Blood and Scales

Chapter 4 – Mutiny

Aelia felt the murderous looks stabbing into her back like daggers. They had removed the chains around her feet and the mask around her mouth, but not around her hands. In order to keep up with the brutal pace the Lizigoth horde set, she had to hold the chains not attached to her, and was practically sprinting.

Despite that, she could still hear grumbling about how slow they were going.

“I thought you bloodsuckers were supposed to be fast, and strong,” one of the men teased cruelly.

“Did you see her hands?” Another said, “Clearly she’s some sort of hatchling, never worked a day in her life.”

“Quiet,” the woman who was in charge said , Ardera, Aelia remembered after a moment, “You’ll attract the attention of every beast in a mile.”

“I still can’t believe the elders put you in charge,” The biggest of the Lizigoths, Grunna, spat.

Everyone stopped moving at that, and Aelia collapsed to her knees gasping for breath.

“Is this really where you want to challenge me, Grunna? With a child missing?” Ardera asked venomously.

“Of course,” Grunna laughed, “It’s not like you’ll be able to find her, even with your stupid magic.”

Aelia didn’t fully understand what was happening, but everyone’s attention was on the two arguing Lizigoths. She thought this might be her chance to slip away. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the key to her chains. So, having caught her breath she waited for any chance that might present itself.

“Are they finally going to resolve this?” One of the women, this one holding a spear, asked.

“It’s about time.” A man with a bow said.

Grunna and Ardera both drew their swords at the same time. They proceeded to do a complex pattern of slashes and spins with their swords that they had clearly spent a lot of time practicing which finally ended with the blade flat across both their palms.

“I, Grunna, do hereby challenge Ardera for command by the rite of armed combat having come to doubt her ability as a leader.” Grunna intoned. Aelia got the impression that this had been something he’d been practicing for a while.

“I, Ardera, do hereby accept the challenge of Grunna for command and as is prescribed in the rite of combat, only surrender, death, or outside interference may end this rite.” Ardera responded in an equally practiced tone. Aelia had to wonder if this sort of thing was normal for their culture or if this fight had been a long time coming.

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Aelia was stunned when without warning they both ran full speed at each other, their swords a blur of clangs and whooshes. She had only seen such speed from the sword masters in her father’s castle, if they were all this fast, her father’s forces hadn’t stood a chance.

“As expected from the top students of Master Frull,” One of the woman said admiringly, “I wish we had gotten to see these two duel more often.”

Ah, it seems that these two are just particularly good, Aelia realized.

The battle raged on for what Aelia thought was impossibly long. How did they have so much stamina, she found herself wondering. The two were so evenly matched physically, she could see why they were vying for control of the group.

“Get her Grunna!”

“He’s no match for Ardera!”

The lizigoths seemed pretty evenly split as to who they were vying for. Some were being deliberately quiet about who they were hoping would win. Aelia wondered if there was some sort of consequence for vying for one over the other, or if they really weren’t sure who was better.

The two Lizigoths were clearly starting to slow, each gasping for air, and preparing for their final strike. They both unleashed powerful blows that sent them sliding back along the mud. After they had taken a moment to recover, they ran straight back in with vicious swipes and jabs. Aelia couldn’t take her eyes off the Lizigoth woman, every strike, both precise and powerful, was accentuated by the rippling muscle under her scales.

The flurry of barely visible blows finally stopped when Grunna grabbed Ardera’s sword wrist and unleashed a savage kick to her abdomen. Aelia could see the air knocked out of Ardera in the cold night air. She gasped to catch her breath, having sunk to her knees.

Grunna stepped on Ardera’s shoulder pushing her onto her back, and holding the sword at her throat. Ardera’s tunic had been slashed open at some point, and her tight core heaved as she tried to catch her breath. The duel was over, but still Ardera’s steely gaze never wavered as she glared at Grunna.

“You have to choose, ‘Dera,” Grunna said, panting, “us or her. What’s it gonna be?”

“You know I hate it when you call me that, Grunna.” Ardera spat.

Grunna grinned viciously, his blade poised to strike her at any sign of resistance. Ardera snarled at him, but there was little else she could do. She was completely at Grunna’s mercy, but Aelia couldn’t help but admire her grit.

It started to rain heavily, and Aelia saw her opportunity. She knew her chances of survival were better with Ardera, than with Grunna. So she stood up and started running right at Grunna. Her plan had been to tackle him, but one of the women between the two of them turned and her tail swept Aelia’s legs out from under her, and the Vanardis fell flat on her face.

Grunna looked up for a moment, and that was all the distraction Ardera needed. She pulled herself through the mud on her back with a thought and Grunna’s sword just barely missed as he stabbed down where her neck had been. With a complex twist, Ardera was on her feet, and behind him. She kicked his knees from behind with as much force as she could muster and he collapsed to his knees.

“Eat mud, scumbag,” Ardera hissed and shoved his head down into the thick mud, thickening it instinctively so he would stay down.

Ardera ran past her stunned siblings and slung Aelia unceremoniously over her shoulder like a sack of flour, and ran into the heavy undergrowth.

“What are you doing?!” Aelia exclaimed indignantly.

“Shut it, bloodsucker,” Ardera hissed, “or they’ll kill us both.”

“Ardera, you coward!” yelled an enraged and very muddy Grunna, “You’re going to pay for this!”

Aelia shut her mouth as Ardera sprinted away from the angry yells of her cohort.