The half-drow studied the whole globe for only a heartbeat or two before he nodded.
"I have it now," Azriim said. He looked up and took a step toward Riven, then another.
Dark! Jak knew then that this was going to go bad. He alit on the ground only a short distance behind Vraggen—he wanted the leverage afforded by solid earth under his feet. He stalked forward, as silent as a tomb.
Riven sensed it too, but he was caught in the no-man's-land between the easterner and the woman on the one hand, and Vraggen and Azriim on the other. Jak saw that Riven's knuckles were white around his saber hilt.
The easterner and the woman also took a step toward him, cutting off his avenue to Cale.
Dolgan looked at Vraggen, looked at Cale, looked back to Vraggen. He reminded Jak of a Calishite racing shorthorse waiting to lunge from the stable.
Jak continued to close on the mage. Five strides. Four.
Vraggen smiled mirthlessly—a tight hard line that looked nearly a grimace—and said, "Our business is concluded, Cale."
Three strides. Two. One.
"So now you die," said Vraggen.
The mage grabbed an iron rod from an inner pocket of his cloak and began to incant.
Jak drew back his blades to strike.
"Now!" he shouted, and drove his steel with a snarl into the blurred image of the mage.
His invisibility spell instantly dispelled as he attacked. His dagger found only air, but his short sword bit into flesh and grated against ribs. Jak shoved it home, burying half the blade into Vraggen's ribcage. The magical words on the mage's lips gave way to a surprised gasp and a grunt of pain. He collapsed to his knees, dropping the sphere. Jak pulled back his dagger and stabbed hard for the spot right beside his short sword—
—and Vraggen vanished with a soft pop. Air rushed to fill the void the mage had just vacated. The momentum from Jak's stab sent him off balance but he caught himself with a fist on the wet ground.
Contingency spell, his mind registered. Vraggen must have pre-programmed a transport spell to teleport him away if he was badly wounded. Blast and burn!
Combat exploded around him.
Riven tossed Ren to the ground and jerked his other saber from it scabbard, just as the easterner and the woman rushed him with blades held high. Riven, not waiting to be flanked, bounded left and met the woman's charge with one of his own. His blades whirled so fast they hummed.
Taken aback by Riven's onslaught, the woman tried to abort her charge. She slipped on the rain-slick grass and fell. Riven took one cut at her but she rolled aside with only a nick. Before he could try another, the easterner was upon him.
Meantime, Dolgan lunged forward, axe held high, and took an overhand swing at Cale that could have split a fence post. Cale thumped the axe's haft with his long sword and knocked Dolgan's blow off line, all the while mouthing the words of a spell. The axe buried itself in the wet grass and soil.
Dolgan recovered quickly, released one hand from his axe, and flashed a punch to Cale's chest. The blow knocked Cale back a step but he somehow managed to finish his incantation and grab Dolgan by the wrist with a hand glowing red and charged with power.
The big man's arm seemed to explode from the inside. Gashes erupted on his skin and blood poured from the holes. The bones of his forearm twisted and broke. He screamed, dropping his axe and clutching his spell-wracked arm. Cale stepped past him, stabbing him through the side as he did.
Eyeing the woman as she regained her feet, Cale began again to incant.
Jak caught motion from the corner of his eye—Azriim. He spun to face the half-drow just in time. Azriim's long sword cut a path for Jak's throat. Jak leaped back, deflecting the blow with his short sword. Iron rang on iron. Azriim lunged forward, dropped low, and stabbed for Jak's gut. Jak barely managed to slap the stab aside, though it skinned his ribs. Wincing, he danced backward and tried to open some space to allow him to cast, but the half-drow followed up immediately. A stab. A slash. Another. Another. Jak's arm went numb. Azriim was far stronger than his size would indicate.
Desperate to buy himself a few heartbeats, Jak threw his dagger. The half-drow dodged aside but the small blade nicked him in the abdomen. If it harmed the half-drow, he showed no sign. Jak pulled his holy symbol and hurriedly incanted a spell that would hold Azriim immobile.
Nothing!
The half-drow grinned at him with those perfect teeth and rushed forward, blade high.
Jak backstepped as fast as he dared on the wet grass. He shot a glance to his right.
"Cale!" the halfling called. "Help!"
Cale was just finishing his own spell and he showed no sign of having heard Jak. He pointed a finger at the easterner dueling Riven. The easterner emitted a grunt and suddenly froze in mid-lunge, knees bent, falchion thrust forward. Jak saw that both Riven and the easterner already had taken and given several slashes.
"End it," Cale commanded Riven, and in his cold voice Jak heard no pity.
Without a moment's hesitation, Riven swatted the easterner's falchion from his grasp and stabbed him through the chest with both sabers. He jerked them free with a flourish. Blood fountained from the wounds.
Cale moved to engage the woman and Jak could watch no more. Azriim was upon him again. The half-drow unleashed an overhand slash at Jak's head. Jak stuck his short sword in its path but the impact of the blow drove the edge of his own blade back into his face and opened a cut above his eye. Blood flowed down his face. He grunted, spun aside, and lashed out with a vicious stab. Azriim sidestepped it and swung his blade in a crosscut. Jak ducked beneath it just in time and danced back, but too slowly. Azriim's boot clipped his forehead and a stab took him in the shoulder. Sparks exploded in his brain, pain in his arm. His vision went blurry and he went down, flat on his back and looking up at the sky. Rain pelted his face. He wanted to jump to his feet but his body wouldn't answer.
In that moment, Jak knew he was going to die.
The half-drow appeared over him, his mismatched eyes devoid of emotion. He took a two handed reverse hold on his long sword—an executioner's grip. Jak tried to call for Cale but the blow to his head had left him able only to inaudibly mouth the words.
He forced himself to keep his eyes open. He would see death when it came.
Azriim lifted his blade high, held it for a half a heartbeat, stabbed down—
—Riven appeared from nowhere and at a full run slammed his shoulder into Azriim's unprotected ribcage. Jak heard bones crack. The half-drow grunted and his breath blew from his lungs. The stab that would have killed Jak instead pierced only the earth beside him.
Though the blow from Riven should have flattened Azriim, he somehow kept his feet, rolled with the impact, and tossed the assassin from him with a strength that his slight frame should not have possessed. Riven landed five strides away, rolled, and leaped up. He shot the half-drow a hard grin and whirled his blades.
"Try something a little bigger, prig," Riven challenged.
Azriim, bent and gasping from the broken ribs, looked to his left to where Cale fought with the woman. Jak followed his eyes.
Without the easterner's speed or Azriim's strength, the woman was no match for Cale's bladework. Already she bled from several wounds. Cale lunged in, feinted high, drew her blade up, and abruptly stabbed low. The steel skinned her hip and she stumbled. Cale followed with an overhand blow that would have opened her throat had she not stuck an arm in its path. Cale's blade sank deep into her forearm. She screamed and as she did, her voice deepened, became more bestial.
She began to change.
Her body grew taller, and thickened. Her nose and mouth expanded and she offered a mouth full of fangs. Her hands lengthened, and her fingers birthed claws. Her alabaster skin turned darker, and began to grow ridges, scales.