Soon enough, Briddle returned. "There's still a bit of time before the guards change, so Fibeas said to wait for him," his eyes lit up a bit as he continued, "How about a duel before he gets down here, huh? You against me, Castellar!"
Based on their interactions so far, it was hard to gauge how well the two knew each other. Briddle seemed to at least admire Castellar while Castellar tried to brush the former aside at every word. The skeleton's eyes narrowed with impatience, "I'd rather not."
"Don't be like that. I just want to see how tough Fraktur's boy's grown up to be! Come on, just one round!"
Castellar glanced at the pair of guards near the village exit, who were eying their own group in turn. It didn't matter how careful they were trying to be with the troll announcing their presence every time he spoke. Since ordering him to keep quiet would only backfire, Castellar instead excused himself, "I don't want to cause a scene…"
"Don't be ridiculous! If anything, everyone here could use a good show!" Still, there must've been something in the skeleton's glare that made him somewhat relent, because Briddle's smile then faltered for a second, "But, if that's what you want, the training yard isn't far from here… No one should be using it right now."
With one set of eyes too many on them for his liking, he had to agree. As the play continued behind them, Briddle crossed over the field to lead the trio a few buildings down to a connected string of homes with a wide quad centered between them. Surrounded by high walls on three sides, and away from the majority of the festival, it was the perfect place to wait. Here, training dummies lined one side of the open space and targets on the other. A row of practice weapons was positioned on a rack beneath a nearby awning—out of the weather, but ready for use.
Although she had no idea who it was they were waiting for, the Monster that Briddle had mentioned, Fraktur, was familiar to her. It was a name Humans whispered with both fear and curiosity of a skeleton who had gained legendary status for his ability on the battlefield. Supposedly, he had even been given a title despite the fact that he wasn't a boss Monster: Fraktur, the marquis of the western border, also known as "Fracture," the knight who breaks his enemies.
And, apparently, is that bonehead's father… Ferris grimaced under her mask. It wasn't that she couldn't believe it: It actually made too much sense. The contradiction between his arrogant attitude and chivalrous manners, his finer clothes, and—most of all—his fighting prowess. She knew Castellar had a high status, but she didn't expect him to be related to someone that far up the food chain.
Knowing that, and seeing his ability firsthand, it really would be difficult to escape him if the time ever came when they needed to. It did beg Briddle's earlier question though: Why would he become a mage? Among a population of Monsters, who all used magic naturally, it wasn't a talent they typically specialized the way Humans did. Besides that, even if Castellar wasn't set to inherit his father's title, he still had every opportunity to become a knight or royal guard.
It wasn't the sort of thing Ferris was going to pry into. In a case like this, it was probably for the best if she pretended not to know or care about Castellar's background. She didn't plan on getting close to him, so all asking him about it would do was raise a giant flag: Because of his identity, she'd be more alert around him and, in some way, he'd expect her to treat him differently.
It was much better to feign obliviousness and keep watching him as she did now to figure out his fighting strategy. However small, it might give her some advantage. She'd already gotten out of a number of scrapes thanks to memorizing an opponent's movements.
Ferris and Ciara waited on the sidelines as Briddle and Castellar moved to the center of the quad. If the two sisters thought that they also saw one of the dummies subtly inch away from the encroaching battle, it must've been a trick of the eye. The latter pair distanced themselves a couple meters apart from each other.
Briddle grinned at the girls, "Could one of you start the match for us?"
His simple request caught the both of them off-guard. Luckily, Castellar quickly thought of an answer himself, "There's no need. You can have the first strike."
The other Monster snorted, "I see you've got your father's confidence at least… Alright then, just don't blame me if you regret it!"
They each drew their weapons in near unison: Castellar summoned his shield in one hand and a long bone in the other while Briddle reached at his belt and tugged off a large club. Seconds passed as they eyed each other's movements, shimmying along imaginary boundaries as they waited for the right time to act.
The brief silence was then shattered by loud clash of wood against hardened bone. What Briddle lacked in size, he made up for in brute strength. The troll threw himself forward with a direct attack from the front, brandishing his club with a heavy swing. Castellar lifted his shield in a prepared block, the force behind the hit still enough to make him retreat a step.
Castellar tried to take advantage of the delay in the other's recovery with a sideways swing of his own weapon, but Briddle rolled the club away from the shield to counter it just in time. In response, the skeleton batted the guard's forehead with the shield instead. It was hardly more than a tap, but it did force Briddle away enough for Castellar to regain some room to move. The youth continued to press his advantage: The troll swerved out of reach from the former's improvised blade.
The two kept up the close quartered back-and-forth until Briddle suddenly leapt back and raised his hand over the earth. In a flash of light, a circle of vines burst from patch of ground at Castellar's feet. The latter quickly jumped to avoid them tangling around his legs.
Rather than take the opportunity to follow with a second attack, Briddle struck the earth with his club next, dragging it along in a mad spiral to the point where a dirt cloud formed around him. As if something more were feeding it, it began to cover nearly half of the training yard. Even watching on the sidelines, the troll vanished from Ferris and Ciara's sight. Keeping himself out of the haze, Castellar waited, watching for some change in the direction of the dust particles to give his opponent away.
Nearly half a minute passed and a silhouette appeared within the cloud. He adjusted his grip on his weapon, summoning a second bone along the ground to fly ahead of himself. It hit its target, but the shape barely moved.
As the dust cleared, Ferris blinked at the dummy that'd now stood where Briddle once had. It now had a depression in its side from the harsh impact of Castellar's attack, but was otherwise no worse for wear. Briddle was nowhere to be seen.
For only a moment longer. The earth ruptured behind the skeleton, the troll bursting from the newly-dug hole with his club raised of a downward strike. Castellar spun on his heel, jabbing Briddle in his unprotected stomach and then kicking him further away.
He had to be holding back: He hadn't been anywhere near this slow when facing Avalbanshee and he hadn't manifested too many attacks aside from the weapons in his hands. Chances were, he wasn't giving his all into this fight in order to keep things as unspectacular and unassuming as possible. To Ferris, however, it was impressive nevertheless. This was still, after all, a rare chance for her to see magic in-combat—without being attacked herself, anyway—and Castellar's timing wasn't anything to take lightly.
Ciara didn't enjoy the duel as much as her sibling did. The little girl seemed to purposefully keep her eyes away from the fight. She stayed glued against Ferris' back with her head down, rocking from one foot to the other as she waited for it to end and only occasionally glancing up to make sure that no passersby drew too close to them.
As Briddle tried to regain his stance from the toss across the yard, Castellar sent another bone charging at him next. Before it could reach him, the troll waved his hand again to summon a single, but large vine from the earth that ensnared the bone—snapping it to a halt. When Castellar came rushing forward next, Briddle then created a simple bullet pattern in the air to send crashing over the skeleton.
Castellar managed to block the hail of magic, but it left him open for the other Monster to close the gap between them instead. This second attack from the front wasn't as easily missed, and the one-handed brace on the thinner weapon wasn't as firm against the whole strength of Briddle's club. He gritted his teeth, curling around himself and digging his heels into the dirt to remain standing after taking the brunt of the hit.
Unwilling to relent, the guard tried to force Castellar to kneel by maintaining that pressure. His shield held aside and the weapon in his grip barely offering him any protection, the adolescent was momentarily locked in place. Then, subtly, he dragged one boot along the ground. A horizontal femur appeared, hovering right above his feet and launching right at Briddle's own.
It struck above the ankles, knocking the troll off-balance before dissipating from existence as readily as it had come. This freed Castellar enough to slip away from Briddle's overbearing weight and, as the latter continued to rock forward, the former twisted himself around and bashed the guard in the shoulder with the interior of his shield.
In a duel of swords, that might've been the end of it, with one opponent resting the tip of his blade at the other's exposed hide. The use of magic meant that, even if one was caught with their back turned, that didn't necessarily leave them defenseless. Another burst of flora guarded Briddle from behind just long enough for him to grab a piece of thrown rubble—larger than his own hand—from his earlier surprise attack and hurl it at the skeleton's head.
Although Castellar was better braced for the first move, the one that followed was far trickier to deal with. Once again forcing Castellar on defense, the troll raised his club from his low position and slammed it into the earth—this time, the impact hard enough to send a faint quake rippling across the training yard. The remainder of loose stone erupted before him, taking flight in all directions. Bits of rock soared far enough to clatter onto the nearby rooftops. Drawing Ciara closer to herself, Ferris bent over her sister protectively though, in the end, they were thankfully out of blast radius.
Castellar was only lucky enough to pull his shield in front of him, guarding himself from the direct burst. By then, Briddle had already sprung back up, throwing himself at the skeleton yet again. Rather than wrestle with the obvious difference in muscle, the skeleton fell back, continuing to take strike after strike of the troll's club with his shield alone—to the point where a thin crack began to show along its surface.
His long, backward steps were purposeful. Since no rule had been made about keeping to a certain space, losing ground didn't cost him much of anything so long as he didn't wind up in a corner. Meanwhile, every added centimeter of air that Briddle had to cut through with each swing was that much more energy wasted, lessening their impact. Moreover, the repeated fierce movements would only tire him out that much faster.
Soon enough, Castellar found his opening. As Briddle slowed, the youth sidestepped around him to allow the troll's own force to trip him. Castellar struck his hand first to knock the other's weapon further off-course, then rammed into his side. Briddle went sprawling, a pair of bones firing from the earth perpendicular to each other to cross behind his neck and keep him pinned.
It was impossible to continue from there. Still, Castellar respectfully waited for the other Monster to catch his breath and accept defeat.
Tired laughter soon bubbled from Briddle's throat, "Nice job…! Good to see that all the time away from home hasn't softened you any! Then again, I guess those mages aren't the type you can afford to lower your guard around."
"Even among mages, the average Human isn't as tough as you'd assume," he replied, not bothering mince his words for his two travelling companions, "Their souls may be strong, but their bodies are still weak."
"Yeah, yeah… Well, you're not exactly the average Monster either. I guess I should just be glad this little village of ours is too out of the way for any of them to show up."
Glancing behind her, Ferris found that, despite their best efforts, they had still gathered a bit of attention. A few people walking along the adjacent street had stopped to watch the end of the duel from afar, only clearing away when Castellar freed Briddle and helped him back on his feet. Thankfully though, they didn't show much interest beyond the mild entertainment it provided.
All except for one Monster. A few minutes later—as the troll was cleaning up from the fight, chatting away to Castellar all the while—another, older guard with a hefty build marched to the edge of the training yard. Given his striking similarities to a fire-bellied toad, if with a yellower coloration to his head and back, the girl assumed this had to be Fibeas. He was outfitted in somewhat heavier armor than Briddle's, a lance strapped to his back.
He stared blankly at the two sisters for a long while, then walked over to Castellar as if he was approaching a wild animal. The amphibian cleared his throat to alert him of his presence, but it didn't really seem to matter since the skeleton turned to him expectantly.
"Good evening, Fibeas."
"Castellar… shall we speak in private?"