So, you think you're the baddest SOB because I am less than half your size? You so sure about that? These people making sure they behave around me says otherwise. You really want this? Okay.... It's your ER visit, not mine. -- Anon Guest
Negotiating peace with a known Giant-slayer was rife with hazards. All the reports said the fellow had killed the leader of the Giant-realm of Hazoreth with one cut from his sword. One of his puff titles was Demon Lord of the Mountain, even though he was now a king.
He was either exaggerating his prowess... or completely honest.
Gravax did not know which was more frightening. It hadn't been a fortnight since Hazoreth surrendered to him, and the details were already amplified in every retelling. Whatever the truth was, it was drowning in a whirlpool of gossip. He had to walk through the wider, taller halls and suffer seating in a smaller ballroom. Mostly because he was Giantkindred himself.
The herald announced the entrance of the king. With a series of long, complicated names and stultifying titles. The only one entering with gold on their head was... a greying blue Hellkin in an invalid chair. His right leg in a splint.
"This is the slayer of Mallo The Tremendous? I could swat you like a fly."
"You could certainly try," said the invalid. "I still believe it's bad form to kill an envoy on their first day."
Gravax took his cue from the guards. They were completely unconcerned for their king's life. The invalid king was confident in his capabilities. And the chair... wasn't as slow as it looked. It had very complicated mechanisms.
And for a moment, the tincture of twilight suffused the air.
Gravax remembered that one of the rumours had this devil negotiating a peace with Nanogh... something confirmed by his tribe's own warlocks.
"I will not fight you," said Gravax, newly The Wise. "I will parlay."
The king liked it when people chose to be clever.
[Photo by Julia Zyablova on Unsplash]
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