Gutters' sword, all the way up to the hilt, was covered in blood. Some of it his. If it weren't for his Grip skill, he would have dropped the weapon a long time ago. His latest opponent was Ludd, or Lutt... something like that. Gutters struggled to keep track. He let his shoulders sag, the tip of his sword dragged along the ground. His opponent smirked, abandoning his proper stance to walk up and stab the half-troglodyte. Gutters waited until the last possible moment, then dodged to the side, allowing his intuition to guide him where to move. He slipped past the thrust and plunged his own blade into the man's chest.

  Skill upgraded - Weapon proficiency - Rapier (Advanced)

  It happened again. Gutters felt the message resonate in his bones. His form with the rapier improved, he instinctively knew how to hold it better, how to position himself for more leverage. He'd be able to cut through tougher armor too.

  But only if he survived the night.

  The circle of nobles was down to about a dozen now. Some had carried wounded nobles away. Some had simply left, unsettled by this kind of bloodshed. Some had died. The ones that remained had pure hatred on their faces, each one of them. When Gutters' opponent fell, one of them spat on the ground like a sailor.

  "Toby, let's just kill him. Selwyn's Orders don't apply to inhuman freaks."

  Toby, their leader, raised a hand to stop them all rushing in at once. He stepped into the ring himself.

  "I guess we were too easy on you, frog."

  The young man started circling Gutters. The blue-skinned boy started circling back, keeping distance from the man. There was something about Toby that made Gutters' spine tingle. Some instinctive feeling that there was danger here.

  "It works though, doesn't it?" Toby continued. "Selwyn was a genius. Built a whole society that pushes us to get stronger. You are far stronger and quicker than you were when you first came into the room. You're also dead meat."

  Toby lunged in, stepping twice as fast as he should have. Gutters dodged left, only to see a second swing coming for him. He barely parried that, and jumped out of the way of a third. Toby was fast.

  "Do you know how serious it is, to kill a noble's son? How many have you killed now?"

  Toby rushed in again. Again, Gutters barely escaped the clash of blades with his life. Parry, parry, leap backwards. At the last moment, Toby's rapier flicked out and cut Gutters along the shoulder, drawing a thin line of blood.

  "Some of the lads have left. Too much blood for them. The others have run to get backup. You're not leaving this room alive. There's a silver lining, though."

  "Oh yea?" Gutters panted, trying to buy some time to recover. "What's that?"

  "Well I couldn't kill all those boys," Toby replied. "I'd get in trouble, even if I did level from it. You, however," he swung an extra hard slash. Gutters blocked it, but it made his arm shake. Toby looked annoyed that Gutters still had a grip on his sword.

  "You're like a fattened pig. All nice and leveled from the night's duels. And I can kill you, no problem."

  Toby leapt in again, a flurry of slashes. Gutters tried to block. One, two, three, the fourth time he fumbled, and Toby's rapier pierced into Gutters' shoulder, right above the heart.

  "Gutters!"

  Jane cried out from the side. She'd mostly been left alone, watching on helplessly as her dear friend fought for his life. Toby pulled his blade out, and prepared for a final blow.

  "Tsk. I was aiming for the heart. Let me try again."

  Gutters watched in slow motion as the rapier came speeding forward again. As the blade came toward him, a glowing blue bolt of ice flashed past, smacking Toby right in one eye. The man cried out, clutching at his face. Everybody's heads whipped around to stare at Jane, who had just cast the spell. She wasn't wasting time. A flash of white light surrounded her hands, then leapt onto Gutters. He felt the stab wound, along with many other smaller wounds, close up and heal.

  "How dare you! Get her! Get both of them!" Toby screamed at the remaining nobles. Blood was streaming down one side of his face, dripping onto the ground below.

  In unison, all the remaining nobles drew their blades, ready to attack.

  Knob and Hepp had built impressive walls for the fort at Red Mine. Some sailors were trying to break through, or scale them, but most were crowded into the one place that was semi-accessible. The huge pile of dirt that used to be the front entrance. Sailors scrambled around the spiked logs set into the dirt. Sometimes they pushed and jostled, and some poor fellow fell onto the spikes. Others simply kept climbing past them, reaching for the top.

  There, they met Gretta.

  The dwarven girl had a hammer on a long handle, giving her reach. The sailors got the hammer if they were lucky. The rest met a thick shield of solid iron, bashing them hard enough to flip them off the pile, or slicing down with a sharpened edge that neatly divided a human body into two pieces. So far, they hadn't gained any ground.

  Zig was standing his ground in the safest spot of the fort—behind Gretta. The fort was mostly dirt, but there were some piles of loose rock from the all the mining they'd done. Zig grabbed some of the heavier ones, and tossed them over the lip of the dirt hill. They bowled into sailors, collapsing them into each other. There were a couple of tree logs lying around too. Zig tried to throw them too, but they were a little too heavy. With effort he could lift them, but not throw. He went back to the rocks.

  "Hey, need any help?"

  "Hepp, what are you doing down here?"

  "It's a bit dangerous up on the tower, too many arrows flying back at me. I need a safe spot..."

  Zig glanced at Gretta, holding the line in front of him. She was in the middle of smacking her shield into a line of four soldiers, sending them all tumbling down the hill.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "You can't have this spot, this is my spot."

  "We can share the spot."

  "We can't share the spot. It's my—uh oh. Hepp, is anybody on lookout?"

  Zig had just seen a sailor jump down from the far wall. It wasn't easy to get through, but some were coming in from other directions. Knob and Jints were already in the mine. Now that Hepp was down, there was nobody left to watch out for the other angles of attack.

  "Gretta?"

  "I'm a little busy!"

  The dwarf was locked into a wrestle with a strong-looking sailor. Their strength was matched, the man didn't budge. Gretta leaned into her shield, and swung with her long hammer. She aimed low. The man suddenly gave way and tumbled down the hill. She looked around with a wildness in her eyes.

  "What is it?"

  Zig gulped.

  "I think we need to retreat. Plan B."

  Zig pointed at the far side of the fort, where more sailors were appearing at the top of the wall. Gretta nodded, and the three of them dashed for the entrance of the mine. Without anybody holding the entrance, a sailor crested the hill, looking into the fort. Another joined him, then another. The wave broke, and sailors stormed over the dirt hill like ants, swarming toward the entrance of the mine.

  Gutters didn't hesitate. While Toby was yelling at everyone to get him, and the nobles were all busy drawing their swords, Gutters sprang forwards like, well, yes, like a frog. Toby's well-trained hand whipped his sword up, blocking Gutters' first thrust. But he was wounded, quite badly. Gutters slashed again, and again. He leapt, flipping over Toby like he was fighting a tree stump. Toby turned too slowly. Gutters' blade drove home.

  Class Shift Event - Adept -> Advanced

  New skill acquired! Human legacy - Quick slash (Advanced)

  Upgrades. Gutters felt another surge of strength and energy. It came just in time. He leapt, and three swords swung into the space where he was standing moments ago. Gutters flew across the room, toward the corner where Jane was cowering. Two nobles were about to reach her, swords drawn back. Gutters plunged his rapier into one of them, and a split second later two frost bolts hit the other. Both fell down dead.

  Gutters turned around. Nine left. He stood in front of Jane, defending her. It would be harder this way—no more leaping around the room. Gutters took a deep breath. This was just like dancing. Hard at first, but he picked it up pretty quick. This was just like...

  Gutters took another deep breath, and began to dance.

  Ironbeard was on the run. Guzz had made it clear that Ironbeard was meant to die that night. A tear welled up in the boy's eye, and he angrily brushed it away and kept running. Who was he kidding? He was a boy, dressed up like his father. He wasn't Ironbeard. He didn't have a beard at all. He looked over his shoulder. Was anyone following him? He slowed down a bit, panting. Behind him, in the distance, he heard a branch snap, and a bird took flight into the night. Ironbeard whimpered and kept running. He was lost. He was in the middle of a forest at night. He was—

  Ironbeard stumbled into a clearing and saw the biggest horse he'd ever seen. She was huge, muscular, and almost dead. The horse stumbled along, saw the boy, and collapsed onto the grassy floor of the clearing. Moonlight shone down through the trees, glinting off some needles stuck into the horse's side. Ironbeard recognized them for what they were. Poison needles. This was the horse that Blackhook had hired the Eels to kill. This was...

  This was an Extreme fanged horse. On its deathbed. Right in front of Ironbeard. It was exactly what he'd wanted. What he'd dreamed of. Stepping toward the creature, he reached to his belt, and drew a knife. As he did, his mind flashed back to only moments ago, when Guzz had drawn a knife on him. Ironbeard stared at the knife in his hand. Was he like that? Just like all the others? Did he want to be Guzz, drawing a knife on a creature that couldn't defend itself? Ironbeard's hand was shaking. He wanted to throw up. He lifted the knife, slowly, unsteadily.

  "There's the bastard that left us."

  Ironbeard turned to see two sailors coming out of the trees, into the clearing. It was Guzz's men.

  "Guzz told us you ran away, right at the start of the battle," one of the men said, drawing his own knife. It was long and serrated. "We don't tolerate cowards on the seas. Wait a minute, what's—"

  The men came close enough to see the horse, lying on the ground with labored breath.

  "Trim my beard and call me an honest man," the man with the knife said. "You found the horse? Gunter, does that look like the horse we've been avoiding this whole time? The one that might level whoever kills it instantly?"

  Gunter, the other man, took a step forward to peer closer.

  "It sure does, Gap. This might be my lucky—"

  Gunter collapsed onto the ground, a knife in his throat. Gap reached down and pulled the knife out, wiping it on his pants.

  "Well, that takes care of that. Now there's just a little boy that needs dying..."

  Gap took a step toward Ironbeard. The boy lifted his knife toward Gap, holding it in a shaking hand. There was only one way this fight would end.

  "Please," Ironbeard whispered.

  Gap took another step forward, and the strangest thing happened. The horse, which was definitely lying half-dead behind Ironbeard, stepped out of the shadows behind Gunter, directly in front of Ironbeard. The boy's eyes widened, the only clue to Gaps that something was wrong. The man managed to turn around halfway before a giant maw bit into his torso, ripping a large chunk out. What was left of the sailor collapsed onto the ground.

  Ironbeard dropped his knife.

  The boy stood very, very still as the horse came closer to him. The giant lowered her head to be at the same level as Ironbeard's. There was nothing he could do. The boy looked death in the eye, and she looked back. Her lips were slightly pulled back, and Ironbeard could see how sharp each fang was. The horse came right up to him, just a hand's width away. She blew hot air out of her nostrils. Bits of hot air and snot went all over Ironbeard's face. He didn't dare move. They stood like that, watching each other, for a long moment. Then the horse turned and walked away. Ironbeard rubbed his eyes. She hadn't walked behind a tree. He just couldn't see her anymore.

  She was gone.

  "Go Gretta! Go Gretta!"

  The tunnel at the entrance of the mine was nice and narrow. Gretta was holding it all on her own. Her shield, along with dead bodies at her feet, filled up a large chunk of the tunnel. Zig and Hepp weren't able to get in there, so they stood close by, cheering her on.

  "Come on Gretta! You got this!"

  "Shut—"

  Gretta gave a huge shove with her shield, pushing sailors back.

  "Up! This isn't easy, Zig! I don't think I can hold much longer!"

  The sailors cheered at that.

  "You hear that? She's weakening, boys! Let's get her!"

  Gretta dove back into the fray, making sure that particular sailor regretted saying that.

  "She's right, Zig. She's slowing down."

  "I know, Hepp. I see it too. What should we do?"

  Zig was interrupted by a poke in his side. It was Knob.

  "We need to get them to the bottom floor. Can you do that?"

  "We... could, yea we could do that. Why, Knob?"

  The half goblin put his hands together, tapping his thumbs against each other nervously. Zig wasn't sure if he remembered the secret signal for danger, or if that was just a nervous tapping.

  "I might have a trap rigged up."

  "Dangerous for us?"

  Knob thought about it.

  "Dangerous for everyone, but we should be ok. Escape tunnel, remember?"

  At that moment, Gretta cried out in pain. She stumbled back into the first floor of the hideout. Sailors were pushing through the tunnels after her, so as soon as she got clear, Zig picked up rocks and started pelting them into the tunnel.

  "Everybody down to the second level!" Zig called out to the others. "We'll hold the tunnel. When that fails, we'll go to the third."

  "But there's no exit from the third!" Hepp wailed dramatically.

  Don't oversell it, Hepp.

  "There's no other option, come on!" Zig shouted loudly. The team rushed across the room to the ramping tunnel that led in a spiral down to the second floor. Zig looked behind as he reached the tunnel, and saw angry sailors shouting and pouring into the cavern. He threw one more rock for good measure, and watched with grim satisfaction as it blew one sailor apart. He stayed too long, and someone threw a knife. It spun through the air and plunged into Zig's arm.

  "EVERY DAMN TIME." Zig swore as he stumbled into the tunnel, clutching his bleeding arm, racing the sailors for the second floor of the mine.