Luna of the Beastly Lycan King

Chapter 21. Brutal

☉DANIKA

I heard the tension swell, and I could see that around me, the faces of the nobles, and even of some of the warriors had begun to shift uneasily. No one would meet the king’s eyes.

Just when I had thought that Fergal would refuse, Fergal simply bowed his head, his hand to his chest. “I accept.” He said, but I thought his voice sounded hard.

He took his sword away and began to strip off his cuirass and armor. One by one, the heavy clunking sounds of metal and leather being dropped to the floor were the only pervading sounds until Fergal was down to his gambeson. I gulped when Finarfin instructed him to take that off too.

I caught sight of Andras in the corner, face placid. I wondered what he thought about the whole thing. I wondered if he approved—he was not one to show much emotion, so there was no way to know what he was thinking.

Fergal pulled off all of his protective clothing until he was down to his braids. Finarfin’s smile was wide as Fergal pushed his way into the sparring circle.

“No weapons. No interferences. I want your best. Give me a worthy fight.” Finarfin demanded.

Fergal stiffly replied, “I will do my best, Alpha King.” He bowed mechanically and took a stance. Finarfin still stood.

Fergal’s face was calm even though I could see his arms vibrating beside him. Both he and Finarfin had stripped down completely. A small crowd formed around the duo as they faced off against each other. The warriors hunched together, waiting, watching… I rubbed my hand across my face.

So quick I would have missed it, Fergal’s hand shot at Finarfin’s face. At the last moment, Fergal withdrew it and took his stance again, eyes dark with the intensity of his concentration.

I heard the warriors grunt and mumble under their breaths. Andras’s face gave nothing away. I sniffed and inched my head closer, hoping to catch something I might have missed.

“You were wise to withdraw your hand,” Finarfin applauded. “You would have lost it otherwise.” He took a stance and inhaled until his chest expanded to more than two times its normal size. “You’ve improved since we last fought, Fergal. Good. Now I can take you on with my full might without having to hold back… this also means that I should take you seriously.”

He smiled. It had been so long since I had seen Finarfin smile. He thundered to Fergal, “Come at me.”

Fergal observed him. Then Fergal lunged. The blow was aimed straight at Finarfin’s heart. It was so close. But at the last second, Finarfin blocked it with two hands, falling back some paces. Another blow, faster than the first, aimed at his abdomen. Finarfin moved his hand downward so quickly that the shock of the punch was easily dispelled. This was not a battle that I would want to be caught in between. Not only were Fergal’s attacks swift and precise, they packed such tremendous power that I was certain that had any other person been on the receiving end, they would certainly have their bones broken.

It was just like it had been when Finarfin and Fergal had fought in the arena. I prayed in my heart that the blows would not begin to connect. Finarfin was blocking all of Fergal’s attacks so far, parrying and redirecting. But what happened when the blows connected? What would happen if the same thing that had happened in the arena happened here?

Images burst behind my eyes in rapid succession: Finarfin taking one of Fergal’s blows to the chest—

Finarfin flying through the air—

Finarfin caused the wall to splinter with spidering cracks when his back impacted against it—

Finarfin, unmoving on the floor, dribble of blood from his mouth—

I shook the images away from my mind and watched as Finarfin deflected yet another blow that made Fergal tumble because of the force that it had come with.

Finarfin was assuming a stance to parry Fergal’s next blow aimed at his stomach. But Fergal feinted at the last second, pushing the blow upwards so it connected with Finarfin’s mouth. I almost audibly gasped Finarfin’s name.

The blow resounded through the room and Fergal’s chuffing breath was a testament to the fact that the blow had connected. Finarfin toppled back, eyes closed. Fergal huffed some more, fist still outstretched.

Suddenly, Finarfin grabbed at Fergal’s extended fist as he fell, eyes wild. He fell backward, pulling Fergal with him. His foot lodged itself in Fergal’s side as he fell, then with the most sickening crack, Finarfin pulled at Fergal’s arm and launched Fergal into the air with his feet. Fergal roared as he flew through the air and crashed to the floor with a sickening crunch.

Finarfin jumped onto his feet and took his stance again. Fergal groaned as he rose, arm dangling uselessly. The nobles mirrored my expression of shock and revulsion as Fergal glared at Finarfin with pure spite.

In an instant, Fergal’s broken arm twisted itself into rightness. This time I did gasp. It was a known fact that lycans generally were bigger and better than us normal werewolves, but the speed that the hand healed was a miracle by werewolf standards.

Fergal’s legs were enlarging. He stomped the ground once, twice. Then he rushed at Finarfin. Finarfin met him hand for hand, and they began to brawl.

They separated and rushed at each other again, stopping only halfway to throw vicious right hooks at each other. Their fists connected in the air and a loud snapping sound was heard. They didn’t relent. The next second, both their left arms were whistling through the air, straight at each other’s faces. They dodged last minute and began grappling.

Finarfin was stronger and easily overpowered Fergal. He spun behind Fergal with a quick twist and wrapped his arms around Fergal’s midsection, entrapping both of Fergal’s arms. He squeezed. Fergal groaned.

But Fergal’s back began to swell in size and Finarfin could no longer maintain the link that his locked hands formed. He released Fergal and pushed him away, but not a moment too soon, Fergal roared and dove at Finarfin. He rolled to the other end, snarling and huffing.

Finarfin growled low in his throat as he wiped blood off his face.

He turned to Fergal, eyes glowing. Finarfin began to growl uncontrollably. It started first as a rumbling sound in his throat but soon grew into a full-throated growling. Fergal snarled at Finarfin and straightened. The warriors around the circle began thumping their hands on their chests as Finarfin’s and Fergal’s growling deepened.

The sound of breaking and tearing reached my ears. My eyes spun wildly in Finarfin’s direction.

His body which I had thought mountainous before was expanding rapidly, swelling to almost double in size. His height increased until he was towering over the people. His face elongated into a snout. His hairy legs expanded with the sound of shredding muscles and his hands became even more muscle-bound, taut… veins spidered through his muscles and his fingers tapered off into savage claws. But the same thing was happening to Fergal too.

The growling deepened and went low until they both released ear-splitting barks—thundering yipping noises that threatened to destroy my eardrums.

Fergal was the first to bark. I covered my ears, but the rest of the warriors only lightly flinched. Then Finarfin barked and covering my ears was not enough. I had to bury my head in between my thighs as I crouched. I thought my eyes would roll out of my head and my brain would ooze out of my ears. Fergal flinched and took a step back.

Then he charged again, this time, his mouth full of teeth, his nails sharpened into claws. He sliced through the air. Finarfin dodged.

Fergal’s attack was provocative in nature, for he would draw close enough to Finarfin to strike, then at the last second, he would step out again and lunge back. Finarfin took several useless swipes at him. Fergal ran round Finarfin, repeating this move several times and evading Finarfin’s swiping hands until he finally lunged at Finarfin from behind.

His teeth sank into Finarfin’s shoulder, digging into both clavicle and scapula. Fergal throttled Finarfin, shaking his head vigorously until Finarfin let loose a loud cry and flung him away. Finarfin was unto him that same second, raking his claws across Fergal’s chest, unbothered by the amount of blood pouring off his shoulder or the fact that there were large canine holes in his shoulder.

Fergal howled and tried to sink his teeth into Finarfin’s shoulder again, but Finarfin’s strong arms held him at bay. Fergal barked and snapped his jaws. He charged at Finarfin again, but Finarfin held him in place, switched his arm placement, and lifted Fergal. He slammed Fergal down to the floor brutally. Fergal bit Finarfin’s thigh and snapped at his feet. Finarfin roared and flung him away again.

They stalked around each other. Finarfin exhaled heavily. Fergal charged but Finarfin was ready. Finarfin lifted Fergal by the arm and slammed him into the ground. He wrapped himself around Fergal, securing his thighs with his own legs and stretching his arms behind him. Fergal was pinned, his arms effectively pinioned between Finarfin’s.

Finarfin’s head inched low. “Yield.” He growled at Fergal. Fergal grunted, but would not yield. He struggled to break out of the body lock, but Finarfin only applied more pressure. There was no escape.

“Yield.”

But Fergal would still not yield. His eyes betrayed his stubborn intentions and his heart was on fire. When Finarfin snapped both of Fergal’s arms, everybody flinched at the noise. I could not look at Finarfin as he stood up over Fergal and offered a hand.

Fergal’s eyes were dark as they both transformed back to their human selves again. Fergal rose to his feet unaided and stalked away from the circle.

I ran after him.

“Fergal,” I called. “Fergal!” But Fergal only blew the curtain at the entrance away from his face.

I turned to Finarfen, found him staring at me, and turned away again.