Milius waited with bated breath. He held Palpatunde aloft, his fingers laced tightly around the hilt. Its amethyst was glowing brightly, and at the same time, his silvery armour was slowly repairing itself. The bars of the entrance directly opposite him slid open and his challenger entered the ring, his face half-hidden in shadows….

The crowd cheered more enthusiastically than ever before as his second opponent halted in front of him. But Milius’s arms went limp and fell to his sides. He was utterly confused, and, a little insulted…. The challenger had the head of a dolphin, but the body of a regular human. He carried no weapons and his eyes were wrapped firmly in a thick, blue cloth. Not only was this challenger empty-handed, it also seemed as though he was blind….

“A lesson, my young Knight," the king jeered, “that will take you quite far in your career if you make it out of here: never underestimate an opponent, no matter how they may appear at first glance. You've managed to defeat Dollop, but Nash is an entirely different character altogether ... Good luck.…”

Milius glared at Phontus, but he knew that he was right. Nash was obviously very dangerous, otherwise Phontus wouldn't have chosen him. But Milius couldn't see for the life of him what he should fear from a blind, unarmed dolphin-man hybrid.

A third droplet of water came soaring to the ground. Milius retreated as far as he could to the other side of the arena, stuck his blade into the sand, and crouched, gripping the hilt firmly while raising his shield, which had been replaced upon his arm. Milius heard Nash cry out, and his head was submerged…. He waited for the water to disappear, then sprang up, brandishing Palpatunde fiercely.

But the scene that met his eyes left him more confused than ever…. The challenger was gone.

The crowd, Phontus among them, was laughing, but there was no mirth in their voices. Milius, however, didn't need their leers to know that he was in trouble … he could feel it…. Quite literally —

The entire arena was vibrating. Before he had a chance to even move, a massive ball of sand, as hard as an actual stone, pelted up from between his feet and struck him squarely in the chin, causing him to spiral through the air. He had lost track of how many times now he had had the wind knocked out of him … How he wished Palpatunde had come with a wind shield as well….

He got up, massaging his jaw beneath his fractured visor, and glared at the arena floor. That at least answered the question of where Nash had gone. He had somehow slipped underground.

This put Milius at yet another extreme disadvantage: Palpatunde’s ability only worked in close range. If his enemy could stay underground, he would have no chance of hitting him and ending the match. Nash could simply launch continuous attacks from beneath the surface, completely out of Milius's reach….

Wait ... no he couldn't…. The king's words boomed in his mind, as loudly as if he had actually screamed them at him from the stands: “But still, we are sea creatures. We need the water….”

Nash couldn't possibly stay underground for so long. He would have to surface eventually.

The rumbling suddenly became more violent beneath his feet; he leapt forward, darting off as another barrage of rocks came shooting into the air. They were bursting up as soon as his feet touched the ground, forcing him to duck aside with every leap —

The ground shifted to his right, and a massive wave of sand came rushing at him. He dodged another ball of sand and leapt onto the wave, then flipped forward, rolling back onto his feet.

The assault stopped and Milius glanced up. He couldn't wait for another droplet to fall on its own ... If he could somehow force one of them to fall, he could lure Nash out…. Struck by a sudden and possibly very stupid idea, he seized a handful of sand, molded it into a ball, took careful aim, and flung it as hard as he could at the bubble farthest from him.

To his immense surprise, the bubble wobbled, then crashed and burst. This time he allowed himself to be swept away with the tide, but managed to break the surface before he crashed into the wall; he rode the wave to the highest point of the wall that he could reach and pierced the spot, then hung off of Palpatunde, watching closely….

His jaw dropped, not because his plan had worked, however, but because, as the water disappeared entirely for the fourth time, he was struck by a sudden, deeply unsettling revelation…. It couldn't be, he thought, horrified.

“Oho!” Phontus cried, sounding quite delighted. “So you've figured it out, eh? Yes, Dragonknight, when the water vanishes from the arena, it gathers below the sand. Meaning as long as the bubbles keep falling, Nash has no reason to surface, as he has his own water supply beneath the arena floor.” He gave a short, booming laugh, which his subjects promptly joined in on.

Milius heaved Palpatunde free of the wall and landed, gritting his teeth, his heart now pounding against his chest. He had just lost the only way he knew that he could possibly beat Nash. But he didn't have time to feel bitter — all around him, enormous clumps of sand started launching into the air again, as though a large invisible magnet was hovering above, pulling them up.

He dashed around frantically, leaping and hefting his shield. By the time the assault ended he had been hit in several places, including his chest, which made breathing quite painful. He stopped again. His breath was coming in short, sharp gasps. He needed a new plan … but what could he do?

The image of Nash flashed in his mind again, blind and weaponless…. No, he had entered the ring empty-handed, but he was far from unarmed. The entire floor was one large weapon for him. His blindness, however, was another thing.... If he were blind, how was he tracking Milius so easily? Think, he thought desperately. What did he do when he came in...? He racked his brain, trying to remember. The only thing Nash had done after entering the ring was disappear…. Disappear, at the same time that Milius had heard a strangled sort of screech….

Another clump of rock shot up, sending him spinning once more … but not before the pieces had fitted themselves together in his mind. He had a plan … but would it work…?

And suddenly, as he struggled to his feet, the arena floor started swirling, as though an enormous drain had been pulled from beneath the surface and the sand was being funneled out. Milius moved with both nimbleness and desperation, launching himself onto any spot that he thought could hold his weight, leaping toward level ground like a mountain goat….

Miraculously, he escaped, and he quickly launched the first phase of his new plan. He rushed to the edge of the arena, dodging sinkholes that were randomly appearing around him, and jumped as high as he could, plunging the blade into the wall and hanging from the sword as he had done earlier. The sand floor levelled at once. If he was correct, Nash could no longer detect him….

So far it was working — sand projectiles had stopped flying — but he would have to wait a few more minutes at least before he could set the rest of his scheme into motion. His brain was determined to carry out his new idea, but his limbs were protesting valiantly. “Come on,” he pleaded with his arms. “Just a few more minutes….”

And though his arms were screaming for release, though another bubble had fallen and the waves slammed into him, he held on…. Even the crowd had gone silent, watching closely. All around him, rocks began to shoot from the ground again. Several rained down on Milius, but he managed to stay in place, even succeeding in catching one of the stones. Unfortunately, he couldn't hold on much longer. It would have to be soon….

And at last, Nash’s head broke the surface. This was it! Nash shrieked at the wall opposite Milius, and Milius, moving with incredible speed, flung the ball of sand as hard as he could, at the same time dislodging Palpatunde and leaping to the ground. Nash cried out in pain as the sand collided with his head, and Milius seized his chance. As Nash turned angrily in the direction that the stone had been thrown from, Milius leapt forward and tackled him. The sand coating his skin, along with the ruggedness of Milius's own Dragonknight armour, made it surprisingly easy to hold him. And though he struggled, though he thrashed desperately, though he shrieked pitifully, Milius held him. He gave a tremendous tug and the dolphin-man was uprooted from the sand.

At this, Milius sank the tip of Palpatunde into his leg. Nash screeched even more desperately, trying to dig his way back into the sand, but all in vain. The sword was doing its work. He was weakening….

Finally, he went limp, and Milius quickly withdrew the sword. The guards came bustling into the arena again. Milius stepped back as they retrieved Nash; several of them eyed Palpatunde apprehensively, as though afraid that Milius would attack them as well, then they hurried out.

The walls shook with the tumultuous applause and cheering that he was receiving. He couldn't help but grin. Only one was left….

“I'm curious,” Phontus said, and the crowd went silent once more, “how did you figure it out?”

“Some of it was guesswork,” Milius said, smirking, “since there's obviously magic involved. But, he is still part dolphin. The fact that he was blind gave it away. He sees using sound waves. And something you said helped, too.”

“Me?” Phontus said, raising his eyebrows.

“The water gathers below the sand, remember? He felt the vibrations made in the water when I moved. Normally, sand wouldn't transmit them very well, so that would be where the magic comes in. But if I stayed in the air, where he couldn't feel any vibrations from below, he would have to surface to try to find me again. And I knew that's when I had to attack — when I was ‘invisible.’ The rest was simple: get him before he went back underground.”

Phontus clapped slowly, but no one else did. The remaining spectators were gazing at Milius in either awe or disbelief. “My, my, my, I'm impressed,” Phontus said. “If all the other Knights are anything like you, then I'm in no doubt that you'll go on to do great things…. I'm dying to see how you'll manage this next one....”

Milius turned and waited again, watching to see which entrance the third challenger would approach from…. But he saw nothing.

When more than a minute had passed and his challenger had still not appeared, he turned back to Phontus. “Wait, where is — ?”

WHAM!

He was sent reeling once more. Palpatunde soared out of his grasp and came to rest some twenty feet away from him.

“Wha —” he spluttered, staring around. There was still no one in sight.... Another underground opponent…? No. Nash had launched earthen attacks, and the sand around Milius looked entirely smooth. He could also feel rumbling when Nash was moving around below. This enemy was on land….

As though to confirm his suspicions, his sword suddenly rose from where it had landed and whisked away to the opposing wall, where it began to carve something into the sand…. A crude smiley face….

Of course, Milius thought bitterly, of course his opponent was invisible.