The four slowly retreated down the street, firing at intervals as the lich advanced on them. Shani explained her plan as they moved. “Girly Girl, gonna need alla yer magic fer this one,” she stated with a great deal of urgency. “An’ I hate ta say it, but yer probably gonna have ta git in toe ta toe with the bastard.”
“I figured as much,” Pania replied with some reservation as she fired off her Smith and Wessons. “Ye’ve seen somethin’ in tha’ lich,” she stated with a knowing smile as she quickly emptied the pistols chambers and reloaded. She reholstered the pistol in her right hand and drew her rapier. “Somethin’ tha’ll let us destroy ‘im with ease.”
“Ya know the secret ta a lich,” Shani stated almost matter of factly as she fired again. “They need some object ta keep ’em ‘live. They’s phylact’ry. Usually they keep it hid.”
“Ye’ve go’ a lot o’ knowledge fer thin’s such as this, Shani,” Pania replied with a sly smile. She muttered an incantation and touched the blade of her rapier, and it became alive with flame. “I wager ye shoulda been a bard.”
Shani smirked and scoffed a laugh as she continued her plan. “Miss Arella. Slow Hand. Gonna need you two on the sides o’ the streets. Jist keep pumpin’ bullets an’ buckshot inta him. With Pania in his face, I’ll try an’ git off the right shot. An’ Girly Girl, make sure ta dance ’round him ‘nough thet I kin git a clear shot.”
“Dancing shouldn’t be too hard for Pania,” Arella said with a slight smirk. Shani just rolled her eyes and sighed. At least the attempt at levity in this situation was not unwelcome. Arella moved to her position on the side of the street as Slow Hand moved to his. Each of them took a shot at the creature as it advanced. Shani moved from side to side taking a shot making sure she could see around Pania as the elven bard advanced, rapier tightly gripped in one hand, Smith and Wesson in the other.
The lich seemed to smile as Pania stepped closer to him. His voice was a low rumble as he spoke. “This is so much better. Just give yourself to me. You will be delaying the inevitable if you continue to resist.”
Pania stopped in her tracks as she looked up to the lich’s face. “Were ye as stupid in life as ye are in death?” The quick comment seemed to take the lich off guard as he stopped for just a moment. He moved his head as though he was about to speak once again, but was met with bullets and buckshot. Pania grinned as the lich was pushed back by the violent volley, and thrust her rapier forward. She lunged and parried as the lich responded with an attack of her own, slashed with the blade of her rapier as she caught tattered garments and only managed to tatter them even more. Each attack revealed more and more of the sickly, skeletal form of the lich.
Pania danced to one side as the creature swung his longsword. Slow Hand fired off a shot with both barrels of his shotgun. He was close to the lich, and the flying buckshot tattered the lich’s garments even more, but it also did one thing. It gave Shani a clear shot.
“Git yer ass down!” she shouted to Pania as Shani saw the glowing crystal that hung in a simple chain around the lich’s neck. Pania did as she was instructed, taking one last swipe with her blade as she hit the dirt. The lich was looking right at Shani, glaring at her, or so it seemed.
He realized all too late that he had been drawn into a trap. As Shani’s long barrels sounded out their reports, Shilo looked down to see the crystal revealed to the world. The one object that kept him alive in this world. Or as alive as a lich could be.
The first bullet slammed into his chest, doing little more than sting. The first was quickly followed by a second, then a third. Shilo’s eyes grew wide as the world seemed to slow down. The fourth bullet was heading straight for the crystal. The point of the bullet struck the edge of the crystal, sending a wave of pain through Shilo’s being. At least, as much pain as a lich could feel. Shards of the crystal flew into the air in haphazard directions. The fifth and sixth bullets finished the job.
Shilo clutched his chest, trying in vain to hold the shattered crystal together. The shards seemed to mock him as they fell helplessly to the ground. The air rushed around him as the wind seemed to pick up. Shani and Pania could feel it, as did Slow Hand and Arella. Shani reached Pania’s side and dragged her away from the lich, now screaming a horrifying howl. Slow Hand and Arella had moved to join the two elves as the sheltered themselves behind a horse trough, and all four watched as the lich lurched from side to side, his body disintegrating into nothing.
Finally, his form turned to ash, and the wind swept it away harmlessly. The street became quiet once again. Shani looked over to Pania, then to Slow Hand and Arella. A snort of a laugh escaped her lips as the tension from the past few minutes seemed to ease considerably. “Shit, I think I need a drink after thet.”
*****
Arella closed the door to the boarding house and looked into the living room. Her girls were huddled together, some sobbing lightly as they were still reliving the horror they had seen. She looked to the large bay windows and watched through the lace drapes as Shani and Pania cleaned up the street. Poor Clem. Poor Charlotte. There was nothing they could do, it had happened all so fast. Arella merely sighed heavily as she remembered what Pania had said. Mourn for them, but it was fortunate more weren’t taken by the lich.
The door opened to the boarding house once again, and Arella turned to meet Slow Hand. He politely removed his hat and nodded to her before speaking. A polite gesture from a man many had seen as a rough and tumble gunslinger. “Anythin’ ya need, Ma’am?” he asked in a low voice.
Arella shook her head and smiled in reply to his offer. “No Wilbur,” she said in a soft voice, using the man’s real name. “I believe we’ll manage.”
“Alright then,” he said with a smile as he slipped the stetson back onto his head and bowed slightly. He said not another word as he quietly opened the front door and slipped out, moving across the street to the tavern to ensure nothing was amiss there.
Arella helped the girls calm down as she fussed over their safety. Slowly, they would return to something akin to a normal life. But how could anything be normal after having seen what horrors are in the world. Arella pushed those thoughts back as she heard the front door open and close, and two sets of spurs jingled as they announced the arrival of the elven gunslingers.
“Ev’rythin’ alright in here?” Shani asked with a sigh as she looked over each person.
“We’ll manage,” Arella replied as she stepped forward and hugged Pania. “It could have been much worse. But you warned me when we first met, Pania. That things would change. When I found out you weren’t… human. That things would be different. And they have been.” She moved back just a bit, but did not release Pania from her arms. “But with the bad there’s been an awful lot of good.”
Pania smiled and embraced Arella in a tender hug, closing her eyes as she seemed to fall into the comfort that was her lover. She opened her eyes and caught sight of Shani, watching them for a moment. The elven gunslinger furrowed her brow and sighed as she finally rolled her eyes. “Y’all kin git thet thought outta yer head.”
“Wha’ thought?” Pania replied with a coy smile.
“You know what I’m talkin’ ’bout.”
“Ye should ‘ear ’bout the thin’s we’ve done t’gether,” Pania cooed as she turned her attention back to Arella. The boarding house mistress returned the look with one similar, and took Pania by her arm and began to guide her to the steps. “I’ll tell ye all ’bout our adventures if ye wish,” Pania commented as the pair mounted the stairs.
“Well shit,” Shani called out as she watched the pair climb the stairs. “Thet all ya think ’bout is sex, sex, sex. Godsdamned, Girly Girl, there’s more ta life then jist…” she stopped herself suddenly as she caught a slight movement from the corner of her eye. A figure leaned lightly against the door frame that lead into the pantry. Shani arched an eyebrow as she studied this individual for a moment, and then finally muttered more to herself than anyone else in the room. “Well dang. I never knew y’all had boy whores here too.” She looked over the young man and grinned. It was going to be a good night.
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