Shield of the Sun, Part 12

They slipped from the camp like three wraiths in the dark and stumbled along an alley until they turned a corner and Abba was able light the torch that he carried. With his torch held high, Abba led them through a maze of alleyways that plunged deep into the labyrinth that surrounded the docks. Finally he led them into an alley so narrow that they had walk in single file, at the end of which was the House of the Crocodile. Abbas banged on the door twice then once more and the door swung open to reveal a dimly lit cavern filled with what looked like the dregs of the waterfront.

Hann laid his hand on Tuti’s arm and shook his head; they hesitated but were forced to follow when Abba plunged inside, cleared a bench of some drunks, waved them in and ordered a jug of best wine in his booming voice. Hann looked around while they waited. The clientele of the inn were a rough looking bunch, yet none of them appeared to be interest in the three strangers who had landed in their midst. He could only conclude from their indifference that the crocodile was the kind of place where it was dangerous to pry into another mans business.

The owner, a fat swarthy Syrian by the looks him, sidled up to the table, poured three cups of wine and asked for payment. Abba tossed a couple of coins on the table, picked up his cup, drained it and twisted his face as if in pain. Grabbing the man he pulled him closer and hissed, ‘That my friend was pure piss, now take the coins and send the girl over with some of your best Syrian wine and some fresh cups.’

The innkeeper hurried off and after a few moments the girl arrived with a new jug of wine and it was while she poured the wine that Hann wondered what had happened to his friend’s taste in women, for someone who normally had the women of the palace swooning over him, his idea of beauty in women had slipped dramatically. The girl was young, so Abba had got that right. But the Gods help her, she was also hatchet faced and had a squint. Hann looked around the room; the other girls were just as bad.

‘What happened to the young and beautiful wenches?’ he asked when the girl had gone.

‘Would you have come, if I’d said they were ugly? I think not. Besides any port in a storm and we aren’t going to find any better out here.’

‘Listen to him Tuti, three week sailing upriver from the palace and already he’s a sailor.’

They all laughed and settled down to some serious drinking and strangely enough after a few more jugs the wenches began to look much better and things might have progressed further if Abba hadn’t taken the first girl on his knee. The girl didn’t object to sitting on his lap but her boyfriend a one eyed giant did. One minute Abba was about to kiss the girl and the next he was flying through the air to land crashing on a table spilling the drinks and sending the drinkers flying into others around them. Abba rose to his feet and with a roar like an enraged bull, raced across the room, rammed his head into the giants belly and they both slammed into the makeshift bar sending jugs of wine and beer flying into the crowded room.

In moments it was mayhem, everyone in the room was fighting and half a dozen of the giant’s friends had encircled Abba. Hann seeing his friend at bay jumped up, grabbed the nearest man by the shoulder, spun him around and pole axed him with a head butt. One down five to go, a haymaker from Abba reduced the number to four.

Two to one, wasn’t bad odds and Tuti with a ringside seat was determined remain a spectator at least until he had finished the wine. Abba grabbed two of the men, dashed their heads together and them there were two. Unfortunately while Hann disabled his opponent with a kick to the groin, the other had laid out Abba with a lump of wood from the splintered bar.

Now it was one on one, and Hann with only his fists and feet for weapons was facing an opponent with a club in one hand and a knife that had appeared in the other. Hann pushed himself away from the wall the last thing he needed was to be trapped in a corner, they circled and the man lashed out with the club. Hann gabbed the club twisted it out of his hand and jumped back as the blade swept in low, unfortunately he fell over the prone body of Abba and hit the back of his head on the floor. Stunned and disorientated he could only watch groggily as the grinning man raised his knife for the killing blow and collapse as Tuti brought the now empty wine jug down onto his head.

Tuti he helped him to his feet, gabbed a jug of wine that had managed somehow to survive intact and dashed it into the face of their unconscious friend. Abba groaned, spluttered a string of foul obscenities, rose shakily to he feet and growled, ‘Let me at them.’