“Round two!” the Commander called, not waiting for Edovan to fully regain his breath. He spun to face his opponent and readied his next spell. Mountains had staged herself on the far end of the circle, and had placed as much space between them as possible. Edovan was alert, wondering what she was planning.
The Commander held the marker in her outstretched hands, ready to let it fall it without any hint of warning. The second it left her hands, Mountains rushed towards him from her position, covering ground quickly as she charged. Ah, so that was her game: achieve maximum acceleration to cross the line the moment the marker touched down, and to continue toward him at full speed. Edovan spoke a word of power and raised his right hand to the sky before bringing it down clenched, as if he was grabbing something and tearing it down. Both his hands crackled with electricity, the strong smell of ozone filling the air all around him.
Mountains grimaced as she slowed her headlong charge, seeing the thin bolt of lightning arcing downward to her from the clear cloudless sky. Her instincts to watch him closer paying off as she muttered under her breath, “Damn mages...” She raised the shield over her head just in time to intercept it, and the magic impacted.
Everyone but Edovan and those who had fought mages (who knew the spell was flashy but had nowhere near the destructive potential of a real bolt of lightning) gave a collective gasp as they expected her to be fried to a crisp on the spot. But instead, the split second the bolt touched the shield, it just simply vanished--without a sound. It simply evaporated into nothingness.
Everyone was stunned by this turn of events, most of all Edovan, who had almost no time to react as Mountains’ bare foot came arcing through the air as she whirled, taking advantage of his shock, and caught him square across his chest. His reaction time was quite good, but her speed was astonishing. He was able to see her foot hurtling toward him in perfect detail, but also completely unable to get out of its way. All he could do was take a moment to brace before all the air was knocked from his lungs. Pain burned in him, and he swore he felt a rib crack as the force lifted him up off his feet, hurtling him through the air and into the surprised crowd behind him.
He’d never been so thankful for the throng of women that had gathered on his side of the ring. Honed combat reflexes kicked in as he sailed their direction and he was caught by a large, well-endowed blonde. He stared as she brought him down, her full lips and very pretty face taking him in its moment, this beauty who snatched him out of the sky like a prize thrown to a crowd at a festival. She clutched him to her bosom, giggling like a schoolgirl and grinning from ear to ear as several other women stared at her with daggers in their eyes. “I’m Holgret,” she said, and she buried him in her cleavage till his lungs burned for air. His small arms were pinned to his sides, making it completely impossible for him to struggle and much less free himself. Just as he was about to pass out she released him and let him fall unceremoniously to the ground.
Every part of him was in pain. He lay there, unmoving, until he felt something hard pressing into the side of his head. When he blearily opened his eyes he saw the Commander towering over him, her long shapely mail clad leg and booted foot nudging carelessly and somewhat painfully against his prominent cheek bone.
“Ow,” was his only response.
“Mouse... can you still fight?” she asked him. “Otherwise, I have to call it.”
Edovan answered by clutching her foot in his hands and struggling to his knees, hauling himself up her leg till he was shakily upright. But, still beneath her as she stood, straddling his small tousled head. She looked down at him with an amused grin as his hands clutched her mailed thighs, reaching perilously higher and higher placements. She kept her mirthful smirk, and made no move to disentangle him or move away from him. Edovan could feel the waves of jealousy rolling off the other women, but none of them dared say so much as a peep to the woman known as the Dragon. Edovan steadied himself and then let go of her.
“I can fight,” he said and then winced as he felt the broken bone in his rib pang.
“As you wish,” said the Commander as she returned to her place, overseeing the match.
“Eddo... you don’t look so good,” Staan observed as he knelt down in front of his little friend.
That was an understatement. The little mage looked like he had been hit by a four-horse carriage and then drug behind it. Edovan pointed at his staff and motioned for the large man to hand it to him. Gripping its familiar wooden heft, he recalled his healing school training. He spoke a few words and a pearlescent light emanated from the staff. It bathed him in its silvery glow, warm and comforting. It was more of a regeneration than a “clutch” heal, as his old healing instructor used to call it, but with each pulse of the silvery light he felt his strength returning. More a blessing as well, the pain in his side lessening. With his injuries on the mend he was able to finally focus on the most important thing about that last match, her shield.
He handed the staff back to Staan before turning to face his opponent. He stared as hard as he could at that shield but still couldn’t see any runes or magic on it. Still, it somehow had not only negated but dissipated his lightning bolt? Was there anything else it hid from him? Anything that stood out? He had to think fast. If she really did have a shield that had anti-magic properties then he was definitely at a severe disadvantage, especially since that was all he had at his disposal.
As the commander retook her position, she held out her hand once more with the marker, ready to begin the final match. He tried one last time to discern anything he could about that strange shield. It was rough, almost thrown together and handmade, much the same as goblin arms and armor from his humanoids class. He remembered they had said in school that this was because goblins weren’t great smiths. They lacked the ability to work with hardened steel like the artisans of man and mer. They would literally bang on things they scavenged, forcing the metal into unnatural shapes by sheer force. Her shield was similar in appearance, though he doubted very much it was goblin in origin. It had to be very exotic indeed if the Orcish smith in the upper yard couldn’t work with it. Orcs were some of the finest smiths there were in all of Tamriel, and no self respecting orc would have let anything out of his shop looking like that! But they also wouldn’t work with certain metals, like the strange burnished bronze metal that almost everything dwemer was made of. It’s melting temperature was higher than any normal forge could reach, and the dwemer method of forging it had been lost along with their entire race when they all vanished thousands of years ago.
His eyes suddenly focused in on her shield as the Commander’s hand dipped down in preparation for the upward toss. If it had been a burnished bronze color he would have easily recognized it as dwemer. But, because it was a dark lustrous silver, he had dismissed that possibility. Was it possible that this was some hybrid dwemer alloy? Something that negated magic like it did? Perhaps like whatever that room was made of that the Commander had commandeered as an office? He had assumed it had been done through powerful enchantments, but what if it was something done by the properties of the metal itself.
Perhaps Utha had somehow gotten her hands on piece of it and beat it into shield shape herself? Just for this occasion, no doubt. She was a crafty one, in addition to her considerable physical ability. Edovan took it as a little point of pride that she would go to such trouble to counter his considerable magical ability. It wasn't that she didn't see him as a threat. It was that she saw him as such a powerful threat that she had gone to great lengths to engineer a plan against him. But plans could be countered. And with that, the Commander launched the marker skyward.
* * * * *
The crowd was insane at this point. Some were cheering Edovan, some… even women, were cheering Utha. But everyone was watching intently, almost afraid to blink as the marker plummeted to earth. The last two rounds had happened so fast, they had been over in seconds and nobody wanted to miss what would happen next. It had not been a slaughter as many first suspected it to be. The little mage had taken the first round and then been sent flying in the second. This was the crowning moment. Though few doubted at this point that the little Bosmer had enough courage, guts and skill to join the guild. Now they were wondering if he was powerful enough to actually win this thing!
The marker landed and Mountains did not immediately charge this time. She was hanging back and biding her time, as if to let the mage go first. His hands blazed once more through a series of learned movements and several words of power passed from his lips. But nothing appeared, there was no response. Had she canceled his magic somehow? He did not seem disturbed by the lack of any visible magic on his part, and had moved to casting a second spell. Mountains looked as confused as the crowd. She had raised her shield instinctively to ward against his first cast, only to lower it when nothing had happened. But now something was happening. He spoke a word of power and a small swirl of smoke emerged from the ground in front of him. It got bigger as it swirled, opening to reveal a dark portal of a sort, sizzling with the same shadowy energy from the attack he had used to first bring her down.
Something was rising from the portal within the growing column of swirling smoke. Several in the crowd took a step back as a large bipedal reptilian creature emerged and lifted its head. It opened its huge slavering jaws and emitting a low clicking, guttural sound. It was big, easily twice as tall as the mage who had summoned it, and almost a head taller than Mountains herself! She had a very perturbed look on her face as she watched it stand to its full height, fixing its black soulless eyes on her. She seemed to be looking to the Commander for some kind of guidance as to whether summoning such a beast was even legal, but the only thing the Commander was doing was looking at the little mage with her pupils dilated and her mouth half open. Mountains turned back toward the beast, who seemed to be waiting on some sort of command from its owner. Edovan, to whom the beast was waiting, had his own look of extreme confusion painted over his face.
The mage finally closed his open mouth and made a motion toward Mountains. The beast reared its leathery triple horned head and gave a blood curdling shriek before charging straight at her. She deftly moved away from its first two lunges, its claws and snapping jaws, and tried to sidestep it. The beast appeared to be purposefully staying between her and the mage as she tried to dodge and keep it away. Suddenly, she seemed to take a page from Baryk’s playbook against her as she dove between its legs: tucked, rolled, and came up behind it in a crouching position to take a step toward the little mage.
Edovan could clearly see that she was aiming to incapacitate him directly rather than deal with his summons, practically ignoring the sinister-looking creature. But, the second she crossed the invisible line between them the ground exploded underneath her foot with a loud roar as the air crackled. The blast released crystal fragments suffused with tendrils of a dark energy that flew outward in all directions. The crowd covered their faces to hide from this display of magical shrapnel, but the blast was contained to a small radius.
Mountains staggered for a second, nearly caught in the center of the blast, and then resumed her path. Another explosion impacted her and knocked her backward, just as the beast rounded on her from behind. Quickly she dropped to one knee and hurled her shield directly at the mage’s head. He saw the spinning disc sailing toward him in just the right moment and barely managed to dodge to the side. It was not a clean dodge. Everyone winced at the odd metallic sound of it glancing off the side of his skull. The shield deflected into the crowd, felling some onlooker with an audible “oof” noise as they caught it in the chest. The little wood elf reeled, clearly stunned as blood welled from a long cut on the side of his head.
The beast took the edge and leapt high into the air behind her in the attempt to land its large and formidable rear talons on the amazon’s back. She wasn’t so easily beaten, and with a snarl she rolled to the side at the last second. Just like Edovan though, she also didn’t make a clean escape. One taloned foot struck, landing squarely on the single long tassel of cloth that hung down the front of her bottom garment and pinned it to the ground. As she rolled to the side the cloth caught and pulled free of its knot and the entire bottom garment unraveling in a flash. Before she realized what had happened, Mountains rolled to her feet--completely bottomless.
At first the crowd let out a collective gasp, but quickly began to titter. It wasn’t her nudity that caused them to giggle collectively before many began to outright laugh. It was her meticulously sculpted thatch of immaculately trimmed blonde pubic hair that had been carefully shaped into a perfect heart… and more importantly the letters shaved out of it. Clearly marked for everyone to see.
Mountains either didn’t appear to know what had happened or didn’t care, at least until she turned around and saw the beast snatching a long red piece of cloth off the ground in its maw, a piece of cloth that looked exactly like the one she had been wearing... around her waist… that was hers!!!
* * * *
Edovan was fighting at least THREE amazons, with three ridiculously giant clanfears, or... at least that’s what he was hazily witnessing. His eyes strained to take in the fuzzy details, both mentally and visually stunned. His pained head still couldn’t be sure what was up with his magic. Clanfears were minor summons, moderately-sized reptiles meant to harrass. They were supposed to be barely as tall as him. The best he had hoped for was a momentary distraction while he came up with a better plan, and instead he got a creature that could eat a horse! He winced, his head still throbbing and his ears were ringing. All three shaking, hazy Uthas were trying to wrestle several pieces of red cloth out of the mouth of all three clanfears while the crowd erupted in laughter around him. What was so funny? He couldn't tell. He watched as all the Uthas quickly cartwheeled and pivoted around the clanfears while still holding onto the red cloths. In just a few seconds the cloths had bound the beast’s mouths shut and been wrapped around its mostly useless arms before they were slammed to the ground. He was a bit more concerned when the Uthas, as one, bent down and picked up the tangled clanfears and hurled them into the terrified crowd simultaneously. It was then that he remembered that there was only one Utha, and only one clanfear. And the one Utha was moving toward him now at a terrifying speed. It was also then that the he realized the one Utha wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing below her waist.
Trying desperately to ignore her nakedness, (which was difficult when it was mostly his eye level) he quickly moved to the side as placing the location of his last remaining invisible daedric mine between them with the hope it might slow her down, or catch her off guard somehow. Just maybe he could buy himself enough time for the last trick up his sleeve. As Mountains came toward him, he watched her eyes. He saw she noticed him dodge, tracking him as he no doubt appeared to move for what seemed to be no reason
She looked at the ground in front of him and sneered. “You mages and all your sneaky little tricks. You’ve got another mine there. Don’t think I don’t know it.”
They circled each other slowly, keeping about six feet of distance between them with the mine in the middle. Edovan was having difficulty focusing on her words as he took notice that not only was she bare, but that there were letters shaved into her pubic hair. His vision was still too blurry to make them out, but it affected him nonetheless.
“You are nothing without your magic.” she snarled, “You are weak. You don’t deserve her!” She made a quick feint to the left but he sidestepped out of her grasp and put the mine between them once again. She roared at him in anger “You should go back to your forests where you came from! Nobody wants you here! Nobody needs you here!”
She was practically shaking with rage now. Edovan, even in his fuzzy mental state, could tell this was an outpouring of long pent up thoughts and emotions, bottled to its breaking point. They continued to circle each other warily.
“You’re nothing special! I don’t know what she even sees in you… Just because you’re... small… and... cute and...”
* * * * *
Something was happening to Mountains. Her mind felt fuzzy. Her pupils dilated and her breath quickened. Her mouth felt dry and her skin hot. She was suddenly hyper aware of her nakedness as she towered over the little bosmer while they warily circled each other. Hyper aware of how close he was... of the fact that he was trying to focus on her face but his eyes keep darting downward of their own volition. And she liked it! Beads of sweat were forming on her brow, and even though she was only clad with a single strip of cloth around her upper torso (that barely contained heras it were) she somehow felt like even that was too warm and confining.
What was wrong with her? This was her enemy! A speck to be crushed! Why did she suddenly feel remorse for the gash on the side of his head? She didn’t even like men! There was only one person she wanted and this bosmer was the one standing in her way! Or at least that’s what she used to think, wanted to think. Right now she just wanted to end this silly fight. He was obviously strong enough... even brave enough! Maybe she could talk to him after? But, she didn’t want to lose. It didn't matter how much she might like him right now..She still had to prove she was the best. In fact, the idea of defeating him was beginning to turn her on.
* * * * *
The fog in Edovan’s mind was clearing as they circled each other in their tense little dance that kept the mine between them. Sometimes they changed directions, sometimes stopping entirely for a few seconds; neither moving as each one tried to guess the other's next move. Edovan was doing his best to keep his eyes focused on her face. He watched her gaze for any hint of intent, but his own eyes kept being drawn down to her bare bush. It wasn’t for salacious reasons. He was still trying to make out those letters, but she kept turning her torso sideways to him for her fighting stance and she shifted so rapidly to the other side he never caught them.
He also noticed that she noticed he was looking. He fully expected this to enrage her even further, but instead she smiled slyly? Was that right, were his eyes playing tricks? He was so confused at this point. At first she seemed to hate him completely and now she was visibly appreciating that he was looking at her naked torso. It was certainly a welcome development in terms of his physical safety, but he hadn’t even figured out why she had hated him in the first place yet! That wasn’t the only odd thing he had noticed; his mind processing as fast as it could. Mountains was suddenly sweating and absent mindedly pulling at her only remaining strip of clothing in a very distracting fashion. She was licking her lips too... And her gaze no longer looked murderous. It looked--hungry.
His mind snapped to sharp realization. “Oh no,” he whispered under his breath. Not her too? Was she under the effect as well? Edovan didn't know how he felt about that. She was attractive for sure, but definitely a little too dangerous for him. And besides, he was already in love. His heart of hearts belonged to Yagaritte. It also meant that this was no longer a fair fight, and he definitely had strong feelings about that. Any kind of spell or magical item was fair game, but this… effect he was having on women--If even the Commander herself had fallen to it then nobody could withstand it.
He knew then what he had to do. He had to forfeit. The Commander knew about him; she would understand. But just as he was about to take the knee and yield, Mountains sprang forward.
The mine detonated beneath her with a sharp explosion of sizzling darkness, and a spray of crystal shards leapt into her. She spasmed for a split-second in midair as the magic impacted, but she continued forward. She was propelled by her own momentum and the force of the mine, the center of which had been slightly behind her when it went off. Edovan tried to quickly backpedal out of her way; but to his horror, even with his enhanced combat reflexes he watched her sail through the air toward him faster than he could react. He watched it coming, as if in slow motion, observing his own end. But much like with her foot earlier, he was completely unable to do anything about it. Her long legs were spread wide, her large and completely bare vagina quickly filling up his entire field of vision. The last thing he saw before his face disappeared into the darkness between her thighs were the letters clearly shaven into her heart shaped flaxen thatch:
U + Y
* * * * *
(Now most people would think that vaginas are soft, and for the most part they would be right. But the thing that they forget about vaginas is that they are generally soft in the middle and on the inside. Not so much around the outer periphery, which is mostly a ring of thinly concealed pelvic bone, of a variety so thick and heavy that on a normal healthy young person it is very difficult to break. Utha was of course very young, and very healthy, and a Nord. So it was, that when her upper pubic bone contacted Edovan’s face just above the bridge of his nose, it was with almost the same amount of force as her foot had imparted to his ribs earlier. The much smaller more fragile bones above his nose--they didn’t have a chance.)
He was never able to appreciate her warmth against his face or the slick wet feel of her labia spreading out over his cheeks, nose, and mouth; or even drink in her dark earthy scent. He didn’t even feel the instant involuntary clench on her part as she felt his small face penetrating into her then quivering folds. Instead his face exploded in exquisite pain, blood gushed from his nose and behind his closed eyelids his vision was filled with stars. And then he saw even more stars as he hit the ground on his back with 300 pounds of now aroused nord woman literally on his face. His last thought before the darkness took him was the letters. It was obvious now why she hated him; why she had tried to stop him from joining the guild.
Utha was in love with Yagarrite.
* * * * *
The crowd stood in stunned silence as the giant woman sat astraddle her tiny, obviously unconscious opponent’s face. Her own face flushed, her breathing jagged. That sight was itself shocking beyond belief, but not half as much the unmistakable distinctly female cry they had all heard her make as she landed on him. Even the Commander was speechless herself, and never officially called the round or match for Mountains. It was obvious to everyone that she had won, at least in a fashion. He was definitely prone and clearly incapacitated. Even if there had been another round to follow it was obvious that he would not in any way be able to continue. Mountains, for her part, was making no move to disengage. It was not until someone tapped her on the shoulder and handed her the red cloth she had been wrapped with earlier did her reverie finally end. Apparently the summoned creature had dissipated the second Edovan had gone unconscious.
She shakily rose to her feet and covered herself with it awkwardly. Her gaze stuck to the little mage with concern. She tried to kneel beside him but was gently urged out of the way as healers were already rushing to his side with a stretcher. Everyone aimlessly milled about silently, occasionally coughing uncomfortably or murmured hushed words. None of them knowing what to do or say after such outrageous events. Even a cursory glance showed several of them were giving Mountains very dirty looks, their disapproval palpable.
The commander seemed to finally collect herself and strode over to Mountains. “Recruit,” her tone was harsh. “A word with you, now.” she ordered. She made it clear that there wasn’t even the slightest hint of choice in the matter.
Utha nodded and walked over to her, her head bowed in deference. She had won true, but in such a way she wasn’t sure if she could even call it a win.
“Well.” the commander clipped, “that was certainly an unorthodox strategy.”
Utha said nothing.
“Utha... there is something you should know about our little elven mage. I’m trying to keep this controlled, very controlled, and you must swear not to tell anyone.”
A silence fell over the two, and Utha sucked in a sharp breath after several seconds. She realized that wasn’t just a passing thought. “You… mean swear it? Truly swear it?”
“I did not stutter, recruit. Swear it now, this does not leave us here. Or there will be more than hell to pay.” The Commander’s voice was like steel. “Swear it, now. On your father’s name, swear it.”
“I,” Utha began, her voice strengthening. “I swear... on the name of my father that what is discussed between us does not leave us.”
“Good,” the Commander’s voice smoothed, the steel melting to a calm voice. It held a softness, wiping away the bite of her tone before. When she spoke again, her concern and care was open. “I don’t know if you noticed before, but it appears Edovan has a certain--effect--on women. I know you are young and you haven’t fully discovered who you are yet, but I also know you are normally not attracted to men,” the Commander spoke softly, compassionately; watching Utha carefully for the discomfort she hoped to avoid. She saw her words drawing small reactions in the pigment on the young woman’s face. “I also know that you fancy Yagaritte. I’ve known for some time,” her words trailing away as Utha sighed.
After today, everyone knew she fancied Yagaritte. The image was burned into their brains, like it or not. Utha was still staring at the ground, her face beginning to flush. Whether by shame, or some other reason, it reddened.
“I guess what I am trying to say is that what happened here today... This is not your fault. There are forces at work here that we don’t even understand. I have felt it too, much to my chagrin. It was in my office today, and it took everything I could do not to just pin his little head to my desk and…” She caught herself, pausing to take a breathe and compose herself.
“You are going to be fine. Just... try to stay away from him until you can get your head back on straight and figure out for yourself what or who you really want. Can I trust that of you?”
The commander reached out a hand in a maternal gesture and lifted Utha’s chin so she could see her face. The huge nord’s bronzed face was wet and shiny as huge tears welled up in her eyes, her bottom lip quivering. It was in that moment that the Commander was reminded that despite all Utha’s size and martial ability, the one they all called Mountains was, underneath her fierce exterior, a fresh faced young girl. She was barely 18, and still very much struggling to find her own place in the world.
“Why?” Utha said simply, tears streaming down her face, “Why did it have to be him? I want to hate him! It’s my right! And now I can’t even do that? I wanted to be her favorite. I wanted to go on this mission with her. I trained so hard and fought and earned my place by blood and steel as the gods intended. I pushed myself to be ready so she would see I was worthy and this… boy... This golden eyed branch-hopper... he just waltzes in here. He gets MY mission and now all I can think of is how I can’t wait to see him when he gets back? I WANT him Commander. Right now I want him more than I ever wanted Yagaritte. What Gods or Princes are so cruel as to send someone like that to us!”
She paused and took a deep but halting breath, and then, through gritted teeth, her voice getting stronger and more certain with each syllable she hissed
“ I. don’t. like. MEN! Most of all a devious mage boy not half my size! Most… but… he...” her stuttering broke, a flash of rage crossing her watery eyes. Her anger was now overtaking her sorrow. She stood straight and wiped her tearstained face. “Mark my words Commander. This is wrong. This magic is evil. You said it yourself that we don’t understand what is happening. After this mission, you should just… you should kick him out. I don’t care how I think I want him right now. This... this isn’t love! This... is madness! “
She turned then without waiting for the Commander to reply and strode away toward the barracks.
“My sweet summer child...” the Commander whispered as she left, “In time you may well find that those two things.. are often one and the same.”
* * * * *