The audience had given us plenty of room. We were going to need it. His limbs did not stay proportional to human or wolf, something gangly and in between. Making his reach was a good six feet, getting in with my measly dagger wasn't going to be easy.
He snuffed and paced, waiting. His lip always curled back in a constant growl. Titannia was holding back the signal, it was making him angrier. Which would just turn into some bloodlust frenzy soon. Normally, I’m all for an angry attacker. It puts them off. But this guy was meant to be angry, like a berserker, blind rage made him a better fighter. Nervously, I wrung the grip.
I took a deep breath and tried to shut out the noise of the crowd’s growing anticipation and frustration. He was bigger, it meant he wouldn’t be able to sneak around. He’s loud. His breathing. His heartbeat. It was all loud. And now that he had changed he developed a musk that hung on the air like a heavy blanket. Luckily, it was no worse smell than you might find on the streets of Notion City or the Wilds of Faery. I could handle it.
With my eyes shut I wait, then it happened. The crowd’s noise fell into a gasp, and the wolf moved. Titannia had given in the signal.
I turned the blade and leap forward into a roll, moving as the wolf tried to flank. If he gave in to his more bestial nature he’d attack like a beast. But he had no pack to assist, advantage mine.
Sure, enough he had round the dance floor and come back to my position. I narrowly avoided his claws with my roll. Though, Corrigan’s outfit for me didn’t fair so well. Guess it was a good thing I wasn’t allowed to come in my suit.
He was already off after the attack and moving again, he was fast and would be on me in a second. I sprang straight into the air, tucking my legs up with me. The beast rushed underneath, he was going to try and cut my legs out from underneath me. Bring down a fast opponent just like a wolf. But again, I managed to avoid him.
Though, it wasn't by enough. I stopped midair with a bit of a jerk as the hand caught my ankle. He may have been mostly wolf, but there was a little human left. Like the thumbs, for example, it held fast and I was dragged back down to the floor with a hard slam.
I managed to distribute the blow, and turn my head away. It hurt a hell of a lot more, but no blood flew from me. I bounced against the hard stone floor and rolled for a few feet.
Then a couple hundred pounds of fur and muscle and claw were upon me. His hands ripped chunks of stone free from the floor as he tried viciously to strike my face with the damn things. I guess if he made me bleed and killed me in the first blow he would still be within the terms of our duel. So, he was still able to think clearly.
Great.
Underneath him, I wouldn’t last much longer. I squirmed with my hips and pulled myself down, away from his arms and better placed at his midsection. I drove the knife upward.
It was like stabbing a rock. The blade hit with a heavy clunk and rebounded, with no visible mark what so ever. There was a laughter that rolled his belly, and I tried to strike it once again.
A back leg kicked, and caught my shoulder. Slamming it back to the floor, stopping the blow and sending my dagger flying through the air. His other foot followed suit, driving down onto my second shoulder and pinning me hard to the floor. No claws dug in. He could have won, but he wanted the killing blow in one. Hey, how about that his rage was working in my favor.
I tried to push up on his legs, I struggled and I kicked. Well, flailed might be a more appropriate term. But there was no weak point in his back legs. Someone had constructed a building squarely on my shoulders.
Then I could smell it, a stench that overtook me and made my head swim. Uncleaned flesh still lingering on teeth. I looked up to hide his massive head had bent under himself, and the maw was approaching my head. Jaws open wide to take a big bite. I got a close enough look to get a view of some of the bits stuck in there. A piece of a nightcap. A scrap of red fabric. The urge to vomit was stronger than the urge to get away.
Some brought on the belief that Fae anatomy is different from that of a human’s. They hoped to curb teenagers from leaving the bosom of their own race when met with the overwhelming beauty of the Fae. It doesn’t mean a thing, Fae have every bit the same stuff beneath their garbs as the next person. Sure, they might be a little strange, maybe made of a different material. Or look a little more animalistic. But the simple fact is, they’re still there.
So, when I nailed the wolf in his genitals. His howl went three octaves higher and he crumbled up in a fetal position like any fully equipped male would do. I drunkenly hurried to my feet, disoriented was my normal state of mind so at least I was feeling right at home and scrambled to search for my dagger.
It hadn't work before, but then perhaps I was just aiming in the wrong spot. My search wasn't long, a piece of iron would send Fae in the area scattering. I looked for where the crowd had moved far away from the dance floor. The blade glistened in lights of the party, a semi-circle of creatures had moved away from it. All keeping a good ten feet away. It wasn't difficult to walk right back in and snatch it up.
There was a split second the carrion breath was on me, then by my collar I flew across the dance floor. I tried to roll with it as best I could. Arms up to guard my face. And skidded to a stop just a few feet before Titannia. I didn’t need to look up to know the smile she had upon her face, she was hoping that wolf would kill me in one blow. Hell, Corrigan was back in the audience somewhere with the same thought and smile.
Claws came from all angles. He had changed strategy, with the audience only a few feet to my back by keeping in front and striking from the sides, I couldn’t escape. With each attack, I tried to parry and riposte. The blade landed multiple times on his arms, but still no blood fell. He came from my left, I managed to move in and only get the forearm across my head. I kept them from rending my flesh, but I stumbled. Too dizzy. Too disoriented. Usually, if I’m this way I just have a good long sit down.
The right came in, low and across my belly intent on spilling everything out in a dramatic show. I leapt back. But the mass of Fae to my back stopped me a few inches too short. Four marks scored through the doublet, ripping the fabric to shreds while tearing across my skin.
I fell to all fours immediately, clutching at the wound and trying to breathe. Trying to think. Adolf howled and turned his back on me. He stretched his arms wide, triumphant. He hadn’t finished me off completely. But at the very least, he had struck.
His form returned to that off a man. Much smaller now though, it must overtime build up in him till he reaches a breaking point. He would have fit in that suit of his perfectly now, had he not turned it to ribbons to fight me.
Titannia rose. She eyes gleaming with pride for the man parading in the nude before the whole court. The cheers grew boisterous. None could hear much else above of them.
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