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Chapter 3 |  |
Chapter 5 |  |
Renegade
"The God of Anger? I've never heard of him!" Zara snorted. Panzure
stayed silent, wiping the blood from his new limbs with a cloth.
"I am a monk, and one who devotes his life to the study of the Gods
which pass unnoticed," Tan'et said, coldly. "He attempted to join the
Thirteen Gods, but failed the challenge."
"Which was?" Panzure asked.
"To beat all the Gods in single combat. He failed and the Lord of
Chaos mocked him, so Jyanos hit him."
"He hit Maki?!"
"Yes. He broke all of Maki's ribs and twisted his spine.
While the Chaos God was still wearing his armour."
"I like this guy already," Panzure said, grinning. "Let's go and
find him."
"Follow me." Tan'et said, and leapt off the side of the building.
"Is he mad?" Zara asked, staring after him. There was the sound of
running feet and a dark shape hurled itself off the building.
"Probably!" Panzure replied, as he plummeted after Tan'et.
The assassin paced the rooftop for a while, nervously wringing her
hands. She stared off the side of the building, but there way no sign
of them, or their corpses. She let out an exasperated sigh and moved
towards the stairwell.
"Jump," whispered a voice behind her. She turned around, but a
bright green light shone in her face. Although it was fiercely bright,
it was cool and soothing, and her worries melted away.
"Jump," the voice whispered again. "I will catch you."
Emboldened by the soft voice, she flipped backwards off the
building. Seconds later, she landed gently on a soft floor. Panzure
and Tan'et were there, looking around. They were in a small
antechamber, the walls, floor and ceiling covered in padded material,
with a large door on one wall and a smaller one on the other side.
"It's an asylum, made by Jyanos himself to contain himself. The
material was made by the Ancients to be stronger than steel and very
springy," Tan'et said, in explanation.
"Really?" Panzure asked. He flexed and arm and punched the wall
nearest him as hard as he could. He flew backwards, hit the other
wall, and proceeded to bounce everywhere. Tan'et skillfully dodged his
flailing arms and opened the smaller door. Zara followed him, leaping
over Panzure as he rolled helplessly along the floor.
Past the door was a larger room, with the same padding. All over the
place was training equipment, and a large punch-bag hung by a long
chain from the high ceiling.
Kicking the punch-bag was a stout, muscular Norn, as wide as he was
tall, with pure white fur and hair. He turned when the door opened and
gave the punch-bag a final, vicious kick.
"Yeah?"
He narrowed his eyes at Tan'et and Zara, and snorted when Panzure
bounced out of the antechamber and into the punch-bag, falling flat on
the floor.
"Jyanos, have you met with an old Norn recently, asking about the
recent deaths?" Tan'et asked politely.
"What's it to you?" Jyanos replied, clenching his fists. The muscles
on his arms tensed, bulging even larger.
"Just curious," Tan'et replied, grinning apologetically. He bowed
and Jyanos relaxed slightly.
"Yeah, I've seen the geezer," he said at last. "I agreed to help on
one condition."
"Which was?"
"That I get whatever I want."
Tan'et smiled weakly. "Very fair, I must say," he muttered.
Panzure straightened up and brushed himself off. Jyanos glared at
him.
"Who's this guy?"
"Panzure. Half-Grendel mercenary," replied Tan'et.
"A half-caste, eh? Like me." Jyanos rubbed his chin thoughtfully,
and then shrugged. "Lead the way, Tan'et. I need the exercise."
As they walked out, Panzure turned to look at the punch-bag. Though
slightly battered, it didn't seem to have a mark on it where Jyanos
had been hitting it. Jyanos glanced across and saw Panzure looking
back.
"I know what you're thinking. I was practising delayed punches. The
main force comes after the blow."
"Really? How soon after?"
"Depends," Jyanos muttered. "Seconds, minutes, sometimes even an
hour."
Panzure shrugged and kept walking. Behind him, the punch-bag
exploded in a storm of tattered cloth.