The Mimic Becomes a Merchant King

Gridd may have been built like an ox, but he surged at Cricket with the speed of a lunging cheetah. His great fists snapped out in a series of flurries. Cricket now looked more serious, her brow set tight as she either dodged the blows or deflected them with well timed counters.

The more he watched her, the more Coin understood that she wasn't just some punk reliant on magic. She had clear training, reflected in her confident stance and fluid movements. Whoever had trained her had made a damn weapon out of her.

But, eventually, a great blow from Gridd caught her raised forearm and sent her skidding back. She hit a row of discarded crates. The rotted wood splintered, but she quickly recovered her balance and weaved away from an uppercut that otherwise would have knocked her head clean off.

"Okay," Cricket huffed. "Bit tougher than your friends."

Gridd merely growled in response, like a lion being roused from sleep.

Coin inched further from his lurking spot, watching as Cricket struck the man with a flurry of blows, their noise echoing through the alleys with resounding violence. They were punches that could pulverise solid stone, yet they only barely made Gridd recoil.

Even so, Cricket pressed the attack. She ducked under Gridd's ferocious swings, aiming to assault his chest. He was, after all, so massive she'd have to jump up to get close to attacking his head. Coin grimaced. Maybe she could bring him down, eventually, but it would be death by a thousand cuts. Meanwhile, if he landed a few lucky hits...

No, he supposed this had gone on long enough. She was a good person, well intentioned, it would be a shame to stand back and let her die.

"Come on," Cricket said, beckoning Gridd closer. The air shimmered around her, pale cyan light coalescing around her fist.

Gridd swung a punch at her, one so strong that Coin could feel the inhuman strength behind it even from afar. Cricket stepped in to meet him, the edge of his fist missing her cheek by the barest of inches. Her own fist, now fully wreathed in pale light, crashed into the giant's chest with an explosion of force, ripping a swathe of his hooded shirt to shreds.

Coin's eyes widened. There, where human skin should have been, lay a tapestry of odd, discoloured scales than ran from his sternum to his navel. He recalled what Domajor and the others had told him, of the attack on the mansion. One of the creatures that had attacked, when Domajor had already expended a good deal of his stamina, was some misshapen aberration with traits of human and ogre in his body. Distinct for his grey flesh and the scales growing from his chest.

Cricket's punch had left a deep black bruise on his now exposed chest, the flesh gnarled and leathery. A normal human would have been pulped by such a blow.

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"Whoa," Cricket mumbled. She shook her hand, smoke hissing from her knuckles in thin white streams. "Built like a brick shithouse! What kind of freak-"

Gridd caught her with a sudden kick, the impact sweeping Cricket off her feet. She wheezed, sailing through the air and was left thudding and skidding across the dark cobbles of the lot's floor. She heaved onto her feet, her balance slightly off.

The giant was already charging a her, his great fists raised.

"Should have minded your own damned business!" the salesman shouted.

At that moment a spiral updraft of wind surged under his feet, lifting Gridd clean into the air. The cyclone spun him violently and then smashed him back down to the earth, shattering a swathe of cobbles. The impact sent tremors racing outward, sprays of dust briefly filling the air. Coin emerged from the shadows, wind dancing on his palm.

"Alright. That's enough," Coin said. Gridd was already rising to his feet, his body marked only by a handful of tiny cuts. "You two have caused enough trouble for one day."

"Who in blazes-"

A gust of wind shot from Coin's hand, pushing the salesman off his feet. He struck the far wall and slid down, out cold, his trunk laying askew in his lap.

Now Gridd stood alone, flanked on either side by Cricket and Coin. This did not seem to bother him much, as he turned to glower silently at Coin.

Cricket gave a whistle of approval. "Nice magic, kanno," Cricket said, chuckling. "Coulda' handle him myself, if I'm being totally honest. But I won't turn down a hand."

Grigg rushed Coin, making the ground shake and shudder under his stomping feet. Coin raised his arms to block as his fist came rushing forward like a cannon ball. The impact shook Coin's whole body, who felt his forearms splinter under the force of it. He grit his teeth, drawing in biomass to mend the wounds. Even a normal ogre wasn't that strong.

He ducked under another punch, drawing more vitality into his arms. He caught Grigg with two mighty blows, which echoed across the backlot. The misshapen beast of a man swayed, dropping one knee, and let out a pained groan. But as he dropped, he caught Coin with a backhanded blow that swept Coin back. The mimic tumbled through the air, his vision swirling and his body alight with pain, but he managed to skid to an eventual halt.

Yet, with Gridd down, he was close enough to the ground for Cricket's liking. She sprinted at him like a charging steed. She closed the gap in an instant, jumped high, and caught him in the jaw with a hard kick. The impact snapped Gridd's head one way, just a touch too far for his spine to handle, breaking his neck in a fluid blow.

He landed like a falling tree, shaking the ground in one blow. Coin winced. A man like that could've fought a dozen soldiers without breaking a sweat, their arrows and swords useless against his hide. Even magic would have some trouble piercing it.

How many monstrosities like him were out there?

Cricket crouched, a pained wince on her face, and rubbed her shin. "Cripes! That was like kicking a steel block!" she hissed. She recovered eventually, offering Coin a grin. "Appreciate the help, kanno."

"Kanno?" Coin blinked in confusion.

She chuckled. "Not from Lowtown, yeah? Guess you could say it's what we call chums in these parts." Cricket stretched herself, the aura slowly fading around her body. "Name's Cricket."

"Coin," he replied. "Sorry. I stumbled in on this whole scene, figured you could use a hand."

"Maybe. I still bet I could've taken him. Don't know what he even is, but... Well, I don't like people causing trouble in these parts. Folks have it bad enough."

Coin nodded. He had seen plenty of Lowtown by now. Most in Sentinel were content to overlook the strife that pervaded every street and gutter.

"Well..." Coin gave Gridd's corpse a light nudge with his boot. "Suppose we ought to tell the watch about this. Maybe they'll get some information out of that fellow over there."

Try as he might to steer clear of this whole ordeal, fate seemed content to push him into the path of it yet again. Oh well, he told himself. Whatever threat came his way, he could handle it.