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“All that talk about honor,” said Barnabas, “and yet what are you doing now? Trying to bring others into our fight. I told my men to hang back so that you and I could have a proper go of it. You disappoint me, stranger.”

“That’s not honor,” countered Vito. “What you’re talking about is merely pride. Honor is something done in service of others, not to satisfy one’s own ego.”

“Rationalizations of the cowardly.”

“That is incorrect. Would I like for us to have a proper duel? Sure. But when you have responsibilities beyond indulging in your own personal desires, honor becomes something much greater than a simple feeling in your gut.”

Barnabas squinted at him but made no further retort.

“I respect your desire for an honest fight,” said Vito. “If I can spare your life, I will. But it seems to me that the company you keep has given you a false concept of what true honor is.” Not that Vito was terribly surprised by that. Anyone who participated in the wanton slaughter of civilians couldn’t have understood much about honor, no matter what they said.

Vito decided to hold his tongue on those last thoughts, though. He had a feeling that they would fall on deaf ears to any Abolisher, since they’d probably heard something similar countless times before. Kerikos had often found that people had an odd compulsion to disagree with arguments they’d heard too many times, regardless of how much merit said arguments actually had.

For his part, Barnabas remained quiet, merely standing there instead of continuing the attack.

Which Vito found surprising. Perhaps he should have used this opportunity to press his own advantage, but something was stopping him. Something in that uncertain expression on the other man’s face.

Before their dialogue could resume, however, another quake arrived; but this one was unlike any of the others.

It was sharp and brief. Not terribly disorienting--or even that dangerous, really.

But something else occurred along with it.

The entire corridor behind Barnabas was gone. The connecting rooms, too. Part of the courtyard. An entire chunk of the castle.

Just gone.

In its place was a great crater. A half-sphere, gouged out of the building and the earth. And stranger still, it looked so clearly cut. Not like the aftermath of an explosion. Rather, it looked more like the mass had simply been subtracted from the space that it had been occupying mere moments ago.

Wide-eyed, Vito had no idea what to make of it.