The Sceptre of Samnos

Dermakarak Part 3

     They reached the entrance without incident. Shale peered in, then waved for the others to follow. It led straight into a bare stone room, the ceiling of which was only just above the humans' heads. It made Thomas feel nervous. It made him want to stoop, afraid that he would hit his head on something, and he noticed that the mercenaries felt the same way. They were slightly crouched, even though they could have just about stood upright in the room. Mikos, however, being slightly shorter, appeared to be comfortable enough, and seemed to enjoy the discomfiture of the other humans.

     Apart from the entrance the room had two other doors, one in the middle of the south wall, opposite the entrance, and another near the southern end of the east wall. Both doors were made of thick wood, the one in the south wall having a small window in it, protected by a rusty iron grill and a wooden flap. Shale carefully opened it and peered in.

     The room beyond was a little smaller, and contained a table in the middle with several chairs around it. Sitting there, playing some kind of card game and gambling with silver and copper coins, were two buglins. Tiny creatures, even smaller than Jerry, with dark brown, scaly skins and large staring eyes. They had large pointed ears like those of a cat, two short white horns on their heads and short ratlike tails. Their hands and feet had short but wicked looking claws, and they had sharp pointed teeth. Each had a short sword belted around its waist, scarcely larger than the daggers that Shale had given the wizards. A smell like stagnant water drifted through the door, and they occasionally made a sharp yapping sound, like a small dog barking.

     Suddenly they leapt up in surprise as they became aware of the trog watching them. Shale kicked the door open, leapt in and killed them both with two swipes of his sword, dispatching them before they even had a chance to draw their weapons. "Total surprise," he said with satisfaction, wiping his blade on their clothing.

     Diana gave a cry of outrage and shock as she realised what had happened, and elbowed her way through the trogs to confront him. "Was that necessary?" she demanded. "You didn't have to kill them!"

     "They were only buglins," replied Shale, scooping up the money on the table and dropping it casually into a pouch hanging on his belt. "Doesn't really count as killing."

     "They were people!" she cried in even greater outrage. "They were thinking creatures with souls! You had no right to just kill them like that! You could have just taken them prisoner!"

     "Listen, human," said the trog impatiently, staring fiercely up at her. "You asked to come with us. We agreed to have you because your healing powers may come in useful, but if you don't like the way we do things, you can leave right now. I intend to clean out this nest of vermin, and I'll do it any way I have to. Understand?"

             
     Diana stood seething with fury, trying to think of a suitable reply, but her brothers pushed their way through to her. "Listen, sis, buglins aren't like real people," explained Shaun patiently. "They're evil. I know they look small and harmless, especially when they're dead, but believe me, they're vicious little monsters. They kill for the pleasure of it, they torture their prisoners, they..."

     "I don't care!" interrupted Diana. "There was still no reason to just kill them as if they were nothing more than rats or cockroaches."

     "He's right, Di," said Matthew. "Remember when a tribe of them raided the Bailey place a couple of years ago? We never told you then, because you were too young, but when we found old Bailey, they'd done some pretty nasty things to him. They'd staked him out on the ground, and..."

     "All right, all right!" cried Diana. "But that doesn't mean they're all like that. You can't judge an entire race because of the actions of a few renegades."