The Husband Poisoning Society, Chapter 21

“Where are Fiona and Vincent?” I asked the two panicked women in front of me.

“Out there. Protecting us.” Amy answered. 

I listened. I heard the scream of animals and the sound of enormous bodies crashing. Fiona grunted and then roared back at one of the barghests.

“Spear.” Vincent said outside the nook.

“Spear.” Fiona responded. 

“On your left.” Vincent again.

“Duck.” Fiona. 

And then the barghest got a grip on the board Amy and Laila were holding. The beast ripped it backwards, dragging both women from the hole where we had huddled. 

“Amy!” I yelled and scrambled from the hole. I wasn’t moving fast. But I’d be damned if I was leaving Amy alone against a dog the size of a truck. The barghest grabbed Laila by the arm and shook her. She screamed and struggled in the thing’s mouth. Amy stood and released the clasp on her concealed dagger. I did the same with my clasp dagger. Amy shook for a moment and then her face hardened. She charged the barghest and rammed the dagger into the beast’s neck. I was still crawling on all fours. I could move faster that way. My gown was going to be a total loss though. Blood and sweat and slime mold had stained the green fabric a mottled black. I kept crawling. 

The barghest threw Laila aside and turned to Amy. She yanked the dagger free and jammed in straight into the nose of the great dog. I reached the barghest’s back leg. And before the thing could lunge at Amy, I plunged my own dagger into its left hind paw. 

The barghest yelped and skipped to the side, favoring its wounded paw. The move knocked Amy to the ground. Her dagger remained jammed in the barghest’s muzzle. I hung on to my dagger and heaved myself to my feet. I wobbled, but managed to remain standing. The healing potions had healed my wounds, but could do nothing for the weakness brought on by my visions. I stumbled forward and fell onto the barghest’s left flank, shoving the dagger into the animal’s thigh. It spun towards me, and knocked me flat. I rolled with the fall as best I could, and managed not to have the wind knocked from my lungs. The barghest loomed over me. My dagger remained in its flank. Amy dashed to my side and ripped her dagger from the barghest’s nose. The thing reeled back and howled. It snarled and took a step towards us, then stumbled. 

I noticed blood pouring down its front leg. The wound Amy had made in its throat was gushing blood. The beast was bleeding out. 

“It’s dying.” I said.

“Not fast enough though, is it?” Amy asked. 

She thrust with the dagger again. The beast staggered backward, avoiding her blow.

I struggled to my feet and stumbled to the left of Amy. The barghest turned its head back and forth, trying to keep us both in view. And I struggled further to the side to make that impossible. The barghest snarled at us. It took a step towards me. Then it stumbled again. It wobbled back towards Amy. And then it crashed to the ground. It pawed at the ground and snarled at us. But the beast was too weak to stand. 

“Fast enough, I guess.” I managed. 

I looked around. The manticore and the other three barghests lay dead in pieces around the corridor. Fiona wiped her saber clean and sheathed it. Vincent twirled a spear, and I noticed a dead guard beside him. 

The barghest howled, a weak warbling howl. And then the head dropped to the stone floor and it lay still. 

Fiona approached. “Amy. Is that your first monster?”

Amy shook for a moment, and then steadied herself. Then she flung herself on Fiona and gasped. Fiona wrapped her arms around Amy and they held each other for a moment. 

“It was, wasn't it?” Amy said as they separated. 

Vincent helped Laila to her feet, “How is your arm?”

“It’s nothing,” Laila said, favoring her arm. 

Vincent shook his head, “Let me look.”

“We are not related and we are not courting.” Laila objected.

“I want to look at your arm, not your bosom.” Vincent said. 

Laila thrust out her arm and looked away. Vincent rolled her shredded sleeve up and examined the wound. 

“By some miracle, the bones aren’t broken. And its teeth didn’t hit any arteries. You got damned lucky. We’ll need to clean and dress the wound. I don’t have supplies here though.”

“Which means any other monster will be able to track us by that wound.” Fiona said. “We must hurry.”

“It wasn’t my fault.” Laila said.

“Indeed. You did well. But we must still hurry.”

We continued through the catacombs until we finally emerged into the open air. The bitter cold of the Hyperborean night hit me like a slap to the chest. I shivered in my evening gown. Everyone else had changed into more suitable clothing. I was the only one not dressed at least somewhat for the cold. We trudged through mud, and my kitten heels became lodged in the frigid muck. I struggled and managed to pull my feet free. 

“I’m going to get hypothermia at this rate,” I said under my breath. 

“What’s hypothermia?” Laila asked.

Damn, had I used a modern term again?

“It is when you die from exposure to the cold.” Fiona said. 

“Ah. I didn’t know there was a word for it.” Laila answered. 

Apparently it was only Hyperborea that didn’t use the term. I sighed in relief. Fiona stepped forward and draped her clawhammer jacket over my shoulders.

“You're only wearing a shirt under your jacket,” I said.

“I am fine, Beloved. I have endured worse than this on the battlefield and on the hunt.”

I huffed and slid my arms into the sleeves. “Thank you, Lover.” 

“It won’t help your feet though.” Amy said. “We should watch Ren for symptoms shouldn’t we?”

“Indeed.” Fiona nodded. 

I was about to say something about how I would be fine, when a roar sounded behind us. The giant stormed out of the catacombs and sniffed the air.

“We must move.” Fiona said. 

“Time to run again.” Vincent said. “We’re doing that a lot.”

“I can’t run.” I reminded them.

Fiona again hoisted me into a bridal carry. We hustled towards the collection of buildings that marked the edge of the city. 

“We cannot outrun a giant.” Fiona said.

“Not on foot,” I said. “What about a carriage?”

“It will be hard to find a carriage, and steal one, while protecting you three.” Fiona answered. 

“Then leave us. We’ll hide.” I said.

“I do not like that.” 

“Do we have a better option?” Amy asked.

Fiona scrunched up her face for an instant and then returned to her usual calm demeanor. “We do not. Vincent and I will go. You three hide here.”

Fiona pointed at a ramshackle chicken coop.

“Charming.” I said.

“The smell of animals will conceal you.” Fiona answered. 

I wasn’t this squeamish when I lived on earth. Was I getting acclimated to being a pampered noble lady? I shook my head. Something to worry about later. Fiona and Vincent disappeared in the shadows and vanished. We huddled in the coop, surrounded by roosting chickens. 

I watched the giant through the cracks in the wall of the coop. It dropped to all fours and began sniffing the ground. Had they trained it, or turned it loose and hoped that it would follow our scent? I shook my head, that didn’t matter. It was hunting us now, either way. 

The giant nosed along, its face pressed into the snow. It ranged in a circle around the entrance to the catacombs. Nobody was out on the dirt streets at this hour. So the giant had the space to itself. Nothing to distract it as it searched. It moved in wide circles, but I noticed that the giant was edging towards us. 

“It’s got our scent.” I said, keeping my voice low. 

“Hush.” Laila answered. “It may lose us at the coop.”

“Should we run while we can?” Amy asked. Then she answered her own question. “You can’t run, can you dearest? Not at all.”

I shook my head. “With my cane, my fastest speed is a hobble.”

“Hush,” Laila said again. “It’s getting close.”

And it was. The giant had come within twenty feet of the coop. Its circles had tightened. It stopped at the spot where we had split with Fiona and Vincent. It looked around. The giant looked confused to me. It got to its feet and padded along Fiona and Vincent’s trail some twenty feet. Then it stopped and turned. It trotted back to the point where we had parted, and sniffed the ground again. This time, it turned towards the chicken coop. I held my breath. The giant growled, low in its throat and began to stalk towards the coop on all fours. It kept sniffing as it approached. When it got close, it began to circle the coop. I couldn’t tell if it was hunting us, or trying to confirm our presence. But we cowered in the coop, a silent terrified trio. 

The giant approached the door of the coop and grasped the door with a single massive hand. The giant wrenched and the door snapped from its hinges. Throwing the door aside, the giant began to lower its head to the empty door frame. I looked around. And then I snatched a chicken from its roost and threw the startled bird out the door. The bird squawked and burst into attempted flight. It wobbled past the giant on the thing’s left side. The giant turned, much too late, and made a feeble swing at the chicken. The chicken continued its frantic trail through the air. Feathers drifted in its wake. The giant took a step after the bird. Then a second step. We waited. The giant sniffed the air. And then it turned back towards the coop. I swore under my breath. Laila clapped a hand across my mouth. And Amy sunk down into a crouch. 

The giant took two steps back, bringing it back in front of the coop. It began to crouch down to look inside the structure. I tensed, not sure what I would do. I knew I had to do something, but my mind was drawing a blank. 

And then the report of a pistol split the night silence. Blood erupted from the giant’s right temple, and it staggered to the left. A moment later a second gun shot rang out. Again, the giant staggered left as the bullet struck its temple. A carriage skidded to a stop. Vincent sat up in the driver’s seat, hands gripping the reins. Fiona hung out the window of the carriage, a smoking flintlock pistol still in her hand. 

“Come on now, don’t keep the driver waiting.” Vincent called. 

We stared at the disoriented giant looming before us. Amy slipped her head under my arm and gripped my waist and together we began to hobble to the carriage. Laila moved in on my right and did likewise. And as a three we struggled past the giant. The monster shook its head, spraying blood everywhere. Its eyes remained closed and it snarled as it swung its head. We reached the carriage and Amy helped me into the covered passenger seat. The carriage only had two interior seats. As I climbed in, Fiona climbed out the other side and joined Vincent in the driver’s seat. Laila and Amy squeezed in tight beside me. 

“Alright. Moving out.” Vincent called and lashed the two horses into action. 

As we picked up speed, I heard the giant roar and leaned out the window to look back. The giant had opened its eyes. It glared at us as we fled. And then it burst into motion on all fours like a gorilla. I looked up at Vincent and Fiona. Vincent glanced back and urged the horses faster. Fiona watched the giant as she reloaded her pistols without so much as looking at the weapons. 

The giant was closing fast. And I could tell that the horses knew this. They strained in their harnesses and Vincent struggled to keep them under control. We flew down muddy streets in near total darkness. Only the lantern attached to the carriage lit our way.  The roar of the giant echoed behind us. It was closing in fast. Vincent made several sharp turns. The turns jostled us about as the carriage creaked and protested. But the turns didn’t stop or even slow the giant. Soon I could see its teeth shining in the darkness as it bore down upon us. 

I remembered that I carry a pepperbox pistol in my chatelaine bag. As the giant closed the distance between it and our carriage. I rustled through my bag until I found the pistol. The pistol fires six shots at once, but then requires a reload. Its range is terrible, but it does a lot of damage. I took aim at the giant and fired. The carriage’s movement and the giant’s own loping gait hurt my aim. But I nicked it in the left ribs. The giant grunted and slowed enough that we remained out of reach of its massive hands. 

Laila leaned out the right hand window and swore to herself.

“No, not this way. Turn, now.” She yelled to Vincent.

“I can’t.” Vincent said. “The carriage will tip.”

“We’re going to be trapped.” Laila yelled. 

Now Vincent swore in Agarthan. I’d never heard him do that before. I turned to look, and realized that Laila was right. Ahead of us was the edge of a cliff face. Vincent leaned on the reins and forced the horses to stop inches from the drop off. I stared down over a hundred feet to the canyon floor. As Laila had warned, we were trapped. I looked back to see the giant gathering speed and charging at us.