"Truly," Iakhovas said, "Sekolah does lay his hand upon our mission." Still only three steps down from the sahuagin king he turned to address the crowd. "I thought only one sign was going to be presented here today. Now, I see that I was wrong. In his generosity, the Great Shark has given his chosen people two." He gestured to the kraken. "We know that our war with the surface dwellers isn't over." He pointed at Huaanton. "And now we know that we have a king who is king of We Who Eat only in name and no true leader at all." He stepped toward Huaanton.

Instantly, the king's bodyguards moved to intercept Iakhovas. With a flicker of motion that ripped through the water, the kraken reached out and snatched up five of the guards in its tentacles, removing them from Iakhovas's path. Before the other guards could react, Iakhovas stood in front of the sahuagin king.

"Huaanton, false king of We Who Eat of the Claarteeros Sea," Iakhovas said in a loud voice, "I charge you with weakness, finding you unwilling to lead your people in this cause, and with impropriety for failing to carry out Sekolah's war against the surface dwellers."

The Royal Black Tridents closed in with their weapons raised, ready to chop Iakhovas down.

"As is my right," Iakhovas said, ignoring the weapons raised against him, "I claim blood challenge on behalf of the Great Shark."

Angrily, Huaanton waved his guards aside, brave enough to do so even in the face of the kraken as the gigantic creature cracked the bodies of his guards above him. "You lie," the sahuagin king said, taking a step forward, "and your death shall prove those lies."

"Your death," Iakhovas promised, "will prove your weakness and your failing."

Without warning, Huaanton exploded into action. He reversed the trident and thrust the cruel tines at Iakhovas.

Laaqueel watched helplessly as Iakhovas was caught off-guard. She didn't think such a thing was possible after having seen him in action against their enemies, but she remembered how she'd found him, trapped by magic and nearly dead. The scars were mute testimony that he wasn't as infallible as he acted.

The trident tines sank into Iakhovas's chest, drawing a spurting, murky cloud of blood. He screamed in enraged pain and reached for the trident's haft as Huaanton tried to shove it more deeply into him.

Watching on, Laaqueel knew it was a death blow. The tines had no doubt torn through Iakhovas's heart and only seconds remained before death claimed him. The black quill next to her heart quivered in response, signaling a cold flush of nausea that ran through the malenti. She wondered how tightly the quill tied to her Iakhovas, and whether she would die when he did.

A bloody grin warped Iakhovas's face, and touched even the dark hollow of his missing eye. He stood his ground and hooked his fingers between the trident's tines. Muscle rippled along his arms as he shoved the weapon back and pulled the barbed tines free.

Though the misting blood partially obscured her view, Laaqueel watched as the gaping wounds on Iakhovas's chest pulled back together, knitting the flesh, sinew, and bone. The ring she'd first placed on his finger when she'd discovered him glowed briefly, and she doubted that anyone but her saw it.

"Weak," Iakhovas taunted in a ragged voice that almost belied the injuries he'd sustained. He maintained his hold on the trident even against Huaanton's great strength.

The Royal Black Tridents stood back, unable to interfere in a blood challenge. It was one of the most sacred of the sahuagin practices.

Huaanton lifted a webbed foot and lashed out with the razor-edged talons on his toes. He ripped gouges across Iakhovas's face, narrowly missing his eye.

Fearful then, obviously in high regard of his remaining vision, Iakhovas reluctantly released the trident and stepped back. Still, the confident look never left his face as he set himself for another attack.

Huaanton launched himself up into the water, rising above Iakhovas. He was well within the kraken's reach, and Laaqueel knew the sahuagin king was no coward. He kept the trident before him. "Come, Iakhovas, come join me in our dance of death. Let the tides decide our fates."

Iakhovas leaped after the sahuagin king without hesitation. He eeled through the water with grace and speed that was totally unexpected. He slipped long-bladed knives from his belt and held them point down from his fists. Huaanton thrust the trident at him again. Iakhovas blocked the effort with one of the knives, then lashed out at the sahuagin king's midsection with the other.

Huaanton had to move quickly, but the knife slid harmlessly by. Before Iakhovas could recover, Huaanton swung a backhand at him filled with claws. Iakhovas got his arm up in time to save his face, but the claws sank deeply into his flesh, slashing to the bone. He maintained his grip on the knife, though, and brought it down and across in a move designed to disembowel the sahuagin king. The knife blade tracked a bloody furrow across Huaanton's stomach, but it wasn't deep enough to spill his guts.

Spreading the webs between his toes, Huaanton cut through the water, streaking behind Iakhovas. The sahuagin king levered an arm under Iakhovas's chin and popped his finger claws out. Before Huaanton could drag his claws across Iakhovas's throat, Iakhovas slashed the back of the sahuagin king's forearm, cutting through the ligaments that controlled the claws and fingers. Huaanton's claws recessed and his fingers unbent.

Iakhovas broke free of his opponent's grip while Huaanton was stunned by the severity of the wound he'd been dealt. If Iakhovas had used his magic, Laaqueel knew, the fight wouldn't have lasted this long.

Still in motion, Iakhovas swam around Huaanton. As the sahuagin twisted to confront him, Iakhovas drove one of his knives home between Huaanton's ribs, trying for the heart. He left the knife in place, and foggy blood spewed out into the water.

Even wounded as he was, Huaanton didn't give up. Laaqueel felt pride fill her as she watched the sahuagin king. Despite the fact that he didn't trust in Sekolah as he should, she felt Huaanton epitomized everything that was strong and good about the sahuagin.

Lashing out with the trident, Huaanton caught Iakhovas in the legs. He put enough force behind the blow to send the tines completely through one leg just below the knee, then nailed it to the other. With both legs pinned together, Iakhovas couldn't move to escape Huaanton's attack.

The sahuagin king pulled on the trident's haft, not hard enough to rip the barbed ends free of Iakhovas's flesh, but enough to turn Iakhovas in the water. Moving quickly, his fighting skill apparent in the economical grace he used, Huaanton yanked the blade from his side, then buried it deep in Iakhovas's back.

The kraken fluttered in the water. For a moment Laaqueel thought the creature was going to interfere in the battle. If it did, it would undermine everything Iakhovas hoped to win.

Don't count me out of the running yet, little malenti. Iakhovas's pain-wracked voice filled Laaqueel's mind. Torn between a king who refused to give as much credence to Sekolah as the Great Shark demanded and a mysterious being she'd inadvertently staked her future on, Laaqueel instead turned to her prayers.

Iakhovas tried to reach the knife in his back but couldn't. He struggled to free his legs but didn't seem capable of that either.

Even though he still bled copiously, Huaanton's combat instincts took over. He held the trident at arm's length and pinned Iakhovas to the stone floor of the amphitheater below him. He whipped the barbed net from his side, spreading it out with a quick, practiced snap. He threw it and the weighted ends flared out to encompass his struggling foe. He wrapped Iakhovas expertly, pulling the net tight so that the embedded barbs bit deeply into his flesh.