Twice in twenty seconds, the only thing that saved Ethan was his recently enhanced reflexes. He didn't even have an opening to counter attack. His slightly improved reflexes only made a small difference, but that small difference somehow made a huge difference."Drop 'em now and I'll make your death quick." The thug gloated after Ethan had leapt back almost ten feet to get some space.He panted as he finally got some breathing room. *I'm open to suggestions.**Never come anywhere near Arcanum ever again,* Alana replied.*Don't worry, they'll see nothing but taillights after this.**What are taillights?**They're... nevermind.* Ethan tuned his attention to the man in front of him. He was wise to Ethan's hammer-return trick, and had assiduously avoided putting himself between the dragon and his hammer. He desperately wished his spear had some kind of small hook on the end he could use to hook the shield out of the way. Sadly, it didn't.

"I saved your life after you tried to kill me." It held up two fingers. "Twice. You could be a little more grateful." It said with derision in its voice.She opened her mouth to retort when she realized that it was right. This bloodthirsty, disgusting beast had indeed saved her life. She had been dead. She was sure of it. Yet here she was, alive and mostly unhurt. The wound over her chest still burned badly and she felt completely exhausted, but otherwise she was perfectly fine.Why?Why would the beast do this?It didn't make sense."Ladies and gentlemen." The Arena announcer's magically magnified voice said with as much surprise as she felt. "It... it appears the dragon has won. Therefore by the laws of Arcanum, he is... I mean, his slave is cleared of all charges."The crowd didn't react.No one clapped.No one cheered.No one booed.No one did anything.After several moments, a single person began to sl

"Truly, I will help. Unless I'm much mistaken, you didn't expect to lose this morning. Therefore, you have no plan in place to track Ethan when he leaves Arcanum."She scowled, but couldn't deny he was right."I will tell you exactly where he is going, on one condition.""What condition?"Luminar Kossel smiled. "You will make no attempt to kill or even hurt him or his companions until the sun rises in two days. To be clear, that's just under forty-eight hours.""No deal." She shook her head. "I'll track him myself and put him in the ground before nightfall.""How?" Falkaan asked, speaking up for the first time. "How would you track them?""My ship is a lot smaller than the Midnight Sun, so it's a lot harder to see.""And you think a dragon - and a wood elf - wouldn't spot it when they are wary of being followed?" Luminar Kossel asked.She scowled.Luminar Kossel smiled. "No attempt made to hurt him or his companio

Kendra knew two things. First, thanks to Luminar Kossel, she knew the dragon's airship was headed to a gold mine north of Arcanum. Second, she knew it had traveled west when it left Arcanum, meaning they were trying to throw off pursuers. Thankfully, that made their intended flight path relatively easy to guess.She'd left Arcanum in a hurry, stopping only to retrieve Falkaan's Dragon Slayer, which he was still letting her borrow. Years of experience and a little guesswork allowed her to put her tiny airship about where she thought they would be at nightfall.She was right.She grinned as she put away her telescope. There was no mistaking it; that was the dragon's airship. The light was fading fast, but thanks to her enchanted telescope she could see reasonably well anyway. She extrapolated their course, and set her ship on a parallel one. She was pleased to see that Luminar Kossel had been right about their destination being a gold mine. She could only imagine that the dragon was pla

Near midnight, Ethan landed as lightly as possible on the deck of the Argo and Alana slid from his back. Beth was still laying on the deck, though someone had lain her on a blanket. God, she looked beautiful. Even with the blood and dirt smeared on her face, she was still a vision in his eyes."What in Saidow's lair is going on?" Rachel asked moments after they landed.Ethan recounted what they had found, and the redhead's face grew more confused and interested by the moment. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head."That's interesting." Rachel said as they described the runic circle they'd seen on the floor. "It almost sounds like a black incantation from the pit.""The pit? You mean hell?" Hailey asked."What's a 'hell'?" Rachel asked."It's a place where- never mind. What's the pit?"Rachel frowned. "It was a conclave of dark mages that met a few thousand years ago. They tried to conquer the Ten Kingdoms with the most unholy, grotesque spells you can imagine?""Like what