Two hearts

‘I told them that the Kobalos have two hearts: one lies in approximately the same position as a human one; the other is smaller but is close to the base of the throat. A Kobalos warrior may survive the piercing of his main heart because the secondary one maintains the blood flow of blood to the brain. A wound that would certainly finish off a human might leave a dying Kobalos conscious and still dangerous. So I recommended that they inform their warriors that decapitation is the preferred method of despatching the enemy or, failing that, a double piercing of the chest. You remember that it was in Browne’s glossary, and I advised you to kill the Shaiksa assassin in that way.’

‘Valuable information indeed.’ I nodded. ‘But haven’t you confirmed Browne’s notes are true in this matter? Your notes made no mention of investigations of that nature.’

‘My notes were a limited catalogue of my experiments with Kobalos battle-entities, not Kobalos anatomy. I have others that include my speculations on methods of countering their military might – you may read them if you are interested. Back in the County, I explored the information on the two hearts by dissecting the body of the haizda mage before I filled the grave with earth. I confirmed that finding by also dissecting the body of the Shaiksa assassin.’

Starblade Book 2 Chapter 14