Hanna has a plan in the morning.

Dawn arrived at long last, and the champions slowly emerged from their tents. _Well, not their tents, necessarily, _Hanna noted. Josk and Ria came out of Josk's tent, and Denni, Brudd, and Yolna all emerged from Yolna's tent. Interesting.

Hanna was already by the burned-out campfire, sitting beside the still-tied Karn.

"Good morning, everyone," she said. "I have an idea about Karn here."

"Ria," Karn said, sneering, "Congratulations. You're glowing."

Ria shot him a hateful glare. "What's your plan, Hanna?" she said. "Cut his cock off?"

"Not exactly," Hanna said. "We can keep him alive, and keep him in Odin's Spear. But I will cast a spell on him. If he ever touches any of us at all, even brush against us lightly, he will feel pain. Any skin-on-skin contact will feel like the bite of a thousand fire ants."

"Sounds fair," Josk said.

"I'd rather just disembowel him," Ria muttered.

"Everyone gather around Karn," Hanna said. "Anyone who wants to be under the spell's protection has to be in contact with him while I cast it."

The group circled the dark sorcerer, placing their hands on his face and neck. Of the six of them, Ria was the most hesitant to touch him, but finally she pressed a finger against his collarbone. Denni wedged his hand awkwardly into Karn's nose and eye, chuckling slightly at the sour look it brought to Karn's face.

Hanna put her hands on Karn's and began to chant an incantation. Wind whipped around the group, stirring ash from the dead fire. Hanna grabbed a handful of these ashes and blew them into Karn's face. As he inhaled the ash, he began to scream in agony.

"It's done!" Hanna said. Everyone let Karn go, and the sorcerer slumped over in his bonds.

"How can we be sure?" Brudd said.

Ria reached forward and grabbed Karn's jaw. The young man screamed again, and tendrils of smoke began to curl up from beneath Ria's palm. She released him, and left a bright red mark where her hand was.

"I think it works," Ria said.

"Loki take you, Ria," Karn said. "You could have had me! Instead you went to that braindead warrior? Tell me, how did his cock feel inside you? Did his thrusts fill you? Does his seed still slosh back and forth in your womb?"

Ria slapped him, generating another burst of smoke and causing Karn to writhe in pain again. She leaned down next to him. "He filled me to completion. He's ten times the man you are," Ria muttered. "And now you'll never touch me again."