Arc 6: Chapter 8: Wave Crash, Thunder Roar
Morgause stepped onto the field as a war steed, with barding reinforced by plates of deep blue steel. I took some minutes with her, letting the chimera get used to the sound of my voice and judging her temper.
I needn’t have bothered. The scadumare seemed calm, even with the watching crowds, noise, and worsening storm. Despite the regular rumbles of thunder in the sky, the rain barely touched the field as I did my own check of her harness.
I mounted, then turned my attention on my opponent. Siriks rode the same monster he’d battled the storm ogre on, that first night I’d met him not long after arriving in Garihelm. A manticore with a leanly powerful frame and a feline head maned in ruddy brown fur, armed with a lashing scorpion’s tail. Like my own mount, it wore elaborate armor of its own.
There were no melodramatic pronouncements from the herald this time. If the Crown spoke, it would be with Markham Forger’s voice. This was no longer just spectacle, but a duel as dire as the one which decided Laessa Greengood’s fate.
Siriks had challenged the Emperor himself, in front of all his lords, allies, and subjects. I’d just been the unlucky bastard to fall into the role of royal advocate. Probably served me right, for showing off with Karog.
But if I beat him, then the only remaining threat would be Calerus.
Hendry cast me worried looks, but I ignored him. We were technically strangers in my current guise. Karog watched from the opposite side of the field, burly arms folded and eyes focused. If he was angry that his own struggles went on hold for this, he did not show it.
Our mounts began to circle without any pronouncement from the spire. Siriks watched me, his swordspear held at an angle to his right, his manticore’s tail twitching in anticipation. It had a gaunt face with large ears, as much bat as lion. Rumbling growls emerged from its bared fangs, blending with the vitriol of the angry sky.
Morgause, for her part, remained demurely quiet save for the crunch of her claw-hooves on gravel, and the low swish, swish of her sinuous tail whipping the air at my back.
I’d spent much of the day dwelling on why I was here, what I needed to accomplish, my doubts. I put all of it aside, and let my entire world become that narrow window of vision offered by my helmet, and the warrior waiting in it. The murmuring crowds upon the high walls faded from my notice, along with the other knights observing from the edges of the island.
Lightning forked over the sea. A wave crested the northern point of the isle, spray bursting up in a shower that rained down on us a moment later as the wind caught it.