His hands still sticky with frog spit, Arthur brought his fists up on either side of his head. He wasn't sure how exactly a frog would fight, but however it chose to, the man was at least somewhat certain he could stand his own. The sound metal armour bouncing around innumerable approaching figures filled the street, but they were still a ways off, and the frog was getting up from the ground with an irritated look on his face. Issuing a great croak, he pressed down onto his haunches, preparing to bullfrogrush the pair.
Arthur lowered his stance, prepared to move, to take a hit, prepared for whatever was coming.
"you've got this!" He heard Clark shout.
Why did he sound so far away? Fists still raised, Arthur turned to look back at his companion only to find empty space at his back.
"Up here."
Arthur peered up to the nearby rooftop, seeing Clark, who waved down at him as they made eye contact.
... he really COULD jump.
Distracted by his fleeing companion, Arthur felt something large and damp collide with him. The frog had taken the opportunity to strike. Before he even knew what he was doing, Arthur had seized the large creature by its flabby lower lip and pressed his foot into its stomach. The weight pushed him off his feet, but as he fell onto his back he knew to hold on tight, and as he watched the frog passed over him, propelled into the wall just behind by his foot.
A great rush of air left the frog as he landed on his back against the wall, only to tumble to the dusty ground, frog legs splayed above his head. He looked dazed as Arthur moved quickly back to his feet and put his guard up.
Staring intently, he barely noticed the semi-circle of heavily armoured city guards that had formed behind him. He barely noticed, that is, until each of the dozen or so soldiers lowered their polearms to point the frog in its upturned face.
Lowering his hands, he exchanged a quiet glance with two of the guards at his flank before stepping back to let them recover their prisoner. Glancing back up to Clark, Arthur decided he wouldn't chide the cricket for fleeing. He couldn't even imagine the terror that came with not only being mugged, but on threat of being eaten.
Wiping sweat from his forehead, he quickly remembered his hands were still covered in frog spit, making a deeply disgusted face as Clark landed softly beside him, looking quite pleased.
"I didn't know you could fight! That was amazing, Arthur!" Clark said excitedly, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Yeah ... neither did I. You weren't kidding about being able to jump." Arthur added trying not to sound flat.
"... of course not, I'm a cricket, we take jumping very seriously." Clark said rather factually. Arthur decided not to explain what he meant. He was about to suggest that they move on when one of the guards, his compatriots re-chaining their froggy prisoner, approached and pushed up the visor on his helm.
"Those were some impressive moves, thank you for the assistance sir ..." The guard, a young man with red hair and blue eyes and a wispy beginning of a beard said rather loudly. Arthur offered a flat smile. What had they expected him to do, talk it over with a violent amphibian? "Arthur. It's no problem."
The guard, who had taken to eying up Clark with suspicion, returned to smiling at Arthur. "Well, sir Arthur, if you're looking for work, come see us at the guard office. We could use someone like you." Arthur looked surprised, he hadn't really thought about work, just getting home ... wherever that was.
"I will keep that in mind, thanks ... oh, do you know the way to Charity Lane?" Arthur had no intention of following up, but perhaps the young man could point them in the right direction. The guard paused and turned, a light frown on his face.
"Charity Lane? ... " The guard paused and thought for a moment, only to look like he'd remembered something. "Oh, that's the road up to the lighthouse ... no one calls it that anymore though, we just call it ... well ..." Another pause, this one a little sheepish.
"The road to the lighthouse, heh." The guard rubbed at the back of his neck, having answered their question to the best of his ability. Arthur offered a polite nod and a smile. "Thank you, that's a great help."
A pleasant set of goodbyes were exchanged before the guard went back to dealing with the runaway frog.
Clark, who had overheard everything, offered a little gesture of his head in the direction of the lighthouse.
"Well ... at least we know where we're going now ..." He turned to stare at the tall, lone edifice poking up into the sky.
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