"I heard he was a mage," the warrior tried again, anger re-kindling to mask terror. "Not a swordsman. Not some ghost in the mist." He spat into the dirt; the phlegm steamed where it landed.
When Draven finally spoke, his voice arrived soft—too soft for a battlefield—yet every syllable cut clean, separating air into razor-thin layers. "I am Dravis Granger, adventurer of the Aurelion Guild." His eyes, pale and depthless, never left the giant's. "I hunt what stains these woods."
The name meant nothing to the slaver, and that confusion leeched the last of his bravado. "Liar… you—"
