Kegan’s eyes shifted from Lucas to the head he still held up high, fixating on it as his feet came to a stop.

“That’s . . . him,” Kegan growled. “That’s the last name. The last name on my stolen journal. Did you steal my journal? Did you take my pictures from me?! DID YOU STEAL ISABEL?!” His voice surged like a tidal wave, and his guttural screams echoed off the walls. The crazed man took another half step forward and hoisted the axe with both hands threateningly.

“No, Gunter did,” Lucas lied quickly, hoping the 30 points he had sunk into Charisma would help him sell it. “He’s another Dwarf, also dead now. He reported you to Dray, and Dray sent me with Gunter to kill you.”

“Ah.” Kegan’s rage subsided, withdrawing just as fast as it had grown, and he began explaining the scenario as he imagined it. “And he tried to betray you. And you killed him. You found the journal when you killed him, and you brought it to me along with my revenge as consolation for your misunderstanding.”

“Something like that.” Lucas tossed Jason’s severed head through the air and then shrugged his backpack onto his shoulder so that he could use his now-free hand to fish out Kegan’s pilfered journal. “Your missing journal, and . . . his head.”

“I can’t believe you said not to touch anything that he might notice, and yet you pocketed his journal,” Nick whispered angrily under his breath so that only the three of them could hear.

“Yeah, I coulda taken that picture frame too,” Bonnie scoffed.

Kegan’s massive axe spun upward and then around horizontally, chopping the already-severed head into quarters while it was mid-air. Lucas noted how easily the hulking man performed the maneuver. It was obvious that, as heavy as the axe was, Kegan was capable of wielding it faster than either he or his companions could use a dagger.

Was I wrong in coming here and confronting him like this? If I die . . . No. Lucas soundly rejected the idea and cut it off, stopping it from running to any natural conclusion.

“What do you want in exchange for these?” Kegan asked. Then, before Lucas could answer, he followed it up with another assumption. “Do you want my nobility so that you can bring it back to that lecherous dog, Dray? Is that what you are telling me? That I owe it to you for your deed? That I should give it to you? If that foul Dwarf had the journal in his possession, then Dray already knows of my transgressions. Am I supposed to assume that I’m going to die anyway, even if I don’t give it up?”