The stranger looked up to the small stand in the courtyard that was reserved form Leif and his friends; his eyes were immediately drawn to Lief's waist. 'Strange,' Lief thought. 'My shirt is covering the Belt.'
The stranger bowed, acknowledging him as the king and his subjects then turned back to the roaring crowd.
"Is there anyone else? I will fight against any odds, and for any stakes."
"Why don't you fight the entire palace guard?" Barda roared and was met the good hearted laughter from the crowd.
"Ok," the stranger said simply.
A shocked silence descended upon the crowd. It seemed that they knew him well enough to tell when he was being serious. 'But he can't be,' Lief thought. 'No one could beat them all.'
"And if I beat them all? What do I get in return? What are the stakes?"
"A personal audience with the king." Lief stood up and made sure that his voice carried over the crowd. Now the stranger looked at him for the second time. They all knew what a personal audience with Lief was worth. It guaranteed that person and his family a good life under the protection of the royal palace. It in did everything but make them nobles.
"Deal; King! If I win, I shall be granted a personal audience."
He turned back to the crowd. "Bring me your Palace Guards! The dice has been cast the stakes have being set! Now let's see if they can fight."
Barda left the stand and went to join the growing number of palace guards assembling in the courtyard. There were more then a hundred palace guards, but Barda had a trick up his sleeve. He'd taken twenty of their best swordsmen and trained them all to kill a Vraal. These were Lief's secret honour guard and he hadn't gotten around to telling Lief about them. They were perfectly trained to kill one, superior fighter. The only difference in this fight was that you had to incapacitate your opponent rather then kill him. The rest of the Palace Guards were to wait in reserve. If, by some miracle, the Honour Guard fell, they were to swarm their opponent.
Barda turned and saw that the stranger had retrieved two of his own…short swords? The identical blades curved forward sharply and made the top of the blade look like an 'n'. The tip of the blade then curved out slightly, like a fishhook, though if this had any relevance remained to be seen. The blades were double edged and carried the inevitable fear of the unknown. The fact wasn't helped by the way the stranger had dealt with Doom. The first twenty Palace Guards advanced and the crowd held its breath.