NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: The Adventures of the Creeping Bam (BOOK 4: The Hunt)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SHAYLINE

When Kesla outlined the opening move in the plan, I thought she was making a somewhat off-colour joke, because it was just too ridiculous to be a real idea. I laughed out loud, I couldn't help it, it was actually funny, and I wasn't the only one. Art chuckled along with me, and even Tulen managed something like an amused smile, which I'll admit was nice to see. Others just looked surprised, even dubious, especially Krakka. She just looked right back at me, completely serious.

No. She genuinely meant it. It left the rest of us kind of stumped for a minute or so, genuinely going over whether or not it would actually work. I mean sure, it had the benefit of being unexpected, and it would certainly cause the right kind of chaos, but it's also ridiculously dangerous. I mean, the Late Bone is built on a dock. There's water under the boards and foundations. Deep water. Well, sort of deep, anyway. Enough for ships to moor, at least.

But she meant it, and once we went over it a few times, it became clear that, risky move as it might be, there are benefits enough to just about balance the big risk. If it works. Even now, as we're actually doing it, I'm very much hedging my bets ...

Driver 8 hits the front of the building at full speed after charging from the very edge of the dock, just short of the water itself, on all fours. He turns around at the last moment, so he can plough through backwards, skidding on his heels with his head down and shoulders hunched, and I swear, it's like the ground floor took a direct hit from a trebuchet. The whole dock shakes like an earthquake just hit, or maybe a ship's run aground, and the entire tavern is instantly lost from view in a great cloud of dust and raining, shattered wood and masonry as the entrance implodes. It's a spectacular sight, and I skid to a stop seeing it happen, I'm too awed by what I just witnessed to keep charging after him.

"Hey!" Art skids to a halt too, turning to face me as he regains his balance, arms out with sword and knife held wide and tail curled out high to maintain it. "Shay! You good?"

"Oh!" I feel my face warming a little as I snap back to my senses, but given the exertion and excitement of the moment I doubt it shows. "Yes, of course. That was just ... I still can't believe we're actually doing this. Not like that, anyway."

"Well we are, clearly." Dumoli comes thumping past with his hammer gripped in both hands in front of him, barely slowing enough to communicate. "We're committed now! Best just to go with it!"

"He's right, o' course." Art starts to back up in the same direction, arms still held wide with weapons pointing in either direction. "C'mon, fight won't wait for you."

He's turned and gone before I can respond, and I just start running again, gripping my still sheathed sword at my side as I go, wanting to wait to draw until I really am committed. The golem might just have ended the fight before it even started with that display.

Art and Dumoli are already in ahead of me as I arrive, disappearing into the cloying haze of dust, and I almost hesitate again before entering that, wary given how likely it is to deaden visibility for both friend and foe. But then Zuldrad whips past me without stopping and I quit thinking about it, taking a breath before powering right into it, and now I draw.

The place is alive with noise and blurred movement, bodies shifting around me as anyone who wasn't knocked down or even, probably, just turned into a wet smear by Driver 8's entrance starts bolting in obvious fear and confusion. I keep my eyes narrowed as I go, slowing down now as I become mindful that the floor under me is suddenly a good deal more uneven, and finally just stop on the spot, taking a moment to evaluate my surroundings, at least as much as I can. Crap ... maybe going in like this wasn't such a good idea.