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Meanwhile, Caithe deftly danced away from a morning star. The man who wielded it shrieked in frustration and swung at her face. Caithe dodged back and jabbed her dagger into the morning star’s chains, fouling them. She wrenched the weapon from the man’s hand and grabbed his throat. “You’ll be getting sleepy,” she warned as he went limp in her grip. She dropped him to the ground.

Beside the man fell two smoldering clubs, shorn off by Sohothin. The men who had held them moments before turned to run, but Rytlock kicked one into the other, and they crashed together to the ground.

“Anyone else?” the charr roared. “We got licks for all of you!”

The crowd stared back in terrified silence.

“Well, then, how about this?” Rytlock rammed Sohothin into the chain that bound the bear to the pole. Twisting, the charr shattered the chain, and the tormented grizzly was loose.

The onetime bravado of the crowd melted to terror. Screaming, they climbed over each other to get out the gate. The bear charged along the back of the crowd, snapping at them.

“We have to make sure he gets out of the city alive,” Caithe said.

Rytlock’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“What’s a grizzly going to do in a city?”

Rytlock watched the bear swipe at screaming spectators. “He knows exactly what to do.”

“He’s our responsibility, now,” Caithe said.

The charr’s claws slashed that idea from the air. “I’m not responsible for anybody but myself. I’m going to find a gate to the Black Citadel.”

Logan blocked his path. “About that gate—”

“What!” Rytlock roared.

“You can go through it, but you can’t take Rurik’s sword with you.”

“Here we go,” Rytlock said. Sohothin ripped through the air before Logan. “Just try to stop me.”

Logan flung out his hands, and a blue ball of energy deflected the blade. Wreathed in flame, the legendary blade swung back behind Rytlock. Logan smiled tightly. “We’ll see who stops whom.”

Caithe shook her head, stepping back.

Rytlock spread his arms and let Sohothin blaze above him. “We fight to the death after all!”

Logan stood his ground. “I don’t want to kill you. I don’t even want to hurt you. But, you can’t take that sword with you.”

“It’s my sword!”

“It’s Rurik’s sword! A human sword! You stole it from us just like you stole Ascalon.”

“You’re deluded.”

Blue aura erupted from Logan’s hands and swarmed across his hammer. He hauled it overhead to smash into the sand. A profound boom shook the bearbaiting den, flinging Rytlock backward against the half-wall. He smashed it to the ground.

“What are you doing?” Caithe shouted at Logan.

Rytlock roared as he climbed to his feet. “What he’s doing is picking out his burial plot.” He charged, and Sohothin fell like lightning.

Logan rolled away, flinging sand from his heels. Some of the grains flared like tiny meteors in Sohothin’s mantle. The sword chopped through another half-wall, igniting years’ worth of spilled spirits. Flames raced around the pit and leaped to the stands.

Scrambling along the base of the wall, Logan climbed to his feet and spun about, panting. “You’re as slow as an ettin.”

“You’re as thick as one.” Rytlock charged again.

Logan’s hand painted an arc of blue energy in the air before him. He staggered back as Rytlock thudded into the magical shield.

Arcane energy sparked across the charr’s front, but Sohothin cleaved through. It swept down at Logan.

Logan lunged to one side as the sword sliced past him. He whirled around and smashed his hammer into Rytlock’s wrist.

“Ah!” the charr shouted.

The blow sent Sohothin flying through the air. It spun just over Caithe’s head and embedded in one of the support beams for the upper boxes. Flames clambered up the wood.

As Logan’s mystic shield dissipated, Rytlock charged through it, gripping his broken wrist. “You’ll pay for that!”

Logan struggled to get his hammer between him and the charr, but Rytlock backhanded the weapon. It flew through the air, crashing through the back wall of the theater.