by Rhys Thomas
“Well then,” I said clapping my hands and smiling. “we best be going,” I tangled my arm with Loryns’ and lead us out of the room.
There was a rush of footsteps behind us and I glanced over my shoulder to see her sisters marching to catch up with us. I smirked at Loryn as she grinned and lead the way to her booth. I spent the next couple of hours catching up with my friends, I found out that Kasbian, the old fox and Emilia mothers familiar had come to Banes Horren with Marisa, Ariana and Sishshik. The fox and witch were somewhere back Loryns castle, catching up.
The trog boy spent most the time whistling songs quietly at me. I explained the world I had come from to the Ogresses present. I talked of Earth with a mixture of longing and understanding. “Would you ever want to return to your world when you’ve completed Ra’als task?” Loryn asked me. We were all sat around a buffet table, I swilled the wine in my glass as I looked at her and her four sisters sat opposite my friends and I. I remembered Sal’re’als words about how Earth was apparently experiencing Ragnarök.
“Someday, maybe, I replied.
I clicked my fingers, connected with my delve and thrummed a flicker of fire. The hot blaze floated above my hand, and I willed it into the shape of a wolf.
It prowled and stalked an unseen and imaginary prey, “I think I would miss magic though.” As I disconnected from my delve and the fire returned to the aether, I noticed a distortion as it evaporated. Like a vibration shaking the air for but a brief moment.
*Marisa, did you notice that?* I asked the dragonling.
*Notice what?*She replied curiously. And I opened my mind to her allowing the last few seconds to play for her. *That seems weird, yet I can’t understand why it does.*
*My thoughts exactly, I can’t explain why I took notice of it either. Let’s just keep an eye out.* I thought back to her, and she mentally nodded her agreement.
I was escorted back to my room, to await the next match. Just as I entered; I heard someone else step in after me. I spun, turning to see who it was and found myself face to face with one of Loryns sister’s. One whose champion I hadn’t defeated yet. Her grey hair was separated into two tight braids that spun down her back till they hung just over her bottom. She wore a lose green silk dress, its thin straps barely hanging onto her shoulders and containing her heaving breasts as she glare at me. “You,” she said imperiously as her eyes flash with snobby arrogance.
“Yes me,” I said relaxing my body my bench.
“You will lose to my Champion, Killu in the next match,” she commanded.
I blinked at her and just stared for several seconds, “no,” I stated plainly.
“W-what?” she asked, and her expression was a blend of frank disbelief and annoyance.
“I said no,” I told her again.
“You will do as I say. I am Tali, Clan head of Banes Horren and sister of Queen Lor-”
“And I don’t give a fuck who you are,” I cut her off. “I mean, you couldn’t have possibly thought this would work right?” I asked her and shook my head as I stood to my full height. “You do realise how weak this makes your champion look,” I told her. “Don’t even think about stripping,” I stopped her as I saw that she was about to remove the straps of her dress from her shoulders. “You’ve come here,” I started as she froze. I stepped towards, she stepped back. “Demand I let myself be killed by your thick as shit champion who can’t see sense. I swear Ogres are as arrogant as they can be stupid and that goes double for the Ogresses,” I growled and stepped towards her once more.
She took two, “Killu will kill you anyway. I thought to spare you the fight, human. But it seems that you actually wish for death,” she hissed at me.
“Gods you are thick,” I shook my head.
“What did you just call me?” she growled, and her eyes glinted dangerously.
“Did you miss my last match? Because if you did, I can easily show you-” I told her and turned, moving for the massive great sword. She gasped and I immediately heard her beat feet out of the room.
I looked over my shoulder and saw the door was closing. “So desperate,” I sighed. I couldn’t really blame her though, her champion was about to die, someone she may even love. “Killu, will kill you! Such a dumb name.”
Half an hour later my room rattled with the signs that my fight was soon to start, I got to my feet and stretched. The door leading to the arena swung open silently, and I grabbed my great sword, exiting with the thing dragging behind me.
At the end of the dim corridor I saw that my gate was still jammed into the ceiling. I moved at an unhurried pace, stepping through and under the gate to stand in the arena. I found the entire audience was focused solely on me, as if they were waiting for me to juggle some balls or something.
Two other gates skidded upwards as two ogres ducked beneath them and entered opposite me. “Ready to fucking die human,” the left ogre exclaimed and charged at me. I frown and shot a look at Loryn booths, I saw that she had literally begun to do introductions when the ogre charged me. He had no apparent weapons either, “you’re an overly confident one, aren’t you,” I told the sprinting ogre.
His feet thundered against the ground as he approached, I saw the frantic expression in his face as he got closer and then launched himself into the air with a fist pulled back to strike at me. I side stepped at the last moment as his fist passed by my head and I spun bringing the great sword trailing behind as I moved.
The ogre was just stumbling to right himself after missing his attack and turning to face me, my sword swiped right through him so fast and cleanly, that there was neither blood nor sound following my attack.
A scream erupted from the direction of Loryns’ booth. “Oh,” the dying Ogre said, “damn,” his body collapsed in on itself as if the imaginary strings holding it had been cut. I straightened up turning to face the next ogre.
I was surprised that he hadn’t move at all during my quick exchange. Stabbing my sword into the ground so that I could crack my joints, I looked to Loryns’ booth as she turned back to address us. “We find ourselves upon the fourth match of the arena. I wish to take this moment to apologies to the audience, I know these matches are usually spread throughout the week. But our needs grow urgent each hour of the day and using the arena as a way of proving leadership and strength is most agreeable as we have found out,” she paused to gaze upon me. “For we have with us the Grey gods heir, and he wishes to save us.”
I swallowed as literally everyone drew focus on me, and I shifted uncomfortably, cleared my throat and scratching at my cheek.
“Fighting for the chains of my daughter. Ragi, champion of the Popi Clan,” the crowd cheered as the ogre puffed out his chest at their attention. “Alaric Rosen, heir of the Grey god,” there were a few applauses for me this time. Mainly from my friends again.
I blanked the arena audience out and focused solely on this Ragi. The Ogre was a few inches taller than me, and he grinned menacingly revealing his sharp carnivorous teeth. “Hey Raggy?” I called out to him as I grabbed my great sword.
“What human?” he asked me cautiously.
“Where’s Scoob?” I asked him and a small giggle escape my lips.
“Grr, I know not this scoop. But when I find him; I shall eat him because of you,” Ragi growled at me.
“Really?” I asked in sarcastic disbelief. “But, think of all the doors you’ll have to go through chasing him,” I exclaimed in mock disbelief.
“Door mean nothing to me Grr-human,” he roared and ran at me.
“Do they ever fucking learn!” He jumped into the air, doing literally what Killu had before. “Seriously?” I asked and side stepped his lunge, spinning around my sword in the ground. “You fuckers need to think above brute force.” I jumped wedging my feet onto the flat of the blade and then pushed off snapping the blade in half and sending me into a backwards somersault to land on my feet with a now wieldier blade.
The metallic chink as the blade snapped resounded in my ears, I
had managed to shave it down quite a bit to the point where it was now shorter than me. “Bring it on fuck-nuggets,” I taunted the ogre. He beat his fists against his chest in rage and roared a growl that vibrated my stomach. “Oh, shut it,” I yelled back. I charged this time and as I got half way there I sprung forward and barrelled feet first into him, using as minimal force to simply drive him back.
I hit the dirt and rolled passed his stumbling form, I came up with a backhanded swipe at his legs. My blade cleaved through the flesh of his knees and got caught wedged in the back of his knee caps. I grimace when I saw this, my playful mood sobering instantly. “Sorry about this,” I said quietly. Flexing my arm’s, I withdrew the blade from his legs as he tried to take a swing at me with his fists.
I ducked under and kicked him in the side. The wound in his legs and the placement of my blow send the ogre spilling onto the ground.
I wasted no time jogging around and dodging his attempts to get at me. When I saw an opening I darted forward, shot a foot out to bash away his fist. The blow snapped his arm at the wrist, which heralded a scream of pain from the ogre just as I drove my sword down, straight through his eye and head. He thrashed a spilt second after and then all was still.
I huffed out a breath, and swallowed the bile rising in my throat. It was the unnecessary pain that made me want to throw up.
“What the fuck is wrong with me? Why the fuck am I enjoying this?” I asked aloud and received no answer. Shaking my head, I looked up to Queen Loryns booth. “Queen Loryn,” I boomed my voice sounding like some godly chant. “Queen Loryn,” I repeated quieter, clearing my throat. “May I face my next opponent’s now?” I asked her.
“The fucking arrogance,” an ogre growled in the audience. His voice travelled and all eyes fell on him, I ignored the idiot and stared at Loryn as she descended her dais to stand.
“You may, but it will ultimately be the champions decisions to make,” she told me, and I nodded. I squatted my ass down and sat in the middle of the arena grounds.
10 or 15 minutes later, two ogre’s thumped into the arena. Each carried a weapon, one a wicked looking polearm and the other a sword and tower shield.
The shield was several inches thick and looked to be completely made of a dull grey metal, his sword similar to that of a gladius Roman soldiers used to use. It was a thrusting weapon and combined with the tower shield, it would easily trumped my shorten great sword.
The other ogres weapon, the polearm, had a strange look to it, instead of a narrowed headed point, this one had a single bladed edge and was similar to that of a glaive. The blade was over a foot and a half long on the 2-metre long black wooden shaft.
A thin red cloth was strung around the shaft below the hilt of the bladed head. I had a vague recollection of seeing something very similar to this weapon, but I couldn’t track the thought down. The 7ft polearm looked homely in the large ogres hands and we three stood in silence as Loryn came down her dais once again to address everyone. “Ogres of Banes Horren,” Loryn called out. “We find ourselves upon the penultimate match of the arena. Before you, stands three champions. Gorge, champion of Jia and the slayer of Krull champion of Olpi,” the crowd roared their approval.
I imagined their excited energy was focus more towards the possibility that Gorge might kill me. “Next we have Sapa, champion of Juki. And facing both opponents in this fight is the human and heir of the grey god, Alaric Rosen,” Loryn’s voice pitched higher like she was singing my phrases. Yet nobody applauded, other than my women and friends of course. “Let the match for Ellina’s chains begin!” Loryn commanded loudly as the crowd began to stomp their feet in anticipation.
I flicked my wrist and lowered into a crouch as both ogres fanned left and right, I could immediately tell that these two were on a whole different level simply by the way they moved. I couldn’t hear either’s of their footsteps as they shifted to flank me from opposites sides.
I kept my head on a swivel glancing between each of them, waiting. “What’s matter human, scared?” Sapa taunted me. His voice was oddly quiet and yet not malicious.
“I could ask you the same question Ogi,” my lips twisted into a smirk as I surveyed their stances and cursed as they stepped forwards with almost perfect timing.
Sapa the naginata wielder, as I just the remembered the weapon was called on Earth. Had the least amount of defence, but I knew that to only be a ploy. He would force me back if I attacked him as Gorge flanked me from behind. I would be pincered between the two, so there was only one way I could win while incurring the least amount of injuries.
I would have to act first and hit them hard and fast.
I felt my body thrum with excited energy, or maybe that was the aether subconsciously coursing through my veins. As fast as inhumanly possible I sprung the short distance between us, clearing the 4 yards in a single leap. I struck out with my fist leading.
My punch slammed into the tower shield; Gorge had just managed to prop up and block my sudden attack. The several thick inches of grey steel caved under my blow and forced the ogre to stumble back. Pain lanced up through my hand, wrist and elbow, it was both hot and numb at the same time, but I ignored it.
I spun around and just managed to lash out with my great sword at Sapa. The big ogre spun his weapon in a dancing twirl and caught my swipe with a parry throwing my arm wide.
I stumbled to my right thrown off-balance, a flare of liquid fire sliced along my side and sawed my ribs as Gorge tried to stab at me from behind.
I was surprised at how skilfully Sapa used his naginata, I knew ogres had fine control from observing the nomad set his traps. Yet the fluid way Sapa moved simply amazed me. He managed to get his polearm within my guard and plunge his naginata into my stomach, I gasped as I felt the invading blade pierce my skin sink through my abdominal.
I cried out and threw myself to the ground, to roll away. The pain coursing through me dulled my motions, and I winced clutching at my stomach as I stumbled back onto my feet. I tried my best to ignored the molten lances of pain, but all I wanted to do was curl over my stomach and try to stop the bleeding.
I brought my hand away to assess the damage, except there was barely any blood, or at least if there were it was only a slow trickle. I guessed Sapa hadn’t wounded me as badly as I thought, I looked to my other wounds. My left arm pulsed with a constant numb ache that made me think I had either sprained or broken it.
My side felt as if was on the verge of splitting open, like the slice I had taken was widening with each of my movements. This all brought me an idea, one I hoped the ogre’s were too arrogant and dumb enough to fall for. I cried out in agony, followed by a few manly grunts here and there as I stumbled forwards. I landed on my knees, my great sword stabbing into the ground beside me.
“Hah!” one of the ogre’s cheered. “He’s mine. Back off,” the same ogre then growled, and I had to guessed he was talking to his friend. I tried to hide my smirk by coughing and spitting on the ground, no blood, that’s a good sign at least.
“We should wait Gorge,” the quiet voice I recognised as Sapa said. “There is no honour in killing a downed opponent,” he continued.
“Fuck your honour,” Gorge growled greedily. “This disgusting human thinks to lead us. Yet look how he grovels on his knees. It’s been far too long since I last tasted human meat,” he stomped forward with an air of arrogance. When he was within 5 feet of me, I pounced forward, digging in the tips of my boot into the ground and exploding forward at the ogre. “What the-” Gorge began to exclaim in a growl, but I cut him off by driving my great sword through his leading foot. My attack stabbed down, and I connected by punching my blade through, separating in his foot into two pieces.
He howled and hobbled backwards, I noticed how his toes twitched slightly as they were left behind. Just as he caught himself from falling on his ass, I jumped at him. He brought his tower shield up and around to bash it my side and throw me off, but I was already within his guard and worked my great swo
rd into the meat of his arm strapped with the shield holding it there. Then I threw the arm back with a push as he tried to stabbed at my face with his gladius. I reacted quickly and weaved my arm around his weapon and gripped his wrist, halting the attack.
He then tried again with his shield but then coughed a wheezing gasp when I drove my sword through his sternum to punch out his back and wedge into the ground. His arms spasming as I withdrew the sword and then drove in again and again till I was sure. Then I was shoulder-checked by a massive grey body and I flew into the dirt and sand rolling for a few feet. I spat the grit from my mouth as I slowly climbed to my feet, to meet the glare of Sapa’s red eye.
I would’ve winced under his stare, but I was too weary of all of this. I watched as Sapa bent down and began to fumble at the straps of Gorges tower shield. I stepped forwards about to stop him when he spoke, “Gorge was a fool, like many if my brother’s. But me,” he punctuated his words by cinching the strap’s tight with an audible creak of leather to his own arm. “I will not fall for your tricks human. You’ve earned the right to face me as an equal,” Sapa said and then stepped back and gestured to the gladius still on Gorges’ body.
I blinked and for a split second my vision swam black, but then it quickly bled away. I stumbled as I approached Gorge’s body cautiously, feeling a strange swell of energy in the air. I felt an odd pressure, like wariness building behind my eyes, though the sensation felt more mental than a physical strain. It wasn’t the weakness thankfully.
I kept an eye on the ogre as I slowly made my way over to the corpse. I bent over and pried the gladius from the dead hand and I stood back up with Gorge’s gladius. Try saying that really fast and ten times in a row.
We stared at each other for several long breaths, then he banged his naginata again the tower shield and shuffled towards me.
With a grimace I did the same, with the gladius in a death grip in my left hand and the shorten jagged great sword in my right, I advanced.
The great sword now looked more like something Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 would wield, except where the Buster sword had two holes near the handguard mine had several ring hole in the mid-section of the blade. I spun both swords in my hands and as I moved on Sapa.