Chapter 193: Training Yard of Trouble

Ann looked around at the training yard they’d entered. It didn’t seem to be anything special. It was soggy, slippery footing on the stone, and the dirt was moist at best, completely underwater at worst. To one side were a set of wooden armatures in various levels of decay and rot, and a shed where Ann figured they kept training equipment.

“Your training yard seems to have gone to shit, Master,” Ann said, glancing at the skull in Kat’s hands.

“No! I worked so hard to make sure it was perfect for trainees! All of my work ruined!”

“That’s what happens when ye leave it alone fer Gods know how long. Not tae mention gettin’ it stuck in a Swamp Seed,” Kat sighed.

“True words,” the skull chattered. “Well, let me not delay the proceedings with my own grief. This is to be your trial.”

As he spoke, groans came from the dirt around them. Mounds heaved upwards as hands, claws, and feet kicked upwards.

“Your task is to defeat my beloved students in contests suited to your skills.” More and more creatures rose from the muck as the Master at Arms continued. None of them was completely human anymore, but various mixes of man and animal far more monstrous than any Vulhardrin. “First will be the Goddess Touched young lady, Annita. You will be performing in a duel on this blessed day against Yorick. Yorick, please step forward.”

The creatures surrounding them took a step back, forming a ring for the fight to take place at the skull’s instruction. Kat and the rest joined the ring, glancing warily at the Warped surrounding them.

One creature stepped forward into the middle of the encirclement. It was maybe a little over seven feet tall and looked down at Annita, giving her a sharp-toothed grin. He remained humanoid, with a bare muscular chest, but that’s where similarities to anything normal ended. His head was completely that of a marsh monster. It was cylindrical with frills coming from the sides, running its entire length, ending up looking like a leaf. His legs were as muscular as the rest, but covered in thick green-grey scales, and ended in clawed feet. Yorick flexed his arms, but couldn’t do the same for his hands. They’d been blunted and warped into keratinous masses, giving him hammers meant for breaking anything he hit.

Ann stepped forward into the ring, giving him a good look over. Scales on the legs and those forearms were going to be hard to deal with. Her claws might not get through any of that. Depending on how fast the monster was, she’d be on the defensive here as well. Trial her fluffy tail; this was just a brawl.

“So, big stuff, you talk? Normally Yorick is supposed to be the skull, but I guess that’s just a modernisation.”

Yorick just growled at her. It was a deep sound that came gurgling from his chest, like he had fluid in his lungs.

“Apologies, Goddess Touched, but he can no longer converse as he once did. Today’s trial is a duel, but there are rules and a goal to this duel. Yorick will do all he can to kill you, but you, Annita, simply need to snip the frill from his head. Once you complete this task, the duel is considered your victory. In my heyday, we would use a plumed helmet for this test, but those seem to have rotted with everything else. Curse this un-life. Are both partners ready?”

Ann went through a quick series of stretches. She didn’t really need to with her Dexterity being what it was, but Remmi had drilled the practice into her over the last few months. Any stiffness could cost her her life. “Ready,” she said, extending her claws. This was a Warped. This duel would be nothing like Biagio.

“Grrrrrrrrghhhle,” Yorick returned between sharp teeth. His weirdly black and purple eyes gleamed like he knew he was about to be let off the leash.

“Well said, Yorick. Ready! Set! Begin!”

Yorick lunged forward, his feet kicking up wads of wet dirt as his weight barrelled toward Ann.

Ann bounced on her paws, but waited, watching his movements. He looked like he’d be using his hammer fists to fight, but she couldn’t discount his feet. Those claws looked sharp, and who knows what else might be on them?

Yorick’s opening move was a predictable left hook aimed at Ann’s side. She danced backwards, avoiding it, and getting a closer look at his elbow. No additional armour, but some of the keratinous growth was covering it. It’d take a few hits to get through.

Yorick tried to push her back, swinging the arm he’d just attacked with in a wide arc towards Ann. She dug her paws in and jumped over the attack, and aimed a cut at the frill on the creature’s head. She snagged the tip of it, but Yorick’s head jerked back before she could do more damage.

With her now inside his range, Yorick closed his arms in a hugging motion. It caught Ann, with nowhere to dodge, and she felt the arms tighten. Holy shit, it was tighter than some of the grapples Remmi had put her in! Ann flexed and strained, but nothing was loosening Yorick’s grip. In fact, it was tightening! The crowd of Warped made inhuman sounds as she struggled, likely cheering on their peer.

If struggling wouldn’t work, Ann relaxed her whole body, going completely limp. Letting her breath out compressed her chest in a sudden rush, and she lifted her forearms to give the leverage she needed to slide downwards out of the death hug.

Crouching low as she landed, Ann dodged between Yorick’s legs. Her claws scraped against rugged scales as she passed, but they only left white lines where she’d scratched. If she could have, she’d have wanted to use the grip to flip herself up onto Yorick’s back, but that was out of the question now. Already, the creature was turning to confront her again, his alien-looking head swivelling on his nonexistent neck.

If she couldn’t take down his legs, then the arms needed to be her next target. The next time Yorick punched out at her, she dodged to the outside and dug her claws in as hard as she could, trying to get into the elbow joint. Yorick let out a gurgling laugh as he used Ann’s attack against her, slapping his trunk against her chest and throwing her away.

Ann hit the ground with a squelch. In any other environment, that would have hurt, but it just got her wet and muddy. Ann wiped the muck out of her helmet and felt her skull shake as something hit it hard.

Another hit, to her side, driving the wind from her.

Two more to her back.

Her health dipped dangerously.

She used Burst of Speed to get the fuck out. Getting started was a task, her feet sliding in the mud until a claw caught stone, then she was off. Turns out stopping wasn’t great either, as she slammed face-first into one of the Warped in the arena.

“No running from the fight!” the Master at Arms called. “Throw her back in!”

“Ye get ‘er killed an’ I’ll turn ye intae dust,” Kat growled.

That was the last thing Ann heard before she flew back towards Yorick, her trajectory thanks to a very burly zombie mixed with some kind of fish. There was no control in her flight, and she tumbled ears over tail as Yorick lined up his next strike.

Thinking quickly, Ann slipped down the tight shorts she normally wore and gave Yorick the full moon.

Yorick halted as Predatory Sensuality took hold and missed his timing. The cudgel-for-an-arm sailed beneath Ann as she sank her claws into the sides of Yorick’s head. Flesh tore under her gauntleted claws as she sailed past, unable to get a good grip on his strange skull.

Back in the muck, Ann took stock of what had just happened. Yorick had missed, thankfully, then she got a good portion of his cheeks and the sides of his frills. Black blood poured from his ruined face as he gurgled out a bellow. The skin was already starting to re-knit, but apparently the frill wouldn’t be coming back. The top and the sides were gone, but there was just enough on either side to say it was still there. Master at Arms still hadn’t called the match.

Fucking Warped.

Ann took the first step, racing forward to meet Yorick in a head-to-head clash. She swung first, her fist aiming for his shoulder. If she could get the nerves in his shoulder, that’d help.

Yorick countered with his own, significantly tougher fist.

Gauntlet clanged against keratin, the shock running up Ann’s arm even as she spun with the impact. The momentum carried over as she dug her other hand into Yorick’s meaty chest. She couldn’t get to bone, but his overmuscled pecs worked perfectly. Ann dug in, grabbing a vicious hold of writhing muscle fibres. Hauling her body up, she swung her legs skyward and wrapped her thighs snugly around Yorick’s head. Without hesitating, she ripped the last of the frills free.

“Victory for Annita!” the Master at Arms cried. Cheers rang out from her party, but the rest of the crowd grumbled angrily.

“Mind letting me down, Yori?” Ann asked, patting the bleeding scalp. “Kinda only do this to my girlfriends. Pleasure to know you. Alas, I must go.”

Yorick, to his credit, nodded, but didn’t help her. Ann fell backwards, rolled, and landed feet first in the mud before skipping over to Kat. Bren was already healing her on the way.

“Good fight!” Kat laughed, giving her a high five, then grimacing as it coated her hand with black blood. “Feckin’ weird tae see a Warped not tryin’ tae finish ye even after it’s not dead, though.”

“The contestants will abide by the rules,” the skull said. “Once you are restored, the next challenge will be for Katlyn and Bren.”

“Two o’ us?”

“Correct! Bren is a support caster in the purest sense. Supporting another fighter is his strong suit, and it will be taken into account. Now, take a breather, and we will begin shortly.”

“Can I hold him?” Rosalyn asked Kat.

“Huh? Why?”

“Cause he’s interesting! He’s a living, talking skull with no body, no brain, and no eyes, and he can see us! I want to figure out how the heck that works!”

“Ma’am, I must decllliiiiiinee!”

“Here,” Kat chuckled, tossing the skull over to Rosalyn.

“Ooh, look, Xirali, you were right! No brain stem at all! Do you mind if we take you apart, mister?”

“I very much do!” the skull cried.

“Shoot, then we’re gonna have to figure out what’s in there the hard way.” Rosalyn got to knocking at various spots on the skull, then listening intently.

“Well, she’s having fun. You ready for your fight?” Ann asked.

“Not sure how I can get ready fer this,” Kat gestured to the crowd around them.

“We will simply have to improvise. We have fought together for years, Katlyn. This is no different,” Bren said, trying to soothe any nerves.

“Aye. Just no idea what in Nylir’s blasted halls they’re gonna send at us. Makin’ me nervous.”

“If it was anything like mine, it just seems like they’re taking stock of us. Maybe it’ll be for something later?”

“Sizing up,” Lucia nodded. “Defeat us later.”

“Possibly,” Bren nodded. “We are trapped here until we clear the trials, so we had best make our way through this as quickly as we can.”

“Hey, Master at Arms, is there a reward for all of this?” Ann asked the skull that was currently being tapped in various places by the bespectacled Druid.

“If you survive to the end, then there will be some reward. I have not been informed what, but I… please, not in the eye, Rosalyn!”

“Oh, you can feel that?” Rosalyn asked, poking it again.

“No, but it blurs my vision something awful! Now, I assume that the reward will be worth the trouble you all go through. I am quite interested to see what is offered, myself. Now, are the two of you prepared for this trial?”

“Ann did not take incredible damage, but it was a drain. Let us make this quick, Katlyn,” Bren said, adjusting his robes and stepping forward.

“That’s what I like tae hear,” Kat laughed, grabbing her sword and shield, then stepping up beside him. “Just like ol’ times.”

“Quite,” Bren gave her a grin. “What is the trial?”

“A trial of endurance!” the Master at Arms announced. “Katlyn will need to survive for five minutes!”

“That should be pretty simple,” Kat said, rolling her shoulders.

“Against eight opponents!”

“Feck.”

“While protecting Bren as well!”

“Why did you have to curse this?” Bren sighed.

“We’ve fought bigger packs o’ Twinwolves before we were this strong. This’ll be fine.”

“I implore you to cease.”

“I’m not bothering with names for this one. You know who you are. Step up and give the challengers a good look!”

A motley group of Warped stepped forward. One was on six spindly insect legs with a human torso and head; another hung back, tendrils supporting just a human head with bulging eyes. The rest were creatures mixed with various swamp mammals. Ann saw some possums, some feral cats, the teeth and tail of a beaver, and a couple that had bird-like features mixed in. One particularly ugly one was a mix of crocodile, frog, heron, and snake. It trundled along on stubby croc legs supporting a snake body plumed with feathers, while the neck under its human head bulged grotesquely.

Ann genuinely hoped that Kat and Bren were ready for this, and sidled up to Rosalyn and Lucia as they watched.

“Ye figure it out?” Kat asked Bren, sizing up their competition.

“There are a few unknowns, but I have a good grasp. Are you prepared?”

“Ready tae feckin’ brawl,” Kat cackled, slamming her sword against her shield with a thocking sound against the shell.

“In that case, you may begin!” the Master at Arms chattered.

The group in front of Kat and Bren split. Three backed off immediately while three charged, and two hung out in the space between.

Kat immediately backed up with Bren already a few steps behind her. Once she had the group where she wanted them, in a pocket against the edge of the crowd, where she could easily defend Bren, and focus the enemies in front of her, she stopped and slammed her shield forward.

The first warped, an otter thing with teeth way too big for its mouth, caught the bash face-first and was sent tumbling backwards. Kat grinned, but was immediately set upon by the amalgamation and another larger bear-gator hybrid. Out of all of the opponents, Ann figured that one would be the most dangerous. Long arms with knife-like claws, scales mixed with thick fur, and a sack of something hanging on its belly that glowed green.

While Kat dealt with the two currently assaulting her with skilful parries and blocks, Bren was focused on the secondary portion of their defence. With Ann having taken damage, he probably had a full stock of shielding, unless he’d pushed some back into his Mind. Knowing the healer, he probably had. A gob of acid and several quills flew at him over Kat’s shield, only to be caught by shimmering barriers in the sky that dropped an instant after impact. While doing that, Kat took a hit from one of the claws, dragging a gash down her arm. The wound was healing almost before the claw left her skin. Damage gave Bren something to heal, which gave him shields, which let him protect from projectiles. Kat mitigated damage, but let just enough through to keep Bren in the game.

Ann watched wide-eyed as the two worked in sync. She and Kat had a pretty good understanding of how each other fought, but these two had been at this for years. Even Lucia whistled as Bren let a quill fly forward, only to be caught by Kat’s shield as she defended a different attack from the otter that had rejoined the fight.

Kat was doing a decent job of fighting back, too. Her blade was slick with black blood as she cut into the Bear thing’s elbow, cutting tendons and forcing it back to regenerate the wound. A skewering thrust pushed the amalgamation enemy back, allowing her to focus solely on the otter. She caught two quills fired at her from a strange porcupine platypus creature that was throwing them from its feet, but that was a distraction.

The spindly-legged human skittered in while she was occupied and took a bite out of her thigh. Her armour caught most of the force of the Warped’s beaver teeth, but they scraped off the metal and into a gap.

Kat grunted, and with a blue flash that had been white in all her previous fights, she used Guard Crush to pulp the thing’s back with her shield. Unhappy with that, she stepped on its head with a metal boot and drew her sword across its neck, severing the head.

“Sneaky shites,” Kat growled as the Bearodile returned with a flurry of swipes and biting snaps. Ann watched as the fight progressed. Kat was starting to take more hits. Her reactions were getting slower, and it didn’t seem like the expected slowing of her getting tired. Something was wrong.

“Shite, poison,” Kat panted. “Bren!”

“On it!” Bren said, his hands turning from the white glow of his usual healing and shielding to green. The glow extended to Kat with a flash, and she shook her head. “Better?”

“Aye. Watch the other one in the middle, probably similar.”

“Confirmed.”

The pair fell back into their patterns. Ann was antsy. They couldn’t push forward to get to the ranged Warped while Kat was stuck fighting the trio of front liners. Bren had to be getting lower on his Mind with the healing, and he still needed to keep up the shields. Either they took out one of the front liners and broke the formation to get to the back liners, or they just had to pray. All Out was off the table, since it would make Kat pretty useless for the rest of the Seed. Bren just had utility and healing. If they were to get an advantage, it had to be Kat.

“Two minutes remain!” the Master at Arms clattered his jaw bones as Rosalyn flipped him over again.

The Druid was paying attention to the fight, but almost seemed to be fidgeting with the creature in her hands.

The change came so quickly that Ann almost missed it. The Amalgamation Warped lunged at Kat, trying to draw her shield so the Bearodile could strike her defenceless side. A barrier appeared just in front of the thing’s face, and a split second later, Kat’s sword pierced through it. As the Amalgamation tried to pull back from the shield, it wasn’t ready to dodge the sword and caught it straight down the neck. Bren and Kat moved as one, pivoting their position as Kat dragged the sword up through the thing’s skull and down its back. Like all, well, most Warped, the Amalgamation gurgled and tried to regenerate. Flesh writhed as it tried to reconnect and re-route unneeded flesh to restore itself, but that gave out, and it flopped to the ground, lifeless.

Kat didn’t stop her momentum for a single step. The Bearodile had lunged past her and staggered into the crowd when it didn’t connect. That left the Otter thing and the Bearodile, with the strange leathery cat creature that had been lurking in the mid-ground. She barrelled toward the beast, but it scurried to the side. If it was an ambush fighter, then a direct attack was the worst route for it.

Bren actually took the lead now that they were past the brute fighters, and threw up shields to stop the salvo of quills, acid, and some other gunk Ann couldn’t identify. As he did, the pair’s positions swapped again, as Kat got into range and cut limbs off the spindly bug-human. Once that was dispatched, she turned and cut deep into the quill platypus. It didn’t die, but that made it stop its barrage and retreat to regenerate.

Before she could do anything else, the Otter was on her again. Scrabbling claws and biting teeth gnawed at the shell and metal of her shield. Instead of pushing it off, Kat just lifted the thing whole and slammed the Warped, shield and all, into the ground with another blue Break the Bulwark. Ann heard bones crunch with the impact, and the creature was left limp, but still breathing.

Two melee fighters down, one ambusher, and two ranged left. The platypus was still regenerating, but the odds were very much back in the pair’s favour.

The Bearodile lunged, its arms spread wide, and grabbed Kat in a hug. Ann was too nervous to laugh at the irony. Unlike her, though, Kat didn’t have the Dexterity to slip out of the grip. Her left arm was pinned to her chest against her shield, while her right upper arm was stuck against her body.

Bren didn’t even blink. He still had spells up protecting things, but shifted some into healing Kat as she dealt with the crushing grip.

The tip of Kat’s sword scrabbled against scales as she looked for a weak spot in the beast’s side, but couldn’t find the angle.

That’s when the cat Warped made its move. Darting past the Bearodile, it made a straight line for Bren. Sharp claws and teeth slashed at him as the healer scrambled backwards, trying to avoid everything. Still, one caught his arm, then his leg. The Warped didn’t let up. If it could take him out, finishing off Kat would be simple.

“Ma’am, your grip,” the skull clattered to Rosalyn, who now held him in a death grip.

She ignored him.

Kat found the angle and sank the blade into the Bearodile’s thigh. Black blood geysered from the wound as she caught something vital. The Warped dropped her, groaning as it held its leg.

The cat creature gathered its weight and pounced at Bren with a hiss of victory before a leather-gloved fist closed on its tail. With a shriek, Kat pulled and used the tail to haul the Warped over her shoulder and slam it into the ground. She fell upon it with just her fists, bludgeoning it to a bloody mess.

“Kat!” Bren shouted, tearing her out of the rage.

“Mine,” Ann barely caught Kat growling to the beast as she brought her blade down into its chest.

From there, lasting the remaining thirty or so seconds was relatively easy. Kat could keep the Bearodile at bay, while the ranged were either nullified by Bren or allowed to pass as he began dodging them to preserve resources.

“Three! Two! One! Fight complete! Well done, all survivors!” the Master at Arms cried. Just like Yorick, the Warped involved in the trial stopped hostilities as soon as he declared a victor.

Kat slumped, then trudged over to Bren. The man looked wiped, but still had the energy to give Kat a grin. “It has been so long since we fought as a pair.”

“Better tae have friends,” Kat laughed, putting an arm around his shoulders.

“Absolutely,” Bren chuckled back.

“You guys lived!” Rosalyn cheered, tossing the skull away without a thought as she ran to hug the victors. “Oh my Gods, I was so scared when that cat thing got to Bren! It was probably the worst-case thing I could think of, but you two handled it so well! I need to keep learning to be able to work so well with everyone! That was incredible!”

“Thanks, lamb,” Kat said, hugging her with her free arm. “Was a little tetchy, but we did it.”

“Good job,” Lucia nodded. “Was intense.”

“Had me wanting to jump in and help,” Ann said. “Holy shit, don’t scare me like that again.”

“No promises,” Bren said with a sly grin. “However, I will try. Now, Master at Arms, I believe that concludes things here, yes?”

“Oh ho ho! No, it does not! We still have two contestants yet to face their trials! Lucia, you will be next. This will require some setup, so please sit, relax, and enjoy a refreshing potion should your Mind be low, Bren. You have earned it for such a fine show. We will reconvene once preparations are complete!”