SOPHIE

Dimitar looks at Percy's sword and laughs. "Is that your sword, little elf? How adorably puny."

Percy looks torn between laughing and stabbing the king. "What is with you ogres all being so dirty minded! That, my friend, was a very dirty joke."

"I am not your friend, elf. Cadence has informed me of the purpose of this visit. What makes you think you're worthy of my sword?"

"What can I do to prove I'm worthy of your sword?" Percy says this with a completely straight face, but you can see in his eyes that he is trying really hard not to laugh.

Lady Cadence sighs. "Percy, get your mind out of the gutter. And Dimitar, please refrain from almost killing someone in a sparring match like you did last time."

Percy looks up. "Sparring match? I like sparring. I'd spar with Metal Diaper."

King Dimitar laughs. "You think an elf can beat me in a spar to the death?"

"No. But I can put up a dam good fight."

Dimitar smiles. "Then a spar. First to yield will win. If you win, you get the sword. If I win, I get to take my daughter back."

I can't breathe. The last time this happened, Keefe had to go to Elwin's and stay there for days.

Ro rolls her eyes. "Got something for me to do, Dad? Percy, win this please."

He smirks. "I'll try."

We walk through the glowing fungus cave to the arena covered in salt. Percy looks at the sword on the wall and raises an eyebrow. "Dude, niiiiice collection. So, do I use one weapon, or multiple?"

"Multiple is fine."

Percy smiles, his eyes darkening slightly. I shiver. I bet he could kill Dimitar easily if he wanted to, but he won't. He fights fair. Or at least fair-ish. He flicks his wrists and his knives appear. He tucks them into sheathes by his sides. "Shall we begin?"

King Dimitar begins to state the rules. "Whoever yields first wins. I will not use grusom daj, but I expect you to keep your powers to a minimum. No fatal strikes. No stepping out of the arena. And you should take off your shirt."

Percy blinks. Then he turns towards me. "Is he checking me out or something?"

Lady Cadance snorts. "No. It is traditional for ogres to expose the same amount of skin while sparring."

Percy nods and takes off his shirt. I almost gasp when I see his scars. He's covered with them. Slashes, burns, stab marks, every possible scar. Dimitar also notices his scars, and looks rather impressed. "What sort of elf has that many scars?"

"The type that's only half elf."

Percy lunges towards Dimitar, his sword flashing through the air towards his neck. Dimitar ducks under the blade and slices up, barely missing Percy's stomach as he dodges backwards. Percy laughs in delight. "You're good! I haven't had this much fun since…" He stops suddenly, a wall slamming down on his emotions. His eyes harden, returning to the battle.

They continue for at least two minutes, blades slamming against each other, no one able to get in a hit. Suddenly, Percy slides underneath Dimitar's legs, and pops up behind him. The king whirls around, but Percy vapor travels to the side Dimitar's back is facing. He grabs his neck in a chokehold, putting his blade to the carotid artery. "Yield," he hisses.

Dimitar looks shocked, then he pulls his sword through the air towards Percy's gut. His arm stops of its own accord halfway there, and then is forced to throw the sword away. The blade clatters out of his grip, and Percy's eyes flash with dark satisfaction. "YIELD!" he commands.

"I yield," Dimitar croaks.

Percy relaxes and removes his sword from the king's neck. King Dimitar looks him over appraisingly, and Keefe comes over to me. "He's scared," he says, almost hesitant. "He's scared of Percy."

I'm not surprised. Percy is scary when he wants to be. Even now, I can feel shivers going down my spine if I think about the gleam in his eyes as he uses the powers that he hates, and how he could kill us all with only a little concentration.

Percy glares at the king of the ogres. "So? Will you uphold your side of the deal?"

King Dimitar snarls. "Show some respect, boy. I am the king!"

Percy smirks. "You have no idea how many times I've heard that. Somehow, I'm still alive. The sword?"

Dimitar reluctantly hands over his sword. "Bring it back once you are done with it."

Percy cocks his head, his eyes shining with mischief. "What's the magic word?" King Dimitar looks like he's about to murder Percy, and probably would have if Percy hadn't said, "Joking, joking. I'll bring it back."

And with that, Percy gives a salute, turns on his heel, and walks back through the caves to the boat. We all follow behind him.

PERCY

You stupid, stupid, idiot! I berate myself. You promised you would stop! You can feel the fear that the elves have of you. You have to stop using this… darkness. Every time I do, it gets harder to keep it under control.

I flick my hand, letting the boat's sails unravel and the ropes untie as the elves step onto the boat. I feel a tug in my gut as I will the river to take us upstream. So we ride, rather smoothly I may add, to Havenfield. Or as close to Havenfield we can get on a boat. We chat as we float along the river, idle small talk, about Keefe's pranks, about mine, about how many times Sophie's been to Elwin's. I also get lectured about how utterly foolish it was to speak to King Dimitar that way, by all of the elves. Except Keefe and RO. Keefe just laughed and Ro proclaimed me her new best friend.

Lady Cadence's boat bumps against the bank of the river. I jump off the boat and wait as the others come off as well. "Lady Cadence, if you want, I can make your boat take you back to where we met you this morning."

Lady Cadence's face is inscrutable. "Thank you, Percy. That would be very helpful." I nod, and Lady Cadence strides back up the gangplank to the boat. With a wave of my hand, she's off to her docking point.

Ro is holding her dad's sword gleefully, crowing over the fact that I beat him. You know, Ro is amazing.

When we get to the alicorn enclosure in Havenfield, everyone else is already there. Ro puts the sword at the foot of the tree, and we sit and tell each other stories about our quests.