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Better not to kick this hornet's nest unless he absolutely had to. If there was a chance that they could avoid a fight here altogether, then Hector needed to take it.

And to that end, he went with his countdown strategy. He materialized tiny clumps of iron in a wide radius around the Abolishers, letting them fall down and make more noise. He made sure to add little iron platforms below them as well, just to guarantee that the noise was crisp and loud. Wouldn't do if the clumps fell quietly into the dirt or one of Warrenhold's few patches of grass.

It was definitely catching their attention.

The clear, little tinks of metal moved around the group clockwise, drawing their looks each time. And once it made a full revolution, Hector added a second tink to each beat. Then a third. And a fourth.

The shift in their body language was obvious. Many of them were trembling as their heads darted to and fro.

They weren't doing anything about it yet, though.

That was fine. He could keep adding more, keep ramping up the noise. Garovel and the others had no doubt sent word to Abbas already. He might've had the numerical and age disadvantage, but a waiting game was in Hector's favor.

At length, however, after the tenth or so iteration, one of the Abolishers broke formation and bounded away from the group.

He was caught immediately and pinned against the ground by a lanky figure, the one who'd previously been at the front of the party. Was that Banda, Hector wondered?

Judging from the figure's mouth movements, more words were being exchanged, but Hector of course couldn't make out what was being said.

'You've successfully freaked 'em out,' said Pauline. 'Banda is threatening the one that tried to run away.'