Day 16 of Midwinter, Sunset

  Dueling Ground, The Deep Realm

  Annwn

  I was the first to arrive at the dueling ground. I watched as the Fomorian dignitaries and Mná na Mara filed in around the top of the circle. Some of the people approached and tried to make small talk with me, but most gave me a wide birth. I was tense, and I knew I wore that tension on my face plainly for all to see.

  I felt like a shell of myself, perched on the rim of the dueling pit. For hours I had been running possible outcomes through my mind. I was there, but I was more focused on my inner thoughts than I was about where I was standing.

  Shrill pipes sounded as Corb made his way through the scores of people that had arrived to witness the historic battle. Looking around, I saw that behind the Fomorian nobles, it appeared that the entire city had come to watch. The tension in the air was thick, but not as thick as the haze surrounding my body from my Divination of Balance boon.

  When Corb arrived, I could see that he sported the Evil Eyes helmet even though he would not be able to use the ranged magical fire in the duel itself. He was massive, with rippling muscles, dark skin, and glowing red eyes. His hair hung in large, dark dreadlocks, and he wore the necklaces containing bones and decorative metal leftovers from past battles. He looked at me when he passed and held my gaze long enough that I thought he might fall into the pit.

  Upon descending, Corb raised his hands to the watching people. A cheer went up among some of the onlookers. He raised both hands in encouragement, but the cheers were cut short by another set of pipes. Tethra had come.

  I found her through the sea of Fomorians, and our eyes locked. I gave her a nod and saw her take a deep breath. She focused back onto the path in front of her as her people parted to allow access to the dueling ground.

  The two stood facing one another, Corb on one side of the Abyss and Tethra on the other. I watched as each of them displayed the result of their pre battle excitement. Tethra shifted her weight from foot to foot, and Corb took exceedingly deep breaths that eventually erupted in a cloud of vapor from his nose and mouth.

  I knew that Dubhlinn and Morvra were to act as co-adjudicators of the duel, both having offspring that were participating. They stood together, across from me, holding hands. Their faces were impassive. Below me, I saw Corb’s hand shoot into the air and the crowd fell silent.

  “Comhthíreach,” he began, speaking loud enough that his voice carried far beyond the walls of the dueling pit. “Today I bring you good news from our battles in Emain Ablach. In the siege of Gorias, we took many casualties.” He paused there, letting the crowd take in in his words. “But that effort has afforded us a great treasure.” He pointed to a man that had come in with him, standing near his mother that I knew to be called Indech.

  Indech took a golden object out from the folds of his cloak and held it up at Corb’s words. There was a collective gasp that went through the crowd. It was a pyramid-shaped object about the size of a Fomorian skull. I realized I knew what this object was, though I had never seen one up close. This was what, in Earth culture, was called a pyramidion or capstone. Here in Annwn, the Tuatha referred to it as a beacon. Each of the four major cities had a single beacon.

  These beacons were a magical means of communication between the great empire of the Overking. They were the magical equivalent to the ancient act of lighting bonfires in hills and mountains to rally large groups of people living in the far reaches of a country. These beacons, however, provided a means for Nuada to communicate to his vassal relations. I immediately knew the significance of this object. It would be the method with which Corb, or Tethra, would spy on Overking Nuada’s plans to rally troops to their war effort.

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  “We have taken the Gorias beacon!” Corb yelled as he puffed himself up. He stared across the pit at his half sister as the crowd cheered. Despite this moral victory, Tethra stood tall. She drew Orna and the crowd noise fell to a hush.

  I saw Tethra’s mouth begin to move before I heard her words. She had begun the honor invocation. As she did, Corb’s voice joined in. "With honor, I stand, by the shore and sea. If the abyss takes me, let it remember my deeds."

  The whole training ground was silent for their words. When they finished, another cheer went up. Corb drew his double bladed Fuilgeir.

  The two combatants looked to the rim where their mothers were standing. Dubhlinn came to the very edge of the pit and proclaimed, “You both know the Fomorian way. You have trained in the house of your father for time untold. To be disarmed or to submit means defeat.” She paused and her face grew stern. “To fall into the Abyss means certain death. Death means defeat.”

  My eyes instinctively moved to Corb. I could see a beginning of a smile at the corners of his lips. My heart sank at that, and before his mother had even stepped back from the edge of pit Corb was jumping toward Tethra. The crowd cheered, as Orna and Fuilgeir clashed in a great shower of sparks.

  The movements and swordplay displayed below me were unlike anything I had ever seen. Fuilgeir’s Blood Tide ability and Orna’s Battle Herald ability seem to have remembered past sparing matches between the two. Corb moved with preternatural speed and strength, but Tethra moved to parry even before I could see the attack coming. It was like watching heat lighting flit in the night sky.

  Corb’s blows rang out and echoed through the training grounds. They shook the very ground when the blades collided. But Tethra moved like a cat, graceful and faster than her brother. Each were scoring superficial cuts on their opponent. But the two continued sparing in a seemingly unrelenting choreographed dance.

  I could see the very beginnings of fatigue from both warriors. Sweat was dripping off of them and splashing on the walls and ground. The liquid, in most cases, was pink with blood. If they continued on, Tethra would have the upper hand. Where Corb’s blows exerted more force, they also used more energy in the attacks. Tethra was simply turning away his attacks, favoring defensive positioning. She was conserving her energy.

  The battle went on like this for several minutes. I could feel myself moving with each attack, thinking that my subtle movements would somehow aid her in the duel. But Tethra didn’t need my help. The tide of the battle shifted in the eyes of the Fomorians, and Corb could sense it too.

  With one swing, Tethra turned away Fuilgeir and the blade slipped from Corb’s grasp. It flew nearly ten feet away and lodged into the ground. Corb pushed away from his sister and ran to his sword. She pursued him more slowly, allowing him time to get to his blade.

  Tethra surged, shifting from defense to offense. She chopped with a downward strike just as Corb was removing his double bladed sword from the stone of the pit. He parried, but the blow dropped him to a knee. She drew back again for another crippling blow and Corb’s eyes flared with a bright red light. Tethra instinctively shrank back, thinking that he was about to cheat and release a magical torrent of fire from his Evil Eyes, but there were no flames.

  Tethra’s slight retreat gave Corb the breathing room he needed to recover. He stood up, dropped his blade and ran the arm’s distance toward Tethra. She extended Orna and it pierced Corb through the side. From my vantage point, I could see the entire blade sticking out of his back. Gasps rang out from around me. The crowd thought that Corb was finished, but I knew better.

  Corb pinned Tethra’s sword arm with his left arm so she could do no more damage with Orna and he head butted her in the nose. Blood showered across Tethra’s face. I saw her eyes roll back slightly before managing to refocus on the monster before her. She punched at him with her free arm but he was strangling her with his. Her blows continued but I could see them getting weaker and weaker. Her legs failed her then and she fell to her back.

  Orna was still lodged in Corb’s body when she hit the ground, but he pulled it out. “Do you yield?” he asked her for all to hear. Her head fell back and her eyes found mine. I nodded. My eyes pleaded with her to submit, but instead she started to stand again. Corb kicked her in the face. And repeated his question. “Do you yield?”

  Again, Tethra tried to stand, and again, he kicked her. Tethra’s body fell completely prone. I heard myself scream, and my hand instinctively found my sword. My feet were at the edge of the pit, but before I could jump in, I saw her hold her hand up telling me to stop.

  Reason found me. I knew that if I intervened, it would not only mean defeat, it would mean disgrace for Tethra. I wrestled with that knowledge for only a moment, but in the span of a heartbeat. Corb kicked Tethra again, only this time he drew back and sent her flying into the air. I held my breath and time seemed to slow as I saw her body sail through the air and fall into Abyss.

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