He stared me with it's piercing eyes.

Its facial features were impossible to read, until now the other races were more human than anything, this was truly more animal than human. Still, I knew it could talk, it seemed to be the rule of this place.

I waited, he surely had heard me, or it wouldn't have come out. I did have time to observe his adornments, he had two bracers on his front paws, and a belt of some kind.

He finally blinked, and his view shifted off me for just a moment.

"We have no quarrel with the humans, get out of our way." his voice sounded very strange, I shouldn't have been able to understand it, yet it was perfectly clear. Magic was wonderful.

"We are at war with the orcs as well, but these orcs are just refugees, they were cast out."

"We didn't believe them, why should we believe you?"

Oh my god, I felt a headache coming, because it seemed a duel was minutes away. "Don't tell me I have to duel you to prove I am noble enough to be accepted by your honor based belief system"

"You dare laugh at our way of life?"

Of course, they had an honor based belief system "Really sorry about that, it's just we came from the mountain up north where we met ogres. I had to fight their leader to prove I was worth it, and I almost didn't make it. I'm not eager to repeat that experience."

"You survived a duel with an ogre? Though you say you were almost killed."

"Hey, you should have seen the ogre after, let's just say it was a draw."

"Impressive, though I cannot believe you on words alone. If not a duel, a test, then" this was somehow going to be worse than the duel.

"What test do you have in mind?"

"The first to knock the other down wins."

I could't help but laugh, "That's like a duel with extra steps plus you walk on all fours, I'd say you have the advantage."

He snarled or something of that nature and said, "You did brag about the ogre, an ursine should be easy for you."

Me and my big mouth, I just prayed they weren't immune to magic. The bear moved closer to me, while I made a few steps back.

I took a few deep breaths, remembered my secret weapon and opened my hand to a Lightning Bolt that clearly surprised him. He did manage to sidestep a little so that it only grazed his shoulder.

I was expecting a roar and him charging, yet he kept his distance and took out something from his pouch like a crystal and put it on his bracer. I was sure my spell was not going to work a second time, still curiosity pushed me to find out what exactly had he done to adapt.

The second Bolt traveled at him, but he lifted the paw with the crystal and the spell disappeared or was absorbed.

Of course, every race has counters to magic, why wouldn't they? Well, at least it made sense why the orcs had trouble with the bear people, or did he say ursine.

Again he didn't charge but slowly came at me making big circles. I fired a mini black hole on his right and immediately cast a quicksand at his feet.

His mass combined with the four legs using his claws to adhere to the ground made the mini black hole mostly useless, yet the quicksand got him and his front paws here dug into the ground.

I fired another bolt that hit him in the chest, however the bracer must have had some passive effect, as it didn't do much damage.

It did have the effect of making him take the fight seriously, as he pulled his paws from the ground uprooting the earth around it and came directly at me.

He swung his massive paw directly at my head. I exhaled just as the hit was about to connect, but unlike my training, the slow time failed to activate, and I was flung into a nearby tree.

I immediately rose to my feet, he hit hard, but not nearly as hard as an ogre.

He charged again, and I cast quicksand repeatedly until I caught one of his paws. I fired two more lightning bolts, they did minimal damage. However, he seemed to be in a rush now, so I assumed the absorb effect had a limit.

He swung at me again, and again I breathed out, and this time the slow time finally triggered. In the slowed moment, I dodged his hit and positioned my hand near his chest to cast Wind Blast.

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His massive size once again made the spell ineffective, and he only lost his balance temporarily. He came at me with renewed vigor, swinging wildly. I jumped to the side to dodge his hit, leaving another patch of quicksand in my place. He became trapped again, giving me time to fire two more bolts before he freed himself. The crystal had to have a limit.

As he moved, I noticed he relied heavily on his back legs for balance. While it might seem obvious in hindsight, he was the first opponent I had fought on four legs. A plan began to take shape in my mind.

He approached me again, this time aiming for my legs instead of swinging. My slow time triggered again, allowing me to sidestep his move and trap one of his back legs in quicksand. With both hands pressed against his side, I cast Wind Blast with all my might.

The spell connected with a forceful gust, and this time, his massive body wavered. He struggled to maintain his footing, his trapped leg sinking deeper into the quicksand. Sensing an opportunity, I poured more power into the Wind Blast, the pressure intensifying. The ground beneath him began to give way, almost freeing his legs, but finally his balance faltered. With a final cast, I sent him sprawling to the ground.

He immediately got up and for a second I thought he was going to attack me again but calmed a moment later.

"I have never encountered a mage as powerful as you" he said as he got closer to me.

"Can we now talk like two civilized... creatures?" oh god did I just say creatures. There had to be a better word.

I could swear his posture shifted slightly, "What you want I cannot give."

Was he serious, it as his idea to fight, but I breathed once and composed myself "Why?" I asked after a few seconds.

"We fight a war on two fronts; we cannot allow possible spies in our territory," the ursine leader growled, his eyes narrowing.

"What other enemy do you have?" I asked, alarmed. Another enemy on our route south was a complication we couldn't afford.

"We call them golems. They appeared two moons ago, and every day more and more golems emerge. If the orcs attack again, we won't have the strength to repel them like we did last time. That's why no orcs must be allowed to live and reveal our weakness." he paused as if thinking "but you did prove yourself, we will not attack tonight, tell them to leave our lands or tomorrow there will be no more mercy"

Alira would have been better at negotiating; I was hopeless in these situations. As the bear turned to leave, I panicked.

"Wait!" I almost shouted, my voice echoing in the tense air.

I was out of realistic options. Desperation pushed me to a bold bluff. "We can help you with the golem problem," I said, trying to sound confident.

The bear turned back to face me, suspicion etched on his face. "How could you help?"

"As you have seen, I have some specific talents, and my friends possess skills as well. We might be able to gather information on them—where they come from, who's sending them." I was bluffing, but it was our only chance.

"None of the scouts we sent ever came back from the golem territory," he said, his tone heavy with loss.

"That's perfect then" his eye narrowed again, and I realized how it could be misconstrued, "I meant if we fail, you won't lose any more ursine. If we succeed, we get the information you need," I argued, hoping he'd see the logic. "It's a good deal."

"We still can't leave the orcs here," he replied, stubbornly.

An idea struck me. "Then take them with you and give them some land on the other side of your territory, far away from the other orcs. It will keep them out of your immediate area and could even serve as a buffer."

He paused, considering my proposal. "And if they try to betray us?"

"Then you'll deal with them accordingly. But until then, it buys you time to focus on the golems," I said, sensing his hesitation.

The bear leader grunted, clearly weighing the options. Finally, he nodded. "Very well. We will take the orcs to the far side of our territory. But you will need to prove your worth against the golems."

"Agreed," I said, relief washing over me. "Let me go tell my friends and the orcs what we discussed."

"We leave in the morning, we cannot delay."

"Of course" the orcs didn't seem to have that many belongings maybe it could work.

I made my way slowly to the village as night descended, carefully avoiding any wrong turns. Emerging from the darkness, I saw the village first, illuminated by the dim glow of lanterns. Alira was pacing back and forth at the entrance, her silhouette restless and alert. She must have heard me approaching because she stopped abruptly, peering into the shadows to locate the noise.

"Hey," I said as I got closer.

She hugged me tightly and said, "I never doubted you for a second."

"I saw you pacing," I chuckled.

"Well, the longer you stayed out, the more negative scenarios I could come up with."

"Let's go tell the others. They might not like it, but it's the only deal we're going to get."

She took my hand, and together we entered the makeshift village. The elders were waiting in the same place and were talking with Isla.

"There's good news and bad news," I said, sitting down in front of the elders.

Alira playfully hit my shoulder. "That's not funny. Last time you said that, I had to fight in an arena for my life."

"Well..."

"NO," she said in a very serious tone. "Please tell me we're not fighting in an arena."

"Not an arena, but we have to do something for them that might prove dangerous," I said.

Draga, the female orc, interrupted, "The good news first."

"They are not going to attack," I announced. Relief spread through the camp as the news settled in.

"Yet there is a price," Durak, the male orc, said.

"The only way was to resettle you far away from the other orcs."

"If we can trust them, that should be good news too," Draga added, her optimism a welcome contrast.

"We also need to leave in the morning," I continued

The elders stood up. "Thank you, we are in your debt. We must go prepare,"

As they left, Alira turned to me. "What exactly are we supposed to do?"

I explained the situation with the golems and our task to investigate. Then I described the Ursine.

"It's not that bad," she said finally. "We would have run into them anyway. This way, we have guides and maybe a map of the terrain south."

Isla shifted and actually seemed happy. "If it's an infiltration, then I'm perfectly content. I was feeling a little left out since I'm not much help in a fight."

"And I was worried I was a bad negotiator," I added. "But if everyone seems to be happy, then I'm happy."

"How did you manage to convince them?" Alira asked.

I laughed. "What do you think?"

"Duel to the death? In which you somehow managed to get the upper hand," she said in a somewhat serious tone.

"Not -to the death- part, but spot on with the rest," I replied with a grin.

"You're unbelievable!" she rolled her eyes.

"I always suspected" I said with a laugh.