slouch so he wouldn’t split his
noggin on the ceiling, was having himself a grand time cleaning
house. He snarled and roared and tossed people and furniture. Those
few men accidentally exiting through the front door were lucky.
They were out of the action. Those who tried to leave under their
own power got grabbed and dragged back for the fun.
The feet of the walls were littered with casualties. The big man
had a fire in his eye. No mere mortal was going to quiet him down.
Some very skilled mortals had tried and had found places among the
fallen.
I knew the berserk. His name was Playmate. He was one of my
oldest friends, a blacksmith and stable operator, a religious man
who was as gentle a being as ever lived. He went out of his way to
avoid stepping on bugs. I had seen him weep for a mutt run down by
a carriage. Like all of us, he had done his time in the Cantard,
but I was sure that even there he had offered violence to no
one.
I thought about trying to talk him down. I left it at a thought.
We were good friends, but Playmate had equally good friends among
the fallen. Everybody loved Playmate.
And I had learned about being a hero doing my five years as a
Royal Marine.
No way could Playmate have gone this mad.
Morley Dotes himself, dapper and exasperated, watched from the
stair to his office. He was a darkly handsome little character,
dressed way too slick for my taste. Anything he put on looked like
it was baked onto him. Anything I put on looks slept-in after ten
minutes.
Morley was so distressed he was wringing his hands.
Guess I’d have been upset myself if someone was busting up
my place. The Joy House started as a front—Morley was an
assassin and bonebreaker—but it had grown on Dotes.
A short, slim form snaked through the crowd and leapt onto
Playmate’s back. The big man roared and spun. He did not
dislodge his rider, Morley’s nephew Spud, whose mother had
passed him to his uncle because she could not manage him
anymore.
For a while, Spud just held on. Once he was confident of his
seat, though, he let go with one hand and fumbled at his belt.
Playmate kept spinning. The idea gradually got into his head:
spinning and prancing and roaring would not get the weight off his
back.
He stopped, got his bearings by consulting stars only he could
see. He decided to run backwards and squish Spud against a
wall.
Spud had his own plan, though.
Spud was set on being a hero in his uncle’s eyes.
The kid wasn’t stupid, he just suffered from natural
elvish overconfidence.
His hand came up from his belt clutching a black cloth sack. He
tried popping that over Playmate’s head. Guess who did not
cooperate?
That sack was a mark of the esteem in which Playmate was held.
The guy was set on destroying the world, but nobody wanted to stop
him badly enough to kill him. Not one soul inside the Joy House
wanted to do anything but get him under control. Not your true
TunFairen attitude, I guarantee. Life is the cheapest commodity of
all.
Morley moved as soon as he understood what the kid was doing. He
didn’t run or appear to hurry, but he got there right on
time, a moment after Spud did get his bag into place, a moment
after Playmate started his all-out plunge toward the nearest wall.
Morley hooked a foot behind the big man’s heel.
Boom!
Playmate sprawled. Spud separated just in time to keep from
being sandwiched. He was a lucky kid. Instead of getting squashed
and collecting some broken bones, he just got coldcocked.
Not so Playmate. My old pal tried to get up. Morley popped him a
bunch of times, so fast you barely saw him move. Playmate
didn’t like that. He figured maybe he ought to take that sack
off and see who was aggravating him. Morley hit him a bunch more
times, in all those places where blows are supposed to
incapacitate.
There came a day when Playmate, buried under a dozen people,
finally stopped struggling.
----
----
14
Morley looked down at Playmate. He was breathing hard. I
noggin on the ceiling, was having himself a grand time cleaning
house. He snarled and roared and tossed people and furniture. Those
few men accidentally exiting through the front door were lucky.
They were out of the action. Those who tried to leave under their
own power got grabbed and dragged back for the fun.
The feet of the walls were littered with casualties. The big man
had a fire in his eye. No mere mortal was going to quiet him down.
Some very skilled mortals had tried and had found places among the
fallen.
I knew the berserk. His name was Playmate. He was one of my
oldest friends, a blacksmith and stable operator, a religious man
who was as gentle a being as ever lived. He went out of his way to
avoid stepping on bugs. I had seen him weep for a mutt run down by
a carriage. Like all of us, he had done his time in the Cantard,
but I was sure that even there he had offered violence to no
one.
I thought about trying to talk him down. I left it at a thought.
We were good friends, but Playmate had equally good friends among
the fallen. Everybody loved Playmate.
And I had learned about being a hero doing my five years as a
Royal Marine.
No way could Playmate have gone this mad.
Morley Dotes himself, dapper and exasperated, watched from the
stair to his office. He was a darkly handsome little character,
dressed way too slick for my taste. Anything he put on looked like
it was baked onto him. Anything I put on looks slept-in after ten
minutes.
Morley was so distressed he was wringing his hands.
Guess I’d have been upset myself if someone was busting up
my place. The Joy House started as a front—Morley was an
assassin and bonebreaker—but it had grown on Dotes.
A short, slim form snaked through the crowd and leapt onto
Playmate’s back. The big man roared and spun. He did not
dislodge his rider, Morley’s nephew Spud, whose mother had
passed him to his uncle because she could not manage him
anymore.
For a while, Spud just held on. Once he was confident of his
seat, though, he let go with one hand and fumbled at his belt.
Playmate kept spinning. The idea gradually got into his head:
spinning and prancing and roaring would not get the weight off his
back.
He stopped, got his bearings by consulting stars only he could
see. He decided to run backwards and squish Spud against a
wall.
Spud had his own plan, though.
Spud was set on being a hero in his uncle’s eyes.
The kid wasn’t stupid, he just suffered from natural
elvish overconfidence.
His hand came up from his belt clutching a black cloth sack. He
tried popping that over Playmate’s head. Guess who did not
cooperate?
That sack was a mark of the esteem in which Playmate was held.
The guy was set on destroying the world, but nobody wanted to stop
him badly enough to kill him. Not one soul inside the Joy House
wanted to do anything but get him under control. Not your true
TunFairen attitude, I guarantee. Life is the cheapest commodity of
all.
Morley moved as soon as he understood what the kid was doing. He
didn’t run or appear to hurry, but he got there right on
time, a moment after Spud did get his bag into place, a moment
after Playmate started his all-out plunge toward the nearest wall.
Morley hooked a foot behind the big man’s heel.
Boom!
Playmate sprawled. Spud separated just in time to keep from
being sandwiched. He was a lucky kid. Instead of getting squashed
and collecting some broken bones, he just got coldcocked.
Not so Playmate. My old pal tried to get up. Morley popped him a
bunch of times, so fast you barely saw him move. Playmate
didn’t like that. He figured maybe he ought to take that sack
off and see who was aggravating him. Morley hit him a bunch more
times, in all those places where blows are supposed to
incapacitate.
There came a day when Playmate, buried under a dozen people,
finally stopped struggling.
----
----
14
Morley looked down at Playmate. He was breathing hard. I
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