Stay and help the two men

Brenan stepped carefully around the moaning man clutching his meaty thigh and knelt by the two stunned young men. When they turned to thank him he had a moment of discomfort when their blank dark eyes met his. No sooner had Brenan suppressed the involuntary chill that went down his spine, than the all too human cuts and bruises all over the men’s face and arms made him realize that these two lads were more human than the thugs who were brutalizing them. For that matter, he reflected, probably more human than he was.

“T-t-thank you sir. You saved our lives m-mister.” The man had a slight stutter, but his voice was cheerful enough considering what he and his friend had just gone through.

“Nobody was going to kill you, you lying breeds.” Grunted the man from the rocky beach. “We was just going to teach them to stay away from here.” The man smiled at Brenan hopefully, but the effect was diminished by the missing teeth and broken nose that identified him as a troublemaker. “These Lantian halfies are always after our girls and jobs. We were just gonna scare them up a little.”

“He’s the one lying sir, they were gonna chain me here on the beach, and drop my brother into the water.” The other bruised man pointed to two **** collars, one chained to a huge boulder, and the other attached to a ring welded onto a huge ball of metal. “They said they wanted to see if we were more human or more Lantian.”

“We weren’t really going to- aaaiighhh” The thug’s words ended in a cry as Brenan stepped on his thigh just below where his bullet struck the man. “Please, us men have to stick together – AAaaiighhhhh” Brenan stepped down again twisting the ball of his foot a little this time.

“Don’t you ever, compare yourselves to me.” Brenan’s voice was low and even, but there was no mistaking the ice in the tone.

“I’m sorry, please …oh Xelta help me!” the man crossed his arms across his chest rocking back and forth as he blubbered. The tears that ran down his face were in part due to the pain of from his leg and in part due to his fear, but they effected Brenan enough so he lifted his leg from the man’s thigh and moved a few steps away. The man’s relief was short lived though because Brenan picked up the chain attached to the ball of metal and returned to clamp the collar tightly around his neck.

“I should drop you into that tidal pool and see how long you last. In fact a day ago I might have done just that .” Brenan was pretty sure that was true, and he wondered how much of a changed man he was. “This way you have a chance. Your friends may even come back for you if you’re lucky. With the two of you working together you should be able to get back to town and save that leg of yours. On your own, I’m not so optimistic.”

Brenan moved back to the two odd looking men who by now had pulled themselves to their feet and were watching Brenan with a mixture of fear and hope. “That OK with you two?” The men nodded their heads and then one of them cleared his throat tentatively

“Ehhem…” when Brenan cocked an eye in his direction the man asked …