Against her will, Elysia wriggled out of Elissa's arms again and turned her head. What was that noise? He gave the impression that there was a fight going on downstairs, and he was sure he recognized Frey's guttural war cry. The girl was looking at her with a puzzled air, as if wondering why she had stopped kissing her. He opened his mouth to speak, but Elysia laid a hand over her lips, gently, and then leaned down, until her own mouth was at her ear.
"Don't make noise," Elysia whispered to him.
She felt a slight shiver of fear run through him. She could clearly hear a strange noise coming from the window. She rose to her feet, picked up the dragon-hilted sword, climbed out of bed and into a semi-crouching stance.
She put a finger to her lips to signal to the waitress that she should be quiet, and then she gestured for him to get up from the pallet. She regarded her uncertainly, then followed her gaze to the window. It was then that she uttered a cry.
♦ ♦ ♦
Chang watched as Noi descended the rope. He was almost proud of his disciple, since Noi had perfectly fixed the hook in the sink and at that moment he was descending the rope that hung from the side of the tavern, like a great spider. He had acid-sprayed the metal bars that covered the window, then filed down the weakened iron as if he were a master thief. He raised one forelimb and signaled to the rest of the group waiting on the roof of the tavern. The ratfolks fixed the ropes and prepared to follow Noi. Chang would be the last to enter, as he befitted a glorious chief. Noi pushed off the wall and swung to get through the window.
♦ ♦ ♦
The window was smashed inward and a black-cloaked ratfolk passed through. Rolling on the ground, he got up and assumed a fighting stance: he flexed his hind limbs and flicked his tail; a curved-bladed longsword gleamed evilly on each of his forelegs. Elysia didn't wait for him to get his bearings. She lashed out with her own sword, nearly taking the creature by surprise. Sparks flew as she parried with one of her weapons and deflected Elysia's so that she only scratched his cheek.
"Run, Elisa!" Elysia yelled. "Get out of here!"
For a moment she thought the girl was too shocked to move, for she lay on the straw pallet, her eyes wide with her terror; but then she gave a sudden jump. Her distraction was about to cost Elysia her life, since during the moment he was looking at the girl, she lost sight of her opponent. Of her Only the deadly whistle of the sword that flew towards her head alerted her; she leaned in time for the sword to pass over her, though close enough to shave off a lock of her hair. Elysia made an instinctive thrust, but the ratfolk jumped away.
"Elysia!" Elissa yelled.
"Runs! Ask for help!"
Over the ratfolk's shoulder, she could see other ferocious shapes crowding around the window. They seemed to be fighting their way inside, each getting in the way of the others. The window was cluttered with mangy, scarred ratfolk faces. The situation was not looking good.
"Go dead! Go dead! Stupid female non-human-thing," the ratfolk squealed, as he leapt forward.
The creature feinted a swing with its right sword, then thrust with its left. Elysia caught her hand just above her wrist and held her still. The creature's tail wrapped around one of her legs and she tried to knock her off her feet, but Elysia slashed at her with the pommel of her sword. The ratfolk fell forward as he swung his sword at her, forcing Elysia to jump back; she then impaled the creature as it began to rise. The foul ratfolk's mouth bled as it died, and a strange nauseating stench filled the air; the ratfolk's corpse began to bubble and rot.
Elysia heard Elissa unbolt the door, and she risked a brief peek. The girl had turned and was looking at her with a mixture of horror and confusion, as if she didn't know whether to leave her or stay with her.
"Leave away!" Elysia yelled. "Ask for help. You can't do anything here."
He disappeared through the door, and Elysia felt a vague sense of relief. At least then he wasn't responsible for her safety. When she looked back at her enemy, she saw that the ratfolk she had just killed was gone, leaving only a puddle of black slime and rotting clothes. The catgirl wondered what deadly sorcery that prodigy had worked.
The hiss of air moving past her warned her of another threat, and out of the corner of her eye she saw several glittering objects flying toward her. She dove for the bed, hoping it would break her fall. When landing, she filled her mouth with straw from the mattress; She reached for her old cloak and wrapped it around her left fist in a ball. She made it just in time, as more shiny objects streaked through the air toward her. She raised the ball of thick wool, where it impacted without hurting her. Looking at them, she saw that they were throwing stars smeared with some fetid substance, no doubt poison.
Two more ratfolks had managed to push their way through the mass outside the window, and entered the room. They ran toward her with blinding speed, like evil shadow rats the size of a human, their yellowish fangs gleaming in the lamplight. She knew better than to look at the door, as there was no way she was going to get there without getting a sword plunged into her back.
"Because I?" she wondered herself. "Why am I here, half naked and facing off against a pack of murderous ratfolks? Why do these things always happen to me? In novels, these kinds of stories never happened to the protagonists!"
She flung the cloak at the head of the ratfolk on top of her, who began to writhe in the tangle of folds of wool. Elysia slashed at him with her sword, its razor-sharp blade cutting through him like butter, black blood staining his cloak. As the catgirl yanked the sword from her corpse, the second wererat took advantage of her distraction and leapt at her with both weapons raised, slashing down like cleavers. Elysia jumped back, and her sword came free with a horrible sucking sound. The catgirl landed on her back, clutching the sword in her hand; she raised the point of her weapon, and the ratfolk flying through the air toward her caught on her blade. As she fell, her weight ripped the sword from Elysia's hand.
Damn, she thought as she got to her feet. "My sword." The point of the sword protruded from the ratfolk's back. She was reluctant to touch the disgusting creature with her bare hands, but she had no choice if she wished to retrieve the weapon from her. Her cloak was already beginning to descend on the decaying ratfolk with terrifying rapidity.
Too late! Other ratfolk were jumping from the window, and there was no time to be scrupulous. She drew the ratfolk's sword and charged with such fury that she caught them by surprise. She cleaved one ratfolk in the head before it could react, disemboweling another with the return blow. The latter fell as he tried to hold his gnarled intestines with one hand and tried to thrust at Elysia with the sword he held in the other.
The catgirl slashed at her second, severing a limb, and she continued to slash around her in blind fury, feeling the terrible shock of impact on her arm with each blow. Slowly, however, more and more ratfolk found their way into the room, and relentlessly, defending herself as best she could at every step, she was forced back against the wall.
♦ ♦ ♦
Heinz raised his head in surprise as Frey stomped into the tavern hall; he carried the bloodstained greatsword in one hand. The other huge fist gripped the scruff of a dead ratfolk, which was decomposing with frightening speed, apparently completing the process of several weeks in a few moments. With his eyes releasing an intimidating glint, Frey glared at the startled guards, and dropped the corpse, which smashed and puddled at his feet.
"Damn ratfolks!" she mumbled. "There was a whole bunch of them lurking outside the toilet."
Heinz came to a stop next to the dark hero, staring down at the pool of rot with a peculiar mixture of fascination and disgust written on his face.
"I think he was a ratfolk," he said.
Frey lowered a surprised look at him.
"Of course he was a bloody ratfolk! I know enough about them to know, by now, what they look like."
Heinz shrugged apologetically, then spun on his heel at a shout from the stairs; when he looked up in astonishment he saw Elissa, half-dressed, looming overhead. The girl was pale with terror.
"Elysia!" he yelled he.
"What has the gatp girl done, lass?" he asked reassuringly. The girl lunged for him, and Heinz wrapped his arms around his trembling body.
"Nope. They are trying to kill her. Some monsters try to kill Elysia. They're in her room!"
"She's been taking sleeproot, that girl?" inquired one of the guards placidly.
Heinz looked at Frey and the rest of the guards, and again experienced the bad omens from before. He remembered the sounds from the cellar, and realized that Frey was having the same thoughts as him.
"What are you doing quietly?" Heinz roared. "Follow me, boys!"
That was better. It was more like the old days.
♦ ♦ ♦
Elysia knew that she was doomed, as she had no way to fight all those ratfolks. There were too many and too fast. If she had been wearing the chain mail, she might have had a chance of surviving all those swords thrusting at her; but she did not wear it.
Her enemies sensed victory and advanced. Elysia danced in the midst of a whirlwind of swords. Somehow, she had managed to survive until then and had received only minor cuts and a few scratches. She found herself standing by the bed and, thinking quickly, she kicked the lantern to the ground. The oil spilled on the straw mattress, and it caught fire. In an instant, a wall of flame rose between her and the wererats, and the catgirl reached out a hand to grab the nearest one and yank it into the fire. The ratfolk began to shriek in agony as its fur caught fire, and it rolled on the floor, howling and screeching. Her companions jumped back to avoid the flaming creature.
Elysia knew that she had only gained a few seconds and that she would only have one chance. Doing what the ratfolks least expected, she jumped straight through the fire. The heat from her seared her skin, she lightly burned the tip of her tail, and she caught the scent of her own hair burning from her. She saw a gap in the line of ratfolk near the door, and she dove for it, nearly slamming her into the hallway wall. With her heart pounding in her chest, her breath gasping, and bleeding from a dozen minor cuts, she ran to the top of the stairs as if demon hounds were hot on her heels.
A head appeared from the next room, and she recognized the bald head and broad sideburns of Baron Josef Mann, one of The Stinking Pig's most frequent customers.
"What the hell is going on out there?" asked the old nobleman. "Are you doing profane acts with animals?"
"Something like that," Elysia replied as she ran past. And then the old man saw what was after the young cat girl, his eyes widened, he clutched his chest and fell to the ground.
♦ ♦ ♦
Chang poked his head around the door and bit his tail in frustration. Everything was going wrong; everything had started to go wrong from the moment that stupid Noi had thrown himself through the window. In his eagerness to take part in the slaughter, the rest of the pack had tried to come in after him at once, all eager to claim their share of glory from him. Of course, the ropes had gotten tangled and they had all ended up clinging to the windowsill, desperately trying to get into the bedroom. Several of those idiots had fallen to their deaths on the hard ground below. He served them well.
"The doom of great ratfolk captains is always to be let down by incompetent underlings." He thought to himself philosophically. Even the most brilliant plans could not survive when execution was in the hands of mindless cretins.
It was amazing to realize that all his forces consisted of such jerks. They couldn't even kill a weak female, even when they had all the advantages of surprise, superior numbers, and superior ratfolk weaponry. Deep down, he suspected treason. Perhaps his rivals in the clan had sent him a bunch of poorly trained louts in order to discredit him. All things considered, he seemed the most plausible explanation.
For a moment, Chang considered the possibility of intervening in the fray himself, since it was obvious to his superior intelligence what would happen next. The entirety of the tavern would wake up and very soon his subordinates would be met with stiff, probably fatal resistance.
"Let them go all the way." Chang thought. They deserved whatever fate brought them.
He slipped back into the bedroom, smugly tossed some of the female non-human-thing's clothing into the fire to stoke the flames, then jumped out through the window. With one forelimb he easily caught one of the ropes, and scrambled up the side of the building to safety.
Meanwhile, he was considering how best to inform the Black Magician Dhalthar about this minor setback.
♦ ♦ ♦
Heinz grunted as something crashed into him and the weight of it almost sent him falling down the stairs.
"I'm sorry," said Elysia's polite voice, which Heinz recognized. "Had some little issues back there."
Throwing stars hissed past Heinz's ears, and the smell of burning filled his nostrils. He looked down the hall, which was now crowded with running ratmen, and was filled with cold fury. Those damned ratfolks were trying to burn The Stinking Pig and take his livelihood! He drew his club and charged at them, but it was an unnecessary nuisance as Frey shoved him aside and charged headlong into the group. The other guards moved cautiously after him. From the opposite end of the corridor, several nobles and their bodyguards poured out of the rooms and attacked the ratfolks from the rear, beginning a terrible carnage that ended shortly after.
♦ ♦ ♦
Elysia was sitting before the fire, wrapped in a blanket and shivering. She turned her eyes to Elissa, and the girl smiled at her with her pale face. Around them, guards ran up the stairs with buckets of water to make sure the fire didn't spread beyond Elysia's room.
"I think you've been very brave," Elissa said, and in her eyes was a look of utter stunned admiration. "You seemed like a heroine to me like the one shown in the stories."
Elysia shrugged. She was tired, covered in dozens of cuts and bruises, and it was obvious that the ratfolks were trying to kill her. She wasn't feeling very heroic. "Nevertheless," she thought. "Things could have turned out worse." He reached out an arm, wrapped around Elissa's shoulders, pulling her close, and both girls snuggled into each other, unintentionally hers, Elysia released a soft cat purr.
"Thank you," he said to the girl, and for a moment her smile made it all seem worthwhile.