Caracara's Hunt

"Betty, your turn!" she called, looking at an androgynous person.

Based on a name, Arawn guessed it was a woman, but her appearance didn"t betray it. She wore the same armor as the men, had her hair cut short, and was as physically powerful as them. There was a long scar going up from her wrist and disappearing beneath her armor.

The crowd didn"t cheer for her. She nodded at Rain with a heavy air around her and jumped over the ditch into the arena.

On the other side, a bald man made his way over. Instead of swords, he had two knives. One of them was twice as long as the other, and he pulled them out straight away.

Betty took in a deep breath and drew her sword while raising her left hand with the small shield. For a moment, the two circled each other, watching their opponent with sharp eyes.

The standstill didn"t last for long, though. The bald man called upon the water and had it attack the woman from behind. She sensed the movement of ether, but instead of dodging, she rushed forward. It seemed that she had learned from her predecessor"s mistake.

Yet her opponent wasn"t focused on the ether. He raised his knives and fought her back with ease. He swung left and right, battering her with a barrage of fast cuts that she could barely defend against. Her sword had a longer attack range and she had a shield on her left arm, but it didn"t seem like it was helping her.

All her moves were on the defensive, just blocking the man. Whenever she tried to create distance between them to call upon the ether, the man doubled his speed, not giving her a chance to move.

Slowly, he pushed her to the edge of the circle, right next to the ditch. She tried to turn, avoiding it, but her foot got stuck in the ground. In horror, she looked down to see that she"d stepped into mud.

Arawn instantly realized what had happened. While the woman was too busy defending, the bald man had sent water into the ground by the ditch, softening it. Not having expected that, the woman put her weight onto what should have been solid earth but wasn"t and lost her balance.

With a grizzly smile, the bald man plunged his shorter knife toward the woman"s abdomen.

A few people by Arawn"s side cursed and looked away, but no one seemed about to do anything. The woman wasn"t saying a word either.

Fury rose within Arawn. Were they going to waste her life as well? What was her pride worth if she was dead?

"Surrender, she surrenders!" Arawn shouted out, startling everyone.

The bald man froze for a moment, his weapon right by the woman"s stomach. He sneered then and was about to plunge his knife down once more, but Arawn wasn"t having that. He dashed past the ditch and blasted the man away with the ether.

It would have been easy to kill him, but that wasn"t his goal. Arawn only sent a blunt force that pushed the man a couple steps back and ran to the woman"s side. She stared at him with eyes full of disbelief.

There was no doubt that she"d be angered by his interference, but Arawn didn"t care. He grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her through the ditch. It wasn"t deep, so he didn"t mind her legs getting wet.

Only once she was beyond the circle did he breathe a sigh of relief and let her down.

His heart was beating like a wild horse. He raised his head at that moment, meeting eyes with Rain, then Corwal. The woman was too shocked for words while Corwal just rolled his eyes at him. It was as if he was saying "It"s your problem now".

"What do you think you"re doing?" the bald man demanded, speaking up for the first time.

There was a familiar bloodthirstiness in his eyes, and Arawn suddenly felt at home. He straightened and took a step forward, standing just by the ditch. "She lost and you"ve got your point. There"s no need for her to die."

"I wanted to kill her," the bald man said with viciousness. He crouched, ready to jump forward. "She"s my prey."

"Well, too bad." Arawn sneered back at him, showing not a hint of fear. "I don"t feel like letting you kill her."

He thought about congealing ether in his hands, but he doubted it would have the desired effect. It terrified the criminals in the Gutter because that place was built from onyx which should have suppressed everyone"s connection to the light. But in the outside world… working with only ether made one look a child.

Instead, Arawn did nothing and just stared at the man with a mocking smile, taunting him. The other was ready to kill, so if he took a step more, Arawn would have no problem with sending an ether blade and cleaning the world off him.

As if sensing that it would result in his demise, the bald man spit on the ground and turned around to leave. He sheathed his knives and returned to his people who had begun bustling for the first time. More than a few had lost their calm and were openly glaring at Arawn while making death threats to him with their hands.

It was such a nostalgic gesture that Arawn couldn"t help beaming back at them. He looked their way with genuine joy, for a moment forgetting where he was.

Strangely enough, he sometimes found himself missing the Gutter where everything was simple and obvious. He had known all the rules there, and people rarely acted differently than he expected.

However, his expression seemed to have startled the other camp. A few people were taken aback while others stared at him like he"d gone crazy. They whispered among themselves while pointing at him with questioning looks.

"Done with your heroics?" Corwal asked, attracting Arawn"s attention.

He looked to the right to see his friend having come over. There was a wide smile on Corwal"s face. "You sure know how to make an entrance," he said with a chuckle.

"Did I break any rules?" Arawn asked in a soft voice while looking around at the people staring at him with strange gazes. The enemy wasn"t the only one finding his actions beyond crazy.

"There are no rules about saving someone. It"s just something n.o.body does because it"s too dangerous, and the person saved loses all respect."

Arawn glanced down at the woman who had only began to move, blinking away her confusion. "She"ll live. That"s more important."

While they were talking, Rain rushed over as well. She went down to Betty and checked the woman to make sure she was safe. Only then did she raise her head to glare at Arawn. "What did you think you were doing? You could have gotten killed!"

Before Arawn could answer though, there was a shout from the other side of the circle. "The Challenge is not over yet! Come here one of you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. I want to wet my blade!"

A long-haired middle-aged man stood by the edge of the ditch on the opposite side. He wore a black cloak, and although he spoke of a blade, he carried none at his waist.

"It"s Chanced," Rain hissed, her eyes narrowing. "So—"

"I"ll go," Corwal interrupted her.

Without waiting for her to refuse, he jumped over the ditch and landed in the circle. Unlike the people before him, he didn"t rush to draw his blade. He stood idly in his position, looking around his like he was a spectator.

"New blood?" Chanced asked in a drawl. He didn"t seem to think Corwal would be worth anything. "Did Rain tell you who you"re going to fight before offering you a sack of copper coins? Or did she sleep with you? Maybe—"

Midway through his speech, Corwal moved. He lunged forward, covering a couple meters in the blink of an eye. There was still around thirty meters between them, so Chanced just cackled and called to the ether.

It rushed into the ground, going straight for Corwal"s legs. When he dodged, the man didn"t worry and just changed his focus to the ground closer to himself. He raised b.u.mps in the ground or created miniature ditches right where Corwal would step in an attempt to trip him.

Yet none of it worked. It looked like Corwal had eyes on the soles of his feet, and the moment the ground shifted, he"d either make a lunge forward or sideways. Not once did he step into a trap.

In no more than five seconds, he was right on the long-haired man. Fear showed up in Chanced"s eyes, and he dropped to the ground, raising a wall of earth before himself.

As if having expected that, Corwal grabbed the wall and vaulted over it. A dagger was in his hand when he landed, and he stabbed it into the back of the man"s neck. Chanced tried to turn his head, refusing to accept what had just happened, but his body slumped to the ground moments later.

Corwal crouched down and cleaned his dagger, then made it disappear back into his sleeve. When he stood back up, he smiled and nodded at the enemy camp that was a hand"s reach away from him.

Shock was an expression that everyone shared. They stared at Corwal like he wasn"t human, like he"d broken some unwritten rule about how fast a duel could be ended.

Once he left from behind the earth wall and jogged back to Arawn"s side, Rain"s people looked up. Most hadn"t seen what had happened because of the wall blocking their view. In their eyes, Corwal was running forward for dear life, and the next he"d vaulted over the wall before jogging back like it was a great day for exercise.

Rain straightened and watched him approach with something that could have been hope in her eyes. "That was amazing…" she whispered.

Corwal grinned and jumped over the ditch to stand by them. "I always hated that guy, just never had the chance to kill him. He"s got a criminal record in all four countries."

There was a question in Rain"s eyes regarding the last sentence, but Arawn knew it was for him. It was a bit unexpected for Corwal to suddenly explain himself, but it wasn"t the weirdest thing that could happen. Arawn nodded in thanks before turning to watch the enemy.

They were abuzz with emotion at that moment. There was a lot of speaking and pointing as well as furious shouts. A few phrases flew over from time to time, mentioning the shortness of the duel and how disgusting Corwal had been. Apparently he cheated, or Rain did by hiring him. There seemed to be some disagreement on that part.

Soon though, their leader roared for all of them to shut up and pointed at one of the men. "You! Go and slaughter those wastes! I"ll give you a reward of your choice if you live."

The chosen man licked his lips and rushed toward the circle.

Corwal cursed and dashed back as well, but he was a second too late. The other man reached it first and shooed him away. "Not you, pretty boy. I want that blondie by your side."

Everyone stretched their necks to see at whom he was pointing, and Arawn found over a hundred pairs of eyes staring at him. He grimaced a little, not fond of the attention, then looked up to meet Corwal"s eyes.

"What"s happening?" he asked in a soft voice. Only those near them could hear it.

"Second round," Corwal answered while jumping back out of the circle.

A frown had come onto his face at some point, but it was now replaced by a sunny smile. "That idiot actually chose you. His head must be as empty a bucket."

"Someone wants to fight me?" Arawn double-checked with his mouth hanging open. Could there really be such a crazy person? Did they want to die that badly?

Corwal nodded, barely holding back his laugh. "This world is full of lunatics."