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guy,’ he says with a grin.
    ‘Try not to fucking die,’ I tell him.
    The Halzig’s huge left arm is chained to the pole and it suddenly gains a sense of clarity and purpose, looking around for its victim with a murderous snarl.
    Ronin, in a black vest and camo fatigues, rolls his shoulders and stretches his neck, then ties his long red hair back into a ponytail. He takes a packet of cigarettes from his pocket as the goblins chain his left arm to the pole.
    ‘Smoke?’ he offers, holding the packet out to the Halzig.
    It gives a short howl and lunges at him. Ronin spins out of the way and entangles it in the chain long enough to light his smoke.
    ‘I know, I know, lung cancer,’ he says, pulling on the chain and trying to drag the Halzig’s arm into a nest of razor wire.
    But the Halzig hasn’t even begun yet. Its animal rage transforms into a cold, lethal cunning. It methodically frees itself from the chain and begins to stalk Ronin around the pole.
    Ronin keeps up his usual dumb banter, but I can see the sweat beginning to drip down his face as his attempts to avoid the giant goblin become more and more desperate. He stumbles and it catches him with a long arm and effortlessly slams him into the ground, wrapping the chain around his foot and reeling him in like a fish on a line. With a last brutal yank it drags him into reach and begins to pound on him with its sledgehammer fists.
    ‘Ground and pound’ doesn’t even begin to describe the Halzig’s fighting technique. Ronin covers up valiantly and manages to squirm out of the way like a cockroach from beneath a slipper. He’s gasping for air and bleeding from a gash on his cheek. He looks across at me and spits a mouthful of blood on to the floor. I give him an optimistic thumbs-up.
    He picks up his cigarette, puts it between his bloody lips and drags himself to his feet.
    ‘Bravo,’ Norrd says, with a sarcastic little clap. ‘You’re giving it one hundred and ten per cent, which is the most important thing.’
    Ronin grabs the chain, wraps part of it around his fist and forearm and runs straight at the ice goblin. He hits it with a series of percussive punches to the ribs and then vaults up on to it, using its knees as stepladders. It roars as he punches it viciously in the face with his chain-wrapped fist but grabs him around the neck and holds him suspended in the air. He struggles against the clawed hand at his throat and his face turns from white to red to purple in a matter of seconds.
    ‘Disappointing,’ Norrd says, looking at his nails.
    I start preparing myself to make a run for it but then notice Ronin’s right arm. He’s surreptitiously wrapping the chain around the Halzig’s lower limbs. His body is slumping but he manages to swing his feet up and put his whole weight on to the chain.
    He slips from the Halzig’s grasp and pulls the chain as he falls, dragging the Halzig down with him. They hit the ground and Ronin scrambles across the goblin’s chest, wrenches its head backwards and slams his boot into it with a satisfying crunch. Without pausing, he drags the Halzig towards the pole, positions its head against a spike, reconsiders and adjusts the angle, then boots the head into the spike. There’s a wet crunch as it punches through, coming out just beneath the left eye.
    Ronin drags the body across to Norrd like a dog proudly displaying a pigeon carcass. ‘Leave Ed alone,’ he says, jabbing towards Norrd with a finger.
    The goblins in the tracksuits are suddenly wielding AK-47s.
    ‘Do you know how much that Halzig cost me?’ Norrd screeches.
    ‘Surely can’t be more than your weekly anal bleaching,’ Ronin says, wiping blood out of his eyes.
    ‘The Bone Kraal is coming for you, human. It’s coming for all of you,’ Norrd screams.
    ‘Really? Brilliant. Then please sign me up for your human genocide newsletter. My email address is Ronin-at-go-fuck-yourself-dot-com.’
    He staggers towards me and puts an arm around my shoulders.