The Thieves of Otar

The Golden-Eyed One

"Right, then, what weapons do we have?" Jay said softly. 

The party had gathered a few meters from the bend so that they would be able to make a plan in relative safety. Zia had assured Jay that most of the men were drunk (she understood the effects of alcohol better than most), but even under the influence of the drugs they would be a dangerous enemy, especially since they outnumbered their own group and they had a hostage.

"Us Guards have one longsword and three daggers each," Percival said, "And the little miss has a sword as well."

"The 'little miss' has a name," Zia muttered. "I also have a knife in my boot," she said louder.

"I have my bow," Heath added. "And a few quivers full of arrows.

"I've also got some throwing knives," Ike said. "Oh, I have a sword as well, but I'm not that great with it."

Jay took inventory of the rest of the weapons at their disposal. They had many longbows, swords, daggers, and crossbows. Ryker smugly added a battle-axe to the list, and his brother, Hamish, added a large mace. There were a few spears here and there and old Will had a deadly looking war-scythe.

"Wha' kind of weapon is tha'?" Archibald asked as a weapon was added to the inventory. A tall man, Ed- Zia remembered from Heath's introduction circle- was holding an odd-looking weapon. It was made of light wood that was smooth and polished, large on one side and gradually lost its thickness the further down the weapon you looked. The wood was slightly curved, as if made for a hand to rest comfortably on it, and it was rather small. There was no point or blade to be found on it, and Zia was beginning to wonder how something that small could be deadly. Then again, she reminded herself, that's often what people thought of her before she had a knife to their throat.

"It's called an atlatl," Ed said defensively. "It can be quite dangerous."

"How?" Ryker demanded, his arms crossed across his chest. "The worst you can do with that is hit them on the head!"

"Obviously there's more to it than you think," Zia said coldly, giving the large man a dangerous glare.

"Thank you, Miss Zia," Ed said. "It's rather like a mixture between a spear and a bow; that is, if the bow doesn't have any string." He reached behind him and pulled a large arrow-like dart from a quiver on his back. "There's a small hole in the large end, and you set the end of the dart in there." He demonstrated as he spoke, and all leaned in closely to get a better look at what many of them had thought was a useless piece of oak. "Then, you swing it all forward as if you're going to throw it, but in reality, you hold on to the handle while the dart goes flying."

There were a few "aah"s and "oh"s as the group understood now that the atlatl was in fact a deadly weapon.

"I think you might be the most dangerous one of this team, Ed," Jay said, a broad smile on his face.

Ed flushed with pleasure, and he was opening his mouth to say something when Ryker gruffly said, "Are we going to stand here all night plaiting each others' hair or are we going to get on with this?"

"You're right, Ripper," Percival said.

"It's Ryker."

Percival shrugged indifferently. "We've got to set a plan into motion soon or we'll lose our chance."

Jay nodded several times, sorbing up. "Of course. Alright, here's the plan..."