Just Passing Through

[Oldsage]

Another old one from the days I just kept pumping them out. This one's fairly short for those of you who suffered through the thirty plus page monstrosity I posted before. As always, feel free to comment or advise.

[Oldsage]

Just Passing Through
By: Jordan Tobey

The small tavern practically vibrated with the sound of music and laughter as the white cloaked figure’s fingers played over the strings, calling forth a rowdy bar tune that many of the tavern’s customers sang along to. When at last the song came to an end the figure got down from the stool on which it had been sitting and took a slight bow in response to the audience’s cheers and calls for more.
“Perhaps I will play some more later, but for the moment, please, let me rest my poor fingers.” The figure said before it wandered over to the bar and putting one well worn boot up on the footrail and leaned over the bar top. “A glass of whisky and a bowl of ale please.”
As the bartender set both down before the hooded minstrel a small winged and scaled figure glided down silently from the rafters where it had been keeping watch and began drinking from the bowl while the figure sipped at the whiskey.
Most of the ale and about half the whiskey had disappeared when the door to the tavern was suddenly broken down and heavily armed men began filling the room while more could be seen and heard outside. Several of the men moved aside as a figure in elaborate armor entered the tavern. Stunned, the tavern’s occupants could only stare.
“Nobody move and there will be no violence, we are looking for a demon in human form, this demon has committed untold atrocities and killed numberless innocents. We have reason to believe that he is here tonight among you. Since he is in disguise, we have brought along a means of revealing him.” The man held up a green stone held in an elaborate golden frame. “One by one, each of you will pass by and touch this stone. Oh and one more thing, if there are any casters in the building, there has been a teleport block set up, so please, no teleporting.”
Only the white clad figure had seemingly paid no attention to the interruption as he finished his glass and threw several platinum coins on the table. “Sorry about the damage. His Lordship’s men can be rather destructive.” He muttered as the minidrag suddenly crawled up onto his shoulder lightning quick.
“What damage, it’s only the door, I’ll have it reseated by tomorrow morning.” The bartender asked, but the figure had already gotten up from the table and was headed towards the doorway, picking up the staff it had set aside earlier.
Catching sight of the hooded figure with the mini-drag perched on his shoulder the leader of the armed group froze. The figure stopped only a few feet away from the Captain.
“You wish to speak to me?” The figure asked in a tone that was completely leached of emotion. On its shoulder the mini-drag flicked its snake-like tongue in and out.
The Captain straightened up and nervously pulled a scroll from a pocket. Unrolling it he began to read, stuttering. “Bbbb…by order of his Lordship Mountbatten, the one known as Braun of Sabina, The White Minstrel, the Dragon Singer and numerous other aliases is hereby condemned to dddd..death for numerous and extreme crimes against his Lordship including but not limited to murder, mayhem, grand theft….”
The figure leaned unconcerned on his staff as the Captain continued to read through the scroll. When the Captain finally rerolled the scroll and place it back in his pocket an unsettling smile showed beneath the edge of the hood.
“Let me get this straight, you want me to turn myself in peacefully so that I can be hanged tomorrow at noon?”
“Well, uh, yes.”
“How about I suggest something else, you and your men leave peacefully now, and no one gets hurt, and other than the door, no property damage is done. Because the alternative is my cutting down as many of your men as is necessary to get out of here alive, and that will likely result in a lot of very bad things happening.”
The Captain took several unconscious steps back as his hand went to rest on his sword hilt.
“He’s going to force a fight.” Marciel thought.
“Unfortunately it appears that way. I do wish we could have avoided his Lordship’s lands, but time didn’t allow us such luxury. And now there’s going to be fighting, and killing, and all that other unnecessary violence.” Braun thought back.
“If you do not come peacefully I am ordered to use whatever force is necessary to bring you in dead or alive.”
“You can certainly try, I’m not a violent person by nature,” Here Marciel gave the mental equivalent of a snort of disbelief, “but if you force me to defend myself, I will show no mercy.” Braun replied, still seemingly relaxed.
“Seize him!” The Captain yelled. But even before the soldiers could react Braun’s fingers caressed his autoharp and a blast of lighting erupted from the instrument, incinerating the Captain, throwing guards in all directions, electricity crackling from their armor, and blasting a hole in the wall that tripled the width of the door. In a white flash Braun charged out the newly enlarged doorway, bringing his staff up just in time to intercept a sword swing from a soldier. The blade slid off the elaborately carved staff, and with a swift motion, Braun brought the staff around and slammed it clean through the front of the soldier’s armor, through his heart, and out the back of his armor to slam another soldier in the face, knocking him unconscious. As Braun pulled his staff free several other soldiers tried to rush him. Braun’s left hand flashed out and the onrushing soldiers went down, throwing knives lodged in their throats. A whistle as Braun ran by and the knives pulled themselves from their targets and vanished back to wherever Braun had pulled them from. In the glare of multiple torches, a veritable sea of weapons and armor met Braun’s vision.
“Deity but I hate having to kill this many people.”
“They aren’t really giving you a choice, now let’s get this over with.” Marciel sternly reminded him.
“Right.”
Braun brought his autoharp around and began to play in earnest. Flames swirled from the instrument to circle around Braun and then form into a giant ball above his head that took the form of a giant quarter note, which then shot out into the mass of advancing soldiers, the explosion threw a wave of heat back over Braun as he dashed through the opening it had created, cindered bodies crunching under foot. Within moments the fleeing pair had disappeared into the woods leaving confusion and death in their wake.
“Well so much for avoiding trouble, might as well keep moving tonight, we only have two weeks before we meet up with Maria and Goris to save Amelia. I’ll be damned to Hell before I let the likes of Mearinon hurt my niece.” Beneath the hood two points of light briefly glowed brighter.
“That makes two of us.”