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She nodded.Thinking of the people she'd known who'd died because of a betrayal, she had to agree.He locked eyes with her. "Never forget that to trust someone -- anyone -- is to invite death. In our world, only the wary survive long.""I wish you were wrong.""Me too Kendra. Me too."Her mind drifted back to Luminar Kossel's prediction. He had said that Illuminar had given him a message for her. He said someone would kill her and then save her life twice; that this person would be her best chance to have a true friend. Someone she could trust and with whom she could be completely open and honest. It sounded too good to be true, which experience told her meant that it probably was.She put that out of her mind to focus on more pressing concerns.She had a dragon to kill.* * *Ethan hefted his new war hammer as he waited for The Arena portcullis to open.Well, it wasn't entirely new.The handle was the original one Alana had made, though she'd originally mated it to a plain steel head
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The man scream in pain at the blade bit deeply into his shoulder, severing his collarbone and cutting deep into his chest. Ethan wasted no time in pulling the spear back to a ready position.No one else moved.The man lay bleeding out and moaning in pain. After a few moments, the pool of blood got larger, the moans quieter, and then the man stopped moving completely.Ethan decided to seize advantage of the moment and let loose a low growl. As one, the entire circle took an involuntary step backwards."Now!" someone behind him quietly hissed.Ethan whirled around, to see the half dozen older fellows had attacked the other men in the circle."Attack!" Kendra yelled.As one, the circle pressed in toward Ethan. He did the only thing he could think of. Using his powerful legs and a single flap of his wings, he sailed over the older fellows and out of the kill circle.The older fellows all backed up toward him, showing him their backs and leaving themselves completely open to attack, even t
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Six left.The half dozen remaining thugs suddenly looked trepidacious and shocked. Even Kendra had a look of mild surprise. Ethan brandished his spear and growled low in his throat.The thugs took a collective step back.Ethan looked around The Arena for his war hammer and spotted it right where he'd dropped it. He took a few steps to the right, which put one of the remaining thugs directly between the hammer and himself. He called it to his hand with all his might. The Warhammer swiftly and silently rocketed towards him.It hit the unaware thug from behind, knocking him forward and off-balance. More importantly, it put his weapons out of defensive position. Ethan took advantage, and a fresh coating of blood adorned his spearhead moments later.Five left.The supremely confident thugs of a few minutes ago were replaced with a bunch of nervous bullies who realized they were in over their head."Who's next?" Ethan growled.They looked scared and nervous, all except the one with the larg
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Twice in twenty seconds, the only thing that saved Ethan was his recently enhanced reflexes. He didn't even have an opening to counter attack. His slightly improved reflexes only made a small difference, but that small difference somehow made a huge difference."Drop 'em now and I'll make your death quick." The thug gloated after Ethan had leapt back almost ten feet to get some space.He panted as he finally got some breathing room. *I'm open to suggestions.**Never come anywhere near Arcanum ever again,* Alana replied.*Don't worry, they'll see nothing but taillights after this.**What are taillights?**They're... nevermind.* Ethan tuned his attention to the man in front of him. He was wise to Ethan's hammer-return trick, and had assiduously avoided putting himself between the dragon and his hammer. He desperately wished his spear had some kind of small hook on the end he could use to hook the shield out of the way. Sadly, it didn't.
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Corpus Delicti - (The Body of the Crime)Ethan did the only thing he could think of to avoid Kendra's charge: he jumped to the side. Thankfully, his legs were as powerful as ever and he managed to get clear of her sword before he lost a limb.Barely.He hit the ground awkwardly but managed to roll into a standing position. It was a lot harder with his arms pinned to his sides by Kendra's bolo. He was still healing his left arm and the wound wasn't too severe anymore. But it wouldn't matter because it was pinned anyway.She skidded to a halt wearing a large smirk on her pretty face. She wasted no time in charging to close the distance again. Again, he jumped out of the way and came up breathing hard after fighting for so long."You look tired dragon." She taunted. "Perhaps you should stop jumping around like a rabbit.""Sure, if you stop charging like a rhino."She gave him a confused look and shook her head.Then she changed he
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"I saved your life after you tried to kill me." It held up two fingers. "Twice. You could be a little more grateful." It said with derision in its voice.She opened her mouth to retort when she realized that it was right. This bloodthirsty, disgusting beast had indeed saved her life. She had been dead. She was sure of it. Yet here she was, alive and mostly unhurt. The wound over her chest still burned badly and she felt completely exhausted, but otherwise she was perfectly fine.Why?Why would the beast do this?It didn't make sense."Ladies and gentlemen." The Arena announcer's magically magnified voice said with as much surprise as she felt. "It... it appears the dragon has won. Therefore by the laws of Arcanum, he is... I mean, his slave is cleared of all charges."The crowd didn't react.No one clapped.No one cheered.No one booed.No one did anything.After several moments, a single person began to sl
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"Okay." Hailey replied, but couldn't meet his eye.Alana had never seen such a tall woman look so small. Somehow, she seemed to have shrunk a whole foot."Hailey, I'm serious, it's okay." His voice was gentle and caring. "I understand you feel bad and probably will for a while. But we won't hold your mistakes against you. We've certainly made enough of them, so holding yours against you would just make us hypocrites.""Okay." Hailey nodded, and she seemed slightly better."Ethan." Rachel interrupted. "I suggest we leave the city before the magistrate comes up with a trumped up charge to hold us.""Good idea." He nodded and they headed for the door.Before reaching the door, it opened and Alana saw Elder Goman standing there. He once again looked at least a hundred years old - maybe older - and like he was on death's door."Um... Uh, a moment, yes a moment if you please?" He said in a weak, frail voice.Ethan turned to Hailey an
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"Truly, I will help. Unless I'm much mistaken, you didn't expect to lose this morning. Therefore, you have no plan in place to track Ethan when he leaves Arcanum."She scowled, but couldn't deny he was right."I will tell you exactly where he is going, on one condition.""What condition?"Luminar Kossel smiled. "You will make no attempt to kill or even hurt him or his companions until the sun rises in two days. To be clear, that's just under forty-eight hours.""No deal." She shook her head. "I'll track him myself and put him in the ground before nightfall.""How?" Falkaan asked, speaking up for the first time. "How would you track them?""My ship is a lot smaller than the Midnight Sun, so it's a lot harder to see.""And you think a dragon - and a wood elf - wouldn't spot it when they are wary of being followed?" Luminar Kossel asked.She scowled.Luminar Kossel smiled. "No attempt made to hurt him or his companio
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