The Enclave of the Blue Pearl

A Fight and a Reunion

The fight with the ruffians at the front of the Evening Star was not going well for the police. Four officers had fallen, killed or wounded, and three ruffians lay alongside them. Dravot and four officers were hard pressed to hold their own against over twice as many ruffians. The two sides had evidently emptied their firearms, as they were now engaged in knife fighting.

The party of four vigilantes ran towards the fray. Once within range, Rudolf, Katoa, and Robert fired their weapons, downing two men. Ame drew one of her knives and threw it at a man who had just turned around to the sound of the gunshots. The knife found his exposed throat and dug deep. She smiled in morbid satisfaction as he fell back, his eyes staring madly at the sky as he suffocated on his own blood.

Two of the ruffians broke off the main fight and charged the new party. Inspector Dravot and his four officers were now fighting only eight, still bad odds, but better. Rudolf recognized one of the ruffians as Python, the obvious leader who confronted him and Soren the night before. He turned and began running to meet Rudolf and the others. Rudolf was happy to see that he bore neither pistol nor knife, and mentally prepared himself to fight. He was grateful for this arrangement. It was an opportunity to unleash his anger and frustration, at all the defeats of the war, at the Enclave for all the mess they have caused, and now at Dr LeFey, for bringing Laura into this. He would pay. But for now, Python would do.

Ame sent a second knife flying for the other man who was charging them. It grazed his right arm releasing a splash of blood. The man yelled out and stumbled in his running. Katoa fired his second pistol and Robert fired his second barrel, both at the same man Ame wounded. The bullet hit his chest, and before he could fall the shot plastered his face. He was killed twice over.

After firing his second pistol, Kaota charged one of the thugs who were fighting Dravot from behind. He drew two blades hidden in his sleeves. They extended from a device on the inside of the wrist about two inches past his clenched fist. Robert settled his beloved shotgun behind himself on its strap and produced a set of brass knuckles out from a coat pocket. Wearing these, he charged a third thug who turned to face him.

One of the thugs that had been fighting an officer turned around to fight the new party. This exposed him completely to his opponent for a split second. It was the last mistake he ever made. The officer thrust him in the back, and the ground rose up to meet him.

Now that Ame had thrown both her knives, and she had recently sustained a gunshot wound herself, she had done her share and it would have seemed natural for her to sit out the fight from a safe distance. But her unholy thirst for violence was aroused, and she ran towards one of the thugs, who turned to face her, brandishing his dagger. She hissed something in her strange black language, and his face turned a ghastly white. He began convulsing and howled with pain. Ame sneered as she punched him in the gut, and then grabbed his throat in both hands, squeezing firmly.

Robert swung a mighty punch at his man's soft face. He was strong, and one of his punches would usually be enough to knock someone off his feet, even without brass knuckles. But he was slow. The man dodged and Robert's fist sailed past his ear. Robert threw another punch, this time at the man's stomach. The force of a bull behind brass met soft flesh, and the man let out a dull "oomph". He stumbled back, bent double over, his breath completely knocked out. He followed this up with a punch to his face, breaking his nose and knocking him flat on his back.

The thug whom Katoa had charged heard him and narrowly dodged his knives. Katoa pressed on aggressively, but the man not only dodged but swung his own knife at Katoa and found the backside of his wrist. Katoa's face contorted as he reeled back. It had missed the fatal artery, but his right hand was useless, and his mind blinded by pain. Before the man could follow it up however, Inspector Dravot drove his dagger into his side, sending him onto the cold cobblestone ground. Katoa swung out with his good left hand at another thug who narrowly dodged and ran off down the pier. A thugs on the right killed the officer fighting him, but Dravot immediately after turned and struck him down. The tide was quickly turning against the thugs, as one by one they were killed or wounded.