Dragon (S)Layers Ch. 09: Wakeup call

Reluctantly the kobold reached up, gently laid the dead man's head against the remains of his goddess's altar and grabbed the sheet-rope. Sarah didn't give him time to think better of it. She yanked him up and scooped him up into her arms like a babe. "We'll grieve later. I promise."

"Sarah!" Tessarie pointed behind them.

Two guards were poking their heads out of the window to her old room. One had a hand crossbow with him. The half-elf dived forward, tossed Keiter over the gap and spun with her pistol raised. "Not the time, gentlemen! I've bigger problems to deal--" The guard's bolt went just slightly wide and panged off the tile. Sarah jumped. "That's not very nice!"

With her bluff called, Sarah had no choice; she tucked her pistol into her belt line, hopped the gap, and scooped up Keiter so he could crawl over her shoulders. She put the burning pain in her shoulder out of her mind, motioning for Tessarie to cover them. One of the guards had disappeared back into the building, presumably to get re-enforcements on the ground.

"Sarah." Keiter whispered, his little claws found the cut in her shoulder and she winced. "Ah! I'm sorry, my friend!"

"I'll live." She smashed one of the shoddier tiles and used the heel of her shoe to break a hole in the moldy wood so she could loop her sheet-rope around the gap and new hole. Meanwhile, Tessarie cast a spell towards the guard-- that same tingle of energy bristled the air but the guard showed no signs of getting tired. He raised his reloaded crossbow and fired at Sarah again. The kiss of sharp steel grazed her right thigh as she tried to juke out of the way. "Ay! Tessarie! Go!"

It wasn't bleeding bad. Not bad enough to worry about. She stepped in front of the small elf, fished a fresh cartridge out of her pocket and went about reloading her pistol while the girl climbed down. The guard fired again but nothing hit Sarah. She was down the rope before Tessarie had gotten all the way down.

The sheets or the knots gave a second later.

As they tumbled down towards the ground, Sarah cursed the most profane thing she could think of in Sphinx and the three of them landed in a tangled mess of limbs and foul language. Keiter was the first one to get to his feet. Tessarie was next and Sarah a distant third. Her back hurt. Her knees hurt and the pounding between her pointed ears had become a sharp blare of agony. Then there was the lever of her flintlock digging into her kidney.

"Tessarie. . ." Sarah groaned as she rolled over. "Never wake me up again. Ever."

"What?" She knelt to help Sarah up. "Why?"

"Somehow this was all your fault. I'm not sure how, but I know you had something to do with it." At the girl's deep set frown, Sarah flashed a reassuring smile. "Come on, I need to stop by my house and pick up a few things--"

A man's shadow darkened the alley behind them. "Not so fast." It was the young paladin that had come to the temple earlier.

"Come now, really?" Sarah wheeled around to face him. He had his sword out and held at the low ready. They locked gazes and for just a moment, Sarah could swear he was shaking but his handsome, confident face betrayed nothing. She planned her moves even before she opened her mouth, "That's the best you can come up with? Why not something catchy like 'stop, evil-doer! I deliver justice in the name of-- your god. Who's name I've forgotten."

"His name is--"

"Not terribly important when I'm ruining my best leisure clothes with my own blood! Now, be a dear and give us a hand before I bleed out, would you?"

Keiter and Tessarie both glanced at her.

To his credit, the young paladin approached cautiously, keeping a good distance with those who still posed a threat. He was young but he wasn't stupid. Sarah immediately liked him. "Lay down your weapons, you're going to be arrested and--"

"Dear boy. You don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation in which you find yourself. You want to change the world and--"

"There!" A guard called from her right. They alley that lead to the main street was clogged with them an instant later-- six, at least. Sarah pushed off forward, preparing to shove the paladin out of the way. Instead he grabbed her by her gun arm and swung her around, using her momentum to get her into a lock with his blade against her chest.

"Ngh! Now, now, let's not be hasty--"

"Let her go!" Tessarie jumped into action and beat on the kid's arm.

Sarah pushed back against him. Her headache chose that moment to flair up like a hammer pounding her skull. She went to grab her temples and the man's arm clamped down on her firmly. As amusing as the idea of being allergic to paladins seemed on the surface, at that moment it was an obnoxious position to be in. Sarah dug her heels in, muttering. The kid was just doing what he thought was right, she couldn't fault him for that.

Two men strolled into the alley from the opposite side of the guards and a third from the alley in front of Sarah. It was Scarface.

Sarah glanced at Tessarie. "Never. Wake me up. Again."