Golden Anvil

Edit 5.  Okay, hopefully this is the final draft. I cleaned up a few minor misspellings and the like from draft 4. Unless anyone has any significant comments, I figure this will be the official story. Pretty cool finally completing a project. I seldom do, you know...

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Danek leaned back against the wall of the inn (the benches and chairs in the common room all being full), sipping slowly on his mug of stout. The burnt grain flavor somehow managed to be both bitter and weak simultaneously. He sighed to himself and wished, not for the first time, that humans knew how to brew beer that was recognizable as such. It was nothing like he got back in his Dwarven homeland.
He sipped again from his stein as the audience around him clapped appreciatively. A traveling bard had already been singing in the common room when Danek and his two young companions arrived at the inn earlier that evening. In spite of the bard's tendancy to prefer singing in Elvish and Kayesh, Danek had found him a quite enjoyable break from his usual business concerns. Having seen Jon and Anne settled, and having dropped his own gear, Danek had decided to take in the show. It was not often Danek was able to enjoy much entertainment. His life on the road was a quiet, lonely one. Young Jannot (Jon he reminded himself, Jannot is a name he's left behind) and his lady had helped to break up the silence since they'd fallen in together on the road to Miraj. But theirs was a rare companionship.

An interesting couple, those two. Danek had been uncertain what to make of the pair at first. It wasn't so much Jon. Jon hadn't been so hard to figure out. He'd met many young human men on the road during his travels. Most had been traveling for business or to find work. A restless itch existed amongst them, and he would have chalked Jon up as just another man looking for work in a different city, the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence.

Anne, however, had completely thrown off his perception of Jon." As a rule, dwarven women didn't travel. In dwarven eyes, they were precious, too valuable to be risked. Few non-dwarves ever recieved the high honor of meeting one, and a dwarf woman traveling on the road, even with her husband, was virtually unheard of. Only the direst of circumstances would drive a dwarf maiden to travel away from the safety of the cities, and even then, bands of guardians would travel along insuring their security. Anne, traveling with only the protection of a husband scarcely able to protect even himself had been something he'd had difficulty understanding. He'd seen human women on the road before, but never really reconciled himself to it.

However, just an hour before, Jon and Anne had asked him up to their room to explain certain inconsistancies he'd noticed since their paths had merged. The two had taken him into their confidance. Dire circumstances was a very good discription of the danger that had forced the two of them onto the road. In fact, he'd learned that Anne was hardly the frail flower she seemed. Anne had actually sprung Jannot from a cell and planned their escape from the clutches of a mad man. It had given him quite a bit to think about.

The singer had broken into another song, one Danek was actually familiar with. It was popular here in the human lands, and a number of the other patrons of the tap room were joining in with him, roaring with a gusto common to slightly drunk farmers. Danek decided he could afford to tip the man a few coppers. The bard was doing a more than passable job at keeping the crowd in tune, and it was an amusing ditty about a particularly unfortunate old noble and an inn keeper's wife. He fished the coins out of the pouch at his side and sidled forward toward the traditional cup near the impromptu stage to deposit them.

As he was returning to the section of wall he'd left, a blast of moist summer air wafted through the door. Three men pushed through the opening. Danek was fairly tall, but the ridiculously oversized creatures that formed the human race towered over him by at least a head by the time they reached puberty. It made estimating the size of humans at a distance, even just the distance of a tap room, somewhat tricky but these ones were easily recognized as monsters.

Danek noticed the volume of the audience waver slightly as the crowd watched the three enter. Emotions played across the face of the woman hurridly serving drinks that spoke of more than just irritation at having too many patrons and not enough help. The entertainer continued along without a hitch as though he hadn't noticed the slight chill rolling through the audience, but a slight straightening of his back belied that appearance. Several people stood and began making their way to the door. For his part, the inn keeper frowned, evidently afraid that his night's profits were about to melt away.

At first the trio seemed to just take in the size of the crowd and the musician, their gaze skipping over Danek's relatively short size as he leaned against the wall. After a moment though, they started moving through the slightly thinned crowd, casually shoving away people who had been too slow to move aside. The bar maid seemed to be trying to move away, but her progress was hindered by some of the people attempting to leave. The largest of the three newcomers caught up to her and clamped a meaty paw on her shoulder, forcibly turning her to face him.

"Hello, sweet. Aren't you glad to see me?" The man's leer made him seem twice as unpleasant as he'd first appeared, a feat Danek would have sworn wasn't possible.

"What do you want, Jaled?" the woman said, clearly frightened, trying to back away in a croud too thick to permit her such freedom.

"You know what I want, Welew." Jaled leaned in toward her, his free hand moving to grab her wrap around her slim waist, trapping her before the crowd thinned enough to permit her escape. "And you know you want it too."

Welew jerked herself free, anger replacing the fear on her face. Ice filled her voice as she grated out her answer between clenched teeth. "Go to hell, Jaled."

Jaled grinned. "Eventually. I'll say hello to your husband for you whan I get there." His grin turned into a threatening scowl. "Get some beer, woman."

Welew's fled, darting off to the back. Jaled watched her go, the leer back on his face full force. "Come on," he said to his friends. "Let's go get us seats where we can hear that hack singer."

The trio began wading their way through the remaining patrons to get next to the stage. People scrambled out of the way. At a wordless scowl, three men sitting next to the stage shot off of the bench they occupied, one stumbling in his haste. Jaled and his friends guffawed loudly before taking the emptied seats.

As a rule Danek had always disliked bullies. In his travels he'd unfortunately discovered that most small towns like this one had more than their fair share of them. But somehow Jaled seemed worse than the typical bully. Usually the bully could push around a portion of the populace, but there were always limits they knew not to cross. As crowded as the tavern still was this evening, Jaled should have been at least somewhat more circumspect, lest a few of the braver onlookers might stand up to him. But he clearly expected to intimidate the entire tavern, and it appeared his expectation was panning out. Something more than mere bullying was going on here.

Pushing himself away from the wall with his shoulder, Danek began shoving his way to the inn keeper. Unlike Jaled, he had to move through the crowd in the usual manner, weaving about and occasionally gently bumping past people The room had been packed as full of tables as seemed physically possible. What little room was left between them was filled with chairs and benches, making it difficult for someone with Danek's girth to squeeze in between them.

"So, who's the ox?" he asked, plunking down his empty beer mug in front of the inn keeper.

"Trouble. You'll want to stear clear of those three, dwarf," the inn keeper muttered, taking the mug and refilling it at one of the taps. "Jaled and his cronies, Durg and Galot, are the biggest boys in the area. They can't farm worth spitting at, so you can guess what they support themselves by doing. The roads around here aren't safe to travel anymore with anything less than a company of guards. Not if you're a merchant, least ways. No one's ever been able to prove it's them's been doing it, but it's an open secret."

"No one's ever stood up to them, tried to stop them?" Danek took the mug as it slid across the counter top. "There's only the three of them, right?"

"Just the three. But nobody dares stand up to them. Not since Laclan."

The inn keeper seemed reluctant to continue, but Danek knew the type. If he waited long enough, the inn keeper would continue, unable to leave the conversation so inconclusively. After a few awkward moments the inn keeper cleared his throat and spoke quietly.

"Laclan didn't like the way Jaled was harassing his wife, Welew. Caught him alone and warned him off her. Laclan wasn't a small man, himself, so Jaled didn't do anything at the time. Once again no one could prove who did it, but Laclan was found in his field with a broken neck. We're all sure Jaled brought his crew back to continue the conversation. Since then, no one's dared to openly oppose them." The inn keeper leaned forward. "I took Welew on afterwords. She couldn't manage the farm on her own, and at least here there's a big enough crowd he can never catch her alone. But that's the most I dare. It's the most anyone dares. Mark my words, dwarf, you need to stay away from that one. He marks you for a merchant, and he'll catch you out there on the road, and that's it. You seem decent enough, what with them two you were watching over. I'd feel something terrible if them three caught you."

Danek nodded his thanks, slipping the inn keeper a few small coins for the beer, and a few more for the conversation. Thinking hard he slid forward through the crowd, trying to get as close to the stage as he could. The inn keeper might have thought Danek as little more than a merchant, and truth to tell, a merchant he was. But that had not always been so. Danek had learned a few things in his youth, and one of them was the value of as much first hand observation as could be obtained. If Jaled and his friends decided to jump Danek, Jon, and Anne, it was best Danek knew what he was facing. Soon he slid into an empty chair near the stage, but out of direct view of the three, his back to the wall.

Welew moved through the crowd slowly, clearly reluctant to deliver the three beers she held in her hands. Eventually, though, Jaled would start wondering where it was, and doubtless it was better to deliver it before he grew impatient. Trying not to be noticed, she finally sidled up behind the trio and set the three mugs on the table beside them. Quickly turning, she tried to scuttle away, but she stubbed a toe on the leg of the bench behind her, the pain forcing a mild oath to escape her lips.

Jaled heard it and turned his head, spying her as she crow hopped away. Unable to grab her, he nevertheless was close enough to give her a stinging swat on her rear, shouting a hearty "Thank you, my sweet. I'll tip you later." Laughing at his own wit, he turned back to the musician. Danek watched the bar maid walk away, head down, shoulders hunched, her face ugly with black emotions.

Danek fought hard to contain his mounting anger. The cruelty and humiliation Jaled was visiting on the woman was nothing new to his experience, but it never failed to shock him every time he saw it. Dwarven civilization had spawned in the cold, semi-arid mountains far to the north of the Free Kingdoms. The harsh climate had been hard on dwarves, and they had become a hardy folk. Perhaps in response, male births outnumbered female by a considerable margin, and unlike humans, dwarves didn't breed like rabbits. So dwarven women were a rarity. While misogynism wasn't unknown amongst dwarves, dwarven women were too much a precious treasure for most dwarven men to take for granted. The casual disregard so many human men held for their women was dismaying in both its depth and frequency. If it weren't for humans like Jon and Anne, he'd be tempted to swear off humans all together, profitable or not.

Fuming, Danek continued his observations of Jaled. He knew Jaled had to be a reasonably tough customer, especially with his two friends. Banditry was a large enough problem on the roads for those merchants who could travel with armed guards, or were trained in arms themselves. Danek himself carried a good dwarf steel blade, and was no slouch with it even in his own estimations. Three men tough enough to take on armed merchants was no simple thing even with that steel at his side. He'd left his sword hidden in the bunk room, but his knife was strapped comfortingly at his side. He'd hidden it under the hem of his tunic, but it was there if he needed it.

Of course, vile as it was, Jaled's harrassment hardly warranted an armed response from a bystander. No, better by far to allow them to catch him on the road attempting to rob him. No question about the appropriateness of an armed response there! In fact, Danek actually felt a certain desire to attract the sort of attention the inn keeper warned him not to draw. If it weren't for the risk to Anne, he probably would.

Jaled and his friends had turned to the poor entertainer for their amusement. Contrary to popular belief, bards were not immune to harrassment or abuse by anyone. The harried performer was attempting to continue to entertain, stoicly ignoring the taunts and jibes of the three brutes who had perched themselves right in front of him, but it was clear he was fighting a losing battle. With a sneer, Jaled drained his mug, then belched reverberatingly during the chorus of a particularly touching love song. Danek himself had wondered if the song was truly appropriate to the audience, even without taking Jaled into account, but Jaled's behavior was still uncalled for. The singer winced, but manfully sang on.

"Welew!" Jaled bellowed, drowning out the beginning of next verse. "Where are you, sweet? I need another!" Waving his mug in the air he turned to look for the bar maid. An annoyed expression appeared on a farmer's face at the loud interruption, but with a glance at Jaled, he held his tongue. Jaled, his eyes fixed on Welew, never noticed.

Several emotions chased each other across Welew's face too fast to be interpreted. Reluctantly she moved forward, a fresh beer in her hand. Danek was sure it was probably poured for another guest, but no one seemed inclined to complain as Jaled preempted it. She hung back, holding out the mug, clearly hoping he'd only reach for the handle.

Jaled, however, had other ideas. His hand shot out and caught her wrist. "C'mere, sweet. Have a seat on my lap and enjoy the show."

With a gasp she tried to jerk away, but Jaled's grasp was too tight. Leering, he yanked her towards himself. Unbalanced, she lurched forward, tripping over the bench leg she'd kicked previously. Losing her footing completely, she fell, the beer in her hand flying loose. It splashed forward, the contents emptying all over Jaled.

"Bitch!" Jaled shot up from his seat, twisting Welew's wrist around and dragging her forward on her knees. She gasped in pain, trying to pull away, a look of terror on her face. "Spill a drink on me, will you? I'm gonna whip you like that no good husband of yours should have done. I'm gonna fix you like I fixed him." Jaled raised his free fist, ready to bring it down on Welew as a horrified silence fell over the entire room.

Jaled's fist lashed out, smashing into Welew with a meaty thump. With a cry of pain the woman shot sideways under the force of the blow, bouncing face first into a chair beside her. The chair collapsed, leaving her laying against it. A trickle of blood flowed down from where her lip had been split by the blow. Curling up, Welew whimpered.

Inside himself, Danek snapped. Abuse after abuse had worn on him until he'd reached his limit. As the blow struck the woman, he'd stood and begun moving forward, setting his mug down on the table beside him, a sheen of red hazing his view. Even he was surprised at how calm his voice was as he spoke up.

"Stop!"

Jaled's head shot up in surprise. He had pretty much put the entire town under his thumb. While hitting the woman would doubtless anger much of the community, he was sure no one would cross him. After the way he'd settled Laclan, no one would risk death just to keep some woman from being slapped around a little. Evidently someone hadn't gotten the message, though. The voice, low and even, was unfamiliar to him. Must have been some traveler rooming for the night.

The voice, surprisingly calm, continued. "I suggest you leave. You'll not touch that woman again. Not while I'm here."

Jaled's eyes found the source of the voice. They widened slightly at the sight before them. The dwarf couldn't be more than mid chest high on him. His clothes, dusty and worn, nevertheless spoke of being a merchant, and he looked to be alone. Lone merchants were, in his experience, particularly easy to intimidate. He turned away from the stricken woman to face the dwarf full on.

"This ain't none of your business, runt. And if you're smart, you'll shut that mouth of yours before it gets you in trouble." Behind him, his two companions snickered. They knew that tone of voice. Jaled might let the little troublemaker go for now, but he'd be paying a follow up visit later, when the dwarf was alone and could be plucked without any inconvenient witnesses who could blab to a roving patrol of Free Kingdoms' soldiers.

Danek sized up the situation. People had backed away the moment Jaled stood up. The tables, chairs, and benches had been abandoned with alacrity, including the ones behind Danek. The benches and chairs crowded the small open area, tightly spaced by the cramming in of as many tables as possible. Danek chalked the thin aisles up as an advantage he could use. The tables he stood between were serviced by a particularly narrow set of benches. The men could try stepping up onto them, but the footing would be highly unstable. They'd have little choice but to funnel between them one at a time. So long as he kept back from the open area before the stage he couldn't be outflanked.

"I've never been accused of being particularly bright. But I'm bright enough to know better than to beat on defenseless women because men scare me."

Jaled's face screwed up in anger. "Right then," he snarled. "I guess I just need a different target."

Jaled stepped forward to get at Danek. As Danek had hoped, Jaled was channeled between the two benches, forcing him to stagger step a little. Impatient to get at Danek, he attempted to use his superior reach to smash Danek quickly.

Danek gauged the hulking man's aproach. While dwarves tended to be broader for their height than humans, Jaled stood three heads taller than he did. The narrow gap limiting Jaled was an almost comfortable fit for Danek. Less hampered by the restricted leg room and aided by Jaled's reflexes being used to fighting considerably taller men, Danek easily ducked under the swung fist, stepped forward, and hammered his knuckles straight into a groin placed a convenient height above the ground.

Jaled went up on his toes with an inhuman squeal. The pain that had exploded in his groin was beyond anything he had ever experienced previously. He'd been kicked in the crotch a time or two before, but never with such precise force backed by all the power that dense dwarven muscles could supply. His vision blackened, and he found himself involuntarily hunching into himself and rocking backwards, trying to get back from the surprising power of the dwarf before him. Unfortunately for him, while this brought his groin away from Danek, it placed his head in perfect striking range for Danek's follow-up shot. Danek, who had been rocked back a bit by his own strike used the energy to throw his weight onto his back leg. Like a spring storing energy in its coils, he'd let the momentum push him into a crouch, then unleashed the stored power, rocketing upward, smashing his fist into Jaled's chin. Jalad shot upwards and back, flying between his two cohorts before landing sprawling on a second chair, splintering it. Dazed, he slowly rolled over, attempting to regather his senses.

Jaled's two companions attempted to charge together through the gap between the two benches, their haste causing them to get in one another's way. Danek took advantage of the confusion as they untangled themselves to back a step away, placing himself in an even narrower spot. So long as they could come at him only one at a time, he held an advantage, and he had no intention to give it up.

After a couple seconds the two separated enough for the nearer man to step into the gap. Hampered by the narrow confines just as Jaled had been, he advanced more cautiously. He'd seen the swift destruction of Jaled, and had no intention of making the same mistake.

Danek watched him slowly advance. The man's caution negated some of the advantage of the narrowness of the approach. He knew he'd have to try something different with this fellow than the patient wait he'd used with Jaled. A quick glance revealed the beer he'd left on the table as the confrontation began. His arm darted out, seizing the mug, and hurling it forward toward the man.

The man, who'd seen his share of brawls, was unsurprised by the move. As soon as Danek had released the mug he began dodging away from it's arc, eyes squinted to keep the splash of beer from getting in his eyes and blinding him. Of course, Danek hadn't expected to catch the man with the thrown mug. As soon as he'd released, he had begun to shift his weight to the side. As the man leaned to the right, head turning to watch the mug fly past him, Danek's left hand rocked out in a wicked hook, catching his nose from the side.

The man's nose exploded in a spray of blood. Danek's fist carried through with the punch spinning his shoulders around in a twist that served to power a second strike. The man's head had spun away, so Danek paused long enough for him to turn back, trying to see where the next attack was coming from, then rocked back around in a second roundhouse. A horrifying crunch sounded as his fist rammed into the man's jaw, breaking it. Battered and bleeding, the man collapsed to the floor between the benches, a muffled sobbing squeezing through the battered remains of the man's face. Certain the man would be no further problem, Danek moved forward, stepping over the human wreckage on the floor to advance on the remaining antagonist.

The third man watched him come warily. He'd been surprised and enraged when Danek had knocked Jaled to the ground, but the cold, calculated way Danek had shattered Durg's face with two shots had splashed him with a cold fear. As Danek aproached, stalking him, he drew his knife. There was no way this little runt was going to mangle him. Not with a knife in his hands.

Danek paused as the knife was drawn. He'd been afraid it would come to knives. His hand slid up into his tunic, reaching for his own knife. He gripped the familiar haft and drew it forth.

Eyes narrowed, the thug took a step back. He'd expected to be the only one with a knife. Most merchants he'd jumped previously were inexperienced with knives. They were salesmen, not fighters.

Danek moved cautiously forward into the open area before the stage. He could have tried backing into the narrow confines he'd limited the fight to previously, but with knives in play he wanted as much freedom of movement as he could get. Cautiously, he crouched, watching for his foe to commit to a course of action.

Growing impatient, the man flicked the blade toward Danek's left shoulder once, then a second time. Danek could see that both were feints, with no power behind the arm movements. The man was trying to draw Danek into throwing his weight to the right, forcing him into a movement the man could intercept with the real attack. Danek sensed a chance to settle things without using his own knife. He was eager to take that chance. His opponent might think nothing of sticking a man with a knife, but Danek had no desire to open his opponent if he could avoid it.

Danek twitched his shoulders as though taking the bait. Seeing what he wanted to see, the knife man lunged towards the position he thought Danek would be, to his left. Danek, however, had failed to cooperate. Throwing his right leg back, Danek sidestepped the attack easily. He threw his right arm up, trapping the man's wrist with his own, simulaneously throwing his other hand into the man's elbow with all the strength dwarven muscles could muster. The blow was too much for the joint to handle, and the arm bent far, far beyond the point it would naturally stop as the elbow tore and shattered.

His assailant's knife dropped from nerveless fingers to ring dully on the wood of the floor. Danek stepped away from his assailant, allowing the arm to flex back from the grossly unnatural bend. Numb with shock, the man gaped at Danek wordlessly. He cradled his arm into his chest with his other hand, spun, and darted toward the front door. Onlookers leapt out of his way, turning to watch as he raced out into the night.

For a moment silence reigned. Danek sheathed his own knife and began to survey the crowd. To late, he noticed that Jaled was no longer wallowing on the floor. As Danek had been finishing off his last opponent, Jaled had taken advantage of the attention the crowd was giving to the immediate combatants. When Danek had stepped forward into the open area before the stage, he'd left the protection he'd had to either side. A large opening was to his right, and Jaled had crept into the gap.

As soon as he realized it, Danek began a dive to the left to get away from Jaled, but his realization had come too late. Jaled rushed toward him before the move had been much more than a thought. Caught mid move, Danek twisted to try to respond to the sudden assault, thrusting a fist out in an attempt to stop the charge. Unfortunately, Jaled was ready for him. A massive hand shot out, trapping his wrist. Jaled continued to move forward, sweeping Danek off his feet. Danek scrabbled to regain his balance, but found his leg trapped up against one of the very benches he'd previously been using to channel his opponents into single file. He went over backwards, his head bashing into a table edge painfully. Jaled, still moving, came down on top of him, still gripping the wrist he'd caught.

Trapped and off balance Danek desperately swung his free hand up just in time to block Jaled's other arm as it swung down, a large hunting dirk clenched in it's grasp. Grunting with effort, Danek watched the point freeze. Jaled, glaring, shifted his weight to compensate, and the blade began slowly decending toward Danek's face. Danek had no moves left, and could only watch the knife descend as his arms trembled with exertion.

Suddenly Jaled's breath exploded from his lungs and he rocked sideways in a spray of splinters. Danek, his arm still clenched in Jaled's fist was dragged sideways with him, rolling over the top of Jaled. As he spun he saw out of the corner of his eye the bar maid, Welew, the remains of a shattered chair clutched tightly in her hands. Her chest was heaving and her eye already coloring from where her head had struck the chair earlier.

Danek had no time to be thankful for her intervention. As he rolled he threw his shoulder around, adding more force to the spin he already was in, breaking free from Jaled's grasp. Danek flew through the air, striking an empty table. Wincing from the pain of the table hitting his ribs, he sprung back away from the table looking for Jaled.

Jaled was just climbing onto his hands and knees from where he'd fallen. Laying before him on the floor was his knife. Grinning, he reached out and scooped it up. But that took time he didn't have. A booted foot blasted into his ribs, bringing him completely off the floor and flipping him onto his back. Grunting with pain, he looked over at the dwarf, still balanced on one foot after the kick. Jaled lashed out with his leg, hoping to take the dwarf's feet out from under him.

Danek, seeing the kick, leapt over the leg as it went by. As he came back down, he smashed a foot downward, catching the offending leg on the kneecap. A resounding crunch sounded as the knee shattered. The leg rolled under him, and Danek landed heavily on top of Jaled with a grunt.

Jaled's breath wooshed out of his lungs. Tears streaming, no longer able to think, or even breathe he lashed out, in a blind attempt to cause at least some pain to the man who had destroyed him.

Danek saw the knife coming in. His hand shot out, catching Jaled's wrist in his fingers, stopping the swing. With teeth gritted, he sqeezed his hand tightly, feeling Jaled's wrist break under the pressure. With considerable satisfaction, Danek sat up and brought a fist down on the side of Jaled's head.

Jaled, finally overcome, still unable to draw in a breath, passed out without a sound.

Danek stood up, breathing hard. Stillness filled the room as everyone stared, unwilling to move, shocked by the sudden violence of the fight. No one seemed able to believe the turn of events that had transpired, and appeared to be afraid that any movement, any sound, would awaken further horror. Behind him Jaled's companion still lay huddled on the floor, gasping and sobbing through his hands in a growing pool of blood.

The stillness was slashed by a shriek as Welew screamed in rage and threw herself on the unconcious Jaled. Shrieking with fury, her fists began beating on Jaled's face, tears streaming down her cheeks. Danek stepped forward and grabbed her, dragging her away from Jaled, her heels beating impotently on the wooden floor. Softly he whispered to her in his native tongue, restraining her until she collapsed sobbing in his arms. He tucked her into his embrace, cradling her head and letting her weep until the inn keeper gently lifted her away from him, guiding her through the crowd.

Danek looked around. The crowd remained hushed, but had been broken out of their awestruck revery Some were moving quickly toward the door, eager to get away. Others were crowding forward, eager to see the destruction of the men who had held them in terror so long. Still others were muttering amongst themselves, throwing glances toward Danek, unsure whether to be grateful or frightened of the small dervish in their midst.

Danek shrugged. Doubtless some would be frightened of him, certain he was a destructive presence little better than that which he had just vanquished. Others would venerate him as a hero. Frankly, he didn't care. He'd simply been who he was, and that's all that mattered to him. That, and staying true to his basic sense of decency.

Turning, he walked back to the sobbing wreckage that had been a man laying behind him. Jaled may have passed out, but he had begun breathing again. His wounds were bad, but not life threatening, and he wasn't bleeding noticably. The man on the ground, however, was bleeding profusely. Between the blood pouring out his nose and the swelling of his jaw, there was actually some small risk of him choking on his own blood. Prying his hands away from his face, Danek began tending to him, although perhaps not as gently as he could.

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Danek leaned wearily against the counter. Most of the crowd had finally left. Jaled and his friend had been dragged into unused rooms in the back, their disposition uncertain. Danek knew he should go lay down, but was still feeling too wound up from the fight to sleep.

The sound of a mug sliding across the countertop caught his attention away from an examination of his split knuckles. He turned to see the inn keeper sliding a full mug of stout to him. Greatfully he picked it up and sipped a pull off the top. He nodded in gratitude.

"I let her cry herself out. She's had a rough time of it, what with her husband's death and Jaled's constant harassment. I think she'll be all right, but she needs sleep now."

Danek nodded again, saying nothing. The Innkeeper turned and poured a second mug for himself. He too took a sip, then set it on the counter between them. "How's the head?"

Danek shrugged. A knot was forming where the table had caught him. It'd be unnoticable under his hair, but he'd have a sore neck and head for a few days. "Not bad. No worse than the ribs, anyway."

The inn keeper nodded as he took a sip from his beer. "Those three have been a problem around here for two years. Two years, and yet you took them apart in a moment." He paused speculatively. "Two of them came at you with knives, yet you never cut them when you had the chance." He fixed his gaze on Danek. "You could have killed them, couldn't you?"

Danek nodded wearily. "I could have. I grew up on the border. Did time in the army. Had to kill eyza more than once when caught with a knife or less."

The Innkeeper nodded. He took another sip letting the silence grow between them. After a bit he shrugged. "So why didn't you?"

"No need to. No justification, really." He sighed. "Sure, everyone believes they were bandits, and worse, murderers. But no one can prove it. I suspect you'll have fewer problems now. But all we can actually prove is that they struck a defenseless woman, and started a fight with a stranger."

The Innkeeper shook his head slightly, clearly not sure he agreed with Danek's answer, but not feeling it worth debating. "Well, I suppose. But how is justice served in not punishing them for the crimes we all know they commited?"

Danek lifted his head with a wry smile. "Justice? Think about it. Jaled will never walk above a hobble again. His wrist should heal, but there's no guarantees it'll heal straight. That second fellow will be months healing his face, and be unable to eat normal food for a long, long time. He may recover fully, but it'll be a long time coming. And the one who ran off probably won't regain much use of his knife arm. They'll survive, but they'll probably be cripples for the rest of their life, dependant on the charity of the community they abused and terrorized for so long. That's justice enough for me." He smiled. "At least Welew never needs fear Jaled again. She's the one who defeated him in the end."

The inn keeper nodded. "There is that. Of course, while I may be able to fix the first two chairs, I'll never be able to repair that one."

Danek laughed quietly. "That's quite all right. A bar maid able to take apart a murderer with a chair is more than a fair trade, don't you think?"

"I do, my good Dwarf. I do indeed."