You stop in your tracks. Why couldn’t this man just let you be? You regard the five of them. They don’t look like good news, and you especially don’t like the look of that knife. That great sword though…

“You made a mistake, friend. We don’t take kindly to threats.”

You’re about to ask what he’s talking about, then you remember. How’d he find out about that so fast..?

They wouldn’t play nice, you tell him. You don’t want any trouble, but what does “he” want?

The swordsman looks surprised.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve”, he says, suppressing a chuckle. “But no sense. And you clearly haven’t learned how things work around here. But don’t worry; I’ll teach you.” He smiles sweetly; it’s a sickly look.

For the last time, you’re not involved in whatever these guys keep referring to! You’ve never been here before and you don’t want anything from them. He tells you to shut up before you’re even halfway through, and his little cronies make slight threatening gestures. You exhale and glare at them. You remain silent. Behind you, the men from inside the building have moved closer, listening in.

“He’s got some real Morwyn in him, this one, don’t you think?” the swordsman says, glancing at his friends. They snicker and mutter in agreement, and he grins at you, holding out his hand. “Gimme your axe”.

You instantly tense, frowning. Behind him, the swordman’s friends “oooh” and mock your response, with one suggesting you’re scared now.

“Maybe without your little edge, you won’t be feeling so cocky!”

Behind you, the other men start jeering lightly as well.

He’s right. Without your axe, you lose your edge, and you do have an advantage here. The fact that they chose to speak rather than attack suggests that they might not be as aggressive as they make themselves out to be. You’re all for trying to work this out peacefully, but crippling yourself like that? No. Maybe you can turn things around, and turn his demands into your demands. It’s a risk, but will he take the bait..?

You unsheathe your axe and point it at the swordsman, calmly telling him he can have it, but he’ll have to come get it. You promptly return it to its sheath and await his next move. He looks a little surprised again, somewhat amused, and perhaps, ever so slightly offended. He smiles again. One of his friends, the unarmed one, threatens you directly, while two others crow at him, urging him not to take that. Behind you, the resident men are making a ruckus as well, and something light hits you in the back. You don’t see what it was, or who threw it, but when you glance back at them with an angry glare, they flinch and quiet down a bit, only starting up once more (with reduced volume), when you’re not looking at them directly.

These people…

You focus on the swordsman, who is busy cracking his knuckles and is approaching now, along with his friends.

“C’mon, boys! Time for that lesson, I think!” he says, to cheers. You groan, and roll your eyes, standing firm as you glance past him at his friends.

Really? The five of them, no… eleven in total, all ganging up on one person, trapped and alone in an alley? For all their tough acts, and weapons, they’re really just a bunch of cowards. You glance back quickly at the men behind; they had moved in closer, but once again flinch when you whirl around. You suppress a smirk. You wonder if he can even fight at all, or if that giant sword is just for show…

The ringleader looks displeased, though he is definitely the calmest of the bunch. One of them tells “Khen” to “drog” you up, and you brace yourself for Khen to come over and punch you, but instead, he gestures for his friends to wait and be silent. So he’s not as reckless as he seemed…

You stare at him. He wants your axe? You adjust your stance slightly, as though prepared to defend yourself. For a moment, the two of you stare at one another. He doesn’t break eye contact, but you can tell he was expecting you to break first.

Eventually, he does look away, as he shakes his head with a smile and a shrug. “Fine. I guess we’ll do things the old fashioned way. Step back, boys. This could get messy.”

Once again they jeer at you, moving back a little as Khen closes in, gripping the hilt of his sword.

Fool…

You chuckle at him, unsheathing your axe again. Does he seriously plan to try and swing that giant blade around in here? You motion to the space; the alley’s barely wide enough for him to hold the blade sideways, let alone swing it. Or is he really that skilled? Either way, you’re curious to see how well he can defend himself under these circumstances. The clutter on the floor won’t help things either. You casually twirl the axe; your movement hardly hampered by the narrow space in comparison.

One of his friends yells at him to just stab you, but Khen just grips the hilt tighter. You ask him if you’re going to do this properly or what. You should at least go somewhere with a bit more space to manoeuvre. You nod down the alleyway behind him.

Behind you, one of the men calls out for Khen to give you a proper beating, and the others are quite on board with the concept of a duel. Khen gestures for them to follow, and with another cheer, they all start moving towards the alley entrance. Not wanting to get caught up by the men behind you, you sheath your axe and fall in line, marching along with purpose.

The alley does in fact lead onto a street, with a road wide enough for carts. On both sides, the front of old factories, warehouses and workshops are visible, and there are a few random bystanders in the vicinity. You glance around quickly; to your left, a few locals stand around; prior to watching your group, they seemed to be watching something further up the road, and to your right, you see a few more bystanders, as well as a bunch of people gathered outside a particular building. One of the windows is completely smashed. You see a few men sitting on the floor in a row by the wall, and several men standing around them, wearing deep burgundy cloaks. The space between you and them is open.

As soon as you clear the alleyway, you make a break for it without a second glance. It takes a moment for any reaction to come, but when it does, you hear shouting as the men see your escape. Up ahead, your view of the burgundy men, who are now looking over to see what the commotion is about, is interrupted when something big and heavy strikes you directly in the back. You stumble and sprawl out across the wet cobblestones, a wooden club with metal studs clattering to the ground beside you, but ignoring the dull pain, you scramble back to your feet, grabbing the club and flinging it off to one side as you keep running, now slightly winded. You don’t look back, but you can hear that someone is now much closer behind you.

Up ahead, two of the burgundy men now have their attention on you and your pursuers, and one of them hurries into your path, blocking the way and calling for you to stop, while the other yells at some of the others behind you. You slow a little to avoid the man up ahead, but are immediately tackled to the ground from behind, hitting the ground hard once again as someone lands on top of you and tries to grab you. You instinctively shield the back of your head just in time to block a punch, then twist to try and topple your assailant off you; he resists. By now, there is more shouting, with whistles blowing and the sound of running, but you can’t make out what’s going on as you struggle with your opponent. All at once, you’re surrounded by several people and are dragged up roughly. You see it was Khen’s unarmed friend who as attacking you; he attempts to grab hold of you again, but a few strikes from a cudgel are enough to see him off. You also take a hit as the burgundy men attempt to separate you, and the two of you are pulled apart and restrained, while several of the bystanders help bring things back under control.

A short while later, you and several others are bundled into a prison cart brought in by the enforcers, your tight rope bindings replaced with iron shackles. You idly rub your bruised chest, and wonder when this day is going to end.