"Dulvet," said another orc.
"So your chief's a gnome," said Gragoth.
"If Mocono tells us to kill the gnome, we will," said the first orc. "If Dulvet says to kill Mocono, we'd kill Dulvet. So Mocono is chief."
"You are taking orders from a gnome," Gragoth said.
Nigel wondered if it was wise to press this point, since it was making the orcs angry, but he had to assume Gragoth knew what he was doing.
"Mocono is strong," said the orc leader. "Really strong. I hope you're strong too, Gragoth. We will have an orgy and the shamans will get you in shape for the fight."
"No," said Gragoth. "I fight when we get there."
"We are looking forward to raping the human and the elf," said the orc.
"That is why we will fight first," said Gragoth.
"Orgy first," said the orc.
"Fight first. Or I will not fight at all. You do not rape my women."
The orcs grumbled. But one said, "It is good. If he loses, we get to fuck the women until they break, and eat the man. And if he wins..." The orc trailed off, but the Broadnoses seemed to want Gragoth to win.
"You must let the man challenge, before you eat him."
"Hmf. We need to change rules so only orcs can challenge."
"But those are not your rules. He is in line to challenge."
The orc nodded. "We are desperate. The man can challenge."
"Are you desperate enough to let us all free so we can take on the minotaur and the gnome together?" asked Nigel. It seemed like the obvious solution.
"Desperate," said the orc leader, spitting at the ground. "But not without honor. Be thankful that we will hold off using your women's holes until after the challenge."
"Both challenges," said Nigel. We have to win this.
"No. Just one challenge. Just because we allow you to challenge doesn't mean you can stop us from doing as we will until then. Unless Mocono says we cannot touch the women, of course."
"Mother fucking lovely," said Khoraja. "You should have let me fireball them. At least then we would have died honestly."
"Almost spoken like a true orc," Gragoth said. "But have a little faith. I will win."
"And if you don't?"
Gragoth grinned. "Then I'll be dead, won't I?"
"Shut up, and walk," said one of the Broadnoses, poking a spear in their direction meaningfully. "And trust me, we want him to win. We're not looking forward to sticking our dicks in any of you."
"Oh good," said Khoraja.
"Doesn't mean we won't do it, before we eat you," said the orc.
Nigel looked around, trying to recognize the one they had questioned and let go. He noticed a few differences among them. One had hair in a mohawk, for instance, and another had a bone spike in his right ear. But the features they held in common -- green skin, tusks, muscles and big heads -- were more plentiful than the ones that made them distinctive, and they tended to look alike to him. If they weren't talking about raping and eating his women, he might have felt guilty about not being able to tell them apart, but under the circumstances, he would be happy enough to see them all dead.
"What weapons does the bull man choose?" asked Gragoth.
"Swords," said the orc. "Always swords."
"I can use a sword," Gragoth said. "I'm better with an axe, but I can use a sword. I will kill your bull man for you. Any other tips?"
"Be strong."
Gragoth nodded as if that was sage advice, but it didn't seem very useful to Nigel.
The orcs led them to the tall hill with the watchtower. They walked past four sentries on the path, and past some caves that stank of piss and rotted food. Small orcs and orc women stood outside the caves to watch them as they went by, their green skin glistening from sweat. Some of them were naked, others wore scraps of clothing. Only a few of the warriors were fully dressed. If there were elders, he hadn't seen any. Maybe orcs aged gracefully, or they had no place for any tribe member on the decline.
It was near dusk when they got to the top of the hill, but torches kept the area fairly well lit.
Small stones marked a circle on top of the hill. Nigel, Emma, and Khoraja were pushed to their knees just outside the circle. The orcs positioned themselves around it. It surprised Nigel none of them stood directly behind them, but it didn't matter much. If they ran, they were unlikely to get far. The circle was the center of the settlement. They might have lost many of their warriors, but the Broadnoses numbered well over a hundred, possibly two hundred. The sentries at the bottom of the hill would slow them down enough to let the others catch them[SH1].
CHAPTER EIGHT
The orcs took Gragoth off to the side, offering him advice. Some were hopeful, but more looked despondent. They'd seen challengers fail before.
Nigel worked at his bonds, but he couldn't get at the knots. He could untie Emma's, but not discreetly, and orcs were walking behind him constantly.
An audible sigh rose from the crowd, and Nigel twisted to see what they were looking at. The minotaur was huge, nearly seven feet tall, although it was difficult to tell exactly with its shaggy mane and his horns making it look even taller. He was built like an offensive lineman, but taller, and its arms were extra long, almost orangutan like. He wore only a light brown leather skirt, and sandals; fur covered the rest, giving him an appearance more like a buffalo than a cow, and more of either than human. Only his size 18 feet looked truly man like. Mocono.
Behind him waddled a short gnome who looked miniscule next to the minotaur. The gnome had blue hair, red eyes, and an over-sized nose, but otherwise looked like a tiny human dressed in a puffy pirate shirt with ruffles, brocade pants and a waistcoat, and a velvet frock coat over all of that. Presumably that was Dulvet.
Gragoth hefted his axe.
"We fight with swords," said Mocono, his voice rumbly and booming all at the same time.
"Chicken," said Gragoth.
"Mocono not chicken," the minotaur responded. "We can fight with..."
"With swords," piped up the little gnome, in a shrill, irritating voice that reminded Nigel of a Chipmunks record. "He's trying to bait you, Mocono. Don't fall for his tricks."
"We fight with swords," repeated Mocono.
An orc stepped forward, and spoke in a chanting cadence, no doubt repeating words handed down through generations. "By the laws of the Broadnoses, this orc, Gragoth, challenges our chief. The chief picks the weapons, and he picks swords. Two swords shall be brought forward, and the challenger shall choose one. No weapons may be thrown. Only the challenger and the chief shall fight, and none may interfere. One shall die, and one shall be our chief, and his word shall be our law. There can be no other outcome. "
Nigel struggled harder. Our lives depend on a virtual stranger beating a monster larger than him. Fuck.
Two of the Broadnoses carried large two-handed swords from the chief's hut. They looked like an identical matched pair. The orcs placed them on the ground in the center of the circle and then scampered away.
"Gragoth, pick your weapon," said the orc who had been chanting.
Gragoth tossed his battle axe to the side, toward Nigel. It made Nigel flinch for a moment, but the axe landed safely right in front of him. He's trying to give me something I can use if things go south. Although I don't know how.
An orc figured that out, too, because he kicked the battleaxe out of reach.
Gragoth picked up a sword and moved back to the edge of the ring. Mocono walked forward and grabbed the other one. Then Gragoth growled.
Nigel turned from the minotaur to see that Gragoth had dropped his weapon. "What foul sorcery is this?" Gragoth yelled.
An excited buzz went up among the orcs, asking if anyone had seen a spell being cast. Gragoth reached down and tried to pick up the sword, and couldn't.
"I've been watching the gnome," Khoraja murmured. "At most, he twitched his nose. He didn't cast a spell, unless..."
"Unless what?" asked Nigel.
"Unless the swords wer
e already enchanted, and all he had to do was trigger something."
The orc who was officiating spoke. "A moment," he said.
The minotaur backed to the opposite side of the ring and waited. "Mocono not use magic. Perhaps Gragoth too weak to hold sword."
That seemed unlikely. It was a heavy weapon, but the orcs carrying it to the center had managed just fine and they were no bigger than Gragoth. The combatants waited while a few of the orcs conferred. Others clustered around, trying to hear what was being said. Nigel used the distraction to get his thumbnail into one of the knots around his wrists and gave himself some leeway.
"Move closer," Nigel whispered to Emma.
Emma did. Nigel didn't get his wrist all the way free, but he gained some wiggle room at least. He moved his wrists towards Emma and found Emma's wrists already as close to his as they could be. Smart girl. He worked on her knots, which were at a better angle than his own.
The conference didn't take long. The officiant strode into the middle of the circle. "No one saw any magic, but this does not seem normal either. The fight is postponed. Today we have an orgy, and we will see if Gragoth can lift a sword tomorrow."
Several orcs turned toward the prisoners, and Nigel and Emma twisted to look innocent. Nigel soon realized they weren't looking at him. They focused their attention on Emma and Khoraja, and the meaning of orgy was abundantly clear. The extra day was a reprieve for Gragoth, but not for the girls.
"I challenge," yelled Nigel. "Now."
"Nightwolf!" Emma said.
The orcs looked to the officiant, who after a moment's thought huddled with the other Broadnoses again.
"I'm not going to just let you get raped," Nightwolf said.
"I'd survive it," Emma said. "It would be better..."
"Thank you, Nightwolf," Khoraja said. Her face was grim. "I know you can do it."
"Thank you, Khoraja. I've got to at least try."
"I, um, know you can do it too," said Emma.
The officiant extricated himself from the other orcs and announced. "If Gragoth's challenge is tomorrow, there is time for a challenge today."
"We fight with swords," said Mocono, exactly as he had said it before.
"Bring out different swords," said Nigel. "Those may be already magicked." He felt hands untying him. When the orcs decided something, they didn't waste time.
"These swords," said Mocono. "Not puny swords."
Nigel stretched his arms. They were sore from being bound. He didn't like his chances, but he wasn't going to sit idly while the Broadnoses raped his women.
My women. He didn't think that way on Earth. People didn't belong to other people. Women didn't belong to men. But right here, right now, he felt it, like a caveman. He needed all the raw primal energy he could get to fight this giant creature, so he went with it. My women.
"The chief has a right to choose weapons," the officiant ruled.
"Stop the gnome from interfering," Gragoth said.
"No one saw the gnome interfere," said the officiant.
"Bind him, as the women are. And blindfold him, too," said Gragoth. "He used sorcery against me. He broke the rules."
"No bind. No blindfold," said Mocono.
The officiant frowned at Mocono. "Outside the challenge, you rule. But the rules of the challenge are mine, as our law decrees." He turned to the orcs. "Bind the gnome and cover his eyes."
"But I want to see, Mocono!" shrieked Dulvet.
"No blindfold," said Mocono. "Or I have little orc on a spit after the fight."
The officiant looked at Nigel, and then back at Mocono, as if weighing his chances. Nigel guessed he wasn't optimistic. But to Nigel's surprise he turned back to Mocono. "So be it. If my chief wants me on a spit, I shall be on a spit. Blindfold the gnome."
Orcs grabbed Dulvet and binding him, and they weren't being gentle about it either. The orcs didn't much care for the little guy. Perhaps the gnome would take revenge for that if Nigel lost the fight, but the orcs were brave, and honor was important to them. Their notion of how to treat women was inexcusable, but they had their own virtues.
The problem with cheating is you don't know if you can win if you don't cheat. I've got a psychological advantage. But if it worried Mocono, he didn't show it. Whether a psychological advantage could overcome the minotaur's superiority in strength and size was questionable. But Nigel needed every available edge. He, too, would cheat if he could.
"What's your name, human?" the orc asked.
"Nightwolf," Nigel replied.
The orc nodded. "By the laws of the Broadnoses, this human, Nightwolf challenges our chief.. The chief picks the weapons, and he picks swords. Two swords have been brought forward, and the challenger shall choose one. No weapons may be thrown. Only the challenger and the chief shall fight, and none may interfere. One shall die, and one shall be our chief, and his word shall be our law. There can be no other outcome. " He gestured to the orcs with the swords.
The orcs placed the weapons in the middle of the ring. "Nightwolf, pick your weapon," said the officiant.
Nigel walked forward. The two swords looked identical. He wanted to choose the one Gragoth had not chosen, but he couldn't distinguish. He picked one and stepped back towards where Gragoth had stood. The sword was heavy, but he could hold it. Given the giant axe Gragoth carried, he couldn't imagine any reason for the orc to be unable to hold it except for magic.
Mocono picked up the other sword and moved back. Unfortunately, he had no problems holding his sword either. Maybe Gragoth's sword held a spell that the gnome had activated with an unseen gesture, but when the spell went off, it was spent. A fair fight. Well, better than an unfair one bent to his disadvantage.
"Begin," said the officiant, and stepped out of the ring.
The minotaur advanced. Nigel circled. He suspected two combatants charging each other would please the crowd more, but he wasn't interested in being entertainment. The rule about non-interference meant that the orcs couldn't do anything about how he fought as long as he stayed within the rules. One thing he'd learned about fighting taller, bigger men in martial arts class was that they tired faster from moving all that bulk around. Whether that held for minotaurs or not was another matter. But if he remembered right, bull-fighters used the same tactics.
"Puny human," yelled Mocono, and charged. Nigel side-stepped and only got nicked in the shoulder by the bull-man's sword. Mocono's charge carried him out of the ring, and into some orcs. Then he stepped back in. Apparently going out of the ring didn't disqualify him. Nigel noted that, but wasn't sure he could take advantage, given the wall of orcs all around. And purposely retreating from the ring might differ from being carried out by the momentum of a charge.
Still, the first foray had gone well. He was bleeding, but it was a surface wound. How many times could Mocono charge like that before tiring? Nigel stayed on the balls of his feet, ready to move. He'd swing his sword if there was an opening, but he needed to keep it ready to parry. Until later.
Mocono yelled something incoherent and charged again. Nigel deflected his sword away and then danced to the side. So far, so good.
He glanced at his shoulder. It burned a little. But the wound wasn't deep. It should be okay. A rhythm developed. Charge, dodge. Charge, parry. He caught one blow on a bracer and then got a shot in on Mocono's leg when the minotaur left himself open. That'll tire him more.
Mocono wised up, moving slower. Or maybe he was tiring. Nigel wasn't exactly fresh himself. He parried twice and then sliced Mocono's other leg. It wasn't a deep cut, partly because Nigel had to raise his sword to parry again. The minotaur was strong beyond belief, but fortunately he didn't need to stop the sword dead, just deflect it. Nigel danced backward.
And had to catch his breath.
I shouldn't be tired already. Sure, he'd been walking all day. But this body he had in Aldrya was resilient, and he was pumped on adrenalin. And I've got an 18 Constitution. The still burning shoulder wound was just a distraction.
His right arm felt the worst. It felt heavy. And as he stood there, he felt the heaviness move from the shoulder to his neck and chest, and also down the arm to his forearm and wrist. It was like poison -- or more sorcery, probably. He'd gotten Mocono twice in the leg, but that didn't seem to affect the Minotaur at all. Maybe both swords were trapped, and Mocono had protection against whatever magic they held. It would be almost impossible to prove.
"You're already dead," said Mocono. "You just don't know it." It wasn't until the minotaur talked that Nigel realized how quiet the normally boisterous orcs had become.
Time was no longer his friend. Nigel took two steps forward and then charged. He could only hope he had surprise, after all his dodging around. He started a powerful swing at the creature's head, gambling for a killing blow. But he was moving so slowly the minotaur just moved forward inside his swing and smashed him on the other shoulder. That wound went deeper, but it wasn't quite disabling. Mocono sprang back, laughing. Nigel's arm spurted blood. His muscles tightened for one last charge, but he felt like he was in a dream, moving in slow motion. He wasn't even sure he could stay conscious. He knew he had to try. Mocono waited for him unconcerned. He knew what was happening. Damn him.
In the silence, he heard Emma's voice, but he couldn't understand what she was saying. He charged, without hope, but needing to save her and Khoraja from the fate that awaited them.
A white glow surrounded Nigel. The heaviness vanished. His slow movements suddenly quickened as he swung his sword with explosive fury. Thinking he was facing a fatally weakened enemy, the minotaur had dropped its guard. Nigel had already been putting everything he had into the blow, but with his sudden burst of vitality, it felt extra powerful. It cleaved deeply into the minotaur's neck, and the beast man fell. Nigel hadn't quite decapitated his enemy, but he'd come close, cutting more than halfway through so that the head of his still opponent lolled at an obscene angle.
Ascendant of Aldrya Page 12
