Maisen lazily pulled out Jiang, her magical sword. The sword detected the presence of many Chaotic beings in close proximity, and the blade started to vibrate in her hand, emitting a slight hum. "Yes, Peng, we know," the warrior laughed at the late warning by the spirit of her former friend trapped within the sword. Seeing that the bloodthirsty heir of the dojo had decided to take the point to fight the leader of the drow, Maisen slid further back along the left side of the wagon.

Wordlessly, Sankryn moved over to the rear of the pull cart, leaving his best friend Giudot to cover the right side.

I was tempted to let go of the bar handle of my pull cart and grab my own scabbard to join the fight.

As if Kalistra had eyes behind her head, she barked out an order. "Lawrence, you're not engaging with these drows. Your mission is to take the cart and head north. We will clear a path for you soon enough," she said confidently.

Khaz laughed at the cat girl's bravado. "I think this little kitty is taking us too lightly. Your friends had trouble defeating just three of us yesterday. What makes you think you can escape?" she asked.

"You and your friends must be new arrivals to our town, mistress dark elf. Because you are now facing the best fighter in Tregome," the cat girl replied calmly. Kalistra refused to allow the elf to distract her with silly taunts.

"Did you hear that?" Khaz asked aloud and received laughter in response from her men. "How can a little play thing like you claim to be the best fighter? No, I think that fine looking warrior in plate mail holds the honor of best-in-town. And I fought her to a draw yesterday," she quickly added.

"Are you going to tell her or not, Maisen?" the cat girl hissed in displeasure. She absolutely hated being looked down upon and it was driving her mad! Peace and tranquility, Kalistra!

"Oh, fine," Maisen replied as she understood why the cat girl was becoming upset with the drow leader. "Khaz 'Orhea, you have the pleasure of meeting my former instructor, Kalistra, Heir to the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship and a former Champion of the Master Division of the Melee Tournament," she introduced Kalistra formally.

Kalistra's tail waggled back and forth in satisfaction. It was about time her former student made the proper introduction. Too bad Maisen had resigned from the dojo, or else the heir could make her former student clean Moff's mini-pool as punishment for this delay.

Upon hearing the titles attached to her opponent, the dark elf blinked her eyes in disbelief. How could this tiny girl be even mightier than the human fighter? "I look forward to teaching you a thing or two about true swordsmanship," Khaz grinned and saluted with her blades.

"We will see who teaches who," Kalistra replied after reciprocating the salute. In the blink of an eye, she executed the "Charge" technique and slammed her blade in a deadly, downward arc toward the dark elf's skull.

Khaz barely had time to react before her twin scimitars met the sword. However, the overwhelming strength and power behind the attack forced the dark elf down to one knee. And it took all of her strength to prevent the long sword from reaching her head. Suddenly, the drow turned her hips and knees to the left in unison; she used the scimitars to deflect the sword strike to the left. Fully expecting the little kitty to be overextended with her arms, Khaz thrust her two swords toward her opponent's chest.

Pang!

In an incredible display of her tremendous speed, Kalistra immediately offered a backhand cut with her sword. Again, her overwhelming strength knocked the scimitars aside. The former tournament fighter immediately used her opening to reverse sweep her blade downward, cutting her opponent's overextended right leg.

The drow leader hissed in surprise at the pain in her leg. But her mental discipline and fighting experience allowed Khaz to ignore the wound. She immediately pivoted with her wounded leg and swung out with her left heel, hoping to catch the powerful opponent in the chin. Alas, her opponent was too experienced with dirty fighting techniques to fall for this trick and quickly hopped back for a temporary retreat.

I watched the duel between Kalistra and Khaz with great amazement, envy, and also a sense of helplessness. Both were outstanding fighters even to my untrained eyes. They were able to switch between offense and defense fluidly. Furthermore, both warriors seemed very much in control no matter the situation over the course of the fight.

It bothered me a lot to witness such great swordsmanship on display because I knew that in order for me to reach their level, I will need to forfeit my pursuit of the crown and dedicate the rest of my life to the way of the sword. The sacrifices were far too great for me. Henceforth, I could not keep my eyes off the two swordswomen because I suspected that my next opportunity to watch such excellent swordsmanship will be far off in the future.

Furthermore, I marveled at both the aggressiveness and ferocity that my master was displaying during this fight. It was one thing for the fickle cat girl to play mean tricks on me and pretend that it was part of my "training." But from the way she was fighting now, against a skilled swordswoman, it was evident that Kalistra had been treating me with kid gloves. And this realization hurt my pride as a man because she felt the need to hold back in order to avoid hurting me.

Confident that Kalistra will eventually win this duel against a troublesome but less talented opponent, I turned my head to the left to see what Captain Maisen was doing. Again, I was surprised by what I saw. It had been barely a minute into the fight, but the mighty warrior had already claimed two lives. I saw that Maisen was now taking on SEVEN drows by herself! This meant that her underlings, Giudot and Sankryn, were facing one dark elf each.

A part of me was relieved because neither Watchman was skilled enough to handle more than one such opponent. Thus, the likelihood that either man will win his individual battle and then assist their Captain will increase. I wouldn't be surprised if that WAS the plan that Maisen had cooked up because she was going out of her way to taunt her opponents.

"Is that the best you can do?" "Who's elf enough to avenge those two mongrels on the ground?" "You boys should just give up now and run off like you did yesterday." The captain was constantly taunting her opponents as she held her ground in front of the side of the pull cart; she was smartly using the cart to cover her back.

I was both embarrassed and fascinated by my former bodyguard's antics. Embarrassed because her taunts were so childish! Fascinated because Maisen was definitely getting under their dark skins. Her opponents were continuing to take hacks at their tormentor but as time wore on the dark elves seemed to bump into each other more often.

When Maisen's face turned in my direction briefly, I saw the vicious grin on her face. It confirmed my suspicion of her strategy: she was merely buying time for her comrades to finish off their individual fights and then assist her.

In another minute, the inevitable occurred. Apparently, winning their own battles, the two Watchmen appeared in my view and started attacking the remaining drows from behind. Two of the dark elves were run through the chest with the Watchmen's blades before the rest of them became aware of additional human opponents in their midst.

I winced at the way Giudot and Sankryn coldly stabbed their victims from behind. It was less than honorable for them to do so. However, one could easily argue that the dark elves brought this on themselves by arranging for a twelve-on-five ambush. Furthermore, from the way the two men were recklessly fighting the drow, I suspect that this fight was personal to them in some way. Perhaps, Giudot and Sankryn had families of their own in Tregome, and the threat of the drow as child kidnappers was hitting too close to home for these men.

Seeing her plan come to fruition, Captain Maisen suddenly switched from defense to offense. She took a big swing at a drow standing with his back toward Giudot's opponent. Her opponent managed to ward off Maisen's attack, but the force of the blow knocked the dark elf back—right into Giudot's opponent.

The other drow became momentarily distracted and this was all that Giudot needed to stab the elf through the gut. The victor put his foot on the defeated elf's chest and coldly pulled the bloodied blade out. Before the other drow could turn around, Giudot stabbed Maisen's opponent in the back.

Maisen nodded to her underling in acknowledgment of his kills, and the two quickly turned their attention to the remaining drows.

Turning my attention back to the duel between Kalistra and Khaz, I saw that the two had changed position so that the drow leader was now in front of me while the cat girl was facing toward me. I saw that my instructor did not receive even a single cut, while Khaz was not faring as well since she had multiple cuts on her arms and legs.

From her vantage point, Kalistra saw the shorter Watchman taking out a few drows. She was impressed by his teamwork with her former pupil. After Maisen and the taller Watchman each scored another kill, the cat girl spoke up again. "You're down to half your men now. And you haven't landed a single hit on me. What will you do now?" she taunted.

Khaz 'Orhea dropped her scimitars and started cackling like a mad elf. She slapped her chest and something started pulsating from under her clothing. The dark elf suddenly turned around and dived toward me!

Oh, no! I suddenly realized what she planned to do. But alas, I was surrounded by the trappings of the pull cart and I wasn't fast enough to drop to the ground and roll away to safety.

I watched helplessly as the would-be suicide bomber came closer and closer to me with each millisecond. I saw Kalistra trying to reach me but she was too far back to save me in time.

Abruptly, I felt a whoosh of the wind and a short figure shrouded in a blue cloak stood between me and my impending doom. I heard a whisper, "Null palm."

I saw the surprised look on Khaz 'Orhea's face before her entire body was disintegrated into ash. Seeing the threat to my life was gone, I said to my rescuer, "Thank you."