Carver stepped back and gritted his teeth. His enemy's actions, though annoying, weren't really hurting him at all - the man was unwisely using up valuable energy that he'd need if he hoped to break the knight's defenses.

He was just planning his next move when an explosion ripped through the air. Carver whirled around to face it. Was the duel betrayed? No - neither party had fired. Rather, the shot had come from the trees and was aimed at one of the bandits. The paladin clenched his jaw in fury. Interrupting or breaking an honor duel was an offense of the highest order. For his sake, whoever had fired had better hope he didn't know what was going on.

The bandit was talking to him, offering a temporary truce. "I know him not," Carver said, and nodded. "Let's talk to him, and then get back to killing each other like [i]civilized[/i] people."