Sten hefted the frost-enchanted longsword in one hand, and a fire-enchanted axe in the other. “So this is what the two of you have been up all week.” He weighed the weapons in each hand. “I got to tell you, this is pretty great.”

Sten put them back on the table and the line of warriors shuffled closer. I shielded my eyes from the harsh glare of the sun and looked around. Outside the walls the carpenters had been hard at work clearing trees that were too close and could give our enemies cover, converting them into timber frames and furniture. They had also dug ditches outside the walls in a field and put up little wood towers around it.

It had been dubbed ‘The Gauntlet’ by the villagers and hyena people as they had found use for some of the wands we had made that were duds. Instead of casting a spell, all they could do was sputter out sparkles that clung to clothes for a few minutes before vanishing. This led to one of the villagers coming up with an idea.

To train for fighting the gnomes some people would run around going from tower to tower, or hide over dirt walls before popping out to tag the people running in the ditches. For the runners, if they could make it to the end with only sparkles on their shields it was a success.

The kids absolutely loved it. They laughed and ran around with wands in each hand crying out random phrases as they pelted Bent and Maran with pink, blue and green sparkles, tagging them head to toe.

Their parents however had some strong opinions on us double checking they didn’t bring them back to their homes.

I looked over the growing town, my eyes picking out the new and interesting sights. The places built by the dwarves looked solid with some rich character, with little carved gargoyles overhanging houses, looking down on the streets, or people’s favourite forest animals carved into the wooden doors of their homes. The dock had also been extended and one of the carpenters had taken to making a longboat, our soon-to-be trade ship he claimed. The low-sided vessel would do well to navigate the river, hauling goods back and forth, with its first voyage to Swordhaven planned soon for needed supplies. As the woodchips flew over the shoulder of the hardworking shipwright, people sat on the dock whistling tunes with him while they fished up river trout.

It was a lively early spring day, but my focus was on another mystery. A confounding issue that broke my very mind. My arms rested on a wooden fence with several animals and their little sheds inside. One of the stag hares we had taken from the gnomes used its sharp antlers to tear up the barely thawed earth to nibble on roots. My focus was completely on the little house they made for it to rest in, and the egg there.

“The rabbit…laid an egg?” I narrowed my eyes trying to see if there was a trick, perhaps it was one of Rolada’s illusions.

The fox in question leaned against the fence beside me. “That’s what they do. Are there not any like that in your world?”

The typically vicious beast put a big paw against the fence and stretched up, offering its head. I scratched it beside its big bunny ears and the stag hare remained calm, perhaps it was an enigma amidst its kind. “The only rabbit like that is the easter bunny, and that’s a myth. Maybe the stag hare is like a platypus.”

“A plata…what?” Rolada prodded me for more.

“It’s like you stick a duck’s bill on a beaver, it lays eggs, and has venomous spurs on its legs. Oh, and I think I read somewhere they sweat milk and glow in the dark, or maybe that’s in UV light,” I said.

Several nearby folks had stopped their browsing at the newly minted magic gear and looked at me with a mixture of fear and awe. Rolada frowned and tapped her finger on the fence, tracing a rough outline in the frost trying to come to terms with my description.

The fox girl tapped me on the chest and shook her head. “Either you're having a laugh or your gods made a creature when they were black-out drunk.”

“It does seem like that, doesn’t it?” I asked. The stag hare left to go nibble on some more roots and I went back to the tables. Further in the field, a group of villagers practiced with spears, jabbing at imaginary foes, following Yara’s guidance. They had a hardness to their gaze as they attacked, falling back and locking shields when Yara commanded. She noticed me and dipped her head in acknowledgment before going back to calling out strikes.

One of the hyena people, the guy I had seen using a blazing shield charge ability in the dream Zula had shared with me. He held the fire-enchanted battle axe. “You make these weapons to fight gnomes and their beasts, no?” When I nodded he set it down between us. “I am Hassa, bulwark to my pack. I wish to duel you for it. I win, I get it cheap, ten gold. You win, I’ll help you fight your foes and pay full price.”

My hand twitched seeing the hyena man’s fanged maw. I could sense magic on him, his shield obviously had something, but so much of his gear carried a sense of power. He had a bone necklace with a reflective metal disc. Copper and silver buttons down his quilted shirt carried magic too. I would be at several disadvantages too, he was taller, broader in the shoulders and had years of experience, yet I felt a sense of competition.

In my ear, I could hear a whisper in the wind emanating from the earth. “Keeper defends dungeon. Dungeon grows, keeper grows.”

The gathered warriors had grown silent, their interest in us growing by the second and at the edge of the field was the rest of the pack of hyenas, their leader looking at us expectantly, with the rest shifting excitedly, hopping back and forth. The pack wanted a show.

“Like an arm wrestle or boxing?” I asked, calculating my chances of winning. I saw the little magnifying glass icon appear over the hyena man, and a bar started to rapidly fill.

He shook his head. “A normal fight, with our gear.”

Insight check: Failure!

I didn’t get much, but I got that his strength was floating around fifteen, something I could match with buffs. “With weapons, we would cut each other to shreds.” I held up my hands. “I also don’t have claws like you guys.”

Hassa waved over his pack member, Lavandasha the one trained with rune magic. She held her talisman out, and a white rod with writing covering it. As she got closer the shape of the rod clicked with me, it was a bone.

Knowledge Arcane: Failure!

“This is a duelling spell passed onto us from other packs for ritual combat,” she said, turning it around to show me the figures of hyenas fighting. “It places a magic barrier around the two combatants, lessening blows to non-lethal strikes until it breaks, and the winner is decided. Or they push the other out of the ring.”

A sudden surge of movement came up behind me. “May I see it?” Rolada asked, waltzing past me to the table. The hyena girl and Rolada stood off to the side inspecting it, and when she was satisfied she came to my side and nodded. “Looks just like the one they used in college for magic duels. So it’s safe, mostly.”

My feet dug into the cold earth, and I hid a hand in my pocket to hide that I was clenching it. Tightness filled my chest, and there was a wall pushing back on me, telling me to step back.

Sten appeared at my side and motioned for me to lean down. “You can make another axe like that for me, right?”

I half closed my eyes recalling how much we had used over the past few days of enchanting. The distraction was all I needed to push the ill thoughts away. “Probably, but I was going to buy more material from Swordhaven anyway.”

Sten patted me on the back and stepped back out of the way. “Great! Had my eye on it, but I’ll get a custom one from you later, friend.” He stroked his beard confidently and whispered in a low voice. “Good luck. You got this.”

Hassa held out a hand, and I pushed myself to accept it. It was a friendly duel after all, and besides, regardless of the outcome I needed more practice. The folks training with spears made way for us in the training field and I stood a dozen steps from Hassa. A crowd had formed and Sten whistled to himself as he dug up the earth with his pickaxe to make us a roomy dueling circle.

One of the loggers brought over his cart, the wheels creaking over the uneven terrain in the field, and the kids and shorter people stood in the back of it to watch us.

The air crackled with anticipation, charged with the promise of imminent battle. My fingers tightened around the worn hilt of my sword as I faced off against the hyena warrior, a formidable foe standing resolute across the short distance that divided us. My heartbeat quickened, and tension gripped me.

Lavandasha waved her talisman and her bone. “Duelist barrier, maximum strength!”

A whitish ball of mana formed in front of her and split into two. Two lazy bubbles of power floated over to us and grew, turning into a human-sized hamster ball that settled over the top of me. It condensed down making a layer of dim light that followed the movement of my arms, and a full blue-coloured bar appeared in the corner of my vision.

“One buff each before our fight?” Hassa asked. He waited for my approval before waving a hand down his torso. “Protection of fire!” A shiny copper button dulled and he drew his weapon, a regular battle axe.

Ah, I was at a disadvantage then. The pack had listened intently to recounting of the battle with the forest stalkers, and I had caught whiffs of them asking about our fights at the alehouse. Yet I knew little about my opponent. But I could even the playing field. “Mark of the warrior!”

The sudden plunge of mana rushed out and over my chest. The outline of a man with a great axe appeared strength filled my limbs and I widened my stance, levelling the sword towards Hassa.

The hyena warrior lurched to the side and his shield raised with him flicking a stone towards me. The rock was covered in red paint and I dashed to the side hearing it whistle past my ear and pop behind me. Blinding light flashed behind my back and I had to duck as he had closed the distance, shield swinging at my neck. “Blazing charge!”

The air burst into heat behind him, and I dropped to one knee, barely evading his shield. I rolled and the wave of fire rolled over my cloak and shoulders, the heat dimmed to a mild discomfort. The blue bar in the corner of my vision drained down a few ticks, but I got out of the burning ground effect. Through the standing flames, the hyena man appeared again.

I raised the edge of my sword in time, catching Hassa’s weapon under the axe head matching him for might. His brow raised in surprise and the tension in my chest vanished again. The weight of the bigger man pushed down, and with my enchanted might, I could barely hold him back. With a quick kick, I struck him in the knee and broke out of his weapon reach.

Hassa winced and shook out his leg. “Stronger than when I first inspected you. I’m jealous, that’s a helpful spell. But so is this, Mirror Copy!” His necklace flashed, and his outline blurred. Two more hyena men appeared, and they split, rushing at my flanks.

With a flourish of my hand, I summoned a wand, sparks dancing along its length before erupting into a torrent of crackling lightning. The bolts streaked toward the nearest one of the Hassas, but their shield shimmered with protective magic, deflecting the assault effortlessly. Hassa bared his teeth. “That was quick.”

“Or just a lucky guess,” I said, turning my concentration to flicking my wrist with the wand. The jolt spell jumped from him and I angled it at one of the flanking hyenas as I slashed at the other. With my enhanced might one handing the sword was effortless, and the one I attacked darted back, while the bolt struck the one at my other side. There was a loud pop and dust filled the air as the copy was destroyed. The Hassa that had blocked the attack came at me and I was left on the defensive, dodging or poking lightly at the two attacking hyenas. Lightning magic danced down my sword from my elemental weapon talent, the one-minute timer running out before I could land a hit. The stress was building at the base of my neck again, the snapping maws of the hyenas making my heart race.

“Damn, you were not-” I slashed at one only to get parried mid-swing. “-joking about the bulwark part.”

Hassa ducked and shield bashed me right in the face, knocking me back a step. The force felt softened, reduced to a light slap from the broken nose I should have had. “I am the shield of my pack! A master of blocking foes and protecting my shield brothers and sisters!”

A vicious swipe from his axe came down towards my leg and quick on my feet, I darted sideways, narrowly evading a strike that cleaved the ground where I had stood a moment before. Gripping another wand, I aimed a blast of fire toward the attacking Hassa, hoping to test his protection magic. The orb of fire surged forth, only for the second Hassa to dash in at the last moment with his gleaming shield that absorbed the flames without faltering.

Undeterred, I shifted my tactics, jumping high with my boots and tapping the gem on my cloak. “Gust!” Mid-air I used another jolt wand, throwing it down and striking Hassa, the jolt jumped into the second one and burst the copy. The sudden surge of energy coursed through me, empowering the blade of my sword with crackling lightning. With a fierce cry, I dropped down, blade raised, aiming to sever the hyena's defences. “Flame blade!”

Hassa dropped to one knee, shield up. Sparks flew as my weapon met him, a symphony of steel meeting steel. The hyena's shield pulsated with defensive magic, pushing against my onslaught, while his axe whirled dangerously close to my side. His sharp bark shook the earth, and the light on his shield blinded the onlookers. “Absorb!”

The initial burst of fire erupted out of the blade, followed by the small lightning damage buff. The shield drank all the magic of the fire in cancelling it out, but the lightning coursed around the conductive metal shield, and the hyena man’s fur poofed out. The Igni mark left on the shield from my elemental strike blazed and he shoved me back, axe raised high. The moment passed and his ears perked up to the sound of sizzling on his shield.

The secondary blast knocked him on his ass and I charged in unharmed by the spell effect, sword thrusting right at his chest. A wall of dread hit me, enveloping my mind and I stopped dead in my tracks sword tip inches from one of his silver buttons.

Willpower save: Failure!

It had been a spell this whole time. I gritted my teeth and tried to mentally shove back, pushing the tip of the blade ever closer. Despite how hard I pushed I couldn’t break through it and Hassa slapped the edge of my sword away.

The silver button steamed and glowed red hot, and Hassa snarled, backing away and slashing it off with his axe. The fear that gripped my heart instantly vanished and the hyena barked a foul sound.

“Language!” Zula yelled from her seat at her pack member.

Sweat trickled down my brow, so some kind of fear aura with a side effect. With it now gone I pushed harder, my mind racing to find a weakness in Hassa’s defenses. I was mostly a one-trick pony with fire magic, leaving me to just bash against the brick wall that was the hyena warrior. The bile in my throat told me mana blight was wreaking havoc on me, and another big spell cast could be a disaster. Hassa tried to toss another stone at me and I managed to nick the side of his arm.

The attack let martial momentum kick up to its full state, the plus two to strength and dexterity from the passive buff aiding each slash, stab and parry. Hassa was incredibly fluid moving and twisting the axe and shield to catch each strike, a testament to his years of training. But the added buffs I had were too much, just letting me bash into his shield with my pommel again and again, driving him back foot by foot towards the edge of the arena.

The added agility let me twist and twirl faster than he could move, letting me block his more skillful attacks with raw speed. Each time he broke away to touch a button or grab a stone again I sent a produce fire or one of my remaining jolts from a wand, forcing him to block again.

“Getting sick yet mage?” Hassa wheezed, evading a stab at his knee.

“Not too bad here,” I huffed, twisting out of his axe’s reach. “Wands barely build up mana blight. Hey, on your left.” The call made him flinch left and I grabbed the edge of my sword and slammed the cross guard into his shoulder just beyond the reach of his protective shield.

Hassa staggered, his shield arm slacking for a crucial moment, the protection against fire spell waning. Sensing an opportunity, I channelled all my remaining strength into a final overpowering strike. “Flame blade!” My sword crackled with unleashed power as it sliced through the chilled air, setting it ablaze with light, shattering the protection spell in a burst of magical energy. The force was so strong I knocked his shield right off his arm into the air, seeing that the straps on it had been loosened.

Which left me completely open as Hassa put his back into a two-handed cleave.

The axe head slammed into my chest, the dragon scale armour shaking violently as the air was torn from my lungs. The blow was softened by the barrier and I hit the ground with a dull thud, with the air around me cracking. The blue bar was dangerously low, and the barrier had started to splinter and crack apart.

The Igni mark on his shield went off, the area of effect catching him, and obscuring his vision in flames. With a final Hail Mary, I threw my sword at Hassa, striking him in the forehead and kicked with my foot, knocking his axe out of his hand. His barrier cracked, both of ours now at their limits and we separated, got to our feet and charged, swinging our fists in the air and catching each other in the jaw.

Light flashed in the dueling circle and the barriers shattered, kicking up a cloud and leaving us standing there facing the other.

Breathless and confused we lowered our fists and scratched our heads. I looked around, seeing how torn up the ground was from our fight. The crowd erupted into cheers, excited at the show. The dust settled around us, obscuring us and I stumbled back, holding up a hand as Hassa tried to follow. The rapid use of magic had boiled over and I turned to retch behind me. The spittle added to the mess, and my saliva glowed red and orange, pulsing with light. The woozy feeling of mana blight waned, and I held my brow.

A very confused Zula approached with my sword and Hassa’s axe, handing them back to us. Then she lightly swatted at the back of my head. “Bah, mages always fighting with flashy magic. You made such a mess we couldn’t tell who won!”

Hassa rolled his shoulders and let out a barking laugh. “Neither could I! That last blast kicked up so much dirt into my eyes I was fighting mostly blind there. That was fun!” He grabbed at my hand and vigorously shook it. “We should train more together, you're a perfect foe for me. Heavy attacks and magic against my defensive talents and endurance. Those flaming blade strikes and the aftershocks are really something.”

Once I was able to break free of his grip I noticed an absent piece of equipment. “Where did your shield go?”

The sound of a dwarf cursing came from the docks, the shipwright holding the hyena’s shield overhead before throwing it out of his ship. A deep crack in the shape of a shield was in the side of the vessel.

Hassa wrung his hands together and gave me a sly smile. “So, call it a draw? I get a discount and I’ll still help?”

I held out a hand and smiled. “Why not? I need all the practice I can get.”

The pack gathered around the table and Hassa lifted the flame enchanted battle axe high. The corners of my mouth raised, glad to see the joyful expressions in their eyes and they looked over the new weapon.

I tapped Lavandasha on the shoulder and held up my scabbard. “Think I can hire your services? It's about time I fixed up this guy.”

The slim hyena woman cracked her knuckles. “To restore such a weapon would be a great test of my ability. Soon you will be rending apart foes with ice and fire!”

Now that, sounded great to me. Rolada and Yara were nearby and I jogged over to them and checked around. “Hey, don’t tell Lin, but I might be digging into the treasury.”

Yara leaned against her halberd and her amethyst eyes narrowed. “Getting an upgrade are we? And your wife has to sit here with her plain old weapon while everyone gets their new gear.”

Rolada put an arm around my waist and tapped my side. “Oh, don’t worry. We got all the duds out of the way, now we can enchant awesome gear! What do you need? Frost to freeze your foe's legs, or a bit of fire to set your foes ablaze?”

Yara’s eyes lit up, the warrior demoness stood up to her full height and fangs flashed into view. “Show me the list.” When we pulled up what we could do, which was mostly just adding extra elemental damage, resistances or some low-level spells she started to tap her fingers, calculating. “How much material do we have left?”

Rolada and I shrugged at each other.

“We can probably get six or seven more out,” I said. I looked at the longship and scratched at my chin. “As soon as we can set up trade with Swordhaven we can get more. I just have a fire axe I promised Sten.”

Yara stepped between us, putting her arms around us and used her tail to hold her weapon. She started to laugh deep in her gut, and she stared at the horizon. “I want to rip the grins right off those bastard’s faces. I think I like having some cute mages around to hook me up with enchantments.”

She gave us a squeeze with Rolada’s lungs getting emptied. The fox girl tried to wiggle out, to little success. “We can’t help you if we suffocate.”

Yara let her go and patted her on the head. She pulled me tighter into the hug, and the warrior mark on my chest vanished, and I too was squeezed out of air. “For you, I have some critiques I need to give in private.” Her tail wrapped around my waist and she headed for the dungeon while holding onto me with Rolada at our heels.