The rite begins

I follow the orc to a crowd of orc encircling an arena, several orcs had climbed atop rocks for a better view of the upcoming fight. To my left on an elevated platform sat on a ornate throne was Semta, I see the disappointment in his eyes at the fact that I intended to fight for his sister but I didn't care. Next to him was an orc banging away at a drum, the steady beat barely audible over the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears.

As we reach the orcs surrounding the ring, they part to let me pass "damn he's so small", "Zihans gonna crush him", "pfft it's gonna be over in ten seconds" I hear some of the orcs say as I pass. I try to put their words to the back of my mind as I finally reach the edge, a thick line drawn into the soil separates the fighting area from the viewing area. As I step past the threshold I feel the soft earth yield beneath my feet, I make a mental note to tread lightly as if my foot got sucked in by a soft patch it would be the **** of me. Zihan was already in the circle axe in hand ready to cut me down, I scan the faces of the orcs to find Quinara and thankfully unlike my dream where she was nowhere to be seen I find her easily. Quinara's eyes meet mine and I can feel her concern and fear, and I could do nothing to assure her she just had to hope I knew what I was doing. I look down at her arm and see an angry dark bruise on her arm from how hard Zihan gripped her when dragging her away from me, it only motivates me further to free her from this monster.

Eventually the drumming stops and the orcs fall silent, Semta stands "today before the gods we witness a rite of the paramour. Huck of Hearthwood challenges Zihan of the Grug clan, may the better fighter prevail and may the gods grant the victor happiness with their partner." He announces to which the crowd roars, and the rite begins.

"Draw your sword, runt!" Zihan barks at me putting extra venom into the runt, I nervously look around and just as I suspected this was near identical to the dream. Hopefully it doesn't end the same way. "I told you to draw your weapon runt!" He shouts taking me out of my stupor, I needed to focus I wouldn't be allowed this mistake again. It was time to put my plan into action, I take my hand off my hilt and shout back "I don't need to!" Zihan looks puzzled then breaks into a heavy laugh, "are you fucking kidding me, this is how you trained him Quinara." The crowd breaks into laughter as well, Quinara gives me a look that screams "what the fuck are you doing?" Her cheeks flush with humiliation as they all laugh at her, Quinara however would have to endure this humiliation for my plan to work.

Zihan stops laughing "oh well lets just get this over with", he surges forward and swings at my neck aiming to decapitate me, the blade sails over my head as I duck down and dart past him. "Ooh so close" I mock as I take another step back from him, from the corner of my eye I see a smile curl on the edges of Quinara's mouth. She was smarter than me and she knew exactly what I was doing and her burgeoning smile gave me all the confidence I needed to believe this would work.

Zihan doesn't strike out immediately he just studies me, clearly he underestimated how fast I was and was plotting a move, "scared?" I say trying to goad him into an attack, it works flawlessly as he sends another devastating swing that would cleave me in two, I dodge it... Barely as it cuts my shirt, such a close call would usually rattle me but there was too much at stake and Quinara's teaching keeps me cool. "That's more like it big guy, you almost had it" I say masking my fear with false confidence, Zihan glares at me before making another swing. The air crackles with the **** as he swings much harder this time, this was overkill but his excessive **** just proved my plan was working. As I avoid this next strike I tighten the noose, "come on a big orc like you can't even kill me, I'm not even using my sword" I taunt.

I begin to hear murmurs from the crowd, and if I could hear them Zihan certainly could, he was being embarrassed by a human. "Too slow" my mocking words clearly having an effect on him, "GRAH!!" Zihan roars as he makes another violent swing for me. As the blade sails past me it dawns on me that this was no longer an insurmountable task, I had turned this from an unwinnable fight to a even playing field. All I needed was to keep my cool, keep dodging and wait for an opening.