Sitting back down, the guardian opened his arms wide and tried to smile. "Now," he said, "let's get back to your lessons."

"Not today," said Kamahl. "It's easy for you to sit there and let the world flow by while you watch, as you've done for hundreds or thousands of years. But for those of us who only get a few precious decades on this world, we wish to cling to that life, for it is truly precious. I will face Laquatas, by myself if need be. I have friends in the forest I wish to protect, and I believe that this forest, the forest of today, is worth saving."

Kamahl turned and strode across the great room and turned at the entrance to the bowl corridor. "Allow this to happen," he yelled back. "Your champion goes to meet his destiny."

Thriss called after him as he left the chamber. "Wait, Kamahl!" he yelled, a note of desperation in his voice. "You are not ready to face him. Good and evil still wage a war inside of you over the possession of the orb."

The words echoed within the tree and within Kamahl's mind as he descended, but there was no turning back. This was his time. He knew it. Life must be allowed to happen, but sometimes a champion must make it happen.

Laquatas walked through the forest alone, periodically calling out to Kamahl to come face him. The mer had briefly thought about dropping back into the underground waterways and going after the barbarian's sister to use her as leverage. But he knew that it wouldn't be long before the empress sent her forces against him, and he didn't have time to spare. No. The only way he could still win was to get the Mirari now. Today.

And that meant facing the barbarian. But he wouldn't have to do it alone. There was no reason to relegate this to a fair fight. While he walked, Laquatas held his mirror in the pocket of his coat. Havelock and his marines could pop up around Kamahl at a moment's notice. All Laquatas had to do was call the arrogant warrior out to face him. He knew the barbarian wouldn't be able to refuse the challenge.

"Kamahl, you son of a goat!" he yelled. "Here 1 am. It's time to end this. We both know it."

As Laquatas walked, he scanned the forest for signs of nantuko or the beast but saw, heard, smelled, and felt nothing beside himself anywhere nearby. The bug attacks had stopped as soon as he learned how to control them, the mer realized, so he had no fear on that front. The beast was another matter, but it hadn't attacked yet, and Laquatas was an easy target out in the open by himself, so either the creature wasn't after him or had been driven off or killed the night before.

"Kamahl!" called Laquatas as he walked down the path toward the center of the forest. The wilds of the deep forest had given way to what could only be described as a well-tended garden, with trees in rows, weeds and brambles meticulously absent, and a wide path leading northward. "I know you are here! Show yourself, and we will settle this man to mer."

Kamahl stopped at the edge of the clearing to meditate. He quickly found his spirit moving from tree to tree through the forest. He could sense more than hear the thoughts of the trees as he passed through them and quickly found Laquatas, walking alone down the path he'd trod only a few days earlier. There was no sign of the Order or Cabal forces, but Kamahl always suspected treachery when Laquatas was around.

Returning to his body, Kamahl took to the trees. Moving quickly and silently on into the forest, the barbarian came upon the mer and shadowed him from above.

Kamahl could find no signs of an ambush and quickly grew weary of the constant chatter from the insipid mer mage. He would have to take his chances and deal with whatever the mer had set into motion. Laquatas had set the rules for this confrontation, but Kamahl was fighting in his home, his new home. That alone gave him all the advantage he would need.

"Kamahl!" yelled Laquatas again. "Face me like a man, if you dare. It is time to settle this dispute as the barbarians always do, in honorable battle."

"What do you know of honor, you snake," said Kamahl as he dropped to the ground in front of Laquatas, landing in a crouch and looking up at the mer who stood not twenty feet away. "Your entire life has been a lie. Do you really want it to end in a lie as well?"

"I do not want it to end at all," said Laquatas. "Which is why I have brought friends to this honorable battle."

Laquatas pulled a mirror out of his coat and spoke into it. Pools of energy formed all around Kamahl as he stood and prepared for battle. Before the barbarian could even summon any creatures of his own, he was surrounded by mer warriors bearing tridents, spears, and nets.

The nearest marines launched their concerted attack, leading with the nets. Kamahl shot his hand up into the air and called a vine from the tree above, which wrapped around his wrist and pulled him from the ground just as the first nets landed where he had stood. Kamahl then swung to the side and released the vine, hitting the tree with bent knees and rolling down the trunk to land outside the ring of mer.

Laquatas had moved to the other side of the wide path, keeping his forces between himself and Kamahl. The marines advanced again, and Kamahl knew the nets would be thrown much higher this time to keep him from swinging back up into the trees. As the mer warriors closed, Kamahl called the vines again, but this time the green tendrils descended upon his foes, catching one around the neck, another encircled an upraised arm as the mer was about to throw a spear, and a third caught a marine by the foot, pulling the warrior upside down off the ground.

But there were too many, and the rest pressed forward. Kamahl dodged a spear and shredded a net with a spray of thorns from the tree behind him, and still they came on. As one marine stabbed at Kamahl with a spear, the barbarian ducked under and inside the attack, grabbed the mer by his scaly arm, whipped him around, and slammed him into the tree, which grew long spikes a moment before the impact.

Kamahl turned again to face his attackers, but the next marine had dropped low with his trident while the barbarian's back was turned. Sweeping in with the forked spear toward Kamahl's legs, the mer hooked the tines around the barbarian's ankle and swept him off his feet. A weighted net fell over Kamahl's body, pinning him to the ground.

"A well-timed attack, Havelock," called Laquatas to the mer who had dropped Kamahl with the trident. "You've greatly underestimated my marines, Kamahl. They may not be as fierce as your friends the nantuko, but constant training and simple telepathy allows them to coordinate their attacks with quick and decisive results.

"It's a pity it has to end like this, really," gloated Laquatas. "It was all too easy. To think that all the time and energy I spent chasing you and that blasted orb across the continent, and it should end like this. You on the ground unable to even reach me. But I assume the irony is lost on you. Oh, well. Kill him, Commander. You may have the honor."

Havelock raised his arms to drive the trident down into the barbarian's chest, but as he was about to strike, a battle-axe sailed into the gathered marines and struck the commander in the face, embedding itself up to the haft and driving the marine leader backward into the throng of mer behind him.

While the stunned marines stared at their dead commander, Kamahl summoned several vines from the tree to wrap around the net and pull it up into the air. Grabbing the net as it rose, Kamahl pulled himself up and kicked his feet out at the nearest marine, catching the mer in the jaw and whipping his head around so fast the blow broke the marine's neck.