Nine more. In the brief seconds Rezkin had taken to assess the situation, his attackers had launched several daggers and bolts at him, all of which were ingloriously caught by his makeshift shield. Rezkin scowled. These men should be better than this. It was such a waste of long-range weaponry to launch it without a sure shot at the target. Everyone could see he was hidden. The young man scanned the faces of the strikers and realized with disbelief that these men were terrified. They had all failed Rule 37—Separate from one’s emotions. Now, he understood. They were unable to fight like big-men because they were breaking the Rules. The solution was simple, then. He simply had to follow the Rules, and he should prevail.

With grim determination, he released his grip on his shield. The man teetered before him for a few seconds before falling to the ground. It was just enough time for Rezkin to launch a series of his own attacks against the strikers. He managed to catch one man in the throat and another in the eye with his throwing knives. A third received a knife in the chest, but the man was not yet ready to give in. Rezkin ignored him for the moment and took out the man to his left while he was still surprised. Rezkin’s hands were empty when he engaged the sworld-wielding striker. After a brief flurry of strikes and blows, Rezkin prevailed. He managed to get inside the man’s guard to punch the striker in the throat. Rezkin reached up and jerked the man’s head around snapping his neck.

From his right, the monster of a man with the knife protruding from his chest was bearing down on Rezkin. Without looking in his direction, Rezkin lurched to the side, spun around, and grabbed the knife embedded in the striker’s chest. He drew it out with a slurch and slashed across the man’s throat. Blood surged forward, some of it spraying across Rezkin’s face, the rest pouring down the man’s chest like a crimson waterfall.

Rezkin shoved the burly man out of the way. He drew his longsword with his right hand and a short sword with his left before he dove into the group of three strikers who were attempting to organize an attack against him. The strikers leapt back. Two of the strikers, Adona and Gant, were swordmasters. The third was renowned for developing a method of fighting with daggers that was unmatched—except by Rezkin, of course.