Once they reach the mountain pass gate, the enemy is already at the gate with Koronos’ men raining arrows and rocks down upon them. Fortunately, Captain Korvax’s plan had a modicum of success and about one third of Lord Stone’s men defected, demoralizing the remaining men. It was mostly the foot soldiers but some calvary did defect, taking their horses with them. The enemy is the Octavian legionnaires, in a long column because that’s the only way they can approach the gate. Far at the back, and well out of arrow range is the commander, Lord Stone, astride his legendary warhorse, ‘Abyss.’

The legionnaires have men holding shields over the other men, while they try to use a battering ram to break through the fortifications. The raised shields offer them enough protection to make slow progress. Koronos briefly considers opening the gate and carving his way through to Lord Stone, but Captain Korvax emphatically disagrees because it’s too many men, too many arrows, and too likely to become a human pincushion for arrows before he even would make it halfway. And he adds in, “careful now Koronos, that sword is likely to make you overconfident and get you killed, sir.”

Koronos nods to the captain in recognition of his wisdom. “However, there could be another way, I understand that Lord Stone adheres to the old ways, and he may accept a battle of champions to settle the conflict. Signal the legionnaires for a parley.”

The signal of a white flag is raised, it’s acknowledged. Orders on the Octavian side are yelled out and the attacking men withdraw, but Lord Stone will not approach the gate within arrow range for the parley. Instead, his captain approaches halfway and waits.

Captain Korvax says to Koronos, “It will be me; I will go out and meet with his captain in the middle.”

Koronos watches from the wall, and the negotiation is short and the men both walk away from each other back to their commanders. “What’s the answer?”

The burly old captain looks displeased and says, “He agrees, but there are terms; it must be you and him, no champions and it’s to be hand to hand unarmed combat and without armor.”

“That's smart, he doesn’t trust any of his men to win and he has heard about my sword. Tell him I accept,” as he takes off his scabbard strap that goes around his chest, the sword it too long to wear on the hip. His bodyguards look collectively displeased and try to plead with him to not continue this course.

A few minutes later, they are in front of the gate with his bodyguards standing down, Koronos hands Skullcrusher the sword to hold onto, it’s still in the scabbard and Koronos warns him, “do not touch the grip, only the scabbard, it’s not meant for mortals to wield.” Skullcrusher looks like he never fears anything, but in this particular moment looks a little terrified to be holding the sword. All he can manage is a nod in acknowledgement of the command.

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Captain Korvax is trying to give Koronos some last-minute advice, “He might be a lord, but he is a soldier through and through, and battle-hardened as they come, to be sure. So do not for one minute underestimate him, sir.”

Lord Stone and Koronos square off, looking each other in the eyes, unflinching. Both are only in breeches and boots, no top, no armor, and no weapons. They are both big muscular men of power and strength, each weighing easily twenty stone or more, and a head taller than most men. Up close, it’s easy to see the Kazarian blood in him because he clearly has white irises.

It’s Lord Stone that speaks first, with a deep voice that sounds like gravel, “I’m happy to put a traitor down, the emperor should have never shown you mercy, I will not. There will be no quarter given here, nor will it be asked. This is to the death, you dog, your death. You should have gone back to your pathetic blue savages in the stinking mountains.”

Koronos says nothing, he knows the lord is trying to get into his head to throw him mentally off balance.

“Instead, you will die here, alone, surrounded by strangers, strangers that think you’re a freak, dog!”

Unfortunately, the lord’s tactic is starting to work, Koronos is getting angry and tries a leg-sweep maneuver, but it is easily blocked by the lord and is countered with a jab in the eye.

Koronos, steps back a moment to gather his thoughts, then decides to play the lord’s game, “Yeah? well I heard the emperor sent you way up here to the ass-crack of the empire because you’re a pitiful disgrace, and a shit stain on the integrity of the aristocracy. And your men hate you, that’s why half of them came over to my side, the right side of history. That’s why you agreed to this duel, because you don’t have enough men to take the pass, they belong to me now.” It’s not entirely true, it wasn’t half, it was a third, but he exaggerated on purpose, to get under the lord’s skin.

“How dare you? You bastard!” Shouts the lord and takes a wild swing with his first and misses because Koronos dodges it in a quick move.

“Well now, it looks like Lord Stone’s skin is not so thick after all,” speaking calmly as he counters with an uppercut punch into the lord's belly and a right cross to his jaw.

The lord spits out blood and replies as he bull-rushes Koronos, grappling him and they both tumble to the ground, “Thick skin or not, I’m going to kill you, dog!” He makes a battle cry as he proceeds to punch him in the face as hard as he can, three, four, five times in a flurry of fists, punches that are hard enough to fracture any normal man’s face and skull.

This is the opportunity that Koronos was hoping for; the lord is off balance because of his rage, so Koronos uses his leg to knock the lord off of him, then is able to grapple him from behind, rotates so they are back-to-back, but he has the lord in a choke hold position and says, “no quarter, your words.” With his own battle cry he drops to one knee while using his momentum and with a downward thrust, he breaks the lord’s neck, killing him; the lord’s body slumps to the ground.

The men of the valley all cheer, and the word of what just happened quickly spreads down the column of legionnaires about the outcome of the duel. The battle is over.