The swordswoman with the scaled blade broke the swing of Xan’s greatsword in a clash of sparks.

“Stay out of sight,” Xan mocked through heavy breathing. “I’m not an idiot. Seriously, Lonny.”

“There was trouble,” Lonan said stubbornly. “I shouted.”

Lucinde Dunn and Calestaro Thecla flanked after Xan, both students of the old Porfirio school who had trained under Xan’s mother. A smattering of other armed men and women fanned around them, some of them looking nervous enough to drop their swords.

The pirates still in the street—excluding the man who’d taken the swords, with the blacksmith and the Rune-reader dead at his feet—bristled towards the newcomers. One of them seized Lonan by the upper arms and hauled him against the wall with everyone else.

–Elyan White, “Lost and Found”