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"Ah, Hasik, my ajin’pal!" Jardir called loudly "Do they still call you Whistler? I would be happy to remove a few more teeth and cure your affliction, if you wish"

All around, Sharu them and saw rowled and lunged, but Jardir sidestepped, spinning into a kick that knocked the big warrior onto his backside in the dust He stood patiently as Hasik scowled and scrambled back to his feet unharmed

"I will kill you for that," Hasik pro Hasik’s everyhard with his spear, but Jardir pivoted, slapping the point to one side, and Hasik stu the spear like a staff, but Jardir bent backward like a pal his feet an inch Before Hasik could recover, he whipped upright and grabbed the weapon with both hands, kicking up between his hands and breaking through the thick shaft of wood He followed through on the kick, taking Hasik in the face

There was a satisfying crack as Hasik’s jaw shattered, but Jardir did not stop there He dropped the speartip but held on to the butt, advancing as Hasik struggled back to his feet

Hasik punched at him, and Jardir marveled that he had once found those punches too fast to follow After years aht Hasik’s wrist and twisted hard, feeling his shoulder pop fro the spear butt, shattering the warrior’s knee Hasik collapsed, and Jardir kicked hihts to kill Hasik, and those gathered likely expected hiotten what Hasik had done to him in the Maze

"Now, Hasik," he said, as all the dal’Sharum of the Kaji tribe looked on, "I will teach you to be a woman" He held up the spear butt "And this will be the man"

"Watch to ensure he does not fall on his spear in shame," Jardir told Shanjat as Hasik was hauled off to the da in pain and humiliation "I would not see any permanent harm befall h they will have to remove the spear before he can fall on it" He smirked as he bowed to Jardir and hurried after the injured warrior Jardir followed Shanjat with his eyes,at how quickly they fell back into old patterns, despite Shanjat having earned the black years ago, and hie on Hasik for years, while he danced sharusahk in his tiny cell in Sharik Hora It wasn’t enough for the e had to be an abject lesson to any ould ever seek to challenge hiht the e himself

By Everam’s infinite justice, every step played out exactly as he had iined it, but now that his triumph was coht Shanjat for his place in the nie’Sharus well in hand," Da Jardir on the back "Go to the Kaji pavilion and take a wohed "Take two! The jiwah’Sharuest kai’Sharuh and nod, though he felt a clench in his stoliht in the Kaji pavilion, he had never even seen one without her robes Kai’Sharum or no, he had one last test ofof Hasik or the killing of alagai, this was one none of his training had prepared him for

Khevat left hi toward the Kaji pavilion

They are only wo a tentative step forward They are there to please you, not the other way around His second step ca whispered, grabbing his attention Relief and fear clutched hiotten her?

"In private," she said, and Jardir nodded, walking to the edge of the training grounds with her, out of earshot from the dal’Sharum in the yard