Table of Contents – (spoilers)
Despite Choke’s profound worrying about it, Peep’s scout around the village of Bristlehump turned up no peril or trouble. What it did do was give Peep a very good idea of their immediate surroundings.
With Bristlehump being quite a small place, it did not take Peep long to check it out. Even with her being thorough and taking her time with full care, she was finished by lunch. With no desire to return to the church to give it a good scrubbing, she instead crawled into a thicket on the far side of the Bristle Creek just below the Crotch. The spot was just opposite the teamster yard.
Heading into the thicket from the bush side to the east of the creek, Peep found it riddled with old goblin runs. There was even a goblin hollow under the roots of a big tree. In soil, goblins are adept tunnelers, so there was no telling how many tunnels there might be as well. While the site had obviously been out of use for over a year, it was a sobering find. The goblins had infested the place without any true fear of the humans they had set up to observe. Indeed, the thicket was so tight, and the runs so narrow, any humans bigger than Peep, or a large child, would have trouble fitting into them.
However, the goblins were long gone, and their site was a marvelous find for Peep. She set up just by the creek and spent the afternoon eating jerky and nuts and berries as she watched the teamsters at work. The big wagons for Spitzer had long since gone. The work now was unloading the wagons and skids that were being hauled out of the bush. The big logs were rolled up onto elevated decks by men, or, in the case of very big ones, by mule teams and ropes. When the empty wagons from Spitzer returned in the evening, the logs would then be rolled off the platforms onto them, so that they would be ready to leave at first light.
The site was well run. Peep soon marked Bob, the teamster boss, in the mix. He coordinated and bossed the teamsters around, without seeming too much an asshole about it. His thick, leather mule clout was often in his hand, but only ever seemed to be used to gesture with.
Keeping her eyes sharp as she marked every man that came or went, Peep saw no sign of the security boss, Sneed. Beyond a pair of crossbowmen who wandered around the edges of the stockyard, there was no security to be seen.
At a range of about two hundred meters from Peep’s observation point, all the men were well out of range of the stout shortbow Peep had with her. However, she knew they were just inside the effective range of her Scythan warbow back at the church. She tucked this tidbit of knowledge away for potential future use.
When the empty Spitzer wagons arrived and the teams began loading them from the decks, Peep snuck back out of the thicket the way she had gone in. She returned to the church just in time for their early dinner and reported her findings to the lads. Then the four of them settled in for the night with the same watch schedule as before.
The night was another uneventful one. It was a cloudy morning that looked as though it would be cooling off a bit from the sunny, warm days they had been having. The squad rose early and filled up on a hearty, simple gruel. Then they locked up the church and began gearing up for patrol. Knuckle was bringing his horse across the square from the village stable when he bumped into Gabe and Theon coming up the south lane from the Crotch. Gabe was mounted on a good little horse. Theon was afoot, and shuffled morosely behind.
Knuckle had been pointedly instructed to keep his mouth shut about Theon’s goat-fucking, so he just gestured for the two to go on around the side of the church to the yard in back.
“Just in time, boy. I thought ye weren’t gonna make it,” Peep said to Gabe as he and Theon entered the yard. “Pinch, why don’t ye see how the lad is kitted out, and explain to him how we do things on patrol. He’s gonna be in rear with Knuckle and Choke.”
“Ye mean I can come out on patrol with ye, Miss Otilla?” Gabe said, his face lighting up.
“Yeah, just as a local guide. Unless ye think we’re doing something real dumb, ye speak when yar spoken too and try to stay out of our way. We’ll see how ye move out there,” Peep said.
“Thank you, Miss Otilla! You won’t regret it!”
“Yeah, okay,” Peep returned dismissively. “You,” she pointed to Theon, who flinched as she did. “Yar with me and Brother Bartholomew in the church. Get in there.”
Choke and Peep led Theon the goat-fucker through the church kitchen into the pews. With the doors shut and the narrow windows shuttered, it was quite dark in there. Choke opened one east window to let in some light.
“Sit,” Peep said to Theon. Then she moved back to the kitchen to check it was empty before shutting its door to the side of altar. Peep and Choke sat down with Theon in the pews.
“It was good ye came to church on Sunday, Theon. Ye keep that up,” Peep started.
Theon just nodded, his eyes on the floor in front of him.
“Ye wanna clear up yar sin, Theon? Ye wanna get right with Altas and Stron? Is that why ye come here with yar family?” Peep asked.
Theon nodded.
“So let me tell ye how that has to be,” Peep said. “To get clear, yar gonna have to sit down with Brother Barrelmender in confession. He’ll hear every last sinful deed. Then he’ll cleanse ye of yar sin. I have that right, Bartholomew?”
“Indeed. However, it is up to him how he cleanses you. He might simply trace a Wheel above you and absolve you with a gesture. Or, he might burn it from you with Holy Fire. It is the Brother’s choice,” Choke said sternly.
“Yeah, that’s right. The Brother’s choice, Theon,” Peep said. “And with yar load of sin, what d’ye think that Holy Fire is gonna do to ye? Ye think yar gonna pass through it unscathed?”
Theon shook his head, trembling.
“So, Bartholomew, why d’ye think Brother Barrelmender might choose to spare Theon the Holy Fire and just absolve him with a Wheel?” Peep asked.
“He might do so if Theon has shown himself to have done good service for the Church and its agents,” Choke answered.
“Good service for the Church and its agents. D’ye understand what that means, Theon?” Peep asked.
Theon nodded.
“Don’t just nod like a cretin, man! I asked ye a question!” Peep barked.
“Yesh. Yesh! I understand.”
“So what does it mean?”
“It mean, I… I have to do what ye tell me. I reckon anyway, Mish. And I will. I really will! Please don’t tell what I did! Please, I’ll do—”
“Shut up!” Peep barked.
Theon did so. Peep let him sit quivering in silence for a long while before she continued:
“So why don’t ye tell us something we don’t know, Theon.”
“Mish?” Theon stammered, deeply confused.
Peep sighed. “Ye say ye wanna help us, Theon. And I appreciate it. I do. But I gotta ask, what is someone like you gonna be able to do for someone like us? Seriously. But what ye can help us with is information. Right? Keep yar ear to the ground. Tell us something we don’t know.”
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Well?” Peep asked, expectantly.
“Well, what, Mish Otilla?” Theon stammered.
“Tell us something, ye fuckin moron!” Peep yelled, genuinely angry now.
“Whad’ye wanna know?” Theon wailed. “I don’t know what ye wanna know!”
“Start with the Outfit,” Choke interjected.
“The outfit?”
“Yes! The fucking Outfit!” Peep exploded, springing to her feet, barely restraining the impulse to give him a smack on the ear.
“Peep, just calm down, please. Take a walk for a second,” Choke said.
Peep glared at Choke, but soon realized the good sense of his recommendation. She left to pace up and down the church.
“Theon. Calm down. Breathe. Relax.”
Choke waited for a minute until Theon seemed to have done so, at least a little.
“Now, have you ever heard of the Outfit? The teamsters’ thugs.”
“Okay, yesh. I have, Brother Bartholomew. I’m sorry, I just got confused, with everything so… I dunno,” Theon risked a sideways glance towards Peep.
“It’s okay. I understand. Now, I am sure you have heard that they want to hurt us.”
“Sure. Yesh, Brother Bartholomew. But I just know what everyone knows about that! I mean, I don’t think that’ll be any use to ye! I’m so sorry!”
“That’s okay. Just tell me what it is you know. That’s all. Whether it is helpful, or not, is not the issue. We will appreciate your help, and will speak of your helpfulness to Brother Barrelmender before your confession to him. Just tell me everything you know about it. Okay?” Choke said gently, like he was talking to an upset youngster at the Pekot orphanage.
“Okay. Well, Brother Bartholomew, what I heard was that the Outfit wants ye bad, so they sent the Chisel out to find ye. And he come through here last month looking, but he couldn’t find ye here, and then he heard that ye was over in Callic doing miracles, and such, and he lit on outta here on the Tanglefoot. Oh, right! But before that, he asked Edwin and Fernand to gather up some killers and take them on to Spitzer and wait for word there in case he needed them. And then—”
“Wait!” Peep interrupted, coming back to sit down. “Who? Who did he ask to put together a squad?”
“Edwin. And Fernand, Mish Otilla.”
“Would those be Tully’s boys?”
“Yesh! That’s right, Mish Otilla!” Theon brightened up.
“Okay, good. And then what happened?” Choke asked.
“Well, then we heard that Captain Fairchild and Father Morrenthall’s man, Thorn, picked up the Chisel and his men for the Baron, and hanged some and took some others off to fight the goblins up north, but that he let the Chisel go, paroled to go all the way to Strana to tell thems there that need to know that Otilla of the Holy Fire and her Pekot Bunch are not to be interfered with. But, he didn’t do that, as ye know, and he picked up Edwin and Fernand and their squad in Spitzer and come back up here Bristlehump way, and they’re out there in the bush offering gold coin to any that kill ye, or bring ye to them.”
“As we know? Are ye kidding with this, fuckin guy?” Peep exclaimed, frightening Theon again. “Why would ye assume we know any of that?”
“Well everyone know it, Mish Otilla! It’s all anyone is talking about! I’m sorry! Please, I’ll do better, Mish Otilla!”
“Otilla. Please,” Choke said, more forcefully this time. “You are not helping.”
Peep bit off her retort to this and took a moment to do some breathing.
“So, Theon,” Choke continued, “the Chisel is in the bush offering gold for our heads. Do you know where he is?”
“No, Brother Bartholomew.”
“Do you know how many killers it was that Edwin and Fernand gathered up for him?”
“No, Brother Bartholomew. Just that it was their usual palls, Pace and Heath and Jerald and John. And then a few more, but I don’t know about them.”
“So at least eight with the Chisel, including Edwin and Fernand,” Choke said.
“Yesh, Brother Bartholomew. I’m sorry I don’t know more!” Theon said miserably.
“That’s okay, Theon. Do you know how much gold they’re offering on us?”
“Yesh!” Theon nodded vigorously. “Five gold on each of ye!”
“On all of us? Otilla as well?”
“Yesh! Even Mish Otilla! I reckon they don’t believe that she’s a real miracle, like everyone else says.”
“Twenty gold for all four of us. That’s a lot of money,” Peep said.
“Yesh, it is, Mish Otilla!”
“You aren’t thinking about trying to get ye some of that, are ye?” Peep asked.
“What?”
“Are ye thinking that ye might like to get some of that gold by helping the Chisel?” Peep asked again.
“Oh, no! Mish Otilla! I never!”
“Ye best not be, because now that I’ve had ye in the church here, I worked my moko on ye, and I’ll be able to tell whenever ye have a thought to do us harm. You even think about doing bad to us and I’ll know right off, and then I’ll be coming to get ye. Understand? I’ll come and burn ye up with Stron’s Holy Fire.”
“Oh, no! Mish Otilla! I won’t! I won’t!” Theon wept as he cowered before her.
“Ye best not. Now, d’ye have anything else ye think we should know? Or are ye all wrung out?” Peep asked.
Theon did indeed look all wrung out as he shook his head with tears and snot dripping from his nose.
“Okay. Fuck off then. But you hear anything about us, or the Outfit, or the Chisel, or them bad boys he’s with, ye come tell us speedy quick. If ye don’t, yar gonna burn. Got that?”
“Yeeeshhhhhhhhh…” Theon dribbled, slumped low in his pew, making no move to leave.
“Did ye hear what I said? Fuck off! Get!”
Peep stood up and gave Theon a swat as he stumbled for the kitchen door. He could not figure out the latch, as rudimentary as it was, so Peep had to open it for him. She kept with him to shove him outside through the kitchen.
“So, what the fuck?” Peep exclaimed as she returned to sit down with Choke. “Does everyone around here know all that and we didn’t?”
“Peep. Could you please make an attempt not to curse in the church? Please,” Choke said.
“Oh. What? Was I swearing? Sorry.”
“Yes. You were. And was it quite necessary to treat the fellow so rough? I’m assuming you were lying about being able to read his mind.”
“Yeah, that was bullshit!” Peep laughed.
“Peep!” Choke barked.
“What?”
“The cursing, I said!”
“What? Bullshit is cursing now? What the fu— funny… duck. Okay, fine. But, what, ye wanna go easy on that guy? Him? Ye didn’t have to see him balls deep in goat like I did.”
“Okay, that’s enough now. Let’s go!” Choke snapped as he stood up and left the church through the kitchen.
They were all geared up, so all they had to do was lock the kitchen door with the key in the gravestone and then they were ready to leave.
However, before they could all mount up, Peep stepped in close to Gabe and gave him a sharp poke with a couple of her knuckles. He was in leather armor now, so she got him in his armpit. Gabe yelped and startled away from her.
“Where’s the Chisel?” Peep hissed at Gabe.
“What? I don’t know!” he exclaimed.
“Keep yar fucking voice down! If not exact, then where is it ye reckon him to be? Generally, like?”
“Well, he’s out in the bush around here, of course,” Gabe answered, flustered, but keeping his voice quiet, as instructed.
“With Tully’s boys, Edwin and Fernand.”
“Yeah… I guess so. I mean, that’s what we reckoned Sunday night, right?”
“Uh-huh. So why is it that Theon knows this for sure, when with you and yar lot, teamsters that ye are, it’s a shot in the fuckin dark?” Peep gave Gabe another armpit poke.
“Ow! Please, Miss Otilla.”
“What’s that? Ow? Yar lucky it aint my fuckin blade! You playing us for a bushwacking, ye little cocksucker?”
“What? No!”
“No? How much gold is it that the Chisel is offering for our hides? Ye know that, don’t ye?”
“Well, everyone knows that, Miss Otilla. It’s five gold on each of ye. Twenty gold in total,” Gabe said, now looking frightened.
“Ye hear that?” Peep asked Pinch and Knuckle. “Five gold on each of us. And everyone knows it. Everyone except us.”
“What, and this surprises ye?” Pinch asked her.
Peep turned back on Gabe, who flinched as she did.
“The whole lot of ye, sat right here with us boozing and eating for a whole fuckin day, and not one of ye thought to tell us that the Outfit price on our heads has gone up to twenty fuckin gold.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Otilla. I really am! I guess we all just thought that ye knew. Ye didn’t ask us about it. And, I mean, why wouldn’t ye know that?”
“Well, I guess ye got us there,” Peep said, finally relaxing just a little. “Knuckle! Why the fuck didn’t ye find this out for us?”
“What, this is on me now?”
“Yeah. Why not you? Ye eat enough, ye oughta be good for something more than catching arrows.”
“Fuck you, Peep! What’s up yar ass?” Knuckle barked.
Peep ignored him and turned back to Gabe:
“So is that what yar up to here? Trying to get yar hands on that gold, so’s ye can kick off yar new life good and proper?”
“No. Miss Otilla, I—”
Gabe stopped speaking with a gasp as Peep reached up with her left hand to grip the front of his leather armor at the collar as she drew her Orcstabber buck knife with her right.
“Peeeep…” Choke said slow and quiet.
“Hush up, all of ye. I want a proper word with the lad, is all,” Peep said.
Peep was, of course, much shorter than Gabe. However, with her grip on his armor, she would be able to pull herself right up into his face to do whatever she wanted to do with her knife. There was no doubt about it: Peep could kill or maim Gabe in an instant and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
Frozen in terror, Gabe gaped down at Otilla of the Holy Fire.
“Now I wanna know, Gabe: why it is that we’re hearing from Theon the cretin what we shoulda heard from you and yours.”
“Miss Otilla. Please. I just wanna help ye take on the Outfit,” Gabe said, very quiet.
“Why?”
“Because yar good Stronians. And they’re evil men. Ye heard what Mom said, their kind are a blight on our people.”
“Okay. Say I believe ye. Why is it that Theon knows more about what’s going on around here than you do?” Peep asked.
Still with a tight grip on Gabe’s collar, the rest of her form was loose and relaxed. Her knife was held low at her side. Of course, this meant it was in ideal position to get up into Gabe’s unarmored downstairs business.
“Because we’re the only proper church-going people in these fuckin hollers, is why! Nobody tells us shit,” Gabe exclaimed bitterly.
“And yet ye know about the twenty fuckin gold.”
“Yeah, well, news like that gets around, Miss Otilla.”
“I guess that it does. Next time, see that it does. To us, I mean,” Peep said, letting Gabe go as she sheathed her knife.
Everyone else started breathing again.
“Thank you, Miss Otilla. I will,” Gabe managed.
“So how long has word of this twenty gold been going around. And who put the word out?” Peep asked.
“About a week, I’d guess, Miss Otilla. And we heard it was the Chisel himself that offered it,” Gabe answered smartly.
“But ye’d be hearing about it later than most around here, I’m guessing. What with yar lot being out of the loop, and all.”
“Yes, I reckon so, Miss Otilla.”
Peep glanced at the squad.
“So, over a week, then. That means the Chisel got his crew in Spitzer and came straight here to get the word out,” she said.
“It seems so,” Pinch agreed.
Peep nodded and turned back to Gabe.
“So yar with us, Gabe? All in. To the dirty end. Is that what yar saying to me now?” Peep asked.
“Yes, Miss Otilla! That’s what I’ve been saying to ye!”
“Well, from this point on, yar either all in or yar out. Yar in?” Peep pressed.
“Yes, Miss Otilla.”
“Okay, then. So what that means is, you don’t come and go as ye please now. Yar staying here with us, and ye do as yar told. I’m the bush scout of this party, and that puts you under my orders. Right?” Peep asked Choke, Pinch, and Knuckle.
“Yes. Why not,” Choke said with a deep scowl. Pinch and Knuckle both nodded.
“Good. So you in? You good being my bitch boy for the duration, Gabe?”
“Yes, Miss Otilla,” Gabe said, as he flinched at her turn of phrase.
“Good. Well, yar in then. But on probation, like. You do anything that seems fucky to me, I’ll cut yar fuckin throat right there. You don’t step away from this squad to have a word with nobody without our say so. I catch you talking to someone we didn’t send you to talk to, and I’ll cut yar fuckin throat. From this moment on. Clear?”
“Yes, Miss Otilla.”
“Good. Okay, we’re going out on patrol today, and it might be a long one. Open up the kitchen and pack enough iron rations in our saddlebags for a week. Chop chop!” Peep barked, giving Gabe a final armpit poke to punctuate her order.
While Gabe hopped to it, Peep gestured for Choke, Pinch, and Knuckle to join her in the graveyard for a quiet word.
“Okay, so what the fuck’s going on?” Knuckle said, looking just a bit more confused than he usually did when fully engaged with his surroundings.
“Yes, walk us through your thinking here so that we can all be on the same page,” Choke said.
“Well, there’s twenty gold on us now, right? That changes everything. A month ago the bounty was a gold each for the three of ye. And then the Chisel cancelled that so’s he and his could handle it personally. Now he comes here and puts an open contract of twenty gold out there for the four of us. D’ye have any idea of how many bushrats that’ll have attracted?”
“No. Do you?” Pinch asked Peep.
She shrugged. “I dunno. A lot. But they aint all gonna be coordinated about it, neither. The ones to worry about, at least right now, are the ones that Sneed will have wrangled.”
“Ye think Sneed’s the one in control of them. Not the Chisel?” Pinch asked.
“Probably,” Peep said. “Look, the Chisel’s gone full bandit now, right? At least here in Spaggot Barony. He was told to fuck off and take the Baron’s message to the Outfit in Strana. Instead, he comes here and puts a twenty-gold bounty on us. That means he’s in get this done at all costs mode, which means he’s trying to save his hide from the Outfit. If I were him, I’d lay in the cut and let all the shithead bushrats take the first run at us. And Sneed’s the Outfit’s man here in Bristlehump. Sure as shit. But, either way, it don’t change what we do. They all gotta drop.”
“So how do we make that happen?” Knuckle asked.
“Well, that’s the question, aint it. Do we bug out back to Callic to do our original plan? Make a stand at the Old Mill Tower on friendly turf? Or, do we tough it out here on our own?” Peep asked.
“Those are not our only options,” Choke said.
“No? What are ye thinking?” Peep asked with a frown.
“Well, like you just said: the Chisel has broken his parole to Captain Fairchild. He is now an outlaw in Spaggot Barony. We could ride back to Spitzer and report that the Chisel is out here doing evil for the Outfit against the Baron’s explicit directive,” said Choke.
Peep’s frown deepened. “Uhhh… yeah. Okay. Who are ye thinking we report that to?”
“Well, not the Sheriff, obviously. Someone at the fort? They will get word to the Baron on the matter.”
“Yeah. And?” Peep asked.
“And he might dispatch another force to help us deal with this,” Choke said.
“Maybe,” Pinch said, looking dubious.
“This is how ye wanna handle this mess, Choke? Go and ask a daddy to fight these guys for ye?” Peep asked.
“No. I am just saying it is an option. It is worth thinking about, isn’t it?” Choke asked the group.
“Is it? Kinda a bitch move,” Peep said.
“We are not bandits, Peep. We don’t need to go it alone all the time!” Choke returned.
“Don’t we? Pretty much everyone in town told us to fuck off out here and deal with our own mess,” Peep said.
“The Baron did send Captain Fairchild to arrest the Chisel and his men on our behalf,” Pinch interjected.
“No he didn’t. He sent Fairchild out to chase goblins with Thorn. The whole Chisel thing was a, ‘while you’re at it,’ to get the Baroness off his back. And all them men are off in the bush now chasing goblins. Ye think the Baron wants to fuck around more on account of us?”
“Probably not, now that you put it that way. I was just suggesting it as a possible option,” Choke said.
“Well, I don’t fuckin like it. We’re either people that can stand on our own two feet to handle our shit, or we aint,” Peep said.
“And are we?” Pinch asked.
“Huh?”
“Are we people who can handle this shit?” Pinch asked.
“Fuckin A we are. It aint gonna be easy, or safe, but we can do it,” Peep said with a wide grin.
“Okay then. So the question remains: do we do that here, or in Callic at the tower?” Pinch asked.
“We stay here,” Choke said. “You said it yourself, Peep: Barrelmender is our priest. So this is our parish. We stay and fight for it.”
Peep looked to Knuckle and Pinch to see if they agreed. They nodded.
“Okay. Good. So, what we do now is hit the trails and go out on the hunt. Sure as shit, there are squads tucked away in the bush around these hollers. So we go and find one of them. Start killing.”
“And what about young Gabe there?” Pinch asked, gesturing to the young man who was putting some burlap sacks into their saddlebags.
“Well, we keep him right with us on a tight leash. Right into the shit. And we don’t tell him shit. If he’s looking to betray us, he’ll make a run for it. But if things kick off, keep yar eye on him. He doesn’t seem the backstabbing type, but ye never know,” Peep said.
“Do you think he’s trying to play us for the bounty?” Pinch asked.
“Probably not. But we have to assume it until he proves himself. Right? It’s this, or cut him loose before he learns anything worth knowing. But, we need him. So I think taking him on is worth the risk,” Peep said.
“Yes. I agree. So, then, what specifically is our plan? You mentioned going up Cowslip Holler and back to see if we could spring an ambush. Do you still want to do that?” Choke asked.
“It’s as good a place as any to start. But, with that I was thinking we were probably facing a single squad of pros. Now, we gotta contend with a whole shitload of bandits that may or may not know what they’re doing. So we have to assume there’ll be ambushes already set up waiting for us,” Peep said.
“There weren’t any around the Tanglefoot,” Knuckle said.
“True,” said Pinch. “But they wouldn’t expect us to go there, would they?”
“Whatever. They weren’t there then; they might be now. But Cowslip is the better bet to shake something loose. Tully’s is right up there. Do we know what’s up past that?” Peep asked.
“No. But Gabe can tell us,” Pinch said.
“Good. We’ll pick his brain on the way to Tully’s,” Peep said.
Choke had been looking thoughtful. Now he raised his hand.
“This could be an ideal situation for a thunder run. Of sorts,” he said.
Pinch snapped his fingers and pointed at Choke. “Yeah! Good idea!” he exclaimed.
“Thunder run? What’s that?” Peep asked.
“It’s a cavalry tactic for flushing out hidden enemy,” Choke answered. “On open ground, which Cowslip Holler certainly is, you ride a squad of horse fast and hard straight through. The idea is, that even if set up in ambush, without any warning that you are coming, the enemy is taken by surprise. With armored horse barreling down on, or by, them, inexperienced foes can panic. They often break cover. Take shots they can’t hit, scatter, or otherwise reveal themselves. It is to scouting as a mace is to fighting. Blunt, but it can be very effective.”
“Oh, is that what that’s called? I hate that! Yar lot used that on us when ye were taking Rackham and the rest of us down,” Peep said.
“But we aren’t a full squad of heavy horse,” Pinch said, now having second thoughts as he contemplated the tactic more carefully.
“No. But our adversaries are not a proper army. If we leave here and ride fast straight up the hollow, anyone set up there, whether in lookout or ambush, will have no warning we are coming. If we ride fast and hard, we will not be easy to hit if anyone is taking a shot,” Choke said.
“Is there another option?” Pinch asked, fingering the arrow hole in his leather armor’s breast.
“Yeah. Hit the bush and creep. But with Choke and Knuckle in full armor, and all our horses, that’s gonna be a real grind,” Peep said.
“So… which is it? What do we do?” Pinch asked the group.
“Fuck it! Thunder run!” Knuckle said with a big grin as he held his fist out into the middle of their square.
Peep gave Knuckle’s fist a sharp smack with her own.
“Fuckin thuder run!” she said.
“Okay then, let’s do it,” Choke said as he and Pinch both put their fists in, too.
Muse Vassal 