Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) (43 page)

Thumping the table loudly enough to startle several diners bringing eyes towards their table, Garosh declared his acceptance, “Fine, first we eat then we fight. I have been spoiling for some exercise, so maybe you can do more than just run your mouth when we reach the practice field.”

Eyes turning evil as the smaller falcon’s mouth tightened looking ready to start the fight right there, Elzen merely nodded and finished the last of his meal. Despite his arriving first, the mage barely beat the giant leaving Rilena looking at her plate only half eaten in the same time.

“I am ready, little man,” Garosh stated standing from the bench and stepping back. His hand engulfed her shoulder as the giant exited the table and Rilena felt the strength in just that light touch worrying over what Elzen had just done. She also doubted that he needed to use her to maintain his balance, but wondered why he needed to demonstrate his strength on her since she wasn’t his opponent.

Worry was echoed on Siobeth’s face as she moved to follow the two men. Garosh’s entourage of soldiers, mages and wizards trailed them through the castle until Elzen led the giant to a courtyard. By the time they arrived, a large crowd had chosen to follow the two men. With all the talk of Winter’s Edge and the wizard duels, Rilena thought maybe everyone was ready to see something more basic, though a fight involving Garosh was likely to be anything but that.

Empty tables and benches surrounded an open area of withered grass. The snow was cleared from the regularly active training area and those coming to see a fight spread out leaving the central section open. It was likely to be a dangerous fight, so no one was willing to put themselves too near the heart of the courtyard.

“What types of weapons do you want?” Elzen asked gesturing to several closed cabinets that were quickly flung open to reveal everything from swords and shields to more exotic weapons like flails and cat’s eyes.

Eyeing the smaller man, Garosh asked the falcon, “What weapons do you prefer?”

“Shield,” the mage answered calling forth the blue magic over his hands. “I prefer my hands, but feel free to take whatever you wish.”

The giant spotted his choice and returned with a pair of three foot long batons. In his hands they looked like twigs, but a solid blow from one of the clubs could crack a man’s head open easily. Garosh questioned, “Any rules I should know about?”

“Since you aren’t allowed to use magic, this will be all that I will use,” Elzen stated as the two began to circle slowly feeling each other out even before the combat officially began. “If the two wizards can shield us from death blows, then I think no one will be in trouble from Lord Bryon or Duke Gelan. We can keep this... friendly.”

Taking a grim look at the boy’s sarcastic tone, Garosh simply nodded. “Whenever you are ready to get this beating over with, please feel free.”

“Fine. Rilena call it out.”

The woman wanted to ask ‘Why me?’, but refrained as she stepped close enough to be seen out of the corner of their eyes. Raising her hand, the dark haired falcon started, “Ready, then commence.”

With her words spaced just enough to leave a moment open, the last word sent both men into motion. Elzen leaped in going for the legs as Garosh struck from above with his right. Even without a mage spell increasing his reflexes unfairly, the boy was fast.

Sliding on the damp, hibernating grass, the mage struck the giant’s leg around the knee three times in passing before changing direction and rolling away to the left. Garosh winced at the strikes, but turned chasing the smaller man a bit more cautiously.

Elzen closed again standing straighter and took the attack towards the giant’s stomach. The short staves quickly obstructed the mage. Shielded hands swatted powerfully driven wood clubs and for several seconds the two exchanged blows. The smaller man’s head and body movement shocked Rilena and everyone who had never seen the mage in action. He looked like he was magically enhanced as hands deflected every strike of the batons shifting Garosh’s power away from his head and shoulders. He dropped lower and kicked the left knee with exact precision making the powerful giant wince again.

In a bit of a stalemate, the battle mage dropped back bouncing on the balls of his feet switching from left to right stances at the drop of a hat. He’d hint at an attack causing Garosh to tense and bring the staves down defensively. When Elzen closed the distance once more, he danced to the side guiding the left hand strike of the giant back to the man’s right. An elbow struck the forearm. His shielded fist connected above the elbow as his body continued to turn. A kick to the left knee and successive punch to the kidney brought a groan of pain from the big man’s throat reflexively.

Instinct and speed brought Garosh’s left arm swinging for the mage’s head, but he ducked striking the abdomen of the larger man. Dodging back out of his reach, Elzen looked calm and poised. His breathing was steady while Garosh was shaky in his breaths and fighting some pain. The giant gauged the smaller man warily, but maintained his guard.

“You’re better than I would have thought without even using your magic,” Garosh stated as if his words could buy him time while he tried to figure out how to deal with the quicker fighter.

“Be glad I’m not using a reflex spell then. This is me in slow motion compared to that,” the boy replied arrogantly. He felt like the giant had no chance in a fair fight. While Garosh had his strength, the mage wouldn’t allow him to use it and could pick him apart if he wanted to.

Giving a crisp nod of readiness, the giant suddenly changed his stance. Rilena thought that she felt a rise in his magic, but it only moved through his body. Without a spell actually cast, Garosh’s movements became smoother. “Careful, Elzen, his magic seems to be helping him even without a spell,” the girl stated even as many of the surrounding caster’s began to nod. Not every wizard or mage could sense the movement or build up of magic in another, so she just hoped her warning helped.

Elzen seemed to ignore the warning and closed with his opponent quickly. The batons were faster and more accurate. Shielded hands were forced to move even quicker than before to fend off the blows of the giant. He tried to shift left and right looking for an opening only to find Garosh turned to face him with weapons aiming for the mage’s head. A swift blow made Elzen flip backwards and a smile of confidence started to return to Garosh, but as the smaller man’s hands planted on the ground his right foot struck at the giant’s left hand.

The blow had been coming up as the club had been coming down. Even amid the other sounds of fighting, the thud of the boot against forearm sounded painful. Garosh had to shake off the blow with his left while parrying Elzen with his right.

Quickly recovering and changing direction, Elzen was on the giant before Garosh even knew it. He deflected the right staff and struck a fierce blow to the top of the forearm causing the arm to drop. Twisting to deliver a strong hit on the lower left ribs, the mage kicked off as he struck the left leg with the base of his foot. He miscalculated, however. In his effort to open up the giant, the left hand dropped the baton before grabbing the boy’s legs preventing him from getting distance between them.

In Garosh’s grasp, Rilena expected his strength to overwhelm the smaller man. Blows from the giant’s right hand did land, but Elzen twisted within the handhold delivering blows and fending off the strikes of his opponent. They collapsed to the ground rolling in and out of holds as it became a game of grappling. Even there in the giant’s strength, the fierce boy wriggled and worked for holds that surprised Garosh. When he suddenly twisted the arm, legs braced against the man’s shoulder trying to wrench the forearm back against the elbow in an attack that would have broken a lesser man’s arm or dislocated his shoulder, Elzen was able to at first drive the larger man face first into the mud.

A normal man would have begged for mercy to avoid being hurt, but Garosh surprised them as he twisted getting his legs back underneath him. He lifted the boy like he was nothing though his arm remained forcefully extended and useless. Driving Elzen’s back and head against the ground once, twice, then a third time, finally made the mage release the arm.

Rolling back and staying low, the smaller man was breathing hard. In a struggle where the monster could use his strength to wear Elzen down and do damage, the boy would most likely lose no matter how skilled he was. The giant was just too strong for him in that kind of fight. Rilena noticed blood coming from his left nostril and his left eye starting to puff up from a blow. She looked to the giant whose arm still hung loose at his side and the falcon wondered if Elzen had actually managed to break or dislocate the limb after all. His face was bruised and Garosh looked winded. Despite his strength advantage and magic, the giant was taking significant damage trying to compete with the combat specialist in Elzen.

“Not bad,” Garosh admitted from a swollen and bleeding lip. “I have a feeling that if we were using blades, I would be dead by now. Even though I have size and strength on you, you are able to outfight me.

“I may be a warlock, but I am well trained to fight and can say that I have never run into a fighter like you.”

It sounded like Garosh was conceding the fight to Rilena’s surprise. Elzen couldn’t just let it go, however, and retorted, “Was this more exercise than you expected from a little man? You may be big and powerful, but big also means you’re a bigger target.”

Chuckling at the boy, he nodded saying a little more humbly, “I was expecting much less exercise in fact and a lot less pain. I give.”

Elzen looked disappointed in the concession. Guessing that he wished to continue to try and injure the man, the mage also knew that his duty was to protect him as an ambassador and prisoner. He couldn’t get away with killing someone who had surrendered to ensure peace, whether he believed in it or not.

“Fine, then I
guess we are done,” the smaller man stated with a nod backing away towards the crowd. A fighter never turned his back on an opponent, even if a fight was more or less settled. History taught that some men couldn’t accept losing without trying to stab their opponent in the back. Honor meant nothing to those men.

Garosh moved to sit on a bench and called to her. Reluctantly, the girl moved closer. As she moved towards him, the courtyard began to clear. With Elzen gone, the fight was over and left the loser to lick his wounds. The morning guard detail took relaxed positions nearby and watched the injured giant cautiously even so.

“What is it, Garosh?” Rilena asked brusquely not wanting to deal with her tormentor any longer than she needed.

“Don’t worry. You will actually enjoy this task,” the man stated with sweat beading on his brow. His eyes revealed pain and she knew that Elzen had managed to hurt the giant more than she had thought. “Your friend dislocated my shoulder for you. If you would take hold and pull it until it pops back into place, I would be most appreciative. It should be even more painful, if you need more incentive.”

Rilena thought that the man certainly knew how to push her buttons to get what he wanted, but in this case someone had to do it. If the ravens or others found out that Garosh had been left to fend for himself, there would certainly be hell to pay. “I have mud on my boots,” she tried weakly.

“Then the washer women will be harsh with you when I send my shirt to them,” he said through teeth gritted together in pain.

Sighing, the woman lifted the arm into position listening to Garosh groan and grunt in pain with each move. Placing a foot against his chest, she pulled and twisted enough to make the bones shift. As it popped back into place, he cried out loudly as the spike in pain reduced to an uncomfortable ache.

“Thank you,” the man said sounding sincere through his pain.

Grunting welcome despite disliking the fact that she had been forced to help the villainous man, Rilena released his arm as he tested it gingerly. The falcon cautioned quietly, “You should go to the infirmary and have one of the healers fix the damage.”

He shook his head. “There’s no rush. It is back in the socket and could heal on its own. I can go there after the darkness trying to make me unconscious recedes.”

“Whatever,” she replied dismissively. “The lords will have Elzen’s head if you don’t use the wizards to heal you.”

“I probably deserved it. No, I do deserve it. My pain is nothing compared to what I did to you and the apprentice,” the man said with a sigh before looking at Rilena. She had sat once more on the bench beside him after forcing his arm back into the socket and they were nearly face to face. “That is probably my greatest regret so far in my life. I know I can never apologize enough, but hopefully your friend inflicting pain on me will help make up for it at least a little bit.”

Frowning at the man, she asked in disbelief, “Did you lose to Elzen on purpose?”

He laughed.
“Only from the point that I followed the rules of using no magic in the duel. Your friend is a demon. Giving him a chance to only use weapons instead of magic brought me straight to my doom. I am well trained with weapons, but I have never been against a true master trying to harm me.”

“You cheated though. I felt your magic during the duel,” the girl informed him leveling a judging finger at him.

“Ah,” Garosh sighed holding a slight smile of regret on his lips as he looked at the ground between his feet leaning forward holding the wounded arm with his right and massaging the shoulder with his hand. “It wasn’t intentional. While I have great magical strength, even with training I only have a raw skill and a tentative hold on my power. I have been told that when they created me, part of who I am came from the emperor, but another part came from some other powerful man. He was said to have no magic and my instructors informed me that his material is the cause.”