224 Let There Be Blood!

My grandfather's retaliation was faster than the lightning bolts that flashed above us. Sam didn't even have the chance to utter a word. Stalwart slammed him on the ground, face deep into the mud. I heard something crack, but Sam didn't give up. I saw him struggle to find a surface stable enough to allow him to fight back. Grandpa lifted his head to look at me. Sam's squirming didn't bother him at all. He was still smiling, although his eyes were cold as steel. 

"Is this the friend who betrayed my son?" he asked. 

My heart sank at that question. It felt like I was standing at a volcano's crater, right before it explodes and destroys everything around it. I've heard of Stalwart's might, I've even been near a battlefield he decimated before. This time however, I was on the receiving end of his cold, ruthless anger. Something I didn't feel when I met him in the Fragment before.