Chapter 20

“You actually expect me to hand over my command to you?” Verias asked incredulously. “You have lost your mind. It no doubt explains why you have resorted to copulating with this hick.”

Janet scowled, “He is no hick, Verias. He has killed more Voguel in a single encounter than even I have. I get it, Verias. You are scared. You know that he will win, and you will look weak. You can have him fight you and as many of your best men as you wish. Plus, if you win you get me, as you requested, so what are you going to do?”

He looked torn as he pondered the request. It was a lot to lose, but also a lot to gain and be did not know if he would get this chance again. Besides what could ‘that whelp’ do to defeat him? Especially after he has been tired by fighting twenty of his most skilled and capable fighters.

“Kevin!” Verias yelled, causing our guide to appear. “I want you present for this, so there is no doubt.” He turned his focus to Janet and said, “We have a deal. He wins, you will gain command of this fort and all soldiers herein. He loses and you are mine, the Torgal are disbanded and he is exiled back to his province.”

Janet simply nodded in reply and he relayed his instructions to the guard. Fifteen minutes later, a document appeared that covered all of the stakes and specified the terms. I would fight him, only after beating twenty of his most skilled fighters. Defeat is incapacitation only, no killing, and I am to fight without my wolf or the Torgal assisting me. We signed the documents and sealed the deal with a drink. We made our way downstairs toward the courtyard where our little demonstration was to commence.

//I think he put something in my drink, as it tasted off to me.\\ I told the others through the bond.

((I am not surprised)) Janet replied. ((I have known of his interest for some time and have made every attempt to not return it. If he is that fixated on me, I would not be surprised if he dumped something in it.))

//I think it was Wolf’s Bane. I have been given Curare since my change and this feels similar but different. It is barely noticeable, but I can feel it. I figure he was trying to weaken me to make his victory assured, \\ I said, as my blood began to boil from my anger.

((Do not let it get to you my love, )) Janet said trying to calm me down. ((Use it to fuel your rage and end this quickly. Do not hold back but try not to injure the others badly. We will need them for the fight with the Voguel.))

I nodded and began to focus myself on the task at hand. Verias guided us to a raised pitch that already had numerous soldiers waiting around it, with more on the way. I figured no one here had been present to witness my abilities in the capital, so they were in for a surprise. We arrived at the pitch and Verias gestured for me to follow while the girls waited at the edge. It was a relatively large area, square in shape, that looked to be nearly thirty meters on a side.

“Welcome everyone,” Verias bellowed. “You have been called here to witness something genuinely great. This man standing next to me is the one you have been hearing stories about. That he was able to disarm the guards of the Dran in an instant. That he could lift a portcullis unassisted with just his strength alone. I believe these stories to be false and made to intimidate people. As such, I have called him out on it, and we shall fight here on this pitch. Since he is adamant that his abilities are real, then he should be able to handle the Black Battalion.

“If he defeats them, then he will have the honor of fighting me. Should he succeed in defeating all of us, then command of this fort and the garrisons stationed here will fall under Janet’s command. If he fails to do so, the Torgal will be disbanded and Janet will become my woman. Since she is with child, it would have to be dealt with before I claimed her.”

I fought off the urge to rip him in half, as we would lose by default. However, I would make sure he paid when we fought. I had been going to take it easy a bit, but now, I planned to tear through his men to get to him.

He continued, “We will have the battalion fight in full armor, but to protect our new combatant, we will use practice swords. Black Battalion, to me!”

With that command, twenty men appeared from the onlookers. Each of them garbed in blackened armor, which was probably the reason for the name.

“This is my Black Battalion,” Verias announced, gesturing to the collection of soldiers. “They have been trained, by me, for the sole purpose of eradicating the Voguel. They will render the Torgal obsolete and ensure a lasting peace for us, once and for all. They have fought and defeated over a dozen Voguel since their inception and will easily handle this fraud.”

“Are you done?” I asked, letting the irritation come out in my voice. “I do not have all day to waste stroking your ego. And a dozen Voguel is not that large a number given the size of your group.”

Verias glared at me and gestured for me to be given a sword. I took it from the soldier and inspected it, finding it surprising that it was not sabotaged. He likely did not have the time, but I felt he deserved some mental manipulation.

“I will fight without this,” I stated as I snapped the sword in half. “There seems to be an issue with this one.”

There was a collective gasp from the group of people surrounding us and I could see Verias’ confidence start to waver. I closed my eyes and allowed my limits to be released. I felt the rush of adrenaline and power flood me and I opened my eyes to see Verias smirking. He gestured and the twenty soldiers began to advance on me. I could see that they were not fully working as a cohesive group as I do with ours and knew that was their weakness.

I dashed forward and slammed my fists into the stomachs of the two soldiers in front of me. I barely registered the pain of my hands impacting the steel of their breastplates and watched as they went flying back into the two that had been following them. To my left, a soldier was bringing his training sword to bear in a downward thrust, while the one on my right tried a horizontal slice. I caught both mid swing and tore the weapons from their hands. I then used them to knock them and another three men unconscious.

Despite my feats of strength, they were not yet deterred, and I decided to use my combat awareness. As things began to slow down, I was able to come up with a plan of attack which rendered the rest of the so-called Black Battalion unconscious in less than ten minutes. I turned to Verias and saw him visibly pale as he realized he was next. I immediately closed the distance between us, grabbed him by the neck and tore his armor off of him. He screamed in terror as my fingers dug into his breastplate, before using the grip to snap the leather straps and metal hooks holding the two parts together.

There was a smell of urine in the air a few minutes later once he had been stripped of his ostentatious armor. I released my grip and let him fall to the ground. I then turned my focus onto everyone who was watching.

“He and his so-called battalion are defeated,” I yelled. “By the terms of our agreement, Janet is now in command of this facility. Have him thrown in the brig, until we have time to deal with him. Let this be the last time I am forced to do this. I am here to eradicate the Voguel, not to get in a pissing match with every soldier who has an ax to grind.”

“Who are you to give us orders?” One older soldier asked. There was no arrogance in his tone, despite the wording of the question.

“Davik is the co-leader of the Torgal,” Janet answered. “If he gives an order, it would be no different than if it had come from me. That means he, too, is in charge here and you will give him the correct respect. If you do not like it, pack your things, and leave. Then, in the coming years, you can say your pigheadedness was what kept out of the fight when the Voguel were finally defeated.”

Many in the crowd were still shocked at what they had witnessed. They had probably expected the fight to last an hour or more, but it had ended in about ten minutes. Murmurs began to fill the air as they discussed amongst themselves, but I could not be bothered to listen. I was still upset at Verias’ comment regarding my unborn child. The others could sense my anger and rushed to comfort me.

“Ignore it, my love,” Faye whispered into my ear. “No one will take us, or our children, from you. We would fight them tooth and nail before that would happen.”

I growled in frustration, “I want to rip his balls off for what he said, but you are right. Still, you all are far enough along that it cannot be hidden, and our enemy has shown it will use any means to get to us. I constantly fear that one or more of you will be taken and I will lose you. I have lost so much, and I do not want to think about losing any of you. I wish we had waited until this mission was over to start our family, but what is done is done.”