Word spread across the Shelf faster than fire.
By the time Almond and Kael reached the western flats, half of two kingdoms were already there. People sat on rocks and broken walls and each other's shoulders. Hiroshi and three Asuras had carried Silvester's stretcher to the very front.
"If either of them falls on me," Silvester said, "I want it noted that I died happy."
Kayla walked a wide circle around the flats with one hand trailing behind her.
"Bloomheart Ward."
A low wall of green light rose out of the ground and closed into a ring. It was wide enough for a small town.
"That's to protect the people watching," she told the two fighters. "Not you. You two can get hurt as much as you like."
"Very kind," Kael said.
John had found a seat on Terravax's small shell. He was eating something out of a bowl and looking extremely pleased with his morning.
"Ten on Almond," he called.
"Ten on what?" Marcus asked. "We don't even have a currency you care about."
