Tales of Undeath: The Von Virtus Chronicles

LXI. The Bull's Horns

While Jargen and Syl begin searching through Cabdan's office in the hopes of finding any leads regarding his hidden fortune, below them Punjo, Rel, and Tyssa have been making their way toward the mysterious laboratory. 

Punjo (hushed): Wait, I'm hearin' somethin'...

Following his words, all three of them freeze in place, as the increasingly louder sound of footsteps echoing through a nearby door catches their collective ear -- the same door that is supposed to lead them to the lab. 

Tyssa (hushed): The guy's coming back!

Rel (hushed): Dammit... Find a place to hide. Quick!

Scrambling to conceal themselves, Rel and Tyssa look to their surroundings in search of anything that could be leveraged to keep them out of sight. Almost immediately, Tyssa luckily manages to find a nearby supply room filled with cleaning utensils. However, even though it is spacious enough for her to hide in, there was no room for either Punjo or Rel to join her...

Rel (hushed): We can't all fit in there, there's no way... Punjo, what are you doing?! 

Punjo was casually digging through his pockets, presumably trying to find something. The impending possibility of getting caught didn't seem to cause him much concern.

Punjo (hushed): All's gonna be alright... No need ta panic. Just gotta find it...

Stupefied by his nonchalant attitude, Rel angrily tries to call him to reason.

Rel (hushed): We gotta move fast, the guy's almost on top of us! 

And indeed he was, as the ever-present, ever-louder thud of the guard's boots kept reminding them. With no more options in sight, and without a chance to escape their current position as the sound of their desperate getaway would surely make enough noise to alert the guard... It seemed like there were no more options for hiding.

Punjo (hushed): ... Oh we won't be hidin', lad. Yer gonna need ta trust me on this one... Stay right there!

As he says this to a confused Rel, Punjo makes his way towards the door through which they anticipated the guard to enter from at any moment. Dumbfounded by Punjo's command, Rel understandably grows more agitated as the enemy closes in on them.

Rel (hushed): What the hell're you saying, Punjo?!

Punjo seems to have finally found what he was searching for, as he pulls his hand from the inside one of his pockets, taking out a pebble from within. As he aims towards a small vase not too far from Rel's current position, the boy's eyes' widen in fear of what was to come...

Rel (hushed): No! Don't-

Too late. With dead-eye accuracy, he flicks the stone straight at it. As it hits the vase's porcelain shell, a part of it cracks and the entire plant is knocked over, landing on the exposed cold hard floor that peeked between the rug and the wall. The vase shatters completely upon coming in contact with it, making a loud-enough ruckus to be heard in the vicinity. Witnessing this was a pale Rel, who now helplessly looked towards Punjo, as the sound of the door's turning handle made his heart pound heavily.

Rel (hushed): What the fuck...!

He grunts beneath his teeth, adopting a fighting stance as he braces for the inevitable encounter with the guard. Although Rel's heart raced with the current turn of events, Punjo remained calm and collected, as he hugged the wall right beside the door, on the opposite side to where Rel currently stood.

Guard: Alright... Whoever's out there, you picked a real bad fuckin' day to fuck with me!

Says the familiar angered man, after having aggressively opened the door and turned to face Rel. Rel was able to recognize him, and as they suspected, it was indeed the same guard who had not long ago entered the cellar to pick up a fresh new corpse for Dmitri. As the guard sees the knocked-over vase and a nervous teenage boy ready to brawl, he grins menacingly, instinctively preparing to unsheathe the blade at his belt.