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"Acha!" Jardir said, and tossed the spear to Everal The da as he realized what he now held

Soed in Everal then, a subtle shift in his stance and disposition The others ht not have noticed, but it was as clear to Jardir as if the daht hie before he died Now Daliht kill Jardir and end the rebellion that had pierced the heart of Krasia

Jardir nodded "Now your soul is prepared to meet Everam with honor," he said, and launched himself at the dama

Everal was a sharusahk master, but the Evejah forbade clerics the spear, and in all Jardir’s years in Sharik Hora he had never seen that law broken He expected the dama’s spearwork to be poor and easily defeated

Seek every advantage, Khevat taught

But Everal surprised hi the spear about like a whip staff It moved invisibly fast as the dama came at him, and for a few moments it was all Jardir could do to keep from its path Everal’ssmoothly into the next as one would expect from a ht the point into play at last, scoring a line on Jardir’s cheek, and another cut in his arm

At last, Jardir saw the rhythm behind the dama’s attacks and came in quick to hook his ar the dama across the hall where he struck a column and landed heavily

Jardir waited for Everal to roll to his feet, then laid the spear on the floor The dae," Everal said, but Jardir only s taken the cleric’s measure He came in with his arrapple

To the untrained eyes of the Sharule that strength would tell, but in truth the hundreds of subtle shifts and twists were sharukin, designed to turn an opponent’s own energy against him

Little by little, Jardir worked his way toward a death hold It was in evitable, and he could see in the daasped as Jardir’s hand came around his throat

"There is a difference, da air, and strength gained fighting alagai" He pulled hard, and Everal’s neck snapped with a sound that echoed in the hall

The Damaji were clustered at the foot of the dais to the Andrah’s throne They looked up as one when Jardir’s ed on the Skull Throne, gripping the arhtly his knuckles shohite

Jardir looked at the cluster of old ht to challenge hile combat on his way to the dais Jardir did not fear the Damaji, but he had no wish to kill them

"Kill them if you must," Inevera had said, "but your conquest will be ht" She had even told him what to offer

"Damaji," he said "All of you are loyal servants of Everam, and I wish no quarrel with you I ask only that you step aside"

"And ill become of us, after you sit the Skull Throne?" Kevera of the Sharach asked As Damaji to Krasia’s se