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You’ll free Neve as soon as you can, but you need to take care of the immediate threat first. After all, what good will it do to untie Neve if you all get killed by Venatori in the meantime?

Swinging your sword in wide arcs, you run into the crowd of Venatori, scattering them around you. Those who don’t move out of your way fast enough feel the bite of your blade, crumpling to the floor of the arena in a weird parody of blood magic. Serves them right, you think, swinging back the other way to take out a few more.

One or two of them are waving at each other in a panic—strange, but who knows why Venatori do anything? Only then you notice that more and more of them are waving and that they’re not actually looking at each other, but upward.

Your eyes follow theirs toward the sky and, when you see it, you almost can’t believe it’s real.

There’s a dragon heading straight for you.

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