"We're here for the Yellow Silk, Brin, not to fight."

Lander found the breath to shout a pain-filled curse at the bald wizard and all of his family. He could feel the rumble of Black Scratch's new charge through the ground and he twisted his head around. The boar was bearing down on Li Chien again-and if the Shou leaped again, Black Scratch would be rumbling right at him! With another scream, Lander shoved against the mucky ground and sent himself rolling out of the way. He slammed back into Brin's table, sending the halfling and Veseene swaying and new pain flaring through his leg and side.

Black Scratch's hooves tore up the ground where he had just been lying. Lander pressed himself back against the table and transferred his curse from Mosi Anu to the mad boar.

Behind him, Hanibaz chuckled as if this were the funniest thing he'd ever seen or heard. "Ah, Mosi-how can we let a show like this just come to an end?" A firm hand grabbed onto Lander's flailing arm. Hanibaz spoke a word and new energy seemed to pour into Lander's body at his touch. The thug gasped at the shock as the magic sank into him. His wound didn't stop hurting, but suddenly he could bear the pain. He rolled to his feet.

"Liked that, did you?" Hanibaz asked. "Let's put you on a more even footing with the Shou, then." He spoke another word and touched Lander a second time.

This time the energy didn't fade away. When Lander turned and took a step toward Li Chien, it almost felt like he was floating.

"Yes," he breathed. "Oh, yes!"

Li Chien turned away from Black Scratch for a moment and froze.

Lander was up and walking on a leg so deeply wounded he shouldn't have even been able to stand. Muscle flexed beneath torn skin, bone flashed white against red blood, and yet Lander flowed forward like a flame. Magic, Li knew. It could only be magic. He fell back a step and his eyes darted to the wizards standing behind Brin. "Tycho!" he yelled.

"Li!" The bard's hand flashed a warning. Li whirled back around.

Black Scratch was charging again. The pig had an animal's dumb relentless determination. Li clenched his jaw. He could keep leaping out of the boar's way, but the beast would just come back at him again. And now he had Lander to worry about as well.

He tightened his grip on his dao and settled his stance. From the corner of his eye, he saw Brin's mouth drop open as he realized what was about to happen. "No!" the half-ling screamed. Too late. Black Scratch closed.

Li whirled aside, dao sweeping down as he came back around. The heavy steel slashed into the thick flesh of Black Scratch's hindquarters, bit deep into muscle and grated across bone. The enormous boar's legs collapsed instantly, changing his bellows and squeals to a horrible deep shriek. He tried to drag himself around with his front legs, but the weight of his once-powerful hindquarters was too much. Li stepped in, swung low, and sliced up under the beast's neck.

Hot blood gushed steaming into the air. Black Scratch collapsed.

Triumph was short lived. The pigs of the sty went mad, swarming in around the giant boar's corpse. Li cursed as he staggered clear, only to be met by a snarl as Lander swept his sword up from the ground and lunged at him like a striking panther. Li brought his dao up and blocked the strike, but Lander just whirled with effortless grace and struck again. This time stopping his sword cost Li ground. Lander began forcing him back toward the swarming pigs.

Brin's face was pale with rage, and he was very nearly foaming at the mouth. "Li Chien!" he screamed. "Li Chien!" He made a wild grab for Veseene, though the old woman writhed and shifted away from him. He growled and snagged her arm and slashed his dagger threateningly through the air. "The Silk! I want the Yellow Silk now!"

Caught in his deadly dance with Lander, Li made no reply. Tycho swallowed. They'd wanted the shark angry- but maybe not this angry. He swept his gaze around the sty and found Laera. His would-be apprentice had taken refuge just inside the pigs' now-abandoned shelter, just out of Brin's sight. She gave him a grim nod of readiness. Tycho swallowed again and swept his arms up wide.

"Brin!" he roared with his most forceful voice. "You want the Yellow Silk, you bastard? Here it is!" He brought his arms together overhead, dipped one hand into the opposite sleeve-and sang, letting music ripple out of his throat.

His fingers emerged from his sleeve clutching a glowing thread. As he swept his arms down again, the thread pulled out-and out, thickening and lengthening. Its glow intensified, pulsing in time with his song. He drew back the arm holding the bolt.

Brin gaped and flinched. Flinging Veseene to the ground, he scrambled for safety as Tycho whipped his arm forward and hurled the bolt at the table. Radiance burst out, splashing around the sty. Brin shrieked, pigs squealed, and even Lander staggered, though he recovered with a single graceful step before Li could swing his dao.

Mosi Anu snorted derisively as the light faded. "An illusion."

Hanibaz Nassor shrugged. "Nicely done though. A good distraction."

Brin's shriek choked off. "What?" He whirled around. Halfway between the shelter and Veseene, Laera froze.

Tycho took a step forward, still singing desperately, and drew another thread from his sleeve. This time when he threw it, neither wizards nor Brin so much as flinched.

The explosion of heat and light from the real Yellow Silk knocked the wizards to the ground. It picked Brin up bodily and sent him tumbling through the muck. Tycho grinned as he raced across the sty. "That's right," he crowed. "A very good distraction!"

The force of the Silk's bolt sent Lander staggering again. This time Li was ready. He dropped his dao and hurled himself at the thug. A sharp blow knocked Lander's sword from his hand; another hammered into his injured hip. He gasped in pain. A third cracked hard across his face and sent him reeling.

It seemed supernatural grace, Li thought, wasn't quite as much good close up. "Didn't I tell you my reward was easier earned than taken, Lander?" he spat. He spun around and leaped, putting all of his weight into a kick.

His foot took Lander squarely in the chest and sent him flying into the pigs' shelter. The thug slammed into the back of it hard enough to make the whole structure shake and groan. Something snapped and the roof sagged down. Any pigs that had lingered inside came running out with frightened squeals.

Some of them charged right over the huddled bundle that sprawled in the filth of the sty. Brin yelled, opened his eyes, and scrambled to his feet. Or tried to. Li scooped him up by his belt, swung him around twice, and flung him into the shelter after Lander. The hin screamed as he flew, twisting desperately in mid-air, but he still hit with a thump.

Li charged after him-but not into the shelter. Three posts across the front held up the rickety structure. Li hurled himself at the center one with a shout of "Hrah!" His shoulder hit the wood and cracked it in two. Inside the shelter, Brin yelped. Li whirled and slammed his foot against the nearest outside post. "Hrah!"

The post shattered. The shelter collapsed entirely. Under the roof, Li could hear Brin screeching and squealing like one of his own pigs. He spat on the ground and turned away.

Tycho's smile faded as he slid to a stop beside Laera and Veseene. His old mentor's chest was stained a deep red. "Blessed Lliira!" he groaned and slid his arms under Veseene's shaking body, lifting her into a sitting position. Laera had her gag off and was fumbling to cut her hands free. "Veseene! Are you all right? "