Broken Chains

It had come very surprising to their group when Puck suddenly returned to the village, but luckily to them Rablam had been one guard duty when he came back.

Truly, it was a joyous occasion, even though there were other ones to kick down, none had been nearly as much fun as Puck had always been.

Karak made himself no illusions in that area, he was no good Gremlin. Neither was he an important part of the Gremlin society. He simply was a leech sucking of what he could for himself. For years he had worked on making his small group with Holden as the leader more violent and it had worked.

Only a few well-placed and strategic words after Pucks return, Karak had managed to convince the others that it would be the best to strike at Puck before he could even leave the village again.

Some might ask why Karak was like that? Why did he nothing to help the village survive, but instead only wanted to create chaos and torture the weak?

He truly didn’t know. To say he had been abused in his childhood would be an excuse. To say he despaired because of the circumstances of the Gremlins would be an excuse too and Karak had no need to excuse himself before himself.

He simply liked to see them squirm. He liked to see it when they understood that he had truly no reason to harm them, but simply did it because he wanted to.

In fact, even though Karak suspected Puck thought otherwise, it wasn’t Holden that had been the deciding factor in their hobby of bullying Puck. No, at the start Holden even had been a restraining voice and only wanted to get revenge on Puck for something that now was already long irrelevant.

Of the five that had become Pucks nightmare, only he had truly been a driving factor from the start. Even than Karak had made sure though that the others didn’t realize that, laughing over his so-called friends while manipulating them.

While Holden had been a violent but not clearly bad child at the start, Trim had been only a little fearful and Falcon and Typhon the last two of their group only had wanted to be part of something. Truly being proud by now of what he had helped create of the group, Karak was far from finished though.

Right now, in this desolate tunnel was a good time to take the next step. Already the last time they had beat Puck down, Karak had wanted to lead his group into killing him directly, but it hadn’t worked. Back then, he could only make sure that he would die if let alone.

Not this time though, having sat silently in the dark together with Typhon, Karak had been sure that today they would kill Puck. It was no coincidence that Karak had been chosen to guard a tunnel together with Typhon and not someone else. Even though one of the physical mightier Gremlins, Typhon was nothing if not easy to manipulate.

The only problem would be if Puck had chosen another tunnel with one of the other squads, but Karak had trusted in his judgment. He was seldomly wrong, and this time had been no different.

Only having been in their position for about fifteen minutes, Karak could finally make out Puck through a hole in the ice wall before him. It was a good timing too, as no worker group was anywhere near, and as such Karak gave Typhon the sign to be ready.

Then finally, when Puck walked right between their two hiding places Karak gave the finally signal and Typhon jumped up with a loud rumble and ran forward towards Puck. Trying to be as silent as possible, Karak made his way forward as well.

Having feared at first Puck would try running, Karak nearly laughed as Puck first froze for a moment, only to than try to get ready and meet Typhons charge with an awkwardly raced arm.

It was pathetic.

The grin on his face stretching ever farther, Karak got ready to engage the moment Typhon reached Puck. He wouldn’t even pretend to only try to beat him up. He would instantly gut Puck as the dirt mushroom pig he was with his claws.

Finally, it was there, the moment he had waited for. Typhon nearly had reached Puck, and Puck did the stupidest thing possible in that situation and took two awkward steps back.

Not waiting any longer, Karak revealed himself through a mad laugh and jumped forward, the sharp claws of his right hand extended towards his enemies, no, his victims lower back.

Already thinking he could feal the soft flesh of his first true victim on his hand Karak was surprised, when the resistance his claws truly faced was little. Realizing Puck must have reacted in the last moment, Karak was surprised, but no matter, he had wounded Puck, and he wouldn’t miss a second time.

Hearing Puck scream from the hit, Karak already wanted to attack a second time together with Typhon, when something unexpected happened. Instead of losing all his composure like so many times before under assault, Puck had calculated Typhons charge perfectly and eluded his swipe by only a fraction of an inch.

Apparently not having expected this, Typhon got surprised even more, when he suddenly felt a blinding pain on the back of his head, only to than black out seconds later.

Karak though, even though surprised too, wouldn’t simply stand around, as Puck knocked out Typhon with a stone he had hidden somewhere under his clothes.

Their victim was unexpected dangerous and willing to defend himself, but it was too late for him. While being preoccupied with Typhon, Karak had taken the opportunity to mount his second attack and this time he did not miss.

Feeling his claws rip through Pucks belly, while Typhon hit the ground somewhere behind him, Karak concluded that it couldn’t have gone better. Even though he would have liked to help Typhon commit even more violence, it was even better to be alone and completely unrestrained with his victim.

Perhaps he didn’t have much time as other workers might come, but the time he had he would enjoy as much as possible.

Fleeing now wouldn’t help anyway, as Typhon still was unresponsive.

Karak would simply have to let the others find two dead bodies when they came, so that no trace would lead back to him.