A fraction of a second before Meliana shouted ‘Mark’ Teth was moving. He darted forward and slammed his sword down towards Cal who side stepped it and lashed out with his own weapon.

  Cal’s blade hit home on Teth’s shoulder but in the moment before he hit the man’s shoulder seemed to sharpen and harden. The blade bounced off of it, sending reverberations down Cal’s arm. “Dawn’s Breath!” Cal cursed, pulling his arm back and holding it against his chest.

  Teth grinned and swung his sword diagonally up and sideways at Cal Who fell to the side to avoid the blow. Cal was fairly sure that if he hadn’t moved, the man’s weapon would have cleaved away a chunk of his shoulder and maybe his face.

  “Not fought many elekin before, have you?” He asked, stabbing his sword into the earth and rolling his shoulder. The skin went back to normal. “Come on, get up.”

  Cal left his sword on the floor and got back to his feet, shaking his sword arm out, squeezing and un-squeezing his hand. He took a step back and Teth frowned at him. “You giving up alrea-” Cal didn’t let him finish the sentence. He darted forward, hands out ahead of him. Cal made a claw shape with his hand and, while pouring his will down his arm, past his wrist he whispered, “Vosh.” Flames erupted over his hand, not burning him, but licking over and around his fingers, his palm and the back of his hand. Cal tried to grab at the older man’s chest, just below the throat.

  Teth pulled his sword up to block Cal’s hand, which surprised him, but not enough to be a concern. He had simply assumed that the man would let him hit and harden his skin again, unless that didn’t work against fire?

  Cal pressed his hand against Teth’s blade, pushing him and forcing his sword to obscure his vision. At the same time he put will into his right hand, summoning his sword back to it and swinging on Teth’s left side, the side with the emerald eye.

  His sword swung and slammed into Teth’s shoulder. Again it reforged into a hard substance and he took the hit. Teth laughed.

  Jumping back and releasing Teth, Cal cursed, bringing his sword up in a fighting stance. It hadn’t hurt as much that time. Maybe his shoulder hadn’t been as hard?

  “So you can see out of your left eye then?” Cal asked, taking the sword in his other hand and shaking his right out.

  “Nope, blind as a bat.” He replied, grinning.

  “Then how-” Cal started.

  “Now, I’ve let you try twice now.” Teth said, cutting him off. “I think it’s my turn.” He Grabbed his sword and swung it horizontally at Cal, which the younger man was able to dodge, but Teth didn’t stop. Using the momentum of his dodged swing he spun it around and over his head, slamming it down in an over head attack.

  Already on the back foot from weaving backward, Cal was unable to dodge out of the way without falling. Instead he let one foot drop back to brace him and whipped his sword up and over his head. He placed his other hand on the flat of the blade and as Teth’s sword hit it he was able to deflect it, causing it to run down his weapon to it the floor.

  The edge of the blade ran over his hand and shaved off several layers of skin, causing him to curse out in pain as he released his weapon. As he did so Teth used the moment that Cal let his guard down to spin and kick, slamming into his chest, sending him tumbling backwards.

  Cal had been stupid. He should have been paying better attention to the fight, but he hadn’t really been taking it seriously. It was a pissing contest with an idiotic old man.

  “On the Brawlers name,” Teth said, looking down at Cal and laughing. “If you suck this bad it’s no wonder your friends die.”

  Blood.

  Leg.

  Teeth.

  Fury flooded Cal’s body and suddenly this wasn’t a pissing contest. “Say that again.” He growled from where he had landed on the floor.

  Teth raised an amused eyebrow at him. “What?” He asked. “That you’re bad at this? Or that it’s no wonder all your friends die around-” Cal raised a hand faster than Teth could react while he was gloating and, on instinct, compelled fire from it. A flame bullet flew straight at Teth who was barely able to dodge out of the way. As he did so, watching the fire pass him, Cal leapt to his feat and summoned his sword. He yelled “Vosh”, painting his hand in flame again. He brushed his middle and index finger along the blade and the flame transferred to it, setting it ablaze.

  By the time Cal was up and moving Teth’s attention was back on him, a cocky grin aimed his way. He watched Cal move and moved his sword around ready to strike. He thought he could anticipate Cal, but he couldn’t. Cal feinted right and Teth saw it. He swung his sword horizontally into Cal’s path as he moved back to the left, but as he pushed off he leapt into the air, twisting the balls of his feet to get a little extra push from his magic boots. He spun, avoiding the blade, practically rolling over it. As he landed, Cal used the momentum from the spin and slashed his sword back at Teth. The bigger man’s sword was out of the way, but he was able to tense his arm and bring it up to block, his skin hardening again. This time though, Cal’s attack didn’t end with a slash to the arm. Flames burst out over Teth, igniting his vest and burning his marbled skin.

  Cal wasn’t finished. As he held his blade there, pushing to keep Teth from moving, Cal also kicked the sword out of the bigger man’s hand. It landed heavily on the grass and flopped over.

  Teth’s hands now free, he reached under Cal’s sword and grabbed him by the front. “That’s more like it!” He growled, his gravelly voice becoming distorted as sharp emeralds extended from his fingers, turning his hands into claws, pieces of emerald carapace seemed to grow out of his skin giving him a few extra pieces of protection and emerald teeth and mandibles grew from his mouth.

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  He threw Cal away from him. Cal rolled with the landing and came up into a one-knee crouch with his sword still in hand and held out behind him. He looked up to see the now bestial, almost insectoid elekin running at him, claws out to the side and mouth open ready to bite.

  He also saw that Teth’s shoulder was injured, despite hardening.

  Moving on instinct, not even thinking about the spells he had to use, Cal raised his sword in front of him, holding it horizontally so that the flats of the blade faced him and Teth and the tip pointed to Cal’s left. He placed his left palm on the blade with his little and ring fingers folded over it. “Viron!” He yelled and a gout of flame burst forth from in front of his hand.

  Despite seeing it coming, Teth didn’t stop running forward. The flames hit him and he roared in response, bursting out to the side of the fire and turning on his heel to leap at Cal.

  For all his magic, Cal couldn’t keep the fire going long, so rather than try to readjust his aim, he let it drop. Teth couldn’t adjust his trajectory while he was in the air so in the moment of dropping his fire Cal rolled forward, growling “Vosh!” And wiping fire across his blade again as he rolled, pushing his sword against the ground and using it to steady himself as he leapt up into a crouch. when he landed, he heard Teth hit the dirt and he spun, slashing out as he did so.

  The sword slammed into Teth’s arm, just missing one of the pieces of emerald carapace and cutting into him for a moment and exploding with fire before bouncing off as Teth’s claws reached out for Cal’s throat. Seeing how sharp the man’s claws were, how much strength he had, Cal knew that if they reached him, he’d be done for.

  He wouldn’t just lost the fight, he’d lose his life.

  It occurred to Cal, if subconsciously, that he was the opposite of Teth in terms of fighting. While Teth’s strength was that it didn’t matter how quick you were, your attacks would bounce off of his stony skin. Cal’s strength was that it didn’t matter how strong you were, because he was fast enough to get out of the way.

  In both cases, with Cal’s flaming sword and Teth’s quick reaction times, if you overcame their advantages even a little they’d start to fall apart.

  Cal ducked under Teth’s claws to come at his blind side, but the Elekin had been expecting it. Cal realised that with such a weakness the old merc must have been used to people attacking from there. Teth Swung his knee up and hit Cal in the gut. Thankfully Cal’s arms were in the way of a clean shot and as he was thrown through the air. Cal was able to adjust himself and land, though his arms felt like they might have been broken.

  Teth was laughing, stumbling a little, but laughing. “You ready to start trying, pretty boy?” Teth growled through his mandibles.

  “That’s enough.” Meliana was shouting, but neither of them were listening now.

  Cal darted forward, his fiery blade flashing out as he got close, and forcing Teth back. The stronger man feinted back and then charged again, claws at the ready. Cal didn’t shy away this time, instead he brought his flaming sword up and blocked both sets of claws, holding the flat of his blade and pushing the flame into Teth’s hands. He grinned at the pain, pushing at Cal, who held on as best he could until Teth grabbed the sword and ripped it out of Cal’s hands, throwing it aside.

  He swung at Cal, who ducked the blow and pushed into his side with a quick “Vosh!” The flames burst upward into him, burning his side and cracking Cal’s knuckles. Without the sword he couldn’t do much magic, he needed it as a focus, but his flame grasp was the simplest thing he knew, making it possible.

  Teth stumbled sideways but as he did so he made a wild swipe at Cal that he wasn’t expecting, slicing several thin lines across his chest.

  Leaping back away from Teth, Cal thought he had a moment to breath but as he did so Teth fell down on all fours. The last attack had surprised the big man and now he wasn’t thinking. He was running on anger and instinct, just like Cal.

  Cal summoned his sword again, a feeling of furious determination in him as he lit it back up. He was going to kill this man.

  As Teth crawled back around to face him and leapt into a feral sprint towards Cal, the younger man ran to meet him. He vaguely heard the others yelling at them to stop, but neither fighter submitted to the plea.

  Teth leapt into the air, claws first and jaws coming in right after. Cal stopped and braced himself, right in the man’s path, but didn’t go to block or slash this time, he went for the kill. He thrust forward with his blade, straight for Teth’s mouth.

  The ground exploded and bones came erupting up between the two of them. They moved quickly, forming animals. There were dogs and wolves, cats and deer, bears and monsters. A flood of small animals pushed against Cal, knocking him back and off his feet. A huge elk and a massive bear slammed into Teth, holding him down as he scrambled and fought.

  The animals pinned both fighters to the ground and Cal noticed a ringing in his ears as it slowed and stopped. Unable to move, the anger seeped out of him. He let out a long breath and laid there, staring up at the sky. After a few moments Melt’s head appeared in Cal’s vision and she nudged his cheek in admonishment before licking him across the face.

  A few moments passed and Cal heard Teth shout “A Necromancer?! You have got to- Let me up, I’m not tranced anymore.” Cal could tell by the clarity of his gravelly voice that the mandibles were gone.

  “You can let him up.” Meliana said and a moment later the animals receded, from both Cal and Teth. Cal sat up, reaching up and stroking Melt’s face, but he didn’t go anywhere. He watched as the animals all dug their way back under and Teth stormed over to Meliana.

  “You never said anything about a necromancer.” He growled, pointing at Kaila, who shook her head and wandered away. Cal did notice that she wandered marginally closer to him than the others.

  Actually she probably wandered closer to Melt.

  “You never let me.” Meliana replied. “You started a fight with one of my employees- a friend even, before I got to that part.”

  “I don’t care. I don’t work with…” He looked at Kaila again and gave her a look of disgust. “Them.” He said.

  Meliana raised a brow at him. “Two things. First of all; we need her to open the wizards tomb. He was a necro, she’s a necro. She’ll be able to open it. Second; I already paid you. You want to back out now, you can. I said so in the bar after all, but you pull out after the shit you just pulled I’ll make sure every adventurer from here to the Bloodcoast knows you’re unreliable and too volatile to use.”

  He glared at her for a long moment. Cal thought he was still going to refuse, but then he turned, throwing his arms up in the air and spitting on the ground. He started to walk away then turned back to them. He pointed at Kaila. “Stay away from me.” He said, then looked at Cal and, instead of the contempt that he showed before he gave Cal a very brief nod.

  Cal’s brows rose, and then he attempted to get up. He moved to stand but a sharp pain ran through him from his side. He looked down to find five deep wounds. Teth’s claws.

  “Crap. I didn’t even feel that.” He said, then looked over himself to find a few more near misses. He reached up and even found blood on his throat. “That was closer than I thought.”

  Kaila stepped up beside him, closer than she’d gotten before, grumbling as she wordlessly placed a hand on his wound. “What’re you-” He asked as she took a breath and let it out again.

  She whispered a single word as power filled her hand. “Axium.” Beautiful minty green energy wafted out from her hand, encompassing his side, then moving over him to his other wounds. It glittered and felt oddly cool, then warm as he watched but didn’t feel his body put itself back together.

  “Huh…” Meliana said, watching. “Life and death mage, huh?”

  Kaila let go of Cal and wiped his blood on the grass before standing up and stepping away. “A little.” She admitted. “But it’s not my affinity.” She looked past Cal and Meliana towards the village. Cal followed her gaze and saw that there were some people there who had been watching. “We should go before there’s trouble.” She said, pulling her hood a little closer around her head.

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