by Edward Brody
“Yes, your highness?” Hoshgrim asked.
“I ignore your council! The human’s favor to us is not enough!” He turned around and thrust his fist in the air. “Tonight, we crush Highcastle! Tonight, we take the Freelands! Tonight, the Scourge rides!”
“Argh! Argh! Argh!” the orcs all grunted loudly.
My mouth felt dry by Ergoth’s response. My heart was racing, as I wasn’t sure if he was still going to let me live, but mostly it was pounding so rapidly because I knew the destruction that was coming to everyone and everything I cared about. Now that I had seen Ergoth’s forces, I felt certain he could take Highcastle and maintain control of the Freelands. There would be worse spillover into Edgewood this time. Hell, our village was no longer under the cover of trees. Everything would certainly be wiped out.
“No!” Rithnar yelled and reached for his axe.
Ergoth turned his head slightly and looked at Rithnar out of the corner of his eyes. When he saw that Rithnar was readying his weapon, he turned his full body to him.
“Tonight, no human blood will be spilled before one of ours,” Rithnar stated. He took a step forward and dragged his axe across the wood of the platform, carving a straight line in front of him. “I, Rithnar Narfug of the Narfug bloodline, challenge you to a duel, Ergoth!”
There was a commotion amongst onlookers, and Prince Azhug started snickering.
“Rithnar, don’t,” Mordok grunted.
“The challenge has already been issued,” Rithnar said, pointing his axe back at the mage.
“You?” Prince Azhug asked. “You, Rithnar of the, whatever your worthless bloodline is, think you can defeat my father, the greatest orc who ever lived?!”
“I must do so for the Scourge!” Rithnar yelled.
Ergoth sneered as he stared at Rithnar. “Are you sure you wish to die today?”
“I do not wish to die, but I am ready to die for the Scourge!”
“Oh, ho-ho,” Ergoth said as he chuckled. “Very well. As I am obligated, I accept your duel.” Ergoth reached up to his collar and released a clasp, causing the front of his fur vest to come undone, exposing more of his chest.
“Shall I fetch the Fellblade, father?” Prince Azhug questioned.
Ergoth chuckled. “I do not need the Fellblade. I can kill this pitiful fool with no weapon at all.”
The Prince visibly swallowed. “You must use a weapon, father. You are the greatest orc who ever lived, but you must protect yourself.”
Shit, shit, shit! I thought. Things were really about to go down, and I had already fought at Rithnar’s side and seen what he was capable of. He was an excellent fighter, but there was no way he was strong enough to kill Ergoth fair and square. I had almost forgotten about our previous plan as I hadn’t expected Rithnar to issue the sudden challenge. I hadn’t even cast the Absorb One Physical spell on him, but I knew I could still try to help.
While still on the ground and with everyone focused on the two orcs, I tapped two fingers on the wood of the planks below me. Wug!
I looked around anxiously, until I saw a small bug flying in quickly towards my flank from high above.
Don’t come to me, I projected, knowing that if the blight beetle was noticed near me, it would be a dead giveaway that I was involved with the plot. Towards him, I projected, focusing my attention on Ergoth.
The blight beetle veered, and time seemed to move in slow motion as I watched it zoom in and land right below Ergoth’s ear.
Bite, I thought. Bite, bite, bite!
Ergoth blinked and roughly brushed his hand across his neck, knocking the blight beetle off and down to the ground. He didn’t seem to notice the insect at all.
Go, go! I ordered, trying to get Wug to flee, then projected, Come, come, but Wug didn’t move. For a moment, I saw the beetle struggling to get up off the ground, but in just seconds, its tiny status bars disappeared, and it stopped moving altogether. Apparently, the brush of Ergoth’s hand had been enough to wipe out my pet.
“Give it to me,” Ergoth said to his son, holding out his hand, opening and closing his palm repeatedly.
Prince Azhug tossed his shiny, double-bladed battleaxe to his father, and Ergoth caught the base of it with one hand.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” orcs in the crowd started chanting.
It wasn’t clear if my blight beetle had bitten Ergoth or if Ergoth had simply noticed that the bug had landed on him and knocked it off, but I knew that it took sixty seconds for the effects of a bite to kick in. I wasn’t sure if Rithnar could last sixty seconds, so in an effort to distract, I yelled out, “Wait!”
Ergoth turned to me.
I scrambled to my feet. “Can you reconsider?!” I asked desperately. “Maybe we can talk things out?”
“Human!” Ergoth yelled, pointing his axe towards me. “Stand back!” He turned to Mordok. “Rein your crony in, or I will kill you too!”
Mordok dashed over to me and grabbed me by the robe. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I was trying to help,” I whispered.
“Recall to your home,” Mordok whispered. “Leave. Ergoth will surely kill you when this is over, now that he’s all riled up. Recall now while you’re still able.”
“I’m ready for you!” Ergoth yelled, holding his hands out to each side and puffing his chest out towards Rithnar.
“No,” I whispered to Mordok. “I need to see this. Rithnar is my friend.”
“Your friend?” Mordok asked, turning to me with wonder in his eyes.
“Yes.” I nodded. “He’s my friend.”
Mordok creased his brow, but he said nothing as he turned back towards the fight.
Rithnar roared loudly, raised his axe above his head, and charged at Ergoth.
Ergoth kept his hands out to each side right until Rithnar was about to strike. He blocked Ergoth’s swing with the flat of his axe, leaned back to dodge a follow-up attack, then raised his axe to intercept another swing. Their axes clanged loudly as steel pounded against steel, and after several blocked swings, Ergoth lifted his foot and kicked Rithnar in the chest, causing him to fall backwards and roll on the ground.
Ergoth laughed loudly, put his hands out to each side again, and slowly paced towards him. “You fool! To challenge a King with your pathetic conditioning! You stupid—” The King suddenly stopped in his tracks, grabbed his stomach with his free hand, and winched. His neck jerked forward a bit and he cringed. “You…” he muttered before dropping down to one knee.
King Ergoth used his axe to balance himself as he lurched forward and vomited chunky white and red liquid all over the platform. His crown of claws fell weakly to the ground.
“Father!” Prince Azhug cried. He ran forward to help Ergoth, before one of the shamans yelled out to him.
“Do not interfere! The duel is not yet complete!”
Prince Azhug looked to the shaman then back to his father before slowly backing away.
“I ugh… I…” Ergoth muttered before careening forward and barfing again.
Rithnar pulled himself up and charged for the nauseated King.
Ergoth was spitting at the ground when he caught sight of Rithnar rushing him, and he barely mustered the strength to raise his axe to block a swing towards his neck. Rithnar’s blade rattled Ergoth’s axe and pushed it back hard enough that the flat of his blade smacked against Ergoth’s head.
Ergoth fell over, and when Rithnar hammered his axe down at him, Ergoth blocked one blow with his blade, but took the second attack deep into his forearm.
Ergoth screamed, and the crowd gasped in shock and surprise.
“Yes!” I whispered low. Rithnar had the upper hand.
As Ergoth screamed, Rithnar raised his foot and stomped it down on Ergoth’s gut, causing the King to drop his axe and vomit straight into the air. The vomit covered Ergoth’s face and made him cough as it went up his nose, blocking his airways.
Rithnar stepped back and kicked Ergoth on the side of his face with all his might. The
King’s head snapped to the side like a rubber band, and his body slid a few inches across the platform. Ergoth continued groaning and coughing weakly as he reached out his hand, trying to reclaim his axe.
“Father, get up!” Prince Azhug yelled. “Come on!”
“For the Scourge!” Rithnar shouted as he arched one leg back, bent a knee and pulled his axe behind him for a finishing blow. A yellow energy formed on Rithnar’s hands and poured into his axe, engulfing the weapon in a subtle hue. “Now I will be King!”
Rithnar lifted his axe in an overhead motion as if he were splitting wood, and it moved at such a speed that the yellow hue was like a blur behind it. The axe made a loud whomping sound as it tore through the air, and he slammed it down toward Ergoth’s neck with an incredible exploding force, causing wood and splinters from the platform to be torn up and sprayed in every direction.
I held my arm up to cover my eyes as wood particles splattered my face, and when I lowered my arm, I expected to see a decimated Ergoth.
What I saw instead was a huge hole in the platform where Ergoth had laid and where Rithnar had slammed his axe. Rithnar was still holding his axe out where it landed, and when the dust settled, Ergoth was directly on the other side of the hole.
Remarkably, Ergoth had evaded the attack. He was on one knee with his bleeding arm grabbing his stomach, and his other arm was held out, grabbing the bladed side of Rithnar’s axe with his bare hands, holding it in place. A circle of black energy was spinning around his feet, and rising from that circle were tiny pillars of black energy that repeatedly rose and disappeared. His skin had turned a paler shade of green, and when he opened his eyes, they were blacked-out globes.
“Not good,” Mordok muttered.
Rithnar tugged on his axe, but Ergoth’s fingers were somehow clamped on to it like a vice. Rithnar’s eyes were wide with horror, and it was clear that he knew he was in trouble.
Ergoth chuckled maniacally as he removed his hand from his stomach and when he held it out in front of him, Wug’s corpse was resting in his palm. “A blight beetle?” He chuckled again. “You think you can defeat me with such foolish tricks?”
He suddenly let go of the axe blade, dropped the beetle, lurched forward and vomited again.
Rithnar growled as he pulled his axe back, jumped over the hole and swung his blade down at the sickened King’s skull. This time, however, the King lifted his head up as the blade came crashing down and reached out his injured arm to grab the blade right before it split his face in two.
Rithnar howled as he held on to the hilt of his axe and the tiny, thin pillars of black rising from Ergoth’s magic ran through him. They weren’t doing any visible damage to his body, but they were causing him pain somehow.
Ergoth stood, all the while holding the axe that was only inches from his face. When he was fully to his feet, he flung his free arm out, grabbed Rithnar by the throat, and squeezed. Rithnar’s eyes went wide, and his head was arched back in a painful-looking position as he continued to try to yank the axe from Ergoth’s hand. When Ergoth squeezed harder, however, Rithnar was forced to release his axe and claw at Ergoth’s hands in a desperate search for relief.
Ergoth released the axe, allowing it to drop the ground, and he barked like a demon after he leaned forward and smashed his head into Rithnar’s face with a powerful headbutt. Blood poured from Rithnar’s nose, and when Ergoth smashed his fist into Rithnar’s eye, breaking the socket, I had to glance away.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “What is this?”
“This is a King,” Mordok said as he shook his head. “I knew that this wouldn’t be good.”
Ergoth swayed, and a thick, viscous liquid spewed out of his mouth and down his chin. He stumbled a bit, and Rithnar, who was remarkably still conscious, lifted his knee into Ergoth’s chest.
Ergoth grunted from the blow before slinging his arm and throwing Ergoth across the platform. The King kneeled, winced, and groaned as he clenched his stomach. He rattled his head back and forth then roared towards the sky in frustration.
“Come on, Rithnar,” I muttered as I watched the fallen orc struggle to pull himself off the ground. “Come on…”
Rithnar pushed himself up to his knees and snorted as blood continued to pour profusely from his broken nose and oozed from his mangled eye socket. He turned to the side and noticed Prince Azhug’s axe, which Ergoth had dropped earlier, lying nearby. He pressed past his pain and scrambled across the platform as fast as he could.
“I will kill you today, Ergoth!” Rithnar shouted as he slid to a stop and reached down, grabbing the axe by its handle. He wound the axe up behind his head and threw it with all his might at Ergoth. While the axe flew through the air, he wasted no time and charged towards the sickened king.
The axe twirled in perfect rotations and flew right for the King’s forehead while the King’s blackened globes for eyes watched widely as it came for him. I prayed for Rithnar’s victory when the axe was just about to strike, but when it passed through Ergoth’s circle of magic, Ergoth swiveled his head aside and remarkably grabbed the axe by the handle in mid-air.
Ergoth flung the axe back towards Rithnar, and as it passed through his magic circle, it was engulfed with black flames and picked up an impossible speed—at least three times the speed of a normal axe throw.
Rithnar had no time to react. As he charged forward, the axe connected right between his eyes, splitting his head in two. Blood and bone splattered everywhere, and Rithnar was tossed back as his brains spilled across the platform. The axe continued a short way behind him before sticking into the wood as the black flames encompassing it disappeared.
The crowd erupted in loud cheers, and my stomach turned.
You have failed the quest: A Mother’s Plea!
You have failed the quest: Defeat the King!
It was over. I couldn’t believe it. Not only had I failed to complete my quests, but everything I had worked so hard for seemed to have been for nothing—capturing an orc, sneaking into the Wastelands, battling the gremloyl lord, stealing the infinite mana shard and facing off with Xurrak and the Gilgaroth. All of it was for nothing. I’d lost the Liar’s Mask, Rithnar was dead, and there was a good chance I was about to lose my life too.
“Go,” Mordok muttered. “Get out of here!”
I closed my eyes and focused on my Recall Home spell, but it didn’t activate right away. When I tried a second time, I noticed a message appear in my periphery.
You must be in a peaceful state to Recall. You cannot Recall in the middle of combat.
“I can’t…” I muttered.
“What?” Mordok asked.
I looked around and noticed a few filthy rabid dogs chained to the ground near the platform that seemed focused on me. They were foaming at the mouth and jerked against their chains again and again. Was that why I couldn’t recall? I wondered Or was it merely the sea of orcs and goblins that were also looking up at me, hoping to see me die.
“Who is the greatest orc who ever lived?!” Prince Azhug cried out as he strode across the platform towards his father.
“Ergoth!” the crowd shouted.
“Who is the greatest orc who ever lived?!” he repeated.
“Ergoth!”
Azhug raised his fist in the air and roared.
“Ergoth! Ergoth! Ergoth!” the crowd shouted so loud that it deafened all other sound around us.
The black magic surrounding Ergoth disappeared, and he wobbled a bit as he stood to his feet. He blinked and his eyes went back to normal, but his face was still set in anger.
The prince walked closer to him and reached his hand out as if to help, but Ergoth swatted his hand away.
The King stood, turned to the crowd, raised his fist in the air, and roared.
The crowd roared louder.
After several seconds of overwhelming cheers, Ergoth dropped his arm and yelled, “Quiet!” When everyone went silent, he turned and pointed towards me. “Bring me the human!”
Mordok stepped forward. “Lord Ergoth, please. The human is neutral. He has done a favor for the Scourge.”
“Bring me the human!” he shouted even louder.
My knees were nearly shaking as I stepped forward, and Mordok placed his hand on my shoulder. He walked me slowly up to Ergoth, and as soon as I was within reach, Ergoth stuck his hand out and clenched onto my neck, just as he had done with Rithnar.
His thick, calloused hands choked me just enough that it was uncomfortable to breathe, and he lifted me so that I had to stand on my tiptoes to avoid all my weight being put on my neck. “You had your chance to return home, but you stayed and interrupted my duel.”
“I… I… I’m sorry,” I sputtered out.
“Sorry?” Ergoth tilted his head, hocked, then spit right in my face. His saliva smelled like vomit and stung my eyes.
I groaned, reached up and tried to clear the muck from my face.
“Kill him!” someone from the crowd shouted out.
“Lord Ergoth,” Hoshgrim said as he anxiously stepped close. “This human is powerful but stupid. We should spare his life, so as to not incite violence from the Mages Guild.”
Ergoth grinned manically. “How will the others of the Mages Guild know? Perhaps I will kill both the human and our resident mage, leaving no witnesses to their folly.” He turned to Mordok and grinned. “He was with that traitor orc after all!”
“Ergoth, my Lord!” another orc cried out from the crowd.
Ergoth turned to him and snarled.
The orc sat atop a massive Great Worg and had ridden to the front of the crowd. He had two axes latched to his sides and was wearing a suit of studded leather armor. His loose, long black hair fell down to his shoulders, and I felt like I had seen him somewhere.
He urged his worg onto the platform and rode him slowly up to Ergoth and me. His Great Worg growled as it stared at me, and foam dripped from its mouth and pooled onto the ground.
