Suddenly, there came the clomp of cloven feet from down the passageway.
Fred and Ashijfhwlo looked up to see a beefy minotaur leering at them. The
powerful beast was dressed in leathers, and held a gigantic battle-axe in
both hands. "So, you're trying to break out that miserable Lenocuze wench we caught sneaking around our pantry?!" the minotaur boomed in surprisingly good Common. "I'll teach you hornless apes the meaning of the Dragon's justice!" Fred disentagled himself from the clown-girl's tight embrace. "Have at thee, villain!" The ground seemed to tremble as the minotaur charged with a bloodcurdling roar. Fred leapt out of the way just as the creature's axe smashed a chunk out of the wall where Fred had just stood. Fred slashed the minotaur across the shoulder - it roared in pain and backhanded Fred in the face so hard he flew through the air, and hit the wall. Fred stood up, spitting out teeth. He was glad to see that Ashijfhwlo was nowhere in sight. "You see how that bitch ran?" the minotaur laughed. "That's all those scum are good for. You shouldn't have wasted your time rescuing her!" "Perhaps it was the smell of you that caused her to flee." Fred smiled. "Now come on and bring it!" The minotaur obliged, coming in hard and fast with an overhead swing that Fred was only able to evade by backstepping as fast as he could. The minotaur's axe was now stuck in the ground, and Fred exploited the advantadge with a quick thrust that pierced the monster's leather armor and cut deep into it's ribs. The minotaru roared in agony. Before Fred could withdraw his sword for another attack, the minotaur's hands closed around the blade. Fred gaped in disbelief as the minotaur spun him around and around by the hilt of his own sword, finally flinging him against the wall. Fred was in a daze. He tried to get up, but a terrible pain lanced through his body, and he crumpled in a powerless heap. Then he could feel himself being picked up by the neck and lifted into the air. "Now do you understand why I'm better than you?" the minotaur growled. "I should toss you in the cells and let the rats pick you over. But you fought well for a human, so I'll grant you a warrior's death." Fred cried out hoarsely as he felt his neck being bent to an unnatural angle. Then suddenly the minotaur's rough, hairy hands let go, and Fred fell to the ground, coughing and trying to regain his composure. Beside him lay the minotaur, a crossbow bolt protruding from it's skull, which was smashed open and leaking brains everywhere. Ashijfhwlo tossed the crossbow away and ran to Fred's side. She fell to her knees next to him and started chirping out some nonsensical set of syllables. "I'm allright." Fred groaned, sitting up. Looking into the girl's incredibly large green eyes, he suddenly sensed an almost superhuman concern and devotion. "You saved my life. Thank you." It suddenly occured to Fred that if a basically neutral race like Humans could produce many good and evil individuals, then surely an evil race like the Lenocuse could sometimes produce individuals that were good or neutral. Perhaps this girl was an outcast among her own kind...
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2/25/2003 1:55:41 PM
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21319791 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.