Mage Wars: The Beast's True Nature

[Sailor Vulcan]

This is an alternate universe fanfiction of Mage Wars: The Nature of the Beast, where things happened a little differently. I do not own mage wars or any mage wars intellectual property. Mage Wars is the property of Arcane Wonders, and the novel, "Nature of the Beast" is owned by Arcane Wonders and Dynamite entertainment. The original story was written by Will McDermott. I own nothing, I just write fanfiction. The original story can be purchased for just about $10 off the internet plus shipping. It's a really good read, and I highly recommend it to all of you.

And now on to the story.

Mage Wars
The Beast's True Nature

Prologue

If you had been standing near the official border between the Straywood forest and the Anvil Throne mountain range that night, you might have seen a lone dwarf in a hooded dark blue cloak emerging from the subterranean tunnel; a man leaving his home on an urgent quest to protect everything he knew and loved, with an unnatural mind-controlled monster following along in his wake.
 
Nearly a year ago, Digur had graduated from the Mage's academy in Sortilege as a Forcemaster with Pellian training. His friends and family, and indeed his whole country had not been pleased with him. The Anvil Throne sent mages to learn and train in other countries, as well as settle disputes in the arena, but aside from that they were completely isolationist. Digur had extensively studied his country's history, and much of it basically boiled down to a fight between tradition and innovation. The Anvil Throne prided themselves on their pragmatism. There was no reason to try something new and risky if what you were already doing worked well enough.
 
His older brother Dargur had always said, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” It was the philosophy of nearly all the dwarves of the Anvil Throne mountains.
 
Dargur was dead now, dead because of his failure to adapt. Faced with an oncoming giant swarm of Rock Devils, the only spells he thought to cast were a hail of stones and a wall of stone. It would only hold them back for a few moments. There were plenty of other spells he could have cast instead. A suppression orb would have slowed down the monstrous creatures  long enough for him to cast a charging incantation on Digur so they would both be able to flee to the upper caverns where they could warn their people, figure out a plan and if necessary evacuate everyone. And his brother, his only brother...

He'd cast another damn wall of stone, separating himself and the Rock Devils from Digur, and getting himself killed pointlessly and unnecessarily.

Digur clamped down on that thought nearly every time it came into his mind. He'd thought it enough times already and he didn't want to rehash it anymore. He needed to mourn. But now he also needed to act.
 
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
It probably wasn't much of a stretch, if it was a stretch, to say that most great changes and cultural upheavals in Anvil Throne history (as few of them as there were, they did happen) had been because someone realized that something was broken, and rallied people to fight for it to be fixed. What his people failed to realize was that each of these great upheavals did not happen randomly. It was no coincidence. It was not because younger generations of dwarves were more and more pragmatic than those who came before. These great changes in their culture were a result of great changes in their circumstances. A good example of this was in regards to gender norms. It used to be that women in the Anvil Throne mountains would never go to war, because they brought future generations of their people into the world. If they died in battle, then their people would also die out. But then when the Great Demon Wars came, the Anvil Throne lacked warlords and soldiers. It didn't matter any more that if too many women died in battle their people would also die out. The demons of Infernia would kill them or torture them all for eternity anyway.

And so now it was just expected that all mages from the Anvil Throne would train to be warlords and defend their nation on the battlefield and in the arena. Anvil Throne Warlord training was tried and true, and had proven itself successful over hundreds of years. There were those who chose differently, but they were few and far between, and they generally were treated with a little disapproval, like they were somehow less pragmatic than those who chose to be warlords. As Digur was someone of relatively high station in his country, being one of the youngest Master Architects in the history of his people, and also as the dwarf who helped to modernize and even invent much of his people's modern technology and industry, that disapproval was even more apparent.
 
Digur didn't just study the history of his people. He had also studied the Mage Wars. When he was at the Academy, he would oftentimes read through records of historic duels within the past few hundred years. One of the things he noticed was that the victors in nearly every one of these famous duels seemed to know how to cast more spells they were not trained to cast then their opponents did. Spells they had picked up because they knew and fought other mages with different training and learned from their successes and failures. The greatest of mage warriors were those who could adapt to new and unexpected situations and tactics quickly, and learn from both friend and foe alike.

That was why Digur had decided to become a Forcemaster, rather than a Warlord. Not only did he already have a strong intellect and an affinity for mind magic at his disposal, but as a forcemaster, he was trained to be able to strike at the heart of a matter and solve problems with a more direct and open-minded approach in a way that few warlords of the Anvil Throne could. As the Master Architect, someone whose job it was to come up with useful ideas, plans and designs, he needed to be imaginative, innovative and smart. For someone of his position, mind training was a boon.

As Digur approached the treeline with the mind controlled Rock Devil following behind him, a young beastmaster stepped into view.

“Halt! Who goes there?”

It seemed that a Straywood ambassador had been waiting for him.

The Dwarf stopped and looked up from his musings to address the young elf.
 
“I am Digur, Master Architect and a forcemaster of the Anvil Throne. I seek an audience with the Treemoot to discuss a matter of international security.”

Contrary to what others of his kind believed, Digur was pragmatic.

[Sailor Vulcan]

Mage Wars
The Beast's True Nature

Chapter I

“I am Digur, Master Architect and a forcemaster of the Anvil Throne. I seek an audience with the Treemoot to discuss a matter of international security.”

The elf shined the light of a moonglow amulet into the night to better see the visitor.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, although he was struggling to hide his disgust for the dwarf from his voice and face. "I am Jhonart of the Wild Battalion. The treemoot have not yet agreed to your request for an audience. Why are you here?"

"What? I sent them a letter nearly two months ago letting them know I might wish to speak to them about an urgent matter soon, but they never responded. I thought something might have happened to them. You mean to tell me that they still haven't decided?"

"No. Return to your people, and our people will get back to you in a few months time."

"My people likely do not have a few months time left, and yours might not either. It is urgent that I speak to the Treemoot promptly. I need to let them know of the dangers we face."

The beastmaster crossed his arms. "The people of Straywood have yet to agree whether to speak to you or not. Go back to your tunnels, dwarf."

"No. Doing so will likely put both our nations in peril. If the Straywood value survival, then they will hear me, and they will not continue to wait."

"If you take another step towards this treeline, dwarf, you will be trespassing, and the Straywood will consider it an act of war."

"The Anvil Throne does not know I am here, and likely would not approve of it if they did. If your people decide to war against my people for my own independent actions, then you will be the aggressors, not us. What I wish to discuss with the Treemoot is a matter of international security. The lives and wellbeing of many of both our peoples could be at stake, and the Straywood would sacrifice them anyway merely because I offended it?"

Jhonart did not move. Like a statue, his arms stayed folded, and his expression remained disgusted at the foreign dwarf.

"If the Treemoot will not grant me an audience as a diplomat, then surely they will grant me an audience as a prisoner, and I will fight to make my voice heard. Please make sure that the monster behind me remains contained when you confiscate it from me. I did not bring it as a weapon, but as the Straywood elves clearly do not trust me, it would be best not to be seen with it."

And with that, Digur began walking towards the treeline with his hands raises in surrender.

He didn't have any choice. Even if the Straywood refused to do anything to protect themselves or warn their neighbors, Digur would still need to be able to safely pass through the Straywood to warn other nations and request their aid.

"Very well," said Jhonart, and he summoned two timber wolves and his falcon pet to help him prevent Digur or the mind-controlled monster from escaping as he escorted the dwarf beyond the treeline at staff-point.

Digur had heard tales in the academy of the legendary ineptitude of the Treemoot, the government of the Straywood elves, although at the time he had thought those tales might be exaggerated or false. It was said that the Treemoot never got anything done until their people's or their home's survival was on the line, and then they would miraculously pull themselves together and get things done. It was said they believed that all lives were of equal value, and yet, from his own personal experience at the mages' academy in Sortilege, Digur knew that when faced with a choice, a beastmaster would kill a plant to save a beast, and a beast to save an elf. The Straywood elves were not vegetarians, but hunters, despite their claim that all lives were of equal value. And the Wychwood, home of the usually pacifistic and vegetarian Druids was not that far from the Straywood. They were practically right next to each other. It was enough to make one wonder about the integrity and priorities of the Straywood.

-*-*-

The members of the Treemoot sat in an informal circle around the forest clearing, some in trees, others on the ground and still others on rocks and tree stumps.

"I demand trial by combat!" Digger shouted the instant he entered the clearing."

"We haven't even announced your charges yet," said one of the elders.

"Charges? In plural? The only crime I am guilty of is trespassing, which I did with good intentions. I--"

"Your assurances mean nothing to us, dwarf. You are also charged with espionage."

"Espionage? Explain."

"Nearly two months ago a goblin in your employ infiltrated our domain uninvited and unannounced, snuck into a meeting of this council--"

"He was sending a letter!"

"A likely story. Why the need for stealth then?"

"Would any of you have even looked at the letter if you knew it came from a dwarf of the Anvil Throne?" Digur asked, pointedly.

"Of course not," scoffed another elder.

"We had no reason to trust you,” said another.

“For all we knew the letter could have been booby trapped, and now we have even less reason to trust you, I daresay,” piped up yet another elder.

"I see. So you would not read my letter because you do not trust me, and you do not trust me because I tried to send you a letter by one of if not the only means which it might actually be read, which I did because I knew you might not read it because you didn't trust me. In short, you do not trust me because you do not trust me. How amazingly wise of you.”
Many of the Treemoot bristled in indignation at the insult.


“Much like my own people, in fact. I admit that if this situation were reversed it would be little different. Therefore, as...unfortunate as it is,” Digur almost gritted his teeth as he said that word, “I cannot fault you for your paranoid distrust, especially considering the bloody history between our peoples.”

“Be that as it may, the fact remains that you did trespass on our lands, and we cannot know for certain why you did so regardless of what you say, because, as you so helpfully pointed out, we do not trust you. However, by the mage wars accords, we are required to grant a trial by combat if the accused demands it, no matter who they may be. If you lose, you will be banished from the Straywood and killed on sight if you ever step foot in it again.”

“And if I win, I will be granted free passage through the Straywood along with my captured specimen which you currently have under your custody. I need to get it to Sortilege where I can have it examined for weaknesses that my people can exploit to better defend themselves against its kind. Also, you will be on the lookout for these monsters, if not for your own sakes, then because I demanded it as part of the conditions of my duel.”

The members of the Treemoot all looked back and forth between each other, muttering for a few minutes. Finally, one of them said, “Very well,” and the others all followed suit with nods or words of agreement.

-*-*-

After his brother had been killed by the rock devils nearly a year ago, Digur had gone to the Grax, the arena champion of the Anvil Throne, and begged to train with him.

The Grax had laughed, but to Digur's surprise, the Grax had agreed to train with him.

It turned out that the Grax hadn't had many mage warriors to practice against in his spare time, since most warlords weren't brave enough to challenge him to a real fight. His tactics were too unfamiliar to them, not to mention that something about him frightened even the toughest of his fellow warlords when he fought. It was said that the Grax had once been captured by the Bloodwave and forced to fight for them, and that he had fought his way out of their employ and escaped back to the Anvil Throne.

When Digur had fought him for the first time, there were two facts he realized very quickly: first, he was WAY out of his league fighting the Grax. Second, the Grax's training was Bloodwave, not Anvil Throne.

This had surprised Digur at first, considering how isolationist the Anvil Throne was. He had to remind himself that the Anvil Throne was only MOSTLY isolationist. They still had contact with outsiders, but it was kept to a bare minimum. For instance, their arena healers were Asyran clergy members from Westlock (nobody liked that arrangement, but it was grudgingly necessary), and they did occasionally trade with the nomadic goblin mercenaries that traveled throughout the region.

After their first few fights, a few people started noticing that the Master Architect was training with the  Grax in the arena, and spectators started coming. There were very few of them, and most of them stopped coming after they realized how completely outmatched Digur was. At the start, Digur only really knew the bare basics of magical combat in practice, which he had learned at the academy in Sortilege, although he did have a wide yet somewhat vague theoretical knowledge from watching arena duels and going over records of famous fights.

Over the next few months, Digur's dueling abilities had drastically improved. While he still had no chance of beating the Grax anytime soon, the Grax had said give it a few more years and he might have a chance. Digur had become a rather competent mage warrior, although he was not one of the most skilled ones. Regardless, his tactics were creative and unique even for a forcemaster, and they were likely to take enemies by surprise.

Digur had done all of this, knowing that the time was ticking. Every few weeks another citizen was abducted by the rock devils.

But it was worse than he had thought. It turned out that all those who had been abducted were mages. Most of them were young and relatively inexperienced warlords. Several of the Grax's friends had already been captured.

The Grax had gone to Digur to ask if he was looking into it, and what he had found out. Digur had been looking into it. He usually did not use his invisible stalker in combat, but it was very useful for stealth and reconnaissance missions, and he had frequently lent his stalker out to warlords for precisely that reason. While he could not control it from very far away, he could send the creature far enough that he himself was out of danger and line of sight of any enemies. Not to mention that Digur had some skill as a tactician; he often noticed easily overlooked flaws in battle plans despite his lack of experience in battle. So he sometimes gave some advice to warlords before they went off to fight. It wasn't a substitute for a real, fully qualified tactician, but it was still useful.

In any case, Digur had been sending his Invisible Stalker down into the rock devils' tunnels to monitor their activity, and he had written down his observations. He could not send his stalker very far into the rock devils' territory, but what he had seen was rather interesting. Swarms of rock devils scurried through particular tunnels at regular time intervals. Occasionally one of them would be carrying a prisoner. Sometimes two swarms would meet at an intersection, stop and make taps and clicking sounds, like they were communicating, but then they would stop making those sounds and just stare at each other for anywhere between a couple minutes to half an hour before moving past each other and going on their way. He had speculated that they could be communicating psychically during these instances.

The day his brother Dargur had died, they had been just starting a huge construction project to expand the capital city of the Anvil Throne. Otto, the master engineer had a hangover that morning, so Dargur had been substituting for him. During the fateful encounter with the rock devils, Digur had sensed no magic in any of them. If they were communicating in some way that Digur could not detect, he knew it could not be psychic abilities, since those were magical by nature.

Nevertheless, Digur had watched as the tunnels had become smoother, and the swarms more coordinated over time. Rocks sometimes moved out of the way as the swarms passed, without being touched by them. The motion looked like it might be force magic, but Digur supposed that it could just be the stampeding footsteps of the rock devils disturbing the rocks in their way.

Digur had shared what he had found with the Grax, and the Grax became curious, worried, and more than a little disturbed.

“It sounds like they might just be intelligent, although I'm not sure...” the Grax muttered in his gravelly voice.

“Yeah,” Digur had said. “That's exactly my thoughts on the matter. I'm guessing they might be only slightly intelligent—not truly sapient, but not as dumb as a rock or a mere rat, either. They sometimes seem kind of like an ant colony. But I don't know.”

He also noticed that the rock devils reproduced at an alarming rate. Every time he looked there were more and more rock devil tunnels and more and more rock devil swarms moving through them. At the rate their tunnels and population were expanding, Digur estimated that they might be able to start infiltrating other nations within a few months. Strangely, the frequency of mages being abducted had not changed much, although there seemed to be gradually fewer and fewer who could escape before they were brought into the rock devil tunnels.

The Anvil Throne government was not doing anything about it. They had the entrances to the tunnels walled off for a short while, but did not replace the walls after they were destroyed and more mages were kidnapped.

Their military force was already being crippled before anyone had realized it, and now that people were aware of the problem, it was too frightening to contemplate, and so no one did anything. Most acted like nothing was wrong. That being said, most citizens of the Anvil Throne were not mages. The entire nation had basically just abandoned their greatest defenders because they had been taken by surprise and put at a sudden and large disadvantage. Digur would be unlikely to have ever expected this if he had not witnessed it happen. If only his people would realize it wasn't a hopeless situation and stop ignoring the problem and lying to themselves about it!

He had tried to convince the warlords to band together and do something about the rock devils. He had tried suggesting plans. Not enough people listened to him. After that, he exasperatedly suggested either asking for foreign help or evacuating from the Anvil Throne mountains.

Most did not take kindly to that.

Fed up, Digur had decided to take matters into his own hands. He sent a letter to the Straywood requesting an audience with them. After nearly two months they had never responded, which had made Digur fear the worst. And so he had bade goodbye to his friends Otto and Grax, went to the rock devil tunnels to capture a rock devil, and began his journey to bring it to Sortilege for examination, so that he could learn what it would take to defeat them and save his people, as well as warning nations he passed through on the way of the rock devil threat, and requesting those countries' aid.

-*-*-
The raven-haired elven beastmaster and her dark-blue cloaked dwarven opponent stared at each other from across the arena, sizing each other up.

“So you're the champion of the Straywood, then?” Digur wondered, loud enough to be heard across the clearing.

“Nope,” the elf called back casually. “He's away on important diplomatic business. You'll be fighting me, instead. I'm Lithann of the Wild Battalion. You?”

“Digur. Master Architect of the Anvil Throne.”

“Well, Digur, I hope you can give me an exciting fight! Let's do this!”

“Let's.”

[Sailor Vulcan]

Mage Wars
The Beast's True Nature

Chapter II

"I'm Lithann of the Wild Battalion. You?”

“Digur. Master Architect of the Anvil Throne.”

“Well, Digur, I hope you can give me an exciting fight! Let's do this!”

“Let's.”

A wood elf who had volunteered to commentate and referee the duel stood up from the audience in the treetops, unseen by the duelists, but certainly heard loud and clear by everyone in their vicinity.

“The trial by combat will now commence!”

Lithann punched her left fist out and a ring shaped like a talon appeared over her left index finger. She then swiped her finger through the air, leaving a trail of mana that coalesced and took the form of a spitting raptor. She then conjured a piece of meat and fed it to the raptor. The raptor growled happily and began munching on the meat.

“Cute lizard,” Digur commented, loudly. “I've never seen one that big, though.”

“He's a dinosaur, actually,” said Lithann. “But thanks, anyways.” After seeing her opening spells, Digur conjured a wall of earth and extended it around his general vicinity until he was completely walled in. He then summoned a thoughtspore, the psycoculus familiar appearing in the air above his head, floating in place, and mentally sent one of the spells he had memorized from his spellbook that morning to its artificial mind.

“An interesting opening!” said the referee/announcer. “The Dwarf summoned a thoughtspore and walled himself in! Who would have thought that a dwarf would be a mind mage? Although I suppose he is wearing the attire of a trained Pellian Forcemaster, what with that dark blue cloak and all. Regardless, it's a highly unusual opening that I don't think any of us have seen before. What is he planning!?”

“Come out of your burrow and fight me!” Lithann shouted.

Digur ignored her taunt.

“Ah well, worth a try.”

Digur summoned another thoughtspore and mentally sent it another spell as Lithann ran towards the center of the arena and pointed her ringed index finger at the ground next to her, summoning a bitterwood fox, while her pet raptor followed close behind her.

The announcer/referee sighed.

“With a dramatic flourish, Lithann of the Wild Battalion summons...a fox.”

There was some light-hearted laughter at this from the audience in the trees.
Lithann scowled.

Meanwhile, Digur had his first thoughtspore descend to the ground and raise its tentacle before its face to guard itself, putting it below the walls and out of the line of sight of any flying creatures Lithann might summon. Then he cast an enchantment on his immediate vicinity that would probably be very useful later.


Next, Digur spoke command words imbued with magical power. The order was to defend, and now both his thoughtspores were on the ground and on guard.

Lithann summoned a mountain gorilla. It sniffed at the air, as if sensing something tasty.

She patted it on the head, soothingly.

"You can't eat now. We have a fight on our hands."

Digur sent his thoughtspore over the wall to cast a spell on the gorilla that put it to sleep.

Lithann's bitterwood fox bit down on the Gorilla's arm to wake it up, but accidentally bit down too hard. The Gorilla's eyes shot open in pain. It stood up and roared in anger, beating its fists to its chest, but it ended up falling over from dizziness caused by the sudden movement. Perhaps it was not quite that awake yet?

Digur force pulled his thoughtspore back behind the wall and the spitting raptor sprinted towards the walls separating it from its enemy as Lithann punched her right fist out, making a ring with a brown part on the outside and a shiny yellow part on the inside with a glowing green gem inlaid in it, appeared over her right index finger.

The thoughtspore that had earlier put the gorilla to sleep, this time lulled Lithann's pet raptor to sleep, while the dazed gorilla dashed towards the wall surrounding Digur. Digur saw it all through the eyes of his thoughtspores floating overhead. That gorilla's arms looked really strong. It could probably climb up and over his wall fairly easily. It would have to go to sleep next. Fortunately, it stopped moving to catch it's breath.

But then he saw Lithann conjure a totem with the likenesses of five different beastly heads carved into it (which strangely reminded him of the rock devils), and saw Lithann's arms bulk up and elongate, and her skin hardening as scales appeared on it.

She could probably climb over the wall too now.

Looking at the totem from across the arena, he noticed that one of the carved heads was an ape. He made the connection. It seemed that he would have to get rid of the gorilla.

He made the thoughtspore that was still guarding rise up and hurl a boulder at the gorilla out of thin air, then immediately cast another enchantment onto his immediate surroundings. The boulder didn't do that much damage, unfortunately. The gorilla was getting angrier and angrier, beating its fists to its chest and stomping its feet on the ground.

While Digur and his thoughtspores were occupied dealing with the gorilla, Lithann's bitterwood fox dashed forward to the sleeping raptor and swiped its claws at its scaly hide, doing little damage but causing enough pain for the raptor to wake up.

Lithann rushed forward to support her pet raptor, and the raptor tried to spit a ball of acid over the wall at one of the thoughtspores, which just barely hit despite the raptor's dizziness, having just woken up.

Lithann decided to take a gamble and enchanted her gorilla. She'd be able to stop it from falling asleep this time, but at the slight risk that it would die before she could climb over the wall of earth. But this way if her gorilla survived, she'd be able to enchant her pet raptor with eagle wings and have it fly over the wall to attack once she'd climbed over it herself.

The Gorilla climbed over the wall, and Digur spoke a command incantation to improve the accuracy  and precision of one of his thoughtspore's ranged attacks. That attack was a boulder, which the spore hurled at the gorilla from out of thin air.

The gamble hadn't paid off. The Gorilla's form collapsed into mana and vanished.

“Well, it looks like I underestimated those boulders,” Lithann commented. “Or it was just a lucky shot.”

Regardless, her arms shrank back to normal length now. Now that her gorilla was destroyed, she did not have the power to climb over the wall.

So instead, she would have to destroy the wall.

“ATTACK!”

The Raptor swung its sharp claws at the wall, digging into it and causing large chunks of it to start falling off into nothingness, while one of the thoughtspores went on guard.

The fox then dashed into the wall head first. A huge length of the earthy wall collapsed into mana and vanished.

Digur held his fists out in front of him, ready to fight and strike back if the beastmaster attacked him.

She didn't disappoint, running forwards and swinging for a roundhouse kick. Digur caught the kick in his gut (and it hurt!) and used her momentum to swing her by that foot to the ground, probably causing just as much harm to her as she did to him.

Then Digur force pushed Lithann away and conjured a wall of stones between them, connected seamlessly to the remaining wall of earth.

“Okay, time to kick things up a notch,” Lithann muttered, casting two enchantments on her Raptor while Digur had the thoughtspore that wasn't currently on guard descend to the ground and guard.

With two quick pulses of mana, the enchantments on the spitting raptor were revealed: eagle wings grew out of its back, and its muscles bulked up with the strength of a bear. The raptor flew over the wall, swooped down and took a swipe at Digur, and he yelped in pain.

Then the bitterwood fox ran around the wall of stone and rammed into the wall of earth, but slipped on the way and only managed to dislodge a few lumps of earth from the wall, which turned back into mana and dissipated.

The raptor turned back around and swooped down for another attack on Digur, but Digur had recovered a bit more mana now, so he could exert a little bit of it to try to deflect the attack. The force barrier sprung up between Digur and the raptor, and the raptor bounced back.

Then, before the raptor could attack again, one of the two thoughtspores cast a spell to put it to sleep. The raptor descended to the ground, curled up and dozed, behind the walls where its master could not reach it.

Lithann then threw a ball of acid at the wall of stone, which softened the rock somewhat, but did not knock out any of them. No matter. Lithann punched the wall of stone, hard, but the stones weren't quite as eroded as they looked. They were merely slightly softened, and barely a crack was left in them at all.

She sighed, but didn't have much time to be disappointed, because one of the thoughtspores had risen back into the air and threw a boulder at her! She tried to jump out of the way, but the boulder struck her as she tried to leap past it, and the force of the blow might have fractured a rib, although it wasn't poking any organs so it would probably be fine to continue. The arena healers from Westlock were miracle workers, literally.

The bitterwood fox slammed into the wall of earth again, and this time it didn't slip. The top half of the wall was now destroyed. It was still too high to jump or see over, however.

Digur held his fists at the ready and went on guard again, just in case Lithann tried something else like that eagle wings trick or if she destroyed another wall too soon.

Lithann shot a jet stream at the thoughtspore that had put her pet raptor to sleep, and Digur finally revealed the two enchantments he had cast on his immediate surroundings: Sacred Ground and Fortified Position. The thoughtspore survived, but barely.

The bitterwood fox rammed into the wall of earth again, and clumps of earth started gradually crumbling off of it and dissipating as mana. Just one more attack would bring it down.


“You can't hide in there forever!” Lithann taunted.

“...Why not?” asked Digur.

“Because...” Lithann hadn't thought of a witty comeback. “Because I'm gonna kick your a**, that's why!”

The injured thoughtspore descended back to the ground and put a tentacle up in front of itself, on guard, shortly followed by the other thoughtspore.

Lithann equipped herself with a staff of beasts, and held the wooden falcon-topped staff at the ready.

“It looks like things are finally starting to heat up, everybody!” said the announcer/referee. Will the dwarven forcemaster be able to hold off Lithann of the Wild Battalion long enough to win? Or will the beastmaster smash his walls and clober him?

Diggur cast a minor healing spell on his injured thoughtspore which returned it to full health, just before the bitterwood fox rammed into the wall of earth one more time.

Then Lithann quickly cast a wall of thorns where the wall of earth had been.
Digur raised his eyebrows. He had been planning to cast another wall of stone there, but she had beaten him to it with her own wall.

Those thorns looked EXTREMELY sharp. Like tiny knives. There also seemed to be enough space between the thorns for a small creature, like a fox or a short, thin person to make it through safely.

Lithann had already sent a creature over with eagle wings. She could do it again, but Digur would just have his thoughtspore put it to sleep again, and his sacred ground and fortified position enchantments protected his thoughspores and himself. What was she planning?

Lithann sprinted forwards a few feet, raised her left hand and snapped her fingers, summoning another bitterwood fox.

Digur's thoughtspore threw another boulder at Lithann, and this time it actually hit her hard enough to send her sprawling across the ground, covered in scrapes and bruises. Good thing she was a mage, or that would have hurt her a lot more! Mages tended to be naturally more durable than the average person.

Digur then cast another command spell to improve his thoughtspore's aim, and the thoughtspore summoned another boulder and hurled it at Lithann.

The boulder knocked her over and broke several of her ribs.

The crowd of straywood elves in the treetops around the arena booed.

“You okay?” Digur asked, concernedly. “You might want to surrender now. One or two more attacks like that and you're done!”

Lithann stood back up, shakily, and breathing heavily.

“...Nah....I'm not out of the game yet...though...it's getting kind of close. Maybe you...should surrender.”

“Unfortunately...there are many people who are counting on me to win this duel. I can't afford to lose.”

Lithann nodded and summoned a steelclaw grizzly, and her body toughened from the magic of her animal kinship totem, then she enchanted her grizzly and made sure her foxes stayed where they were, at the ready. She knew that Digur probably didn't have enough mana right now to have his thoughtspore put any of her creatures to sleep.

Why isn't she sending her foxes through the wall of thorns to attack me?

If she did, they would be able to hurt him or the sleep-thoughtspore which was currently on guard, but then he would destroy that fox. She must be saving it for something.

He only had enough mana for his thoughtspore to put just one fox to sleep.

And so he did.

“Dang it...” Lithann muttered. Change of plans then. She only had one more instance of the eagle wings enchantment left. Instead of saving her fox's attacks for later, she would have to send one in to wake up her pet raptor. Hopefully she could break through Digur's defense. She had to hurry before he realized the one spell that would assure his victory. Lithann cast another enchantment on her grizzly.

The fox that was still awake ran through the wall of thorns and tried to bite the raptor to wake it up, but the raptor suddenly turned over in its sleep, and the fox's teeth scraped over its scales instead of digging into them. The spitting raptor was still asleep.

Digur tried to tackle the fox before it could take anther bite, but Lithann shouted, “HUG HIM!” and the bitterwood fox jumped up and glomped him, causing Diggur to stagger back without managing to harm the fox. Then before Digur could try again, the fox jumped off him and tried to take a bite out of the spitting raptor again.

That might have been her last chance. If Digur cast a forcefield on himself, she would not be able to break through it.

“Looks like we're nearing the end, everyone!” said the announcer/referee. “The next couple of spells cast will likely determine the victor of this duel!”

Digur knew Lithann didn't have that many creatures to attack him with. If he cast a forcefield on himself now and revealed it once he had enough mana, she would probably not be able to hit him until it was too late. But he had almost won, and it wouldn't do for her to cast a healing spell on herself at this point. But perhaps she knew all that. In which case, either she would try to finish things quickly before he cast and revealed a forcefield enchantment on himself, or she would try to heal herself and summon another creature that could fly or climb over the walls. He did not know how many instances of the eagle wings enchantments or innately flying or climbing creatures she had left. If she had any more left, then she would heal herself and eventually overwhelm his forcefield if he cast one, which would make hurling another boulder now a good option. If she didn't have any more and all she had was another eagle wings enchantment on her grizzly, she would try to finish things up as soon as possible with a single heavy claw strike, in which case forcefield would stop her and her grizzly in their tracks.

It all depended on whether the next spell she cast was a healing spell or creature, or whether it was something else.

The next spell Lithann cast...


Was an enchantment on her grizzly.

It looked like Digur was going to win.

In desperation, Lithann had her fox attack her raptor again. The dang thing didn't even notice. It just continued sleeping without a care in the world!
Although to be fair, a beastmaster's pet did tend to be stronger than other animals, both in attacking and in defending. It's scaly hide would be very difficult for a mere bitterwood fox to pierce.

Digur cast an enchantment on himself, to Lithann's disappointment, then had both of his thoughtspores descend to the ground to guard.

If that's a forcefield...

Well, there was only one way to find out.

The grizzly stomped towards the wall and Lithann sent mana into the eagle wings enchantment on her grizzly to reveal it, causing huge, powerful feathered wings to grow out of the grizzly's back. She cast and revealed an enchantment on the grizzly to give it the savagery of a lion, then revealed the bear strength and falcon precision enchantments she had cast on it earlier, and it soared over the wall and swooped down towards Digur with it's claws outstretched, just as Digur rapidly cast a command incantation to improve the accuracy of his thoughtspore as it summoned a boulder and threw it at Lithann.

One attack connected. The other didn't. Even with the precision of a falcon, the steelclaw grizzly could not pierce Digur's forcefield.

Lithann chuckled. “That was...intense. I surrender.”

She collapsed.

The crowd gasped as the arena healers descended upon her.

-*-*-
The young dwarf boy woke up bound and gagged in a strange and unfamiliar place, sitting on a rock in the darkness. He struggled against the tangle of green rope holding him.  Where was he? Something was wrong. The last thing he remembered was Dargur telling him that their parents weren't coming home from the war, before he was attacked by an assailant he couldn't see until it was too late, it's nightmarish form now burned into his memory.

“DARGUR! WHERE ARE YOU?” he tried to shout, but the words came out wrong, in a voice he didn't recognize. His entire body felt wrong. As his eyes adjusted to the scarce starlight filtering down through the green canopy of the tent he was being held in, he finally saw himself. He screamed. Something struck him hard in the head, and everything went dark.
-*-*-


Author's note: What do you think? Are you enjoying the story so far? Read and review!