Sarah and a fleet of pixies made their way from the Picky Pixie to the large field where they had set up the tournament.

  By sunset the list had grown to over a hundred competitors. Most groups had two large, burly creatures but not all. She had seen a group of two small dwarves, as well as a twosome of the spidery arachadons. Nearly all the competitors were male unsurprisingly. She had also seen the occasional burly female troll. One twosome was composed of a tough-looking rock troll with a slender female who looked familiar for some reason.

  The pixies had worked continuously. Stout rope created a circle in the center of the field. The dirt outside the circle had been colored bright blue with dye. The dirt inside the circle remained brown. Several pixies cast a spell on the ground for the night. If anyone inside the circle touched the ground outside, the blue dirt would stick to them and make it obvious that they had been outside the circle. Thus, judgment would be easy.

  As Sarah approached the tournament field, she gawked at the crowd. Thousands of people stared, as she entered the circle. People made a twilight picnic out of the impromptu competition. As she neared the center of the field, the crowd became silent.

  Large torches blazed on the edges of the circle, illuminating the field. Sarah had never spoken to such a large group of people. She had created the tourney just to prevent the store from being robbed; now it had spiraled out of control. She took a breath to slow her racing heart, no help for it now.

  “Thank you all for coming to the Picky Pixie Jewelry tournament,” she said. The crowd erupted in cheers. She held up her hands, and the cheers died down. “This tournament is to find two guards for our new facility. But more than this comes with winning.” As she spoke, a group of pixies flew into the circle with a sparkling golden necklace. It was much smaller than the Nautilus, but it had its own simple elegance that radiated beauty. The necklace had been polished to the point where it positively glowed.

  A shocked silence came over the crowd as the necklace flew overhead. The pixies then made a sweep over the heads of the onlookers as a chorus of oohs poured out. Sarah was sure that the rumors about the Nautilus would have grown by now.

  “As you can tell, this is quite a unique piece. It has a gentle intricacy and is imbedded with pixie magic, as is all jewelry from the Picky Pixie. This, of course, only adds to the value of the incredible pieces there,” she said. “Certainly a great piece for the contestants getting second place.”

  Murmurs broke out instantly throughout the crowd; most had thought this piece to be the Nautilus. A second fleet of pixies flew over the crowd with the Nautilus. One of the pixies had used her magic so that it actually cast its own light. The luminescence from the piece of jewelry mesmerized the crowd. The crowd burst into applause, as the piece was paraded over their heads. The roar grew and made its way back to the center near Sarah. The buzz over the Nautilus remained in the air, as Sarah continued.

  “This is how the tournament will work,” she said, as the pixies unveiled a chart on a huge canvas. “Each team of two will compete against another team. The goal is to get the other team outside the circle by whatever means possible. However, there will be no weapons and no killing. Other than that, use whatever means you desire. As soon as a competitor is pushed from the circle, they are out for that round. But, the round continues until both members of a team are pushed outside the circle. If you win a round, you will continue. If you lose, you are out of the tourney.

  “There are two judges. I am the first, and Jenny is the other,” she said. In response to this, Jenny flew over their heads and zoomed around the periphery of the roped-off area in a dazzling display of flying. “Our ruling is final. Other than this, let the best team win!” she shouted, and the crowd again burst into a roar. Sarah announced the first two teams. Jenny flew into the center of the circle as four burly men came together. She gave them a “One, two, three” to begin, and they went at it.

  The initial battles ended quickly. This was a good thing, since there were over a hundred teams competing. Shortly after the first few battles, spectators created a large board of teams that was displayed for the entire audience.

  Seemingly from nowhere, booths popped up. Some sold trinkets; others sold food. One man kept screaming “Taters! Taters! Taters!” over and over. Somehow, despite the roar of the crowd, his voice could always be heard, and he had an endless supply of piping-hot potatoes that he sold out of his sack. On the back of his tunic was written Potato Man.

  Many of the teams simply attacked the other teams, but brute strength often lost to cunning. Tricking opponents to attack and then tripping them out of the circle seemed a common tactic. As the competitors watched, teams quickly learned to adjust to different strategies.

  The tourney began with 128 for the first round, and then 64 would be left. After that, 32, then 16, then 8, then 4, then the final 2 would remain. Thus, 7 rounds would be fought by the winning team. To get to this point, over 100 rounds of fighting had to commence.

  The crowd cheered as a twosome entered the ring for the first time—a bear of a man named Mullet and a lanky, sinewy fellow named Kevin. Their competition consisted of one grizzled female wood troll and a young man of medium build.

  Sarah started the round from the sidelines. Mullet walked deliberately toward the center of the ring, then turned and faced the troll. His lanky partner Kevin seemed almost uninterested in the fight and remained near the side. Kevin had a long stalk of wheat hanging from the corner of his mouth that he chewed idly.

  Kevin held a cupped hand to his ear, and the crowd responded in cheers. Mullet ignored the crowd completely. In a flash Mullet sprinted toward the troll. He swept out the legs under his opponent with a fierce low kick. While the body fell toward the ground, he continued to spin and landed a kick to the dropping body. Though enormous, the man moved like a cat, swift and precise. The creature cried out in pain, as he landed in a heap outside the ring.

  “Out!” said Sarah from the sidelines. The crowd cheered.

  The remaining lad looked nervously at Mullet. He then charged Kevin, still relaxing near the edge of the ring. The man punched with rapid, desperate swings. Kevin easily avoided the blows. Over and over the man swung. Kevin hardly appeared to be trying, but the blows never hit him, despite his proximity to his opponent.

  The man circled Kevin and continued to attack. Finally Kevin grabbed his opponent’s arm in midpunch and gracefully pulled forward. The man continued to come at him, but Kevin smiled and pointed. His opponent was outside the ring.

  The crowd clapped, as the duo smiled and exited the ring.

  “Them be good,” Marl said to Marie.

  “Indeed. They dress like commoners, but both seem to be quite adept,” she said.

  “Me just say that,” Marl said.

  Marie and Marl had been placed at the bottom of the bracket. This gave them the opportunity to observe most of the competition. A duo of arachadons easily dispatched their opponents with rapid kicks, as well as some thread from their spinnerets. Having eight legs on the ground made it quite difficult to tell where they were going.

  As Marie walked into the ring, several in the crowd jeered at her dainty frame. The crowd quickly became silent as the massive rock troll entered as her second. Two broad men stood opposite them in the ring. The silence was broken by a scream of “Taters! Taters! Taters!” from Potato Man, but the cheers immediately returned.

  As soon as he heard “Fight!” Marl sprinted toward one of the men. His training with Marie showed. He landed a barrage of blows on the first man, before the second even had a chance to help. The first fell out of the ring in an unconscious heap, as the crowd came alive, seeing the quick rock troll. They had anticipated a lumbering fight, not the rapid staccato assault that Marl had performed. The second man rushed Marl. He bounced backward, before the man could land a punch. Marl charged, burying his rocky shoulder in the man’s stomach. His shoulder then expanded outward as his arms disappeared into his body, heaving the man from the ring. He looked back and smiled at Marie. She had not moved. Marl seemed quite pleased with himself, winning the round without Marie’s assistance.

  Suddenly the first man out of the ring returned and swung a metal-tipped hammer into Marl’s side. Marl bellowed in pain and collapsed to his side. The man stood above him. He tried to pull the weapon from Marl’s side but was unable to do so. Before the man could land another blow, the lanky Kevin appeared out of nowhere. Kevin punched the man repeatedly and rapidly in the face. His arms blurred when he struck. The man lay in an unconscious heap on the side of the ring as the crowd cheered.

  Marie ran to Marl.

  “You okay?” she said.

  “Oi! Why he hit me when round done? He be cheat, right?” he said to Marie, as she helped him limp out of the ring.

  “He be a big cheat, Marl, but I think you’ve got bigger problems,” she said, pointing at the hunk of metal sticking out his side.

  “That not fair.” Marl grunted.

  “We need to go to the clinic. I’m sure Cameron can get you fixed up.”

  “We no have time for that. We have next round to fight,” he said.

  “Marl, I don’t know if you’re in any condition—”

  “Me fine! You punch me more than that in field. I rock troll, not wood nymph!”

  Marl gasped for air. A horrid sucking noise came from his side with each breath. Marie had seen him take blows before but not from a war hammer. She helped him to the sidelines, and they hobbled away from the crowd.

  The weapon protruded from his side, oscillating with each breath.

  “You stay here. I’ll get Cameron. It’s after sundown, so hopefully he can come without any difficulty,” Marie said.

  Marie ran toward the clinic. She guessed the clinic to be a league from the field, but she had no other way to get there.

  Halfway to the clinic, she let out a sigh of relief. Jayde and Cameron had decided to come to the match, and she met them about a half league from the field.

  “Hey there, Marie!” Jayde said. “How’d the fight go? Did you guys lose already or something?”

  “Have a little faith in us, Jayde,” said Marie. “We won our first match, but after that our opponent took a cheap shot at Marl.” She then looked over to Cameron. “Our competitors thought having a rock troll that was not a lumbering idiot was unfair, so after the match they clubbed him.”

  “What’d they use?” Cameron asked.

  “A war hammer. I didn’t see the attack, but it’s buried in Marl’s chest,” she said.

  “I’ll go grab my supplies. Take Jayde, and I’ll meet you there,” said Cameron.

  Marie and Jayde ran back to where Marl rested. Despite having to run back to the clinic to grab his supplies, Cameron still arrived with them. He let out a low whistle, and Marl groaned. Jayde, who hadn’t recovered from her garbage-induced nausea, immediately excused herself to the closest bush. A metal spike protruded from Marl’s side. If that club had hit Marie as it had hit Marl, she would be dead. His natural stone armor deflected much of the blow. Marl’s breathing continued to quicken.

  “Oi, you kin fix it?” Marl asked, through his rapid breaths.

  Cameron nodded.

  A few people from the crowd had appeared to watch the scene. Kevin, the one who had assisted in dispatching the ruffian who had hit Marl, approached the group.

  “Hey, y’all. How’s he doing?” he asked, and then gaped at Marl’s injury. “That’s gotta smart! You better get to a doctor.”

  “Good idea,” Cameron said softly.

  The sinewy man continued. “I mean, I know y’all be good fighters, but that ain’t right,” he said.

  Cameron, Jayde, Marie, and Marl looked at the lanky fellow staring at Marl’s side.

  “I’m sorry, y’all. Where are my manners? I’m Kevin,” he said, sticking his hand out toward Cameron.

  Cameron shook his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Kevin, I’m Cameron Sangre. As luck would have it, I am a doctor. I don’t think the spike will come out very easily though.”

  Kevin took this as a challenge. He leaned forward and grabbed the edge of the spike. He heaved with all his might. Marl, who had been laying on the ground, was lifted off the dirt for a split second before landing with a groan.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Oi!” groaned Marl, breathing very shallow and fast.

  “Whoa, you’re strong,” said Jayde.

  Kevin just grinned.

  “Jayde, come here a minute, will you?” asked Cameron.

  Jayde came close, still a little green in color.

  “If you’re going to work in a medical office, squeamishness is not an option,” Cameron said.

  Jayde took a deep breath. “Okay.”

  Cameron poured a small amount of sweet-smelling ointment in her hands and instructed her to vigorously rub her hands together. When she stopped, her hands looked gleaming clean. He proceeded to clean around the area of the spike carefully. The rock troll’s skin looked like overlaying layers of scales.

  “The thing about rock troll skin,” Cameron began, speaking as if in a lecture hall instead of on the dirt in the middle of the night next to an incapacitated rock troll, “is how their skin is almost like a carapace, similar to what insects have.”

  “Hey! Me not bug,” said Marl, gasping.

  “Of course not, but insects do have some of the best natural body armor. The skin overlaps many times over and over. Human skin continuously sloughs off. Rock troll skin, unsurprisingly, has rock in it. Thus, it rarely sloughs off and is much stronger. In fact rock trolls actually start off quite small and simply keep adding layer upon layer of rock. The overlapping plates make an impressive barrier. But, if somehow it does get punctured, the skin folds inward,” he said, pointing to the hole in Marl’s side. “Thus, the imbedded foreign object is actually twice as hard to get out, as it was to get in.”

  Jayde listened intently. She and Cameron had had many talks during their long trek to Grandeur. She loved the discussions about the differences in medical techniques and approaches for injuries with varying species.

  Marie had been rummaging through Cameron’s bag, while he was explaining all this. She had been with him long enough to know what procedure he was about to do.

  “This appears that it might actually go into the thoracic cavity, causing a collapsed lung. Treatment is similar for rock trolls as it is in humans, but, fortunately for our friend, the pain tolerance for rock trolls is legendary,” Cameron said, while he sprinkled a white powder around the edge of the wound. He then rested his hand against Marl’s side. A faint glow came from his hand, and Cameron paused for nearly ten seconds, seemingly lost in thought.

  Marie had prepared a bandage for Marl, while Cameron finished explaining, and handed the bandage to Jayde.

  “Okay, Jayde. As soon as I pull out the spike, you need to put that immediately over the hole. Got it?”

  “Got it,” she said.

  “One,” he said, looking at Jayde. He placed his right hand on the spike and braced the other against Marl.

  “Two,” he said, looking at Kevin.

  Kevin had a doubtful look on his face. Cameron was a good head shorter than Kevin was, and Kevin had pulled Marl off the ground. Kevin obviously did not think the spike was coming out so easily.

  “Three,” Cameron said. The spike slid out in one clean jerk.

  Jayde immediately put the dressing over the hole. Marl did not budge.

  “Woohoo!” said Jayde.

  “Nice work,” said Cameron.

  “Uuuuurrrrrg,” groaned Marl.

  “Tater?” said Potato Man, who had come over to the small group. Potato Man then left a hot potato with Jayde and disappeared into the crowd. Apparently this potato was free. It was hard to tell when the only word he ever said was “tater.” Jayde put the potato in her pocket to keep her hands warm; an evening chill had set in.

  “Take some deep breaths, Marl,” Cameron said, ignoring the weirdness of Potato Man’s appearance.

  Cameron had tightly sealed three of the four sides of the bandage to Marl’s side. As Marl took a breath, the dressing made a one-way valve. Air could leave his wound but would not be able to go back in. When Marl took a breath, air escaped the open side of the dressing, allowing his lung to expand. When he exhaled, the vacuum inside his chest cavity pulled the open side of the dressing closed. After a few minutes of deep breaths, Marl’s breathing became much easier.

  “You be good doc!” Marl said.

  Cameron put his hands over the site of the injury. His eyes were closed in concentration. Kevin looked from person to person with a nervous half grin on his face. A faint glow again appeared over Cameron’s hands. His forehead wrinkled in concentration, and he let out a little groan. A seeping noise came from Marl’s side. Marl gritted his teeth and spat out a few guttural words in troll tongue.

  After a long two minutes, Cameron leaned back.

  “Well?” Marie said.

  “Good as new,” Cameron said.

  “Uh, what did you do to him?” Kevin asked.

  “I’m a doctor, so I healed him,” Cameron said.

  “But a pneumothorax with a probable rib fracture? I mean a busted carapace in a rock troll’ll take a month to heal. You can’t just heal that in a minute and be good as new,” said Kevin.

  “Pneumothorax, Kevin? You seem to know a bit about injuries yourself,” Cameron said.

  Kevin looked at him and grinned sheepishly.

  “Cam has a bit of a gift with healing, you might say,” Marie told him. She looked down at Marl. “How do you feel?”

  “Me good. Me no feel no pain now. Oi, you good doc!”

  “Thanks. Now don’t let anyone else ram a spike through your side. I don’t want Jayde to have to fix you up again,” Cameron said. Jayde smiled.

  “You got it,” Marl said.

  The second round had already begun. Kevin nodded good-bye and disappeared into the crowd. A short time later he reappeared in the ring with his partner, Mullet. An explosion of applause erupted as the crowd favorites entered the ring. Their opponents this time were two large men covered in scars. The match lasted less than thirty seconds. The two scarred men kept close together at the edge of the ring. Mullet again charged to the center. He lined them up and tackled both of them, dragging them out of the ring. He accompanied the men out of the ring, but Kevin sat in the middle of the ring, smiling. No other team had tried this strategy yet, and it worked perfectly. The two scarred men protested, but Jenny quashed their complaints.

  “His partner remained in the ring. Both of you are out. He did not cheat. Next two teams, get up here!” she said. The crowd cheered.

  The large board that had been assembled now displayed all the teams as well as their opponents. Behind each of the names were multicolored numbers with arrows. Groups of men in the back made complex wagers on the different teams. Jayde eyed this and made her way over to the jovial group of men. A pockmarked man with an eye patch grinned at her. She put on an expression of wide-eyed wonder. She had gambled in Haynis all the time, but Jayde figured that pretending to be a clueless little girl would be the best approach.

  “Excuse me, sir. What’s all this about?” she asked.

  “Gambling Order. They had this going from the first. The red numbers are the odds for the round.”

  “I see,” said Jayde, looking over at the display board. “Is that why the numbers by the Mullet-Kevin are so low? Since they are favored to win?”

  “You got it, missy,” he said. “I made a little bundle in the first round, before people knew who was any good.” The man cackled loudly and then coughed harshly, until he caught his breath. “The odds will even themselves out after a few rounds. Some people want to get in after they figure out who the good ones are, but, by that time, the odds get quite risky. It’s no fun to put down ninety-nine silver and only win one hundred in return.”

  “Gotcha,” Jayde said.

  “The crazy bearded guy is in charge. He’s as honest a man as you’ll get to run something like this. I ain’t saying he’s clean, just good enough to not rip yah off for no reason. Just ask for odds and the wager. Be sure not to lose your ticket neither, or the bet’s off. Good luck, missy,” he said.

  “Thanks,” Jayde said. She then ran back to the group. She figured the direct approach was best.

  “Cameron, can I have some money?” she asked.

  “What for?”

  “Well, I was thinking about the best way for us to clean out the clinic. Personally I say let’s have someone else do it,” she said.

  Cameron laughed. “I could agree with that.”

  “I need some money to do a little … well, let’s just call it hiring,” she said.

  “Would you like me to come along?” he asked.

  “Nah, I think this will work better from the angle of a clueless, greedy kid. One thing I learned as a street thief, if people think they are taking advantage of you, it makes cheating them so much easier.”

  “That’s terrible,” Cameron said.

  “So is cheating a wide-eyed little girl,” Jayde said with a smile, grabbing Cameron’s entire money purse. She disappeared into the crowd before he could protest. She quickly looked through the purse before she got to the gambler’s booth. Seventeen silver pennies were inside. Jayde was shaking when she got to the booth. She had never seen that much money in her entire life.

  Jayde looked up at the board and found Marl-Marie. Behind their name was a large red seven. That meant, for every silver she bet, she would win seven. Few groups had numbers that high. Many had fractions of numbers written on the board. Jayde assumed that everyone had seen Marl take the brutal attack to the side, and the odds reflected this.

  Jayde wormed her way to the booth. The man behind it had a beard that looked like it was desperately trying to separate itself from the man’s face. The black beard exploded in all directions, ending in sharp black spikes. But, behind the ridiculous beard, the man had shrewd eyes.

  “Excuse me, mister?” she said.

  “Aye, little lady. What kin I do yah for?” he said. His voice was as big as his beard. He smelled heavily of ale, but he had no slur in his voice, and he appeared to be thinking clearly.

  “I would like to make a wager,” Jayde said.

  “Oh, would you now? Ye have a bit a string yah want to be bettin’, do yah? Or do yah actually come with a copper penny or two?” he asked. At first Jayde thought the man was just making fun of her, but his face remained serious. Apparently the man would have allowed her to wager just a piece of string.

  “I’ll admit I don’t have much, just these,” Jayde said and poured out all seventeen silver pennies.

  “Ah, that’ll do, indeed,” said the man. The man showed no surprise or curiosity about a young girl with a small fortune. Jayde had thought for sure the man would accuse her of being a thief or demand proof of how she got it. He did neither. He picked up a few of the coins and looked at them under a large lens, which made his eyes look enormous. He turned back to her.

  “Now which do yah want to be bettin’ on, young miss?” he said.

  “That one right there,” she said, pointing to Marie-Marl versus Berret-King.

  “Aye, and who do yah think’ll be the victor?” he said.

  “Team Marie-Marl will win. I just know it,” she said. She put on her expression of innocent ignorance.

  The man smiled. He swiped the seventeen coins into one meaty palm. He counted the money again and then plunked the coins one at a time into a massive box. He filled out a piece of paper and put some red melted wax on top of it and stamped it.

  “There ye go, little miss. Best o’ luck to yah,” he said with a chuckle.

  Jayde looked down at the small slip of paper. On it read:

  Single battle: 7–1 odds

  Marie-Marl victor over Berret-King

  Received wager of 17 silver pennies

  An ornate red G was embedded in the wax over the lettering. She could still read the wager through the wax, but she could not change anything written on the paper. Jayde read the sign posted behind the man. The sign explained the rules of wagering. The wax prevented tampering with the wager. If the wax seal came back broken, her bet was lost. Jayde carefully placed the wager slip in Cameron’s purse, then slipped the purse over her head. She could feel the near-weightless purse hanging on the inside of her clothes. It was her only possession, except for the potato in her pocket.

  Jayde bounced back toward Cameron to watch the matches. As she walked, she saw a cute little black cat slipping through the crowd. Jayde loved cats and followed it, but it vanished before she could catch it, so she made her way where Cameron waited.

  Marie and Marl’s next battle ended in seconds. Their opponents had thought that Marl was too injured to continue. Both opponents went to attack him immediately. He let them come, then grabbed both in an enormous bear hug and fell out of the ring, much like Mullet had done. Marie watched it happen and laughed, not having to do anything for yet another round.

  Jayde ran over to the man with the poky beard.

  “Yah got lucky that rock troll bounced back from such an injury,” the man said. His grin shone under his bristly black beard. He seemed unfazed by her win. “Any more bets before yah collect?” he asked.

  Jayde looked up at the odds board. Marie-Marl versus Fester-Fester.

  “Looks like the odds went down,” Jayde said.

  “Aye. That troll be a fighting dynamo, he be,” said the man.

  “I think so too. But, since you are still offering five-to-one odds, I might as well bet on them again. How much did I win again?” Jayde asked.

  “Seventeen silver at 7:1. It comes to 119, miss. How much of that ye be wanting to wager?” he said

  “How about one hundred silver pennies on Marie-Marl, and I’ll keep the change.”

  The bearded man counted off nineteen silver pennies and wrote out another wager slip for her. Jayde slipped the silver into Cameron’s purse and the gambling slip in her own pocket.

  “Yah really think that rock troll can take on the Fester brothers? I dunno if even Mullet kin take those two. Well, that ain’t true. Mullet kin take anybody, but they be good,” he said.

  “So is Marl,” Jayde said.

  “G’luck to yah, miss,” he said, as Jayde walked back to her spot in the crowd.

  She again looked for the cute cat. She saw a faint outline of the cat at the very edge of the crowd, rubbing against an old woman’s legs. The cat’s gaze locked on hers for a split second, and for some reason Jayde felt cold. She hurried back to where Cameron and the others waited.

  “Here you go,” Jayde said, tossing the purse to Cameron. He hefted the purse a few times, and then stuck it back under his cloak without looking inside. That bothered Jayde. She was not used to people trusting her. Now the trust was expected, and anything else was considered abnormal.

  Kevin and Mullet destroyed yet another duo with their brutal crowd-pleasing efficiency. Mullet again charged the two, but they were much quicker than their previous opponents. It took nearly a minute for the duo to overpower both opponents.

  Marie had been watching all the previous events with great interest and knew they would be battling two unique fighters next. To become a battle sage, she had studied different cultures, animals, and strategies to use in every circumstance. She had watched the two they were up against and knew them to have assassin training. She explained to Marl how they would strike at pressure points and use their opponents’ strengths to their advantage. Marie thought these two appeared to be journeymen assassins, not experts. Regardless, they had annihilated all their opponents in their previous rounds.

  “So how we beat ’em?” Marl asked.

  “They’ll be too fast for you to block them. I doubt they could hit any pressure points on you though, with your troll skin. We should split up. If they come at you, don’t try to avoid them, just get one good hit. Even if you have to let them hit you fifty times, just get in one solid punch. It’ll be over. They’re precision fighters, not endurance. One good bash should probably end them.”

  “How ’bout you?” he asked.

  “Well, you’ve done all the fighting so far in our matches. Most here have assumed I’ve just won off your fighting skill. If they come at me, they’ll get a big surprise.”

  The fight started, and Marl and Marie moved to opposite sides of the arena. This time both their opponents rushed directly toward Marie. The crowd had only seen her act in the background and thought her to be dead weight. The blows came rapidly from both men. Marie spun, blocked, and hand-sprung her way under the raining blows. The crowd gawked at the woman who appeared to be dancing with the two attackers, neither landing a single blow. Marl helped, but their speed never allowed him an opening.

  Marie’s body blurred. The assassins attacked furiously but only hit air. Marie laughed as she bounced around the blitz of punches. Finally she ducked a blow and struck an uppercut into the chest of one of the attackers. He bent forward briefly in pain. That was all the opening Marl needed. He landed a ham-size fist on top of the man’s head. The man crumpled to the ground. The remaining assassin attacked Marl. Despite Marie’s advice to allow him to get close, Marl attempted defense against him. The man landed ten jabs before Marie caught up. The man spun and swung in one motion with his arm straight. Marie dodged in an instant back bridge, holding herself up on the balls of her feet and the palms of her hands, avoiding the blow. She completed the bridge by kicking her legs back over her head with such speed that she kicked the man in the face. Marl planted his rocky fist into his chest. The man gasped for air, and Marl shoved him from the ring. Marl walked over to the first man, picked up his unconscious body, and dropped him outside the ring.

  The audience cheered in response to the slight woman who had destroyed the trained fighters. Marie grinned.

  They made their way back to their friends, waiting at the sidelines.

  “Nice work out there, but your secret is out,” said Cameron.

  Marie looked into the crowd. Most eyes were still on her, amazed by her recent display. She locked gazes with Kevin, who gave her a thumbs-up and mouthed “Nice work.”

  “Way to go. See you around,” said Jayde, as she disappeared into the crowd.

  “Where’s she off to?” said Marie.

  “The gambling booth. I think she’s doing all right,” Cameron said, a wry grin decorating his usually somber face.

  “Keep an eye on her, Cam. She has a knack for finding mischief, and, if she can’t find it, she makes a fresh batch herself.”