Chapter 85: Honor Duel

Just a reminder for those that dont check the weekly release notes, I am in Florida at a conference on how to be a writer (business side of things). I have another World Sphere edit chapter coming soon after this one tonight and I have written over half a chapter for A Gladiator's Life chapter that I should finish soon. I expect the edits for book 2 of World Sphere will finish next week.

For those looking forward to it, the audio book for Book 5 of A Soldier's Life is half recorded. Should be done in two weeks.

My mind started to process how I could get out of this. I could see Loriel explaining what was happening to Gareth across the room, and I could see his intoxication vanish. He was clearly angry, and Loriel was doing her best to keep him calm. This was Gareth’s fault—no, it was Loriel’s—maybe a little bit of mine. The three Triumvirate members were discussing how to proceed with the Torrent member clearly agitated and angry at the proceedings.

Well, he probably was not as concerned now that I had stepped in the line of fire. I asked Tessa calmly, “So what caused you to speak as you did?  Were you controlled?  Can you voice that you were being manipulated?”  

She looked down, “I think it was something in the food. Not an outside influence. It made me speak my mind, some type of powerful truth potion.” She looked apologetic.

“What were the Bricios really?” I asked, noticing they were grinning at their table despite my interruption.

She seemed to consider, “I think they want to prevent my half-brother from assuming the 23rd seat of the Torrent family.” After some thought, she added, “It wouldn’t have worked. My grandfather would have let my uncle step down, and my brother would assume the 23rd seat. It would have been six years early, but my uncle would have received compensation. Those in line for succession can always order someone to stand in for them in duels.”

I mulled over my mistake. Well, it wasn’t like I had read the manual of how to be a lord in Skyholme. I cycled my mind exercises to remain focused, “What can you tell me about Baladon? Will he fight me or back out?” I asked Loriel.

She seemed to consider before answering, “He will only fight you if he is certain he will win. He is in his third year at the Mage Academy and has been given dungeon essences to add to his abilities. He fought in the pre-Academy Annuals four years ago and came in second, so he is a competent swordsman, but he has been focused on his magic. He may be rusty,” she offered with a half-hearted smile. “He has an affinity for fire magic and likes to put on showy displays.”

“What type of person is he?  Is he like his older brother Abaddon?”  I asked while making eye contact with him.

Tessa followed my gaze. “He is not as cruel as his older brother. At least not publicly. I would say he is smarter and more calculating. I think this plan probably has more depth than we are seeing.”

I swore to myself. I had been careful stepping around Loriel and her piles of shit. But once a pretty woman put herself before me, I blindly stepped straight into it. We were being summoned to the Triumvirate table, probably considered an honor on most occasions.

Well, I could always tell my parents I met the ruling council tonight if I lived through this. A privacy screen was assembled around Tessa, Baladon, the Triumvirate, and myself. It was the Bricio Triumvirate who spoke.

“Nephew, since your honor has been trodden upon, what do you seek as restitution?”  He already had a knowing smile on his face.

Baladon smiled coldly. “I have nothing but respect for Tessa Torrent. So much so, I am willing to forgo this duel if she accepts my marriage proposal. May the blood remain strong,” he added snarkily. He already knew the Torrent seat, and Tessa would not agree, and the Torrent member of the Triumvirate spoke.

“Not acceptable. I will offer you the apple orchards east of the city to settle this issue,” the Torrent seat said with a hardness in his voice. Tessa gasped, and Baladon seemed surprised by this and considered the offer.

Baladon considered for a few breaths but reluctantly shook his head no. “That will not be enough. I am afraid I will have to ask for a duel then.” Smugness was now written all over his face.

The Bricio Triumvirate member smiled gleefully and interjected, “And what are your terms, nephew?”

Baladon bowed to the three and spoke, “I know Tessa’s champion has magic, as he registered spells in the pre-Academy Annuals this year. I wish a mage’s duel till one of us yields or is killed.”

The Bricio Triumvirate said, “That sounds very fair of you.” His smirk and evil-looking grin told me it was not expected to be fair.

The Torrent seat interjected, “It is not! Damn you, Otieno! Baladon has three years at the Mage Academy under his belt. This common boy fought with a staff at the Annuals, not spells!”

“Pomare, calm down,” Otieno Bricio said with a terrible smile. “I am sure Baladon will allow blades as well. But only blades and armor he currently owns.” I was quiet up until this point, not wanting to interject.

I asked, “So Baladon is going to fight me? What if I kill him by mistake?” I tried to sound confident. The three members of the Triumvirate looked at each other, shocked at my question. If I could sow enough doubt in Baladon, maybe he would back out of the fight.

Otieno Brico laughed, “Boy, if Baladon falls to you, then it is his own folly. He is setting the rules of engagement.”

It was clear that no one had much confidence in me. I was four years younger than Baladon, and he was an Academy-trained mage. They continued their conversation, ignoring me as Tessa squeezed my hand and whispered, “sorry.”

I was simply thinking of a way to secure my victory. My biggest concern was that Baladon would discover which spells I had imprinted before the duel. I paid close attention, trying to understand the dynamics of the ruling Three. It seemed the Miaden seat was influenced by the Otieno Bricio, as he just agreed with everything Otieno proposed. Well, not fully influenced, but disinterested. Perhaps he was getting concessions for going along with this charade.

Pomare Torrent was clearly on Tessa’s side, but he had drawn a line on how far he would support me in the contest. I guessed orchards just outside of the capital were extremely valuable, and it had almost enticed Baladon to drop the duel. I was obviously not of his house and just Tessa’s escort tonight. Baladon seemed overconfident and tried to rub as much salt into the wound as possible.

The final conditions of the duel of honor, if you could call it that, were swords only, along with any spells the individual had imprinted. The duel would end when the first combatant conceded the match after taking at least one injury from the other party. I couldn’t just concede when the match started. The duel would be in four days, which was not a point I wanted to concede. If I had to fight, then my advantage was to have the duel immediately, given Baladon no time to do a thorough background check on me.

I tried to push toward an immediate resolution. “Lord Otieno, we already have an audience assembled who has witnessed the slight to the honor. Wouldn’t it be better to get it over with this very evening?  That is, unless Baladon is fearful he might lose and needs to prepare further?”

Baladon finally looked slightly unsure of himself. I guessed there were plans in place to prepare for the duel then. Otieno Bricio was considering my words and ignoring the uncertainty on his nephew’s face. He finally said, “How does the council vote? It would make for a cap to an entertaining evening.” I nodded affirmatively at Pomare Torrent.

Pomare seemed reluctant but allowed my input, “If that is what the boy wishes, then I will agree.”

The Miaden seat was quiet, so Otieno was the deciding vote: “Yes, a most enjoyable end to the evening.” The privacy screen dropped, and Otieno addressed the room, “It has been decided that this duel of honor will proceed. It will be a battle of magic and blades! We will have our post-dinner beverages in the Audience Chamber while these two young men settle the discord between the Torrent and Bricio houses!”

Tessa walked close to me as we moved deeper into the older parts of the Citadel. Tessa explained, “The Audience Chamber was where the Haikuram race met to discuss politics. They were a democratic society, and the chamber houses up to twelve thousand, but it is only used for private sport by the nobles now.” The Haikuram were the avian race that ruled Skyholme when it was one single large island.

We ascended a ramp into a brightly lit domed chamber. My eyes were drawn to the light source in the center of the ceiling. It was suspended by large silver chains wrapped in runic script. The light source was a large glowing purple gem—no, it was violet, a violet aether stone nearly larger than a person’s head! It must be worth a massive fortune!

Seeing my eyes fixed on the stone, Tessa said, “that is the Heart Stone. It is an aether stone that powers the enchantments that protect Skyholme from teleportation and scrying. As long as that array is powered, no one can sneak into the islands.” I wanted to contest that, having seen Sadian ships use invisibility during the attack.

The stone was suspended on silver chains, and not normal silver—it was mithril! There was a fortune above us. When I had had my fill of the stone, I looked around the rest of the ceiling, as many standard white aether lights added to the chamber's illumination. The large chamber was circular and resembled an amphitheater with tiered seating extending at least 20 rows.

The floor was covered in white marble veined with gold, and I could see various large silver circles surrounded by runes, probably connected to the anti-teleportation rune. The tiered seating was bench-style but segmented with rainbow-patterned seats. The colors followed a rainbow’s scheme but were pale and not ostentatious, more like an artistic touch.

The closest seats were being filled while servants brought drinks for this evening’s entertainment. Still looking up, I noticed there were massive murals painted on large panels along the circular ceiling. The panels were artistically impressive and lifelike. They depicted avian humanoid beings in various actions. There were battles showing triumphs and tragedies.

The most catching one was of the avians battling a large black dragon with silver streaks throughout its scaled body. Another mural appeared to show the breaking of the island. A wizard who appeared villainous in his depiction was casting a spell above the island, and the island was breaking apart. That must have been the wizard who shattered the island long ago.

Tessa confirmed my guess. “The Haikarum wizard Kurota attempted to draw the power from the ley lines of the Sphere up to the island. His hubris destroyed the island and devastated his people.” I looked at Tessa, who was studying the murals as well. The nobles apparently had a much broader history education than I was privy to.

Standing on the floor of the chamber, I looked for Baladon. I thought he would have been with us, but I didn’t see him. Tessa offered, “I am guessing his family is equipping him with items to help him win. As soon as you receive an injury, concede defeat, Storme. My only loss of honor will be spending a day with Baladon.”

That thought didn’t sit well with me. It made me furious. “If I kill him before he gives up, what are the consequences for me?” Tessa didn’t look like she shared my optimism of winning, giving me a pained expression.

“If you killed Baladon, you would draw his brother’s ire. Abaddon is a spiteful person,” she warned. “The entire Bricio family, for that matter would come after you.” I nodded, taking the wisdom. I was certain I could kill him, but was it worth it?

A quick illusion replayed a past duel in the chamber for the spectators' entertainment as they settled in. Maybe the illusionist was trying to set the bar for how entertaining our duel needed to be. I saw Gareth, Loriel, and Bylura sitting in the stands with four Blackguard behind them.

I guessed that maybe Gareth hadn’t been overly cooperative, which is why the Blackguard were behind him. At least Loriel looked upset at my predicament next to Gareth’s furious gaze. Pomare Torrent was visibly angry as he talked with members of his house. I also noticed that the Blackguard had positioned themselves at intervals in the upper seating, easily over five hundred of the black uniformed neutral Wolfsguard.

Otieno Bricio was sipping a red wine and talking with Abaddon and three other Bricios I didn’t recognize. They all seemed confident about the outcome of the match. Most of the rest of the crowd just looked anxious for a spectacle.

Finally, Baladon joined me on the floor with a Wolfsguard attendant. Baladon was wearing a fine weave of silvery mesh. The color and the way the light hit it told me it was mithril like the chains above. He had a simple long sword on his belt as well.

His gait told me he was a competent swordsman. A Wolfsguard came with a weapons rack since I hadn’t brought a sword. I eyed Baladon’s long sword handle, and the aether stone in the hilt confirmed his blade was enchanted. All the swords I was being offered were just quality weapons. I took an oversized scimitar. The hilt was long enough to use two-handed. I could have pulled my artificed falchion from my dimensional space, but I thought it best to keep my space secret.

Before long, Tessa made her way to the stands, sitting down with her grandfather and the other Torrents. She was clearly upset and visibly showing regret for the situation I'd been put in. The Blackguard, who had brought the swords for me to choose from, showed me where to stand on the floor to start the duel. Once Baladon and I were both in position, the crowd fell silent, and a loud gong echoed out.

Baladon stood thirty paces away and looked smug. He started with a small fist-sized fireball that zipped toward me. I managed to evade the fast-moving flame. The fool hadn’t used an evolution to speed it up.

He began peppering me with micro fireballs that moved as quickly as a thrown rock. I didn’t feel much heat or destructive power from them, and I could tell he was just putting on a show to entertain the crowd and keep me at bay. This spell had a low aether cost and was mainly a flashy display. Tessa told me he liked to show off.

I tuned out the crowd and focused on my opponent. We both were at a disadvantage as we didn’t know what the other had in their repertoire of spells. I was going to hold my lightning reflexes spell in reserve. For now, I needed to figure out his offensive options and be prepared to defend.

I summoned two dice into my offhand as I evaded and cast my alarm spell on them. The trigger would be them hitting the ground, and both would flash and make a loud sound. I had an evolution that would protect me from the flash, but my opponent would not. After his seventh mini fireball, his expression changed. It seemed he was done playing to the crowd.

He changed his spell to a fire arrow, a tier 2 spell that he had obviously significantly increased the speed of with his evolutions. The speed of the first arrow caught me entirely off guard as it zipped into my chest and burned my chest with a minor splash effect. The intense flair of pain forced me to throw my dice. I added an aether shield from the waist up. A second fire arrow hit my aether shield as the dice landed, but I was already healing myself. The fire arrow had enough impact to take out my aether shield, but I quickly added another in its place.

Baladon was caught off guard as he watched the dice land 10 feet in front of him and flash. He had been staring at the dice and was unprepared for the effect. If he didn’t have a healing spell, he would be blinded. The crowd didn’t fare much better. There were mages surrounding the area for protection, but they had not expected my flash effect or booming sound either.

I raced forward as Baladon struggled to orient himself. He was panicked and summoned a vial to his hand. It must have been a healing potion. I wouldn’t be able to close the distance in time to stop him from drinking it. I almost activated my lightning reflexes, but held off. There were too many people in the stands that I didn’t want to be aware of my spell.

Baladon must have sensed me rushing him because a fire ring burst from around his body. This was likely a tier 3 fire spell called fire halo. The wave shattered my aether shield, and I shielded my eyes as I was thrown back and cast my thermostatic aura to try and suffocate the flames destroying my expensive clothes. I recovered quickly and moved to engage with the sword.

Baladon had consumed the potion and was blinking his vision back as my smoldering body got within five feet of him. He was surprised I had managed to get so close. I was going to make this quick…and then Baladon suddenly disappeared. Taking a chance, it was an invisibility spell or item. I went into a slide and swung the sword one-handed in a big arc. I connected with something, and my blade had a faint crimson line on it when I returned to my feet. I continued to ignore the raucous crowd, tracking the drops of blood appearing on the floor to orient myself to Baladon. I doubled up my aether shield in his direction.

If he healed again, I would lose my way to track him. I took two steps toward him, and my fears came true when the blood drops vanished. I quickly cast a third aether shield to form an arc in front of me. A large 30-foot cone of flame rushed toward me and splashed into the shield on my left, destroying it almost immediately.

I was protected just long enough to roll away from the intense flames. Baladon was standing there breathing heavily, his invisibility spell broken by his attack. He looked shocked that I was unharmed. He was sweating heavily, and it seemed like he was running low on aether. That flame jet spell might have been the tier 4 dragon’s breath spell. No, the heat wasn’t intense enough. It was probably a tier 2 version of the spell.

I managed to reestablish my arc of Aether shields and started walking toward him. He drew his long sword and assumed a defensive stance. He was probably low on Aether, but I wasn’t fooled into thinking he was completely drained.

He tested my aether shield with a mini-fireball and frowned. I could see his mind turning. I was now completely healed, and had a defense against his ranged attacks, and he still didn’t know all my tricks. I could end this in seconds if I went into overdrive with my lightning reflexes spell, but I felt confident I wouldn’t have to. I engaged him with my aether shields and scimitar. He was an excellent swordsman but showed significant fatigue. On our first exchange, he destroyed one of my aether shields but suffered a slash to his thigh. He was already retreating and imbibing another healing potion.

Baladon's face showed frustration and anger. I knew fighting against my aether shields was frustrating. They were essentially invisible, and there was no dirt to kick up to highlight them. That was how Elora and Elijah dealt with my aether shields—they kicked up enough dust to make them visible. Baladon found a similar approach as he retreated: a low-cost aether spark spell. It cast a shower of sparks that did no damage but highlighted my shields for him. He frowned deeply when he realized I was able to manifest three separate shields. I just grinned at his depressed expression. He gathered himself and attacked with his blade. His next attack almost got through my guard, and he gained some confidence and started pressing me.

He definitely wasn’t rusty with his sword practice. He tried to mix in a fire arrow, but I recognized the hand gesture and rolled away in plenty of time. The speed of those fire arrows made them difficult to dodge up close. I smiled as his eyes seemed somewhat sunken, indicating his aether was definitely close to bottoming out.

I tried to get him to concede by holding up my sword and indicating the now-dried blood on the blade, “I believe I have injured you. That means you can concede if you wish, correct?”

I had spoken in a mocking tone, and this infuriated him. His calculating nature was overridden by anger. We were matched equally as swordsmen. Maybe he would even had a slight advantage if he wasn’t exhausted.

Unfortunately for him, I had my aether shields, and even his micro fireballs were fading in strength as his aether pool bottomed out. When he learned he could destroy my aether shield and I had a cooldown before I could recast a destroyed shield, he spent his energy attacking them to try to engage me directly. I made him pay with his somewhat reckless attacks with numerous cuts.

Baladon seemed to have an endless supply of healing potions in his dimensional space. He would retreat and drink another potion whenever I got a serious strike. I was guessing these potions were all from the same batch. Otherwise, he would be vomiting all over the place as they interacted in his stomach. That was a danger with potions. You couldn’t mix them, so you had to wait for them to completely metabolize before switching to another type.

His frustration grew as we danced across the floor, now speckled with blood. I was almost certain he would have some type of aether restorative potion in his bag but couldn’t use it since he had already used a healing potion. Mixing potions often led to terrible results. He stumbled during an engagement, and I grabbed his mithril chain shirt, using my metal-shaping skill to tear it instinctively. The chain shirt hand had been protecting his chest, and now it flapped helplessly, exposing his heart. After I did that, I wished I hadn’t, since only a tier 4 or higher spell could manipulate mithril.

Baladon was shocked that the mithril shirt had been damaged but also panicked at being exposed. Slashes on his arms and legs were one thing—a piercing strike to his heart was another.

He gawked at the damage I had done to the mithril shirt and seemed uncertain about whether to continue. His face soured. But Tessa said he was smart. I was not fatigued at all. He should be able to see where this was headed. He tossed his sword to the ground and announced to the crowd, “I concede.” The look of hatred on his face told me he was not going to let go of this embarrassment. I was even more grateful I had kept a few spells in reserve.

I tuned back into the crowd, and gasps of surprise, cheers, and boos rang down. Some people were still recovering from the blinding flash of my spell as mages were still walking among them and healing. I noticed Nisil, Sebastian’s Wolfsguard healer, among them. Sebastian was not in the stands, though. Nisil had also not been with Sebastian when I had visited him. Maybe, like the Wind Splitter, she was called into service for her healing prowess.

I scanned the crowd. I had definitely attracted a lot of attention today. Gareth was fist-pumping in the stands, but the four Blackguard stayed behind him. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had tried to join me on the floor a few times during the fight. The fire halo spell was the only time I faced any danger. If that spell’s blast had knocked me out or if the aether shield hadn’t muted the wave of fire, I might have lost the fight.

As everything calmed down, I watched the three Triumvirate seats make their way to the floor, with Tessa trailing behind. She seemed giddy, which made me happy. Pomore Torrent wore a big grin, Otieno Bricio looked like he was on the verge of choking, and the Miaden seat seemed smug about the humiliation Bricios had just faced. I kept my expression neutral as they approached, but I almost cracked a smile when I saw Tessa’s beaming face. It was time for the judgment to be announced.

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