kitchen door and stood there, knife in hand.
Teresa meanwhile, had casually sauntered over to the tavern entrance and stood blocking the exit.
She did not bother with pulling any blades, she only stood there with her enigmatic trademark, faint smile in place.
The eight bandits stood in the middle of the taproom looking puzzled, what was going on? They all wondered.
Riful rose from her chair, stretched like a cat and began removing her clothing to the obvious delight of the bandits.
Riful smiled and said coyly, "I don't want to get any blood on my clothing, it can be so hard to get out of the fabric!"
She stood naked before them, a small woman barely five feet tall and somewhat childlike in build, with small, firm breasts, svelte hips and delicate curves that caught their lustful stares.
One of the bandits muttered, "I don't like this, somethin' ain't right!"and he made a break for it, straight at Teresa who merely cuffed him about the head and sent him staggering back to his fellows, her faint smile still firmly in place.
Riful smiled at the bandits, glanced heavenward and purred softly, "Thank you for this lovely meal!"
Seconds later, her awakened form had filled the taproom, her blades slicing and dicing with appalling speed and chilling accuracy.
The bandits never even had time to scream, their deaths came so swiftly.
A few minutes later, Riful had reverted to her human form and as she pulled on her clothing, she burped and muttered, "They weren't the best tasting I'll admit, but they were filling!"
When she was dressed again, they checked the taproom for blood spatter or missed gobbets of flesh.
Finding none, they nodded at each other and Riful whispered, "I'm very tidy when I eat, I always cleaned my plate when I was little!"
"And you still do!" remarked Teresa as she gathered up the abandoned weapons left behind by their departed owners.
Tying them into a bundle she said, "I'll turn these over to the armorers, they'll make use of them."
Teresa nodded at Sheila and she opened the stout door to the kitchen again, saying cheerfully, "They're gone and they won't be back!"
The girl looked very relieved and she was about to ask what happened when the landlord said gently, "Some things are not meant for you to know, leave it at that."
He grinned at Teresa and said, "I was a small boy when my village was attacked by a bandit horde, a claymore showed up and killed them all...In fact, you kinda look like her. But you couldn't be her, I heard she was killed by the organization, so it's just a coinkydink!"
Teresa grinned at him and said pleasantly, "We do tend to look alike to most people who rarely look us in the eye."
He shrugged and commented,"Claymores do tend to be a little scary in their dealings with people...I guess being half monster tends to harden someone..."
Suddenly remembering who he was talking to, he stammered, "S, Sorry I didn't mean anything by that half monster comment...You seem pretty nice by comparison."
Teresa shrugged and replied casually, "I'm still half monster, make no mistake about that. I just don't need to be the scary claymore warrior anymore, I've outgrown that."
To their mutual surprise, the young tavern maid approached them and handed Teresa a slip of paper, it was the bill.
The landlord looked at the girl in amazement and spluttered, "Are you daft girl? These ladies just saved our asses and kept you from getting gang raped and you're gonna hand them a bill?!"
He snatched the bill from Teresa's hand and tore it up. "This is on the house!" he declared.
The girl looked like she was about to cry and she stammered, "I...I'm sorry! I didn't know what else to do, I've never been in anything like this before!"
Riful's low chuckle interrupted their exchange and she said, "How long have you been working here, dearie?"
The girl answered in a low voice, "Two days..."
"That's why you didn't know I was of drinking age, you're new on the job!" Declared a smiling Riful of the west.
Riful smiled at the girl, "Name's Riful, pleased to meet you!" "Same here Riful, my name's Susan!"
As the two shook hands, Teresa wondered if she had any idea that she was shaking hands with a century old being that could devastate the entire countryside, if she so desired.
Teresa smiled to herself, Riful had become quite the city resident in the three months since she had arrived from the west.
While she still kept a low profile, she had let the hidden warriors know that if Rabona came under attack, she would help defend the city.
