A Space Oddity

by J. J. Pavlov

  It has been one moon since they were transported to the Dominion, and the guild in Kongenssoevn should have marked them as deceased by now. Undoubtedly, their rooms have been cleared out, and their belongings sold in an auction, while the small fortune they have amassed must have been liquidated.

  Sparring with Chandra has become a daily routine. Even though she doesn't need to, she keeps allowing them to challenge her so that they may win their freedom - still with the same conditions as the first time. In reality, it seems that she's training them both physically and mentally while acting as if that isn't her real goal.

  Shugra, the most refined ajura of the bunch and Chandra's second in command, told them that it's one of her hobbies. Ajurai used to be a tiny town in which only ajura lived, but demons from other species came to train under her. All non-ajura residing in the city now are of the type that settled down after or are descended of those. After all, the ajura boss is among the oldest of her clan, although they all stop aging after reaching their prime.

  The exhaustion of the daily sparring matches is blown away with plenty of good food, warm baths, and comfortable beds in the longhouse atop the butte. Everything is provided for free, though rooms are shared with other demons and a few ajura. It seems that those who live in the longhouse are the challengers Shugra mentioned.

  Leif and Vigdis have both adjusted to this new life unexpectedly well, and they even made friends with a few younger demons from those other races. They were the most scared at first when they had to share a room with a towering demon with granite-like skin and a hunched back, and a one-eyed woman with sharp teeth in a constant grin. The former turned out to be quite soft-spoken and gentle, and the latter likes to crack jokes with perfect timing that endeared her to the two humans.

  Among the group, Gram and Sigurd are the only ones allowed to ride the gondola down from the butte. The former is forced to join Chandra in her bed from time to time. The latter remains tight-lipped about his exploits in Ajurai. But the different kinds of perfumes about him when he returns are indicator enough of what he does during those outings.

  Only Rolan and Hreidunn are still frustrated with their situation, fighting tooth and nail until collapse. The leader must be thinking about Runa, who may have come back from Alverost's sanctum to visit them, only to be informed about their disappearance in the Lost Tombs. The reason for the ranger's impatience may lie in the fact that her nephew and niece are becoming too friendly with demons. She's still not convinced that corruption won't affect them, but she also can't force them not to associate with anybody. Their mental health would be adversely affected by isolation.

  Kamii told Chandra in private that she's acquainted with Chaos, daughter of Queen Pelomyx, and asked her to send a message to Arkaim. The Ajura clan leader unexpectedly believed her right away, either because she can distinguish truth from lies in people's words, or because she's plain gullible. Shugra was listening and didn't let any expression show on his face at the time, so the little dark elf couldn't judge which was the case.

  But Chandra agreed to send a messenger to the queen. She prides herself on being one of her friends, and as the leader of the clan with the most elite army in the Dominion, her request should be expedited. For a winged messenger, the journey of over seven hundred leagues would take about ten days each way.

  Barring any incidents, the messenger should be returning today or tomorrow. That's why Kamii can't concentrate on the sparring match and takes an open palm strike to the chest that sends her flying off the platform.

  "Pay attention, lil' one." Chandra calls out to the little dark elf, who lies in the dirt gasping for air.

  "Kamii." The latter replies in a defiant tone between coughs.

  "Sorry, I'm bad with names." The Ajura boss scratches her head and gives an apologetic smile. That's when Rolan takes the opportunity to draw Roshanee and shoot forward in a blinding flash.

  He has been using the sword quite often and improved his stamina while wielding it. At this point, he can keep it out for some time without tiring, and can even continue to fight with his regular sword after sheathing it again. It used to be the leader's double-edged trump card, but now he's becoming more and more comfortable with employing it as his primary weapon.

  They have only been training with Chandra for a little over a fortnight, but she has begun fighting more seriously due to Rolan's quick improvement. Kamii is the only one who's keeping up with his growth, as she uses her cursed arm all the time. Her physical strength is increasing beyond what is visible from her appearance, though she's holding back to hide that fact.

  In a blur that draws a streak of light after him, the leader slashes at the Ajura boss with no regard for her life. He has learned that she's too powerful for him to hold back on her, and as one of the two who want to get away from Ajurai as quickly as possible, he aims to win.

  But Chandra uses her six bare hands to knock the blade aside whenever he swings it at her. If she only had two arms like a human, she wouldn't have been able to keep up with him. Though at this point, probably no human could keep up with Rolan anymore anyway.

  An opening presents itself when the ajura suddenly dodges rather than knock aside the blade, causing the leader to stumble forward. Drawing back and delivering a punch to his chest with blinding speed, she dents his breastplate again before sending him flying backward.

  "Ya gettin' better." Chandra praises Rolan's efforts with a fanged grin, clearly not trying to sound derisive. But having been beaten back again, the leader doesn't take it that way.

  "Dammit!" He pushes himself off the ground and sheathes Roshanee. Then he falls back onto one knee, realizing that the dented breastplate is making it difficult for him to breathe.

  "Ya should learn from Gram." Chandra points at the big man, the only person whose name she has remembered so far. He has been fighting bare-chested and without his shield for a while now knowing that it's useless against the ajura and will only hold him back. But the reason he can discard his protective gear is that he trusts Chandra not to wound him, even as he ends up with new bruises after every fight.

  Even he has improved, being able to hold the six-armed woman at bay with his bare hands for much longer than he had been when they first arrived. Compared to regular human fighters, he was already top-notch, but under Chandra's guidance, he may yet become somebody extraordinary.

  As if being pointed at was a signal for Gram, he charges forward.

  Covering his charge is Hreidunn, who has improved her bow-shooting skills on the run. Due to the big man's decision to be a frontline fighter, she has learned to be quick on her feet instead of relying on somebody to keep the opponent away from her. Whenever Gram was pushed aside, she had to hop down from the platform in surrender, so she has been secretly practicing even outside of the sparring matches.

  But as always, the arrows are either caught or deflected, and then the big man charges into Chandra. They lock hands, but with four extra arms, she has the upper hand and uses her lowermost pair of fists to deliver an uppercut into Gram's stomach. The latter flexes his muscles and takes the hit that can even dent steel, causing the air in his lungs to escape through his mouth. Still, he holds on for dear life, a determined glint in his eyes.

  "That's what I love about ya." The Ajura boss grins with a battle-crazed look in her eyes. Right then, the sound of metal clattering draws her attention to where she left Rolan on the ground. He has discarded his armor and is about to use Roshanee again.

  At the same time, Hreidunn rounds Chandra from the other side and shoots an arrow at her, right over Gram's shoulder. Turning at the sound of the bowstring, the ajura spins her head around to catch the arrow before letting go of the big man's hands to face Rolan.

  However, Gram catches his breath and grabs Chandra from behind, closing his arms around her waist. Now, she won't be able to dodge the leader's blade and will have to keep deflecting it. But Hreidunn will be able to distract her then.

  This may be the moment they
defeat her.

  Rolan charges forward in a blur, swinging his sword at Chandra's thighs so that she can only use her lowermost pair of arms to deflect Roshanee. But to everybody's surprise, she raises both her legs, trusting that Gram will keep her propped up for long enough. Kicking the leader's hand that holds the Sword of Light, she disarms him in an instant. Then she places her other leg over his shoulder and pulls him in before closing her thighs around his head.

  At the same time, the surprised Gram is overwhelmed by her weight. Even though she's slightly shorter than the big man, her extra arms and muscular frame mean that she's the heavier one of the two. While he may be used to carry a lot of weight, he's exhausted from the fight and can't hold on.

  With this, they drop to the floor, Chandra's legs still locked around Rolan's neck. In a quick motion that belies her size, she then puts Gram into a chokehold. She then her head to Hreidunn, who knows that she can't do anything anymore.

  The two men tap out, concluding the daily match.

  "That was fun. Ya gettin' better fast." Chandra lets go of them and stands up while stating with a grin. Even now, it doesn't seem like she has gone all-out against them yet, and she isn't using weapons either. Surely, with six arms, she could easily overwhelm them all within the blink of an eye. Still, her attitude isn't malicious, so they can't be angry with her.

  "Again..." Rolan slowly gets back up and shakily walks over to pick up his sword. Gram does the same, but he can barely stay on his feet. The moment the leader picks up Roshanee, he drops on his bottom from the fatigue, letting go of the sword. Blinking at his empty hands, he seems surprised at his own weakness.

  "Ya got spirit, I appreciate that. But that's enough for today." Shrugging while crossing one pair of arms and pointing one hand at Rolan, Chandra performs several gestures at once as she often does. "Go get cleaned up."

  With this, she walks into the wooden longhouse. The ajura and other demons who always come to watch them disperse again, chatting among themselves. There are two more sparring rings on the other side of the horseshoe-shaped longhouse, where others train. Many head over there to do their own rounds of fighting now that having witnessed the Ajura clan leader's display has fired them up.

  "... damn!" Jumping down from the platform, Hreidunn expresses her frustration. She doesn't have any means to decide the battle on her own, so she can't put any blame on Rolan and the others fighting at the very front. But whenever the two men are down for the count, she has to concede automatically as well, even if she could still fight.

  "It was a good try." Sigurd has resigned himself to watching the battles since he can't shoot as well as Hreidunn does. With a slow reload and the danger of hitting allies, it's better that he doesn't participate at all. After all, firing projectiles at somebody who can easily deflect or catch them is an exercise in futility.

  "No, there were still too many useless movements." Rolan analyzes the battle while picking up Roshanee and sheathing it quickly. He's referring to the seemingly unconscious flurry he adds to his movements while wielding the Sword of Light. Even though it increases his speed to inhuman levels, Chandra can defend against it due to the wasteful motions he performs between attacks.

  Kamii looks down at her cursed arm, then her normal hand before clenching it into a fist. The crab pincer is the only threat she represents, so that's all the Ajura boss - or any opponent aware of it - needs to guard against. She may be growing stronger due to the curse seemingly circulating into the rest of her body, but it's not even on the level of Gram yet.

  Suddenly, an arm is wrapped around the little dark elf's waist, which lifts her from the ground. As she looks up, she finds that it's Chandra, who has come back from inside the longhouse.

  "Let's take a bath together." The Ajura boss demands with a grin and carries Kamii off into the fortress.

  "This is extraordinary." Chandra states while touching Kamii's naked back with one pair of her hands. The little dark elf is sitting on the towering woman's lap in the earthen bathtub, enduring the slightly too hot water. "It's not showin' on the outside, but ya growin' fast."

  She's referring to the muscles hidden within Kamii's petite body. They aren't visible on the surface, and she remains soft to the touch when she doesn't flex them. But when she does, her muscles are like tempered steel.

  "When was the last time ya tested ya strength?" Chandra asks while running her fingers over Kamii's left arm. The little dark elf has gotten used to doing this with the Ajura boss over the past moon. She plays along by curling her arm and flexing her biceps. There's only a small bulge of muscle mass, but at this point, she might even be able to win against Gram in arm-wrestling.

  "I haven't ever." She replies while relaxing her body again.

  "What say ya stay with me and test your limits?" The ajura lets go of Kamii's arm and asks. "I know I can't keep 'em here forever. They're humans; their lives are short. But a dark elf is different. Ya live a long time, just like my kind."

  "I will stay until we hear back from the capital." Kamii states, before standing up from the bathtub. The water is too hot for her to endure any longer, and she quickly gets out while looking down at her cursed arm. She knows that boiled crabs turn red, but it has always been red as if it's covered in blood, so she can't tell. That's what it felt like to her, at least. "Or until we beat you."

  Turning around to Chandra, the little dark elf meets her gaze. For a while, the two stay like that until the ajura closes her eyes with a resigned smile.

  "Then ya better work hard to pull those humans along. Although that boy leader of yours is improving at an incredible rate, it will never be enough to beat me." She then opens her eyes again to look at Kamii with a fanged grin that shows off her confidence.

  "I will." Turning away, the dark elf uses one hand to deftly wrap herself in a towel while clicking her crab pincer for emphasis before leaving the room.

  The next day, the winged messenger returned, saying that Queen Pelomyx received the news with evident interest. She then decided that she would combine it with her long-planned inspection tour of the Dominion. Her path would lead her to Ajurai sooner rather than later, so they should keep the dark elf claiming to know Princess Chaos in the town until then.

  When Chandra informed Kamii of it, the latter felt relieved that the demon queen didn't disregard it as a lie or a prank. Now, she only had to be patient and wait for when the inspection tour would bring Pelomyx to Ajurai. The Ajura boss told her to temper her expectations, though. Due to the distance to the capital and many other places for the queen to visit along the way, it could take another moon or longer for her to arrive.

  But for a long-lived people like dark elves, one or two moons are nothing when it means that one can increase the probability of meeting another again. As the princess of the Dominion, Chaos is sure to return to Arkaim eventually. So, as long as the two of them are alive, they will meet again there.

  "Don't let that dampen ya motivation." Chandra puts a hand on Kamii's head. She's implying that with Queen Pelomyx coming here eventually, she no longer has any reason to try defeating the Ajura boss.

  "It won't." Pushing away the hand on her head, the little dark elf walks out of the room, ahead from Chandra. Another day of sparring lies before them.

  "Dammit..." Once again, Rolan lies in the dirt, unable to move from exhaustion.

  This time, Kamii was knocked out with a hit to the jaw. It's as if Chandra was teaching her a lesson for thinking that with her stronger body, she can get away with sustaining hits to her chest or stomach. It shook her brain and caused an instant blackout, which any amount of muscles couldn't have prevented. She has grown reckless in her attacks, and if it had been a real battle, she would be dead.

  She pushes herself off the ground to look over to the leader. The training with Chandra usually takes about half the day, and Rolan has been using the other half to continue practicing on his own while wielding Roshanee.

  But while his training to reduce the needless mov
ements the sword seems to be making him perform are slowly bearing fruit, he's growing increasingly impatient. Compared to before, he has reached astonishing levels that leave even the members of his group wondering. Still, the distance between Chandra's and his abilities doesn't seem to lessen. It just shows how deep her mastery runs.

  Even now, she hasn't used any weapons against them, but it's evident that with them, she would be even stronger. According to the murals on the walls of the fortress, ajura usually wield one weapon in each hand when on the battlefield. In other words, the depth of her power lies farther beyond their reach than they can imagine.

  "Keep at it. Ya gonna get there eventually." Chandra extends a hand to help Rolan up. If he really hated her, he wouldn't take it so naturally and let her pull him to his feet. But the fact of the matter is that he seems to perceive her as the sole obstacle standing in the way of his return to the Kingdom of Lares.

  Unexpectedly, Sigurd has not just been gallivanting in the town but gathered information from all kinds of demons coming from far-off places. Despite being the southernmost city that can call itself such, Ajurai attracts plenty of travelers from all around the Dominion. That's why he was able to learn that there are smugglers in many port towns who would carry demons across the seas to human territories for a small fortune.

  Kamii remembers the demons at the academy. They - or their parents at least - made that arduous journey halfway around the world and found sanctuary in the relatively sparsely populated kingdom. But the fact that others succeeded means that they, too, have a real chance.

  "Is it my turn then?" Mukasura, the leader of the troop that captured the humans and the dark elf in the first place, climbs onto the platform without awaiting an answer. He has been in and out most of the time in the past fortnight, so he has been itching to get some sparring time with the boss.

  Gram pats the dust off his clothes as he hobbles off the platform and drops down next to Hreidunn, who has already vacated the ring for the next fight. Recently, Leif and Vigdis haven't been participating anymore, but they still diligently come to watch each time. The water mage heals the bruises the fighters sustain, looking at the big man's bare chest dreamily.