Niles

  The princess was an excellent dancer, and she had the whole catgirl thing going on, too, with cat eyes, ears, and even a tail. But she wasn’t as furry as Hilaria, at least not on her face, which was more human than tiger, though there was still a definite feline quality to it. Her dress covered most of the rest of her, though, so Niles couldn’t be sure how furry the rest of her was. It didn’t hide the fact that she had some nice curves, though he’d have called her more athletic than buxom. On the whole, her non-human features added an exotic quality, enhancing her beauty rather than detracting from it. She was one of the most attractive women he’d met in this world, though he hadn’t been sure about the stripes at first, but they were growing on him.

  She wore a pleasant smile as they danced together, but he was pretty sure it was her ‘it’s my job to smile and look pretty’ smile, because she was really working on pulling his magic out. He was having to put some effort into throttling it back. At least she had made some effort to get to know him before asking for his magic, though it had still taken her less than a minute to get there. At least it hadn’t been her first question, so that was better than some. Plus, she was a princess, so getting to dance with her was cool.

  “Are you holding back your magic?” the princess asked, pulling back enough to meet his gaze.

  Niles raised an eyebrow. “Do you want more?”

  The princess raised her eyebrow in return. “How much more could you give?”

  A loud crash and the sound of breaking glass pulled Niles’ attention away from the princess. The sound of angry voices followed. Scanning the room, Niles quickly found the source of the disturbance. Crochel’s arachni date was facing off against Bonzo, with Birgit right there, too. Niles hadn’t liked the look of the arachni from the first moment he’d seen him. He had the bearing of someone spoiling for a fight, and that he was with Crochel only made it worse.

  “I’m sorry, Princess, but duty calls,” Niles said, letting go of the rakshasa and rushing toward the disturbance. Pushing his way through the gathering crowd, Niles made his presence known. “Is there a problem here?”

  It had not come to blows yet, but it looked like it was close.

  “This is none of your business,” the arachni snarled. “This is between me and this runt. He has insulted me, and I was about to challenge him to a duel.”

  Birgit cut in, pulling Bonzo back away from the taller arachni “This brute knocked a tray full of drinks onto our table. Bonzo and I are the aggrieved party here.”

  “You see, that makes it my business, buddy,” Niles said, moving to step between Birgit and the arachni. “How about you apologize and then back off?”

  “If you were a mage and not just some monster, I would challenge you to a duel,” the arachni growled.

  “There will be no dueling at this ball,” Princess Vedika announced in a regal tone.

  Niles hadn’t realized the princess had followed him, but her statement took some of the wind out of the arachni’s sails.

  But even as the arachni deflated, Crochel stepped up next to him. “How about a simple contest to settle this, then?” The princess turned to Crochel and motioned for her to continue. “Tarant has an other-planar entity familiar, as well. Let us have the two familiars settle this in a friendly bout, no weapons. If Tarant’s familiar yields first, Tarant will apologize, and I will even pay for their ruined outfits, but if Birgit’s familiar yields first, then she and her date will apologize, clean up this mess, and go home.”

  “What say you to this, Niles?” Princess Vedika asked.

  Niles was a bit surprised the princess had just ruled out duels, but was now ready to consider a battle between familiars. It was yet another reminder of his status as not quite a person. He thought they’d been hitting it off pretty well, and when she’d called for no dueling, he thought she’d taken his side, but now he was less sure. But whatever her angle on this, it definitely had the stink of a setup. Crochel had specified no weapons. Did that mean this Tarant’s familiar had horns, claws, teeth, or some such to give it an advantage?

  Niles studied Tarant. “Let’s see this familiar first.”

  The princess looked at Tarant, who shrugged and began a summons. A minute later, a gray-skinned humanoid appeared next to the arachni. It was hairless and almost featureless, with only two small gray eyes and a slit of a mouth to mark its face. Dressed in a baggy tunic that hung down almost to the floor, little of its body was visible except its arms, which were thin and showed little muscle definition. It had no horns or claws, and its mouth didn’t look large enough to pose a serious threat, regardless of what sort of teeth it had. Standing nearly Niles’ height, it waited impassively, not looking at all ready for a fight. Niles glanced over at Birgit. She was studying the creature, but showed no sign of recognition.

  Niles looked at Crochel. “So, this is a barehanded fight until one of us gives up?”

  “That is all,” Tarant agreed with a sly smile. “Unless you are afraid of even that. In which case, I will just challenge that little green fool to a duel later to settle this matter.”

  No doubt the gray humanoid had some sort of secret weapon, but given how resistant Niles had been to every sort of magic that had been thrown at him so far, chances were good whatever ace it had up its sleeve would not work as well as Crochel and Tarant hoped. Besides, he didn’t see another way out of this without Bonzo having to duel the arachni, and Bonzo did not strike Niles as a fighter.

  “Alright, let’s do this,” Niles agreed.

  “You are quite brave to fight a fomori bare-handed,” the princess whispered from behind Niles. “I look forward to seeing how formidable you are.”

  Niles vaguely remembered hearing about fomori from Irish folklore, but he thought he remembered them being some kind of deformed giants. Maybe he remembered wrong, or the folklore was off. The crowd shifted away from the tables and out onto the open dance floor, carrying Niles along with it. The headmistress and some other staff arrived to find out what was going on, but Princess Vedika intercepted them and evidently had enough clout to keep them from interfering.

  Birgit ran up to Niles as a circle began forming around them. “What were you thinking? Why did you accept this?”

  Niles shrugged. “I didn’t see another option to keep Bonzo out of a duel.”

  “But he could have just forfeited the duel,” Birgit hissed. “No one would have really expected him to go through with it. Tarant is a much higher-ranked student.”

  “Well, that’s good to know now,” Niles sighed. “But it’s just a duel to submission, so if it goes bad, I’ll just tap out.”

  Birgit growled in frustration and stepped right up to Niles so she could whisper in his ear. “You don’t understand. Familiars yield in a fight like this by returning to their home plane. You cannot do that, so you will have to win or…” Her voice caught in her throat.

  “Well, I was planning on winning anyway,” Niles said, trying to sound confident for Birgit, who was obviously on the brink of panic. Her revelation was not welcome news, though. “So, what can you tell me about the fomori?”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Birgit gasped. “Oh no, I didn’t recognize it in this form. This is awful.”

  “What do you mean, ‘this form’?” Niles asked.

  “Are you just going to stand there talking to your little frog mage, or are you ready?” Tarant called out from the other side of the circle where he stood with his familiar.

  “Yeah, yeah, hold your horses,” Niles shot back and took off his coat, handing it to Birgit. He thought about taking off his shirt so that it wouldn’t impede him, give his opponent something to grab, or get ruined, but he knew how conservative the people of Deca were, so he kept it on. Birgit looked distressed, but took the coat and stepped back to the edge of the circle.

  Niles shook out his arms, loosened his neck, and then called out. “Ready when you are, chuckles.”

  Tarant gave him a wicked grin before turning to his familiar. “Destroy him.”

  Suddenly, the gray-skinned familiar began to shift and expand. Its body thickened and lengthened. One of its arms began growing, while the other twisted, its fingers lengthening and sprouting claws. Its back hunched, and its head warped as a pair of twisted horns erupted from its sides. Long tusks grew out of its mouth, tearing the slit wider, and its once-smooth skin began to thicken and wrinkle.

  Belatedly, Niles realized he probably should have attacked during its transformation, but he’d been so shocked by the grotesque spectacle that he couldn’t act. Now before him stood a seven-foot-tall monstrosity, with the bulk of a linebacker, covered in thick, wrinkled, gray skin that would have made a rhinoceros proud. One of its arms was now thicker than Niles leg and reached almost to the ground. The other was still thin, but now twisted at odd angles as if it had extra joints, and ended in long fingers tipped with inch-long talons. Its gray eyes were now glowing red, and its once-impassive face now exuded a hungry menace. Everything about it seemed hostile and wrong.

  Lumbering forward, it came at Niles, but its awkward gait gave him hope. It was clearly top-heavy, and its mismatched arms and hunched back had to make it hard for the brute to balance. It also didn’t seem too fast. Of course, Niles didn’t know how smart it was, so it might be holding back and maybe even faking the awkward gait. He decided to test it a bit before committing.

  Staying on the balls of his feet, Niles let the fomori take a few swings. It used its long arm exclusively, which gave it considerable reach, and it seemed to be more trying to grab him rather than hit him. Given that its massive paw was large enough to palm his head, that was not something Niles wanted to happen. The arm was faster than he expected, but it telegraphed its moves and practically overbalanced with each swipe. After a few passes, that Niles dodged well enough, he felt he had its measure.

  The next time it took a swing, Niles ducked to the side and under the swing, stepping in and hammering a solid right fist into its ribs. The hit was clean, and he struck with enough force that he should have at least cracked the bones, but it was like hitting a tree. If the brute even felt the blow, it gave no sign. Worse, its other arm shot around at an impossible angle with the speed of a striking snake, shredding Niles sleeve and ripping furrows of bloody pain from his elbow down to his wrist.

  The pain caused Niles to lose focus for a moment, and the creature caught him in the shoulder with a backhand blow from its long arm. Even though the blow wasn’t delivered with the brute’s full strength, it still knocked Niles off his feet. It had been a painful, one-sided exchange for Niles, but it also revealed a weakness he thought he could exploit. Rather than coming after Niles to capitalize on its successful strikes, the brute had staggered to the side to catch its balance, its legs struggling to keep it upright. That explained its fighting style. Its twisted arm was deadly in close combat, but it had a hard time maneuvering to get in close, so it tried to pull opponents in with its extra-long arm. Apparently armored like a tank, it could probably resist anything he could throw at it with his bare hands, and its head would be hard to reach without getting in range of its claws. Its legs, though, were quite thin for its bulk and seemed barely able to keep it upright. That could be an exploitable weakness.

  Niles circled to the long arm side of the fomori as it came in again. Turning in that direction to keep Niles in front of it, proved challenging for the brute. It quickly grew enraged and charged, lashing out with its long arm again. Niles dropped to the ground, rolled to the side, and kicked the side of the brute’s knee with as much force as he could muster. This time, the creature reacted to the blow, staggering and bellowing like an enraged bull. It would probably have fallen, but it caught itself with its long arm. As Niles rolled back to his feet, he saw the creature was now limping. He had successfully made it even less maneuverable, but that was still a long way from ending the fight, it seemed. Maybe if he could actually break its knee, it would retreat to its own plane.

  Niles continued to circle and tried to goad the creature into another charge, but it was too smart to fall for the ruse twice, or worse, maybe it healed fast as well and was just buying time. It wasn’t limping any less yet, but Niles didn’t want to wait. Deciding to act, Niles charged in. Feinting to the side, he caused the Brute to shift its weight to counter, but then Niles dropped to the floor, sliding in on his side and kicked out to connect with the fomori’s kneecap. There was an audible crunch as the joint bent the wrong way.

  Niles rolled to the side and scrambled to get some distance from the brute as it bellowed again. Suddenly, the fomori dove at him, or perhaps it was just falling, but either way, it was coming right his way. Niles rolled to the side again as the creature came crashing down, but just as Niles thought he’d escaped, he felt something grab his ankle in a crushing grip.

  The fomori was flat out on the floor, but it had his leg in the viselike grip of its massive hand. Nile kicked its massive mitt with his free foot, but it was like kicking a rock. The creature looked over at him and gave him a tusk-filled grin as it sat up and pulled him in. Niles kicked even more frantically, but the brute only let out a coarse, huffing laugh as it turned so that its twisted arm could come into play. Its taloned hand struck, tearing into Niles calf. The pain was incredible, and it laughed harder as Niles growled in pain.

  It pulled its talons back for another strike. Niles’ boot had given him some protection from the first strike, but another strike like that would cripple him. A couple of times in his weekend monster battles, Niles had used time magic to augment his speed, but always just by instinct. He had not yet mastered the ability to call it at will, but he willed it to activate now. Whether it was his will or his desperation that called it, Niles felt time magic kick in.

  Everything seemed to slow down, but the taloned hand was still moving fast. Forcing his body to jackknife, Niles bent up and caught the fomari’s twisted arm by the wrist. Kicking out with his free leg, he planted it in the fomari’s armpit and then straightened back out, pulling and twisting the twisted arm. His wounded leg bent at a painful angle, still trapped by the brute’s other hand, but Niles did not let up. The twisted arm straightened out, and still Niles pulled, putting all his strength into the effort. The twisted arm went completely straight, and still Niles pulled. He heard a popping sound as one of the many joints of the arm dislocated, and then another. The fomori began to bellow and retaliate by trying to rip Niles’ leg off, but while it might have had the strength, it didn’t have the proper leverage, like Niles did. Another joint popped, and then Niles heard a tearing sound. A moment later, the fomori vanished.

  The sudden loss of tension caused Niles to flop about awkwardly for a moment, as he tried to process what had just happened. Realizing the fomori must have given up, Niles tried to regain his composure and sat up. He could feel his leg healing, but he wasn’t ready to try standing on it yet.

  “Okay, I guess that’s that.” Niles said, trying to sound cool as he dramatically dusted off his hands. “While you’re buying new clothes for us, Crochel, it looks like you’ll have to add a new shirt, boots, and pants for me to your list.”

  Someone in the crowd cheered, and other voices joined in, along with some clapping and more than a bit of murmuring. Birgit and Hilaria rushed to Niles and knelt down beside him.

  “Are you alright?” Birgit asked.

  Niles tried to move his leg and winced. “I will be.”

  “That was amazing,” Hilaria said. “Fomori are really hard to beat without magic or weapons.”

  After several minutes, Hilaria and Birgit helped Niles to his feet and over to a table, where he took a seat.

  “That was bravely done,” Bonzo said, bringing over a platter of snacks. “You have my thanks for stepping in.”

  Niles nodded. “No problem, and thank you for jumping to Birgit’s defense when I wasn’t there.”

  “You fought very well tonight, Niles,” Princess Vedika said, joining them. “Will you be dancing any more tonight?”

  “I think it will be best if we retire for the evening,” Birgit answered before Niles could speak.

  It annoyed Niles that she’d decided without even asking his opinion, but when he looked over at Birgit, he noticed her dress was still soaked in punch, her hair was disheveled, and she just looked drained. “Yeah, I’m afraid I won’t be doing any more dancing tonight.” He patted his wounded leg, even though he was pretty sure it would be fine in a few minutes. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish our dance.”

  “As am I,” the princess said with a polite nod. “Another time, perhaps, and you still owe me an answer to my question. I hope you heal well and quickly.” She gave Niles a parting smile before turning to Birgit. “I am very much looking forward to seeing how well you perform in next week’s tournament. I heard you won your Combat Casting class tournament. Perhaps, if you do well enough, we will be in the same classes next semester. I think I would like to get to know you and Niles better.”