Wild cards
Chapter 15
…
It was a well-worn road running through the dense forest. They were a dirty bunch of brigands, thieves and cutthroats. The dirty bunch of brigands sat on the well-worn road running through the dense forest, waiting. They hadn't had a victim in some time but it was their bit of road, they'd claimed it, and so they remained, waiting.
"I'm bored!"
Not perhaps with a great deal of patience however.
"Quit yer bellyaching."
"There's no one coming. No one's come down this road in weeks."
"Well then it's well overdue init?"
"It doesn't work like that."
"Aw shut up. I'm the boss and I say we stay."
"Maybe it's time for a new boss."
"Watch it ya pathetic little scarecrow."
"Anytime you bloated hog."
The two highwaymen were up in arms, ready to rip out each other's throats. This was the scene to which Harry and Andrew arrived.
"What's happening?" Harry whispered.
"Dunno. Looks like we came in during the middle of something."
That something came to an abrupt halt when they noticed they had an audience. Harry and Andrew felt very uncomfortable when they became the center of attention.
"Uh, afternoon boys" Andrews said awkwardly, "don't mind us we'll just be…"
A blockade of the road cut Andrew short, "Well lookie what we have here" said the fat brigand, "and you wanted to leave."
The skinny bandit pouted while the fat one elbowed him.
"So, uh, how can we help you gentlemen?" said Andrew as he looked for an escape route.
"Ya can start by handin over all yur valubales" the highwayman ordered.
"Your robbing us?" Andrew feigned shock, "Really now, is that necessary?"
Harry, hiding behind Andrew, could see where this was going. He shuffled through his deck looking for something to scare the men away. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of killing them so the dragon was out. He'd already done the gargoyle. Hmm.
"Certainly, we can reason with one another, can't we?"
"I'll give ya a reason alright" said the leader, pulling his big knife and advancing on Andrew.
A brief tremor of the earth stopped the bandit and the massive shadow that fell over him nearly had the vicious brigand wetting his pants.
It was eight feet tall with thick green skin and arms like tree trunks. One hand absently scratched its massive belly while the other hefted a wicked spiked club onto its shoulder.
Andrew saw the brigand's hesitation and looked up to see the ogre towering over him.
"Oh thank goodness" Andrew said with a sigh of relief, "I didn't think I could stall much longer."
"Where the hell did that thing come from?"
"Who cares, run for it!"
"Now hold on, we ain't done yet."
The skinny brigand gave a long whistle and out of the trees trundled an enormous bear. It had a short, flat face and thick reddish-brown fur. Nearly six feet at the shoulder on all fours, it stood, and even the ogre was forced to look up.
"Well, this escalated quickly" said Andrew.
Harry peeked out at the bear then turned back to his summon, "How do you feel about bear wrestling?"
The ogre scratched his chin and looked at the bear in question. He shrugged, dropped his club, and swaggered over to his opponent. The bear roared a warning as the ogre came near and in response the ogre slapped it with his massive meaty hand.
Not giving it a chance to recover the ogre tackled the bear and started grappling it. The bandits scattered as the two huge combatants rolled around smashing everything in their path. Andrew, seizing the opportunity, led Harry around the battling beasts and… right into the bandits.
"Oops."
"Going somewhere?"
The two were saved when the bear went flying past, plowing over the bandits in the process. Before the bear could recover the ogre was already barreling toward it. Harry and Andrew let it pass before taking off down the road at a full sprint. They were at least a mile away before they stopped to catch their breath.
"You run… pretty fast" Andrew commented.
"Lost's of practice" Harry replied.
They had nearly caught their breath when there was a 'pop' from Harry's board. The card fell to the ground almost followed by Harry.
"Easy there" said Andrew, catching the young man.
"What happened?"
"Your ogre died. There's usually a small backlash when that happens."
"Wonderful" Harry moaned as he fought to remain standing.
Andrew frowned as he kept the young man from toppling over. The sky was darkening, it'd be night soon. They'd been running from one fight to another all day. He'd be surprised if Harry wasn't about ready to drop, backlash or no.
They needed to find somewhere to spend the night. Sleeping in the woods was an option but not one he relished for a multitude of reasons. Sleeping on the road was even worse as it made them an easy target.
"You alright?" he asked when Harry stopped wobbling.
"I'm fine" Harry lied.
Andrew wasn't fooled, "Come on, we need to find some place to spend the night."
"You know somewhere?" Harry asked hopefully.
"No, but it has been a while and all the people from that city had to've gone somewhere" he reasoned.
He was sure the building they came upon just as the sun sank beneath the horizon was not where they had gone.
"Is that, an inn?" Harry asked groggily.
"Looks like it" Andrew said skeptically.
The building was done in the old Japanese style. It even included a small Zen garden off to one side and a stone dragon standing guard at the door. That wasn't what bothered him about the place.
"Oh my, travelers. Welcome, welcome to the inn" a small Asian woman spoke as she bustled over to them, "you needing a place stay for the night."
Andrew's first reaction was to say no but one look at Harry made him hesitate.
"Oh, poor young man, you already fall asleep" the woman babbled, "come inside, come, it not safe outside at night. You better off come inside."
Glancing around nervously the woman shuffled into the inn, beckoning them to follow. Andrew didn't like it, but he liked his other options even less. Reluctantly he led a barely conscious Harry inside.