(World of Valdira 01) The Way of the Clan (23 page)

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Is it he? – without looking at Keira, I asked again.

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Yes, definitely – she whispered to reply for some reason – he looks exactly as described.

Then it has started – I summed up watching the giant who was methodically getting loaded – All we can do now is to wait… 

Chapter 8

Last Day in the Cradle. Night Tournament of Grim the Inconsolable. Algora Never Sleeps

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And the winners are Rosgard and Keireya the Protectress!

Not bad!

I raised the weapon briskly and gave Grim salute while checking my life level:

Life: 85/180 Mana: 95/95

Well, that battle almost killed me and Keira survived by a miracle.  But for my significant life points…

Anyway the second battle was over and a victory again.

Leaning over a wooden low fence I picked up my rucksack, dug inside to take out a pair of meat pieces. I need to recover my life level as soon as possible. But I mustn’t touch potion so far. This is my strategic reserve.

Keira joined me. She fell down wearily on the ground gasping for air. Her stamina is lower than mine, but hit and agility are higher. An agile bee attacking fast and retreating to hide under my protection. It’s a standard but rather effective tactics. However Keira was about to end up badly in that battle when she didn’t manage to dodge and faced a direct sword hit. She hardly stepped backwards when I parried a half-orc’s next hit by my shield. She had to maneuver hiding behind my back and waiting for an appropriate moment till the end of the battle. And I had to absorb by my shield all the hits of the half-orc acting as if he became mad. Thanks god, his partner had been lying on the ground like a limp doll and couldn’t influence the battle anyway by the moment. The gamer landing irregular hits exhausted himself and suddenly slowed down. Keira didn’t miss the chance – she finished the battle by two precise hits to our advantage. That’s what real practice of fighting against gamers rather than stupid mobs means, it’s much more valuable than any expensive gear or weapon.

Now we have some time to relax and watch our potential enemies. Thanks all gods, Grim has chosen the simplest tournament system. To lose means to leave. No points are calculated, nothing is summed. Otherwise the tournament would last long and the majority of gamers would go ‘off’. At the beginning of the tournament I counted sixteen couples eager to participate. Only eleven of them consisted of gamers, the rest five were ‘locals’. After the first round of battles only eight couples of fighters were left. All the ‘locals’ dropped out safely and joined the crowd of spectators. Only the gamers were left. Such a offhand down selection held by Grim who was personally responsible of choosing rivals for a coming battle. Pure cheating. But I wasn’t complaining.

We had gamers not ‘locals’ to compete in the first battle. A couple of humans who wasn’t pulled together at all. We defeated them very quickly almost without losing any health points. You know one was level two, another – level four. Moreover they possessed a minimum gear. So careless… Although the guys were happy and they held no grudge – actually they hadn’t expected to win, but Grim still gave hem ten silver coins each for particiyardn. A consolation prize. But our second battle almost had a sad ending. Keira was badly hurt. However we won. Two more battles are ahead. Or maybe just one – if we lose the next fight.

Moving my jaws automatically, I passed Keira a piece of meat and turned to the arena we had just left.

The brolics who volunteered to help Grim raised hardly moving gamer easily from the ground and brought him outside the arena at the spectators’ catcall. One more couple was excluded. But the tournament wasn’t going to finish soon.

The backyard of the tavern looked like specially designed for holding tournaments. Clear rectangular in shape, with a high stone fence and ground hard under foot. Bright flaming torches hanging on the walls were lighting a spacious ground – a primitive arena enough for any maneuver that was separated from the rest of the backyard by strict borders in the form of wooden low walls. The arena wasn’t specially prepared for the tournament – it looked just the same when a drunk pile of us fell out of the tavern. It took them maximum ten minutes to get prepared. Some servers fixed extra torches on the walls fast, opened the gates and forced a dozen and a half of sleepy sheep out of the fenced sight into the farthest corner of the yard. A simple and elegant decision. Directly speaking we were fighting in the fold. Though the fold was too spacious for such a small number of sheep but it didn’t matter. The inner walls were quite low – maybe a bit higher my waist-line but if you left the fold during the tournament, it would automatically mean your exclusion. Deaths in usual understanding never happened at the tournament. Just maximum drop of life points as low as one point. When another gamer lost all his life points, he fell on the ground and waited for the battle to end as a limp body. When the fight finished, those killed in action were brought outside the arena and their health scale immediately recovered twice. Defeated gamers jumped to their feet and joined spectators who stuck to each side of the fold watching every battle  hungrily, greeting successful hits with a delighted cry and screaming scornfully when somebody was retreating. Like fence-play!

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Ready? Well! Let’s see how good you are! – Grim screamed to deafen everybody and showed start by a flaring torch. – Go!

Two couples standing in the opposite corners of the arena put their weapon in front of them and began coming closer to each other. Two half-orcs with usual clubs against a she-elf with a bow and a stout dwarf armed with an axe. When I saw that the she-elf was standing on one spot and pulled the string to the maximum limit, I chuckled approvingly. She has nothing to do on the frontline. But sorry to say the bow was miserable, low-powered. Anyway the she-elf was acting correctly. If her partner – a dwarf could restrain their enemy…

I turned my head a bit and whispered to Keira who was standing next to me:

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I bet a silverdump on the she-elf and dwarf,

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Very suitable! – muttered the girl indistinctly digging into a piece of meat. – What is OUR sweet couple doing?

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Watching the battle. Nope, they’re looking at us from time to time – I announced as a matter of fact.

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Let them watch. Wow! A crit!

One of the half-orcs leaned backwards beautifully, a red mark caused by the last hit was glowing on his neck. Keira was right. The she-elf landed a critical hit. The half-orc lost a half of the rest of his life. Meanwhile the dwarf was restraining another warrior who was alone at the moment forcing him into the corner opposite to his partner. That’s the reason why dwarfs are so beneficial as tanks – they are short. They don’t block the view for rangers behind them. I remember being Crashshot I used to release arrows tightly over the head of the dwarf-tank protecting me. The she-elf is risking at the moment – her ranger’s skills aren’t advanced, accuracy isn’t perfect and it’s easy to make a hole in your own partner. But such tactics can be fruitful in the future. Besides, their opponents – half-orcs – are mere amateurs. They focused all their efforts on the enduring dwarf instead of breaking through to the ranger and killed it by a couple of hits. The dwarf is going to stay there. Stupid dudes…

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If we clash with this couple in the next battle, then first of all defeat the sharp-eared – I said in a low voice keeping my eye on the dwarf screaming with delight while finishing off the enemy curled in the corner – I’ll be able to restrain the dwarf.

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You’re right – Keira agreed – But I’d prefer to get upsides with THAT couple first. They make me nervous.

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No way, I don’t fancy fighting against them – I muttered gloomily – Have you seen how fast they won in the first battle and how professionally they worked together? That’s a tight-knit team, I can bet it!

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Your level is higher – Keira reminded me – And we’re not beginners either. Personally I’m nervous only because of myself. I’m used to my previous PC. It feels as if I switched from a powerful combat vehicle to a childish tricycle. A tricycle without a handlebar.

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It really feels like this – I burst out laughing while taking out some other pieces of meat from the sack – You know sometimes my hands subconsciously reach for an imaginary bow. I used to be a ranger-bowman…By the way, you handle the shield perfectly. What character class did you have, if it’s not a secret?

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Certainly not! A paladin – replied the grey-eyed standing up - Used to be… And will be again! Personally I believe it’s the best class. And you? What are you going to develop? A ranger again?

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No way, definitely not a ranger – I chuckled – My heart isn’t there. First let’s work out this tournament, then I’’ think about it properly. If I knew what our next quest would be and what the requirements would be… oops! What a speed these guy have!

I was admiring for a reason. The next battle ended in record time. It took less than two minutes. Two pairs of beginners fought; all the gamers were level two and obviously first time in Valdira. They got here by chance as it was supposed in the scenario of the tournament. They had been sitting in the tavern, sipping beer lazily and hadn’t expected anything, when Grim’s thundering roar burst out, he invited all ‘bravehearts’ to take part in a tournament. Beginners couldn’t resist such an adventure and started rushing around the hall to find a combat partner. They made tandems with random gamers. As a result the best matched party of two middle-class warriors immediately chewed their feeble rivals who had skimped on distributing points into stamina. They must be future mages working hard to increase their intelligence at the expense of other attributes. Several hits and the battle is over. No beauty, no grace. Sticks against sticks. So here is the logical result. But there is some good news for us – if these poor-equipped warriors are in the next battle, we won’t have any trouble. The quarter-final has almost finished. Among those who got into the second round are we, the she-elf-ranger together with the dwarf-tank and he last couple of level two human warriors. There is only one battle left and after it that’s our turn again. Grim the Inconsolable reeled off and roared deafeningly again to call ‘fresh meat’ to the arena. Myrna and Grume were the first to enter the fold, a dwarf-and-human pair followed them. The fold gates shut down with a clatter to cut off the route to escape. Grim waved the torch squeezed in his grip to give the battle a start.

Grume reacted immediately. He dashed towards screaming, then turned up two steps aside from the first enemy and swung his sword widely. When the warrior armed with a stuff instinctively put his weapon in front of him trying to parry the hit, he missed an intense kick in the stomach that threw him two steps back and knocked him down. A sword swing was just a trick. Without losing his pace Grume dashed towards the second enemy who got puzzled by such a furious attack and started landing hits on his shield. The enemy’s life level wasn’t falling but it was intended so – Grume was just restraining the second warrior while Myrna entered the battle. She jumped up to the gamer who was about to stand up, switched the sword to two-handed grip and landed an intense stubbing top-down hit. I winced unwittingly. The gamer yelled with terror, half of his life points vanished at once. He waved off by his stuff blindly and became limp when got the second ‘fatal’ hit. Two minutes later the gamer-dwarf left alone was defeated. Actually he just surrendered when he was trapped in the corner unable to parry simultaneous hits by two swords. A pure victory. Grim who was watching the battle process closely approved it by a nod.

That’s all, the quarter-final is over, we know the winners.

I caught Grim’s glance thrown at me, put my hands behind the back to pull out the shield and the axe and stepped towards the arena without waiting for an inviting roar. Keira kept pace with me. She got armed on foot. We stopped at the farthest side of the fold and took our well-known position – I was standing first keeping my shield in front of me, Keira was one step behind me and a bit aside hiding under her shield.

A familiar couple of the she-elf and the dwarf followed us. There was high concentration on their faces. They occupied positions as agreed beforehand – the dwarf came out far in front keeping a five or six step distance between him and me. The she-elf on the contrary stepped back almost pressing her back against the gates. Thank you so much, Grim! Sure THAT very couple is going to get into the final. They didn’t have any difficulty crumbing two ordinary warriors with standard weapon. I heard Keira swearing in a low voice, nodded her with agreement and reminded:

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Kill the long-eared. Otherwise we’ll serve her as a pinball.

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I know – Keira replied briskly – Don’t let the dwarf reach me.

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Well! – Grim started the familiar phrase – Let’s see how good you are! Go!

He didn’t manage to finish the last word when I got down and dashed to the dwarf. At that very moment I felt an arrow hit against my shield. Fast she is!