Talismen studied the shade intensely, watching his every move, trusting his instincts to tell him wether he was right or not. Sythrel was studying him also, slowly turning in a circle and following the wolf’s movements. Levial had dragged himself to the side of the small clearing, clutching the pulsing wound in his shoulder. He had managed to bring his brother to safety as well, leaving Talismen and Sythrel to fight.

Talismen could see that the shade was a little nervous now. It was unlikely that he had fought without wards before, besides the time when Sharrag stepped on him. He was likely to be far more cautious and less likely to be the first one to attack, which meant he was going to have to get through his defence.

“Brisingr,” the shade suddenly barked, sending a fireball towards the Shrrg.

Talismen easily dodged to the side, though he was slightly surprised at Sythrel’s sudden attack, but he didn’t let that distract him. The shade grinned at him before putting out his hand once again. Talismen tensed and the shade laughed, noticing his jumpiness. The Shrrg growled, realising that he was playing with him.

“You are a strange creature Talismen,” said Sythrel with a smile, “Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. From what I gathered from Sharrag’s mind I would say you are a lot alike, though unlike him you don’t value yourself highly. You don’t think yourself important like Sharrag does.”

The wolf just growled in response, not daring to open his mind to the shade. He didn’t trust him enough to open his mind. He didn’t want what happened to Sharrag to happen to him. He doubted he would have the strength to break through the effect of a true name.

“I wonder if Sharrag has told you of his desire to leave yet,” said Sythrel in a mocking voice.

Talismen growled again, but inside his heart fell slightly. Was this true? Did their leader truly want to leave? He shook his head and snarled, before charging towards the shade. Sythrel leapt into the air, attempting the manoeuvrer he had tried before. Talismen quickly spun his body to the side, avoiding the strike of the shade. He launched himself to where the shade was about to land. Sythrel landed and rolled forward before leaping to the side just as Talismen’s blade passed where he had just been. The wolf felt another blow on his wards.

The two went back to circling each other again, the shade looking slightly angrier then he had before.

“You’re a lucky wolf you are, to have been raised together with a dragon,” he said, “He effects you in such a way that you are able to think and speak like an intelligent species. But really you’re just a wolf, a dumb creature. All you can do is hunt, and howl and fight. Stop trying to win because you never will. No shade has ever been killed by a dumb creature.”

Talismen narrowed his eyes. That was three times now Sythrel had tried to distract him with words. Luckily the wolf knew he was lying, for most of it anyway. Words didn’t affect him as much as it would a human or elf, for the simple fact that a creature like him didn’t know how to take words to heart.

“Brisingr!” the shade shouted his favourite spell again.

The wolf dodged to the side once more, only to be caused to stumble because of the force of the explosion caused by the fireball. His wards protected him from the fire and heat but not from the force. He growled as he felt a couple more strikes from the shade land on his invisible shields. He quickly swung towards the spot where he had seen the shade only to find his blade meet thin air.

Another fireball sizzled from Sythrel’s hand. This time the fireball landed a direct hit on the dazed wolf and he stumbled again shaking his head. As the shade went in for another attack he swung his head to the side, catching Sythrel’s arm with the blade giving him a small cut. It wasn’t enough to cause any major damage but it would hurt enough to cause Sythrel some discomfort. Another blow was landed on his wards.

The shade had retreated to the other side of the clearing and Talismen followed him. His hand was clutching his wounded shoulder glaring at the wolf. To Talismen’s slight amusement he realised it was the same arm that had been jarred in Talismen’s other successful attack.

“You’ll pay dearly for that lowlife,” stuttered the shade.

Talismen growled again at him and began to advance slowly. Sythrel suddenly launched an overhead, covering the distance between them with a single bound. Talismen moved his head to the side and caught the shade’s blade with his own. He quickly backed out of the way of another strike before leaping forward. The shade managed to strike his wards again but was knocked over when Talismen head-butted him. The Shrrg quickly pressed his attack, striking down towards Sythrel, aiming the blade for his heart. The shade quickly rolled out of the way and put up his blade to defend against the other side of Talismen’s sword as the wolf twisted his head to strike at him.

Sythrel was quick to do a backward role out of range of the wolf, but Talismen followed, pressing his advantage. He pounced knocking the shade down again and ripping at him with his claws. Sythrel screeched in pain and thrust up his had casting a spell. An invisible force hit the wolf but only enough to stun him. It was enough for the shade to get free from under the Shrrg’s claws and retreat someway.

Talismen quickly recovered from the spell and turned towards him again. The shade was chanting in the ancient language, pointing his hands towards Talismen. The earth around him began to rumble. A piece of the cliff suddenly crumbled and fell. It was then Talismen realised how close to the cliff face he actually was. He quickly leapt forwards just in time to avoid the crumbling cliff face. He growled at Sythrel who was still chanting. The ground continued to rumble and cracks were beginning to run through the rock and dirt in the small clearing.

The wolf quickly leapt over a rather large gap and struck at the shade with his sword. Sythrel seemed to have finished his spell and blocked the strike with his own sword, staggering a little under the force of the blow. Talismen tried to strike with the other side of his sword but the shade ducked under the strike and hit at Talismen’s throat. The wards stopped the sword again but the Shrrg’s strength was waning. His wards wouldn’t last much longer.

The ground around them continued to crack and rumble, more of the cliff face falling away. Talismen stumbled as his foot went through a crack in the ground. Even the Sythrel was having trouble keeping his feet under the minor earthquake he had created. An idea suddenly hit Talismen. He pounced at the shade, who dodged quickly and hit the Shrrg’s wards. He struck again and Sythrel rolled out of the way. Now the shade’s back was to the cliff face and he was slowly backing away from the wolf towards the crumbling drop. Talismen followed, glad that his plan was working.

Suddenly something happened that neither had expected. The whole cliff face and clearing suddenly collapsed. Talismen yelped in fear, letting go of his sword, as the two fell down the drop. A curse was yelled from the shade followed by a hurriedly chanted spell in the ancient language. Talismen snarled and attacked the shade’s mind causing him to stop in surprise. If they were going to die they would die together.

Talismen found the piece of rock he was standing on was beginning to tumble in a role. He launched himself off the piece of rock and landed on another piece, clawing at the rock to keep himself in place. Unfortunately it was the same rock as the shade had managed to perch himself on. He launched himself at the Shrrg, stabbing towards his shoulder as hard as he could. Talismen yelped in pain as his wards finally failed. The blade pieced the wards and embedded itself in his shoulder. A smaller rock fell from nowhere and landed on the shade’s head, knocking him off the rock, and then they reached the bottom.

The piece of earth Talismen was on absorbed most of the impact from the fall, but it still didn’t stop him from being flung of. He landed with a thud and groaned as his body became a host of pain. He lay there for a minute, breathing heavily, before finally forcing himself onto his feet and looking around.

He was back on the slope of the mountain and surrounded in broken rubble and downed trees. A groan of pain caught his attention and his head perked up as the shade staggered to his feet a few metres away. The wolf was surprised he was still alive, especially after the mortal blow from the rock. He growled and carefully pulled the shade’s sword from his shoulder, whimpering slightly as he did.

Sythrel gazed towards him with a snarl on his face. He didn’t have a weapon of any kind nor the energy left to cast a spell. Talismen began to slowly limp towards him, struggling to hold the rather small sword in his jaw. It was more like a toothpick to him. The shade dragged himself to the side using a piece of rubble, trying to stay away from the wolf while he regained a small amount of his precious energy.

Talismen snarled a little and decided to turn this battle into a mental one. It was the only way he could get close to the shade. The wolf slammed himself into Sythrel’s mental barriers, causing him to stagger slightly. The walls around the shade’s mind cracked, then held. The Shrrg shivered as when he felt what the shade’s mind was really like. It was far different to a dragon’s or an elf’s. There seemed to be almost multiple beings within him, all helping keep him alive and give him power.

Sythrel didn’t leave the wolf alone with his mind either and returned his attack. The wolf defended quickly before attacking again. The two mind sparred against each other for a few minutes, neither looking like they were going to win. Both were badly injured, the shade slightly more so, and were finding hard to concentrate in amongst the pain.

However the shade was a master at battle with the mind and was slowly driving Talismen back into defence. The grin on his face showed that he knew he was confident this battle would go to him. Once the shade broke his mind this fight would be over.

Talismen howled in defiance, before gathering what strength he had left and launching himself at the shade, stabbing downwards. His concentration broke in the same movement and the walls around his mind broke for the shade to gain access. But he couldn’t stop the forward momentum of the Shrrg.

The two collided. They rolled and Talismen stabbed the sword into the shade as hard as he could, not caring where he hit. As the two came to a stop Talismen found that the mind that had taken his was no longer there. He rolled to his feet and gazed down at Sythrel. The shade’s sword was sticking out of his heart. He seemed to twitch before an unnatural scream echoed through the forest. A scream that didn’t originate from Sythrel’s mouth. Spirits suddenly burst from the shade’s skin, retreating into the sky. They were gone so fast that Talismen hardly got a glimpse. The startled Shrrg stood there for a second, before collapsing to the ground, to exhausted and hurt to move.

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Hey guys, new chapter. Hope you enjoyed. Only a few more to go :). Vote if you enjoyed and comment on what you liked, next chapter out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^