27. The Golden Girl (3)

Novum put the torch back and on the wall and climbed the ladder down into the darkness.

As he climbed down he prayed that someone was not aware of what had happened and was about to stab him in the back and he climbed blindly down. He took a deep breath and blew it out. He did not want to let his imagination run wild as it would cause him to panic. After a few steps he could see again and there was no one waiting for him at the bottom of the ladder. The ladder was a lot longer than it looked and it took him a while to get his feet back on the ground.

Finally he had his feet under him and he turned to see a tunnel leading up to a door. He willed his sword and his shield into his hands and then moved forward in the dimly lit hallway. He could hear people moving around on the other side of the door. He got right up next to it and listened. He not only heard someone moving around but he could also hear at least two different people snoring. They were about to change shifts. He did not want to fight in the tight tunnel so he ran to the ladder and climbed all the way to the top. He closed the hatch and waited.

As he waited he could see light coming over the horizon. He had been at this all night and it was now morning. That is why they were switching out. He had been back up here for several minutes and he was about to freak out and go back down the ladder when the hatch opened again. He was so that not only was the hatch between them but a short section of wall.

"Hey assholes it is time to switch." Novum looked around and only one of them was out of the hatch. "Seriously you guys. You tired to scare us the other day and it did not work what makes you think today is any different."

Novum heard a second voice. "Are those assholes hiding again? The boss is going to kill them if he finds out." Novum peaked around the corner again and saw the second man was all the way out of the hatch and the first guy was still in the door.

Novum held his shield in both hands and charged around the corner where he was hidden. He slammed the closer guy in the back of the head before he even knew that someone was there. The first guy turned at the noise and reached to draw out his sword. Before he could even clear his scabbard the shield hit him in the face. Novum saw a tooth go flying and felt bad for about half a second. He was about the head down the ladder when he realized that he was making a huge mistake. He found a thick piece of rope and tied all four of them up and gagged them. And he made sure that there was a lot of distance between them so that they could not help one another.

After he was sure that they were all secure he climbed down the open hatch to the hallway. He got right up next to the door and still heard the snoring. Apparently the guys from the mid shift were still sleep. He pulled open the door and stepped inside. The two sleeping men were not far from each other and he could see a door on the opposite wall. He willed his armor away and moved towards the sleeping men. They were both heavy sleepers of the mostly empty liquor bottles were helping matters.

Luckily there was more rope in the room and Novum grabbed it. He tied one end of the rope to the bed and gently wrapped it around the man over and over again until he looked like a bug in a cocoon. He did not gag his mouth yet since his absence of snoring might have alerted someone to the issue. He moved to the second man and managed to get him in the same situation. He grabbed a rag and tied it around the first man's mouth. The man's eyes fluttered a little bit and Novum hit him in the jaw. A quick and brutal shot that did the trick. The second man never moved and the rag was tied with ease.

Novum moved to the next door and knew that it was time to put his armor back on. He concentrated and it appeared and with a snap he had his shield in his left hand. He would have snapped his right as well but the sword was to big to try and open the door while holding it. He got real close and listened at the door but he did not hear anything. He got tired of waiting and shoved the door open. He felt the same energy as on the warehouse earlier tonight but on a much smaller scale.

"I told you idiots not to open that door unless the building was on fire. Is the damned building of fire?" Novum could have tried to disguise his voice and fool the man but he knew that his silence would annoy him on an entirely different level. "Oh mute now are we. I am going to gut you like a fish you pathetic asshat."

Novum had steadily moved down the short hall and could not see into a room that looked way to big to be down here but the size of the ladder now made sense. Novum saw the purple stone on a desk beside the bed. The man who was putting the last strap on his leather armor looked up and realized that it was not one of his men that had come through his door. "Who in the nine hells are you?"

"My name is Novum and I am assuming that you are Henry and that you have heard of me." While he was talking his eyes were scanning the room and he saw another door this time he could see a large lock on the front.

"You! What did you do to the master?" Novum pulled out the communication stone and tossed it towards the man.

"His head and his body had a bit of a disagreement and decided to go their separate ways." The man was standing there with a dumb look on his face. "I cut his head off you moron. He tried to shoot me with a crossbow and I cut his head off."

The man roared in defiance and blood rushed to his skin and Novum could see blood running into his eyes. The news had thrown the man into a murderous rage. He launched himself at Novum who barely managed to block the attacks as they were coming at him non stop. The man had two short swords but you would have thought he was fighting with four. Novum decided to play defense for now to find the weakness or for the man's rage to play out. He would be come weaker when that happened.

It was a full minute before either of them managed to draw blood and Henry had found a small opening on Novum's arm. The wound did not hurt but for some reason it would not quit bleeding. Novum was not sure if it was a poison or an weapon effect but he knew that the longer this fight went the more trouble that he would be in.

After another minute neither of them had made any contact but Novum was still bleeding and he was so focused on defense that he had not even been able to bring the full capabilities of the weapon he got to bare. He knew that if he wanted to make something happen he was going to have to take a risk. He found a rhythm and found a spot right in the middle and kicked Henry in the chest pushing him back and gaining him some distance.

Henry was surprised when the kick actually pushed him back. He had yet to find someone with the strength to match his when he was in his rage. But he was still the quicker and landed a solid blow on the man's leg unfortunately it was not his sword that did bleeding damage. But a hit was a hit and he would quickly close the distance on his opponent who would be slowed by a leg wound and finish this fight.

Novum felt the hit on his leg and it hurt but it was not really that bad. Now that he had a little distance he could use the speed of his sword to throw his opponent off his game. Novum pushed the pace and instead of the two attacks he was focusing on during the previous attacks he managed to get in a third attack. Henry was not expecting the third attack and it threw off his rhythm and he felt a gash appear on his chest. The would stung and then suddenly the sting started to burn and for just an instant his chest felt like it was on fire.

Novum launched another series of attacks and kept the third one and Henry managed to block all of them. The next time Novum only focused on two and Henry was so focused on defense that he could not counter attack. The next two turns Novum did only two again. Then when he saw that the impatient rage was starting to get to Henry again he attacked with three and this time the gash on the chest was a little deeper and burnt a little longer.

Henry knew that his rage was not letting him focus like he needed to, to be able to predict and counter his opponents attacks. He knew that it would throw him off his game to cancel it not to mention the backlash that his body would suffer so he kept it up.

Henry's indecisive moment did not go unnoticed by Novum who sliced the tip of his sword across his thigh. Henry yelled out in pain again and threw his sword at Novum. Novum barely managed to knocked the sword away from his face with his shield when a dagger came following behind it and dug into the side of his chest. His heavy armor shove the blade to the side and the thinner armor and it found a way through. Luckily the wound was not life-threatening but that did not mean that it was not dangerous or that it did not hurt like hell.

Henry put both hands on his short sword and started closing the distance waving the sword like a lunatic. Novum ignored the dagger and concentrated on fending off the crazy blows. The problem that he was facing is that in his rage the attacks seemed to be random and there was no easy way to counter the man. With the blood running down his leg and pouring out of his arm and chest Novum was not sure how much longer that he could last. Then he was the opening that he was hoping to appear.

Henry felt his power starting to fade and knew that it was now or never. He put all of his remaining energy into a brutal overhand chop that was going to finish his slower opponent before he could do anything about it. He swung down with all of his might and saw the shield was not going to get there in time and then suddenly the shield was gone and he did not know what to do.

Novum saw the attack and in an instant made up his mind. At the last instant he willed his shield away and put both of his hands on the hilt of his sword and added all of the strength in his body to the attack. He was not aiming for the sword or even body he was aiming at the part of the body that he knew that he could hit since there was no way that Henry could change his attack. Novum's sword hit him right between his elbows and wrists.

Henry let out a scream of pure pain and terror as he watched his sword with both of his hands still attached go flying through the air. He saw the spray of blood and even with all that pain he could only think that if he got to the potion by his bed he could manage to live to fight another day. He made it two steps and then fell to the ground dead.

Novum saw where he was running and walked over. There was a potion on the table beside the bed that looked and smelled like the healing potions he had in his bag back on the wagon. He should have put a few of them in this bag but he did not think about it at the time. He crossed his fingers and chugged the potion. He could feel that familiar feeling again and he pulled the dagger out of his chest. He wiped it off and dropped it into his bag.

That was when he heard the voice. "He keeps the key on a chain around his neck."