It was lucky for Tara that the force of daggers hilt striking the Red Cap’s chest had for a moment thrown it a little off balance – its thoughts after it regained its focus then becoming fully focused upon the person who had thought to interrupt it, making it momentarily ignore its previous target as well as Tara as she ran past. And they were not nice thoughts – that much was clear from the way the Red Caps face twisted in a rather menacing and bestial snarl, lowering the head of the iron pike in Kanz’s direction before it beat the tip against its chest. Kanz wasn’t in the least impressed – most likely because his gaze had fallen upon the rather large, vicious and no doubt sharp head of the pike as well as the dark stains upon it.<br/><br/>It didn’t take a genius to realise what they were…<br/><br/>He was vaguely aware of the sound of someone beating against something rather wooden and rather heavy, and for a moment risked taking his eye off of the Red Cap to see if the girl and her aunt had managed to get to safety. His heart fell when he realised they were still within the room – which now seemed to look all the smaller than it did upon first entering it, and smaller still upon returning his attention to the Red Cap only to realise it was charging him, iron pike levelled at a height that would make a kebab of him were it to strike home. There was little time for him to think of a course of action – the Red Cap was too swift a creature for that, and it was only by the luck of the gods that upon attempting a last second spin to the left of the doorway he managed to kick his left foot with his right, sending him sprawling to the floor. Kanz was vaguely aware of something heavy whistling through the air above him in the space his head had only moments ago been, followed by a rather loud crash as something hit something rather solid within the hallway connecting the kitchen and common room together.<br/><br/>‘Go, run, get out, run away’ he managed to say all at once in what was no doubt an unintelligible fashion as he made his way awkwardly to his feet – grabbing the door that separated the common room from the hallway behind it, and pushing it closed as quickly as he could. Thankfully, this door proved considerably more helpful when it came to closing – although it did catch itself upon a large garish purple pouch upon his belt, causing the fabric to tear and a vial of some unknown liquid within to crash to the floor in front of the door, its contents splattering across the ground. Kanz, to his credit, paid this loss of one of his various knickknacks little heed – which went some way to show just how little he savoured facing the Red Cap. Turning from the door, he ran as fast as he could towards where Tara and her aunt were standing – squaring his shoulder and running side on into the door with all the weight he could bring to bear.<br/><br/>A second later, he found himself on his behind once more – this time with a rather sore shoulder to add to the list of injuries, staring up at the door and the two women either side of it. ‘Ouch’ was all he managed to say, before he was cut short by the sound of creaking and cracking timber behind them.