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High Fantasy Modern Storyhour - The Long Road (updated December 7)
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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 2490395" data-attributes="member: 63"><p><em>Continued. . .</em></p><p></p><p>The silenced gunshot is too soft for them to hear, but John's cry of pain is quite audible. Scarpedin sprints down the trail, not even trying to keep to cover. His sword is drawn back for a swing, and he shouts, "Die mutherf*ckers!" as he charges in.</p><p></p><p>At the last second he spots the giant black cat, rocking nervously on its paws. Its ears flick, and it's clear it knows that Scarpedin's coming, but it's eyes sweep right across him. The <em>invisibility to fey</em> spell hides him from the beast, and so for perhaps the first time in the history of the world, a man gets the drop on a cat. His sword chops into the panther-like fey's shoulder, and the cat snarls in pain.</p><p></p><p>It rears up on its hind paws and bats at where it thinks Scarpedin is. The first swipe misses, but the second catches the man on his left breast. Almost instantly the cat fades into the ground, leaving an inky pool of shadow behind, and then immediately the cat rises from shadows behind Scarpedin and lunges to bite him. But Scarpedin has already experienced Terry's "disappear and tap you on the shoulder" trick twice today. Instinctively he dodges the attack, and takes another heroic swipe at the fey cat's face for good measure.</p><p></p><p>During all of this, of course, he's ignoring John, standing barely ten feet away with a gun shot wound in his belly.</p><p></p><p>In the confusion Scarpedin caused, it's easy for Belladonna and John to get close to Rex. The thug, still clutching his bleeding throat, spins to try to take a shot at Robert, but John lashes out with a fist and cracks Rex's jaw. The man's shot is knocked slightly, and Robert takes a bullet in his right collarbone instead of in his chest. The bullet slows Robert down, but he forces himself to move while there's an opening. One jolt of a stungun later, Rex is on the ground. John picks up Rex's silenced pistol, then notices Hex shouting in worry over the cel phone.</p><p></p><p>John plucks up the phone and whispers into it, "Say 'bye' to your friend."</p><p></p><p>Belladonna flinches as John blows Rex's brains out of the back of his skull, and a fraction of a second later, Robert also flinches convincingly. But they don't have time to argue, because Scarpedin is spinning back and forth, slashing at the strange magical panther that is guarding the path to where no doubt they are keeping Terry.</p><p></p><p>The cat-beast is confused. In its dim, just barely above primal mind, it knows it has blood of the fey, and that worked steel like swords should not be able to harm it. Even earlier, being hit by the car was merely an irritation. It does not understand that Scarpedin's sword was cold-forged fifteen hundred years ago, crafted specifically to defeat fey and other magical races in the Great War of Camelot. It only knows that it has not been hurt like this before, and though it can hear and smell its foe, it cannot see him.</p><p></p><p>With a final spiteful flurry of bites, claws, and slinking darkness, the fey cat snarls and leaps away, bounding between pools of shadow like a dolphin breaking the surface of the sea.</p><p></p><p>"Sh*t," John says. "You okay, man?"</p><p></p><p>Scarpedin grins through his bloodied lip and the cascade of blood from a gash on his forehead. With utmost sincerity he says, "Never felt better. C'mon man, let's get Terry."</p><p></p><p>Robert points at Belladonna, then to Scarpedin. "Quick, put a bandage on him or something, before-. Wait, put a bandage on me first. Ho-lee sh*t, that bastard shot me."</p><p></p><p>From the cel phone in John's hand, the familiar notes of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" begin to play. John can almost feel magical heat emanating from the phone.</p><p></p><p>"Dah," he says, and he flips the phone closed. The music ends, though they can still hear it faintly from further down the trail.</p><p></p><p>The group gathers together, huddling near the trees for cover. As Belladonna tears part of Scarpedin's shirt to make bandages (because she would never ruin her <em>own</em> clothes), Robert looks John in the eyes. His gaze dips to the wound in John's belly, the blood barely visible against all the dark leather the man's wearing. Again Robert looks at John. John just shrugs, bends over slightly, and pulls out a cigarette.</p><p></p><p>"I know who you look like now." Scarpedin points at John, his tone a mix of pleased and accusatory. "Billy Baldwin."</p><p></p><p>John grimaces, then gestures down the path. "I'll go through the woods. In a minute, you head down the path, and we'll come at them from two directions."</p><p></p><p>Robert nods. "Good plan," he says, his expression one of being moments away from going into shock.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, and here's your razor. I got a gun now."</p><p></p><p>John slinks into the woods, a little less gracefully now with his belly wound. The three of them watch him go, and then Scarpedin begins to count by 'Mississippis.' Robert spends thirty Mississippis looking at the corpse of Rex, and then he puts out a rubber glove, picks up two bullet casings, and tucks them into his pocket.</p><p></p><p>They're getting ready to move when the ground around them begins to shake. Grasses and weeds burst from packed dirt, and trees branches leap out at them, snaring ankles, arms, and weapons. Scarpedin tries to hack his way clear, but he's bound securely.</p><p></p><p>Demurely, gorgeously, with all the proper bouncing and swaying, the nymph from before walks pertly out of the woods toward them. She catches Belladonna's eye and seems to sigh lustily at her, and then she moves beside Robert. The entangling foliage parts for her, but only seems to tighten around Robert, pulling his arms back.</p><p></p><p>She poutily says a few words in German, but then there is a mighty metal clang, and the nymph reels. Groaning somehow seductively, she clutches her head, staggers away, and turns to see Belladonna awkwardly pressing her way through the entangling brush, holding the cold iron skillet Ded Bob sold them. Belladonna smirks at the nymph, then takes another swing, catching the nymph in her chest.</p><p></p><p>Scarpedin manages to pull free of the plants, and he lends his sword to the beating. The nymph cries out, turns into a fox, and tries to flee, but Belladonna lunges and thumps the flat of her frying pan onto the back of the tiny woodland creature. The fox cracks to the ground and whimpers, unconscious.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p></p><p>Lover's Lane bends near its end, where it opens into a small clearing with a gazebo and several stone benches. From the cover of the trees, John spots Terry tied face down to one of the benches. Ten feet from the gazebo, hiding behind a flowered trellis, is Hex, listening intently to his iPod as he cycles through songs, apparently looking for the right spell. The man's not looking at all in John's direction.</p><p></p><p>Given the choice between rescuing Terry discreetly and killing an unaware enemy, John only briefly hesitates. There is a moment, as he approaches Hex from behind, when he wonders if he should take the man alive to find out who they were working for, but he decides it's not necessary. </p><p></p><p>Hex is intently watching the path, waiting for his enemies to come down the straight path, not in from behind or the side. Careful to keep in Hex's blind spot, John comes within 5 ft., points the gun at the back of Hex's head, and fires.</p><p></p><p>There is the pifft of a silenced gunshot, and then the metallic twang of a ricochet as the bullet is deflected. A flash of light appears behind Hex's head as his magical shield saves him from the execution. Suddenly the head phones shake with piercing volume as Hex spins, his eyes filled with tears of rage. Johnny Cash plays furiously, and a ring of fire begins to form around Hex's hand.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p>"We gotta go," Scarpedin says, cutting Robert free. "Our Baldwin brother is going to rescue Terry without us."</p><p></p><p>Robert and Belladonna nod, and they start down the trail at a run. But just before they reach the bend that will lead to Terry, a figure steps out of the shadows directly in front of them. In the instant they have to look at him as he attacks, they see a tall, dark-haired man, dressed in a solid black suit, with a white rose on his lapel.</p><p></p><p>Scarpedin could swear he looks like Christian Bale.</p><p></p><p>Long legs snap out and catch Robert in the belly, and strong arms gracefully deflect Robert's lunge with the stun gun. Belladonna raises her gun at the black-clad attacker, but he reaches out, twists her hands until she loses grip of her gun, and then fires Belladonna's own derringer at her chest from point-blank range. Only luck and reflexes save her as the bullet hits the frame of her corset and is deflected slightly away from her vitals.</p><p></p><p>"Holy sh*t," Belladonna curses, backing away and drawing a second derringer. She can't get a clean shot, though, because the man leaps to the side and puts Robert in the path of the bullet. "Dammit! Out of the way."</p><p></p><p>Robert is suddenly completely business. His face is blank as he slashes a feint with his straight razor, then follows up with the stun gun. He strikes a glancing blow on the man's suit, but somehow the fabric blocks the debilitating electrical charge. Scarpedin moves in around to the man's back side, but when he slashes the man bends over to dodge, then lashes out with a backward kick to Scarpedin's kidney. As he stands back up, the man pivots and uses a sweep kick to trip Belladonna.</p><p></p><p>A flinch of rage crosses Robert's face at the gall this bastard has to not be hit. Robert attacks again, but the man is back on his feet and he deflects the attacks his martial arts. Scarpedin chops downward and cuts off the left shoulder of the man's coat, revealing the white lining beneath but not drawing blood. Belladonna, back on her feet, pulls stilettos out of her hair and begins fiddling with vials in a pouch on her hip.</p><p></p><p>A third attempt by Robert to stun their attacker is again fruitless, and before Scarpedin can take another swing at the black-clad martial artist, the man catches Scarpedin's eye, and a chill runs through the air. The man's evil eye casts a spell over Scarpedin, and despite the warrior's furious efforts to resist, he finds he cannot resist his master's will.</p><p></p><p>Robert glances between the two of them, instantly realizing that something has changed for the worse in Scarpedin's demeanor. As Scarpedin draws back to cut down Robert, Robert realizes he's now going to have to kill <em>two</em> people to get out of this alive.</p><p></p><p><em>To be continued. . . .</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 2490395, member: 63"] [i]Continued. . .[/i] The silenced gunshot is too soft for them to hear, but John's cry of pain is quite audible. Scarpedin sprints down the trail, not even trying to keep to cover. His sword is drawn back for a swing, and he shouts, "Die mutherf*ckers!" as he charges in. At the last second he spots the giant black cat, rocking nervously on its paws. Its ears flick, and it's clear it knows that Scarpedin's coming, but it's eyes sweep right across him. The [i]invisibility to fey[/i] spell hides him from the beast, and so for perhaps the first time in the history of the world, a man gets the drop on a cat. His sword chops into the panther-like fey's shoulder, and the cat snarls in pain. It rears up on its hind paws and bats at where it thinks Scarpedin is. The first swipe misses, but the second catches the man on his left breast. Almost instantly the cat fades into the ground, leaving an inky pool of shadow behind, and then immediately the cat rises from shadows behind Scarpedin and lunges to bite him. But Scarpedin has already experienced Terry's "disappear and tap you on the shoulder" trick twice today. Instinctively he dodges the attack, and takes another heroic swipe at the fey cat's face for good measure. During all of this, of course, he's ignoring John, standing barely ten feet away with a gun shot wound in his belly. In the confusion Scarpedin caused, it's easy for Belladonna and John to get close to Rex. The thug, still clutching his bleeding throat, spins to try to take a shot at Robert, but John lashes out with a fist and cracks Rex's jaw. The man's shot is knocked slightly, and Robert takes a bullet in his right collarbone instead of in his chest. The bullet slows Robert down, but he forces himself to move while there's an opening. One jolt of a stungun later, Rex is on the ground. John picks up Rex's silenced pistol, then notices Hex shouting in worry over the cel phone. John plucks up the phone and whispers into it, "Say 'bye' to your friend." Belladonna flinches as John blows Rex's brains out of the back of his skull, and a fraction of a second later, Robert also flinches convincingly. But they don't have time to argue, because Scarpedin is spinning back and forth, slashing at the strange magical panther that is guarding the path to where no doubt they are keeping Terry. The cat-beast is confused. In its dim, just barely above primal mind, it knows it has blood of the fey, and that worked steel like swords should not be able to harm it. Even earlier, being hit by the car was merely an irritation. It does not understand that Scarpedin's sword was cold-forged fifteen hundred years ago, crafted specifically to defeat fey and other magical races in the Great War of Camelot. It only knows that it has not been hurt like this before, and though it can hear and smell its foe, it cannot see him. With a final spiteful flurry of bites, claws, and slinking darkness, the fey cat snarls and leaps away, bounding between pools of shadow like a dolphin breaking the surface of the sea. "Sh*t," John says. "You okay, man?" Scarpedin grins through his bloodied lip and the cascade of blood from a gash on his forehead. With utmost sincerity he says, "Never felt better. C'mon man, let's get Terry." Robert points at Belladonna, then to Scarpedin. "Quick, put a bandage on him or something, before-. Wait, put a bandage on me first. Ho-lee sh*t, that bastard shot me." From the cel phone in John's hand, the familiar notes of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" begin to play. John can almost feel magical heat emanating from the phone. "Dah," he says, and he flips the phone closed. The music ends, though they can still hear it faintly from further down the trail. The group gathers together, huddling near the trees for cover. As Belladonna tears part of Scarpedin's shirt to make bandages (because she would never ruin her [i]own[/i] clothes), Robert looks John in the eyes. His gaze dips to the wound in John's belly, the blood barely visible against all the dark leather the man's wearing. Again Robert looks at John. John just shrugs, bends over slightly, and pulls out a cigarette. "I know who you look like now." Scarpedin points at John, his tone a mix of pleased and accusatory. "Billy Baldwin." John grimaces, then gestures down the path. "I'll go through the woods. In a minute, you head down the path, and we'll come at them from two directions." Robert nods. "Good plan," he says, his expression one of being moments away from going into shock. "Oh, and here's your razor. I got a gun now." John slinks into the woods, a little less gracefully now with his belly wound. The three of them watch him go, and then Scarpedin begins to count by 'Mississippis.' Robert spends thirty Mississippis looking at the corpse of Rex, and then he puts out a rubber glove, picks up two bullet casings, and tucks them into his pocket. They're getting ready to move when the ground around them begins to shake. Grasses and weeds burst from packed dirt, and trees branches leap out at them, snaring ankles, arms, and weapons. Scarpedin tries to hack his way clear, but he's bound securely. Demurely, gorgeously, with all the proper bouncing and swaying, the nymph from before walks pertly out of the woods toward them. She catches Belladonna's eye and seems to sigh lustily at her, and then she moves beside Robert. The entangling foliage parts for her, but only seems to tighten around Robert, pulling his arms back. She poutily says a few words in German, but then there is a mighty metal clang, and the nymph reels. Groaning somehow seductively, she clutches her head, staggers away, and turns to see Belladonna awkwardly pressing her way through the entangling brush, holding the cold iron skillet Ded Bob sold them. Belladonna smirks at the nymph, then takes another swing, catching the nymph in her chest. Scarpedin manages to pull free of the plants, and he lends his sword to the beating. The nymph cries out, turns into a fox, and tries to flee, but Belladonna lunges and thumps the flat of her frying pan onto the back of the tiny woodland creature. The fox cracks to the ground and whimpers, unconscious. [center]* * *[/center] Lover's Lane bends near its end, where it opens into a small clearing with a gazebo and several stone benches. From the cover of the trees, John spots Terry tied face down to one of the benches. Ten feet from the gazebo, hiding behind a flowered trellis, is Hex, listening intently to his iPod as he cycles through songs, apparently looking for the right spell. The man's not looking at all in John's direction. Given the choice between rescuing Terry discreetly and killing an unaware enemy, John only briefly hesitates. There is a moment, as he approaches Hex from behind, when he wonders if he should take the man alive to find out who they were working for, but he decides it's not necessary. Hex is intently watching the path, waiting for his enemies to come down the straight path, not in from behind or the side. Careful to keep in Hex's blind spot, John comes within 5 ft., points the gun at the back of Hex's head, and fires. There is the pifft of a silenced gunshot, and then the metallic twang of a ricochet as the bullet is deflected. A flash of light appears behind Hex's head as his magical shield saves him from the execution. Suddenly the head phones shake with piercing volume as Hex spins, his eyes filled with tears of rage. Johnny Cash plays furiously, and a ring of fire begins to form around Hex's hand. [center]* * *[/center] "We gotta go," Scarpedin says, cutting Robert free. "Our Baldwin brother is going to rescue Terry without us." Robert and Belladonna nod, and they start down the trail at a run. But just before they reach the bend that will lead to Terry, a figure steps out of the shadows directly in front of them. In the instant they have to look at him as he attacks, they see a tall, dark-haired man, dressed in a solid black suit, with a white rose on his lapel. Scarpedin could swear he looks like Christian Bale. Long legs snap out and catch Robert in the belly, and strong arms gracefully deflect Robert's lunge with the stun gun. Belladonna raises her gun at the black-clad attacker, but he reaches out, twists her hands until she loses grip of her gun, and then fires Belladonna's own derringer at her chest from point-blank range. Only luck and reflexes save her as the bullet hits the frame of her corset and is deflected slightly away from her vitals. "Holy sh*t," Belladonna curses, backing away and drawing a second derringer. She can't get a clean shot, though, because the man leaps to the side and puts Robert in the path of the bullet. "Dammit! Out of the way." Robert is suddenly completely business. His face is blank as he slashes a feint with his straight razor, then follows up with the stun gun. He strikes a glancing blow on the man's suit, but somehow the fabric blocks the debilitating electrical charge. Scarpedin moves in around to the man's back side, but when he slashes the man bends over to dodge, then lashes out with a backward kick to Scarpedin's kidney. As he stands back up, the man pivots and uses a sweep kick to trip Belladonna. A flinch of rage crosses Robert's face at the gall this bastard has to not be hit. Robert attacks again, but the man is back on his feet and he deflects the attacks his martial arts. Scarpedin chops downward and cuts off the left shoulder of the man's coat, revealing the white lining beneath but not drawing blood. Belladonna, back on her feet, pulls stilettos out of her hair and begins fiddling with vials in a pouch on her hip. A third attempt by Robert to stun their attacker is again fruitless, and before Scarpedin can take another swing at the black-clad martial artist, the man catches Scarpedin's eye, and a chill runs through the air. The man's evil eye casts a spell over Scarpedin, and despite the warrior's furious efforts to resist, he finds he cannot resist his master's will. Robert glances between the two of them, instantly realizing that something has changed for the worse in Scarpedin's demeanor. As Scarpedin draws back to cut down Robert, Robert realizes he's now going to have to kill [i]two[/i] people to get out of this alive. [i]To be continued. . . .[/i] [/QUOTE]
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