“Wait. Wait!” Jularra said hurriedly. The angry marshals halted in their effort to identify the disrespectful challenger and turned around for their next order.
The queen shifted to a stern but calm disposition. “In any other context,” she called, “I would have that person found and brought to me, so that I could cut out their tongue.
“But that challenge,” she continued, “is justified.”
The Bedrock and Spire remained frozen in formation, equally stunned by the challenge and by the queen’s reaction. Jularra looked to the marshals.
“With whom shall I spar?”
Korden eyebrows dipped with disapproval.
“Your Majesty,” he whispered. “You are under no obligation to—”
“Ease yourselves, everyone! Let’s have a fight!”
The warriors in the yard relaxed as instructed. The indecipherable chatter over what was transpiring began immediately.
“Who will be my challenger?”
No names were shouted, and no one stepped forward. Jularra laughed. “It’s too late to be shy!” she yelled. “Let’s have the bold woman who shouted from the back step up! Unless shyness isn’t the issue. Perhaps she’s a coward?”
Torsos leaned and necks stretched as the fighters tried to catch a glimpse of Jularra’s challenger.
A wedge started to cut through the Spire ranks as someone worked their way to the front. Uninterested in the identity of the challenger, Jularra walked towards the open sparring area. Korden and her Bedrock followed, but she turned and motioned for them to remain at the perimeter. With her back to the onlookers, and the challenger still making her way through the Spire ranks, Jularra dismissively issued her rules for the match.
“Single round to first submission. No killing blows, obviously.”
The queen turned to face everyone else and waved her hand as she continued.
“And magic is allowed... if the challenger knows any.”
Jularra unsheathed her sword and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, exaggerating her impatience.
The front ranks of the closest Spire group split and spat the challenger out into the sparring area. It was Wona—the Spire those in the yard most expected to see, and someone definitely justified in issuing a challenge to Jularra.
Jularra smiled and opened her arms wide, sword in one hand.
“Ah! Good!” She addressed Wona directly. “Did you hear my rules?”
Wona replied with a slow curtsy.
Spire don’t curtsy.
Jularra let loose a genuine belly laugh as the onlooking Bedrock and Spire snickered and gasped at the show. Outside of the training grounds—absolutely anywhere else—such a display would have been regarded as unequivocally disrespectful. But inside the grounds, amongst their own, the queen, Bedrock and Spire knew Wona’s challenge and Jularra’s feigned condescension to be playful and respectful.
At the lowest point of Wona’s curtsy, Jularra reached out with her free hand and pinched at the air. She pulled it downward. As she did, the ground just below Wona began to crumble and sink. Wona lost her footing from the destabilized ground and started to sink with it - until Jularra pushed her hand up, restoring the ground beneath Wona once more.
Wona stumbled, fell, and rolled onto her side. She looked up at Jularra from the ground, her eyes sparkling with mischief and calculation. And then, with a violent surge of energy, Wona pushed up with a hand, whipped her legs underneath her and launched back up to her feet.
Jularra lowered herself into a preparatory stance as the rank and file of Bedrock and Spire held their breath in anticipation.
But she had no intention of initiating an attack just yet. She relaxed and stood to her full height.
“Actually, I believe we should thicken the mix a bit.” Jularra held up a finger at Wona. “Don’t we need a Bedrock to spar with as well?”
The volume of the men’s rapid reply was the loudest since Jularra’s arrival.
“'Zah!”
Along with their cheer, the men stabbed their swords and spears into the sky. Jularra reciprocated the gesture as she turned to Korden.
“Who should join us?”
The Bedrock had begun repeating their chant of “'Zah!” while Korden looked at Jularra, expressionless.
“What are you doing?” he asked her. His voice fell like a fatigued parent stumbling upon a mischievous child.
Jularra stepped back and twisted her face in teasing puzzlement.
“Do you need to do this right now?” he added, exasperated. “A week out from the battle? With real weapons?”
“What better time to do it?” she replied.
Korden scanned out and across the Bedrock before looking back to Jularra. He sniffed, bowed his head disapprovingly, and approached the Bedrock with his arms up. The chanting drew to a close.
“Well, it’s apparent the queen desires a proper exhibition. I think, together with Wona, we can provide a suitable diversion, eh, men?”
The chanting burst out into the open air once more. “'Zah!”
“What do you say, Vischuno?”
The Bedrock erupted into a frenzy at the mention of Vischuno’s name. Their next "'Zah!" was the final one before their cheering morphed into wild whoops, shouts, and heckling. It seemed Vischuno was revered as being close to perfection when it came to combat. Wona apparently welcomed his selection, too, joining her cheering male comrades with a hearty round of applause.
The queen was overcome with curiosity and forgot to perpetuate her playful facade for a moment. She had heard stories of Vischuno, just as she had heard stories of Wona. But Jularra had met Wona before. Vischuno only existed in tales related to her by others.
Her neck stretched as she worked to identify him. Then she realized what she was doing, and forced herself to land on her heels and look to the ground. She waved and circled her arms, affectionately antagonizing the grounds as she returned to her spot in the sparring section of the yard. Having reclaimed her starting spot, she turned to see if Vischuno had emerged yet.
He had.
Jularra’s body stiffened. Her mind was sundered from every emotion but disbelief. Her eyelids slid down and peeled back up in a slow
