The Iron Teeth

A Tradesman's Tools 5

There was a lamp on a dresser against one of the walls, and it lit the room that lay on the other side of the window. The hobgoblin that hung outside could thus see its occupants just fine; all four of the humans within were lying next to each other on the big bed that dominated the room.

Blacknail could clearly hear the soft sighing of their relaxed breathing as they slept. His skin tingled pleasantly as he gazed upon his helpless prey, and he started to slip through the window.

Unfortunately, he'd misjudged the size of the opening slightly, and his head got momentarily stuck. After a second or two of trying to painfully squeeze his skull through the tight frame, he succeeded and popped through. A soft thud echoed forth as Blacknail lost his balance and landed on the floor at the base of the window.

He froze for a moment to make sure he hadn't disturbed anyone, but the only sound he heard was the gentle breathing of slumbering humans. Feeling confident, the hobgoblin crept up to the bed.

It wasn't that fancy of a bed, but it certainly was huge. Blacknail thought it could easily fit a dozen humans lying side by side. Why did this man need such a huge bed? Maybe it was some sort of human status symbol?

The hobgoblin reached over until his hand hung over the man's sleeping face. His claws were a hair's breadth from the man's eyes when he froze. No, fooling around now would be a bad idea. It would be really messy, and would probably make a lot of noise. Blacknail frowned in regret, as he pulled his hand back and drew his dagger. It was best to do this quickly.

Suddenly, Galive stirred slightly and started murmuring something. Blacknail panicked for a second and jumped slightly in surprise, before he realized the man was still unconscious. He was just talking in his sleep. Feeling curious, the hobgoblin leaned over to listen.

"Oh ya, that's the way. Spread that honey around," Galive whispered.

Blacknail blinked in confusion. What was this now? What could this weird human possibly be talking about? Well whatever, he was here to kill Galive, not try to understand him.

Blacknail stopped wasting time. He quickly grabbed the Galive's long dark hair and pulled it down, as he dragged his dagger against the man's exposed throat. Blood poured from the long jagged wound and onto the sheets, as his knife bit deep into Galive's flesh.

Galive's dark eyes shot open and fluttered briefly before going dead. Blacknail smirked as he stared intently into their confused depths. When he was sure the man was dead, he stepped quietly away. That was one less bandit chief that would be trying to take his and Herad's territory, and it hadn't even been hard to get rid of him.

Blacknail was just about to make his exit, when the woman to the right of Galive's bloody corpse stirred in her sleep. The movement caused Blacknail to instantly focus on her.

Some of Galive's blood was pooling beneath the woman's bare shoulders, and was staining her long blonde hair. It was also clearly disturbing her slumber.

She stirred again and Blacknail realized he had to do something, before she woke up and raised the alarm. He stalked back over to her, and tried to come up with a solution. He couldn't remove the blood; there was too much of it and he wasn't that thirsty. He also couldn't move woman without waking her...

With an annoyed sigh Blacknail leaned over her, and cut her throat too. When he was sure she was dead, and that no one else was about to wake up, he tiptoed over to the window and made his exit. He managed to make it through without getting his head stuck this time.
As Blacknail crouched on the windowsill he observed the yard below him. The guard from earlier was still out there, but he was walking away from the hobgoblin. The man was just about to turn the corner of the building and disappear out of sight.