Tooth and Claw


"I don't remember that door looking so tough," Smash said as the six
would-be assailants hid behind Rasputan's townhouse, the four footpads
wearing their customary masks.
	"Don't worry," Bash replied.  "Terrence should have it open
any moment now."
	"He's probably already dead," Crash muttered.
	"You shut up!" Smash hissed.
	"You shut up!" Crash retorted.
	"You both shut up!" Owl put in with a cuff to both of them.
Bash just shook his head, while William looked quite certain that he
had made a mistake in coming on the expedition.
	The door opened, with a faint light coming out.  Terrence
stuck his masked head out the door, tallow candle in hand, and
beckoned.  Then he disappears inside.  Silk, followed by the others,
quickly moved to the door and entered the house.
	"We have a slight problem," Terrence whispered in Silk's ear
with a gesture towards a corner of the kitchen.  There an apparently
terrified servant huddled.
	Silk motioned for the footpads to keep watch, approached the
servant, and hissed, "Be smart.  Don't scream or try to run, and
nobody gets hurt.  How many in the house?  Quietly now..."
	The poor bugger appeared to be to scared to talk.  Silk was
not even sure the servant understood what was being said.  Speaking
softly and slowly, Silk continued, "We aren't going to hurt you.
Where do you keep the spirits?  You look like you could use a good,
stiff drink.  Can you stand?  You don't have to get up, just point the
way.  Shhh!  We aren't going to hurt you..."
	With a whimper, his first sound, the servant buried his face
in his hands and hid.
	Silk stepped back and whispered to Bash, "This isn't going to
do.  Knock him out.  I don't want him raising an alarm until we've
gone.  Try not to let him see it coming."
	Bash stepped forward with his club and gave the servant a
glancing blow to the head, sending the servant sprawling.
	"Owl, front door," Silk instructed.
	The footpad left in search of the exit.
	"T, stairs?"
	Terrence pointed.
	Silk nodded, then asked in a whisper, "Did you find anything
else on your way to the door that might be helpful?"
	When Terrence shook his head, Silk led the way to the stairs,
using a lantern for light.  He held a cloth over much of the shield,
so most light was cast only before him.  The stairway was for
servants; very narrow and steep.  It led to a small landing with a
doorway, then continued up.  The doorway led to a hallway, with
several doors along it.  Silk continued up.
	Suddenly there was a seemingly booming voice from below, "What
the...  Hey!"
	"Uh, Silk, would you step down here for a minute," William
whispered from the rear.
	Silk raised the lantern to shed a little more light on the
situation, then closed his eye in frustration.  William, still on the
landing, had the barrel of his matchlock firmly planted on the nose of
a nearly naked man holding a sword.  Silk edged down the stairs and,
trying to sound menacing, whispered to the newcomer, "Try to be clever
and there will be a new color scheme for this area.  Hand over the
sword."
	The man did not make a move.
	"If you're thinking of yelling out," William added.  "Don't
bother.  Just nod and I'll blow you away.  That should wake everyone
up."
	The man handed over his sword.
	"Now then," Silk went on, "How many people are in this house,
and where are they?"
	The prisoner slowly shook his head.
	"I don't know why I bother asking," Silk grumbled, stepping
past the prisoner.  Setting down the lantern, Silk took off his cloak
and used his knife to cut two strips from it.  "Open up," he
instructed the prisoner from behind.  Stuffing one strip into the
man's mouth, he used the other to tie it in place.  "Downstairs,
quietly.  Bash and William come with me.  You two, check things out
and come down.  Don't go into any rooms if you don't have to."
	Silk returned to the kitchen, followed by the prisoner,
William, and Bash.  With a nod to Terrence, Silk turned to the
prisoner and said, "You can answer a couple of questions, or you can
end up like your friend."  He gestured to the servant sprawled on the
floor, careful not to shine the full light of the lantern on the body,
lest the prisoner realize that the 'corpse' was still breathing.  Silk
removed the gag.  "Now, talk to me."
	"You want me to talk?  Sure.  The emperor eats prunes and
pisses on his wife.  How's that?"
	"You know," William said thoughtfully.  "If I put the barrel
in his mouth and make him close it, it would muffle the shot."
	"Of course, Heinrich is sleeping in the boss's room tonight,"
the bodyguard replied, suddenly loosing his nerve.  "For those of you
who don't know what that means, Heinrich will have his bed up against
the door.  Fritz will be on the third floor, too, but in another room.
George and I were sharing a guest room."
	"Much better.  Perhaps you'll even find work again someday.
In the meantime, I'll have to tie you up.  Hands behind your back,
please."  Silk bound and gagged the bodyguard, including binding his
legs.  "Go to sleep.  That would be the best way to make certain that
you don't see us again.  If you can't sleep, I'm sure one of the boys
will help you."  With that, Silk took Bash and William back to the
second floor.  Smash was waiting on the landing.
	"All the doors are closed, but we did hear snoring coming from
one."
	"Right.  There is one guy on this floor, and two on the next
floor.  One of the two upstairs is with Rasputan, and has his bed
against the door.  We can't get in there without making noise.  So we
are going to arrange things so that noise doesn't matter.  Let's take
care of the heavy sleeper first, since we know where he is.  Knock
out, bind and gag, leave."
	Smash stalked off, returning shortly with Crash and giving
Silk a nod.
	Silk smiled and led them to the third floor.  "Let's work our
way down the hall.  I'll hold the lantern high, and one of you open
the doors.  That way more of us can see into the room, and the one
opening the door has a better chance to get out of the way.  Remember,
at least one door is blocked by a bed.  If the door doesn't give,
we'll assume that it belongs to the boss-man.  We'll come back to it
after dealing with the other guard."
	"That one should be the master bedroom," William whispered,
pointing towards a door at the end of the hall.
	Crash put his ear to the nearest door, then waved Silk over
and pointed at it.
	Silk pointed to Crash and then to the door, then pointed to
Crash and Smash and made a swooping motion with my hand toward the
door.  Finally Silk pointed to himself and made the same swooping
motion.  Holding the lantern and his walking stick ready, he waited.
	Crash nodded and put a hand to the latch.  It clicked, but the
door did not open.  The footpad gently put his shoulder against the
door and slowly applied force.  When that failed, he look to Silk
questioningly and went through the motion of bashing his shoulder
against the door.
	Silk held up his hand.  After thinking for a moment, he waved
them away from the door and back towards the stairs.  There he
whispered new instructions.
	"We'll go after the boss instead.  We'll break down that door
if it won't open easily.  Smash, you stay behind.  When we start to
make noise, the guy in the room we just tried should come running.
Drop him.  Has anyone seen anything that could be used as a battering
ram?"
	Crash patted his shoulder and smiled.
	Silk moved down the hall to the end of the hall and pointed at
the door to the master bedroom.  The others gathered around.  Without
further ado, Crash crashed into the door and the house was suddenly
filled with sound.
	The door popped open a crack with much splintering, but went
no further.  Inside, the crash was followed but a thump and much
scrambling.  As Crash pulled back and threw himself at the door again,
the door Smash was watching was pulled upon.  A guard charged out,
sword in hand and nightshirt on person, only to be brained by Smash.
The guard went down hard.
	Crash hit the door, doubling the opening and revealing a
splintering bar, but he also broke out a plank in the top have of the
door, and his shoulder momentarily became stuck in the opening.
	With a cry of pain, Crash pulled himself free and fell back,
pursued by the point of a sword and bleeding from the shoulder.
	"Together!" Silk shouted at Bash.  The pair slammed into the
door simultaneously, tearing it away from its morings and sending it
into the room; that is, at least the top half.  The bottom half of the
door was initially stopped by the bed that was across the doorway.
Still, not one to be a stick in the mud, it cheerfully lifted itself
into the air and followed along behind the top half.  Unfortunately,
this sent both Bash and Silk over the bed in a horizontal position.
The door came to rest propped up on the bed, forming a nice ramp
exiting the room.  Silk and Bash tumbled down the ramp, even as it was
formed with a jarring thud, and onto the floor.  The lantern Silk was
holding gracefully arced through the air, described no less than three
complete flips before shattering on the hardwood floor, making a
lovely pattern of fire and igniting a partitioning curtain in the back
of the room.
	Bash recovered quickly, and Silk was soon on his feet,
himself.  The bodyguard had been knocked aside by their entrance and
sent sprawling.  As Silk stood, the bodyguard regained his feet and
scrambled after his sword.
	Silk flicked open the main blade of his walking stick and
charged.  The guard reached the blade, but even as he turned, Silk
planted a boot in his chest, sending him tumbling.  The bodyguard
rolled quickly to his feet and squared off with sword in hand, but he
was gasping for breath.
	William leaped into the room, followed momentarily by Smash.
Bash grabbed the burning partition curtain and ripped it halfway down,
but suddenly sprouted a quarrel in his right shoulder and went down.
Teeth clenched, he scrambled back, towards the door.
	"William!" Silk shouted, pointing to the guard.  Silk jump
backwards to give the gunman room, and flipped open the other blades
on his stick.
	William stepped forward, pistol leveled at the bodyguard.  The
guard hesitated.
	"On the floor!  Now!!" Silk shouted at the guard.
	The guard went down.  As Silk moved forward to disarm him, a
ceramic pot was lobbed into the front half of the room from behind the
burning curtain.  It broke against the floor, spilling its contents,
and the previously small fire suddenly doubled in size.
	Keeping low, Silk disarmed the man on the floor.  "Smash!" he
called.  "Like the other ones!"
	Smash smashed, apparently successfully, and Silk took stock of
the situation.  Aside from the bed and a few clothes in a pile, there
was nothing on this side of the curtain.  The other side of the
curtain seemed to be stocked much better, but Silk could not see any
movement.  There were still two meters of curtain, now fully engulfed
in flames, hanging.
	William caught Silk's eye and inquired with a gesture if he
wanted a chance shot through the curtain.
	Silk nodded to William.
	William waved his arm back and forth, as if allowing his gun
to find its own target, then settled on a spot, sighted, and squeezed
the trigger.
	The shot was deafening, but so was the bellow that followed.
The bestial scream of rage was still echoing as Silk, eye wide with
fear, leaped forward and slashed at the top of the curtain.  Then he
hooked a spike into it and tore the curtain free.  It tumbled into a
pile, smoothering most of flames, and Silk stepped back, walking stick
held in both hands.
	Through the haze Silk saw the hulk of Rasputan.  He was
clutching a pouch in one hand and holding a wavy, wicked-looking
dagger in the other.  At his feet was a crossbow, and around him were
trunks, racks, and a huge wardrobe.  There was a hole in his left arm
>from William's ball, but Rasputan did not seem to notice it.
	"Give it up, Rasputan!  It's over!" Silk shouted.
	Rasputan, whose face had previously been hidden in shadows for
cinematic effect, suddenly leaned forward into the light and hissed
cat-like at Silk, baring a rather handsome set of fangs.
	Silk screamed and slashed wildly at Rasputan, opening up his
right leg.  With a maniacal scream and eyes bugging, he lunged with
the dagger.  The point just missed Silk's head, but the guard struck
Silk's leather coif with considerable force.
	Momentarily dazed, Silk backed away as quickly as he could,
yelling at the top of his lungs, "Shoot!  Dammit, shoot!"
	No shots, be they pistol or crossbow, were forth coming;
however, William was immediately at Silk's side, short sword in hand.
Rasputan circled right, putting his back to the wall.  Bash, hurt, but
club in hand, flipped the bed onto its side to block the doorway, and
stood ready to cut off escape.  Smash was at his side.
	Silk moved forward slowly, moving away from William somewhat.
	Rasputan attacked, charging through the flames, slashing for
Silk's face.  Silk dodged back and retaliated, but Rasputan batted the
blow aside and ducked under William's thrust.  Rasputan's blade
slashed open Silk's left leg as the latter put his stick upside
Rasputan's head.  Silk fell back in pain, but Rasputan only growled
and pressed the attack, pausing long enough to kick William's sword
thrust aside.
	Smash won Silk a brief respite when he brought his club down
with all his might atop Rasputan's head.  Rasputan growled, shook his
head, and leaped after Silk.  Silk heard Bash yelling something to
Crash, but was otherwise occupied and paid it no mind.
	Again Silk's blow was brushed aside, and William, his heart
not in the fight, had yet to draw blood.  Smash was not having much
luck, either, but for the moment Rasputan seemed confused about who to
attack; every time he went for Silk, he had to make a fancy move to
avoid William or Smash.
	Again Silk's blow was brushed aside, along with William's, as
Rasputan became more and more agitated and his growls became more and
more bestial.  Like a bear to a dog, Rasputan sent a vicious swipe
Smash's way, but the footpad danced out of reach.
	"Cover!"
	Smash dove clear of the battle, and Silk, momentarily confused
by the shout, quickly followed his example.  William crossed blades
with Rasputan.
	A quarrel narrowly missed William and tore into Rasputan's
right arm.  With a screaming hiss he ripped it free and charged Silk.
Silk took the charge on his blade.  The point of his weapon entered
Rasputan's gut, as well the body of the walking stick up to the side
blades.  However, Silk did not have time to rejoice; Rasputan crashed
into him and together they went down.
	The wind was knocked out of Silk, but Rasputan quickly heaved
himself back up.  He looked about frantically, realizing he had lost
the pouch he was carrying, then made a beeline for the door.  After
three steps his legs buckled under him and he crashed to the floor.


					Jeff Stehman