Samuel
Hope for the best
Prepare for the worst
Sam had gotten into a kind of rhythm, swinging and stepping back; it felt almost like if there was an actual opponent here, he could have a chance of defending himself enough to get time to run (he had no delusions of beating anybody). However, it appeared there was an opponent: Sam barely had time to realise what the knives rushing towards him were by the time they were there and the wave of the staff was pure instinct, an ungainly swing into the air before him.Prepare for the worst
By some miracle, he managed to knock one of the knives slightly off course, but in the process of doing so overstepped and careened forward. The knife that he had knocked still breezed past his side, fluid following it in a neat arc as a cut appeared in across his ribs: the other lodged firmly in his stomach, just above his hip. While he couldn't feel the pain, Sam let out a noise of disbelief and horror at seeing the hilt sticking out from his flesh and froze, hands shaking on the staff.
In his panic, he could not look up and identify the attacker. Convinced it was whoever had decided to target the Ascended, he called out: "Please, I'm just a bookmaker, I'm not dangerous, please don't!"
Wait all your life to see what you see
