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night sky.
"Perhaps you'd like to use a little less force next time, Questor Grimm?
Harvel suggested. It's not good practice to let the world know where you
are."
"My apologies, friends, the young mage replied, happy that his spell had
succeeded. Next time, I'll just set a small flame on my finger and light it
that way. That was at the lower limit of my projected power, I think."
"May the Names help our enemies, then. Crest grinned in evident appreciation
as he spoke. Does anybody want to eat now?"
Dalquist withdrew a dry cake of jerky from his pack, but Crest shook his head.
I advise you to save that tack for leaner times, Questor Dalquist. Watch and
learn from Crest, the master hunter."
After a brief glance over his left shoulder, Crest sent the thin whip
streaking out behind him. When he drew it back, Grimm saw a fat rabbit trapped
in the coils, its neck broken. Crest repeated the operation twice more, and
two more small animals joined the first.
"Heavens help the local wildlife, then, Harvel muttered in a stage whisper,
and everybody laughed. Harvel set to work, expertly preparing and cooking the
rabbits.
* * * *
Producing a belch of heroic proportions, Crest offered to take first watch
while the rest slept.
Grimm shook his head. I do not feel sleepy, he declared. I am happy to take
the first watch."
The others accepted with grace, and Crest offered to take over in four hours.
Grimm asked how he could judge the time without the guidance of the sun, but a
military man, Crest explained, needed to be able to wake at will after any
specified time interval. Grimm thought this was just part of the elf's
habitual bluster, but for once Harvel did not contradict him.
When the others were asleep, Grimm took in the peaceful sounds of the area.
Branches gently whispered and creaked in the breeze, and in the distance a
wolf cried; an eerie, spectral sound. The embers of the fire changed their
glowing patterns as if they formed the parts of a living thing, a luminescent
chameleon, and Grimm wandered off for more sticks with which to feed the
flames.
Was that the sound of the wind, or something more ominous? In an instant,
Grimm's strained his sensitive ears until he could hear the blood rushing
through his arteries and veins.
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There is something there...
He started as a hand caught him from behind, wrapped around his mouth so he
could not cry out. An arm that felt like iron clenched his arms to his sides.
His heart pounded fiercely, almost deafening him, and then came a whisper that
sounded like a storm to his sensitised ears.
"Thought to humiliate Harman Hammerfist, did you? Let's see you try those
filthy devil-cursed magic words now, you undersized excuse for a wizard! So
you choose to go around with that puffed-up fop and his mutant half-breed
friend? No less than I expected. I've tracked you all day, all the way from
Drute, waiting for the moment when you were alone. You never even looked
around for an instant! Even on the bare plain, you never saw me.
"In the morning, your friends will find you hanging from this tree, a reminder
of what comes to them that try to cross Harman. You should never have messed
with me in The Broken Bottle. Goodbye, wizard, and good..."
The whisper finished in a loud gagging sound, and Grimm felt the hand fall
from his mouth. Leaping forward, the Questor spun around, calling Redeemer to
hand. He saw Harman clutching frantically at his throat, his eyes bulging, as
Crest stepped from the shadows.
"You're a good tracker, Harman, the elf said, and you skulk well in the dirt
where you belong, but you make a lousy assassin. You should have made your
kill quickly and got out. But you had to tell the mage your life story first.
That was a bad move; a very, very bad move."
Crest released his whip from the big man's neck, and Harman's whooping gasps
for air soon brought Harvel and Dalquist. The would-be assassin was now
surrounded.
"I thought we'd see this piece of semi-human scum again sooner or later,
Harvel spat. He's obviously the forsworn traitorous bastard I took him for,
but I never gave him the credit for being able to sneak up on us this easily.
Well done, Hummer-pissed; you're easily one of the best crawlers I've ever
met."
"Who's going to do the deed, eh? Harman blustered, his eyes flicking from
side to side like those of a cornered animal. You think you're big enough to
carry it off with that pig-sticker, you walking clotheshorse? Or let's see if
that pointy-eared imp can take me on. Or are you all too scared to take on a
real man, one-to-one?"
Dalquist made a show of inspecting his nails. I would not sully my hands with
you, Harman, he said. The honour of ridding the world of your odious
presence belongs to our friend Grimm, here."
Grimm gaped. I can't just kill him in cold blood, Dalquist! I just can't!"
Harman jeered. No, of course not, you'll get your fellow bugger-boys to do it
for you, won't you? You couldn't dirty your hands with the murder of someone
who's more of a man than you'll ever be."
Dalquist looked hard into Grimm's eyes, the two mages noses almost touching.
You have to do it, Grimm, he muttered, his tone low and urgent. There's no
way out of it. This isn't murder: it's an execution. You vowed what you'd do
if our hot-headed friend tried anything more. I told you just what a vow means
in Drute; it's a solemn covenant. This scum needs a dose of his own warped
justice"
"I know, Dalquist, I know! Grimm wailed. But this is just plain slaughter. I
can't do it!"
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