AN: Ok, here is the other half of the battle. I have a horrible feeling I may have left a section break or two out in the middle somewhere - there's this section where the pov seems to swing a bit randomly between Emlyn and Tynan, and I know it was all right when I wrote it - but I can't put my finger on where it should be, and fanfiction is really messing me around over section breaks right now anyway, so I'm just posting it as it is. If anyone thinks they can figure out where one should be, let me know and I'll put them back in. And as always, please review. Thanks!

Twelfth day after Sun's Height, 30016 DC

The halfling was as the High Priest had described him – ostentatious. He wore a scarlet doublet, embroidered and ornamented with shining metallic threads, and the silk-lined cloak that hung in dramatic folds from his shoulders was peacock blue, like the seas of the far south. What the High Priest had not told them was that the halfling adopted this flashy style to compensate for his naturally dull and uninteresting appearance. Tynan looked into mud-brown eyes and realised that nothing beyond the flashing beringed fingers and the chunky gold chain around the scrawny neck would have caused him to glance twice at Mingun Varturan if he met him in the street.

Yet that did not make him one whit less ambitious, greedy and cruel; or less dangerous. Carefully, alert with all his senses for any movement or reaction in the immense tiger, Tynan looked round, trying to make out what had become of his companions.

After a long minute of gazing at the ranger, Varturan had turned his head up towards the boulder where Ali and Ensa were hiding. 'Don't think about attacking unless you want your companions to be tiger food,' he called. 'Lay your weapons down and stand up where I can see you.'

There was a short pause, during which Tynan's keen ears caught a slight rustling and the noise of muffled conversation, and then Ali stood up. She lifted a hand, and Tynan saw that it was red and glistened in the patchy sunlight. 'I'm here,' the girl said. 'But Ensa's hit.'

Ali's clear, carrying voice reached easily to Emlyn's ears, and he opened his eyes in shock. The tiger's face was still inches from his, long strings of saliva hanging from its open jaws. Emlyn clenched his teeth, determined not to panic, and twisted his head to look across the road, managing to catch sight of Ali's figure at the edge of his vision.

His heart skipped a beat as the dire tiger growled close above his ear, but he was occupied in glaring worriedly up at the acrobat's slim, upright figure. Was Ensa really badly hurt? Ali could at least look upset, the callous brat!

'How badly?' called Tynan, before Varturan had a chance to say anything else. To Emlyn his cousin's voice sounded calm and in control, and it helped to still the young fighter's racing heart. I'm not dead, and I could be by now. Maybe Ensa isn't that badly hurt. Maybe she's not as badly off as me, even.

The tiger growled again and its hot, smelly breath brushed across his face, reaffirming his point. Emlyn winced, but kept his ears pricked for Ali's reply.

She never made one. Before the girl could answer Tynan, Varturan cut across her. 'Enough. Your companion doesn't matter now. You'll all be joining her soon enough.'

Why not already? Emlyn thought, desperately struggling to breathe under the suffocating weight of the tiger's forepaws resting on his chest. He couldn't see the halfling from his position on the ground, but something about the brash, arrogant tone of Varturan's voice set Emlyn's teeth on edge. There was something about it that rang false, something that was all of a piece with failing to kill them.

Tynan knew the answer: vanity.

He could see it in the halfling's attitude. Varturan was a posturer; he was proud of what his ambition had achieved and pleased with himself for outwitting them – and he had outwitted them; Tynan's mind flashed to Shadow, desperately worrying about the elf's fate – and the halfling couldn't resist the temptation to show them exactly how clever he was.

Which makes him weak, Tynan thought. Because while we're still alive, we're still a threat to him. If only we could do something about those tigers…

Around Varturan's neck, among the cluttered mess of rich gold and silver jewellery, hung a leather thong. Knotted into the leather was a large fang of some description – a tiger's tooth, Tynan thought, or possibly a bear's, it was impossible to say without a closer look – and the ranger was convinced that it was the amulet that had caused them so much trouble. He could see carvings in the ivory that caught the light in strange ways as Varturan moved.

Tynan glanced worriedly up at the rock where Ali stood. If Ensa was badly hurt, perhaps dying, then if they were to do anything to escape then it must be done soon. If Shadow was – if he could posssibly be – still alive, then time might be of the essence in getting to him as well. And there was the amulet, the answer to their dilemma, not ten feet away from the ranger in clear view, and absolutely nothing that he could do about it. He looked round at the tiger standing over Emlyn's prone body with despair. If he moved then the beast would have his cousin's throat out for sure. He would probably never even get a blade drawn before the second animal was upon him.

'What made you think that you could defeat me?' sneered Varturan, and Tynan returned his attention to the flashily-dressed halfling. Varturan himself carried no obvious weapon, he noted. Three of the halfling's men – two drivers and a guard – were still standing; Ali had killed the third driver at the very beginning of the brief and abortive fight, while Ensa had caught the second guard with her magic missile. The final cart was now a splintered mess of wood and the injured oxen that had once drawn it were bellowing in pain, distracting Tynan and making it hard to think. Varturan didn't seem even to notice the noises.

Of course he doesn't care about animals suffering, Tynan thought bitterly.

'I am almost insulted,' the halfling continued. 'To think that you believed such a clumsy ambush could cause me a problem.' His hand went to his throat, and closed around the ivory amulet. Tynan tensed up; if Varturan gave the tigers orders to kill them, he planned to have a damn good shot at the halfling himself first.

'And of course that very amateur burglary attempt.' Varturan shook his head in mock sorrow. 'Really not even close to good enough.'

He must have noticed that Tynan's attention, which had been ranging over their surroundings as the ranger considered his options, focused sharply in at that, and Varturan met his angry dark eyes with amusement and satisfaction. 'Would you like to see your friend?' the halfling almost purred, and Tynan thought, He's enjoying this. He likes it that I'm angry and helpless. If I can stay cool underneath I might still be able to do something.

'Yes,' he said. There was no harm in that. If Shadow wasn't dead, then he would have gained some valuable information. He thought anxiously of Ensa, potentially becoming weaker every second he delayed. He was responsible for her; he was responsible for all of them. He'd led them here and he had to try and get them out again. But what could he do? He glanced again at Emlyn, hoping that it was fear or prudence that kept his cousin so very still, not injury.

'Ilom, Donar,' Varturan commanded. 'Fetch him out.'

The two men in the front cart swung themselves down, the dust rising in soft puffs where their feet hit the road, and made their way past Tynan, keeping a respectful distance from the dire tiger, which turned its massive head to watch them go past. It snarled, but Varturan made an odd growling sound and the tiger turned back to watching Tynan with narrowed yellow eyes.

The driver and the guard hauled themselves up onto the second cart, and Varturan stepped aside to let them reach the bed of the wagon. The cart held an enormous crate, which Tynan had assumed was to transport captured animals from the wilds of Wayrin or Shara into Port Suthard.

The driver unlatched the door of the crate, and the light streamed in to illuminate to rough wooden planks of the inside. There was something small – a rope, perhaps? – lying on the floor, and Tynan craned his head to see better. What had this to do with Shadow?

'He's gone!' said one of the drivers, astonished.

Varturan had half-closed his eyes, basking in what he thought was his own glory, but he jerked alert at that. 'Don't be stupid,' he snapped. 'Of course he's there!' The halfling stalked to the doorway of the crate.

There was a sudden, desperate flurry of movement, but Tynan didn't stop to analyse it. He was already leaping forwards, a sudden blind fury driving the ranger. He put Shadow in a cage!

Emlyn was unable to see anything of this exchange and Ensa was sprawled on the rock at Ali's feet, so the young acrobat was the only one who had a clear view of the action. She saw Varturan, stepping up to the entrance to the dark crate, suddenly knocked backwards by a slim dark figure who dropped from above the doorway. At the same moment – almost as if he had known in advance what would happen – Tynan flung himself forwards, jerking himself up onto the cart. The dire tiger in the road pounced, but the ranger wasn't there any more.

Shadow rolled free of the tangle of bodies and Ali could see him desperately fiddling with something in his hands. She squinted down at it – was it a piece of string that the elf was holding?

Then he flipped it up and over his head and jumped to his feet, opening his mouth to shout.

For a second Ali thought that something had gone wrong with her usually excellent hearing. What emerged from the elf's mouth was a succession of growls.

The tiger that had reared its forepaws up onto the cart, ready to strike again at one of the milling human figures, jumped back as if stung, and Ali understood. What Shadow had snatched was the amulet of animal handling. She cheered and jumped from foot to foot, excited by the sudden reversal of their fortunes.

But the other tiger? What about –? Ali glanced down at Emlyn and yelped in fear as she saw that the second tiger, released from Varturan's control, was opening its mouth.

A dazzlingly bright light exploded in the animal's face and it reared up in surprise, roaring with shock and pain. A second later Shadow had seen the danger and he was snarling and growling at the dire tiger. It left Emlyn lying where he was and ran swiftly round the abandoned front cart to join its companion in threatening what remained of Varturan's men.

Ali heard a satisfied grunt beside her and looked downwards. Ensa had heaved herself up on her elbow to watch the progress of events. The thick, sticky blood from the trivial wound in the half-orc's upper arm was already beginning to clot and dry in the patchy sunshine.

'Come on!' said Ali, grabbing her bow and swinging herself down to hang from her fingertips from the rock before she dropped into the road. 'It's all over.'

It was true. Ensa nodded with satisfaction, scooped up Star, who had remained pressed against the boulder shivering, and took the more dignified route down.

Emlyn knew that the battle was over as he picked himself up, but he had know idea how it had come about. He blinked furiously and rubbed his eyes; the blinding flash that had burst in between him and the tiger as it opened its jaws had left him completely unable to see, and he felt uncomfortably helpless and stupid. Ensa's work, he comforted himself. She must be all right.

As his vision began to clear, he looked up at the second cart and his mouth dropped open in surprise. Shadow was standing fearlessly between the two dire tigers, facing the halfling's men, who dropped their weapons with alacrity. Shadow? When had he arrived?

Tynan had a firm grasp on Varturan – now, his confidence deserting him, the halfling looked merely ridiculous in his finery, like a bird in borrowed plumage. Emlyn picked up his sword from where it had been flung into the dust and stalked over to his cousin's side, angry with himself. 'This happens every time! Every damn time we fight I end up flat on my back!'

Emlyn had no idea that his cousin had ever been anything other than tranquil as Tynan answered him mildly, 'We haven't fought very much, Emlyn. You'll learn with experience.'

'But not if I get myself killed!' Emlyn returned. 'I'd prefer to learn first. Tynan, will you teach me?'

His cousin looked at him and smiled, the lines of his face smoothing out. 'Yes, of course I will. Why not?'

Emlyn smiled back, but Tynan's attention was already on other things. 'Hold this,' he ordered, and thrust the limp halfling into Emlyn's mailed hands. The ranger hurried past Ali to where Ensa was picking her way down the slope. 'How badly are you hurt, Ensa? From what Ali said, I thought –'

'It's only a scratch,' Ensa said, and her low, gravelly voice was steady enough to be reassuring to Emlyn. 'I thought it might be useful to pretend I was worse hurt than I was.'

Tynan nodded. 'Fair enough. But let me see that anyway.'

Emlyn looked up at the cart, now close beside him. Ali had climbed up to join Shadow, and the girl was perched on top of the rough crate, swinging her legs and chattering cheerfully. The elf was watching the prisoners; two were sitting unhappily in the bottom of the cart, while Shadow had allowed the third to climb back onto the driving seat to control the oxen, which were shifting uneasily from foot to foot, their eyes rolling. Emlyn picked up Varturan bodily and hefted him in beside his two men. 'Watch this one too, will you?' he asked.

He didn't wait for an answer, but made his way across the road to join Ensa and his cousin.

Tynan was just tying off the bandage that he had rolled firmly around Ensa's upper arm. The half-orc was looking a little white and the corners of her mouth were tight, because the ointment Tynan had used to clean up the long gash the crossbow bolt had left across her arm stung like fire on the open wound, but she was able to smile at Emlyn.

'How are you? You look a bit battered.'

Emlyn glanced down at himself. Ensa was right; his armour was a little dented and one or two of the overlapping metal plates that made up its protective layer were missing. 'It'll be where that tiger landed on me. I'm all right.'

'You'll ache in the morning,' Tynan warned him. 'I expect you've picked up some serious bruising.'

When Emlyn thought about it, he ached already. He could still feel the ghost of pressure on his chest where half of the dire tiger's weight had rested on him, and his back and neck hurt from where he had been flung into the road. Get used to it, he told himself. Who told you adventuring would be easy?

Tynan and Ensa were still looking at him, waiting for a response, so Emlyn gave them a rueful smile. 'I'm all right.'

The cart jolted and bumped its way back along the packed dirt road towards the city. Tynan was driving; Shadow sat beside him, facing into the cart where the four prisoners sat, quailing under the hungry glare of the dire tigers. They had tumbled the crate, and a number of smaller boxes and cages, out onto the roadside to make more space, but Ensa, Emlyn and Ali had elected to walk back to the city. They – well, Ensa and Emlyn, anyway – had intended to try and clear the road of some of the wreckage and bury the two dead bodies.

Tynan hadn't tried to stop them; he approved of the plan, but he also knew that the most important thing was to hand his prisoners over to the High Priest as soon as he possibly could. He wanted them out of his hands and into the arms of the law.

It also left the two old friends free to talk quietly.

'Are you all right?' Tynan asked softly.

The elf shrugged. 'Bruises.'

'What happened?'

'Overconfidence,' Shadow said, bitterly. 'Classic. The door was open, so I walked in. They were waiting inside.' A jerk of his head told Tynan that he meant the tigers. 'They bundled me up and stuffed me in that crate. Worked myself out of the rope in the night. Then we set off down here and walk into your ambush.'

'We were lucky you were alert.'

'You were stupid.' Shadow turned his head so that his opaque green-black eyes met Tynan's brown ones. 'Why attack?'

Tynan said nothing, and Shadow laughed hollowly. 'It won't do you any good. Still not giving up on me?'

'Never,' said the ranger, fiercely.