Fools of us All - Chapter 37

I reacted as I had been trained, without thought, without emotion. The scriveners were smart people, but they had grown soft in their intellectual pursuits, which is why they kept armed guards on the premises. However, there were no guards in the room, so there was little opposition. Soon the remaining scriveners were lying on the ground, groaning.

Spin looked up at me and grinned. “I think I’m starting to like it here. They’re even fighting over the right to kill me. Does a man’s ego good to be so wanted.” He laid his head back and closed his eyes. “Okay, go ahead.”

“It’s me, idiot,” I hissed at him, throwing back my hood.

One eye opened and looked around until it spotted me. As soon as it did, he seemed to deflate. “Oh thank heavens,” he said without any of his bravado. “If that machine had started, I would have peed my pants, and that is not how I want to die.”

Briefly, I considered leaving him where he was, but at his pleading look I relented and unstrapped him. Helping him to his feet, I realised just how much bigger than me he truly was. “Can you walk on your own?” I asked as I struggled with his bulk.

He sat down in the chair, cradling his arm. “Give me a minute,” he said. “I think I’ll be okay.”

“Good.” I reached down and stripped the robe off of the tallest scrivener I could find, tossing it to him. “Put this on. And this as well.” I handed him the silver cross I had just removed from the now disrobed scrivener. “It’s like an all access pass.”

Seconds later, we were standing beside each other when the door burst open and a pair of guards rushed in. “What’s going on here, brothers?”

I was about to answer when I remembered that there were no female scriveners, so I nudged Spin instead. Luckily, he seemed to catch on. “The prisoner escaped,” he said. “He left the room a moment ago.”

One guard left the room while the other began looking around. “He must be strong,” he said, sounding impressed.

“Oh yes, extremely. Crafty too. And somewhat handsome, if I do say so myself.” I rolled my eyes and poked Spin in the side again, encouraging him to stop talking. Once again, he caught my meaning and fell silent. I hoped the guard would leave soon, but instead he stationed himself by the door.

One more time, I nudged Spin. He turned to look at me from under his hood. I jerked my head towards the door. “Uh, well, I guess we should be going now,” he said.

“Oh no, you can’t leave,” replied the guard. “You are witnesses and you have to tell us what you know.”

“I, that is we, don’t know anything. We, uh, we weren’t looking at the time. I think that’s why he left us alone.”

The guard eyed us suspiciously. “You know, you seem nervous. And your friend hasn’t said anything at all.” He moved to stand directly in front of us. “What are you hiding.”

“This,” I replied, throwing back my hood. As he stood in shock, I jumped into the air and delivered a perfect spinning jump kick, catching him in the jaw. He crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I turned to Spin and hit him in his good arm. “All you had to do was tell him we needed to get to the medic and he would have let us go.”

Spin merely shrugged. “I know. I just wanted to see you kick someone in the head again. It’s so cool.”

I put my head back up to hide the fury in my eyes. “You’re going to see it up close if you’re not careful.” We headed to the door, peeking out make sure the coast was clear. “Besides,” I whispered, “what if I had punched him?”

“That’s okay,” he replied. “It’s equally cool.”