She called off her wolf which caused some of the tension to slide away but not by much. Her threat that Hell would break out was understood but they had bigger problems, such as Ry'kanos standing before them.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff00ff">"Kinslayer?" </span>Raida asked. Ry'kanos closed his eyes and slowly turned to face Raida, causing Heston to bristle at the outrage. It seemed he would drive his spear in the back of Ry'kanos without a moment's notice. Ry'kanos did not seem to care as he listened to Raida continue to speak,<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff00ff">"What are they talking about Ry'kanos? You can't kill him, he owes me a life debt and I will not leave till we get your help in freeing the others." </span>He commended her sticking to saving the elves at the castle but it seemed the biggest threat to them was in this very clearing.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff0000">"What they say is true Raida.." </span>He said almost too quiet for her to hear but Raida was determined to make sure no one else died it seemed as she continued,<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff00ff">"I thank you for giving me the chance to leave but I want to know what's going on Heston. Tell me what's going on." </span>Heston went to gripping his spear with one hand and marched towards Raida, shouldering Ry'kanos as he passed him and coming to stop a few feet away from Raida lest he anger her wolf and cause something to happen. As he approached, Raida continued to speak,<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff00ff">"Challenge him to what? No more blood needs be shed. Haven't enough of us died already?" </span>That stopped Heston short and he looked back at Ry'kanos with cold fury but now a look of questioning before he turned his attention back to Raida.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff00ff">"I can't just walk away and let you kill him..," </span>she seemed to implore and it broke Ry'kanos. He brought his hand up and ran his fingers across his face in a sign of grief as the next words whispered from Ry'kanos shattered what remained of his heart,<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff00ff">"Tell me it's not true. I don't understand."</span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff0000">"What he says is true, Raida..," </span>He repeated much more loudly so that the other elves in the clearing could hear,<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff0000">"I slain elves in the arena." </span>He could have said that he had no choice. He could say he was forced to do it. But they weren't necessarily the truth. He hadn't been forced although the threat of violence had been implied."<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff0000">I killed Xanthe, Heston's brother, while in the Arena." </span>At the mention of his brother's name, fury once more contorted Heston's features and he began to approach Ry'kanos once more, gripping his ornate spear tightly.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#00ff80">"He followed you Ry'kanos! He fought for you! And what did he get?!" </span>He suddenly struck out with spear, jabbing towards Ry'kanos' face. Ry'kanos dodged the blow and took a quick step back but Heston continued forward, jabbing once more. This time the blow slashed across Ry'kanos' cheek as he blocked it from his eye. So far he had made no other moves to defend himself.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#00ff80">"His loyalty was rewarded with you killing him!"</span>Heston shrieked. This time, he slashed out with his spear. Ry'kanos was too slow and the spear haft caught his ankle and knocked his feet from under him.<br/><br/>Ry'kanos rolled away from the downward strike Heston aimed at him and rose fluidly to his feet to bloke the next slash with the haft of his spear. He was limping slightly as the blod to his ankle had bruised the bone. Any harder and it could have broke it. As the two elves circled each other, a chant began to resonate among the elves as ritual combat, not seen since before the War of Desolation, drew blood in the clearing.<br/><br/>Over and over, Heston struck out, scoring hits on Ry'kanos' arms, legs, and a particularly gruesome neck wound that almost claimed his life. Heston was a skilled warrior but his emotions caused his strikes to be overextended, choppy. Ry'kanos knew he had to end this quickly or else the young warrior would get in a blow that would kill him. He saw the opportunity come when Heston broke his spear down in an overhead strike. Ry'kanos went to block with his spear but suddenly he heard a splintering crack as his spear was broke. With the spear haft broken, Heston drove the spear point in to Ry'kanos' shoulder and Ry'kanos crashed to the floor.<br/><br/>A grunt from Heston though drew everyone's attention away from Ry'kanos' imminent demise and the broken spear haft jutting inside of Heston's gut..<br/><br/>Heston blinked rapidly and slowly pulled himself off the broken haft. He clutched the wound and fell to his knees as the strength left him. Ry'kanos slowly rose up from his prone position, grunting as Heston's spear left his shoulder. He looked at sorrow at Heston and crawled over to the man as shuddering began to run through Heston. He caught the elf before he fell back and held him in his lap. There, in the last moments, Heston tried to speak but Ry'kanos hushed him and shook his head slowly. He held Heston as blood bubbled up on the lips of the elf and the light faded from his eyes.<br/><br/>When he was dead, Ry'kanos felt a shudder in pain more than physical and closed his eyes.