“You want me to bet against that gully dwarf, don’t you?” Ferro asked, his dark violet eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“I’ll give you three-to-one odds,” Jungor said solicitously.
Ferro glared down into the arena in time to see the gully dwarf nearly impale himself on his own spear. The Daewar warrior stood at the far side of the arena, respectfully waiting for the forms of combat to be completed. His bearing and demeanor spoke of supreme confidence, and his previous display of swordsmanship left no doubt as to his ability.
Ferro darted a quick glance at Jungor Stonesinger.
“Well?” the Hylar thane asked.
“It seems a sure thing,” the Daergar began slowly, as though still pondering his decision. “Which makes me doubly suspicious.”
“It’s only a friendly wager,” Jungor said innocently.
The Hylar thane’s hurt tone only provoked the Daergar. “If I don’t take the bet and your gully dwarf falls at the first blow, I’ll look like a fool. So I’ll take your bet, and this time I’ll make you suffer for it! Five hundred steel coins is my wager! There! Ha!”
Astar Trueshield’s eyes widened in alarm at the extravagance of the Daergar’s bet, but Jungor’s smile never wavered.
“Five hundred, then,” Jungor said as he rose to his feet. Ferro shrunk back in his chair, worriedly gnawing the ends of his beard.
Jungor turned and faced the arena, and, seeing him rise, Uurk Straightbeard strode to the center of the arena and began to address him. The crowd slowly became quiet as the Daewar’s words filtered through.
“…demand vengeance. This is my right! But according to the Law of Redress enacted by our high thane, Tarn Bellowgranite, blood feud and revenge killing outside the arena is forbidden. Therefore I ask the President of the Arena of Justice, Thane Jungor Stonesinger, to sanction this combat between myself and the Aghar dwarf known as Shnatz Ong.”
“The council recognizes your right to redress, and I affirm the legality of this forum,” Jungor answered, his basso voice resounding in the thick air. He spoke with a natural authority, so that even the most intoxicated dwarf in the crowd paused for a moment to appreciate the Hylar thane’s command of the forms and procedures of law so dear to many a dwarven heart. “You have chosen weapons combat, knowing that your contest may result in serious injury or death. Let it be known that no one may claim the right of revenge for that which happens in the arena here today.”
He lifted his hand in sudden invocation. “Let the spirits of our ancestors witness these events and be pleased by the honor and courage displayed by the combatants, and let them curse those who dishonor these rites.”
Many of the dwarves in the crowd turned and stared up at the thane’s box, for these words were not part of the official ceremony prescribed by law. Uurk Straightbeard seemed momentarily taken aback by this unorthodox departure from the recognized rituals. He shuffled uncertainly, waiting for the Hylar thane to finish with the usual invocation of a blessing from Reorx, the traditional god of the dwarves.
Without doing so, Jungor summarily completed the ceremony, and, dropping his hand, shouted, “Let the combat commence!”
For another moment, Uurk stared up at the box then turned and shuffled ominously toward his gully dwarf opponent.
With many eyes upon him, Jungor resumed his seat, his beatific smile unchanged. Ferro leaned close to the Hylar thane and whispered, “What in the blazes of Chaos was that all about? Did you forget the invocation to Reorx?”
“Not at all,” Jungor said absently, leaning forward in his seat to watch the combat. “Ouch! Looks like you might win that bet after all.”
At these words, Ferro’s attention snapped to the arena floor, where Shnatz Ong was now fleeing for his life, shrieking like a murdered peacock. Ferro leaned forward and gripped the edge of the box, his eyes beginning to flame with the bloodlust native to the dark dwarves of Thorbardin. Even if it promised to be a quick slaughter of a lowly gully dwarf, the sight of violent combat stirred his blood, as well as the blood of the crowd. They had quickly forgotten about Jungor’s departure from tradition in their lust to see blood spilled onto the thirsty arena floor.
The hapless gully dwarf had long since abandoned his weapon and was running in ever-tightening circles around his opponent, his rags flapping about his knees as he ran. Uurk Straightbeard continued to jab at his opponent and close the distance, even as his fury exploded at the way Shnatz Ong managed to stay just out of the reach of his silver sword. Although in prime physical condition, the Daewar couldn’t match the dizzying speed of a gully dwarf running in crazy circles.
Shnatz stumbled. The crowd roared. Ferro surged from his seat. Uurk lunged, and the tip of his sword sank into the gully dwarfs thigh just before the small fellow rolled out of reach. Squealing in agony, Shnatz crumpled in a quivering heap, clasping his wound with his filthy hands and trying to staunch the flow of blood.
“Ha! I’ve beat you this time, Jungor Stonesinger,” Ferro exclaimed as he leaped onto the edge of the box. “Fifteen hundred steel coins! That’s what you owe me. Three-to-one odds.”
Jungor shook his head and smiled.
On the arena floor, Uurk Straightbeard hovered menacingly over his fallen opponent, his longsword raised to strike. Meanwhile, he taunted the crowd, many of whom were shouting for him to spare the gully dwarf. Suddenly, two gully dwarves dropped over the wall and crawled toward him, weeping and crying. Females, by the looks of them, they begged him to spare their father’s life.
Uurk threw back his head and laughed. Lowering his weapon, he strode toward them, spitting insults and curses. “Worthless Aghar!” he screamed, his voice rising even over the tumult of the crowd. “I should kill the lot of you.”
“Do it! Kill them all!” Ferro shouted, pounding his fist on the rail box. Suddenly, his voice stuck in his throat and his mouth dropped open in surprise.
Shnatz Ong rose quickly and silently while his opponent’s back was turned. Streaking across the floor, heedless of his injury, he launched himself onto Uurk’s broad back. One grimy hand whipped over the top of the startled dwarfs head, looping under his beard in one quick motion, before coming together with the other hand behind his neck.
Uurk’s eyes started from his face as the steel garrote tightened around his throat. His longsword fell from nerveless fingertips, and he clawed weakly at the instrument of his murder even as his knees buckled and he sank, the fiercely grinning gully dwarf riding his back all the way to the ground.
Shnatz maintained his hold long enough to be assured of his opponent’s death then slipped the steel wire free and turned grandly to accept the accolades of the crowd. The two female gully dwarves rushed out and swept under his arms, helping to support him on his injured leg even as they wantonly lavished kisses on his filthy face and beard.
Ferro turned and gaped at Jungor Stonesinger, his mouth champing soundlessly.
“They aren’t his daughters, I assure you,” the Hylar thane chuckled.
6
Jungor bellowed with laughter at his Daergar companion’s mute bewilderment. Ferro could hardly believe what he had just witnessed. Gully dwarves were universally stupid, cowardly, and craven, utterly worthless for anything but the most menial of tasks. As warriors, they were more dangerous to their allies than their enemies. The only thing that kept the gully dwarf population under control was their inability to maintain even the most rudimentary hygienic habits. If a gully dwarf infant somehow managed to survive his own parents through the first year, he was considered unusual. Many died within a few months of birth from a variety of maladies and accidents, from smothering in their family’s communal bed to being devoured by the rats that shared most gully dwarves’ warrens.
To see a gully dwarf defeat a skilled Daewar warrior in single combat beggared belief, even for Ferro Dunskull. Words evaded him as he glared at Jungor Stonesinger’s smirking face. At the same time, a new dwarf entered the box and took the empty seat next to Jungor and opposite Ferro.