As the spell ended he snapped awake to find the lone tile in his chest broken.
Second place wasn’t so bad as he did fall for such a simple spell… one so well disguised that the wizard earned the winner’s place.
“Congratulations on winning the mage/Familiar battle.” King Tate said to Cage and Daku as they walked away from the center of the arena to claim the prize. “Sorry, Jormon, you had to lose sometime after ten years undefeated.”
Gaz snorted and rumbled. “He says it was humbling and an honor to face the power of a griffin.” Jormon translated on the fourth morning of the games.
“You look to need rest. Go sit down.” Tate said to his sorcerer.
The pair moved away to catch their breath.
Hot breath was clearly huffing out of both the warlock and griffin after the exhausting, ten minute long fight. Daku’s shoulder dripped crimson though the fresh wounds were healed. Cage returned the disc to one of the staff before coming closer. Tate then asked “Are you ready for the next challenge? If you beat my general I’ll be waiting in the second.”
“Really?” Cage asked, brightening right up. “Did you pull the strings?”
The king shook his head. “Not at all, My Friend. The judges randomly drew and placed the roster not minutes ago and I got to see it first. After the jousting humiliation and ending in second place yesterday, I expect you’ll be better suited for these kinds of challenges.” Cage just grinned. “Come, let us prepare and select our swords. You and General Kurk are the first to fight like last time. My opponent and I are second.” Daku left as they walked to the weapon’s rack. “I have noticed something that has confused me until last night.”
“Care to elaborate?” Cage said as he grabbed the hilt of a single handed short sword. He checked the balance to find it was sufficient while running a thumb across the blunted blade.
“The combat and fighting style your people seem to excel at is nearly identical to what you displayed during the Summer Ball after disposing of the assassins. They aren’t as fast or make it seem as effortless as you did, but those close combat moves are not of any fighting style I’ve ever seen. You’ve been training your people.”
“Is there some law I’m unfamiliar with that says I cannot?”
“Of course not, just an observation.” The king said while testing a standard cross-guard long sword. “These ways of fighting are odd and beyond effective. I’ve seen the women of your tribe take down men more than twice their size or be thrown to get right back up and not look hurt.”
“True, even my daughter could throw you.” Tate believed him. “And before you ask, No, I won’t teach your troops how I fight. My skills are too deadly to be taught lightly. But in the future I might be willing to teach proper throwing, detaining and how to fall down correctly.”
“Fall down correctly? Isn’t there only one way?”
“Yeah, if you want to die.” Cage chuckled. “Here, throw me over your shoulder.” He said while stabbing the tip of the sword in the ground.
The king was curious so he sat his chosen sword down to ask if he was sure before grabbing the front of Cage’s robe and yelling with effort to throw the warlock over his shoulder. But as Tate flipped him he watched as Cage twisted and barely made a sound before rolling immediately into an standing position and feeling his throat gripped.
“And now you’re dead. I taught my people to land by rolling just before getting slammed and stunned by the impact. Letting the opponent control your every move is death so knowing how to fall is essential to getting away and surprising them.” Cage slowly pulled his hand back and Tate rubbed his sore throat. “I know you just saw how I fell, it was intentional for you to practice. Have some of your best fighters research how to fall. You learn this truth and next time your surprise won’t expose a weakness. If this were a real fight I would have crushed your windpipe.”
The king waved his men away since it was for instruction and not danger. “I will research this myself and will be grateful for any skills your willing to impart.”
Cage brushed the muddy snow off his robe before pulling the sword from the ground. “We’ll see, Tate. When I get spare time I’ll Jump here and show the self-defensive aspects of my styles.”
“Styles? As in more than one?”
“Yes. I have mastered hundreds of fighting styles and created a few of my own. I know moves that can kill without leaving a mark on someone, even without magic… Now enough with the questions, you need to put on your armor.”
“What of…? Never mind.” Tate said as Cage stuck ten discs to his robe with magic. The king then snapped his fingers and three servants came over with his personal armor and suited him up in a record time of three minutes. Soon he stood in full black armor with gold seams with a purple crow boldly enameled on his breastplate. He also had his magic-breaker sword belted at his hip while gripping his blunt sword for the contest.
“Dimwit!” Came a shout. Standing beside Daku and the Utala tribe by the fence was Megdline and by her foot was Frill, his long tail swishing the snow from where he sat.
“Granny! You finally showed up!” Cage hollered and strode over while the other competitors suited up.
“Sorry about being late. Couldn’t be helped. We made it. That is all that matters.” The sorceress said with a smile. “Meeka and Brooke were just informing me of the events everyone has done, even how you lost completely in joust and took second place against a wizard. I cannot believe my student fell for something as simple as a sleep spell.” She shook her mane of raven hair.
“Hey, the guy made it seem so effortless. Even you wouldn’t have sensed it till it was too late. Besides, I just won the last challenge with my partner beside me.”
“Excuses excuses.” She couldn’t maintain a straight expression for long before laughing. “So far it seems everyone is enjoying themselves.”
“Sir Cage and General Kurk to the field!” Shouted a judge.
“Gotta go, Granny.” She inclined her head while the others cheered, none more so than Brooke and Meeka. He walked to the center of the field where the general came over in full plate armor with a long sword effortlessly gripped in his right hand and a large Heather style shield that stood half the general’s height. For once, Cage felt he faced a medieval knight, but it oddly didn’t seem so out of place here. The fearsome general clanking armor came to a stop. If not for the ten plates that all needed to be broken, Kurk would have been the perfect statue. Cage then said “You realize, Kurk, that you do not have the greater advantage like you had during the joust. Now we can have our fun.”
From behind the helmet the general said “We shall indeed.”
The general brought his shield up and crouched while dropping his sword over the flat top of the shield. The only bit of flesh Cage could see were through the narrow eyelets while steam plumed from each breath through the mask’s small mouth holes.
Cage commanded his robe to form fit to his body while gripping the short swords in his left hand like some overlarge dagger with the blade pointing opposite his thumb. He crouched low and took a perfect stance to counter the general’s.
“Begin!” And then Cage lunged. Kurk speared the blade straight for the heart plate, but Cage spun and caught the sword between his own and his elbow. The great weight was too bulky against the warlock’s speed before being overextended and pulled from the general’s grip. With the long sword gone, Cage barely dodged the shield about to slam into him, but his boots, when in cold weather become porous and hard as stone, gripped the ground and allowed him to dodge and use a quick series of strikes to break six plates before Kurk drew a second smaller sword and made him dodge back.
General Kurk, realizing his armor weighed him down too much against an opponent who relied on speed and close range, threw down the shield to remove some weighty burden. He then struck, but Cage grabbed the sword with his free right hand and went for a powerfully devastating knee kick, but Kurk managed to step back just enough to receive a glan
cing blow. He then punched with a polished gauntlet with sharp spikes over the knuckles. Cage couldn’t completely evade the left hook and received a sharp cut to his right cheek. The warlock jumped back again, but not before breaking three plates on the front, all that remained was the well guarded heart disc.
Cage pretended to use a fake, which the general didn’t expect because the momentary withdraw of the smaller bronze sword opened his guard enough for the tip to spear headfirst in the disc.
“Winner, Cage!” came the decision.
The two men dropped to their knees as the crowd cheered. Cage, being younger and more athletic, got up first and offered a hand which was gladly accepted. “I knew you wouldn’t have let me down.”
“Next time I’ll wear my leather armor. Plate armor was too slow against you.” The general responded before retrieving the two swords and a shield.
“If you cannot catch your prey, what is the use of having just strength.” Cage commented and got a affirmative nod from the veteran soldier.
They separated on good terms and Cage walked over to where his greatest fans waited and spoke on how well the match went. He healed his wounded cheek easily and wiped the blood off. While they talked for a moment the king and a young soldier took the field. Tate’s black and gold armor stood in great contrast to most Vlaran soldier armor who used polished silver armor. The bout lasted only four exchanges with the king being victorious, losing only one tile.
Afterwards Cage watched Tate and Kurk talking, sometimes looking in his very direction. When the third match ended the king had his plate armor removed and exchanged with black leather, trimmed with gold.
When all first round matches were decided, the second started immediately.
“Smart. Taking Kurk’s advice will make this more interesting.”
“I always listen to my subjects, especially concerning a fight. You’re too fast for metal armor to be effective in a match of skill. Leather is lighter and offers greater movement, much like your robe.” Tate lifted a wooden buckler along with his blunt sword. “I’m ready to test myself and learn.”
“Bring it!” Cage grinned, taking a similar fighting stance as he had with Kurk.
When the match began, it was clear that the king was greatly trained in the way of the sword and in lighter armor his skills were fluid. Metal clashed against metal, but Cage was merely testing the king’s technique and showed he had both great offense and defense. Tate knew from watching that Cage liked to grab or lock the movements of the opponent’s sword and did everything to keep it from happening. Tate would alternate pushing the warlock back with the buckler when he got too dangerously close or used solid kicks.
A difficult series of moves actually outmaneuvered Cage enough for him to actually lose three of his chest discs, but the exchange allowed for Tate to lose two.
“Not… bad.” The king commented between breaths.
“So far, you are the deadliest man I’ve met here. You could probably give Brooke a decent challenge.”
“I take that as a compliment.” He replied over the roar of the crowd.
For the sixth exchange, Cage barely noticed a change in the crowd’s cheering as one area seemed frantic, but he was too busy fending off Tate’s attack.
As Cage managed to crack the last two front discs he looked at the king who stopped suddenly and paled.
Before the warlock could turn around he felt a sharp pain explode in his middle and looked down to find his fake bloodied robe different as three sharp, curved spikes cut right through the robe as if it were paper. He lost his footing, being lifted off the ground and saw a horror beyond anything he ever imagined.
Chapter 15
Controlling the sharp pain, Cage looked from the wounds to see they weren’t spikes, but razor sharp claws attached to a long arm leading up to a hideous creature. Not one hair clung to the beast’s body for it was some kind of reptile-like being with a pasty white coloring. Standing around twelve feet tall, almost twice Cage’s own height, it lifted him towards its head as if he weighed nothing. The head had no neck, but the mouth was nearly two feet wide with triangular, serrated teeth like some kind of shark. It had pale blue lips beneath a set of three teardrop holes where the nose should be. Four cold, hungry blue eyes glared at Cage and the catlike pupils were horizontal rather than vertical. It had four legs with a spiderlike abdomen for a lower body like some twisted excuse for a centaur. Two arms sprouted from the shoulder area with three claws for hands, but the claws had four toes on each of the feet. The smell of it was gagging.
Something inside of Cage burned hot as the giant creature billowed. It felt almost like it had when he healed a ghost, reaching something deep within. A dormant instinct awakened, but unlike the pity he felt for ghosts and wanting to heal them, this instinct was hate. Pure hate that had no equal. Nothing Cage had ever felt in his life could come close to this feeling filling him and tinting his vision red. It wasn’t just the sight that made him angry, it was the pungent smell. The fury filling him would not allow this creature to live.
It has to fucking die. Cage’s instinct gave words in his mind. He grinned.
The wide mouth full of rows and rows of teeth opened greatly, ready to devour its prey, but before it could a golden barrier appeared between Cage’s head and the beast’s maw.
Megdline held her staff aloft, reacting immediately to the sudden attack. “It’s too powerful! I can’t hold it!” Cage’s sharp hearing picked up with his body pressing up against the spell. He could hear whatever barrier-like spell she conjured cracking like thawing ice after winter.
Cage grabbed the claws skewering him and sent a powerful electrical spell through them. It didn’t do too much, but the momentary jerk pulled him off her spell and he kicked the elbow joint and pulled the claws from his middle.
Blue lips pulled further back, revealing similar colored gums as its prey jumped from the joint to flip around its shoulder and land on its back. It shrieked and bit down hard on the magic, easily shattering it.
Megdline dropped to a knee as she screamed and clutched her head, but then there came a blood chilling rumble and eyes turned from the pale abomination to Daku as he shook with a rage never before seen unleashed. The griffin’s inner eye shut like a warrior putting on a helmet. He grew immediately three times larger than the beast, larger than most homes before releasing a shrill roar of pure, unforgiving hatred.
Human’s ran as Daku leapt at the creature and began attacking. His beak came down as his hands grabbed the legs and speared his head deeply into the creature.
Cage had black energy swirling around him as he yelled and punched with everything he had after he managed to stand after being thrown to the ground and rapidly healing his wounds.
Mages all around felt Cage’s power rising like a tidal wave with every second till their skin crawled almost painfully while hearing explosion after explosion result from each rapid punch to the pale beast’s exposed back. It was like pounds of explosives detonating as fast as Cage could throw a punch.
It didn’t matter.
The creature showed unimaginable strength as it got its four clawed legs against Daku’s chest and kicked the much larger griffin more than a hundred feet away. It immediately went to stand, but Cage created a net with all the power he could muster and added spikes at every corner and joint before slamming his fist into the ground, throwing the magical net down and trying to spear it, but it’s hide was harder than rock with abnormal strength beyond anything Cage had ever seen.
The beast shrieked like an avalanche’s roar when the spiked net entangled it. Cage’s rage made it clear to think and the power it showed was beyond anything he ever faced. All of his attacks so far had done little more than cause a scratch. Daku’s blue bloodied stained beak though had done some damage and without needing to think, they cooperated.
Daku deftly rolled back to his feet before the ground shook beneath his paws. Cage felt his strength reaching its limit as a throbbing headache grew and he
instinctively knew any more drawing from his diamonds would be deadly. It still wasn’t enough as he could feel his net being shredded by the white abomination’s overwhelming power.
Just before it destroyed the net, Daku pounced again, digging his sharp finger talons into the abdomen as he ripped chunks of rock hard flesh before finding two large pumping lumps and got it in his beak. With a mighty effort, Daku pulled till the hearts were ripped clear from the abdomen.
“Cage, get back!” Daku yelled after spitting the hearts out. Both pulled away as the thing writhed on the ground as if it had a seizure.
More yelling drew their attention.
Five more of those huge things were in the crowd, killing and eating everyone in their way. Mage’s and Familiars turned their attention to the great threats and began fighting with all they had. Soldiers drew steel to confront the enormous monsters. One mage tried Jumping the creature far away, but it crashed through the magic archway, making the man clutch his head for it gave a painful feedback. No sword could penetrate the thick hide and getting too close to the legs proved fatal as the sharp claws sliced armor as easily as flesh. And the more blood that spilled, the more of a frenzy the five went into.
Daku screamed “FLEE!!!” at the top of his lungs while doubling his current size till his limbs were as large as any one of the oversized white ants. He produced another challenging shrill roar which turned the frenzied creatures attention to him. “Cage, I’ll hold them off for as long as I can. We need to stun them long enough to rip out their hearts. Both must be removed or they won’t stop. Figure a way!” Daku then yelled and jumped with all his strength and landed on two.
Cage tried finding a solution while watching in impotent rage as the remaining three creatures leapt like gigantic fleas and landed on his partner. Daku screamed in pain as one began biting his back, trying to eat him and used its six limbs to dig into his back. A second went for a wing and there came a sickening crunch as the wing bone cracked before being violently ripped from his body. Blood rained from the gaping wound as the only thing holding the wing was bits of flesh. Daku cried out a shrill roar before jumping straight up and intentionally landing on his back, intending to crush them beneath tons and tons of weight. The frozen earth beneath Daku buckled and as he rolled he threw the two he caught, but lost a white finger talon on one hand and broke three joints on the other.
Laugh of Destruction (Book 3 of the Death Incarnate Saga) Page 53
