Victor of Tucson

“Hah!” the queen barked, her voice surprisingly deep and powerful. “This one has lost his nerve. What’s the matter? Don’t want to lose that pretty crown your queenie put on your head? Didn’t know she’d pit you against two devil-blooded war-hounds? Too late to save the embarrassment, but at least die like a man.” The crowd couldn’t resist a reaction to the drama; murmurs, laughter, and even jeers began to break out. Only Lohanse, flying a fast circle around the arena, glaring down at the thousands of spectators, brought back the silence.

Of course, her words and the crowd’s reaction triggered the heat of Victor’s rage-attuned Energy, and he had to concentrate for a moment to push it back before he spoke again. He glared up at the queen, trying to see her eyes beneath the ridiculous beak of her slotted helmet visor. “As you wish. These deaths are on your hands.” With that, he dropped Lifedrinker off his shoulder and held her ready in two hands. As Queen Madge chortled, he looked at Lohanse and nodded. “I am ready.”

Victor hadn’t been sure how he wanted to handle this fight. Should he go “all out?” How much should he hold back? Should he draw things out? The queen’s response to his words had settled the debate in his mind. These two men were brave and full of pride, but they didn’t realize how badly they were outclassed. Victor had read dossiers on them. Or, more honestly, he had Brynn read the dossiers and give him a summary. They were both bruisers—powerful men who could take a pounding and dish one out, too.

Hunt could create Energy barriers and perform an action similar to Victor’s new Guardian’s Rescue spell. He had a dozen deadly abilities he could employ through his warhammer, and, according to some rumors, he could regenerate his health to some degree. Vo Brahn, on the other hand, was a berserker.

He had a Spirit Core entirely focused on hatred, which was a rage-related attunement but rooted in deep, simmering resentment or malice. Where Victor’s rage was explosive and passionate, a berserker with hate-attuned Energy driving their madness was, according to Tes, more cunning and remorseless. A man without any balance for such an affinity wasn’t likely to be a pleasant individual.

None of it mattered. Queen Madge had sealed these men’s fates. Victor twisted his hands on Lifedrinker’s haft and built a spell pattern in his pathways, waiting for the Judicator’s signal. He watched the two men, one with beady black eyes, the other with luminous green orbs beneath his helmet’s visor. They looked ready. Their stances were low, their posture forward, and Victor could feel the Energy building in their pathways. When Lohanse shouted, “Fight!” all three exploded into action.

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Tes watched the challengers down below. They fidgeted idly while the crowd’s clamor made their quiet conversation impossible to hear. She could cast a spell to listen to their words, but she didn’t need to. A delicate probe, just a tiny tendril of her aura, was all she needed to pierce their veils and see that Victor would prevail in the fight to come. Their equipment was fine—sturdy, Energy-rich materials with potent enchantments, but their armor wouldn’t stop Lifedrinker. The axe had grown hungry, and she had the teeth to feed herself.

“Hello, Lady Tes,” the queen said as she sat down. “I missed you at the Rannisday Celebration. I’d hoped Victor would bring you.”

“My apologies, Your Majesty, but I thought I’d be intruding and didn’t want Victor to feel burdened by me, him being my only acquaintance in this world.” In truth, Tes hadn’t wanted to perform a dance like this one, especially when, at the time, she’d only been on the planet for a month.

“We’ll have to remedy that.” Kynna nodded toward the arena. “Here comes our champion.”

Tes turned to see Victor striding in, clad in his ornate blue-black armor. A glint of something shiny on his chest drew her eye as he lifted a fist and turned to bask in the crowd’s adulation. She peered more closely, using her peerless dragon senses to study the lovely little rose broach. It was the signet of Gloria, so she supposed it made sense that he’d wear it as their champion. Still, it was awfully gaudy for a bloody brawl in an arena.

Thinking about it and Kynna’s knowing smile, she put it together rather quickly. “Lovely sapphires. It’s rare to find such bright, yellow ones.”

Kynna beamed at her. “Why, thank you! It belonged to an ancestor: Ranish Dar’s first daughter.”

Tes nodded, smiling delicately at the queen. “An heirloom? I’m sure Victor will keep it safe.” As if he didn’t have enough to worry about! She wanted to scold the queen but knew the game too well to fall into that trap.

“I’m sure he will.”

Tes nodded, resting her chin on her fist as she leaned on the arm of her seat. Was Kynna making a statement? Was she marking her “territory?” Tes almost frowned, but she was too disciplined for that. Let the queen have her fun; Tes knew where Victor’s heart lay, even if she couldn’t do anything about it yet. Of course, the thought reminded her of her obligations and her conflicting principles, and that nearly brought a frown to her face. The judicator, a veil walker of middling strength, was giving his spiel, and Tes tuned him out, focusing on Victor.

He stood easy—relaxed. He knew he was more than a match for these two men. One was a hateful brute, the other a…more durable brute. No, brute was the wrong word for the man in the silver armor. He wasn’t particularly clever, but he wasn’t an animal. She could find pity in her heart for him. When Kynna signaled her intention to follow the rules, and the other queen did as well, Tes felt the tension increase in the box. Not everyone was so sure Victor would win. She looked at Bryn—a woman she’d grown to like a great deal—and said, “He’ll be fine.”

Bryn looked at her and smiled nervously, nodding. “I hope so. At least he’s wearing armor this time. You missed some bloody fights, Lady Tes.”

The queen nodded, clearly wanting to be included in the conversation. “Fear not, Bryn. He’s assured me that he’s done playing about.”

Tes smiled, careful not to show her face to the queen. On the sands below, Victor was walking toward the far side. When he shouted, offering the Queen of Bandia a final chance to forfeit the duel, Tes clicked her tongue and sighed. “He’s so idealistic.” When the Queen of Bandia made a mockery of his gesture, she saw the heat of his Core and watched as he pushed most of the rage back into it. He clung to some threads, though; he was angry.

“I told him she wouldn’t accept the offer,” Kynna sighed.

Tes looked at her. “He asked you about this?”

“Oh yes. I could see he didn’t want to fight these men, but when I looked into his eyes, I knew it wasn’t fear but pity driving him.”

Tes narrowed her eyes. Perhaps this woman was cleverer than she thought. “You saw that, did you?”

“I did.”

Tes nodded and looked back at Victor. She saw a familiar pattern taking shape in his pathways. “Watch closely, Your Majesty. This will happen quickly.”

Before Kynna could reply, the judicator shouted, “Fight!”

Tes sped up her mind, and the world slowed in her perception. She saw the spike-clad warrior, the hateful brute, flare with red, seething Energy as his body expanded with tremendous muscles. She saw the silver-clad giant slam his shield downward as an Energy barrier expanded out of it, protecting his forward arc. But, at the same time, she saw Victor flare with white-gold Energy as he moved. His actions were like lightning, but he was easy to track with her enhanced cognition.

He darted forward, and while the baleful red Energy expanded through the brute, Victor hacked Lifedrinker through his knee, severing it. The man tilted to the side, but Lifedrinker was already up and descending toward his neck. She split his spiked gorget and slipped through the meat of his flesh like a cleaver through a piece of fowl. Even before the berserker’s Energy had finished surging through his body, he was dead.

As the brute’s corpse hung in the air, blood still erupting out of the wounds Lifedrinker had inflicted, Victor moved in an arc around the silver-clad warrior, and a tremendous clang rang out as the axe slammed into his back. Clang, clang, clang—Victor lifted and dropped Lifedrinker three more times, pounding the giant forward as the axe bit deeper with each blow. Gasps around her told Tes that the other spectators had finally begun to realize something was happening.

She slowed her mental operations to a normal pace and watched Victor move to stand behind his toppled enemies, Lifedrinker resting on his shoulder. While the Energy and blood fled his foes, Bryn gasped, “What happened?”

Kynna, too, was dumbstruck. “Did—did he hit them? I heard a crash, but I missed…” She trailed off as the crowd began to realize what had happened, and gasps and murmurs broke out, giving way to scattered shouts—some outraged and some exuberant.

“He slew them, Queen Kynna, and now you know why Victor’s heart was heavy. He’s not a butcher; he took no joy in this battle.” It was true. Victor was stomping out of the arena, crowned head down, axe on his shoulder, her blade dripping into the sand.

“Is he angry?” Bryn asked.

Tes was trying to think of an answer for her, but then the crowd started to chant—first a small section, but it spread rapidly. Before Victor was out of the arena, the roar of thousands of voices shouting, “Victor, Victor, Victor!” slowed his steps, and he halted. He looked up at the crowd, and though he didn’t smile, he lifted Lifedrinker high in both hands and pumped her up and down in time with the chant.

Tes smiled and shook her head. “He’s not angry now, but I think the other queen’s mockery irritated him. Otherwise, I don’t think he would have ended this so quickly. Still, perhaps it’s for the best.” Tes looked at Kynna. “He kept your flower safe, at least.”