"Stay back," the man yelled. "Any closer, and the girl's dead."

  He had one arm wrapped tightly around her, the other holding the knife to her throat. Her bow and the last of her arrows had fallen to the ground at her feet.

  I held my hands up in the air. "We aren't moving. Let's talk this out."

  The man nodded to the half-buried Kurskin. "Free him, and then we'll talk."

  "No," Ersabet said. "We will talk now."

  Tara let out a yelp as the blade pressed against her throat. "Then she dies."

  "If she dies, you die," Ersabet said. "The only way you survive this day is by letting the girl go."

  "I ain't leaving without Chev. Dig him up, and you can have the girl."

  Ersabet held her hand out to me. "Give me a weapon."

  "You sure that's a good idea right now?" I asked in a whisper.

  "Do you have an idea?"

  I didn't. "No. My sword is ruined, but I do have this.” I held out the Elkhorn Dagger for Ersabet.

  "Hey!" The man pointed his blade at us. "One more move and she's dead!"

  Ersabet turned and walked toward Chev, who stared hatefully at the approaching Dalari.

  "Stop!" the man yelled.

  Ersabet didn't listen. With a careless grace, she swiped the dagger low and slashed deep across the Kurskin's throat.

  She turned back to Tara's assailant, whose mouth was agape, eyes staring in shock as a river of blood bubbled out of the gaping wound in Chev's throat.

  "It seems we must restart negotiations," Ersabet said. "Let her go, and I will let you live. It is your only way to be free of this.”

  He shook his head frantically, eyes full of panic. "You'll kill me no matter what."

  Ersabet crossed her arms, bloody dagger in one hand. "Why would I lie to a human?"

  "I know your tricks, Dalari. Deceivers. All of you." He spat on the ground. "No. No, I ain't going to fall for it." He pointed his dagger. "I'm takin' her with me. Insurance and all that. If you follow, I'll gut her."

  He began to walk backward, dragging Tara along with him. Ersabet took a step forward, and I reached out to stop her, but she slapped my hand away.

  I had to do something. Ersabet was pushing this too far. Tara's life was not worth betting on.

  There was a screech from above, and a flash of brown dive-bombed through the trees. The man looked up just in time to see the hawk's talons open wide in attack.

  I spun around and saw Kitz sitting up, holding the bars of the cage. He was looking directly toward Tara, but there was nothing but white in his eyes, as if they were rolled into the back of his head.

  Tara fell to the ground as the man tried to fight off the hawk while it raked and pecked violently at his face. She scrambled across the ground intently, and I realized she was going for her bow.

  Instead of grabbing the bow, however, she grabbed a single arrow. She stood and ran at the man as he cried out in pain. Tara let out a primal howl, and their screams mixed in horrible harmony before his cries were cut off by the arrow she had just jabbed into the side of his neck.

  The hawk raked his face one last time before launching itself back into the sky.

  The man punched weakly at the air and seemed confused to find that there was nothing there to hit. Then he raised the other hand to his throat and felt for the arrow.

  His bloody mouth opened in surprise. He stumbled backward and made a sound as if trying to speak before giving up and lying on his back.

  It took him longer to bleed out than the Kurskin, but still, it wasn't long. Tara watched as he passed before her. After he took his last breath, she slowly turned around and had a strange grin on her face. She looked…proud.

  Ersabet nodded to her. "You handled yourself well."

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  I spun on Ersabet. "What were you thinking? You could have gotten her killed."

  "The girl is not dead."

  "You can't gamble with our lives like that. She's only alive because of Kitz." I gestured to the kid in the cage, whose eyes were back to normal. There were tears in them.

  Frustrated despite the victory, I turned away from Ersabet and went about freeing Kitz. Instead of wasting time searching for a key, I found a rock and smashed the lock open. The brittle metal broke easily.

  Kitz crawled out of the cage and stood with his hands together in front of him and his eyes on the ground.

  "Thank you," he said.

  I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kitz. I haven't been able to stop the Hunters yet." The truth was I hadn't even tried.

  "But you saved me now." He finally looked up at me. "That counts for something."

  A notification appeared in my overlay, but I ignored it for now.

  I stepped to Kitz's side, hand still on his shoulder. "Kitz, this is Ersabet and Tara."

  His eyes dodged Ersabet and settled on Tara. "Hi. Thanks for helping.”

  Tara walked forward. "I think I should be the one saying thanks. That was your hawk, right?"

  Kitz smiled. "His name is Petrie." He looked sadly at me. "John killed his brother, but he didn't really mean to.”

  Tara put her hands on her hips. "You killed Petrie's brother?" She sounded very offended for Petrie.

  "There's no need to get into this," I said, waving the question away. "All that matters is that Kitz is safe."

  He was safe. For now. But what about tomorrow? Next week? There was a price on his head, and the Hunters wouldn't stop coming for him. I had to do something.

  Ersabet would help. She had no choice if she wanted her name to be etched into history next to mine, but I couldn't just kill every Hunter. I'm sure most of them were assholes back in the real world, but that didn't mean they deserved to die. Some of them were probably operating under a pre-programmed script, like Tara had been. There had to be a way for me to stop them without violence.

  "I'm going to figure something out, Kitz. I'll find a way to stop them." I looked at Tara and Ersabet. "We all will."

  Kitz's eyes darted to Ersabet and then to the ground. His hands played with the bottom of his ragged shirt.

  "You have the word of a Dalari, young one," Ersabet said. "We will help you. It is a promise that will not be broken."

  A small grin appeared on Ersabet's face, and her eyes went distant for a few seconds.

  There was no way to know for sure, but I thought she had just gotten the quest from Kitz. I squinted my eyes at her, wondering if she had meant her words or just said them to initiate a quest.

  "We can't just walk in there and kill them all, Kitz," I said.

  Ersabet's face crinkled. It seemed she disagreed.

  "It's going to take me a little more time to figure it out," I continued. "And until I do, you can't stay out here. It’s not safe." I gestured to the death around us. "They might come looking for their friends, and they're going to keep hunting you regardless. Come with us to Danver."

  He shook his head in negation and stepped away from me. "No. No, I can't go into a city. There are too many people there."

  "It would only be for a few days," I said. "I can’t do my job properly if I’m worried about you. I’ll find someone I can trust with you.”

  "What if someone finds out about me?" he asked.

  "You look like any other kid." I looked him up and down. Ignoring his dark, yellow eyes, he really did look like a normal kid. "You could use a bath and a change of clothes, though." I rubbed his messy hair. "You look a bit wild."

  Kitz still didn't say yes.

  "This is not up for debate, child," Ersabet said. "I will not have your death on my conscience."

  "You can trust us, Kitz,” I said. “And you don't have to talk to anyone. I'll get somewhere safe, and you can lock yourself in your room for a few days if you prefer.”

  "Will there be a window?" he asked meekly.

  I chuckled. "I’m sure we can get you a window.”

  After making sure Kitz wasn't injured and was comfortable around Ersabet and Tara, I swallowed my disgust and began to loot the bodies.

  Ersabet told me the only way I would get the Kurskin out was with a shovel, so I left him be, but I took the leather armor from the man who nearly killed me and took a spare set from the one that Ersabet handled.

  The man who nearly killed me also had a pair of leather bracers that I snatched, and I was surprised to find they weren't just an ordinary pair upon inspection.

  Duelists Bracers

  Typically, the person who dies first loses the duel. Don't be that guy. When engaged in single combat, you will receive a small increase to your overall stamina. We all want to last longer when in front of that special someone. Now you can.

  Not bad. I was in pretty good shape, but even that short fight had winded me. There was something different about combat. Maybe it was the mix of adrenaline and action that wore one down so quickly. These bracers sounded like a great buff to me. I put them on.

  I also took the sword from the other human. It wasn't anything special, but it would serve as a fine replacement for the one I destroyed. Unfortunately, the Kurskin's swords were buried. I bet they had some sort of buff on them.

  I opened the next notification.

  COMPETENCY UNLOCKED: SWORDSMANSHIP

  Your first real swordfight! How exciting! You sure sucked. Luckily, there’s plenty of room for improvement. One point has been added to the Swordsmanship Competency. Upon completion of Tier 1, all swords will be easier to wield. They will feel 1% lighter to you, but their weight and mass will remain unchanged under the system.

  This was a competency worth grinding. I’d have to find someone to practice with and see if that helped level it up. I clicked on another notification and learned that my Brawler Competency was now three-quarters of the way to Tier 1. One more fight, and I should unlock the passive ability that made my knuckles stronger.

  Lastly, I checked out that notification that popped when I was talking to Kitz.

  SUB-QUEST COMPLETE

  Bird of Prey

  You saved poor little Kitz from the bad guys! Good job, but he's not out of the woods yet. Here are some extra experience points.

  I watched my experience bar shoot up and top out at level five. I could now level up.

  ‘I'm impressed, Ethan,’ Val said. ‘Congratulations on not dying yet.’

  I rolled my eyes. “I'm unworthy of your praise.”

  'Finally, you say something I agree with.'