Clash of Bone, Crush of Heart.

Piper flailed against the unbreakable grip of her handlers. A burst of righteous anger fueled her, but after two days without food the attempt was futile and short-lived. The two men dragging her through the cavernous hall were Atami, twice the size of her tribesmen in both height and muscularity, and notoriously without compassion. Upon reaching the door to her judge's chamber they did not stop to open it, but sped her to it and threw her. The last of her strength spent in the struggle, she put up no defense and crashed full-bore against the cold iron, face first. The Atami caught her again before she fell and she swooned with her full weight hanging from her restrained limbs.

Upon entering the chamber she heard the silencing of clamour, the hall was filled with seething spectators eager to witness her fate. Her naked feet dragged across the rough carpet that lined the approach; at the end of the lane was the Atami seat of power, occupied by the head of their clan, Kyler Grayborn. Grayborn was known to her in name only; he had not been seen on the field of battle for decades before her birth, though he was not forgotten. His ruthlessness was the subject of many nightmarish legends spoken by her people to fuel their resolve in heightened times of war. Now she was at the end of her quest, presented before her quarry, but before she could look upon him her ushers dropped her to her hands and knees, gripped the back of her neck, and thrusted her head to the floor.

Grayborn uttered words in the Atami tongue, his voice was coarse and calm. The hall burst in repetition, then fell silent. The handlers released her, and she slowly was able to raise her head and look upon her captor. Despite her bravery, her determination, her hatred and the passion for her cause, Piper - warrior heiress of the fighting Coremark tribe - met the gaze of her greatest enemy and knew true fear.

Grim to behold, the face of her judge was deeply grooved and pallid. Wreathed in gray-black, his hair and beard were heavy and long, and his eyes burned pale yellow as though lit from within. Thought and pain fled, her mind was empty - a pristine moment of gaping horror. He moved to speak, and her terror was broken; reminded that he was a man, and that a man may be slain, she regained her resolve. His words were not in the common language used to parley between tribes, but roughly rendered in her own native tongue.

"Broken daughter of Coremark, you shame this hall with your weakness." He paused to let his words take root. "You have passed stone bank, fetid marsh to kill me..." he rose from his seat and approached her, "... I diminish myself to accomodate." He stepped slowly toward her until her nose nearly met his ironclad shins, then he brushed back his fur cape and kneeled before her. Piper rose from her hands to sit upright upon her heels. Though both kneeled upon even ground, there was no comparison; the shadow of the Atami throne-bearer enveloped her completely.

Like a curious animal Grayborn hunched deeply, lowering himself to examine her more closely. Piper rose her head to meet him; he locked his eyes to hers in a penetrating and unshakable stare. His heavy hands moved slowly to his chest, and with fury rising in his gaze he clenched his hide garment and tore it violently asunder. With bare chest heaving, he spit his words upon her, "Here now, Heart-Crusher! Break bone and squeeze free my life to blackness!"