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There was indeed so of superiority and the elehts were not lethal-though more than a few patrons were badly injured-and the conscience- dulling drinks, no guilt accompanied each thunderous punch

Just satisfaction and control, an edge that had been too long absent

Had he stopped to think about it, Wulfgar er for one particular nemesis, one he could not defeat alone, one who had tormented him all those years

He didn’t bother with conteh He si with the chest of this latest trouble, staggering, stu quickstep, finally to fall backward over a bench soarthe deckedout roin (and siht the horizontalh over his head

"I just fixed that ," Aru the barbarian’s aih it to bounce across Half Moon Street

"Then fix it again," Wulfgar replied, casting a glare over Arumn that the barkeep did not dare to question

Aru his bar, re such co custo for a safe haven in which to waste a night, and then there were those interested in the awesoers to the hty barbarian or, more often, merely as spectators Never had the Cutlass seen so many patrons, and never had Arumn Gardpeck’s purse been so full

But how much more full it would be, he knew, if he didn’t have to keep fixing the place

"Shouldn’t’ve done that," a man near the bar remarked to Arumn "That’s Rossie Doone, he throwed, a soldier"

"Not wearing any uniform," Arumn remarked

"Came in unofficial," the "

"He saw hined and dry tones

"And he’ll be seein’ hiain," the man prohed and shook his head, not out of any fear for Wulfgar, but because of the expenses he anticipated if a whole crew of soldiers caar spent that night-half the night-in Delly Curtie’s roo another one on his way outside He went down to the docks and sat on the edge of a long wharf, watching the sparkles grow on the water as the sun rose behind hi the Cutlass the very next night, a half-dozen gri the one the patron had identified as Rossie Doone Theyseveral patrons froether so they could all sit side by side with their backs to the wall

"Full ht," Josi remarked

Arumn knehat that meant Every time the moon was full the croas a bit rowdier And what a crowd had co Aruine

"Been the talk of the street all the day," Josi said quietly

"The moon?" Aruar and that Rossie fellow All have been talking of a coainst one," Arumn remarked

"Poor soldiers," Josi said with a snicker

Aru with a foaroup that had come in The look on the barbarian’s face, so cal Aruht

On the other side of the room, in a corner opposite where sat the six soldiers, another , also noted the tension and the prospective co interest The h his face was not He was a shadow stalker by trade, a ht treue had been hearing quite a bit about Aru-arm; too much, in fact Story after story had coth About how he had been hit squarely in the face with a heavy club and had shaken it away seeh into the air, sether, then sih opposite walls of the tavern About how he had thrown one man out into the street, then rushed out and blocked a teaon fro down the prone drunk

Morik had been living aerated nonsense in most of these tales Each storyteller tried to outdo the previous one But he couldn’t deny the iar Nor could he deny theabout the head of Rossie Doone, a soldier Morik kneell and whohter

Of course Morik, his ears so attuned to the streets and alleyways, had heard of Rossie’s intention to return with his friends and settle the score Of course Morik had also heard of another’s intention to put this newcomer squarely in his place And so Morik had coe northerner, to see if he had the strength, the skills, and the temperament to survive and becoar, the quiet man sipped his wine and waited

As soon as he saw Delly le s and tightened his grip on the table He saw it co, and how predictable it was, as one of Rossie Doone’s sidekicks reached out and grabbed Delly’s bottoar caht before the offender, and right beside Delly

"Oh, but ’tis nothing," the worabbed her by the shoulders, lifted her, and turned, depositing her behind hi at the offender, then at Rossie Doone, the true perpetrator

Rossie re coht, two ar stated "A cloth to cover your wounds, deepest of all the wound to your pride"

Rossie stopped laughing and stared hard at the ar said "Do you prefer to leave by that route once more?"

The man next to Rossie bristled, but Rossie held him back "In truth, northman, I prefer to stay," he answered "In "

Wulfgar didn’t blink "I ask you a second time, and a last time, to leave of your own accord," he said

The ar’s left, stood up and stretched languidly "Think I’ll get me a bit o’ drink," he said cal to the bar, he took a step Wulfgar’s way

The barbarian, already a seasoned veteran of barroorab at him to hold and slow him so that Rossie and the others could pummel him He kept his apparent focus directly on Rossie and waited Then, as the rab at Wulfgar, the barbarian spun suddenly, stepping inside the other’s reach The barbarian snapped his backhis forehead into thebackward

Wulfgar turned back fast, fist flying, and caught Rossie across the jaw as he started to rise, slarabbed the stunned Rossie by the shoulders and yanked hi hi rush of the two rowling, fists flying, to swap heavy punches with the twoat hiroin, but Wulfgar recognized thein to catch the bloith his thigh, then reached down under the bent leg The attacker instinctively grabbed at Wulfgar, catching shoulder and hair, trying to use hi, drove on, heaving hiain deflect the attack fro in at his back

The ar several punches fro next to the latest hu to care He ca, to drive the puncher into the wall, wrestling hirabbed on with all his strength, and the le, and a stunning punch extracted Wulfgar frorasp He skittered back away fro a punch as he went and grabbing a table by the leg

Wulfgar spun back, facing the group, and halted the swinging momentum of the table so fully that the item snapped apart The bulk of the table flew into the chest of the closestin hand, a club he wasted no tiood use The barbarian ss of thethe side of the soldier’s knee once and then again The ar, but he accepted theinstead on turning the club in line and jabbing the man in the eye with its narrow end

A half turn and full swing caught another across the side of the head, splitting the club apart and dropping the attacker like a sack of ground ht over him as he fell-the barbarian understood that ainst sohim halfway across the room to slam into a wall, a journey that ended with a wild flurry of fists froave a like number, but his were by far the heavier, and the dazed and defeated rabbed him as he slumped The barbarian turned about fast and let his latest hu him in low across the ankles of the closest pursuer, who tripped headlong, both arar, still in his turn, using the , stretching right between those ar man, and he felt his fist sink deep into thehis head back violently

That ht, facing Rossie and his one standing ally, who had blood rolling freely fro his torn eye tried to stand beside theht He stumbled away to the side to sla position

In the first truly coordinated attack since the chaos had begun, Rossie and his coar, thinking to bear hiar didn’t fall, didn’t stuht the had the on for dear life Rossie slipped away, and Wulfgarman horizontally across in front of his face The le of attack was all wrong, and the blows proved ineffectual

Wulfgar roared again and bit the man’s stomach hard, then started a full-out, blind run across the tavern floor Gauging the distance, Wulfgar dipped his head at the last nment, then ra the man with just one arh to allow the ainst the wall, watching in confusion as Wulfgar ran back a few steps, and then his eyes widened indeed when the huge barbarian turned about, roared, and charged, dipping his shoulder as he came