Black Sheep - Devious Darren and the Magic Discs

Chapter Six

Bard looked around anxiously for any sign of Darren the Devious – nothing. The only threat was Dorian scrutinizing his every move. Despite this, Calvin’s constant griping about how terrible it was to be stuck watching discs with Bard and Dorian instead of living it up with pleasures was somehow worse. After a week of guard duty, Dorian finally told Calvin to shut up.

“Shut up, Calvin. We’re leaving.” Dorian remarked suddenly.

“But what about Darren the Devious?” Bard interjected.

“He’s not coming.” Dorian remarked sharply. “You’ve wasted my time, monk.”

Calvin smirked. “I told you he was lying.”

Dorian didn’t reply. He simply began dragging Bard by the arm. Bard struggled free only to be knocked unconscious.

“See ya, Dorian. Don’t bother coming again soon.” Calvin grinned.

Dorian grunted and left with Bard slung over his shoulders. Dorian walked for a few hours before resting. He couldn’t believe he fell for the monk’s lies. Surely, Darren the Devious wouldn’t be free. He was sealed away for good. Still, it would have been terrible if the monk had been right. It was good of him to have confirmed the truth. Dorian looked at the young monk. If they had been concerned about Darren the Devious, why only send one monk? Why would they send this guy? Dorian mulled over these questions for a while but eventually shrugged them off. It didn’t matter anymore. He had job to do and was going to get it done.

Just then, he saw something fly overhead. He looked down to see Bard’s hand raising up. His fist clenched. Suddenly, the flying thing was grabbed by vines! Dorian stumbled backwards and landed on his butt. The flying being strugled free but dropped something. Dorian scrambled over to the dropped object. It looked like a disc. He looked over to Bard who was just regaining consciousness.

“Get up, monk.” Dorian barked. “We’re going back to the shrine.”

Bard staggered to his feet and tried to stabilize himself. He had no idea what changed Dorian’s mind but was relieved that they were headed back.

“Hurry up!” Dorian ordered gruffly.

Bard quickened his pace to keep up with the mercenary. “What happened?” He huffed.

“I think the discs were stolen.”

Upon hearing this, Bard began running back toward the shrine. Dorian easily matched Bard’s pace. They both hoped that it wasn’t true. When they reached the shrine, they climbed the steps to the where they discs were kept. Sure enough, the discs were missing. The two looked at each other. Then, they heard a couple moans. Bard was going to investigate but Dorian ordered him to stay put.

“You blasted idiot!” Dorian hollered.

“You have one job, and you blow it!”

“What do you mean!?” Calvin screamed back.

The two exchanged various insults and unkind words as they unraveled what occurred. Here’s the story in tame Bard language. Calvin was bored. He decided to find some women and drugs to enjoy. The disc thief came while Calvin, Bard, and Dorian were away. Calvin didn’t check when he got back. He didn’t care really. Dorian noticed the flying figure and the strange occurrence with Bard. He also noticed the disc that fell leading him to connect the dots. This caused Bard and Dorian to return to the shrine. Dorian then proceeded to chew Calvin out for his irresponsibility and incompetence while Calvin threw a hissy-fit and started raging.

Bard sat dumbly as the brothers argued. He waited for them to start cooling down before interjecting his own thought.

“Shouldn’t we be trying to track the disc thief?” Bard asked.

“Shouldn’t we be trying to track the disc thief?” Calvin mocked. “Do what you want. I don’t care about the stupid things anyway.”

“Protecting the discs is your job.” Dorian butt in. “You need to help.”

Calvin huffed and grimaced. “Fine, I’ll help.” He paused then added. “I intensely hate you both though.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” Dorian grunted.

“Um, I don’t hate anyone.” Bard added quietly. The other two glared at him as they began their journey to find the disc thief. “Do you think it was Darren the Devious?” Bard wondered.

“Rule one: you shut up unless I tell you to talk.” Calvin retorted as he pointed to Bard.

“Rule two: you have a complaining limit of two complaints per day.” Dorian added with a nod toward Calvin.

The two proceeded to generate rules for the next two hours. This was going to be a long trip.