“I do not fear death, warmblood. So get this over with” hissed the large lizardman back at her, his eyes still closed, his wide lips firmly pressed together now. He awaited the stony tip of the spear to pierce his throat any moment.<br/><br/>“Ah yes, death, the easy way out. The cowards way.” She almost spat the last sentence. “But do you have enough strength for the hard way? Enough strength to LIVE?” He froze, and slowly he opened his eyes again, looking up at her. What was she getting at? “You want me to beg for my life?”<br/><br/>“No.” An almost imperceptible shake of her head. “But your tribe still needs you. It needs your strength in battle, and it needs you to sire powerful and swift children, a generation of warriors striking fear into the hearts of your enemies. You are their finest fighter, and no matter how good a warchief I will become, I can not deliver that.”<br/><br/>Thoughts were rushing through his head. He had learned to embrace death, but in a way he had also started to cherish life. Was that warmblood really too weak to kill him? But there was no weakness in those eyes staring down at him. “So you will just let me go?”<br/><br/>A smirk that lacked any humor made a brief appearance on her face “No, I won't. First you will give me your word – by your honor as a warrior – that you will serve me loyally to the best of your capabilities, that you will never attempt to usurp me, and that you will protect me from any that will mean me harm, as long as you live. Then, and only then, will you get up and walk out of this circle.”<br/><br/>For a moment the malice came back “So you want me to live in shame, as a shadow of what I have been, to be ridiculed by the others at all times? What a fate is that?” hissed he at her, almost ready to lunge at her only so she would have to kill him whether she wanted or not.<br/><br/>But her answer surprised him “Yes. It is a cruel fate. A tough life, one that requires a lot of strength. Here.” For a moment one of her hands withdrew from the spear and her fist hit against her own chest “That's why I call it the hard way. Do you have that strength? The strength to put your tribe's well being over your own ego?”<br/><br/>For endless seconds he just wordlessly stared at her. Some part of him just wanted to die a warrior's death right here, to go out with a bang. But being killed by a female warm blood, was that really a death he longed for. And there was the other part of him, the one she had gotten to start thinking about what she said. Her words were unusual, unexpected, unfamiliar in more ways than one, but he could not find anything wrong with their logic. And as the proud warrior he thought he still was he had to admit that she had beaten him, his life was hers, for her to do with as she chose. And if this was her choice...<br/><br/>“You have my word.” Probably the four hardest words ever to be spoken by him. All it elicited from her was one quick, curt nod of that unreadable, expressionless face, and then she stepped back and lifted the spear.<br/><br/>It took him a moment to start moving, and a bit longer to get back to his feet as his leg was only very slowly starting to resume full operations. Several sharp intakes of breath could be heard as he reached out and picked up his club again, about half of the spectators expecting another round, expecting the human to be punished for her stupidity, but as he had finally erected himself to full height, the mighty weapon firmly in his grip, all he did was to nod back, and then to turn and walk – still with a slight limp – towards the edge of the circle and finally step out of it. There was much he had learned today, and much still to think about.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>