“How very ‘Highlander’,”
Keegan muttered as he surveyed the vacant warehouse that Cerdic had chosen for
their battle. When Manny started to open the only door that wasn’t chained and
padlocked, Keegan put a hand on his to stop him. “He’s got someone else
in there with him. Human, from his thoughts.”
“Can you tell if he’s hidden
or out in the open?”
After a long pause, Keegan
nodded. “From the tenor of his thoughts, he’s on the catwalk above the ground
floor. He’s wondering if he can actually shoot one of us or if he’ll chicken
out at the last minute.”
Manny smiled tightly. “My
bet’s on Mr. Shadrick then. I’m dead cert he’s the one who sent that man after
me. Too scared to do his own dirty work. Once we’re inside let me know exactly
where he is and I’ll deal with him first while you keep Cerdic occupied.”
“Reverse that, because if I
give you any indication that we know he’s there that will only put them both on
the alert that we’ve got an edge on them.”
“Cerdic doesn’t know what
you can do?”
“Ninety to ten he doesn’t.
It’s a very well guarded secret, trust me.” After taking a deep breath, Keegan
said, “Ready?”
“Ready,” Manny replied,
opening the warehouse door.
The interior, dimly lit by
sunlight coming through dirty windows at the catwalk level, was cavernous. The
two Caomhnóir saw Cerdic standing casually in the center of the huge space,
leaning on a great sword, a shorter sword in his other hand.
“Would it be trite to say, ‘welcome
to your deaths’?” Cerdic asked, a taut grin on his face.
“Extremely,” Manny replied
as he strode forward, his favorite weapons, a hand-and-a-half and a flanged
mace appearing in his hands. “I’ll be the first to admit,” he added as he
circled, keeping the Scriostóir’s attention on him, “that I never expected to
see you again.”
“I might say the same. I
thought, relative child that you are, that you would have fled the city, back
to the continent, hoping there would be no reprisals for trying to destroy me.”
“I may be only a few
centuries old, but I still killed you once. I can do it again.”
Cerdic laughed, even as he
turned slightly, looking for Keegan. “Has your companion left the battlefield
already? I heard he no longer has to follow orders if he does not want to.”
Although this came as a
shock to Manny, he covered it by smiling broadly. “We have honor, a word I’m
quite sure you don’t know the meaning of. He’s probably in the shadows, waiting
for the best opening. That way I won’t have to clean blood off my sword, which
I so hate doing. It’s—bloody work.”
“Always with the smart
mouth,” Cerdic growled, shouting “Now!” as he lunged forward, the great sword
swinging in a wide arc towards Manny’s sword arm.
“Were you talking to Mr.
Shadrick?” Keegan called down from the catwalk, seconds before he toppled the
man’s lifeless body over the railing. “Guess you’re on your own now,
Scriostóir.” He followed the body down, landing gracefully a few yards from
where Cerdic and Manny stood.
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