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You scoop up the slain guards’ spears, and immediately cast one back at one of the walltop guards – your stolen weapon takes him in the throat. The other spear is tucked behind you, inside your belt, snug against your bronze-clad lower back. The remaining walltop Lesbian wails in terror, and ducks behind the wooden wall; probably fleeing as best as he can. Menelaus is sprinting up towards the gate, his stocky legs powering him quickly up the path – and he bellows to you:
“Knock it down, Nikandros – we must kill them before the alarm is raised!”
Again, you follow Menelaus’ command – charging against the wooden gates, you prepare yourself to smash against the braced doors – but instead, you simply blast the gates off their rusting iron hinges, stripping the rotten wood in the process and trampling over the gates as you go.
There’s a moment of disorientation as you collect yourself, a cloud of dust rising around you – the stone houses of Mytilene are somewhat further than you would have anticipated, perhaps a stadia distant. You see a few people in the distance, but they are quickly hiding themselves within their homes, rather than risk death on the streets. The fleeing gate guard is running – but now being powered strictly by his own legs, his speed is embarrassingly slow. You hear a gasp of agony at your feet, and you realize that the gate captain has been partially crushed under the gate; his lower half trapped the gate and the rocky earth. Menelaus, huffing and puffing, careens past you and releases a spear at the back of the fleeing guard – there’s an ugly sound as it pierces his lower back, causing him to collapse bonelessly.
Menelaus bends over, face ruddy and breathing hard – he flashes you a toothy grin –
“Next time, don’t bother with the speech, lad. Better to strike first when you can. Now, help me pull this fellow loose,” he asks, pointing to the partially-crushed captain. You do as the King asks, and once the captain has collected himself, Menelaus kneels to ask him –
“Where are the most beautiful girls in the town?” Menelaus’ request strikes as you as nonsensical at first, before you realize his intention. He is looking for entertainment after all!
The bilingual captain stares at him blankly, his face deathly pale from the pain, mouth working soundlessly. “Speak, man! We’ll let you live if you speak quickly!” Menelaus turns to you and winks ridiculously as he says this. The gate captain finally processes this statement and stammers out a response -
“The weaving twins – Eucaste and Orythione! They work in the southern end of the markets, but they are vir–“ the captain’s final words are held in place, pierced to his tongue by Menelaus’ stolen javelin – his lifeblood spills out of his mouth onto the dusty earth. Menelaus turns to you and says –
>cont
