part0036

Sam crouched in the bushes just a few hundred yards from the city gates. It was already past seven, which meant that he had less than five hours to kill the gnome or be hit with a divine curse. Gordon was crouched near him, chewing on a stick, and likewise, watching the city gates for any sign of the gnome.

Emma’s plan had been simple and straightforward. She wasn’t currently wanted by the city guards and hadn’t been seen by the gnome. So, all she had to do, was tell him she’d gotten wind of Sam and had decided to tell him, instead of the guards. She would then lead him out of the city, where they would jump, and question him. Once they were done, Sam would kill him and complete the day’s rule.

The plan seemed simple enough, but there were a lot of risks involved. Emma didn’t think the gnome had seen her, but she could have been wrong. There had also been those two guards who had seen them together when they’d left and there was always the chance that Sirus had put the word out on the streets. He, unlike the gnome, had most definitely seen her when she’d come into his shop to get him.

Sam had protested the plan at first, but had eventually caved when Emma had pressed him to present her with a better alternative. She had then told him that she was a big girl and could take care of herself, but that it was sweet of him to worry about her. That last bit had been said with the same smirk she had on when she commented on his ass, which made it sound a lot less like a compliment, and a lot more like flirting.

Baron Von Tweet had decided to go with her and Emma was convinced that he would help sell her disguise. After all, who would connect the foul-beaked pet owner, with the girl who had helped a criminal flee from the city just a few hours before? Sam had thought that the nasty bird would make her stand out like a sore thumb, but strangely enough, Gordon had interceded on her behalf. He’d said that companion animals were very smart, and that having him around would give Emma a much better chance of making it out alive. Sam just hoped he was right.

“How much longer do you think it’ll take her?” Sam asked in a low voice, his eyes still trained on the gates.

Gordon shrugged noncommittally.

“Who’s to say? They can be out at any second, or in an hour. It all depends on how long it takes her to find and convince the gnome to follow her.”

Sam nodded, and after a few more moments of fidgeting, decided to check the new skill notification he’d shoved aside earlier. It had come as soon as they’d finished formulating their plan and he had to say, he was glad to have it.

Sam closed the window and looked back to the city gates. Still not spotting any signs of movement, he decided to test his new skill on Gordon to see if it would work.

“Hey, Gordon? I’d like to test a skill of mine. Would you mind giving me some information on Somerset and throwing in a few lies as well?”

“That is an odd request, but if that will help you, then so be it,” the dog replied.

Sam listened to the dog talk for nearly twenty minutes. Every so often, he would get an odd itching sensation when he told him some piece of information.

“So, how many lies did I catch?” Sam asked, turning his attention back to the city gates.

He could finally see some movement, but it was still too far away for him to make out any details.

“In the twenty minutes in which I spoke, I quoted fourteen falsehoods. Of the fourteen, you discovered eleven.”

Sam grinned when he heard that number.

It wasn’t perfect, and Gordon wasn’t a master of deception, but it was definitely an improvement.

Turning his attention back to the city, Sam squinted his eyes in an attempt to make out the people approaching from that direction. He heard Gordon rustling the leaves nearby and turned to hush him, when he noticed that the dog was up on his feet, with his nose pointed toward the city.

“Emma is approaching, but I am afraid that she is in the company of several individuals. I can recognize the gnome’s scent, but there are at least three others along with them.”

Sam cursed silently under his breath. They could have easily taken the gnome alone, but if he had company there was the chance that one of them could get away and warn Sirus. Worse, there was the chance that they would be too strong for them to take on, and they would become the hunted instead of the hunters.

“What do you think our chances of success are?” Sam asked, keeping an eye on the slowly approaching figures.

“We will either win or not,” Gordon replied, earning him a snort from Sam.

“Fine. I guess we’ll be setting a trap for them, then,” he replied, looking around for a good area to set up an ambush.

He and Emma had decided to try and lure the gnome off the road, so as to avoid drawing any attention to themselves, but she might have a problem convincing a group of people to come into the woods with her. To that end he needed another way to lure them off the path and Sam thought he had the perfect bait, himself.

He and Gordon spent the next few minutes hauling several logs up into the trees, making sure to set them in as wide an area as possible to give them the best chance at success. After they’d completed this task, and Sam had gone back to peeping on the now much more visible group, he got a new notification.

Sam grumbled to himself as he closed the tab, and turned his gaze back to the group that was now only a few hundred yards out. He immediately started picking out details that he was sure he’d have missed before.

Emma was walking at the center of the group, with the small, red-faced gnome by her side. Baron Von Tweet was perched on her shoulder, and they were both flanked on either side and behind by three hulking figures. Two were men with the same green skin as Sirus, but the third was a woman, with a slightly furred appearance, and two short horns poking from her forehead. As he focused on each of them, small, shimmering blue outlines became visible on their bodies and Sam could pick out an assortment of weaponry and items.

So, Sirus was a demi-human, Sam thought. Are all people conceived through a human and someone of another race, lumped into that category? And what if two people from different races had a child? Would they also be called demi-humans?

Sam shook his head to rid himself of those distracting thoughts. Now was not the time for them. He turned his attention to the gnome next.

Sam had to force himself not to laugh when he saw the gnome’s name. Pompayous seemed to suit him well, though he had to wonder about the man’s mother. Who in their right mind would name someone something so ridiculous?

He examined the other demi-human, discovering him to be at the same level as the other one. Then, he turned his attention to the final person the group, and the one he was the most interested in.

Sam had to admit that he was quite intrigued by the possibility. Lilly was more than a little odd looking, but he had to admit that she had a certain charm to her. Perhaps that was just her race’s naturally high charisma, or maybe he was just a sick bastard, but he had to admit to himself that he would feel bad if he was forced to kill her. After all, she seemed to be the only one who was not excited at the prospect of finding him.

“Are you sure he’s this way? If you’re lying to me, you’ll pay dearly!”

The voice of the gnome drifted over, carried on the wind, and Sam had to suppress the urge to come out and attack him right then and there. This gnome had been a total dick since the moment they’d first met and had nearly gotten him castrated by a psycho chick with a thing for bondage. Now here he was, not content with merely driving him out of the city, he had come to kill him.

Sam gritted his teeth and imagined all the lovely ways he would torture Pompayous before he killed him.

“Yes. I’m sure,” Emma’s voice reached him next. “And you’d better hold up your end of the deal. I expect to be paid in full. Don’t even think of cheating me.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll get your money. Now where the hell is he?”

Sam looked back to Gordon and gave him a nod. The dog nodded back and padded into the woods to take up his position. Sam waited for a full count of thirty, before rubbing his hands together and grinning to himself.