Chapter 5 - Part 5

"Well, I was wondering if I could interest you in buying something," Ermos began awkwardly, choosing to break that silence before it could get much worse.

"The likelihood of that is very small," the man said impatiently, "what I need you could never offer to me."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Ermos insisted, "you're entertainers, aren't you? What matters is the craziness of the creatures that you get."

"You know nothing of the entertainment industry," the man spat, "do not insult me with unnecessary explanations."

Ermos looked to Pash with a frown on his face, a look that Pash could very well understand. It was difficult to make any sort of progress when the man was so vehemently opposed to talking to them at all.

"A boulder hound," his master said quickly, hoping that the mere mention of their creature would be enough to spark the necessary excitement.

But the man's eyes merely darkened and his aggression became more severe. The sound of the crowd cheering could be heard behind them, followed closely by a sinister command. "Deal with these two," he said, before lifting up the flap of his tent and disappearing back inside.

Left alone with his muscular underlings, it was clear what their intentions were. They patted their clubs on their hands threateningly and cracked their knuckles as loud as they could. "Go on then, punks, get running, or we might have to get a little serious."

"…Now this is a problem," Ermos said. He had the same look of irritation on his face that he always got when they were faced with a problem, but those two henchmen mistook it for fear and they took energy from it, coming towards them even more aggressively, thrusting their chests out as they towered over them.

"Get. Going. Now." One of the men said, enunciating each word slowly and deliberately.

"He didn't believe us, did he?" Ermos said, speaking to Pash. "He should have given us a little more time to explain, instead of being so rude. In fact, I don't think I'm done talking at all. I'm going inside that tent. I would appreciate it if you two would step out of the way."

They were not even worth Ermos drawing his sword. Pash shook his head at their unworthy confidence. They practically giggled when Ermos said he was going to go inside and they blocked his way even more firmly and were about to lift up their bats to strike him.

"I'll deal with these ones, master," Pash said, quickly freeing his blade from its scabbard. The likes of two local thugs were the sort that even he could deal with. When compared to the monsters they normally faced, they could even be called weak.

"Really? It would be quicker if I just, you know, swept them aside?" Ermos said.

"No," Pash insisted, "I've got to make up for being useless back at the Stone Tree."

"Well, suit yourself," Ermos took a step back, leaving Pash to stand to face off against the two thugs alone.

The thugs shared a look of disbelief with one another. "…Are these guys serious?" One of them said. He was nearly double the size of Pash. "Even if you put a cute little sword in his hand, your boy is still a twerp. Giving him live steel only gives us an excuse to kill him… In fact, that's what I think I'll do. We'll feed your bones to old Harry and no one will ever know. How's that?"

He twirled his simple weapon around in his hand, hoping for a reaction from Pash, but Pash did not betray one. They wanted to taste his fear, but he felt none. He almost smiled as he realized that. It was why following his master was so powerful for his goals – when he compared most human enemies to the monsters that they faced, they didn't seem like anything at all.

Two hands on the grip of Pash's slender chevalar's blade and he took his stance. He remembered what his master had told him, about the importance of basics, and he recalled seeing such basic moves in action. If they were executed to perfection, then they would be more powerful than someone else's complicated but imperfect techniques.

"Absolutely no fun," the thugs complained, seeing him calm, "some people are just too stupid to enjoy killing. We'll have to educate you a little, huh?"

They spoke a good talk, but he could see their eyes flickering warily towards the sharp steel of his blade. They were smart enough to respect it. One of the big men – with a skull tattoo beneath his eye – laughed off their caution and he stepped clumsily towards Pash, not truly believing that he would swing at him.

But Pash did swing. He did not show any hesitation. He cut at him with a simple downward slash, opening up his robe, cutting straight through his cloth belt. A second went by, and blood welled on the man's chest. A single diagonal slash – albeit a shallow one – from shoulder to hip.

With his belt undone, his robe opened entirely, and the soiled wrappings that covered his crotch were revealed for everyone to see. The man gasped, not knowing whether to feel anger of pain, but a hairy hand reached down as he frantically sought to cover himself.

"Hey… Look! Those guys are fighting!" One of the audience members in the entertainer's crowd noticed their scuffle, and he called the rest of their attention to it. Even with a grown grizzly bear performing tricks in front of them, a fight was far more exciting.

"A fight!" Someone else echoed. Pash could not look behind him, for his eyes were still focused on his started opponents in front of him, but he could hear wooden sandals slapping against dry earth as people began to make their way towards them for a better look.

"Hold it there please, keep a good distance, it's the boy's first fight in a while," Pash's master made sure that none of them came close enough to interfere.