Divine Contract

Chapter 5 - Brawl at the Inn

I had noticed the intentions of the other “customers” shortly after taking my seat. I could feel their gazes and, most importantly, their bloodlust. I kept my attention on them, to make sure that even the slightest indication of attacking would not go unnoticed.

As soon as I saw them move, I took the best possible action by pulling Highlander back and flipping the table. This prevented their blades from reaching us, while also providing us with temporary cover, which could be used to keep Highlander safe while I engaged our attackers.

While Highlander was still in shock from the sudden turn of events, I quickly took action.

I grabbed my stool, leapt over the table and swung the stool at the closest attacker, breaking it over his head and knocking him unconscious.

“That’s one down!” I thought. From what I could see, there were five more attackers to deal with. Including the one that I had beaten already, there were six in total. Everyone not taking part in the attack was scrambling towards the exit.

The second attacker rushed forwards and thrust the knife that he was wielding towards me. I dodged by moving slightly to the side, then I grabbed his wrist and under his armpit, and, using his momentum, spun around and threw him onto the third attacker, taking care of them both at once.

“That’s three!”

The fourth attacker ran towards me, unarmed. He swung his fists rather clumsily, proving that he was not an expert in combat. I easily brushed his fists aside, and when he kicked at me, I jumped over it, did a flip, and brought my heel down on his head, sending him crashing into the floor.

“That makes four,” I noted, the other attackers seemingly taking on a more cautious stance. “But why would these guys attack us like this? They’re too inexperienced to have been hired, but random thugs or drunks would have given up by now.”

The attackers clearly did not intend to back down, however, they were also reluctant to make the first move, after seeing what I did to the first four. This gave me a chance to try to figure out the reason behind this attack.

“I doubt that they have a grudge against Highlander or I, or they would have only attacked the one they had the grudge against,” I rationalised. “Since they threw the knives at both of us, they must have had a reason for doing so. But what could that reason be?”

The fifth attacker, seemingly losing his patience, suddenly decided to lunge forward. He tried to grab me, to restrict my movements, but I grabbed his wrist, spun around, and elbowed him in the temple.

“That’s five,” I counted. “The only things I can think of is… when Highlander mentioned never having eaten in a human establishment before. That implies that Highlander isn’t human, and it’s possible that these guys simply hate anyone that isn’t human. So, they attacked us, whilst assuming that I’m also not human.”

“Is this some sort of race thing?” I questioned the remaining attacker. “You heard Highlander mention that she isn’t human, so you decide that the two of us have to die? How low can you get?”

“Shut up!” The sixth attacker yelled, rushing towards me. He pulled back his arm, intending to hit me with the glass bottle he was holding, but, with that opening, I jabbed him in the throat with my left hand, causing him to stumble, then I grabbed his head with my right hand, swept his feet away from under him, and slammed him into the floor.

“That’s the last one.” I noted, however, I suddenly noticed that another attacker had appeared behind me. I turned to see the waitress standing over me with a knife in her hand. She swung it down towards me, but before I had a chance to react, a shadow entered my field of vision, and sent the waitress crashing into a table.

Having followed the waitress with my eyes, I looked back to where she had been standing, to find Highlander, having just landed from attacking the waitress with a flying kick.

“This is the second time I have saved you now, Ross.” Highlander mocked, smiling mischievously.

“This time was unnecessary,” I retorted. “And since I saved you from that knife earlier, I would say that we are even.”

“No no no,” Highlander wagged her finger at me. “It is definitely 2-1 in my favour, so you still owe me one.”

“I’ll repay that now, then.”

Before giving Highlander a chance to react, I leapt over her, and kicked the knife out of the receptionist’s hand, who had snuck up behind Highlander, knocking her to the ground in the process.

I looked at the receptionist, and then back to Highlander. “Now, we’re even.” I stated, matter-of-factly. Highlander only responded by turning away, seemingly disappointed.

The receptionist took the brief chance from our exchange to run away, or at least that is what she was likely thinking. I let her, because I had already found out why they attacked us.

“They appear to not be very fond of non-humans in this town,” I informed Highlander. “I think it would be better if we set up camp a fair distance away.”

“That would probably be for the best.” Highlander replied, recovering from her previous sulking.

“You wait for me outside. I’m going to return the key to the reception desk.”

“Despite what just happened? How honourable of you.” Highlander walked to the exit, while I walked to the reception desk.

***

After meeting back up, and skipping town, we found a decent camping spot, where we could get some undisturbed rest. I took a mat out of my satchel, and laid it on the ground.

“I’ll take first watch, if you want to get some rest.” I offered.

“I shall take you up on that.” Highlander agreed, without hesitating.

Highlander lay down on the mat, while I sat against a nearby tree.

“It’s a shame that we spent that money on a room, but didn’t get to use it.” Highlander remarked, gazing up at the starry sky.

“Don’t worry about that,” I responded. “We got a full refund, plus extra.”

“What do you mean?” Highlander asked, confusion evident on her face.

“While I was returning the room key, I took the money I gave them from their lockbox, plus everything else that was inside.”

Highlander looked at me incredulously. “You STOLE from them?! I can’t believe that! You said that…”

“Highlander,” I interrupted her. “I have been living as a thief for the last ten years. It’s what I do. I’m not going to be changing any time soon, so you are better off accepting that fact and moving on.”

Highlander looked like she still had more that she wanted to say, but held it back.

“I take back what I said about you being honourable.” Highlander said, exasperated.

“It took a lot of restraint not to laugh when you said that earlier.” I responded mockingly, with the intention of irritating her.

Highlander silently grumbled and turned away from me in response.

“I haven’t had this much fun spending time with someone in a long time.” I mentally remarked.

I thought that I saw Highlander slightly twitch after I had that thought, but she showed no signs of moving afterwards, so I wrote it off as nothing and turned my attention to keeping watch.