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come.
    Tommy feigned an attack. As Jack raised his sword to block
it, Tommy leapt to the man’s chest. Landing like a frog upon a vertical surface
and using Jack’s body for leverage, Tommy leapt off the man with all his might.
The force of his unnatural legs was so strong that Jack flew backwards in one
direction as Tommy flew in the other but somewhere in the action, Jack had
managed to draw blood.
    The King of Valdadore watched as the newly altered Tommy
landed and lifted his foot to appraise the wound he had sustained. The tip of
one of his long toes had been severed completely. Garret thought to call a cleric
to heal him, but realized that they would probably be of little use to the man
now that his anatomy was foreign. However, just as soon as Garret had the
thought, Tommy revealed yet another blessing given to him through the
alteration of his body. Though it was an inherent gift for both amphibians and
reptiles, Seth had increased the ability by giving Tommy such an abundance of
life. So as Garret looked upon the newly created assassin, he was amazed when
in the span of no more than three seconds the toe that had been severed
regenerated as if it had never been injured at all.
    All three of his opponents watched, silently amazed. Tommy
too was overcome and smiled like a fool at the discovery. If he had thought
himself invincible before, he truly did now with this new body. Wanting to know
exactly what else he was capable of, Tommy turned, his smile remaining, and
spoke to the king.
    “Care to go again, your majesssssty?” Tommy asked, his
tongue flicking out between his teeth.
    Garret nodded and for the next hour the four combatants
trained with one another in mock battle after mock battle. Many hours before
daylight, Thousand Hole Tommy bowed low to his king and shook hands with his
old friends Giant James and Jack. Then he crouched, picking up a bundle provided
for him, and turning, he leapt into the darkness. A few bounds later Tommy was
lost from view into the night. Within minutes the man would be in the enemy’s
camp covering as much ground as he was able. Garret and Tommy’s old comrades
silently wished him luck into the cold night air.

Chapter Five
    For more than two hours now those tended by the healers had
been silent. Most had fully recovered after treatment and left but thirteen
remained in the care of the white-robed clerics. King Sigrant had ordered that
these men remain in their care until dawn. Occasionally one of them would wake,
sweating and fearful. At such times they would speak of unnatural things. They
were confused.
    After periods of consciousness, they would then have a fit.
Wracked by pain and convulsions, again the men would black out. They had been
brought to the healers throughout the day. The first arrived within an hour of
the battle’s beginning. From then they came regularly right up until the battle
had ceased. The first to arrive had now awoken for the fourth time.
    More than forty healers remained in the tent, each seated
near the outer wall, surveying all the patients within. Most noticed that the
man had awoken, though none moved to tend to him. Each of them had tried and
failed several times to diagnose the illness that had overcome these soldiers.
Something within them blocked their best efforts. Even the head master of the
order had come. He too had failed. Now it was simply a waiting game.
    Patient one, as the clerics were calling him, had been awake
for more than a quarter of an hour. This time he did not speak nor did he
thrash about. For the time being he simply lay on his back staring at the tent
ceiling. He had tried to move once, but finding himself restrained he relaxed.
The healers waited for him to do what he had done on each prior occasion.
    While they did so, patient two also awoke. He too tried to
move, and realizing he was also restrained, he asked for assistance but
received none. Within another hour, all thirteen men were awake and Peter, one
of the