Mutants Misplaced

Chapter 32

All Tangled

During the late afternoon, the group arrived at a roadside tavern called the Skipping Goat, a large wooden building at the crossroads with a poorly made sign of a goat jumping. Mikey scratched his head as he looked at the name.

"'The Skipping Goat'? Seriously? What kind of name is that?" he said.

"I think it sounds cute." said Devina. "And if you think that is a strange name, you haven't been in Solitude. They got an inn called 'the Winking Skeever'."

"As long as it's darker inside than here, it can have whatever name they please." said Sephie, longing to get out of the warm afternoon sun for a while.

Entering the tavern, they were met by a lot of different people, all gruff looking, the majority carrying weapons, sitting at the many tables, eating and drinking. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at the five reptiles and their human friend as they made their way to the counter.

"I think I saw this in a Western movie once, or ten." Mikey whispered. With some thirty armed men and women watching them in silence, he wasn't the only one nervous.

"What kind of people are we dealing with here?" Leo asked Devina silently.

"Most of them look like bounty hunters, could be some regular hunters as well, but not many. This could spell trouble if we're unlucky."

"As long as we don't have any bounties on our heads, we should be fine." said Tyroth.

"True, but it doesn't take much for someone to put a price on someone's head. I've met those who would hire assassins to kill someone who had a hat that they didn't like."

"Doesn't sound like the odds are in our favour then." said Leo, trying to size up the potential opposition. "The last thing we want here is a bloodbath, so if we get into a fight, just disarm and knock them out if possible."

"Blunt force only then, sounds good to me." said Donnie.

While the group ordered some food and drink at the counter, the other guests went back to their own business, but one kept his eyes on the group. Sitting in a dark corner, was a man with a long scar running down the left side of his face, dressed in dark leather and with a small crossbow at his side. Pulling out a piece of paper from a pocket, he looked at it and then back at the team, grinning devilishly.

"Looks like this is my lucky day. Lord Harkon will get his treasure, and I will get the money."

The scarred man stealthily walked over to the table that Devina and the reptiles had been assigned.

"Don't move, don't even make a sound, and you'll all live." he said in a low voice before anyone could say anything. Showing that he had the tip of his crossbow against Devina's back as proof that he meant business.

"I believe that this is you." he whispered as he placed the paper in front of Devina, while keeping his crossbow against her back.

Looking at the paper, Devina and the others saw a wanted poster, offering ten thousand gold for the capture of the individual pictured on it. The picture had an uncanny likeness to Devina, if it wasn't for the overly swollen nose.

"Ugh, they just couldn't get the nose right. They never can." Devina mumbled.

"Now come along quietly, and your friends will not be harmed, as long as they don't try anything that is." said the bounty hunter.

"Wait! You're saying that she has a ten thousand gold bounty on her head?!" Mikey exclaimed loud enough for the entire tavern to hear him. It went completely silent when everyone looked at the group with greedy eyes. The bounty hunter was so surprised by Mikey's sudden outburst, that he didn't really know what to do.

"Uh-oh." Mikey gulped when he realized what he had just set in motion.

"Nice going, Mikey. You've managed to turn one problem into thirty. That might just be a new record." said Donnie while reaching for his staff, seeing as every hunter in the tavern drew their own weapons, slowly walking against their table.

"Stay back! This is my quarry!" the scarred bounty hunter shouted, pointing his crossbow at the mass of people.

With his attention elsewhere, Devina took the opportunity and hit the man in the side with her elbow. Grunting from the impact, he almost folded himself in pain and was knocked to the floor when Devina quickly rose from her seat and delivered a punch to his face. With the crossbow man down and out, the mob didn't have anything that kept them at bay and rushed against the prize.

"She's mine!"

"No! She's mine!"

"I'm broke, I need that money!" They shouted as some started to fight amongst themselves.

Placing himself in front of Devina, Tyroth was ready to protect his friend, and if these guys wanted a fight, he would give them one.

"Don't let them get her!" Leo shouted to the others as they all followed Tyroth's example.

One leather wearing woman, wielding dual daggers, was the first to reach Tyroth, but couldn't do anything as Tyroth brought his fist down on her head, knocking her out as easy as that. Two other guys, wearing more metal than leather, followed shortly after with their sword and axe. Dodging their attacks and disarming them with a counter attack, Tyroth picked them both up by their necks and slammed them together and tossed them to the side.

Leo skilfully disarmed a few hunters by using his fingers to strike pressure points wherever they were exposed, leaving his foes with limp arms or almost completely paralysed, before knocking them out with a few well placed punches and kicks.

Jumping to avoid a swing of a very large axe, Sephie almost tripped on a chair that lay on the floor. Thanks to her quick reflexes, and all the training on plum poles that she had had with Mona, she was able to keep her balance while using the different parts of the chair as stepping stones as it twisted and turned every time she took a new step on it.

'I must remember to properly thank Mona for all she taught me' Sephie thought while avoiding the swings of her attacker, while still on the rolling chair. Jumping straight up to avoid another big swing from the axe, she saw that another bounty hunter came up behind her with two swords. Bending forward in the air, she landed on the chair with her hands and launched herself at the new foe, hitting him in the face with her feet and knocking him onto his back, while getting back on her feet and hitting the other guy over the head with the chair, breaking it.

The range given by Donnie's staff really helped him keeping the enemy at bay. Quick jabs and swipes easily disarmed one while tripping another. Jumping over them, he whacked a third guy in the back of his head before he even noticed where Donnie was, knocking him out.

Mikey wasn't having the best of times as several bounty hunters almost swarmed him. Diving in under a table to avoid them, he had just gotten back up when a large hammer crushed the table. With the hammer wielder too close for comfort, and Mikey not having drawn his weapons, he reached for the closest object he could defend himself with. Feeling the handle of something, he took a strong grip around it and swung it at the man, striking him across the head with a big 'clang'.

As the man fell to the ground, Mikey saw what kind of weapon he had acquired. A frying pan. But he didn't have time to think about it, the remaining bounty hunters were almost right on top of him. Ducking under a sword slash, he struck back and hit the guy in his face. Parrying the attack from the second guy, Mikey hit him on the top of his head. He then sidestepped to avoid another attack and delivered a swing with the frying pan to the back of the female attacker's head. Once again ducking, Mikey gave the last guy a rising strike to the chin.

Breathing rapidly, the young turtle looked around and saw that all of the enemies that he had fought were unconscious on the floor. Something that he didn't expect. Looking at the frying pan, a thought crossed his mind.

"Whoa, maybe I should use this as my main weapon instead." he said, giving the frying pan a quick spin, only to hit himself on his forehead. "Ow! Maybe not."

Despite her friends valiant effort, a few bounty hunters managed to reach Devina, but she wasn't an easy prey, having five hundred years worth of experiences, she knew how to defend herself. Much like her reptile comrades, she was agile and easily dodged the attacks and countered with well placed punches.

After a few intense minutes, the fight was over. Roughly half of the bounty hunters had knocked themselves out fighting against each other, while the rest had fallen to Devina and the mutants.

"Everyone alright?" Leo asked.

"Seems that way." said Donnie. "But I think we should hit the road again, since we kinda trashed this place."

"Come on, it's not that bad." said Mikey. He was proven wrong when a large wooden plaque fell off the wall and crashed on top of a few chairs. Very little of the furniture was still in one piece and the floor, pillars and much of the walls had gotten quite a beating. In fact, the only ones still standing were the mutants and Devina, even the innkeeper and his staff had been beaten up during the fight, they might even had joined in.

"Nope, it's worse." said Sephie, looking at the destruction.

"Okay, gather your things and let's get going, before these idiots wake up." said Leo.

At that moment, one of the burlier men started to wake up, but Mikey intervened by hitting the guy with the frying pan, knocking him out again.

While making sure that they had everything, Sephie's eyes wandered to the neck of one of the unconscious bounty hunters. Her fangs ached as she thirsted for blood and she could see the veins. Licking her lips, she reached out with her hand. No one would notice if she just took a little bite, a small sip.

Realising what she was doing, Sephie quickly pulled back her hand and looked away.

'No. I won't. I won't give in to the thirst. I'm stronger than that, I'll endure this.'

"Alright, everyone ready? Then let's go." said Leo as they left the tavern.

"Wait. I have to do one final little thing." said Mikey, running back in and grabbing a piece of charcoal from the kitchen area. Once back outside, he closed the door behind him and started writing on it with the charcoal.

'Closed for repairs'

"Why?" Tyroth asked, looking at the message.

"Well, it was kinda my fault, so I thought this was the least I could do."

"Fair enough."

Once they had gotten a decent distance from the Skipping Goat, or what remained of it, Leo took out the wanted poster that had started the whole thing.

"Would you care to explain this?" he asked Devina.

"I suppose I owe you that much, it wasn't my intention to get you into trouble. Let me see, where do I begin. It was some three, four hundred years ago, I was approached by lord Harkon Volkihar, a vampire lord, one of the original even, if I'm not mistaken. Either way, I thought that I had found kindred spirits with him and his clan, but I was dead wrong. Harkon had this idea that he was on the trail of some ancient magic that could cover the land in eternal darkness, allowing vampires to rule, as if we were superior to mortals.

He offered me to join them, despite my 'impurity', as he called it. I said that he was insane, that I wanted nothing to do with them, and some more colourful things. Before I left, I also stole his prized sword, which I sold in Elsweyr for a decent amount of gold. Should have shoved it where I told him to shove his offer.

Anyway, apparently he still holds a grudge about all that, it must have been two centuries since anyone was after me for that reason. Vampire hunters doesn't bother with posters, they just seek out a vampire and kill them, the Vigilant's of Stendarr operate pretty much the same."

"Should we be worried about more of this?" Leo asked.

"I guess, but without that poster, it will be harder for them to find me. Though I wonder how many more there might be. Whatever the case, I've evaded them for centuries, I know how to keep a low profile."

There, for all those of you that wanted a proper fight in a tavern, I hope that this is to your liking.

It seems like Devina has some secrets that might cause trouble for the team. Wonder what more that will happen.

And, if you couldn't tell by the title, the wanted poster and frying pan scene, this chapter has quite a few references to the movie Tangled. I love that movie and just couldn't resist doing this.

Also, thanks to Bloodrayne666 for lobbing some ideas for this chapter.