32. Second Time Around.

"How do you want to get rid of them?" asked Bowen.

Eachann stared silently at Maria who stared back defiantly from the net that she was still wrapped up in.

"We will take them back to the keep and dispose of the bodies in there." he answered. "That way they won’t be found for a long time."

Bowen motioned to three of the men.

"All right." he said. "You lot. Pick them up and bring them along."

The three he indicated stepped forward. Two of them picked up Paul, who was no longer wrapped in the net. The other, who was the biggest one of them all, slung Maria, net and all, across his shoulder. Bowen picked up the net carrying Theodore, and everyone walked back to the keep.

They walked in silence for a while, until Eachann said,

"You haven’t said a word. I thought you would be cursing me right now."

"I am not the one who has to live with your decision." said Maria. "Only you."

"Does it bother you, my saying nothing?" she continued. "Is your conscience bothering you now, after you can’t change anything?"

"No." he answered. "You just reminded me of Wilmot with the way you looked at me without saying anything. I realised a long time ago, that the most dangerous opponents were the ones that said little."

"You’re not as stupid as this scheme made you look." she said.

"Doesn’t matter now." he said. "Soon you will be out of my life and I will disappear."

"It isn’t over until I stop breathing." she said. "And it won’t be as easy as you think."

"Do you have a plan?" asked Theodore.

"No." said Maria. "But I’ll be damned if he gets the satisfaction of seeing me scared."

"Are you scared?" asked Theodore.

"Damn right I am." she answered. "I’m still not sure what to do about this accursed net. It’s tight, but I can move a little."

A thought struck her.

"Can you chew through yours?" she asked realising that it was probably a stupid question.

"I have been trying." he said. "But there is a spell or something on this stuff. I can’t even make a mark. Wilmot was right."

"About what?" she asked.

"About how money lets you buy all the stuff you need. I like the animal kingdom for its simplicity." he said. "There the stronger and more powerful you are, places you in society. But you humans changed all that around. Now you can be the weakest little scrawniest being, but if you have the wealth, then you are able to win against almost anyone, instead of being removed from the food chain as you should have been."

"Even the wealthiest and most powerful person has to die at some point." she told him.

"Yeah." said Theodore with, what sounded to Maria, like a smile. "There is that satisfaction."

"That aside, I may have an idea." she said. "It all depends on what they do with us when they get us back to the keep."

"What do you have in mind?" he asked.

"If these ropes have been magicked, then maybe a magicked blade can do something against them." she said.

"They took away your sword." he told her.

"Not the small one in my boot." said Maria. "Many people forget to check there. If they leave us alone before killing us, I may be able to get it and hopefully it will do something."

"What if they don’t leave us alone, and just kill us right away?" he asked.

"I guess we will have to improvise something then." was her answer.

"Great." was all he could say.

They finally arrived at the keep.

The group entered it and the prisoners were brought to the main room and dumped unceremoniously on the floor.

Eachann stood over Maria and removed his sword from its sheath.

"Let’s get this over with quickly and get out of here." he said to Bowen. "I’ll take care of this one. You can take care of Paayl. He shouldn’t be too hard for you, seeing as he is unconscious."

"I don’t like your tone." Bowen told him.

He removed his own sword and turned to Paul’s prone body.

"When we are done here." said Bowen. "You and I are going to see who is the better fighter here."

"Suit yourself." said Eachann with a sigh. "If you want to be beaten in front of your men, I won’t say no."

Bowen made a disparaging sound and turned back to Paul.

Standing above Maria, Eachann raised his sword.

"I am sorry you got involved." he said. "But I have no choice."

"We always have choices." she said.

"Now would be a good time to improvise!" cried Theodore.

At that point Paul made a noise.

In the silence that had filled the room, it seemed unusually loud.

Bowen, who was closest to Paul, jumped back in surprise and bumped into Eachann who had turned at the sound.

Both men became off balance.

Maria took the opportunity to kick out with both her feet looking like some giant worm.

She hit Eachann in his stomach, making him expel air and fall backwards. Bowen, who was still off balance, now had no one propping him up and also fell.

Maria brought her feet back to her body and managed to snake her hand to the top of her left boot.

The others began to get their sense about them and realised that she was doing something.

Maria felt the handle of the blade and pulled it out. Quickly she manoeuvred it around poking the small blade through an opening in the net.

"Let’s hope I am right." she thought.

She pulled the blade towards her and the ropes did not resist. She cut herself free and quickly leaped to her feet.

She moved away from the others but one man had gotten close to her, trying to stop her.

She elbowed him in the stomach and as he bent over in pain her fist connected with his nose.

His head snapped back and an arc of blood followed, as he crumpled to the floor.

She straightened out and faced the group of men in front of her.

Eachann and Bowen had gotten to their feet and all of the men were looking at her as she held out her small and not very menacing blade in front of her.

"You have to be kidding?’ said Eachann. "You don’t stand a chance against all of us. Especially not with that."

He was right.

She had never fought this many men by herself. And magic or no, the blade was not really meant for heavy fighting. So she was standing here facing a large group of angry hoods.

Paul was on the ground behind them, which meant she had to go through them to get to him.

It was not looking good.

She stood there trying to think of what to do next.

Then Paul opened his eyes.