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“Then we partied with that scaly man and his tiny friends for a week,” I explained to Barney and the gang. “The dragon monk had some of the best healing herbs I’ve ever seen. Syrielle, Vergusson and the others were fine in like a day or two. Not that that stopped Verg from drinking. And she needed to prove she could do it too so she drank right alongside him. So they actually took more like 4 days to recover fully and then after that we just partied even harder.”
The ending details were never everyone’s favorite. The juicy details of the battle itself were always far more entertaining. But still, they always appreciated hearing about the cool down. Unfortunately Glish proudly announced, “This dude got his ass beat twice by a hafflin.”
“First of all,” I snapped at that little shit. “Brendan sucker punched me twice. And I still beat his ass one of those times.” The way he tried to fudge the facts when myself and that little shit fought a total of 4 times.
“Yeah and he kicked your ass a whole different time without the sucker punch.”
I was quick to remind him of the real truth. “And I destroyed him a whole different time from that. And I was super drunk that time he didn’t sucker punch me so it might as well have been a sucker punch.”
“Still a bitch,” Glish raised his glass to toast and everyone did because they suck.
I stopped being the center of attention and went back to chatting with my friends about their lives. Barney was talking about some girl he met yesterday. Which is good because for a few weeks he started ranting about his ex-girlfriend back in Eurome. He dated her for several years. Then she seduced a rich dude and decided money was better than love. It was a whole thing.
He managed not to publicly talk about the fact she had pulled him away from a bad crowd he fell in with before he was a teenager. When she left him, he fell right back in, until he realized the older you get, the more those bad crowds expect of you.
A life of crime was only going to cause him pain. So he had to run, and found himself on a boat to Kayos. Believing the growing economy would leave a lot of room for work. Things aren’t always that simple unfortunately.
Some people think they’ve seen him steal around town. When I asked, he didn’t answer.
I didn’t make him.
Our friend Todd eventually rolled in as well and wanted to hear all about the stories. When I gave him the details of the Dragon man we allied with, Roan interjected to say, “And we didn’t like him because we already have a tall red friend.”
“No you don’t,” Blondos was sitting at the bar for the first time in months.
“Zorthos!” I was too excited when I saw him not to shout or call him by his alias.
“Don’t make this weird,” Despite not seeing me since the battle with Him he didn’t want to act like he missed me. I actually hadn’t seen Nydorri either now that I think about it. They both disappeared into the woods for a short while after our defeat, each vowing to grow stronger.
“Right… Well I’ll leave you alone,” I waved and turned to walk away.
Surprisingly, he continued the conversation. “Have you been training at all? ”
I took a second to respond. “You think Syrielle would let me stop?”
The blonde face smirked, “We still carrying dead weight?”
“Yeah I’m still pretty useless. But I bet I could kick Glish’s ass.”
“He’s lighter than you,” The hellkin shrugged. “Less weight.”
I chuckled the hurt feelings away. “What about you? Any stronger?”
He nodded, “I wouldn’t want to fight me right now.”
Then he abruptly stopped talking. And I did leave him alone from there, returning to my friendlier drinking buddies. It was good to see him acting more and more talkative, but he was also growing more and more pushy.
Vergusson and Todd were getting themselves all worked up over whether or not a tree outside looked like a wiener. The pair of them took off out of the door. I’ve seen the tree Todd was talking about, it does look like a wiener.
Glish probably would have gone after them, but he was too busy arguing with Barney about which one of them cheated in a drinking game a few weeks ago.The hafflin was getting pissed off because people didn’t want to play with him after Barney started telling everyone Glish didn’t play fair. Problem was, Barney cheated sometimes. It happens when you hang with a sketchy crowd.
Meanwhile I was playing games with Roan. Who was definitely cheating. The bastard never played anything fair. So when I played him, the game was who could break the rules the most without the other noticing. In the middle of the classic drinking game of thumbs, which we roped a couple of farmers into, Roan promptly pointed behind me.
At first I believed it to be a con. But when he stood to his feet I realized he wasn’t joking.
Blondos was gone, but Zorthos was being dragged out of the Titan’s Trap by a group of about 8 knights in full plate armor. I ran after them. When the helkin spotted us coming he shouted, “Yeah my boys are coming, they ready to buck right now ya see.”
One of the knights smacked him in the face. “Shut up. You don’t have any friends.”
“Excuse me, where are you going with my…” The moment I had been waiting for was finally here before me, “FRIEND!” The wind blew just as I said it and chills ran down all of our spines.
“Oooh see I got friends,” Zorthos declared proudly. “BIIIITTTCCCHHH!”
Wearing a long golden cape, and wielding the largest sword, the apparent leader stepped forward. “Uh… we are arresting him.” He didn’t think he needed to explain himself.
“For what? What crime has he committed?” My voice was fierce, almost more fierce than it needed to be. Most likely an overcompensation from the fact that I wanted to give my Deer Friend a hug.
The red caped knight took a moment to think about it. Which was weird. He should know the answer to my question. “He’s committing demon magic, he came up on our radar.” I don’t think that’s a word in the standard tongue, but I’m guessing it means something.
As his impromptu lawyer I quickly asked, “Do you have proof he’s committing demon magic?” Of course he fucking is I’ve seen him do it a lot. But I gotta have my boys back. Especially now that we’re officially friends, “I require proof.”
“The truth will come out in his trial,” He huffed in frustration at me then waved to his cohorts. The other knights continued to drag the devil man away.
I continued to follow as angrily as I could. “Are you just taking him away now? Do you have any authority? Let me see some papers.”
“No.”
In an attempt to out lawyer him I clarified, “No, you don’t have authority?”
“No, I won’t show you my papers.”
All eyes were on me as I complained, and mine were on the not so compliant leader, so no one’s eyes were on Zorthos. Who was suddenly absent. In his place, was the precise duplicate of the man arresting him. The clear doppelganger looked at the true knight and shouted “Ahhh it’s the demon Zorthos he’s taking me in, I’m the good guy!” the demonic captive in knightly glamour yelled.
The guards were not fooled.
Changing back into his helkin form, Zorthos addressed his friends, “Don’t worry guys,” He showed no signs of being upset that his super awesome plan failed, “This isn’t the first time I’ve been arrested… unjustly.” His eyes lit up in flames when he said the last word.
“We are from the Church of Apollo,” The leader informed us, I don’t know why it took him so long. It kinda felt like he just forgot his own identity for a moment. “We’ve been instructed by our high priest to bring this criminal in to be judged before Apollo himself.”
“Boooo,” Glish complained having arrived at my side.
“That’s not an authority figure,” Roan argued.
The knight rolled his eyes and continued to drag Zorthos.
“How do we even know you represent Apollo?” I complained, “You haven’t even told us your own name.”
“My name is Artemis.”
Without hesitating I said, “So why would I respect your authority when You’re not even named after the right god.”
The knight of Apollo suddenly stopped and stared at the ground. “Wait? What?”
Roan explained, “You’re literally named after a completely different god dude.” When Artemis grew horrified by the realization the sailor shook his head in disbelief. “We can’t be the first people to point this out to you.”
“It matters not,” Artemis shouted. “My parents’ decisions are not my own. In the name of the name of the Grand Church of Apollo. We will bring this demon to justice.”
I, Elrin Daun of Gladland The Fighting Writer, a name that was my own decision, and friend of Zorthos, was not going to just let them go, “Where are you taking him? I would like to speak to your high priest.”
The knight grunted, “About a hundred miles South.”
“Alright well we’re coming.” I started following them as they walked. It was awkward, they couldn’t really do anything about me walking with them on my own town. “So what kind of punishment do you plan on giving him?”
“The usual punishment,” He was bewildered by the question. “Burning him at the stake.”
Perfect. Zorthos is immune to fire. He’d survive their execution just fine.
“So just to clarify,” I had to be sure. “That’s your only punishment?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Just making sure. You’re promising me that the only thing you’ll do to him is burn him at the stake. That’s all you’ll do to him.”
He was very confused. “Yes… until he’s dead.”
“Okay,” I laughed. “Carry on then.” I was drunk yet confident I outsmarted him.
Roan thankfully asked, “So is there an option for trial by combat?”
Artemis nodded. “We have a variety of trial options which have been explained to him. He has the option to do the trial down South on the holy grounds themselves. Or we can do the trial here. He is the one to choose from there.”
“Go get Vergusson or Syrielle guys,” Zorthos requested of us. “Unless you got a way to bribe these dirtbags.” He spat on the ground and looked the leader in the eye. “Maybe with jars of farts because I bet they like that.”
Having seen all of my allies in battle I understand why most would request the assistance of the barbarian and the samurai. Besides Him, they were as fierce as any warrior I’d ever seen. But in many ways Zorthos was one of the most powerful warriors that walks the land. “Why do you need them? Wouldn’t you want to defend your own honor in battle?”
His helkin eyebrows squinted letting me know he thought I was dumb, “I like winning, and Artemis is an Aresian. Has been for years.” He wagged his horned head. “And I think he might know how to use that god of his. I could see it with my Hell Eyes. He’s old, but he’s still strong.”
Kneeling next to him I softly said, “Zorthos. Our friends may be stronger, and faster with their weapons, but the things you can do… I don’t think you realize just how powerful you really are.”
“Right…” He clearly already understood what I was talking about and was ready to tell me why I was wrong. “But I’m not as good with weapons as they are. I’m cool because of the demon magic. So like… Probably not the best time to use that shit…”
“Right…”
“So where is Syrielle?”
I honestly didn’t know. “On one of her training benders.”
He looked at Glish, “Vergusson?”
The hafflin pounded his chest, “I got this.”
“No,” Zorthos was stern. “Where is Vergusson?”
The knights of Apollo ended our conversation abruptly to cart him off towards the new inn on the outside of town. We awkwardly followed not realizing they had a room there and were planning on leaving in the morning. So we went back to the Titan’s Trap.
Roan revisited the idea of busting him out even though he asked that we don’t do that initially. That’s when we really started to think about the repercussions of those actions. I discussed with Trant what jurisdiction this church of Apollo has out here in these parts. His reply was super useful, “This is the frontier. There is no law here, we’re just trying to stay alive.” He scrunched his shoulders almost apologetically, “Churches arrest people all the time.”
“We should arrest them in the name of something else,” Roan barked.
That idea seemed perfect to me. “We should do that. Let’s arrest them in the name of every other god.” People appeared enthused by that idea. “We should arrest all of them in the name of every other god because multiple gods outweighs one.”
“Guys I got it,” Glish snapped his fingers with the confidence of someone that has an idea even remotely worthwhile. “We already arrested him.”
I don’t know why I was so disappointed in his stupidity considering he’s an idiot, “No, because we already didn’t do that.”
“Okay so we’re gonna break him out?” Roan asked.
I nodded, “Are we gonna be sneaky about it?”
“No, we should be blunt,” Glish suggested. He was awful at planning.
Yarrick finally shared his thoughts. “If we kill some of them, without proving his innocence or without killing everybody. They’re just gonna come back.” I literally didn’t see him for the rest of the day.
At this point we all characteristically began to talk over each other going in circles trying to figure out what we think is the best option for us as a team. We discussed plans to kill them all. Finding a ridiculously good lawyer and going to court with a judge. Sticking to trial by combat. Someone suggested a triple threat match. We also discussed breaking him out the sneaky way and claiming he ran off.
“I say we just let the courts decide,” Glish suddenly suggested.
Roan snapped before I did, “We already said we don’t know any lawyers.”
“No I mean just like…” Glish shrugged his shoulders. “Let the system figure it out.”
“Why the fuck would we trust the system?” I complained.
“Oh so we just automatically assume they’re corrupt without even checking it out?”
“You’re being a douche right now,” I shut him up hard. He just pouted like he always does and walked away. Roan and I continued to bicker over what the plan of action. Thankfully, Vergusson finally came marching back inside.
“Verg!” I shouted.
The half-orc was confident we were talking about the same thing. “It was definitely a wiener, I don’t know why I doubted anyone. I mean the way the roots formed balls on the bottom. The gods crafted a masterpiece that day.”
“Dude,” I jumped right over to him. “We need you…”
“Sounds about right.” Vergusson picked his nose.
“Zorthos was taken,” I told him. “There’s a group of knights, one of them is an Aresian. Zorthos thinks he’s got a little magic too. We might fight all of them, but they’re offering trial by combat and the big Z wants you to fight for him.”
“Dope.” The half-orc started marching away.
“Wait, you’re gonna challenge him now?”
“Yeah, they just walked all the way to my hood I’m gonna fuck his ass up right now.”
I grabbed his shoulder to stop him, “Hold on. They said they’ll meet us in the morning.”
Verg was frustrated about waiting, but we were able to convince him. Knowing that a battle awaited him in the morning he prepared by heading into the Titan’s Trap and ordering all of the troll.
None of us tried to talk him out of it, we just joined him. We bickered back and forth with no productive ideas being thrown forward. There were a lot of ideas, but they would produce nothing. After a few moments, Busty Betty came bursting through the door.
“Hey uh guys,” She was pointing frantically outside. “Nydorri is here.”
We all agreed, “Shit.”
I dashed outside and towards the other inn, where I found the elf planting seeds around the building. “Nydorri what the fuck are you doing?”
“If you think I’m gonna let them keep him in there…” She never even considered discontinuing the planting of her devious plot. “I’ll kill them all if I have to.”
“We might not have to kill anybody…”
“What do you mean?” She doesn’t like killing so she did seem eager to listen.
“Diplomacy,” I explained. “Or like trial by combat or something.”
She stared at the ground for a moment holding one of the seeds in her hand. “Okay… I don’t know what those things are, and if they don’t work I’m killing them.”
“Right,” I nodded.
When I explained that the trial would be tomorrow she explained she’ll return with the fury of a thousand wolves. I don’t know if that was a metaphor or not. She might actually know that many wolves.
Shortly after that I finally passed out. When I woke up I dashed quickly to Roan’s room at the Titan’s Trap Inn. He was grumpy to wake up but ready to go, and we quickly sprinted to the big oak tree just outside of town. There was a large clearing near it where the knights said they would meet us.
They were of course there bright and early, with Zorthos all tied up. Roan and I were the first of our allies to arrive. Nydorri came dragging Vergusson shortly after. Glish was following the two of them loudly declaring his eagerness to fight.
My helkin friend stood proudly, “See Fartemis. I told you they would come.”
I laughed a lot at the nickname.
Nydorri came over to me, pointing at Vergusson but looking at the knights with rage, “This shit head woulda been too hungover to get here in time if I didn’t wake him up.”
“He ready to go?”
“Nothing a berry couldn’t handle.”
Vergusson was cracking his neck ready to fight all of the knights immediately but we managed to stop him. Despite his thirst for combat he was pretty compliant when we needed him to be.
As this was going on I didn’t notice Roan had started talking shit to Fartemis and the knights. “I’m a man of Poseidon,” The sailor crossed his arms. “And Poseidon is a mightier god than Apollo so isn’t my word worth more than yours?”
“Where the sun shines Apollo rules.” Was the reply.
“Okay… Aren’t we by the sea?” The sailor’s arms were crossed with as pompous a face as I’ve ever seen. “I’m gonna go pull Poseidon out. We’ll see who rules.”
Fartemis wasn’t impressed by the argument and approached the rest of us. “We haven’t got all day. The journey is long once his guilt is determined. Has his chosen champion arrived?”
“The champion was chosen the day Kayos spat him out and said, I’m just not seeing enough carnage out here,” I pointed at Vergusson who took several seconds to realize I was talking about him. Then he growled but not mightily.
“Good,” Fartemis nodded. “I’ll be ready to battle him soon.”
“And then once it’s over you promise our friend will be free?”
The knight of Apollo was quick and proud to explain. “We have made an agreement to have trial by combat. And I will honor the results.”
I laughed at this, “You have no honor.”
“I mean,” He seemed pretty hurt for such a stoic guy, “I’m pretty honorable.”
Glish added, “They seem like nice guys to me.”
“Yeah,” Roan agreed. “They are well within the laws they believe in.”
“We’re the assholes in this situation,” Glish quipped.
“We’re well aware who are the assholes in this situation,” I snapped at the tiny one. Then I frustratedly addressed Roan, “And you said people who follow laws are turds.”
“And turds can’t be nice?” He didn’t have a great argument. But he won.
I heard Zorthos talking shit to one of the knights. The helkin made a nasty comment about the man’s beard, prompting him to poke the devilman with his spear and taunt, “Why don’t you fight me you pussy?”
Zorthos was happy to reply, “Why dirty my hands on such a little bitch.”
Fartemis wasn’t happy with his knight, “Don’t touch him. Show more dignity than that.”
After verbally ripping his man apart he walked over to their equipment and pulled out a large burlap sack. Then he walked into the middle of the clearing and began pouring out a silver magical dust in an 8 meter by 8 meter circle on the ground.
Glish curiously walked over to him, “What’s that powder do?” He knelt down inspecting it. “You know I’m just a hafflin. I just like to know things.”
“It’s a magical dust,” Fartemis replied as if we couldn’t have guessed that. “It protects the sanctity of the trial to ensure everything is done fairly.”
“How you mean?”
“Nobody from the outside, can interrupt,” Fartemis finished the circle. “Arrow, spells, meteors. All of that will be stopped as long as the duel is commencing.”
Glish’s mind raced. “So if an evil wizard comes by and starts launching magical shit at the town, if you put this dust around it, it’ll protect the town?” The haflin was asking reasonable questions.
“Uh…” The knight pondered. “I don’t know, I’ve never tried that.”
Glish shrugged, “Okay,” and walked away pompously.
“Gee Fartemis,” Zorthos shouted from the ground with his hands tied up. “There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know. Like not all helkins are bad guys.” Then he snickered pretty hard to himself so several of us on his squad snickered too.
“Not all of them,” Fartemis replied sternly. “But definitely the ones who cast demon magic are.” His argument was at least consistent.
An annoyed Nydorri spoke up, “Says who?” Taking too many steps towards them she shouted, “It’s just fire from his hands.”
“He’s pulling power straight from Hades,” Fartemis argued.
I raised my finger. “Hades is just another god.” I looked around at his stupid followers. “Hades is just a god who guides the dead to the underworld.”
“Yes but what he trickles out of the underworld… Ugh,” He moaned like a teenage girl. “It’s not even worth the argument. Go away.”
My frustration was building. His ignorance was unacceptable. “You can’t counter because you have no argument. You just have more people so you think you’re cool.”
“Who’s the douchebag now song boy?” Glish interjected.
I glared furiously at the black smith. “Why are you on his side?”
“You were mean to me,” He whined.
“Yeah in private because you were being an asshole,” I told him.
“And that makes it okay?”
“It’s better than when we’re arguing with someone about the fate of our best friend.” After I said that he pouted and walked away. Which is a classic Glish move when he loses an argument and wants to act like the victim.
The knights lined up ready to commence the ceremonies. Fartemis walked into the circle stretching out for the battle. The other knights formed a semicircle on their side and we formed a semicircle also on their side awkwardly standing in between them and making a bit of a scene about it.
It was really uncomfortable and there was a whole other empty half circle.
Great Orc Warrior
Put this conflict to an end
Swing that Mighty maul
And save our Demon Friend
I nudged the knight next to me with a smile, “I get to say friend now.”
“Fartemis you’re so bad at praying,” Zorthos mocked. “Every day when the sun goes up and shines on your house Apollo goes, ‘oh wow I didn’t shine on Fartemis’s house because I hate him.’”
Vergusson marched into the circle opposite our greatest enemy without stretching out or prepping at all. The half-orc was never not prepared for combat. He lived and breathed that shit.
Fartemis bowed. “Know that if you yield. I will spare your life.”
The Barbarian laughed. “Okay then.”
The knight pulled out his giant sword.
“Compensating for something.” Zorthos shouted.
“Stop being so good at this,” Fartemis finally truly complained about losing all of the trash talking exchanges with his prisoner.
Lazily, Verg pulled out his great ax while cracking his neck. With no more words between them the battle began. Fartemis charged, missing his first swing. Verg swung his ax into the knight’s chest. Apollo’s warrior just barely turned in time to avoid a direct hit but there was still impact.
The damage was clear. “Yeah go Verg!” Nydorri cheered.
Verg gonna give it to ya
Yeah he gonna give to ya
Verg gonna give it to ya
When Verg followed up his attack was deflected. Once they’d reset they’d shown themselves to be quite even. Verg was a bit faster, but the night was more technically sound. After a few moments, he seemed to figure out the patterns in the half-orc’s movements.
Then, Apollo’s knight stabbed our special boy in the chest. Verg shrugged off the damage and smacked Fartemis in the side. The knight kicked the barbarian’s stomach to pull his sword out.
“Fartemis if you give up now we’ll let your friends go,” The helkin prisoner yelled. “We’ll kill you though because you suck.” A knight struck him with the butt of his spear. I almost started the brawl right then and there, but kept my emotions in check.
Fartemis pressed forward, landing another clean strike. But it only served to enrage the half-orc who frenzied forward swinging his weapon wildly. This gave the more skilled warrior the chance to dance around slicing and dicing. Mostly delivering shallow flesh wounds, until he managed to stab Verg in the stomach again.
This time the young warrior of the Doomrock clan grabbed the knight of Apollo’s hands at the hilt of the sword and brought his ax into his foes stomach. Then he did it again and again until Fartmeis dropped.
The battle was won, and Zorthos was free to go. As the knights untied the helkin I shouted, “I guess we know what was more powerful in The Battle Between Friendship and Apollo.”
“That was good,” Roan patted me on the shoulder.
“Thanks dude.”
“It had a nice ring to it. I really liked it.”
“I appreciate the support.”
Once Zorthos was finally free he immediately dashed over to Fartemis as the knight was being healed by one of his compatriots. Just as he had begun to regain consciousness the helkin farted on his head.
“I don’t think I can do this again,” Vergusson urged the devilman to stop as blood spurted out of him. Roan had stabilized every wound with the cross on his left and Nydorri was rubbing cream on the rest of him, but he was gonna be hurting for a while.
“I got it,” Glish announced, marching toward the battle arena, not realizing there was no challenge to be had. At least, not yet.
Zorthos spun around addressing the knights. “Smell ya later Apollo freaks. Get out of my town.” He proceeded to taunt them with a variety of funny faces.
“You don’t even live here,” Glish very stupidly pointed out. Gods, what a shitty friend.
Fartemis rose to his feet and I promptly ran over to kneel down behind him while Roan dashed towards him to push him over performing the perfect table top.
He grunted angrily, once, then ignored the hilarious prank we just pulled. The Knight of Apollo got up again and faced Zorthos. “You’re innocent for now. Don’t do anything else or we will return for you.”
“Please, I’m not that cute.”
Before we left, I noticed a man on a horse dragging a couple of people behind him tied up by ropes. One was a woman I barely recognized, and the other was Barney. The rider was a hooded man in all black. A deep cold whisper from the ranger declared “These are the thieves you asked me to find.”
“Thank you,” Fartemis tossed him a bag. “As promised, thrice the amount they took.”
“Damnit Barney,” I whispered to myself as we made eye contact with each other. “Fartemis, may I ask what this man has done?”
“For the love of Apollo!” The frustration on his face was precisely what I wanted. “He stole gold from us. We caught him red handed but the sneaky bastards got away from us.”
“They took our boy,” Barney gestured at Zorthos. “And I needed the coin.”
Scrunching his face the helkin clarified, “I never said WE were boys.”
“Who is she?” I asked about the woman with him.
Glish patted me on the knee, “That’s Tiffany. She’s trouble. I like her.”
Being Barney’s friend I complained, “Well we gonna do something?”
Roan was not for it. “I ain’t fightin them.”
“I will,” I marched right over to Barney and ordered him, “Demand a trial by combat.”
“Huh…” He wasn’t sure what I was talking about. “Trial by combat?”
The smallest of the knights walked over to Fartemis, “Let me fight this fool.”
His leader agreed. “Get it done, Yorus.”
I hopped onto the combat stage without caring for the insult. “Can we get this over with? I’m looking to celebrate the freedom of my friend.” I gestured towards the Titan’s Trap, “We got a lot to do tonight.”
Fartemis nodded to Yorus. “Finish him quick.”
The knight nodded back and walked into the battle area. In all my fights, I had never defeated a knight. There had only been a few of them so far, but they all won. Of course, they could have been particularly badass knights. And from the sound of things, so was Yorus. Though that could be quite subjective especially in the land of Kayos.
Though standing there in his full plate armor, with the golden crest of Apollo on his breastplate I felt a bit differently about him. Holding a sword twice as heavy as mine. But waving it around with one hand.
“Don’t entertain him” Fartemis announced. “This is barely worth our time.”
Yoris held his hand over his face cover. “If I slay you today, I promise it is with honor.”
“You too.”
He closed his helmet and walked forward. I nodded and walked forward as well. Our swords immediately clashed. Both of us came out aggressive but my blade clanked off his armor forcing me to hop out of the way of his strike. I was on the back foot immediately without a ton of room to move.
It wasn’t my first time defending from relentless pressure and I doubt it would be the last. But this was different. He was stronger, more armored, than most of my previous foes.
Though, he was sloppy. Our speed was equal, even with the difference in the blades, and the extra armor, but I could see my technique was notably superior. Syrielle had trained me well, and I was able to conserve my movements while forcing him to swing frantically.
After patiently fighting with calculated aggression for what felt like an eternity, I noticed his pace begin to slow.
There was an opening, and I took my chance to deflect his sword far enough away to grab his hand, before he could bring it back. As I attempted to stab my rapier into the opening of his armor, his free hand grabbed mine. My stab missed, but he didn’t notice my leg go between both of his and trip him to the ground.
My sword whacked him several times before he got to his feet. Each strike clearly hurt the man inside, but I couldn’t get a good angle on the openings. He swung again, but this time after I hopped out of the way, I hopped back in with a slash to the head.
He wobbled and I continued what I was doing. His sword was blocking mine, but once again his eyes were off my feet. My legs shuffled between his once more, and he began to stumble but frantically stayed up right.
During his frantic movements, my blade slid through the opening in his neck. I pulled it out before he could swing at me and he fell to the ground from the momentum of his own attack.
As blood squirted from his throat I pointed my sword at Fartemis. Then I dropped it and ran over to my foe. He dropped his sword as well and held his hands up to me in a plea for help. Both of us knew it was over, and he could tell my lethal intentions ended the second I dropped the sword. While his leader seemed like a prick, Yorus showed me nothing but respect.
I dragged him quickly out of the circle as their healers came sprinting over, but Nydorri was already on him rubbing her cream on his neck. “He’ll be fine,” She told them. “But I’m not giving him a berry.”
When I stood up, Fartemis held his hand out. “Thank you for doing the honorable thing.”
“I bet you wonder what it’s like to do that?” I ignored his hand.
“I…” As if he’s never cussed in his life he declared, “Fucking hate you.”
From behind us a very obnoxious little man shouted, “Excuse me!” Glish’s sword was in one hand, and his hammer was in the other. “Y’all think we’re done. I see another guilty person over there.”
Walking away from me and over to Tiffany, Fartemis asked the blacksmith, “You wish to fight on behalf of this woman here? Do you even know her?”
The hafflin snickered, “She’s been banging a few of my buddies. I’d prefer it if they didn’t end up like that guy,” His sword was pointing directly at me.
The sycophantic leader of the knights nodded. “Fine. One more trial for today. Sir Conrad.” Fartemis looked to another knight who stepped forward. “Don’t let this one fool you. They’re far stronger than we thought. But Apollo must get his justice today?”
“I thought he did get justice?” I argued. “Do you not understand the concept of a trial?”
“Well they’ve obviously been committing crimes!” Fartemis shouted.
Glish yelled, “Not if we win bitch now get Conrad’s pretty ass up here.”
The largest of the knights walked into the battle arena without a word. He wasn’t massive by most standards, and his sword was just the same size as the one Yorus wielded. But next to Glish he was a titan wielding a colossal blade.
“You ready for the ass whooping of a lifetime?” The hafflin asked.
No words came in response. Only a savage attack. Glish rolled away with a giggle, and then slammed his hammer on Conrad’s foot. The knight bounced away in pain, only to take yet another one to the knee of his other leg.
He swung his sword down, but Glish rolled away. “Bang Bang!”
Conrad tried to attack again, but awkwardly stumbled as he swung. Glish easily stepped out of the way and lunged through the air, slamming his hammer into the knight’s helmet. The larger warrior just barely dipped away to avoid taking a blunt shot.
As he reset, Glish crouched like he would leap again. Conrad prepared but the tiny warrior came low at him. The knight swung his sword down, but the blacksmith swung his hammer from the side smacking the longer blade out of the way.
Conrad leaned back, likely once again preparing for Glish to leap. Instead the hammer smashed into the same knee, bending it completely backwards.
When Conrad fell to the ground, Glish rolled over and smashed him several times in the head.
With his tiny foot on the larger throat Glish slammed his fist to his chest. “Now that’s how we do justice in Grumbsy!”
As obnoxiously as I could, I waved my hands in front of Fartemis’s face with the maximum amount of pizzaz. “Justice…”
He grumbled with the frustration of a fucking loser. “Are we done now?”
I gave him the middle finger and walked away. We quickly released both Barney and Tiffany. She offered to sleep with Glish, but the hafflin explained he was a ride she wouldn’t survive. Then she offered to sleep with me, but I really did not like her at all. She wasn’t nice and she wasn’t really all that fair of a maiden if you asked me. Though I’ve been told I’m “Picky” by nearly everyone I know.
Then we wasted no time to celebrate the victories we had, and most of all, friendship. Except for Vergusson who had to go lay down for a while. Zorthos danced, celebrated and bought troll for everyone. For the first time in his life he had more than acquaintances. He finally had friends.
And we all celebrated alongside him. Much of the population of Grumbsy joined in not realizing what we were celebrating. But not many could pass up some free troll. Plus we’re fun to party with.
When Trant saw Zorthos at the bar he asked why he was so worn out, The drunken helkin replied, “Ah… Frickin Tuesdays,” and continued with the party. Not the first time the world had beaten him down. Certainly won’t be the last.
“So did you see me kick that dude’s ass?” Glish announced hopping up on the stool next to me. “Much bigger than your guy and I did it so much faster than you.”
I shook my head at the claim he was cooler than me, “They give you the easiest match up. It was so stupid to have the tall one fight you. He has to go all the way down here to get to you.” I wagged my hands down low.
He nodded, “I sense jealousy.”
“Yeah I’m jealous of the easy match up,” It was a rather petty argument by me.
“My guy was way cooler than your guy,” Glish pumped his fists.
I pointed at the hammer. “You had a better knight fighting weapon.”
“Can’t argue with that,” He said as if he won the argument. He held out his mug of troll and I just decided to cheer him to a successful day. Both of us had been training, the improvements we’ve made were extremely apparent.
Not long into the party, those damn knight’s of Apollo came rolling in as if it wasn’t weird they were there. Busty Betty treated them with the politeness of any other. Zorthos left as soon as he saw them come in.
Roan started bickering with them and I heard him shout, “Okay if you won’t arm wrestle. Then a drink off. My best versus your best. Who can drink the most…”
I quietly reminded him, “Dude, that’s still Vergusson.”
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