Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Zeni watched the arrow slicing through the air, its deadly trajectory aimed right at her. Her movements were sluggish, and her reaction time slowed as if she was submerged in a nightmare. The weight of her exhaustion and the dread pooling in the pit of her stomach threatened to immobilize her completely.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from the speeding shaft, her heart pounding in her chest like a caged bird, as she realized the full consequences of her actions. The world around her seemed to fade, the roar of the crowd fading to a distant hum, as she focused on the single, deadly point hurtling towards her. At this moment, Zeni understood that the price for her meddling might be higher than she ever imagined.

As the arrow closed in, there was a blur of motion and suddenly Zeni found the feather-bedecked Ka-sen appeared beside her, his presence roaring into being like an immovable mountain. His Ka radiated around him, powerful and vast, filling her senses with a brilliance reminiscent of a thousand suns. In a fluid sweep, he’d arrived and raised his hand, a shimmering barrier of Ka springing to life and stopping the arrow mere inches from her face. The arrowhead glinted menacingly, trapped in place by the sheer force of the man’s will.

But that wasn’t all.

In that same instant, Zeni was acutely aware of the other Ka-sen around her as well. The Meru woman had lunged forward with the lithe grace of a panther, snagging the arrow's fletching with breathtaking agility. Her Ka felt feral, with a pulsating undercurrent of primal, raw energy that surged through her veins like a wildfire.

The man in purple robes had acted as well; he stood only ten feet from Zeni, his hands outstretched. He’d woven a dazzling tapestry of starlight around the arrow's shaft, arresting its deadly flight. His Ka resonated with cosmic vibrations, like the harmonious song of celestial bodies in the vast expanse of the night sky. Together, they three stood as a unified force, their Ka intermingling in a sublime dance of power and intent, and overwhelming the Ka she, herself, emitted.

A fleeting moment of surprise passed between her rescuers, their eyes meeting in startled recognition, as they acknowledged the serendipity of their simultaneous intervention.

Zeni’s eyes flashed around, seeking the fourth Ka-sen in attendance, but found that the young girl with the sunset curls was nowhere to be seen.

As the crowd fell into a stunned silence, the peacock king's voice rang out, clear and commanding, the sound echoing through the still air like the deep tolling of a bell.

"Cease this foolishness!" he declared, his gaze locked onto Yasmine's opponent. "I have never seen such clear mockery of the spirit of a festival. It is pathetic."

The tension in the air was palpable, as every eye turned to the defeated archer, his face a mask of bitter humiliation. In the face of the Ka-sen who had intervened, he lowered his bow, his defiance crumbling under the weight of their collective power.

All eyes in attendance turned to the archer as he suddenly spat on the ground in defiance, the embarrassment gone and replaced as the contempt in his gaze was unmistakable now.

"The girl there ruined my last shot with her Ka!" he protested, his voice shaking with indignation, yet carrying an air of rehearsed conviction. “I felt it taking hold of my own. Is this how Kephri’s Rest treats its honored guests?”

The catlike Meru raised an eyebrow, her emerald eyes glittering like shards of glass.

"There’s nothing honorable about you, vellum,” she said, her eyes twinkling with near-delight. “You were using Ka the whole time to help your own odds.”

“And now this one accuses me of, what? Cheating?” The vellum declared, his face a mask of calculated innocence as he tried to rally the crowd to his line of thinking.

"Can you not see the injustice here?" he implored, gesturing to the now-silent audience as he stared at Zeni. "This girl interfered with our fair competition!"

“I sensed it, as well,” Peacock said, his tone brokering no contest. The purple-robed man, having dropped his starlit lasso, nodded in mute agreement. The Ka-sen united seemed to weigh heavily on the crowd's perception, and the mood shifted dramatically as some members of the audience began to boo the archer, their anger palpable. Others seemed less convinced in his deceit, and were looking to the others in confusion.

“You…thief!”

It was Yasmine. She stood not far from the vellum, as though a furious sculpture of ice, her eyes wide and glaring at the man.

“Thief?” The man intoned, gesturing at the hunter woman and then opening his arms to the audience with a laugh.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“First I am a cheater, and now I am a burglar. These accusations are—”

With determined strides, Yasmine closed the distance between herself and the archer, her rage radiating off her like a wildfire. The archer, however, did not back down, meeting her gaze with an enthusiastic defiance.

“Yes, you are a thief,” Yasmine said. “What is one who seeks to steal that which is not his, other than just that?”

The vellum sneered.

“Back away little desert swallow, before you are shot down from your flight,” he said threateningly. He lifted the bow in one hand as if to emphasize his point.

But Yasmine was uncowed, she took another step forward, simply glaring, as if daring the man to make a move.

At that moment, Basim, who had been silently observing the escalating tensions from the sidelines, could no longer contain his concern for Yasmine. As if propelled by an unseen force, he leaped from the stands, his powerful legs launching him into the ring with the grace of a warrior.

As he raced toward Yasmine, Zeni could feel the intensity of the situation building like a gathering storm. She lamented how her actions had suddenly caused all of this. Would it not have been better to just have let the man win? At least they could have simply talked mad trash on him and no one would be shot at. Still, the vellum's conniving words echoed in her ears, fueling her own resolve to defend Yasmine with Basim and stand up to the manipulative man who sought to distort the truth.

Basim skidded to a stop beside Yasmine, his imposing frame like an unyielding wall. He stood by her side, the fire in his eyes mirroring her own as they confronted the archer together. The sun cast their shadows across the ground, merging into a single, formidable silhouette that seemed to loom over the archer.

The vellum seized the opportunity, attempting to use Yasmine's rage and Basim's intervention as fuel for his own agenda.

"See!" he shouted, his voice rising above the noise of the crowd, his eyes darting between Yasmine and Basim. "This village conspires! How can we trust the outcome of this match when the odds have already been spoiled? What a trash heap this place is—filled with scavenging birds and opportunistic vermin."

His words, carefully chosen and dripping with insinuation, seemed to resonate with some in the crowd, sowing doubt and uncertainty. The archer stood tall, hoping to sway the spectators to his side, using Yasmine's anger and Basim's sudden appearance to cast suspicion upon them.

But the other Ka-sen, their gazes unwavering, made it clear that they did not share his sentiments.

“You are behaving like an idiot,” the Meru woman said, shaking her head despite still smirking amusedly. “We have caught you in your deception, don’t make this harder on yourself than it has to be.”

"You dare threaten—to try to harm my friend?" Yasmine spat, her voice cold and filled with venom. "I don’t care what she did. I will not stand idly by while you lash out in your disgrace."

The mood became chaotic, with the crowd angrily shouting, taking sides, and Zeni began to panic. The archer, sensing the shift in sentiment, tried to rally the audience once more, his voice rising above the cacophony.

“This is why the festivals of these miniscule hovels are becoming less popular to visitors,” he said. “Their people connive and scheme. Desert rats, all of them.”

Zeni’s fury was rising, but also, she pondered, did this man not know that the vast majority of those in attendance were from Kephri’s Rest? It didn’t make a lot of sense to try to win points that way. Maybe he was just acting out now?

Basim's anger boiled over, and he clenched his fists, his voice shaking with fury.

"Say what you will about any of us," he warned, "but watch your tongue when it comes to the people of this village."

The archer sneered, his eyes narrowing as he turned his attention to Basim. "You see?" he spat, his voice dripping with contempt. "If ever there's a wonder as to who is truly in the wrong, find those you are not allowed to criticize. I've competed in hundreds of tournaments and never have I been accused of such vitriolic lies. They saw that I meant to win, and then that bitch chose to use her Ka to—"

He never got to finish his sentence, as Basim interrupted him with a powerful punch to the face.

The shocked gasp of the crowd set off pandemonium, and chaos erupted as the spectators screamed and shouted, their emotions reaching a fever pitch.

However, the archer recovered quickly, his eyes blazing with fury as he found himself at the center of the storm. Zeni sensed the gathering of his Ka, but it was already too late. The archer whipped out a boot knife, the blade shimmering with the reinforcement of his Ka, and leveled it right for Basim's jugular.

Suddenly, a torrent of fiery Ka sprang into existence, enveloping the archer's arm and stopping the deadly blow in its tracks. There were more shouts of alarm, and Zeni watched, helpless, dozens of feet away. Where had that Ka come from? She hadn’t sensed anyone summoning an invocation, especially since the three Ka-sen were so near to her at the moment.

“Wow,” said a light, playful voice. “You really wanted to win something, didn’t you?”

As if materializing from nothing, the girl with the sunset curls stepped out from behind the vellum, her hands snared within the fabric of the fiery Ka where she’d invoked it.

Zeni stared in disbelief, her heart pounding in her chest. It was almost as if the girl had appeared out of thin air. Her small frame belied the immense power she apparently wielded.

The girl's cheery demeanor was in stark contrast to the tension of the situation, making it seem as if the dangerous confrontation was nothing more than a game to her.

“Guess you ran into some rotten luck, huh?” She continued, twisting the strands of the flames so that they wrapped around both of the man’s wrists, then she yanked his arms behind him and Zeni released a shocked laugh because he was well and truly arrested.

The crowd held its breath, their collective gaze fixed on the girl who had just saved Basim's life. For a brief moment, the world stood still, the tense silence a stark contrast to the earlier chaos.

The archer, his arms bound by the girl's fiery Ka, looked around at the crowd, desperation creeping into his eyes.

"I am innocent!" he pleaded, his voice trembling with fear and indignation. "I was merely defending myself against their accusations!"

But the malice behind his last attempt to harm Basim radiated like a beacon, betraying his true intentions. The crowd murmured uneasily, their eyes darting between the archer and the Ka-sen who had intervened on behalf of Zeni and Basim.

At that moment, something surprising caught Zeni's attention. The man with the feathered headdress suddenly began to float through the air. It was as if he was pulled aloft by a rope, his body positioned first horizontally, and then swung out vertically as he then began descending softly to the ground in the center of the ring. As his feet touched the ground, he regarded the archer with a cool, calculating gaze. Then, to Zeni's further astonishment, a faint smirk appeared on his lips. It was the first time she had seen him express anything other than an air of authority.

"Let us see what the village elders think of such dishonorable actions," he said, his voice low and measured.