Battle Rage
“Only if you can defeat me.”
The words were calm. Their implication was terrifying. On the one side of arena C stood Borkel the great; Borkel the barbarian. On the opposite side stood three misplaced adventurers: Lirsti, Illuvetar and Dunrr the dwarf.
Lirsti sighed and facepalmed.
Illuvetar stroked his chin pensively.
Dunrr looked for escape routes… to not avail.
“Choose your weapons,” said Borkel, gesturing to an arms rack to the side.
Awkwardly, the three made their way to the rack while the stadium chairs roared – eager for it to get on to the bloody bit.
Dunrr was first to take a weapon. He and his kinsmen were wieldful with a warhammer and he chose accordingly – feeling the weight of the steel in his hands. Illuvetar favoured the light blade of some sort of sword. Lirsti was hesitant. He couldn’t make up his mind. Eventually he dismissed the weapon rack and chose nothing.
The starting trumpet sounded and, almost immediately, Borkel was charging at them.
“Wait!” shouted Illuvetar, making Borkel stop. “This isn’t fair.”
“What isn’t fair?” asked Borkel in confusion.
“There are three of us and one of you,” explained Illuvetar.
“You’re right,” said Borkel in a gruff voice. And then to the judges, “Give these men some backup.”
The official nodded and gestured to the arena master. Soon there were three clunky robots freshly wound up, standing beside the three adventurers. Dunrr gave a distrustful look at the nearest one.
Once again, the starting trumpet blew causing Borkel to kick into a charge.
“Attack!” shouted Lirsti at the aly-bots. The three robots looked back at him and retreated. Lirsti was incredulous but he didn’t have much time for that because Borkel was upon them. Dunrr was the first in line and just as well because he made a good block with his weapon. Borkel’s weapon was used to getting its way so it was surprised when this dwarf blocked it so well. Yes, Dunrr lost his footing but so did the barbarian.
Illuvetar came at Borkel as the opportunity gave way and from the other side came Lirsti wielding a charged ball of static in his two hands. Borkel recovered his footing and simultaneously swung his great arm – knocking the two off their feet.
Lirsti let go of the lightning ball he had been holding and it struck Borkel who merely absorbed the spell without a hint of ill-effect.
“What?” said Illuvetar getting up. “How did he survive that?”
“It looks like he’s got a strong anti-magic charm on him,” postulated Lirsti.
“How are we going to defeat him now?”
Dunrr, who had been in a daze from the initial collision, recovered. Not only did he recover, he also dissolved into a fit of battle rage. With newfound energy, he ran at Borkel. And Lirsti saw something at that moment. The charm had not only protected Borkel, it had also strengthened him. Dunrr was rushing to his doom.
“No! Dunrr, get back!”
But Dunrr did not get back. And because of that one disobedience, an unexpected thing happened. The star tattoo on his shoulder began to glow.
TaleTurner 