Krion immediately reized the woman in the front — she had been among those who had been at the Dungeon with Hector. Briefly looking around the tavern, her eyes found Redrek. More than the insult she had hurled oering, the cold stare edged with a sinister glee she directed at the hobgoblin made it clear she had been searg for his friend for a specific reason. Behind her walked the same burly bodyguard he had seen before, a human man who loomed over the rest of the group, a rge axe strapped across his back. As the sade her way over to their table, the rest of her group followed, each radiating arrogand pt for the rest of the tavern.

  As they moved past the tables filled with dwarven patrons, their steps were heavy, deliberate, and aimed to attract attention. Practically challenging. Each table of dwarves they passed shifted in their seats, at once upset at still more ss bursting into The Hearth & Ember, but also relut to protest. To do so in front of some many ss, especially of their kind, would only lead to more problems. Better to let them get on with their purpose. Perhaps they would leave sooner.

  Krion rose to his feet, his meal fotten, Hatsune moving with him, her ears as she instinctively let her ha on the hilt of the longsword at her side. Redrek and Valdre stood a momeheir bodyguards following suit. Garran mimicked the Leporine, hand dropping to his on, but he stepped in front of his half-frost elf charge. Kael, too, reached for his ons, his posture a silent warning to any who might try something foolish.

  The oning group of ss and their bodyguards didn’t even slow their pace. If anything, the woman in the front looked even more eager at the possibility of a frontation.

  Krion’s fingers brushed against his side, thoughts going to the greatsword whose familiar weight he wished was still against his back. He looked o the on he had found down in the Dungeon, that Hatsune had left leaning against her side of the table. No, the odds of a full-on brawl breaking out with so many other witnesses was low. Better to see what all this was about first. He returo looking at the group heading their way. The wiry human woman was still staring at Redrek, the sinister glee on her face being more apparent the closer she came.

  A siletled across the tavern that stretched to engulf where they stood, heavy and thick. The only sounds were the muted ks of mugs and the soft crackle of the fire in the hearth. A dwarf oher side of the room grumbled something, but his neighbors hissed for him to be quiet. None of them wao attract the attention of the ss.

  The group reached Krion’s table, and he didn’t miss the way the woman’s eyes shifted to him. Narrowed, her eyes seemed to be sizing him up.

  “Quite the crowd you’ve gathered, Bcksword,” she said, her voice sharp, ced with derision. Her eyes roved over everyoanding with him, gring at all but Garran. “Not surprised you’ve chosen those like them to associate with, your House being what it is.”

  The way she looked back at him, it was clear she was looking for a rea, for him to sh out. But he stood his ground. “If you’ve got something to say, say it. Then leave. We were having a pleasant dinner before you arrived. I’d like to return to it.”

  “Yes, I’d imagihat you would enjoy this kind of slop. Being a Bcksword, you would, of course, not have a very refined pate.” The woman’s smile was cold as she tinued, “But lucky for you, The Ivory Banner does not bother with humans, even ones as wretched as you are. No, tonight we are here for someone else.” She looked at Redrek, then back to Krion. “I don’t suppose you would move if we asked?”

  Krion did not move. There was no way that he would let her get to his hobgoblin friend to do… whatever her group had paking his lead, Hatsune’s fiightened around the hilt of her on, and Garran’s body shifted slightly, his pte armor g as he prepared himself to fight. Kael, silent as he was, had quietly palmed a knife.

  “Fine, I guess I’ll just have to move you,” the wiry woman snapped, her patience clearly wearing thin. “Ort, if you would?”

  She made to step closer, her bodyguard pressing in at her back, but Valdre, who had been by Krion’s side from the start, intercepted her. The half-frost elf was calm but Krion could hear the hint of a bite in his words. “I’d suggest you leave instead, before you make this situation worse. You’re clearly not wele here.”

  The woma Valdre but didn’t respond immediately. Again she looked at the other members of Krion’s group, taking them in and notig how none moved aside.

  “You think you stop us from doing what brought us here?” she asked. “You really think you stand against The Ivory Banner? Against the power of anization?”

  “And what, exactly, has brought you here?” Krion demanded, pullitention ba.

  Before she could respond, the sharp sound of g metal came from the dire of the kit. Ordran came striding out, a rge meat cleaver, still bloody from ret use, held ominously in his hand.

  “What in the name of the Seven Princes is going on here?” Ordran demanded, but rather than wait for a response, he was already moving in their dire.

  Turning from Krion, the woman, unfazed by Ordran’s imposing preseepped forward to intercept him. She wasn’t tall, but her posture was anding, as if she kly how to make herself heard. “I am Lorissa, s of House Silverwood,” she said disdainfully at the veteran dwarf. “And I’ve e to settle an old score.”

  Ordran looked over the rest of the group, his eyes narrowing as he assessed the situation. His hand tightened around the cleaver’s handle, but he made no move to strike against the ptuous s who stood before him. “Settle a score, eh?” he muttered. “Ye’ve got some nerve bring tha’ kind o’ business into me tavern.”

  Lorissa ignored Ordran’s warning tone, iurning back to look at Redrek. “The other day, I reized this one.” She pointed a thin fi Redrek. “This red-skinned monster belongs to the same that attacked my family’s territory during the Rhalgyr Incursion. Many of our people died that year, and I will not let it go unpunished when I have one of the attackers here before me.”

  Redrek immediately stiffe the mention of the Rhalgyr Incursion, his posture faltering for only a moment. He looked to Krion briefly before he straightened again, his expression going bnk, but not before Krion saw a wihe hobgoblin did not protest the accusation, nor did he offer any defense. In fact, Krion got the sehat his friend was more than a little unfortable, for all that he did not speak. In a way, the sileold enough by itself — this was something Redrek didn’t want to talk about, but also something that couldn’t be denied. Despite that, Krion’s trust in the hobgoblin did not waver. There would be time to find out the story from his friend ter.

  Krion’s attentiouro Lorissa, the other ss of her group looking almost gleeful at the frontation unfolding in front of them.

  “You think you just hide behind your new alliances, hobgoblin? That your past doesn’t follow you? You’re er than the monsters you came from.” Lorissa reached down to her side, and Krion’s group tensed, ready for her to pull out a on. But, rather than a on, she pulled out something ued given her accusations — a scroll, its edges curled and held closed by a heavy wax seal that showed what Krion took to be the Academy crest.

  “This,” she said triumphantly, holding the scroll high, “is a formal challenge for a Duel to Submission, granted by the Academy itself. I am within my rights to demand this fight, and the vile creature known as Redrek has no choice but to accept it.”

  Krion stared at the scroll she held. He’d heard mention of duels before, but this was the first ce he got to witness an actual challenge being issued. He could feel his heart start to race as he realized that, no matter what he had hoped, a fight was going to happen after all.

  Behind Lorissa, the looks of satisfa on her group of ss turned into full grins. They had clearly been waiting for this moment. But what Krion noticed most of all was Lorissa’s bodyguard. The burly man had an uling look on his face, as if he was already hip-deep in bloodshed and violence.

  Redrek still stood motionless, his expression unreadable but his posture nervous. When they locked eyes, Krion got the sehat the hobgoblin was half-expeg him to step aside a Lorissa have him. He Redrek, and the hobgoblin’s shoulders slumped, his worst fears apparently revealed to be true.

  Krion quite ehe look of sho his face wheepped forward to e between the hobgoblin and Lorissa.

  “Redrek wants no part in this,” Krion said firmly. “We’re not here for yames. And our dinner is getting cold. If you’ve got a problem with him, find another way to settle it.”

  Lorissa didn’t flinch. “It’s too te for that,” she spat. “My challenge has been issued. That creature has no choice but to accept.”

  Krion turned back to Redrek, who still wasn’t speaking. The hobgoblin might not have wao fight, but Lorissa still wasn’t going to let him off the hook. So why wasn’t he saying anything?

  “Clearly it has frozen up in fright at the prospect of justice being served,” she barked, theured to her bodyguard. “Very well, bind him. We will take our duel elsewhere.”

  Before any of them could react, the rge man with the axe stepped forward, moving with surprising speed for someone his size. He reached out to grab Redrek by the arm, but the hobgoblin didn’t resist, only stiffening as the massive hand closed around his wrist.

  Without thinking, Krion’s hands ched into fists and he raised his arms. Hatsune had moved as well, her sword already halfway out of its scabbard, while Garran was only a moment behihough his eyes had tched onto Valdre, seeking dires.

  Kael was already lunging towards the other bodyguard’s side, dagger clearly exposed for all to see.

  “Enough!” bellowed a voice, loud and anding, and everyone froze, even the shadow elf though he was mid-thrust.

  Ordran stepped forward then, “Enough!” he said again, cleaver raised in the air. The force of his shout filled the room, and all eyes focused on the dwarveeran.

  “Ye want a duel?” Ordran said, looking at Lorissa. “Then ye will have it here, where it be witnessed by more than just yer group.”

  “Fine,” she spat, unrolling the scroll. Redrek clearly blinked as a System message appeared before him as the other s began to read.

  “The Duel of Submission is to be fought with fists until one party indicates they no longer wish to tinue. No ons. No magic. He have a champion if he is so cowardly, and if he wins, he may walk away one hundred gold richer, but if he loses, he’ll return to the dirt in the ground he calls home, leaving the Academy behind.”

  Pieces shifted and came together in his mind as Krion began putting things together. There was more to this than just a grudge, and based on how several of the ss with Lorissa were looking at him, he wasn’t the only one who khat. It ower py, not only to humiliate and send Redrek pag, but also to cut off some of the support Krion had begun gathering to himself here on campus. Even if The Ivory Banner would want Redrek sent away anyway, it was all still tied to Krion and his shadoith Chadwio, this wasn’t just a duel. They wao send a message.

  But Krion couldn’t afford to lose focus. He pushed thoughts of Chadwick away and turned all his attention to the immediate issue of Lorissa’s challenge. His thoughts were interrupted when she hahe scroll over to Ordran to firm the terms.

  “It’s authentic,” Ordran said, unamused. The dwarves sitting at the nearby tables, who had been watg the frontation in silence, began to murmur among themselves. Some exged uain gnces, while others whispered bad forth about the legitimacy of the duel.

  Ordran hahe scroll back to Lorissa, but the wiry woman wasn’t do. She fixed Krion and his friends with a smirk, her voice rising in volume. “Now, as we’re all gathered here, and the owner of this establishment has expressed his preferehe duel will take pce immediately,” she decred, her smirk showio believe she had already won. “Fortunate for us all, I’ve already arranged for a third-party referee to be present. A ral party, of course,” she added, eyes gleaming with mock siy.

  A thin, greasy-looking human man emerged from where he had been standing out of sight, in the middle of their group. He was dressed in a well-tailored but pinly unremarkable outfit, and he seemed almost bored as he came to stao Lorissa. His pale face was slick with a bit too much oil.

  “This is the ral referee?” rowled, stepping forward with a frowched deeply across his face. He crossed his arms, fingers still tight around the cleaver he held. “Ye’ve got to be jokin’. I know tha’ man, and he’s anythin’ but ral.”

  The supposedly ral referee gnced over at Ordran with a knowing glint in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything, choosing to stay silent.

  “Do you have a problem with my choice of referee, dwarf?” Lorissa asked, unbothered. Likely she thought that, as the only duel referee avaible, it did not matter what anyone else thought.

  Krion saw that Ordran was livid, but the dwarf kept his posure, though his at thied. “Aye, I’ve got a problem with ye bringin’ him into me tavern,” Ordran said, gesturing at the referee. “This man’s ken fer makin’… questionable choices when the blood’s runnin’ hot, aye. If it’s a fair fight yer after, ye’d be wise tae seek another. In fact,” Ordran turo point behind him, at the old dwarf that had harassed Krion earlier. “Old Vuldrin is also fit tae be a referee — an’ he’s a dwarf wi’ more honor in his pinky than this slimy wretch’ll ever see in a lifetime.”

  Lorissa’s gaze faltered for a moment, but then her smirk returned. “Vuldrin?” she asked, not expeg a response. “Why would he be needed, I’m sure the hobgobli care which referee oversees his defeat in the duel. Better to just be doh it.”

  “Vuldrin is who ye will use,” Ordran decred firmly over the half-hearted protests from the old, white-haired dwarf who was still sitting across the room. “If ye are duelin’ ‘ere iavern, it’ll be wi’ him as the referee, or there’s no duel at all.”

  Lorissa sidered Ordran’s response for a moment, clearly weighing the situation. Then, with a sharp nod, she turoward the greasy referee. “Fine. But only because we’re here and there’s no time to waste. Get on with it then.”

  At Ordran’s insistence, and Lorissa’s agreement, the greasy referee slinked bato the group of other ss.

  Redrek, finally showing some rea beyond his expression to what was going on, stepped forward, almnedly.

  “Very well,” Redrek said, ing to a stop in front of Lorissa, who gred at him with hate. “So long as Vuldrin agrees, I am ready.”

  “Fine, I’ll referee,” Vuldrin grumbled, after having walked over to the two groups fronting one another. He came to stao Ordran, and gred at the younger dwarf. “But don’t think for a moment that I’m happy to be involved. I expect my drinks to be on the house for the while.”

  I hope you ehis test chapter! ime, the fight!

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