Battle of The Brushes

Battle of the Brushes

         The crowd in the arena was buzzing with excitement and anticipation. The great stone amphitheater was completely full, the excited masses waiting for the battle to begin. You could hear their cries of anticipation and excitement for miles around. The two fighters faced each other across the sandy floor of the arena. The battle area was surrounded by a single fifteen foot high, four foot thick stone wall. A chill wind blew through the arena, raising a low cloud of sand and causing the robes of the soon to be combatants to sway. It was almost as though the wind too, was trying to get a seat for the upcoming bout.
         They were different as night and day. One was young, clean shaven and wearing a crisp and clean blue robe with the insignia of two roses on his shoulder in silver. He had his hands on his hips displaying a fancy belt studded with black gems and a scabbard that had a polished wooden handle poking out the top. His opponent was an older man that had a scraggly black beard that was beginning to gray and wore a red robe that had clearly seen better days. It had a tiger insignia on his shoulder in gold he also wore a belt and scabbard, but like the rest of his attire, it was rather worn but still in clear working order. The young man was smiling, the older man was scowling.
“Why Lord Skarow! It’s almost as though you aren’t happy to see me!” the younger man said his grin growing wider “I thought you would have been more than happy to have an opportunity to go at me after being in opposition all these months.” Lord Skarow’s scowl deepened.
         Before the older man could retort, the arena administrator stood in his raised box and signaled to his two assistants on the ground. The two burly attendants began to beat the large drums before them. The crowds quieted. The administrator in his black robes of office lifted his arms. “The arena welcomes today’s combatants, Lord Skarow of house Arweh” he gestured towards the older man “and Lord Renbarth of house Warod” he gestured at the younger man. “may you both find glory in the battles to come!” The crowd cheered.
         Lord Renbarth waved at the cheering crowd and flashed some of his best smiles. Lord Skarow stared intently at his opponent and frowned.
         After a moment, the drums sounded a second time and the crowd quieted again. The administrator looked at the combatants “Draw your weapons.” Lord Skarow reached for his right hip and drew out of its scabbard a large red paintbrush. The brush was long enough to require two hands to use. The wooden shaft was covered in runes that glowed softly gold. The bristles were so white, they appeared to make everything around them seem dank and dirty by comparison.
         Lord Renbarth Drew his Brush from a scabbard on his left hip with a flourish. His brush also was long enough to require two hands. His wooden shaft was blue with glowing silver runes in an intricate pattern, spiraling from the base of the brush upward to the bristles. The Bristles were the black of the space between worlds. They were so black, they seemed to radiate blackness, leeching the color from anything nearby.
         At the sight of Lord Renbarth’s weapon, Lord Skarow’s eyes widened. He had heard the rumors to be sure, that Renbarth had found a more powerful source of bristles, that his brush with bristles of the darkest black could perform feats that nobody thought possible, but he had put those stories down to simple campaigning or silliness. But here it was, before his very eyes. He looked at his own brush and remembered picking the individual bristles from the pelt of the klokew that he himself had slain as did every graduate from the university, but Renbarth didn’t graduate from the university. He had started there, but one day during his third year, he decided that the learning options there were far too limited and left. Then, a few months ago, he reappeared and started saying all sorts of nonsense about him having been chosen by a higher power and that he was going to unite the myriad city states into a cohesive whole. Something that had not been even attempted for nearly two hundred years, and something that had not been achieved for nearly two thousand.
         The strange thing was, that he was succeeding. After meeting with several key statesmen, all those he had met came forward swearing fealty to the newly titled Lord Renbarth.
         Things really started becoming bad when those who were pro-unification began to outnumber those who wanted independence. Then the riots began. Those who were pro-unification were not shy about their opinions and began trashing known pro-independence storekeepers places. Shortly after that came the cessation of all business between the rapidly growing empire and any state not included in it.
         It had happened frighteningly quickly. Over the course of a month, citizens went from ordinary citizens, to radical rioters and avid supporters of an oppressive empire.
         Now, six months later, Lord Renbarth had practically crowned himself as ruler over the newly united lands. All the while he was conquering independent states, he continuously spoke of himself as “the chosen” and the mysterious “higher power” that lent him strength by way of an impossibly powerful weapon. Thievery weapon that was now in Lord Renbarth's hands.
         Lord Renbarth saw his enemy fixating on the black bristled brush. “it’s glorious isn’t it?” he said gazing at his weapon. The radiating blackness sent out waves of power that all who knew what to look for could feel. “I discovered it quite by accident you know. Rather, it found me” Lord Skarow had heard this speech before. He had been in favor of unification himself till Lord Renbarth had met with his neighboring statesman Lord Gondrew. His friend and neighbor was well known for his love of fine wine and parties, but after meeting with Lord Renbarth, he seemed almost a different person. He never spoke unless someone else initiated the conversation, he no longer threw parties, and the last time that Lord Skarow was at his villa, he had been drinking water. Water! The Lord Gondrew that he knew would never be caught dead drinking water without several cups of wine to show for it! since that time, he had made a point of visiting all those who had been “convinced” by his enemy, and all the former statesmen looked the same. Like they had been living off the bare minimum of nutrition, and they all said the exact same thing when asked about what Lord Renbarth had done to convince them of his cause, “He is clearly the chosen one. We had no right to resist him.”The answer was as meaningless as it was universal.
         Lord Skarow was broken out of his thoughts by another announcement from the administrator “Bring out your gauntlets!” he called out. Two more attendants ran out onto the sandy middle of the arena toward the two men. Each was carrying an intricately carved wooden box. After handing his brush to the attendant, Lord Skarow opened his box almost reverently, revealing a gauntlet that had clearly seen combat on more than one occasion. The gauntlet was also red with gold trim, and had a several clear gemstones where the knuckles should be as well as one large flat gemstone embedded in the palm. After lord Skarow almost gingerly strapped the gauntlet to his wrist, the crystals on the knuckles and palm reacted to the brush in his other hand, pulsating in sync with the energy glowing from the runes on his brush as he took it back.
         The attendant for lord Renbarth looked incredibly uneasy at the mere presence of the strange black aura coming from the brush in his hand. Lord Renbarth himself was busily strapping on his own gauntlet. His looked similar to Lord Skarow’s, except his had black gems where his opponent had white. His gauntlet’s color scheme matched his robe and brush. A deep royal blue with silver trim. The gems set in it began to glow strongly black as he took back his weapon from the attendant. Strangely, the gemstone studs on his belt also began glowing.
         The two attendants scurried back off the field towards the administrators box. The drums began a slow beat. The crowd completely hushed. The wind, still searching for a seat, blew through the arena once again ruffling the robes of the two combatants. the drums began to beat faster and faster, almost matching the heartbeat of the crowd, hammering in the ears of all that were watching.
         Lord Skarow closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he got into position for battle. The drums were reaching their crescendo and his blood was boiling. He was more than ready to battle. After what had happened to his friend he needed to take a stand. He had been around long enough to know evil when it was before him, and nothing good could be powering that black brush.
         Lord Skarow exhaled and felt for the great storehouse of power for the world deep in the earth. He felt as he always did, that he was standing before the sun, a huge roaring force of nature that could not be destroyed. He reached out and began to draw some of that huge source of power into himself. He felt the power fill him up and flow through him, starting from the earth beneath his feet, to his legs, then his torso, then his arms and finally his head. The raging thundering swirling energy of the earth, struggling against the strange new container.
         He channeled it through his arms, into the brush that he held. The runes upon it glowed even brighter and the bristles were all but blinding. With the ease of years of practice, he started making a large circle with his brush in the air. The energy contained in the brush stained the air where the brush had been, making it appear as though Lord Skarow had just painted a circle of immaculate white upon the very air before him.
         After completing his circle, Lord Skarow turned his attention to his feet. already small plants were beginning to sprout around his thin soled shoes. He focused on the runes on the sole of his shoes. The rune glowed briefly and vines burst through the soil and lashed his feet to the ground. He could not move them if he wanted to. And he surely did not. One of the first things they taught you in the university was that the easiest way to stop any spell was to break your connection to the earth. No connection, no flow of power, no magic.
         Lord Skarow look across the field and saw that Lord Renbarth too had made his circle. "This is your last chance Lord Skarow, swear fealty to me and end this nonsense! Let us retire to my villa and we can talk over some delicacies and wine” Lord Renbarth pleaded. At the mention of wine, Lord Skarow’s serene state of mind was shattered by the intense hatred he felt for the man across the field from him. “the day that I dine with you is the day that I use your skull as a wineglass and your brush as a toothpick!” Lord Skarow shouted.
“BEGIN!” shouted the administrator
​          Rage fueling his movements, making his strokes hard and harsh. He formed a simple glyph within the glowing circle. Two lines bisected the circle and four right angles formed a square made of four smaller squares. Lord Skarow finished the glyph with a two handed sweep and tapped the glyph with the stones at his knuckles on his gauntleted hand. The very instant the gems contacted the energy, a brief but very bright flash of light flared and half a dozen arrows flew towards Lord Renbarth.
         But Lord Renbarth had finished a glyph of his own, and after a brief black flash, as dark as Lord Skarow's was bright, a large stone hand rose from the ground. There was no space between the fingers, and all five of them pointed straight up. The six arrows struck seconds after it finished rising. Four of them stuck in the hand, and two managed to pierce through the stone barrier, their barbed points sticking out inches from Lord Renbarth’s circle, and the remaining two bounced off harmlessly.
         The stone hand began to sink back into the ground taking the arrows with it. the hand was barely halfway down before a white flash came from Lord Skarow’s side of the arena and a boulder roughly the size of a large pumpkin came hurtling towards lord Renbarth. With a sharp swipe, and a black flash, Lord Renbarth sent a long thin vertical bolt of black energy. The bolt moved fast, slicing the boulder cleanly in half. The two halves dropped neatly at Lord Renbarth’s sides. The black energy quickly closed the gap between it and Lord Skarow. He was furiously swiping with his brush, forming a glyph as the bolt barreled towards him. The bolt was inches away as he completed the glyph and activated it with his gauntlet. It was centimeters away when his own identical bolt of energy appeared and collided with Lord Renbarth’s.
         The force of the two energies colliding caused Lord Skarow to wince in pain as a large cloud of dust was kicked up. the crowd gasped with excitement. That energy bolt was more powerful than I expected…Lord Skarow thought to himself I must calm myself and be more cauti- his thought was interrupted by a ball of hardened air that came flying through the swirling dust. Caught completely by surprise, the ball of air slammed into his circle, send shooting pain all through Lord Skarow’s body. The pain caused him to lose focus on the flow of energy from the earth to his brush. With the flow lessened, his circle shrank to about half the size it was before. Curses! Thought Lord Skarow hurriedly drawing a glyph. I didn’t expect him to react so quickly.
         A cold mirthless laugh came from across the arena. “what’s the matter Lord Skarow? I had heard such good things about your dueling skill! I was even hoping for a challenge!” as the dust settled, Lord Skarow saw that Lord Renbarth had his brush on his shoulder, with the bristle pointed away from the circle.
         The sight of his opponent clearly not taking him seriously fanned the fires of rage already burning in Lord Skarow’s head. The rage sharpened his focus like a knife. His circle was smaller, so his spells would have less power, but he would be able to cast much faster now.          Lord Skarow finished the glyph in front of him, adding a few new lines to the completed glyph and activated it. Lord Renbarth was still gloating. "Honestly, I could probably beat you with one hand” he said smugly twisting his non gauntleted hand behind his back.
         His gloating was interrupted by a flash from Lord Skarow. A boulder, this time only about as large as small watermelon, flew towards him. Lord Renbarth lazily swung his brush one handed, completing the unfinished glyph the he had prepared and activating it with apparent ease before the boulder had crossed the middle of the field. Another vertical bolt of black energy flew towards the boulder once again cleanly slicing it in two. Unlike the previous time, Lord Skarow's response was already in action. His pure white bolt impacted lord Renbarth's right after it split the boulder in half. The two bolts impacted, and the shockwave that generated propelled the two halves of the boulder to the feet of Lord Renbarth.
         He looked at the stones by his feet and was about to make a witty retort when two ribbons of flame lanced out at him from the other end of the arena. He grabbed his brush with both hands and quickly drew two lines and touched the circle. a geyser of water spurted out towards the two ribbons of fire. The ribbons peeled off to the sides dodging the burst of water which was heading straight towards Lord Skarow, till it was intercepted by three sequential balls of hard air. The flames were inches from Lord Renbarh, when, instead of impacting Lord Renbarth’s circle, they veered down and hit the two halves of stone and the gunpowder that lord Skarow had filled them with.
         The rudimentary bombs exploded impressively causing another gasp to come from the crowd and another cloud of dust to be raised. Lord Skarow allowed himself a smug smile before finishing his next glyph.
         He was particularly proud of the curving ribbons of flame. The gunpowder boulder was a simple matter of overlying the glyph for boulder on the glyph for gunpowder with the various lines that signified containment, but in order to direct the flames, he had to bind the flames to two of his fingers. He looked at the scorched tips of his pointer and middle finger on his non-gauntleted hand. That would take a while to heal.
         As the dust began to settle, he heard a sound that drained all the smugness from him. Lord Renbarth was clapping. Lord Skarow stared open mouthed at Lord Renbarth’s undiminished circle. It isn't possible! He thought incredulously Nobody could have kept their focus completely through that explosion! He activated the glyph he had prepared and frowned. I don't know how he managed to dodge that blast, but there will be no escape from this.
         The crowd cheered as a bolt of lightning flashed across the field. Even under the noonday sun, the arena was lit by an eerie blue light as the arc of electricity crashed into Lord Renbarth’s circle. Lightning was tricky business. It was rarely used in one on one duels, because it was near impossible to aim with precision, and because its glyph is easily recognizable and the attack is easily countered, but if it did hit, the pain is so intense that it could collapse a circle of any size.
         Lord Renbarth flinched as though he had been flicked on the ear and his circle flickered, but did not shrink at all. Lord Skarow stared slack jawed. This is completely impossible! he thought with mounting alarm. A bolt of lightning barely makes him flinch!
         Lord Renbarth saw the look on his opponent’s face and smiled a smile devoid of any warmth. “do you see now that I am the chosen one? That it is my destiny to unite this land?” he said to the crowd more than to his enemy. The crowd cheered at this declaration. I can’t defeat him with a headlong attack Lord Skarow thought, but I have one play left.
         He began to draw a glyph with furious speed. Lord Renbarth wasn’t even paying attention to him at this point. He was busy working the crowd. “All of you have seen here today that I have power more than any other man, yet I am reaching out in diplomacy rather than conquering by force! But does your obstinate leader see reason?” he gestured at Lord Skarow who was busily constructing an extremely complicated glyph “NO!” shouted the crowd.
“I think we all know what must be done! The age of city states is ended! And the age of the glorious empire begins!” Lord Renbarth declared raising his hands high. the crowd roared. If this fails, I will have lost everything Lord Skarow thought. He looked at the mass of lines before him and activated it with his palm.
         three things appeared. The first was a sabrecat made of pristine white energy as his circle. It roared, silencing the crowd sharply. Even lord Renbarth was forced back into the fight by the mighty roar of the living embodiment of Lord Skarow’s house sigil. The second was a ball of the same white energy floating serenely between the sabrecat and the circle. Finally was a second ball of crackling electricity. The sabrecat raced towards Lord Renbarth, the ball of lightning not far behind.
         Lord Renbarth quickly began drawing a new glyph. With a tap of his hand and a flash of black, six barbed arrows flew towards the sabrecat, still bounding across the field. The arrows got within a foot of the ethereal cat, when six arcs of lightning burst from the crackling blue ball following the sabrecat and knocked the arrows out of the air. The blue sphere was now significantly smaller, but still following the glowing cat.
         The cat was now right in front of Lord Renbarth’s circle. Lord Skarow was shaking with concentration, trying to maintain the flow of energy he needed to power his three constructs. Sweat poured down his face as the sabrecat began smacking Lord Renbarth’s circle with its large paws. As expected, it was not having much of an effect. Lord Skarow's right hand was extended in front of him and his entire palm was an angry red and beginning to blacken and smoke. He raised his palm till it was level with Lord Renbarth.
         The sabrecat was still hacking away at Lord Renbarth's circle, growling intimidatingly. Every time Lord Renbarth tried to draw a line for a glyph, the sabrecat swiped at the circle, disrupting the energy causing the lines to skew or be erased entirely. Lord Renbarth hadn’t even noticed Lord Skarow’s gesture. Suddenly, the ground beneath Lord Renbarth’s feet was shifting. The ball of white energy burst from the ground directly beneath his right foot, causing him to fall backwards. The crowd was dead silent.
         Lord Skarow stared at the scene before him with a mix of horror and fascination. Lord Renbarth’s connection to the earth had been broken. His feet had left the ground. But his black circle remained, still radiating that violent black energy.
         Lord Skarow sank to his knees with exhaustion. The vines holding his feet were long gone. his circle fizzled out of existence as he dropped his brush. The sabrecat and electric sphere faded from reality. Lord Renbarth got up. Anger radiated off of him fearsomely. He picked up his blazing black brush and began to draw a glyph. Starting from the top of his circle, he drew a single line. The line swirled from the outer edge of the circle ever closer to the center. Unlike most glyphs, where both ends of each line touch either the edge of the circle or a line that touched the edge of a circle, this one simply ended at the exact middle of the circle.
The administrator was trying to get Lord Renbarth’s attention, but he was focused entirely on the glyph before him. He activated the glyph with a snarl.
         The spiral in the circle leapt out crossing the arena faster even than lightning. The thick black line struck the kneeling Lord Skarow in the chest. The force knocked what little breath he had left out of his lungs. What is this new devilry? He thought struggling to breathe. He felt an odd pulling sensation, then he was flying across the field. The black cord recoiled and returned to Lord Renbarth's circle and faded. A practiced eye might have noticed a flicker of movement along the heavy black cord. The practiced eye might also have noticed that two of the black gemmed studs on Lord Renbarth’s belt had turned white over the course of the battle, one of which was now slowly turning black again.
         “Lord Renbarth! This is most irregular! I demand you cease at once!” exclaimed the Administrator after finally getting his attention. “you are absolutely right administrator” said Lord Renbarth contritely. He dropped his brush and his black circle finally faded. The two attendants ran over to Lord Skarow. They helped him to his feet and brushed him off. “are you all right Lord Skarow? I am tempted to disqualify Lord Renbarth for his breach of conduct” the administrator said angrily as he walked across the sandy arena to Lord Skarow.
         “Don’t” Lord Skarow said seemingly half asleep with exhaustion “his skill far surpasses my own. I would have to be mad to resist him further.”
         The administrator stopped in his tracks, confused by the response. He would have questioned Lord Skarow further, but he was already heading towards the exit of the stadium. “well in that case, I declare Lord Renbarth the winner..” the administrator grumbled. But the crowd knew who had won. They cheered their new emperor and he smiled at them warmly.
         ​Lord Skarow did not know where he was. The last thing he remembered was being pulled across the arena. Then he was in some sort of opaque black room. He was able to see out of it, but what he saw made no sense. he looked out and saw himself being helped to his feet by the attendants. He tried to close his eyes, but could not. He tried to band on the walls around him but he could not move. For he was no longer in his own body. Like all the others Lord Renbarth had “convinced” of his grand plans, Lord Skarow’s soul was now contained in Lord Renbarth’s belt. Though nothing on two legs could hear, Lord Skarow’s soul screamed.