Zach took a moment to watch Skrakch scamper up the wall and disappear just as quickly. He had to shove down a surge of jealousy at the sight. As difficult as life in Dray’Mel was for Iskrin, any good rogue would give his left bollock for such nimble climbing skills. Not that he’d ever dream of telling the vermin that, but it would certainly make his endeavors a hell of a lot easier.

He cursed at the unfairness of the world before putting any thoughts of Skrakch to the back of his mind. Instead, he focused on Winifred’s movements, watching as she moved through her various forms. Swift and graceful, she was certainly a sight to behold. Still, having the look was all well and good, but he needed to make sure she was up to snuff. Taking a discreet step behind her, Zach lunged downwards, sweeping his right leg towards her ankles.

Winifred reacted quickly. She hopped above his sweeping leg and kicked out towards his chest. Zach had to scramble to catch her foot before she made contact with him.

“Woah now love!” He dropped her foot and raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. “Just checking that you’re up for this! Rodyr’s champion is a big fellow and hard as fuck. I’d hate to see your side of the plan go pear-shaped. Just keep in mind that you’ve got speed over his brawn. Stay light on your feet and drag it out.”

“Oh aye, Wee Man,” Winifred chuckled, her hands on her hips. “And the day I fightin’ advice from you is the day I retire. Or at the very least question me own sanity. Ye know I’m nay green to this right? I’ve seen Gregore fight before. He’s stronger than two men,” She looked down at Zach and smirked. “Two normal-sized men. And he does nae just have the brawn either. The beastly fucker is lightning fast. It’ll be a tough brawl. The only thing I have on me side is that he fights clean which is more than some of the bastards I’ve dealt with in the pits. But dinnae worry your wee head. All I need to do is catch him off guard and I’ll rip his throat out with me teeth.”

Scoffing slightly, Zach shook his head. Why did he always seem to be the only sane one when it came to these gigs? Was it too much to ask to have a team up with someone with a full complement of brain cells rather than a savage pit fighter and a bloody rat? Still, he knew that Winnie’s ferociousness in the ring would give them their best chance of distracting Rodyr long enough for Skrakch to uphold his part of the deal.

“Worst comes to worst? Just run the fucker around,” Zach continued. “We don’t have to care if you put up a good show or not so long as the Minotaur is kept busy enough.”

“Aye, and don’t ye be forgetting...we’re splitting this loot three ways,” Winifred added as she gave her hand wraps a final check over. Satisfied with what she saw, she knocked her fists together and gritted her teeth.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zach replied airly, making for the door. He opened it and turned on his heels. “Oh yeah and Winifred... don’t die out there? It’d be a proper bugger having to find another pit fighter,”

“Aww, Zacharias,” Winifred said with mock sweetness, fluttering her eyelashes in a silly manner, “Anyone would think that ye care about me.”

“You know I do darling,” Zach replied with his best supercilious wink yet, which caused Winifred to roll her eyes expressively.

“Dinnae be telling me that line works on any lassie ye try to get in yer bed?” She asked with fake innocence. “Poor wee creatures,” she added acidly.

“Pleasure as always, Winnie my dear!” Zach answered with an exaggerated bow as he left the room.

He quickly made his way back to the underground arena, happy to see that one of the previous fighters was laid splayed out in the sands with a dislocated shoulder and a head injury that slowly seeped blood. The fight was already over. The loser would be left to bleed out while the crowd refreshed themselves with more ale.

People said that pit fighting was a cruel and brutal sport but Zach had never seen the point in offering medical help to those who were doomed to die. Once they shuffled off their mortal coil, the body removal team would get rid of the corpse and the next fight would begin. It made for better fighters that way. For him, pit fighting was a way to entertain himself while making some decent gold.

He headed directly back to Rodyr’s enclosed dais. He kept his face neutral but inside he was grinning with anticipation as he moved past the drunken gamblers who were either cheering or loudly defending their losses. He was about to spend the next hour or so in the lap of luxury. His work was pretty much done. Now all he needed to do was sit back, have a couple of glasses of Rodyr’s finest whiskey, maybe with something expensive and fancy to eat, and wait for the riches to come rolling in. Being an odd job man for the massive Minotaur had been annoying, to say the least, but it had been worth it. He was practically Rodyr’s right-hand man and it made it all the easier for him to pull off the heist.

He tossed open the door to the dais and took the seat next to Rodyr. The Minotaur was still noisily devouring the feast he’d been brought.

“Looks like the appetizer is done,” Zach said, taking a proffered goblet and nodding at the slaves who had been tasked with the removal of the fighter’s body. “Time for the main course eh? I’m excited to see Gregore in person. I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about the guy.”

Rodyr smacked his lips and little flecks of fresh blood flaked off all around him. The obese Minotaur gave Zach a bloody smile.

“Oh yes, this should be an impressive bout. I hope this fighter of yours will hold up long enough for us to get a good enough show. Gregore’s past few battles have ended rather abruptly which tends to leave my bar’s takings a little light for my liking.”

Zach chuckled politely. He waved forward another one of Rodyr’s attendants and grabbed a hunk of bread and cheese from her platter. She smiled at him politely when his eyes lazily roved over her barely clothed body. He was obviously in there with her, should he fancy lowering himself to have sex with a serving wench.

“How about we make this more exciting?” He suggested to Rodyr, biting into his food. “I’d be willing to wager twice our usual on this next fight. I’ve got nothing but confidence in my fighter,” he added, mouth full of the rich creamy cheese. He hadn’t told Winifred or the rat about making a bet. As far as he was concerned, it was none of their business if he happened to make a bit more coin on the side.

Rodyr reached out for his goblet. It was three times the size of Zach’s and ostentatiously decorated with tiny jewels in the shape of an ‘R’.

“Twenty gold?” The Minotaur replied, letting out a deep chuckle which seemed to rumble around the small enclosure. “You must have quite a bit of faith in this one. I’ll gladly accept the bet! As fast as your pugilist is, I doubt it’s going to be an issue for Gregore’s blade. What is it that they say? A fool and his gold are soon parted?”

Zach froze for a moment. He adopted what he hoped was a calm expression as he looked up at the obese beast. A blade? Well, that was new…

“I must have misheard you there,” He said as calmly as he could. “The plan was for a Brawler’s match, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t have brought you a fist fighter if they were to use weapons.”

Rodyr turned in his seat so that, even sitting, he loomed over the Halfling. He casually crushed the elaborate goblet he held in one huge hand, spilling a mixture of red wine and blood which trickled down to the floor. The tiny jewels that had adorned the cup sparkled in the mess and out of the corner of his eye, Zach could see the Minotaur’s attendants stare at them longingly. “You heard correctly Half-Man!” the beast spat out with venom on his tongue. “Do you take me for a fool? It would be quite the coincidence that the fight we had lined up originally died, just as you came forward with an offer of this new brawler of yours.”

Rodyr leaned back on his throne and beckoned to one of the attendants to replace his drink. He was handed yet another goblet, this time with the ‘R’ picked out in diamonds. “It’ll be good for you Zacharias,” He continued. “We’re going to sit here and watch your fighter die. That way you’re going to learn that nobody makes a fool out of Rodyr.”

Zach sat back in his chair, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable. Normally a small hiccup like this would barely phase the Halfling, but there was a lot of gold riding on this plan. He took a deep drink from his goblet and hoped the wine would calm his jangled nerves.

While the new information certainly complicated matters, it didn’t complete scupper the plan. He just had to hope that Winifred would be able to take long enough to die so that it wouldn’t be an issue.

Still, he was always able to make the best of any situation. Hiding a smirk behind his goblet, Zach relaxed and felt a thrill run through him. Twenty gold pieces and an acquaintance’s life were hardly that big of a cost for the score of a lifetime, after all. Maybe Skrakch had been right, splitting the loot two ways was a lot better...