Fenvitz glared at me. Behind him, people from the Kall, miners, farmers, lumberjacks, humble people whom he had taken control of, fanned out and stared at their splintered, solid lake. Fenvitz could certainly feel their glares upon him as he glared upon me. The man in grey leather at his left bore his beady eyes on me and tried to get back into my head, but I pushed his little prying mental attacks away easily. I had the feeling that he was the one that had hurt Ilisa and I tried to keep my blood from boiling over. I was more angered by him than by the instant threat of Fenvitz: I wanted to slay the one who had tried to take my Destin from me.
“You think I care about the Kall?” Fenvitz puffed up his chest, his beard quivering, his face growing red, his fists clenching and unclenching at his side. “You think I care at all about the people of Harthen?” The words were bitten off at the ends, like he was so angry that he had to speak them at all that they were disdainful in his mouth. “I just want my throne back, Berserker. You are a disgrace. An off-worlder, at my place, eating at my table, sleeping in my bed, standing where I have stood, walking where I have walked. I earned that Dukedom. With great toil. I earned it. I deserve it. It’s mine, has been mine for so long. And Kajo, the Beast King, just gave it to you. What have you ever earned?”
Ilisa stepped forward, ready to defend me, but I placed my hand on her shoulder.
“I see now that you never deserved your Dukedom, Fenvitz.” I didn’t have to feign the sadness in my voice. His entitlement made me think of the duty I owed to my people of Astrida back on Vailstor, of all that I owed them and how much I valued and loved them. How much I missed them… How long would it be before I was back home on my own planet? I stepped toward him as I spoke. “You don’t just earn it from your King, you earn it from your people. They are the ones who determine you are worthy to lead, and they are the ones who determine you’re worthy to keep it.”
Fenvitz looked angry enough that I thought he was going to jump at me. I was just a step or two away from him now. He started to reach toward his sword. It was the action I was hoping he would take. As he began to draw, I reached for my own blade. A mist of snow started to fall. The sun was blistering high above us, cresting over the snow-dotted treetops. Our eyes were locked, a rim of red sparking around his pupils as temperature flared heatedly in his temples.
“Down with Fenvitz!”
We were shaken from our stare as the cry rang out from the watching Kall townsfolk.
Fenvitz looked behind him. The miners from the Kall had gathered closer, an encroaching mob around us. The miners held up their weaponry, the sunshine glinting off the pikes and axes and knives. Fenvitz drew his sword and at the same time flung up two daggers, firing them telekinetically at the nearest miners. Damox thrust them away from the miner just in time, using his own tele skill. Then Fenvitz had his sword drawn and I was stepping in to clash my blade against his.
“I gave you a chance to step down, Fenvitz. I guess now, we duel.” I leaned in and smirked at him, then pushed off his sword to levy him off balance, swiping my foot behind his ankle to hook him, throwing him backwards and pummeling him full into the snow. HIs sword flew backwards, unleashed from his unsteady hand, long unused to battle in his cushioned throne and he fell into the snow on his ass. He clambered surprisingly quickly to all fours and crawled to his sword in the snowbank. I followed him as all hell broke out along the lake’s rim, blasters screeching, knives whizzing through the air, swords clashing. More of Fenvitz’s loyal men had come running from their barracks and were armed against our Spec Ops soldiers as they dropped from the trees above and as the Kall men and women fought to regain their village.
Ilisa was beside me, her telekinetics defending me in ways that I could only dream to someday be proficient in. I wasn’t sure if all the shots that came out were purposefully levied toward us, but certainly the grey armored man was intentionally seeking us out. He was clashing with Damox, but every moment he could, he sent something raining upon us. Ilisa sent a tree branch skittering away out onto the frozen ice of the lake as he wrenched it from its home in the sky above. She redirected a blaster’s cannon blow as it lasered toward us. She deflected a blade as it rose up from the ground where it had landed from someone else’s throw and streaked toward us. She was watching all sides as I watched Fentvitz retrieve his sword and swing it at me.
I held my sword before me with my well-trained technique, but I was determined to beat him on his terms: with telekinetics.
So, as he swung, I flashed it aside with a quick brush of air. His blade jerked away, down, and nearly sliced through his own leg. He stared at me as
