While Kara had her conversation with Tarek, Hallbjorn was outside. His past again reared its ugly head, and the blood feud with the MacRieve clan asserted itself. There were six Lykae, with hardly as many centuries of life between them. Perhaps it was for the best. Hallbjorn knew there was no cure for this restless feeling inside him and perhaps a fight would help to take his mind off of it.<br/><br/>"What is that Gaelic phrase you use? The one that translates 'let the dog out of its kennel.'" Hallbjorn said with detached disdain as the Lykae moved to surround him. They all snarled and snapped at the insult.<br/><br/>"It's 'let the beast out of its cage!'" One of them snarled.<br/><br/>"Then do it. You have no hope at all, but if you show me your beasts you may not completely shame your clan." Hallbjorn said as he breathed in the lightning and let his body surge and swell with the rage of gods. He grew in stature and turned hideous and terrible to behold, and six pairs of eyes turned blue in response. Six beasts came to the fore and overlaid the men arrayed against Hallbjorn, and sixty claws were turned against him.<br/><br/>But as the Berserker said, they had not a hope. The blond giant laid into them without mercy, shattering bone with every strike of his huge fists. They crumpled like clay before iron, and after a single strike four of them did not rise again. Two showed they were made of sterner stuff, and these two Hallbjorn beat into submission using the Lamborghini of someone who would soon hold no love for him. The ferocity of the melee ensured that it lasted less time than the tupping one of the demons gave to the nymphs.<br/><br/>Hallbjorn sat on the crumpled wreck of the Lamborghini he had used as an impromptu melee weapon, and surveyed the unconscious Lykae. They would recover. And they would think this defeat enough to seek further vengeance. It had never bothered Hallbjorn before. But now it threatened Kara.<br/><br/>"I was told that you were an enemy of the Lykae, and now I understand why you remain a<em>living</em>enemy." Tarek said as he surveyed the Berserker's handiwork. "I admit that when Nix the Ever-Knowing said you would make the perfect guardian for Princess Kara I had misgivings. You have a reputation for being . . . more disciplined . . . than others of your kind, but . . ." Tarek trailed off and spread his hands out wide. "I see that those fears were ill-founded. You delivered the princess safe and sound."<br/><br/>Hallbjorn looked at Tarek with a carefully schooled expression, betraying nothing, showing nothing but ice. The djinn let his hands fall down and he carefully stepped over a puddle of Lykae blood.<br/><br/>"The laws of Janna are very strict regarding outsiders. One of your kind would be regarded as the worst type of unclean. It is impossible for you to enter Janna under any circumstance - only the gods could see you upon the hallowed sands of my homeland." Tarek began. "You have done a great service and for that you will be paid in full, honouring the contract between us. But that is the end of it. I have explained to Kara what it will mean for her to come home, Berserker." At this Hallbjorn's expression did not waver, and Tarek seemed as though he expected at least a small rise. It would have served his agenda if Hallbjorn had gotten angry and struck him. He expected the Berserker to be as his kind were reputed to be. "And she was very receptive to the idea. She gladly accepted a cell phone so that she could contact me when she finished setting her affairs in Gaia in order." Tarek frowned. "Will you interfere with this, Berserker? I am given to understand you have some small sway over the princess, who feels a debt to you for performing the service you were contracted to . . . so I must ask if you will try to stop her from seeing the home she yearns so deeply to see and returning to the land and people she belongs with."<br/><br/>Hallbjorn looked Tarek in the eye. "She is a free woman. It is her choice." Tarek opened his mouth. "I will not attempt to influence her decision." At this the djinn smiled as if all was well in the world. He turned on his heel and entered the bar. He returned to Nix's table just as Kara returned from the washroom, and he took his seat again.<br/><br/>"Welcome back, Princess Kara." Tarek said warmly. Hallbjorn followed after, several long steps behind. The Berserker did not sit at the table, and looked on with an expression so devoid of emotion that he could have been carved from marble. "I spoke to your guardian - we had matters of payment to settle, and I informed him about the invitation to Janna that we extended to you." Tarek looked to Hallbjorn, who said nothing on the matter.<br/><br/>"Is my debt to you settled, Valkyrie?" Hallbjorn said tonelessly to Nix, who looked up from the antics of Bertil eating complimentary peanuts.<br/><br/>"Hmm? Oh, yeah. We're even stevens now, home slice." Nix said with a casual wave.