Cultural Exchange Ch. 05

After tying the scabbard of my sword to the belt, I picked up the armguard and called Turak to my shoulder with a mental order. By that time, Tierra was already dressed in a bronze-colored armor and held her war hammer. I noticed again what seemed to be her personal emblem; the lion head in her weapon was also present in the mask of her helmet. Her kneepads had been molded to the shape of the same predator, as well as the cups that covered her breasts at the front of her heavy armor.

"You really like lions, don't you?" I said, pointing at the glowing rune hovering over her left arm, at the position where the shield should be.

Looking at where my finger was pointing, she made a scornful grimace before answering, "This isn't a lion, you dumbass. Don't you see the snake eyes and the shape of the fangs? This is a manticore, a predator with scorpion tail. A creature that has total of fifty rows of fangs in its mouth and is constantly shedding them, that's why it always looks furious."

The pun got out of my mouth before I could help it. "That's why you chose it as your emblem? You also look furious the whole time." Her facial expression changed and the crystalline eye patch of her right eye rubbed the metal of her helmet, producing an unpleasant sound. That gave me the hint to change the topic. "Should I give you some kind of handicap?"

She looked perplexed for a moment before looking at me angrily again. "What, do you think I need a handicap for being a woman? Or is it because I'm a Dwarf and I'm more than one head lower than you? Don't think for a damned second that I need your fucking pity, and now that I think about it, don't even try to fight me holding back in order to let me win." She came closer and snarled at me while pointing at my face with her hammer, "If I have the slightest doubt that you haven't given it your all I'll take it as an insult worthy of a war of Households."

Surprised at her ferocity, I could just answer, "I was talking about your right eye. Should I give you some kind of advantage to balance things because of your... loss?"

Tierra sighed while taking off her helmet. "You're dumb down to unknown depths." Taking off the black crystal, she showed me that her right eye was in perfect condition, safe for the reddish mark on her skin where the item had been held. "This isn't an eye patch, you dolt, it's an enchanted trinket that increases the sharpness of my view. I normally use it to inspect the items I buy or sell, in order to look for imperfections. Why do I wear it the rest of the time?" She shrugged her shoulders while putting on the helmet again. "Because it looks badass."

My reaction of amusement was cut in its tracks when her stance told me she could jump on me any moment now. As far as she was concerned, the fight had already started, and we were now studying each other. Heavy armor, a two-handed war hammer and a rune glowing on her left arm. She seemed to be the kind of warrior that is known in on-line games as a "tank," or a warrior that sacrifices speed and evasion to focus on high defense and offense. Her weapon didn't show any signs of being synthesized like my sword, which meant that she didn't use any kind of Magic, but that didn't mean that she couldn't use skills from the Code of Honor, War Cries or any other ability I didn't yet know of.

After raising her head to scream, Tierra threw herself at me with a speed I didn't think she could have. I gave Turak an order and evaded an attack that had been directed to my head using Nervous Pulse, or the ability to use Turak's electricity to increase the response of my nervous system, sharpening my reflexes. I ordered my familiar to take off. Dragging my right foot on the ground, I side-stepped to Tierra's right in order to attack the opening left by her first strike. She waved her hammer to the side to make me step back, but I blocked with my armguard and responded with a Power Thrust. She blocked with her rune, but the power of the strike pushed her back, her feet leaving a line on the sand. With a scream, both of us pounced at each other, our weapons glowing with power. She attacked with her hammer charged with Spirit in a way that it looked like a meteor falling, strong enough to crack the surface of my armguard when I intercepted it, at the same time that my Power Slash hit her rune, provoking sparks to fly.

Entangled in this confrontation, my left foot slid backwards the moment I looked up to give a mental order. Covered in a blue lightning, Turak threw himself at Tierra's unguarded back, but she screamed at my companion and his flight became erratic for a moment. With his aim lost, the Stormcrow impacted at my right, leaving a dark mark on the ground. My suspicions were right, the Dwarven Countess used War Cries. Her next move was a feint, and I fell for it. She feigned another attack to the head, but with a scream that made me dizzy for a second, she threw the head of her hammer to my belly. Gasping for air, I asked for a Remote Transfer from Turak and I struck her with my sword covered in lightnings. Yes, I had learned the way to use Turak's power from a distance instead of having him perch on my shoulder every time I needed it. Tierra barely evaded the attack, but the posterior explosion caught her and threw her away, leaving another black mark on the ground.

Instead of following her, I took the chance to catch my breath and check on Turak's status. He was a tough guy and was mostly fine, but he needed time to recharge his electricity. With a groan, Tierra stood up and raised her head to unleash a fearsome War Cry. The visible parts of her skin acquired a reddish blush and she unleashed a flurry of brutal hammer attacks. I stopped and evaded as much as I could, hearing cracks from my armguard. Every time I saw an opening, I attacked or sent Turak to scratch and peck at her from angles I couldn't cover. Comparing her behavior to what happened in games, it was obvious she was using Berserker Cry in the way she was focusing on the attack and almost forgetting her defense.

At some point, I side-stepped again to surprise her parrying her hammer with my sword and smashing her right shoulder with my armguard. Tierra groaned and her shoulder part lost its original shape. Her attacks started to become slower and her rage fit subsided, but she used another cry again to overcome the pain temporarily.

Panting, we looked at each other. My armguard was a cheap one, just wooden boards with a thin metal coating, so her attacks just now had left it practically in shambles. I was covered in bruises and I had lost one of the metallic hexagons that formed my chest plate. One of the blocks had caused me to hit myself above the left eye with my armguard, and the blood from the cut fell over my closed eye to the neck. Tierra, on her side, had lost her helmet due to an armguard strike and had a cut in her right eyebrow, but her patch prevented the blood from getting in her eye. Aside from the hard hit I gave her on the shoulder, her only visible damage was the blood trickling down from her fingers coming from the cut I gave her when my sword found by chance the gap between the left bracelet and the elbow guard.

I dragged my right foot in that same direction to feint an attack at the arm that couldn't move the rune perfectly, and when she took the bait I used Spirit Rush to the contrary in order to strike at her hip with my armguard. This time she yelped audibly before striking furiously at my shoulder, but Turak intercepted the attack at the cost of receiving part of its strength and falling unconscious.

I took the chance to withdraw some steps back. It was the perfect chance to finish the fight, so I stabbed the ground with my sword crackling with Spirit and intoned, "By my authority, I summon an Ice Fairy to unleash the Forest of the End on my enemy."

My sword, my armguard, and Turak were the only weapons I appeared to have at the start of the fight. Tierra had expected me to attack her from these three fronts, and I had fulfilled that expectation. She knew that I wasn't skilled or confident enough to try and kick her, so she hadn't really payed special attention at my feet, and I had made use of that from the start of the fight to attack her from a fourth front she hadn't anticipated. Beast Tamers aren't just warriors that can control beasts with special powers, we can do Summoning Magic. After just two weeks of training, my Magic was still weak, so I couldn't summon anything without drawing the proper circle, and because all of my duties, I hadn't been able to learn any other summon than the Ice Fairy, a submissive creature. During this fight, every time I dragged my feet, every time I threw an attack I knew she could parry with no other result that being pushed back, and even when I used Turak's power to strike at the ground, I was drawing a sign.

Surrounded by a forest of ice blades, the Countess Tierra Volknarr dropped her hammer and fell to her knees. Not being able to feed the spell for much longer, the ice vaporized leaving no trace but the moistened sand of the training grounds.

Tierra lowered her head and raised her voice. "Okay! Fuck! Damn it, you win!" She stood up laboriously and started walking up to me dragging her right foot and grabbing her right shoulder with her left hand. Looking at me right in the eyes, without losing an ounce of her pride despite her condition, she said, "Now kill me, or I'll come back to fight you again. You'd better not spare my life twice, because you'll put me in an even more fucked-up situation."

I just couldn't do it. It didn't feel right. One thing would have been giving her a mortal blow during the fight. In fact, I feared for a second that Tierra ended up impaled by Forest of the End. But with the fight over, looking at her in the eyes and killing her in cold blood... is something I just can't do, no matter what. My mind started racing, looking for an alternative, but it seemed to run around in circles. The sun reflected on something and that shine hit my eyes. Ralya had crossed her arms right under her chest and the sunlight reflected on the ring I ordered for her as a wedding gift. I found my solution.

"I'm not going to kill you in cold blood." I said loud enough for everyone around us to hear.

Tierra raised her head so fast that she staggered for a second. Her aides started screaming and one of them even pulled out an axe. "Shut your fucking traps, you whiny bitches!" She lashed back at them. Then, she turned around slowly to look at me and ask in a tone that didn't foretell any good, "Are you sure of what you're doing? If I owe you my life twice, I can't go back to my country until I settle that debt or I'll fall in disgrace and lose my status. I won't find a job even as a whore." Her voice trembled with that last line.

"I'm not going to kill you in cold blood," I repeated. "But I have to take your life, am I correct?" She nodded her head and looked at me with a quizzical look. "Then I'm going to take it the hard way. Instead of taking it all here today, I'm going to take it day by day. Instead of killing you for no purpose, I'm going to make you live for my sake. Taking you as one of my Seconds and have you pay your debt in this way is acceptable, right?" I almost flinched when I took notice that Ralya had come silently to stand by my side during my speech.

Tierra started laughing, but stopped suddenly at the increase of the pain in her battered body. "A cunning escape, for a dumbass. Consider me your betrothed from this point onward, but excuse me if my condition doesn't let me bow to you right now." That last part said in a playfully sarcastic tone.

"I'm sorry for hurting you so badly. Would you allow for Ralya to use her Shamanism to treat your wounds?" I offered the Dwarf while gesturing towards my wife.

Her eyes gleamed mischievously while she answered, "I'll let my personal Cleric to do that. Unless you are thinking of trying the product before the final purchase." Then she licked her lips looking at my arms.

Ralya answered for me before I could ask what was that about. "I have to treat my husband and we need to prepare for several appointments this evening, so that will have to wait. If your departure is scheduled for the day after tomorrow, we can meet tomorrow to discuss the terms of the betrothal."

Looking a little disappointed, Tierra said, "I understand, First. Excuse me if I went too far."

Ralya smiled in a sultry way. "No that I have tasted it myself, I can assure you that you won't be disappointed, just be patient."

"Sorry to make things without consulting you." I apologized to Ralya while we saw Tierra board her carriage and leave.

"Don't be, Nue'He, a Countess of the Hammer Society will be an invaluable addition to our Household. But all of that we can discuss it later, right now we have to get you back on your feet and ready for this evening. Two marriage propositions in one day, if it weren't because my brother Oner did the same I would say it's some kind of record." We started moving to the house.

"By the way, what was all about that conversation right before Tierra and her group left?" I asked out of curiosity. That exchange was obviously more than what it sounded at first.

"Oh," Ralya made an odd gesture with her lips before answering, "She was offering you a night of premarital sex."

*******

Aventhal was starting to get tired of hearing the annoying complaints of the other Elf through the communication circle.

Slamming his fist against a surface not visible through the circle, the Elf, short and thin by the measure of his people, continued his furious rant. "It's unbearable! A barbaric creature like that shouldn't be between civilized beings, but our Hierarch not only lets that animal between us; he gives it his own daughter as a wife! Can you even begin to understand the humiliation of being the servant of a Qui'Leh? You are the appointed leader of the Elven Supremacy in the region, why do you order this course of action?"

Aventhal sighed inwardly, wondering if he had a gift to find minions without the ability to control their emotions. "Exactly because I'm the appointed leader of the party, you should be following my orders instead of questioning them. An act of assassination would put your position as Yuan'Ralya's servant. The outsider has attracted the attention of one of my associates. My guess is that he pretends squeezing him of all his possessions for the Cause before getting rid of him."

Aventhal's interlocutor shuddered at the tone his superior had used with him. In a nervous tone,he answered his leader, "As long as no more Elves get hurt because of that filthy creature, I'll agree with whatever. Especially Yuan'Ralya and her family; it would be a shame on my lineage if they were to suffer for my fault."

Aventhal closed the circle after some soothing but empty words. Fanatics were the perfect tool. Motivated enough to fight to the death, cheap and disposable. They were capable of anything if you could convince them it was "for the Cause." He used to laugh at that. Most of them where just violent and mentally sick people who needed only a minimal excuse to unleash their darkest side.

On the other hand, the sudden interest of the Demon for the Human was intriguing. The Demon didn't have the habit of making things on a whim, proof of that was that they had been maturing that plan together for twenty five years. But, at a logical level, Aventhal was unable to find a real use for the Outsider. He had to investigate the matter deeply. If he could find the part that Sir Brandon played in the Demon's scheme, he may be able to turn the tables and have his associate to work under him.

After all, business partners were disposable tools as well.

*******

From far away, the fortress seemed to be in ruins. Broken windows, gaps in the exterior walls, parts of the structure sustained just by the overgrown vines... until you got close enough to see the dark figures patrolling the walls and guarding the inner doors. But if you were to get close enough to see that, you'd be shot down by the guards before you could escape to tell anyone.

The female figure walked straight, with her chin up and her tail of jade-colored scales curved upwards haughtily, as if she were the Queen of that place. In a certain sense, she was. She accommodated a strand of dark green hair behind one of her horns, that vaguely resembled a tree branch, and stretched her wings before entering the main hall of the fortress.

"Husband, Aventhal has sent confirmation that he has received your order." After several seconds looking at a rotten curtain, she added, "I can't understand why you insisted on coming back here, of all places."

Sho'Baron, the man known as the Demon, touched the right side of his face, covered in black leather straps. "Because it marks the start of my downfall. It is the place where my biggest defeat started. It is a mistake to forget your defeats." The Demon had a voice that reminded of places where you'd better not tread.

"Is that why you asked to get the Human? You're going to make him pay for the defeat you suffered at the hands of the other Human you couldn't vanquish?"

In other times, Sho'Baron would be strangling his wife for her boldness, but he had learned to cope with her along the last fifty years and he just laughed it off. "It may very well could be, my dear Abynia, but I'm also using him to test Aventhal. Right now, that sly Elf must be straining his brains trying to understand why this Human has any significance to me and use it for his own profit. He may think badly of me, but he recognizes my position here in the Unclaimed Lands and the resources I've amassed along the decades and he's craving for them." The demon went to hug his Draghan mate from behind. He continued talking while cupping one of her enviable breasts with his right hand. "I'll let him stretch his neck out as far as he wants, and then I'll remind him who's the real mastermind in this scheme.

Sho'Baron rubbed his broken horn with a left hand made of Living Metal.

"After all, business partners are disposable tools as well."