Kaldalis only had a second to be horrified about what was happening. The Contender had Heluna hostage, with his blades only an inch from her throat. As intent as he was to beat down the Contender no matter the cost, the priest had certainly found a cost that he was unwilling to pay.

The lie he immediately told himself was that he’d make the same hesitation no matter who the Contender threatened. NPC lives were precious. These were real people with real lives, and their deaths were irreversible in this world. Kaldalis would give his own a dozen times over to spare just one soul. Haldir was loss enough for one lifetime, and the encounter with his sister was something he never wanted to repeat.

But, of course, his feelings for Heluna meant that as much as he told himself that every life was precious, this life was more precious to him personally. She’d been his emotional anchor through a lot of struggles when he couldn’t depend on anyone else. Kaldalis didn’t know what would happen to his mental state if he watched her die right in front of him.

The Contender’s confident grin only grew wider at Kaldalis’s reaction. His fear was written plain across his face.

“I should have realized sooner,” the Contender said with a chuckle. “This is the key. This is how I subdue you.” One of his daggers inverted, gesturing down at Heluna’s body as the other inched closer to Heluna’s throat, the blade making contact with her gunmetal-gray skin to keep her still. “No surer downfall of man than woman.”

“Don’t do something you’re going to regret,” Kaldalis said, trying - and failing - to project the same confidence.

“How would I regret your surrender?” the Contender asked. “If you take another step, it will be you who kills her, even if my hand does the deed.”

Kaldalis swallowed hard. There weren’t a lot of options here. He could, obviously, throw down his spear and surrender, with plans to whip out his War Weapon sword and shield as soon as Heluna was safe. But that was reliant on the Contender being a massive idiot. Sure, he was delusional about his own importance, but that didn’t mean he would be foolish enough to let Heluna go as long as Kaldalis was a potential threat. She might become a pet on a tight leash for the rest of her life. Or, at least, the rest of Kaldalis’s life, since she was biologically likely to outlive him.

Of course, the most daring answer was the most distasteful. Kaldalis could test the Contender’s resolve. Advancing in the face of his threat would force him to either shit or get off the pot. Considering his obsession with the eventual “tale of his victory” it was possible that he might recognize that it would be a stretch for his execution of a hostage to be reframed as noble. And the delusion that caused him to see Kaldalis as a puzzle meant that if he called the Contender’s bluff, he might believe that Heluna wasn’t the key.

But could Kaldalis gamble his lover’s life on that chance?

As much as it was the boldest choice, and intelligently played into the Contender’s newly-revealed warped perspective, it wasn’t one Kaldalis could follow through on. His stomach was too weak to fight his heart, which increasingly insisted that the feelings he had for Heluna were the real thing.

But perhaps there was a way to split the difference.

“You shocked me for a second,” Kaldalis said to the Contender, “because I didn’t think you would stoop to something like this. But I know you’re not so dumb as to think this is a real threat.”

“Any means can be justified when they serve the Glorious One’s ends,” the Contender said too quickly, as if reciting a mantra. “And I believe you’re missing the part where my blades are on the throat of your dear friend.”

“Obviously I would prefer to spare her the torment,” Kaldalis said, doing a slightly better job of remaining audibly calm now that he had his plan. “But you know very well that I’ll be kissing her pains away in thirty minutes before your corpse is done cooling.”

The Contender tensed. The motion made Heluna hiss as the blade at her throat pressed a little tighter to her neck. The priest wasn’t the only one surprised by Kaldalis’s words, though. Heluna herself seemed shocked, and the friends who had been scattered by the Contender’s arrival were now openmouthed, looking back and forth between Kaldalis and the captive sailor.

It was obvious why. He’d just implied - if not outright stated - that Heluna was also a PC, and that her death would be pointless, as she would respawn.

“That’s not possible,” the Contender said firmly, though there was no certainty in his eyes.

“Do you really think someone like me could love someone like you?” Kaldalis said, putting on his biggest, fakest grin. “You underestimate the differences between our kinds.”

“She has records,” the Contender said, voice rising. “She was born in Zara. Her father is still alive. Three sisters and a brother, two of them living in Baimer.”

“As one of us, getting a job besides being an adventurer in Zara takes some work,” Kaldalis said with a shrug. “Your government hates us so much, this is really the only option. I’m impressed that whatever she did was good enough to fool even you, but it has to be that solid to pass.”

“I knew it,” one of Heluna’s friends said. Bastijn, the Vathon. “That explains so much.”

Kaldalis wasn’t sure if the sailor was seriously buying Kaldalis’s story, or if he was smart enough to catch on to the lie and was trying to help. Regardless, the uncertainty in the Contender’s expression grew much stronger. Heluna, obviously, knew the truth, and for her part was doing her best to visibly relax, even though she was potentially seconds from death.

“I would appreciate you letting her go,” Kaldalis said at last. “You could probably negotiate some terms for the conclusion of our battle to spare her the pain of resurrection. But if the only thing you demand is surrender, then no deal. Go ahead and do as you will. I’m just going to make sure it hurts the whole time I’m killing you. I am the vengeful sort.”

The Contender let that hang in the air for a long moment. His slit-pupiled eyes darted around the room as the silence stretched. Behind him, his tail lashed back and forth. Kaldalis could see that he was catching his breath from the mad dash across town, eliminating the advantage in endurance Kaldalis had held, but he couldn’t object. His all-consuming goal had shifted, and he would give up every advantage in the fight if he could get Heluna out of this alive.

“An honest fight, man to man,” the Contender said at last. “I discard the barbarism of this execution, and you discard the barbarism of your war weapon.”

Kaldalis wanted to accept immediately, but that could have tipped his hand. If he was too eager, the Contender might see through the ruse. If he honestly believed he couldn’t lose the fight, then Kaldalis’s threat might ring hollow. He had to believe that he was getting an advantage out of this that was integral to his noble victory.

“So we take this outside?” Kaldalis asked. “I put down my spear and you put down your blades and we try to kill each other like civilized people?”

“Or I could cut her throat before yours,” the Contender said. He made a show of putting both blades to her gunmetal-gray skin again.

Kaldalis had to take a moment to force himself to hesitate. Once more, snapping at the bait might make it obvious that he was the one waving bait at the Contender.

“I accept,” Kaldalis said. With deliberate slowness, he transferred his spear to his other hand. “Hold on to this for me,” Kaldalis said, tossing the spear to Bastijn.

The other Vathon scrambled to catch it, barely managing to get control of the weapon before hurting himself.

Slowly, the Contender pulled his daggers away from Heluna’s throat. Slowly, she reached up and put a hand to her flesh, as if in disbelief that the skin there was still unbroken.

“You first,” the Contender said, gesturing with one blade for Kaldalis to head for the door. “I’ll put my blades away once I can be sure you won’t attempt treachery.”

Slowly, Kaldalis backed away towards the door. The Contender followed with a healthy distance between, but kept one of his wavy daggers pointed back at Heluna, as if just pointing it at her was threat enough. As he pushed the door open to leave, he looked past the priest and at Heluna, who still looked stunned by her own survival.

From the look in her eyes when she looked up at him, Kaldalis got the impression that they were going to have a conversation about this later. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Obviously, she knew what he was, and he knew what she wasn’t. But he’d had to use some harsh words to convince the Contender on short notice.

Also, he had used the L word.

Maybe, if he was lucky, the Contender had a way to permanently kill him so that he wouldn’t have to answer for that slip.