Chapter 148 A Duel.

  When having the upper hand in a battle,

  there’s no need to take unnecessary risks.

  Just grind your enemy down,

  until they’re tired, and helpless.

  Then crush them.

  Nuriss, the Maiden of War.

  {28} Kilako (October) the 20th

  It’s been a long march. While we did hunt for magical beasts on the road, without the orcs' sense of direction in the forest and our limited time, none of these small creatures provided me with a lot of ectoplasm to drain. Berthold often asked for us to camp for a day or two so he can scout deeper into the forest and track a larger prey, but I decided to refuse his suggestion. We've wasted enough time approaching Pear City as it is.

  During the evenings I alternated my time between teaching Ovin and Zoe useful cantrips. Some physical training with Salik. Starting a few lessons in the language of Nim from Jolla. As well as spending some quality time with Kolag.

  Finally, after nearly three weeks march we’re nearing Green Pear City. Not that I feel much of the tiresome travel while riding on Loyal’s back. Unlike normal horses, my hips do not get sore from riding on him despite not using a saddle. Something about the adhesive effect of his skin shifts enough to prevent friction as well as adjust itself perfectly for me like a padded seat.

  Berthold goes ahead to scout the night before our arrival. He comes back and reports that the city is still controlled by the orcs, and that they have a lot of human slaves in there. He also reports that the orcs have noticed our approach and are preparing the city walls for a prolonged siege.

  I give the order to halt when Salik notifies me that we're nearing an arrow range from the city walls. The forest around the city have been cut down so we cannot hide an army of such magnitude, but we did not come here to hide. The tall wooden walls surrounding the city are quire similar to Red Cedar's walls. The only difference is the crowd of dark skinned orcs glaring at my army with clear battle lust in their brown and golden eyes. One of them draws a bow. He aims high and loosens an arrow. The lone projectile trails in the open sky and lands just shy of fifty meters ahead.

  “Salik, wear the necklace. I’ll need you to command the army.” I hand him the piece of oversized jewelry.

  He nods and puts it on. The soldiers all shift their heads to him with an eerie sense. I wonder what kind of magic that necklace has… I wish I could ask the hag…

  “Inara, they’re sending a group out,” Berthold says from atop his shaggy mare.

  I note the small group of orcs that leaves the city gates.

  “We’ll go meet them. Kolag, Zoe, Ovin. With me. Salik. Keep the army ready for a charge. Berthold, set up. I want you to find whoever seem to be their leader, chief, shaman, anyone of import. If their army moves or if I give you the sign, shoot them.”

  “What’s the sign?”

  “I’ll scratch my head.”

  He nods. “I don’t mind killing the savage if you think it’ll save the people in the city… With the Maiden's blessing I can even make this shot from this far.”

  “Good. Thank you. Let’s go Loyal.” I command Loyal forward with my knees, and we ride forward to meet with the delegation of orcs.

  As we draw near, I notice a familiar orc amongst their small delegation. Elder Gorlor. The orcish elder of Balgrum's tribe, the tribe Kolag and I massacred. I'm surprised he survived. This is going to be annoying…

  The gigantic orc at the lead is nearly three meters tall, and his sculpted muscles match his size. He wears a long headdress made of series of chained bones that reach his waist, and a fur skirt that turn into trousers below his thighs. His dark skinned chest and arms exposed, reflecting a shimmer of sunlight, while his golden wolf-like eyes give out a faint glow.

  “I am Ga’aresh,” he declares. He's a little taller than I am even while sitting on Loyal's back. “We hafe been expecting you, Queen Inara.”

  “Oh, you have? If you have this wolf among you,” I gesture at Gorlor with my chin, “I’m surprise you haven’t been marching on my lands.”

  “We are on your lands, are we not?” The large orc says with a provoking smile.

  I guess Gorlor is aware of my agreement with Tiara… I shouldn’t underestimate him…

  I cross my hands on my chest. “You are. If you know that, and still came out here to talk, you must want something. Go on then. Let's hear it”

  Gorlor steps forward. “Twisted Shaman of Old, Cursed Rhino. Why hafe you murdered my entire pack? Justify your actions.” His voice is a mixture of a snarling demand and a whining pain.

  Kolag explodes. “You enslaved a whole city of innocents! And you’re doing this again! Do you really have to ask?!”

  Gorlor nods like that's exactly the answer he expected to hear. “Your answer is your human honor, Cursed Rhino. We wolfs don’t respect such honor. Twisted Shaman, I hafe yet to hear your answer.”

  I repeat the Orcish sentence a few times in my head before speaking. “Al gah’ yompotasi, al gah’ kra’a no yoma’ari," I say curtly, displaying my fluency in their language. The few orcs guards who had an impassive expression grin and the best reaction is from Ga'aresh.

  “Ha!” The gigantic orc barks a laugh, “Kolpotasi. Gorlor, ik ria’arikal?”

  “Kra’alusa potasi, ik gah’ sa’artapi,” <____ shaman, you did not answer,> Gorlor insists.

  I sigh and speak the throaty words as slowly as I can, doing my best to pronounce them correctly. I know my impression over the buff orc matters if I want a chance to resolve it peacefully and possibly maintain my troops and save some people's lives. “Ik no Agilla yomh’ak Balgrum no kra’a o, al kolgaf o kola’a.”

  The elderly orc breaks his calm facade and yells at me angrily. "Al gah’ krekolak o!"

  I shake my head with a sneer. "Ik no nh’i kreoak. Ik krekolak o no nh’i ria’arikal a’arila." I frown before finding the rest of my words. "Gim a’arj no a’ari."

  "Ha!" Ga'aresh loud laugh cuts Gorlor's response. "Al kolgaf shee la’ark!" He exclaims, thumping his thigh with his large palm.

  "A'aoko..." Gorlor turns to him with a bow.

  Ga'aresh silences him with a sharp gesture. "You, red maned bitch. Speak your language, your wolf-tongue is bad. This Agilla bitch killed the male you lofed? (loved?)"

  How did he reach that conclusion? Ugh... I guess my orcish isn't as good as I thought. Regardless it impressed him enough and I can use this misunderstanding. "Not only did Agilla kill him, she didn’t honor his word to me. If she had honored his word, I might’ve forgiven his death.”

  “Was she aware of his word?” Gorlor tries again.

  I sneer at him. “You were there. She used his word to me to make him look weak to the rest of your tribe right after I healed him from a curse. She challenged him to a duel when he was at his weakest, recovering from a curse. That is…”

  “That is not story you’fe told us, Gorlor.” Ga’aresh cuts me off.

  “She was chosen by bone chieftess!” Gorlor protests. “She won her battle to death and…”

  Ga’aresh punches the elderly orc and knocks him back on his ass. “Al sa’ar jash a’ari riarikal luska. Kash o!”

  A female orc in the delegation who looks like someone used her face as an anvil grabs the unconscious elder and hurls him over her shoulder.

  “Did you truly murder his entire tribe?” Ga’aresh asks me while his golden eyes glide up and down on my body.

  His eyes make me want to wash myself. “I did,” I reply curtly.

  “By yourself?”

  “Kolag did most of the job.” I gesture at Kolag by my side.

  “I want a duel. Battle to death. Me and this Kolag. Cursed Rhino is it?" Gaa'resh eyes turn to Kolag, looking up and down on his armor and the weapons he carry. "Paladin to Noxi, are you?"

  "Not anymore," Kolag replies with an echo.

  "Grah, doesn't matter. I want a duel! If I win, I get to eat him, then I duel you, red maned bitch. If I lose to either of you, on my word and honor, my tribe will leafe without our sheep. And you can eat me.”

  “I’ll be happy to accept!” Kolag says, dismounting his horse.

  Not charging ahead again! You stupid snaking moron! Don't just accept on my behalf! “Oh no. That’s not going to happen. Who’s to say the next chief will honor your word?”

  Ga’aresh grins at me, golden eyes gleaming in their ebony sockets. “She will. Won’t you Barol?” The tall female orc at his side nods solemnly with Gorlor on her shoulder. “I hafe already appointed my second. She is second stronger wolf in tribe.”

  Kolag hesitates. He looks at me, then toward the city walls. "Marisha, I do want to do this, and I believe I'll most likely win. If you think there's a better way..."

  Ok... At least he's learning... What better way do I have? I can have Berthold snipe this giant, and then the orcs will attack, but they'll leave this wall of theirs in order to do so and Salik's army is more than prepared for such a charge.

  The back of my head itches for a scratch.

  Zoe who's been quiet thus far, speaks up. "I agree with Kolag, Master. A duel can save a lot of innocent lives."

  I turn to her, trying my best not to tuck some annoying hair behind my hair, just so Berthold won't mistake it for a sign. "Zoe. He heard all about Kolag's demon, and he still want a duel. Don't you think he's prepared for it?"

  The orc growls. "I've killed many orcs at once. Nothing can challenge me no more. I wish to test myself against such strong opponent to appease the Bone Chieftess."

  Right... "Ovin? Your thoughts?"

  "Yo'll askin' me?" The bald man raises his eyebrows in a way that twists his scar like a fat red warm.

  "Yes. I want your opinion."

  He scratches the back of his bald head casually "I say we kill 'em all here and now. Nothing stopping us."

  The orc growls at the thuggish man. "If you do that, my wolfs will round up your people and impale them on the walls. You are not dishonorable, are you, Red Mane?"

  So that's not really an option... I won't hear the end of it if I let so many people die... Playing my opponent's game, I'm not sure it's the wisest of moves...

  “What’s wise then?" Kolag asks, making me realize I finished my thoughts aloud. "Fight a battle with these orcs over the walls? Risk the lives of thousands of innocents? Or have a simple duel, here and now. Do you really think he can beat me? Demon and all?”

  “I’m just worried…”

  “And I’m flattered that you care about me so much, but you have to let me take a few small risks when it's useful to do so, and this is the best option we've got. ”

  “I guess you're right. Do go on…” I agree helplessly. “And be careful.”

  *

  A few minutes later we stand afar in a large space near the wooden city walls. Ga’aresh insisted on fifty meter between him and Kolag, as well as 200 meters between them and anyone else who might get hurt by the duel or attempt to disrupt it.

  His stubbornness on the distance means he’s prepared for the demon … And he still wants a duel?! Something is off…

  “So. I don’t have to shoot him?” Berthold ask me.

  “Oh no. Stay ready. Something feels wrong about this…”

  *THUMP!*

  An orc strikes a large drum on the wall and the battle commence.

  Kolag charges forward, holding his claymore with both hand.

  Ga’aresh uses magic and floats a large boulder from the ground magic and hurls it toward Kolag as if he’s an orc catapult. Oh snakes! He’s a mage! How is that possible?! The orcs said that a chief can't be shaman!

  Kolag keeps running, he swings his claymore and splits the boulder in half. A pair of boulders appear from thin air above the orc’s hand and fly toward Kolag who dodges the first, right into the second boulder’s flying path. No!

  The second boulder turns to dust right before it’s supposed to hit Kolag. Oh that's right! Kolag is holding a piece of the assassin’s glass, or whatever that colorful object was. It nullifies magic. It didn't negate the first boulder, because the orc lifted it off the ground and threw it, but it does negate other forms of magic that he evokes out of nothing…

  Even from afar I see the orc's confused expression, he then smirks with another chant and craters form in the ground right in front of Kolag.

  Kolag easily avoid the holes in the ground, side stepping them and continue on with his charge. His claymore raised high.

  The orc chants, taking out a wand from his belt and waving it toward Kolag.

  *CRACK!*

  A blinding flash of white light. I catch a glimpse of a forked lightning bolt within the dazzling light, striking toward Kolag.

  The lightning is gone before it reaches Kolag. Absorbed into nothingness.

  I smile uncontrollably. He’s wasting mana. Now even if he does somehow win against Kolag, I'll have much better chances. I wonder about that wand. I want it! And he'll have a spellbook somewhere too...

  The orc raises a large stone wall from the ground. The wall is raised slowly, allowing Kolag to close the distance. By the time Kolag is nearing the wall, the wall is about seven meters tall and two meters thick.

  Kolag turns to circle it, and the wall collapses on top of him, burying him under the mass of rocks. Kolag!!! Oh no… the demon will come out now…

  The orc walks back calmly, taking his distance from the rubble and waiting for Kolag or Kolag's demon to emerge from under the pile. He raises more rocks and boulders from the ground, readying himself for a strike, but Kolag doesn’t surface. Come on! Come on! He won’t be able to win against a demon!

  A minute pass, then two. But nothing shows up from the pile.

  “Gra’a! I’ll dig and eat him later. Now we duel, Shaman Inara!” Gra’ash declares loudly enough to be heard at the distance.

  Really? You sign up for this duel then lose your conscious and now I have to deal with the fallout?! Ugh!

  I did agree to it... At least he didn't act on his own this time... And it did seem like the best solution at the time...

  I go to the starting position for the duel. My dark robes fluttering in the wind, hiding my scaled leather armor underneath.

  We’re fifty meters from one another. I warily eye the rubble. I have to stay away from that pile of rocks, if the demon emerges from it mid battle it can be... Disastrous...

  *THUMP!*

  The orc a top the wall strikes the drum and the battle begins.

  “Myrsha, nia tsaf lah, lah shitol ni latsa lah, fel ka’am J’an nia kent”

  

  I cast my flying spell. By the time the first flying boulder reaches me, I dodge upward.

  I soar fast, reaching the altitude of at least fifty meters high. From above I can see the city, their preparation for the siege and barricades inside, and the city square where they herded the humans.

  I don’t have to worry about holes in the ground or… The orc aims the wand and a lightning bolt in my direction.

  I laugh in delight. After being electrocuted I learned enough magical theory to know how to avoid it. The Lightning sub-element is one of the fastest and deadliest magic. Yet it’s very limited in range with a defining weakness. The range shortens itself by half if you aim it upward, and doubles if you aim it downward.

  In short, a Lightning bolt wasn’t made to be thrown at a flying target, unless the target is below the caster.

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  And indeed the flashing bolt doesn’t even reach me, it arcs back toward the ground with a blinding flash of light, much to the orc’s confusion.

  My turn!

  “Kushgari yefa” I send three copper bolts flying his way. From so high above, I have the perfect sniping position, not to mention how natural gravity supports my bolts and does not hinder them.

  The orc raises a thinner wall to block my projectiles, then send the wall flying my way, but it’s easy to dodge, not to mention the heavy object slows down its momentum the higher it goes.

  “Nimwual!” I send a jet of water down his way. The orc encases himself in a small pyramid of rock, and the water splits, flowing to the sides.

  I fly above the orc and lower my altitude. Being above him means it’ll be easier for me to channel electricity with double the range. Due to my pattern limit I cannot swift cast, but I don’t have to do so when I'm out of his reach of interruption.

  The moment he lowers his pyramid of earth, I take out lavender and cast.

  “Reviss! Rit atrevika kas tak! Kas koarr oarofisia!”

  As I cast, another boulder fly up my way, I dodge and channel my flashing electricity downward.

  The ‘Electric Channel’ leaves my fingertip, flashing a blinding light of blue and white. The orc is caught in the electricity currents. He shakes and spasms in place. He clenches his fists, his muscles bulging. The flashing currents travels through his body to the ground flashing again and again throughout his burly figure. I grin. Now this is how you use electricity!

  I get a headache from my overuse of light magic, but I keep channeling regardless.

  “Kushgash!” I hear him shout, and a hole in the ground opens right below him. He fall into the hole and my electricity spreads around the edges of it, some of it still going for the orc but most of it absorbed to the ground around him.

  I cancel my ‘Electric Channel’ and scream: “Kusharissa!” If he’s in such a small hole that’s easy to fill, let’s fill it with something that burns him.

  And indeed the ground covers his head, but not before he’s hit by a sizzling stream of my acid. I fly up, looking for a spot he’d surface. I wipe the sweat from my forehead and tuck my hair behind my sharp tipped ear.

  There’s silence for nearly a minute, then a pyramid of stone shapes up below me at the exact same spot he disappeared. I draw mana from my necklace. “Kushjak” “Fotyr folo” the dripping oil around the pyramid ignites in a roar of flames.

  A sharp pain goes through the back of my head when something heavy hits me, stopped by my armor and the metallic grimoire on my back. It sends me flying forward through the air. “Ritsa!” I cast a repulse at the large object at my back. It doesn’t push it, but it slows down and falls.

  I spin in time to see a large boulder falling down. Just to fly into the scatter shot of tiny rocks that the boulder turns into. Warm blood trickles down the left side of my face and neck, but the rest of my body is safe due to my repulsive armor. I should really wear a helmet... I fly upward, avoiding the orc's range.

  The orc summoned a pyramid as a distraction and surfaced somewhere else. I underestimated him… He should be out of mana, and he can’t reach me this high… What if he has an item similar to my necklace? And he can just use gems…

  I drink a healing potion and feel the wound in my bleeding ear heal up. I spot the tall orc on the other side of the field, around my original starting position.

  “Let’s agree to a draw,” The orc shouts.

  If we have a draw he can eat Kolag, I can’t let that happen! He’s bluffing. “You’re out of mana. Of course you’d want a draw. I can keep going, can you?”

  He takes out a small magical gem from the pouch in his hand. “Of course.”

  He’s really out of mana then! Let’s try something… I still have nearly half of my gravity mana, almost all of my water mana and other elements I didn’t use much yet… Not to mention the necklace is nearly topped and I have gems to draw on… “Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Lu myrsha ni kull lah! Nia wuan nalahi myrsha!” I cast weightless body on myself and cancel the ‘Lesser Flight’ spell. “Felul” I aim myself to drift downward in the orc’s general direction. He wouldn’t notice the difference in flight from this far.

  And lastly… “Revatol revisoroar, revatol revisarisoroar, sorev revisoroshak takoar tokari atrevi! Saja atakesh to Revisorserini!”