All of a sudden everything seemed to happen at once. Agar'zan was charging my way, pushing aside anyone who got in his way. Damn that hotheaded, anger driven idiot! More guards were moving in between the queen, my brother and me to shield her from any harm. There were shouts of protest and alarm coming from the crowd. None of that stopped Agar'zan. He wore the enchanted black plate armor of the royal guard as well as a halberd made of the same enchanted, volcanic glass. It looked incredibly sharp. It was his voice more than anything else that gave away his identity. “I don't recognize your claim to my mother's domain!” His angry roar reverberated through the hall. “I challenge you for the right to claim title and inheritance!”

No one moved to interfere. This wasn't really the place to issue such a challenge but it was his right to challenge my claim to mother's domain. The way he went about it certainly didn't earn him anyone's sympathy though. I looked up at the queen, now shielded by more members of the royal guard. She still stood a head or more taller than any of them. She nodded. “Give them some room to settle this matter.” Her voice was even but firm. She didn't need to raise it. Her words reached anyone present anyway. In a way it was as if she were talking right next to me. A spell. I was certain of it. No one protested. No one questioned her decision. No one hesitated. People started to move away from me and my brother right away. Only the guards shielding the queen didn't budge at all. Retreating footsteps behind assured me that Kaele and the minster of the treasury stepped away as well.

I had been expecting this confrontation. I had been dreading this clash. I had not expected it to happen here, now and like this though. Maybe it was better this way. At least I didn't have to worry about it anymore. Now I just had to fight. Agar'zan started charging me, speeding up with every step, his weapon raised for a brutal strike, almost as soon as he was past the last retreating bystanders. I didn't wait for the blade to come crushing down on me. I casted Cat's Grace almost without sparing the casting a thought. The spell had become second nature to me. So much so that casting it barely required any mental effort anymore. Almost all of my attention was focused on my estranged brother instead as he was descending on my position.

Normally I would have just dodged. I was pretty certain that he would expect me to dodge. A hundred sparring matches had started or ended quite similar to this. Thus I did something else instead. I surged forward, sliding low under his powerful leap. I could hear his blade come crashing down behind me. Probably where I would have dodged if I had kept to our usual exchange of blows. I could hear stone break and it was almost certainly not his weapon breaking. He must have been using a spell similar to the one I used to boost my speed and reflexes, except his probably boosted strength. It was called Bull's Strength if memory didn't fail me. Yes, that sounded about right for a bullheaded idiot.

I never stopped moving though. As he came smashing down hard I spun on my heel behind him. I spun my weapon in my hands as well, to bring its butt end smashing into the back of his helmet. The blow sent him staggering but I didn't stick around long enough to find out how much damage I might have done. Just as well. He tore the blade of his halberd free from the shattered tiles, sending debris flying, and whirled around himself, to chop at me. The halberd's blade didn't even come close, but the long, equally pointy and sharp spike at the weapon's head scraped across my scale mail. With my old armor of boiled leather scales this glancing blow might have been enough to end my life. As things were, the enchanted weapon barely left a scratch on the wyvern scales. Still, this was too close for comfort.

I just kept dancing around my enraged brother. I had to. Stopping would have meant my death. I doubted he would stop to give me a chance to surrender. He was just too far gone for that. While he was still a little off balance from his follow up blow I brought my weapon to bear once more. I didn't aim for his head this time. Even off balance as he was he didn't forget to put his guard up. The first blow to the head must have hurt after all. Instead I aimed for his left knee. I smashed the butt of my weapon into it from the side with all the force I could muster and again he was sent staggering. I could hear something give with a sickening noise and it was neither my weapon nor his armor.

He didn't go down though. Instead he just shifted more of his weight to the other leg and roared again. He couldn't easily swing at me right now. Not the way he had before anyway. I was too close for that and his range of motion was limited, at least a little, due to the injured knee. He changed his grip on his halberd and tried anyway. A feint! Not a good one though. He was trying to steal a page from my book and brought the heft of his weapon up between my legs. Stupid asshole! I hit like that would have hurt him more than me and my scale mail would have mitigated most of the force behind the blow anyway but I still didn't feel like taking that blow. That would have been injury and insult in one nice package again. That was just so like him.

I danced out of reach again and maybe that had been what he wanted to achieve in the end as he quickly switched his grip back to bring his weapon to bear at longer ranges. Well, Ill be. Turns out even a stupid asshole can learn after all. Maybe anger didn't completely cloud his mind? Or maybe it did after all. He immediately launched himself forward, towards me again, swinging his weapon in a wide chop that could take off one of my legs or possibly even both of them below the hem of my armor, if I were to let it connect. Just above the knees. Or maybe just below. Well, I had no intention of finding out. The sensible thing to do would have been to increase the distance in between us, to have him try to keep up with me with his injured knee.

It would have been sensible to play the long game. Somehow that didn't strike me as appropriate though. When fighting I wanted to fight with all my heart. I didn't want to wait for him to make a mistake or for his leg to finally give out. I didn't want to win this fight like that. I wanted to beat this idiotic hothead to the ground. Thus I started a counter charge. I could hear the gasps of the crowd but I didn't pay them much mind. With my speed I was past the blade of his weapon in the blink of an eye. At worst the heft would bruise me now. If he hit too high I probably would barely feel it thanks to my armor. I struck again. And again I didn't strike with the blade of my glaive. I didn't want to outright kill him, even if he did not return that sentiment.

I brought the butt of my weapon to bear once more instead, ramming it into his hip on the side of his good leg. I didn't stop there though. While I lashed out I gathered Mana again. And as he tried to twist out of the way of my attack I twisted with him, almost locking horns as we came close. A shudder ran down my spine as we locked eyes for the briefest of moments, me looking down at him, but I didn't let it distract me any further. I unleashed a Lion's Roar at him at point blank range and all of a sudden all his anger and all his rage seemed like the tantrum of a child. He went down, skidding along the ground as we passed each other but he hadn't been the only one affected.

Out of the corner of my eyes I could see some of the spectators stumble backwards stunned as well, eyes wide with fear. Only the guards stood firm. Some even looked as if they wanted to charge at me. Only their firm sense of duty and the queen's orders to give us room held them back. Oops? Had I overdone it? This could have ended badly for me if any of them had actually gone for this blatant challenge. All was still well though. This was still between me and Agar'zan. Silence fell for a moment as he slid to a stop in a pile of clattering armor near the spot where he had trashed the floor of the throne room. I killed my momentum as well, whirling around to face him again from several paces away. I whirled around my glaive as well. So far I had only struck him with the butt of my weapon. Now the blade was pointing his way.

There were some gasps among the crowd. It seems at least a few understood the gesture for what it was even before I spoke up. “This is your one chance to stand down and surrender Agar'zan. If you don't, you die. Unlike you I don't even need to land a killing blow to end this fight. A single scratch from this weapon will suffice.” As I spoke my voice was calm and steady, not unlike the queen's before at all. There were more gasps and whispers from among the spectators. I didn't pay them any mind. “Heritage and inheritance are not about what we think is our due. They are about what those that have come before us think they can entrust into our care. This is about what our people need, not what we want. And our people don't need a hothead driven by anger right now.”

I stared down at him, my gaze firm. I didn't want to kill him. I really didn't, despite all the hardships, all the bruises, broken bones and all the pain I had suffered at his hands in the past, but I would end him if he didn't start seeing reason and surrender now. After all a king's daughter, his beloved, could only take so much attitude before she had to put her foot down. Hard. The uncomfortable silence between us stretched. The shaft of his weapon groaned as his fingers closed around it in a painfully hard grip and for a moment I was afraid I would have to live up to my words. I didn't dwell on that long though. Instead I firmed my grip on my own weapon. Finally he let go of his halberd and it clattered to the ground next to him, accompanied by a collective sight of relief.