Asteria was close enough to strike at the pair, though her being armed and they unarmed seemed like an unfair match. But once she’d pulled it, the two boys’ demeanor changed. They turned to face her and scowled. The taller one picked up a rusty but wicked-looking scythe, the other a metal-tipped hay fork.

“C’mon then, pointy-ears,” the taller one said. “Let’s see if you can use that thing.”

“I say we knock her out and have our way with her,” the shorter one growled. “Looks like she’d be worth an hour or two o’ fun.”

The half-elf looked aside for a moment, as if debating whether to turn and run. But it was only a feint: she ducked in beneath the taller one’s scythe and wrapped him hard in the face with the pomm...

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