It soon occurred to Mor that he kicked off more than anticipated because he and Thor glowered at each other. The younger Ice-kin went to get an assortment of training weapons from storage, and their excitement pulled the attention of the adults, who then tagged along.

This means that almost the whole village was present as soon as everything was prepared, including Gorn and Lize, who Elly quickly filled in. Lize facepalmed at the impulsiveness of the young Soul-kin and wondered if she had wrongly assessed him as a calm and collected youth.

Mor got a little nervous at the crowd, but seeing the big grin of his opponent fortified his decision. He was also confused briefly when it was revealed that this duel wouldn't be with strength or a brawl but a full-blown duel with weapons. Still, it was too late for him to back out, not that he even wanted to.

The village chief came forward, giving his son a nod.

"Those two fighters decided to put their differences to the blade, showing everyone present the truth of their strength. If anyone wants to add something, do so now."

°Holy, Moly. That evolved into a full-blown ritual. It almost sounds like you're getting married to the big lug. I wonder how he would look in a white wedding gown.° The human mused, giggling.

Mor let out a low chuckle at the humans joke and mentally got ready to trash the bigger boy.

Before the chief could ask the contestants to pick their weapons, Elly and Lize lightly hit Gorn in his sides. "Do something." They almost hissed in unison.

Gorn looked confused for a second, then nodded in understanding and interrupted the chief.

"I have something to say!" He shouted, and Lize sighed in relief.

The chief looked at Gorn and nodded, allowing the guardian to speak.

"I bet three chips on the win of the Soul-kin!" Gorn stated, handing three bone chips over to the chief.

Lize facepalmed at her husband's stupidity, but now it was done, and the betting was on. In the end only Gorn betted on Mor's victory, but he returned to his disappointed wife, full of confidence.

"What was that for? I wanted you to stop this!" Lize hissed.

"Then you should have said something yourself or told me that. But I have confidence, alone with his strength, the Soul-kin has a good chance to win." Gorn said, with a shrug, almost counting his winnings in his head.

"Dad! Thor will kill the Soul!" Elly added.

Gorn nodded and answered, "He will try, but he's far too hot-headed. Look at them."

Both women looked concerned at the two duelants and couldn't distinguish what Gorn saw. In their eyes, both boys looked very concentrated.

The chief set down the freshly acquired bag of betting money and explained the rules.

"Following Ice-kin traditions, you will fight the best of three. Two wins will secure overall victory. The contestants may change their weaponry between each battle, with the winner going first. You will lose the fight if your opponent hits your chest or your head or if you cannot continue fighting. In addition, you can forfeit whenever you like. Now contestants, choose your first weapons!"

While the two boys went over the weapons, a mumbling started in the audience. They talked about which weapons they would choose and nodded in approval when Thor grabbed the training version of a two-handed hammer. Gorn uses the same weapon while hunting, which explained some of the more strange discussions of the evening before to Mor.

°What should we choose?° Mor asked.

°Well, he has reach, so either we match that, or we try to get close up, but I don't know how trained he is in close combat.° The human answered.

°How about short swords? They seem about the length of our lost baton.° Mor asked.

°I think that is something for the second round to really rub it in. Let's start with the spear.° The human said.

°But we never trained with a spear.° Mor cautioned.

°No matter. A spear is one of the most easy-to-use weapons ever designed, just poky side to the opponent and thrust.° The human stated. Mor nodded, deciding to trust the human.

He took up the unfamiliar weapon, weighed it in his hand, and liked the feeling of it.

"Good choice!" A voice from the crowd shouted.

"Shut up, Drop! Those toothpicks are useless!" Another answered.

"Only because you can't differentiate between the blunt and the sharp end!" Drop shouted back while the audience chuckled, and the chief sighed.

After calming down the audience, the chief again talked to the two contestants. One with a two-handed hammer, a wooden head with a 1.2-meter handle, and the other with a 1.7-meter spear, just as big as the smaller contestant.

"Take your positions!" He ordered, and after a bit of confused shuffling on Mor's side and quite a bit of amusement from the crowd, both boys were in position.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ready?" The chief asked, and both contestants nodded, fixing each other with their gazes.

°He's too tense. The first round is ours. Still, keep attention for a surprise,° the human said.

°You're the one moving. I'm supplying magic power.° Mor said.

°Nope, this one is yours. I don't think we need much magic.° The human said.

°So no, body enhancement at the start?° Mor asked.

°No. But I will intervene when necessary.° The human stated.

"Fight!" The chief said.

Thor thundered forward, making a big horizontal swing with his Warhammer, aiming for Mor's chest. The audience cheered at the hot-headed attack, but only one said, "I told you so."

Mor saw the attack coming and wondered why he was even nervous initially. The fight with Ranbor and the flight from the gobbler were far worse. Also, the little bouts with Snow had been a more significant challenge.

While he mused about all those things, the human moved his body, ducking under the wild swing and thrusting the spear forward, hitting Thor on the chest.

°I fucking said pay attention!° The human chided Mor.

°Sorry, I will next time.° Mor apologized.

The first round was over in a second. The chief called Mor's win, and the audience murmured confusedly.

"Very good, he's better than I thought," Gorn said to himself. "Now I really want to see what I could make out of him."

He then chuckled. "I wonder if others have already noticed the potential. Probably not. The Souls are almost allergic to physical combat."

Elly was surprised at the boy's win, and while looking up at her father's smug face, she wanted somebody to explain it to her.

"Second fight! Choose your weapon!" The chief stated.

°Want to go for the jugular?° The human asked.

°Dual short swords?° Mor asked.

°Yeah.° the human said, and Mor switched his spear for two short wooden swords, grinning broadly at the familiar length and weight of those weapons.

°Now, this is my round. It's far less scary if your life is not on the line.° Mor said with an amused tone.

Thor kept his hammer, looking at the Soul-kin boy with a whole different level of venom.

"To your positions!" The chief ordered.

"Ready?"

"Fight!"

Again, Thor rushed forward with another wild horizontal swing, and again, Mor dodged below the swing. This time, though, Thor had changed the attack pattern. Instead of letting the swing carry, he transformed it into a downward strike, forcing Mor to block it with crossed blades. Thor kept up the pressure, forcing Mor down on one knee, and the audience cheered.

°Nice catch!° The human complimented.

With a grunt of effort, Mor pushed the hammer to one side, letting the head smash into the ground, and from his kneeling position, dashed forward, pressing both swords against Thor's chest before the bigger boy could bring his hammer back.

There was dead silence for a moment, then the chief uttered in disbelief.

"Second win, Soul-kin, and with it, the victory of this bout."

The silence held until Gorn loudly celebrated his profitable bet, starting a shouting match in the audience. Many called for an annulment of the bet because the Soul must have cheated, or he could never have won. Mor returned the short swords while the chaos went on and exhaled with a triumphant smile.

°Magic now!° The human suddenly shouted, and Mor flooded his body reflexively with power.

There was a loud smack, and pain flowed through his now outstretched arm as he caught the wooden hammer of Thor right below the head on the handle, holding it perfectly still. Because of the loud smack, this also didn't escape the attention of the chief and of the more attentive villagers.

Thor looked in shock as his surprise attack failed, even more so when the Soul-kin snapped the shaft of the weapon single-handedly, letting the head fall to the ground with a thump.

"And what are you doing?" Mor growled, holding on to the now stick and pulling the bigger boy close without apparent effort.

"Here, I thought you Ice-kin were honorable, so I decided not to use my magic in our duel. Only for you little whiny coward to settle the score afterward?"

Thor wanted to say something, but two big hands landed on each of the boy's shoulders.

"Let it go," Gorn said, a giant shadow behind Mor's frame.

Mor shrugged and let go of the destroyed weapon.

"Keep your mouth shut." the chief growled behind his son. "You have embarrassed me in front of the whole village."

"That's why I didn't want to lose," Thor whispered.

"Be quiet! I don't care if you lose a fair fight! Your cowardly attack embarrasses me! It seems I have to rectify a few errors in your upbringing. Come, we're going home!" the chief stated, pulling his son behind him. Still, the boy's look never left Mor's and grew increasingly furious.

°That's not over.° The human stated, and Mor had to agree with a sigh.

The good thing about the whole fight was that more of the Ice-kin adults now had a semblance of respect for the outsider, even if he was only there temporarily.

"Are you hurt?" Elly asked, concerned.

"No, I'm fine," Mor answered.

"Then I'm relieved, sorry for Thor's stupidity. He's simply under a lot of pressure as the chief's son and doesn't want to show weakness," she quickly explained.

"And that's why I say he's not right for you. You need a man, not a hot-headed idiot." Gron added, making his daughter nod.

"Do you like him?" Mor asked, and again she nodded.

"Then go!" He shouted, startling the girl. "No better time to talk to him than now. Make him think about his actions and his future."

Elly rushed after the chief and his son while Gorn looked disapprovingly at the Soul-kin boy.

"This is not your place to say such things." The grumbled.

"I'm sorry, but you have to trust your daughter. She may be impulsive and doesn't notice boundaries, but I think she has a good heart and a smart head." Mor explained.

"How would you know?" Lize asked, appearing suddenly next to her husband.

"She's your daughter, isn't she?" Mor said as if evidently, making the two adults laugh.

"That is only one more reason to worry," Gorn said, earning another light hit from his wife in protest.