Slipstream I
Like Swords
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"An... an... theyse
hamshtrrs... they all c'm from thish plasche in m'world
called... wass that name? Seffiric Gate? Sherafic Park?
Shummit like tha', anywaysh." Arngrim took another draught of
the punch which he suspected was just starting to have an
effect on him. "Vrry... vrry.. nashty pieches of work.
Vischoush, I tellsh you."
Arngrim wasn't entirely sure
how he'd gotten from the maze in Fort Dragonia to this wedding
reception room, but the memory would come back to him later.
Probably. In the meantime the man standing in front of him had
said something about the hamsters that'd taken over Esthar,
and where they'd come from, and Arngrim felt duty bound to
volunteer the information.
"I meansh, Valkyrie, sshe's
kinda... I dunnno... wary o' them, bu' I doan think
shee'sh acshully... scharred o' them, y'know? Orr if sshe ish,
she don't sshow it t'us. I shwear, that lady doan back down
t'nobody. She'sh tough."
The man in front or
him said something - at least, Arngrim thought he said
something. His lips were moving, which was a fairly big clue,
and he thought he caught Valkyrie's name somewhere in the
jumble of words trying to access his memory whilst bypassing
the higher functions of his brain.
"Well... we didn't
get off t'the bes' start, t'be honesht. I mean, shhe didn't
think I c'd make it aas n'Einherjarjarjar for shome reashon,
'n I didn't think sshe wash a Valkyrie when I firsht shaw her.
'Cos, cos, there'sh these shinging play thingsh th'y call
Opereras, 'n they got Valkryes in 'em, 'n I thought all
'o the Valkyrees were more, y'know..." Arngrim vaguely waved
his hands about in front of his chest, doing a very rough
outline of a woman who probably had enough trouble standing up
straight, never mind collecting souls from the battlefield.
He wasn't entirely sure who it was that slapped him
around the back of the head for that comment - it might have
even been Valkyrie herself, but the chances were that half the
women in the room had been wanting to do that anyway. But when
he'd picked himself up from his sprawl on the floor, he saw
her lying over the neck of a black dragon who seemed a bit out
of it himself.
"Hey... hey?" he called out to anyone
who's listen. "I'd like t'dedicate a shong... t'the good lady
Valkyrie... thank y'e."
"I look into my shoull...
'n wha' do I sheee? Comin' for t'carry me hoome?
Oh,
she'sh an angell, comin' for me, comin' for t'carry me
hooo......oooommmmeeee..."
Several of the other
guests were moving away by now, and Arngrim would later swear
some of the guys in black suits were moving directly towards
him for some reason.
"Sccchwing loooow... schweeet
charrrioot... comin' for t'carry meee
hoooooomeee..."
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