[ Book Three ]

In Ptolemy's Gate, where Nathaniel encounters the mercenary once more when going for the Staff, Nathaniel takes the silver disk from the mercenary but does nothing with it. For instance, couldn't he have gotten near the mercenary and flung the disk at him when he was weighed down by the shadows? Buried it in his skull? Or would he have such girly arms he would've ended up missing by eight feet, having it boomerang back around, and end up hitting him?

I just thought that was a stupid thing Nathaniel did. Was there any reason behind it I didn't catch?

He might have been panicked.

I agree with girly hands.

But he was kinda busy with other things like his survival.

Survival with the guy that was pursuing him that he could've taken out by taking three seconds to fling a silver disk? Labeling it as part of fear would probably be stretching it, but hey, who knows about Girly Hands?

Some people do stupid things while fighting for their lives.

You wouldn't excatly be cool and calm, would you?

Nat wasn't exactly fighting. That's what Barti was for. To protect him.

I wouldn't say GIRLY hands, as I probably have stronger ones than he does, but...WEAK hands. And no, he probably wouldn't have had it boomerang back to him. I guess he would have thrown it the wrong way.

It's a good question, but I agree with a lot of the earlier comments. Yep, Nat had instinctively grabbed hold of the silver disc, and it's possible that he could have used that to hurt the mercenary while his enemy had his hands full, but

a) He's met the mercenary before, during which time he saw Bart set the guy alight and send him hurtling down a mountainside, all to no great effect. He can't be confident that his little disc is going to do the job.

B ) He's very scared and panicked and is fleeing for his life, so isn't emotionally in a great position to stop and risk chucking the weapon.

c) He's a magician who normally has his slaves do his hard work for him, particularly fighting. He's not good at it, and knows this.

d) His hands/arm muscles are bound to be a bit rubbish (I wouldn't say 'girly' of course, though Bart probably would). Mind you, as a kid (in Amulet) he did a lot of swimming as exercise, since part of a magician's training is to be physically robust (to withstand long/difficult summonings); but I reckon he's gone to seed a bit since then.

All in all, he was best advised to run for it.

:o Heh, he actually answered it.

- crisp salute, holds one second, lifts left leg, holds, pivots smartly, marches away secretly clutching his fluttering heart. -

Thanks.