“Not this time!!” El screamed, the voice so powerful it made the fire dance away from him, ready to unleash his anger at them.

The beasts did not know to fear fire and it took a good dozen to get burned and flaming for the rest to take a pause, suddenly piling up to go through the space where the fire was less fierce.

El met them all the same, his white-lighted sword shining brighter than under the sunlight cutting through their bodies one swift stroke at the time. El danced among the monstrous horde, never staying in one place for more than a split second, always moving, sometimes jumping and cutting the beast over the back, sometimes moving aside and engraving the red mark of bloody cut over their sides.

This allowed the hunters’ group to advance to the door, but then an especially large beast came through the fire and it went straight at them, not stopped with the spear that cracked over his chest, not by the sword that bounced off its head, and it grabbed Dmintiz the Hunter by the waist and just threw him out.

Trim jumped from out of the doorway and slashed at the beast but it was of no use. Its head was the size of the cow's, and even the shadow man who came to try and stab it through its heart could not help as the beast moved on him with its huge pawn and claws, sending him to the ground as it knocked him straight over the chest while ripping his cloak and his hood off at the same time.

El saw it all in the corner of his eye and jumped toward it, then flew to land on its top, drilling the sword inside its head till it came on the other side, then moved it forward, splitting his head in half.

[Warning:

Available Energy is now at 25 percent

Available Mana is now at 5 percent]

He needed a way to get a break, but there were just too many of the beasts still coming down the narrow road, the space now with no whiteness of the snow, completely soiled in blood and bodies.

Suddenly the light of the sun disappeared, and El looked up at the sky to see dark clouds come from the north and observe it all. The cold wind followed, whipping the snow into his face. A giant black bird, a buzzard with a body the size of a small calf, dropped out of the sky, picked up the fallen hunter's body in its claws, and was ready to fly away with it if not for El’s jumping, his sword swinging above his head and striking the claws of the giant buzzard off, forcing her to drop the hunter down.

The bird shrieked and flew higher, but then, right away, it turned around and shrieked some more, its wings spread out so wide that El could not even see the clouds behind. It was circling around El’s head, the drop of its blood from the severed foot falling mixed with the snow. A pure evil sprew out of it, a desire to tear eyes, heads, hearts out, to destroy and kill everything, and El’s whole body shrieked as he felt its outburst.

It was the emotion he remembered very well, the one he sensed only when in the presence of great evil, of Vermal or one of his top lieutenants. He felt so eager to destroy it that he would have bolted all the Mana he had into it to try to kill it, but then he realized he had only 2 Mana units left and that would not have been nearly enough to vaporize it, maybe only to rattle its huge feathers. Even his Energy was almost all gone and his body felt as if he ran for a whole week without stopping.

He still looked toward the sky, his eyes hypnotized by the bird, and he paid no attention to the beast that made it through the fire and was ready to jump on his back.

It was Alice’s axe that landed in its face and made it twitch back. But the axe did not land with the blade to cut into its flesh, and as the axe fell to the ground, the beast made another step to grab the unsuspecting El.

But the shadow man closed the gap to El before the beast could and he struck it with his sword over its left shoulder, and as the beast shrieked in pain, El came around and turned to plant the tip of his sword in the mouth of the beast and bolt it with enough Mana to fry its brain.

“Thank you,” he said to the shadow man who stood bloodied and half-naked in front of him, his face finally revealed.

It was an ugly face of an aging man with too many old scars that were never treated properly and left deep marks across his chin, cheek, nose, and left eye. But El did not mind and nodded his head gratefully.

Then, El had to gasp for air, suddenly feeling even weaker, looking around to see the closest beast to slay, fearing to even know if he had any Mana left in him. That is when the alert went off in front of him

[Alert

The High-Frequency sound has been blocked.]

As he read it, one of the hunters said, “They’re gone!”

The wind died down, and the clouds cleared inexplicably, just as fast as they came, and the sun lighted the day again to show them.

“We have won!” someone else shrieked in disbelief.

“It’s over!” Alice screamed as she ran to hug El.

El looked around, tapped her on the shoulder as she hugged him hard, and then something he saw made him twitch and push her out of his embrace as he said, “It’s not over yet.”

Alice heard El's words, but could not understand them til she followed the direction of El’s eyes. Then she saw Trim moving cautiously toward the shadow man, holding his sword in front of him, moving his feet slowly, his eyes fully focused on the scared man, ready to attack and strike at him.

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The cheering instantly ended and everyone pulled back and made space around the two of them.

“I know who you are,” Trim said, the coldness in his voice worse than the chill of the northern wind.

'Then you know how foolish you are,” the scared man said, his old guttural voice sounding even more threatening coming from the face that must have seen so many battles before.

“You're Scarface, Widow Maker, Shadow Man, the creature that put fear and hatred in the hearts of the poor and defenseless.”

“Yeah, it seems you do know who I am."

“They write songs about you up East, not the nice ones either, threaten children with your name to behave better.”

“Yeah, I've been accused of worse. So what?”

“Many don't even think you exist.”

“But I guess I do.”

Trim made a sudden move forward, and Scarface tilted back, moving his feet so fast that he almost flanked Trim, something nobody could expect from a man whose long hair was more white than dark. But it was only a testing move as if Trim was trying still to figure his opponent out.

“Some say you got spawned by the Two Raven Dungeon itself, then were sold to the most evil house since there was nothing in Two Raven district to kill anymore.”

Scarface scoffed, holding his blade in the air with both hands, above his right shoulder, ready to counter anything Trim might throw his way, “And you believe those stories?”

“Didn't say I believe them, only said, that's what people say.”

“Yeah, they also say that in your village, they marry their sisters and when they get too old, they do it with their daughters.”

“Not talking about our village now, are we?” Trim moved slowly around him, not letting harsh, insulting words rub on him and hurry him into making a mistake as he patiently looked for the opening. “I saw you fight before. Killed three knights in a duel by River White.”

“They refer to that as an infamous White's Duel of Four now, as if there were two against two. And to think those were the finest of the knights your Lord believed he had.”

“Yes. I heard it cost him a good fifteen pieces of gold in wager as well."

"Yes. We bled while they played their games to entertain themselves."

"Yeah, for the entertainment. That's what we served. Still, you did not mind slaughtering them just the same, made a really bloody game out of it. Killed all three of them as if they were made of straw, slicing one limb at a time. Made everyone watch it."

“Scared the shit out of you, didn't it?”

“Not enough, I guess.”

“I reckon not enough either, boy. So, either charge or go home to your wife. Tired of dancing around here with you.”

“Well, why don't you put your sword down then?"

Scarface chuckled again. "I would. But I like my head where it stands now."

"You're an assassin for the House of Eblon. So, what are you doing here?”

“Used to be. Now... I'm just an assassin.”

“And what brings you here? This is far and away from their realm.”

“Your friend there, your good body,” Scarface smirked and tilted his head to someplace behind Trim.

But Trim's eyes did not move to follow Scarface's gaze. He knew who he meant.

“Why?” Trim asked.

“For the things he had done, of course. Down in Evrim's Pasture. You know the place, if you went to soldier together with him, you know the place."

"Sure I do. Did not go with him that night, but I do know the place. Not our brightest moment, I heard."

"Nope. Had an old friend who lived there. Together with his wife and two small younglings. It seems your boy took part in some nasty night work there. Need I say, I dug four graves that dawn, and bloody dawn it was.”

A darkness set over Trip’s face. He knew exactly what the Shadow Man was implying.

But he still moved his feet, still holding his sword straight, still looking for an angle as his determination did not diminish. "You will not kill Holgar. No matter what he did. It’s not your place to judge him. And if I have to, I’ll kill you right now while the killing is still good."

Scarface laughed. Chuckled as if that was the best joke he heard in a long while. “I am a man, as you may guess, with very few friends. And the promises I give to those few, I tend to keep. But... If I still wanted your boy dead, you would be burying him by now.”

That made Trim relax a bit, but it did nothing to El. He stepped forward and stood by Trim, his staff in his hand, ready to act.

“That's what you say,” El said. “But how can we be sure?” El said, turning his eyes on him. “I figure, this must have happened when they went soldiering, right?”

Scarface nodded his head, his posture that got relaxed a second ago, again assuming the fighting stance.

“So, if you held the grudge for how long is it now? Ten years?”

“Fifteen,” Trim said.

"Then, how do we know, you will not hold that grudge for another day, another night?"

“You don't. Other than my word. I say the promise I made to Ol' Farman on his dying breath is good as fulfilled. I killed the other ten who were fitting. And now, I've seen Holgar. He is not the man that did those killings. I figure he might have the same name and the same body, but he ain't the same. If he was, he would not be standing there, as I already said. Better and more honest words you will not hear from me. So, get down to the business, or just shut your mouths, you youngling brats."

Trim stopped moving his feet, suddenly his chest raising rapidly as he gasped for air. And then he lowered his sword, finally taking his eyes off Scarface to look at Holgar who stood a few steps away.

Holgar nodded his head and said, "If he wants my head, let him have it. Not like I do not deserve it. No more blood should be spoiled on my account. I will not fight him."

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Scarface said and spit out, then put down his sword as he knew the fight was over.

But El kept staring at him and Scarface did not like his look one bit.

“Don’t test me again, boy," he whispered the warning to him as he slowly started to walk past him. "I killed wizards before. One more, would not bother me a bit.”

El could get upset for being called a boy, but he did not. He saw a man leave but then called on to him. “Scarface... a word? Before you leave.”

Instead of waiting for Scarface to come to him, El decided to walk over where Scarface was heading and have a talk away from the others.

“I saw you fight. You might be the best fighter I've seen... here.” El said, not wanting to lie. He was good, but not tested against the Lieutenants of Vermal.

Scarface sighed, almost expecting what was coming, scoffing as El continued. “Would you work for a coin?”

“Working what?”

“Does it matter?”

“Sure, sure it does.”

“Then… let’s say, helping me find someone. That’s all.”

“That is not my specialty.”

“Yet, you found Holgar.”

“Took me this long. But then, he was the last on the list.”

“So, then, you would be free for employment, no?”

“You don’t mind me calling you a boy?”

“Call me whatever you want to. Just help me find someone.”

Hearing El’s calm and determined words made Scarface twitch and then he squinted his eyes a bit as he stared at El. “Does that someone have a name?”

El shook his head, knowing Vermal's name would not mean anything to Scarface. But looking into his eyes, a small smirk formed on El's face as he knew he had him.

“But it’s good you're not afraid of wizards,” El said, still smirking. “For he may just be the worst of them all.”