Beinn 5.1

Massoud wheeled his horse around.  Might as well turn and face this.  Can’t run in my condition.  He snorted, “Can’t really fight, either,” he said wryly out loud.  He slumped forward on the horse resting, still in pain.  However, under the cloak in his right hand he held a Bo-kri ready to throw as needed and in his near useless left a tube of Purple Lichen powder–a natural blistering agent, deadly if inhaled and quite painful to the touch.  Difficult to use but he needed effective weapons in his current state.

Thankfully the horse was advancing at a trot so he did not have to wait long.  Just as he was tensing up for the coming moment of action, he recognized the crossbow held at the ready.

“Elspeth, what are you doing?”

“Massoud, rest assured that there is very little that Roy knows that I don’t and that where he cannot serve I am more than willing to take his place.”

Massoud rubbed his sparse beard in contemplation.  A most unexpected development and a little disconcerting.  No more so than being hunted by the most formidable assassin of our time I suppose.  And in the circumstances this is actually a most welcome surprise.

His adaptability always one of his strongest traits, Massoud smiled and said, “You are most welcome, Elspeth.”

~ by beinnsgriob on July 12, 2008.