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A bird soared high above the arena, its wings spread wide. A large raptor with golden eyes and tawny, dappled feathers.
The owl on Merlin's shoulder. Had Tuva roamed free ever since she had flown from Merlin's chamber in the temple that terrible night?
I wrenched my attention away from the owl and turned back to the scene below.
Lancelet was sprinting forward as the glatisant, wounded and enraged, emitted a deafening sound that reverberated through the very stones of the arena.
Excalibur's edge found its mark again, rending the glatisant’s flesh and splattering the ground with crimson.
The creature's lifeblood was flowing freely now.
I tried to contain my glee, not daring to look to my right.
The glatisant was turning. Lancelet seemed just out of reach. She lifted the sword above her.
The glatisant made a monstrous swipe, sending her tumbling down onto the sand.
Lancelet lay stunned, her back to the ground, her expression dazed.
The glatisant's gaping maw began to descend.
The crowd in the tiers was going wild now, screaming and shouting, some calling suggestions, others breaking down into wails as if already anticipating my friend's demise.
Lancelet gripped the sword so tightly, I saw the whites of her knuckles. Screaming her defiance, she thrust it upwards, just as the beast's mouth lowered.
Flames exploded from the blade as it slid effortlessly through the roof of the glatisant's mouth. As the beast's lifeblood poured out, the glatisant let out a gruesome wail.
An intense and blinding light spread outwards from Excalibur as Lancelet pulled the blade free. A massive wave of incandescence engulfed the arena. Screams went up from the stands, but it was too late. The wave of brilliant energy passed over us all.
But this time, the light subsided as quickly as it had shot out, shrinking until it only encompassed Lancelet. Then only the sword itself.
Lancelet had shakily risen to her feet. She was drenched in the creature's blood. Wiping a hand briefly over her face, she dropped the sword, her expression weary.
The arena was silent.
Then the crowd began to murmur.
The murmur became a roar. From the teeming throng of people below, a resounding cheer erupted like the crash of ocean waves against a cliffside. It was an outcry like nothing I had ever heard, and the emotion pulsing through it all was pure triumph. Lancelet had vanquished Arthur’s monster, and the people revered her for it.
Just as she began to turn her head towards the crowd, a whistling sound came from over my head.
I leaped to my feet, already knowing it was too late. The arrow was descending as fast as it had flown.
