Asher the Insane

88 - Papia Barbera De Wimmer - 02

"How could I shatter a little girl's dream of being rich?" He said.

How did he find me?

He should have been drunk, drooling on the counter, having a booze-filled dream. And the time I needed to run from the tavern to here must have been a new record for me.

Did he set me up?

He approached me menacingly and said, "I'll even give it to you, free of charge, of course, if... you'll do a tiny, little job for me.

How can I escape? The wall was too steep and too smooth to climb; nothing to hold on to. The alley itself was a dead-end and way too narrow to sidestep him.

"Haversacks are cool things. I'm not very familiar with DnD, but I know a few things about it, cause a lot of anime is, or rather was, heavily inspired by it, but there's also something like that in there. A bag of holding, which in my opinion, is a way better name, but this world doesn't have the restrictions it has.

It is an infinite bag that can hold an unlimited number of items, doesn't really get heavier, no matter how many things you put into it, neat, isn't it?

Much harder to create, though.

Gotta have the right skills to even consider making one, or else you'll create a disaster which destroys basically everything in a five hundred meter radius, which would be ideal for a suicide bomber attack--IF the ingredients weren't so difficult to obtain. Would you invest that much cash into terrorism?"

If I could just-

"Relax, seriously. Take a breather and realize that I'm not here to hurt you or punish you or hand you over to the authorities. I'm not even here to ask for my stuff back. Crazy, right?

Lately, I'm feeling pretty generous. I even bought the pub we had been in, handed the fat owner a huge sack of cash, and sent him out to use it anyway he wanted to, not my place to tell him. Then, as a present, I then let everyone who entered drink as much as they could manage.

Either way, friend or foe, there's not a lot you can do, is there? There aren't a lot of escape routes for someone of your skills. If you had just leveled up your climbing skills, then even the smallest cracks in the wall behind you could lead to your freedom. Or if you had some alchemy training, then a potion of invisibility would come in real handy. Or a teleportation scroll. Just make sure it lands you somewhere safe, not like, the bottom of the ocean. The pressure of the water could kill everything you point the scroll at."

I just now realized that it was the elf from the bar. The only way I can describe him was: Unsettling.

"I've come here to ask you to do something for me. But you really don't have a choice in the matter."

"Why would I do anything you ask of me?" I said.

"Because it's an offer you can't refuse. Girly, I'll give you one chance. You can leave if you can get beyond the barrier that is me. I'll even let you stab me, no tricks. I swear- well, maybe a few."

He stood with his arms up and was one step away from me; I assume ready to be stabbed?

"And you promise you'll let me go?" I asked.

"Sure. Stab away."

"I don't-"

Before I could finish my sentence, he lifted me up from the ground, one handed, and with piercing seriousness he said, "either you stab me right now or you'll not leave here alive, understand?"

I nodded, feeling frightened by the shift in his behavior, then he let me down. I began mentally preparing myself to deal with a soon dead man and with a thrust of the dull dagger I pierced his chest where his heart was.

He remained still as the smile on his face changed to a scowl and blood started to dribble from his mouth.

"So, tell me, what's your name? Asher is mine." Despite having a knife in his chest, he spoke with a fair amount of ease.

The name seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place it.