Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor

He waited hopefully for a few moments to see if the uproar would quieten down of its own accord. It didn't. Jordan tapped his foot impatiently, and began to seethe quietly as it became clear he was going to have to deal with whoever it was, if he hoped to get any sleep that night.
    He strode over to the main door and jerked it open.
    Something about two feet high and dressed all in scarlet shot between his legs, scurried into his suite, and disappeared. Jordan
    barely had time to react before he looked up to see Damon Cord charging straight at him, brandishing the biggest solid steel mallet that Jordan had ever seen. He jumped back out of the way just in time to avoid being bowled over, and Cord roared into the suite in hot pursuit of whatever the small scarlet streak had been.
    'Shut the door!' snapped Cord. 'Don't let it get away!'
    Jordan shut the door. When he looked round again, Cord was standing very still in the middle of the room, his mallet poised and ready to strike.
    'Cord . . .'
    'Quiet, your highness, it's gone to ground.'
    'I don't care if it's gone abroad for its holidays, what is it?'
    'A redcap. Nasty little buggers. They hide in the wainscotting, and come out at night to feed on human flesh. They're particularly fond of children's flesh.'
    Cord began a slow quartering of the room, checking each possible hiding place with the maximum of caution. Jordan was reminded irresistibly of his own search for the disappearing bloodhound, but had enough sense not to smile. He didn't think Cord was in the mood to appreciate the funny side.
    'Why a mallet?' he said finally. 'What's wrong with a good old-fashioned sword or axe?'
    'Redcaps are notoriously hard to kill, your highness. Fire's the only thing that'll do it for sure. That's why I chased it in here. If worst comes to the worst, you can always use your fire magic to fry the little bastard. Got you!'
    The two-foot-tall creature shot out from under an armchair and threw itself at Cord's ankles. Jordan had a brief impression of an impossibly wide mouth crammed with needle teeth, and then Cord's mallet swung down in a silvery blur and hurled the redcap away. It flew squalling through the air and slammed into an ornamental table, overturning it. The collection of porcelain plates carefully stacked on top of the table
    cascaded to the floor and smashed into hundreds of pieces. The redcap picked itself up, entirely unharmed, and effortlessly tore one of the legs from the overturned table. It hefted the ironwood leg like a club, and
    grinned nastily at Cord. Jordan watched sickly as the creature's mouth stretched literally from ear to ear.
    The redcap was disturbingly human in shape, but impossibly thin and slender. Its arms and legs were little more than pipecleaners, but its magical nature gave it unnatural strength and vitality. Cord swung his huge mallet, and the redcap dodged it. The mallet swung on, unable to stop, and demolished a glass display case full of china miniatures. The noise was tremendous. Cord hauled his mallet free of the wreckage, destroying what was left of the glass case, and then had to jump back himself as the redcap wielded its ironwood club. The table leg missed Cord, and sank half its length into the wall, driven into the solid stone like a nail into wood. Cord swung his mallet again, and to dodge it the redcap was forced to abandon its weapon. It skittered away across the floor with Cord in hot pursuit. A centuries-old writing table and an ornamental hatstand fell prey to Cord's mallet along the way. Still entirely unhurt, the redcap took refuge behind an overstuffed armchair and screamed defiance at him.
    A part of Jordan's mind was busy totting up the damages, even as he drew his sword and moved forward to join Cord. His new access to Viktor's memories enabled him to remember exactly how much each piece of furniture had cost originally, and how difficult they would be to replace. He had a horrible suspicion Viktor and Roderik would decide this was all his fault, and deduct the cost from his fee.
    Jordan decided he'd better do something to help Cord get the redcap, while there was still some furniture left. He chose his moment carefully, leapt forward, and ran the creature through with his sword.
    The blade punched clean through the redcap's chest and out its back. No blood ran from the wound. The redcap chuckled throatily and, grabbing the edges of the blade with its tiny hands, began to pull itself along the blade towards Jordan.