Lord Remont choked on his own spit.

Sir Walter returned, unexpectedly quick, as did the Gruesome Hatchet mercenaries and Odinic Templars, now covered in the blood of their freshly slain enemies. Remont imagined only one possible outcome: they defeated the cavalry raid. Effortlessly.

Shit! How? How?!

He intended to catch up to them and wait for his moment to disrupt Sir Walter. If he could catch him off guard, then perhaps he could make his death seem like an accident. Yet, it's clear something absurd transpired, to achieve total victory.

The outcome of this skirmish cast a shadow of doubt on the battle proper. Did Sir Walter possess another secret spell? This is the worst-case scenario.

"Why are you here, Lord Remont?" Sister Lora asked. Lord Remont could not see her eyes, but he could feel her scrutinizing gaze. In her hands, a magical bow, the spoils of war.

"I came to check on you, and Camp Wolf. What happened? Did they surrender--"

An Odinic Templar, grinning like a madman, bumped shoulders with Lord Remont. The disrespect silenced the governor, though the templar noticed it not at all.

"Camp Wolf's safe," Sir Walter said, "Let's go."

"I'll take that," Lord Remont said.

He extended his open hand to Sister Lora. A long moment passed before she curtsied and relinquished the bow. For a moment, he imagined he smashed her face for her discourtesy and has to set his jaw to keep his cool.

"How did you defeat the cavalrymen so quickly?" Lord Remont asked.

"When we get to the battlefield," Sir Walter said, "I'll show you."

"I want my sword back!"

Elin's anger simmered deep in her stomach.

The skirmisher, the only term she could summon to describe him, smirked and shrugged. She gritted her teeth, raised a borrowed longsword, and slammed it down.

She missed. Her opponent chuckled as he rolled to safety.

It was wrong to say this dagger-wielding skirmisher lacked a lineage, but he didn't have special skills, Elin concluded. Most likely, he possessed preternatural dexterity. Two other problems stalled this battle. The first was his talent with knives and acrobatics, so she couldn't deliver a clean strike. At times, she believed she hit him, only to miss the connection. Walter once called the phenomenon 'i-frames.' The second--

--Elin's blade shattered.

Whenever she cornered him, he used his daggers to block. Each time their weapons connected, hers crumbled and broke.

Wilmand's and Rangville's armies didn't quite collide on the battlefield. Lady Elin and the two elites she faced took center stage. While fighting from both sides continued on the far wings, it kept an organized and well-maintained pace. Both sides waited to see the outcome of the duel.

So, the three of them stood in the center-battlefield and created an eye of a hurricane around them.

One of Wilmand's soldiers behind her tossed her a sword, which she blind-caught. She screamed out the name of her fighting move, to invoke the magic to crush man and land alike, and swung it. A pillar of light extended to the sky and crashed down.

,,¡ʇuǝɯǝƃpnſ snoǝʇɥƃᴉɹ,,

The skirmisher's friend, the shielder, dived forward, "I think not!"

The rattling explosion from her attack split after contact with the shield, forming a 'V' shape of ruined earth with the men at the vertex. Both men remained safe and sound.

"These are blades are named 'Asunder and Divide," the skirmisher said, holding his weapons to the sky as if to offer them to a god, "It's an honor to use them in battle. The shield my companion holds is named 'Last Stand.' The bow my companion holds is called 'Errorless.' My name is Doge, Lady Elin. Likewise, it's an honor to battle you."

"You misunderstand," Elin said.

Doge tilted his head and waited for her follow-up.

"The only time warriors exchange names is to research later and to claim their honor as their own. I have no intention of doing so, nor do I care to be someone else's stepping stone. Keep your name to yourself, I don't want it."

Doge scratched his chin, "Yes, well, I suppose you do stand over me as a soldier does to a goblin. But, I'm a wily goblin, so don't dismiss me so quickly." He flourished 'Asunder and Divide.' "As far as I can see, we're on equal footing! Can you really afford to let our fight stall? Will your army hold out? As long as I can dodge and Rex blocks, we'll eventually wear you down. You'll make a mistake."

"More misunderstanding. All I need do is discontinue raging like my father," Elin raised her sword into a salute. "And resume slaying, as my mother taught me."

Elin noticed Doge's lightheartedness fled him as he witnessed her carry herself differently. Her sword point leveled at him. He knew engaging her became far more lethal.

She taunted him with a wave of her fingers.

He responded by rolling forward, leaping, and diving with a double-stab, confident he could roll away to safety should his attack fail.

Elin waited for him to hit her.

"What?" he missed, "Wait, you're like me?!"

"You mean the 'i-frames?'"

She timed her escape maneuver, a sliding backward without a kick, and enjoyed Doge's panic when he realized a strike that should connect did not. He turned and dived away to create distance.

What did Walter call this? 'Roll-catching?'

In one graceful bound, Elin reduced the space between her and Doge. Her strike patiently waited for his roll to cease, and his 'i-frames' to end.

When they did, so would his life. For an instant, the specter of death reflected in his terrified eyes.

"I won't let you!" Rex shouted.

"Haya!"

Predictably, the shielder jumped in to intercept. Walter spent hours detailing the Falling Feather style, her mother's heroic lineage, and included facts previously unknown. While his instruction was awkward, like, 'Try stepping back twice at the same time to escape,' or, 'Duck your hips and thrust them forward,' she learned everything he presented.

So, she decided early to use a 'guard break' to make the shielder vulnerable. With an additional force, not found in the tap she used, his shield flew out from in front of him, and he lost his balance.

This time, Doge defended his friend. He wedged himself between her and Rex and blocked the blade. It deteriorated, but not before the momentum carried the ruined metal into his upper arm.

She tsked and tossed the weapon away.

Both men backed off. She watched then and caught another backup weapon.

"If you," Doge clutched himself, "could do all that, then why play around? I can lead a dragon around by the nose, and I've never been this scared."

"It's not like this fight was without risk, but you simply could not muster enough pressure. Furthermore, my responsibility goes further than this duel. I can't allow a mistake and let this army collapse." Elin turned her head, "You feel that change in the air? He's coming. That's pressure."

"Who's coming?"

"Walter."