The Slayer

Chapter 8 - The Doubters begin to Doubt

Chapter Eight

The Doubters begin to Doubt

'What?' Waltz shrugged helplessly as they glared at him.

'Where the hell have you been?' Tristan demanded of him. 'Fancy leaving us on a quest.'

'Again' Barry sighed.

'Hey' Waltz snapped, becoming defensive now as he pulled an entire tree branch from his hair. 'We finished the quest remember?'

'No thanks to you' Barry mumbled into his tankard.

Leroy raised his head slightly to Waltz, but said nothing.

'Where have you been?' Trevor asked him, noting his injuries. 'Have you been fighting?'

'No I've been practicing ballet. Of course I've been fighting you halfwit! You think I got these injuries falling down the stairs?!'

His latest excursion had made him particularly ratty at this time.

Trevor turned away silently, drinking from his tankard with an expression that said he didn't care anyway.

'What were you fighting exactly?' Kenneth asked, who was also sitting at the table.

Waltz glanced back at the blind man; the child who guided him was sitting by his side.

'A ghoul' Waltz remarked. 'I was fighting a ghoul.'

'Why?' Kenneth asked.

'Because I thought it would be a laugh' Waltz replied in a deadpan voice.

'Did you get it?'

'Would I be here to speak to you now if I didn't?'

'Fair point' Kenneth said. From then on he was silent.

'I don't like it' Leroy said, speaking up at last. 'It is most suspicious. Most suspicious indeed.'

'Go suck a duck.'

'You need to have someone look at those injuries before they get infected' Tom spoke up. 'Will you allow me?'

Waltz gave him a stoic expression, gritting his teeth as he stared back at him.

'Alright' he said at last. 'If you're careful. It's still very tender.'

Tom rose from his seat, moving over towards Waltz and leading him away. The other guild members watched them go.

Leroy sighed, resting his chin on his palm.

'What am I going to do with him?'

'I don't think there's much you can do' Kyle said next to him. 'He is the way he is. And he will never change.'

*

*

Waltz sat on a grassy knoll outside in the sun. He had taken his shirt off, and Tom sitting behind him, began to carefully clean away the blood with a soft cloth, using a bowl of pure clean, warm water to do so.

Waltz flinched as he felt the damp cloth touch his body.

'You should really have had this looked at earlier.'

'Yeah well' Waltz grumbled back sulkily, 'I didn't really notice I was bleeding all over my body.'

Tom frowned with displeasure then, continuing to wipe gently at the wounds.

Several minutes passed in silence, until there came a sudden shrieking call from across the grounds.

'WALTZ!' a female figure in pink waved at him, standing at a distance. 'THERE YOU AAAAAAAARE!'