“Cel!” Mouse shouted.

Eleda jumped to her feet.

Wickedly curved claws sliced at Cel, whistling through the air. Sidd grinned, eyes twinkling with a dark light.

Retracting her sword, Cel darted backwards. His swipe frayed threads on her jacket. Warily, Cel retreated a step or two and watched him, waiting.

Sidd climbed to all fours and shook his head. Reddened eyes glared at her. “This fight isn’t over, cub.”

“It is over,” the warrior by the edge of the platform insisted. He raised his hand. Sparks crackled around his fingertips.

A flash of tawny fur. Sidd appeared behind the warrior, claws already bared. The man spun, drawing his sword. Too slow. A blur of motion. Blood spilled. The sword went slack in his hand and clattered to the stone. His head bowed, then dropped clean off his neck to roll away out of sight. Lifeless, his body collapsed to the platform.

Silence. Everyone held their breath, all eyes on Sidd. The massive beastfolk chuckled and narrowed his eyes at Cel. “Now there’s no one to get in our way.”

Someone screamed, belatedly, shrill note splitting the silence. The noble ladies and fops scrambled, screeching madly. Parasols flew. Blankets were trampled. Rainbow-tone dresses and brilliant suits fled in all directions, looking for all the world like a startled flock of parakeets. Bodyguards and knights flashed out of the crowd, drawing weapons. The knights stood between Sidd and the nobles, while bodyguards hustled the dignitaries away.

Reginald pointed a weapon at the platform and half-stepped forward. Sabelyn grabbed him by the arm and pulled in the other direction. He struggled against her, but she pulled harder. They squabbled, a few short lines thrown back and forth. Reginald's shoulders drooped, and he followed Sabelyn away from the platform. A knight pulled up on a horse and whisked Sabelyn onto its back, while another helped Reginald atop a white steed. Reginald and Sabelyn turned tail, followed closely by the knights and other nobles.

Mouse stood and drew his sword, approaching the platform. Eleda grabbed his arm, but he shook her off. “I won’t leave Cel to die.”

Eleda hesitated, then nodded. She drew her bow. “We have to put him down.”

Tense, Mouse nodded. He approached the stone platform quietly, drawing up to Sidd from behind.

Sidd relentlessly attacked Cel. One slash chased another. His claws rent gashes in the stone where he missed.

Mouse ducked by the edge of the platform, waiting for his chance.

Cel dodged around the arena. She backstepped and parried, turned sideways to dodge a blow, then fled a few steps.

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Suddenly, she halted. Her sword flashed. Blood ran down Sidd's arm from a fearsome gash on his bicep. Silently, Mouse cheered.

Sidd laughed carelessly and slashed down at her with his other hand. Claws sliced through her jacket. A button clashed against the stone floor. A follow-up slash cut for her head. She sidestepped backward, footwork impeccable, and launched a counter-attack at the back of his hand.

For the second time, red spilled over tawny fur. Muscles bulging through his thin fur, Sidd roared and lunged at Cel.

Cel braced herself, tensing her legs, sword shifting almost imperceptibly. Eyes trained on Sidd shifted half an inch.

Seconds before Sidd's claws reached, he jumped to the side instead. Mouse slashed through the empty space where his hamstrings had been. He clicked his tongue. One second faster, and this fight would have been over.

“You… interfere?” Sidd snarled. His chest rose and fell rapidly. Brows furrowed, he frowned at Mouse, eyes struggling to focus.

“The duel is over,” Mouse proclaimed. He pointed his sword at Sidd. “Stand down.”

Behind him, wood creaked as Eleda pulled her bow taut.

Sidd growled. He fell forward onto all fours. The platform shook from the force of his bulk. His back feet clawed at the stone, leaving deep scratches. Forepaws kneaded the stone, claws extended, then retracted, mindlessly dicing the stone underfoot to bits. He shook his head.

Instinctively, Mouse retreated a step. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. Something’s wrong.

“This one… no lose, this… lose, lost, one…” Sidd’s voice degraded into a long yowl. His eyes rolled up in his head, and his back arched. He shuddered all over, once, fiercely.

Cel arrived at Mouse’s side with a nod. Her jacket hung open, the shirt underneath ripped but mostly intact, if faintly spotted with blood. She lifted her sword beside him. “Are beastfolk usually this strong?”

“No. They’re powerful but not… like this.” He nodded at the shredded stone.

Cel frowned. “Is he rabid, or…”

Sidd threw back his head and roared. Waves of sound rolled over them. Mouse’s heart skipped a beat. Beside him, Cel tensed, tightening her grip on her sword. Several of the remaining nobleladies fainted, falling to the grass in the background. The noblemen paid them no mind, too busy fleeing on their own.

When he lowered his head, Sidd’s eyes were pitch black.

Mouse stared. For a split second, he was back in the north. Ice underfoot, snow thickened with blood. Biting winds chilled his cheeks and rushed down his collar. Before him, a mass of creatures roiled with muscle.

Strong wind blew, sending the freshly-fallen powder dancing, a thick white cloud. The wind died, leaving the world still. The creatures stood revealed. Once, they had been moon elves. Gray skin, hair in shades of white and gray, long ears marred red from the cold all attested to that fact. Yet Twain hardly recognized his own kind. Clothes hung in shambles. Ragged hair hung limp. Unaware of their own wounds, they strode onward despite fresh-running blood and the ugly purple and black marks of frostbite. One stumbled on a broken leg. Another brandished a raw-edged bone from a snapped arm. Muscles as mere villagers could never maintain flexed, bursting the seams of their simple attire.

Black eyes gazed at him, unseeing. whites and irises all gone to black, reason fled, they wandered on as beasts. Emotionless. Lost.

Blighted.

Tawny fur rushed at him. Claws flashed. Mouse jolted abruptly back to the moment. He jumped back, but too late. Black claws fell toward his head.

Twang.

Feathers blurred by. Sidd’s head snapped back. He stumbled to a halt. After a moment, he lowered his head to reveal a maddened grin. The arrow stuck through his eye. Dark fluid leaked down his face, eye sagging from the socket. The arrowhead peeked out the back of his head, strings of blood and gore clinging to it. Bright crimson blood wet his hair and mane.

"Impossible," Eleda breathed, lowering her bow.

Sidd howled, an awful, anguished cry. Rear paws dug into stone. One black eye roamed the field, glinting with hatred. It settled on Mouse.

Mouse tensed. Oh, shit.

Sidd lunged.