3-61. The Red Haze of War

Otter knew this was a stupid plan. After all, it was one of her plans. But that was also why it was going to work. 

She’d rehearsed this fight in her head a few times since learning that Sureya’s Pact was the ability to copy and replicate other Pacts. It was a terrifying ability. In a battle of casters, the one with the bigger, more versatile toolbox was usually the one who won. 

But Sureya’s entire fighting style was likely built around copying whatever her opponent could do. And Otter was hoping that there was something in her toolbox that Sureya couldn’t borrow.

Juala grabbed Otter’s arm and whispered into her ear, “Are you sure you can win?” 

“Oh, no fucking clue. But this is the best plan I’ve got. I’m not smart enough for political maneuvering, and that kind of thing takes time anyway. Better to just challenge her to a duel and stab her a bunch.”

Juala studied Otter’s face for a moment, and then a grin broke out onto her face. “I think I like you.”

“You literally wanted to have sex with me. You didn’t like me before?”

“What’s liking someone and wanting to fuck ‘em have anything to do with each other?” Juala looked genuinely confused.

“Silayans,” Otter sighed. 

The assembled captains and admirals and other important people from the Silayans were forming a wide circle on the deck of Sureya’s ship. There wouldn’t be a lot of room to fight in. It was about the size of a cage match. Maybe a little smaller. Sureya was taking off her uniform coat, and looking at Otter.

“You look a little overdressed for this.”

Otter was wearing her classic faux-uniform look, made from her Thread of Sanctuary. Every bit of skin it covered was protected. It wasn’t quite as tough as steel, but it was pretty good. 

“I like to make a fashionable statement,” Otter said.

Sureya didn’t look amused, but then, she never did. When the phrase ‘resting bitch face’ had been termed, they’d probably done it with a face like Sureya’s in mind. She had the appearance of someone who liked to suck on lemons that were actively molding. 

“Rules?” Otter asked. 

As the challenger, she was stuck with whatever Sureya decided as the terms of engagement. Which was fine. Even if she died here, she’d just end up in Holt’s arena. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to fight anyone she liked.

“Magic only. No weapons. To the death,” Sureya answered.

Otter nodded. She expected as much. 

“She’s pelanoa,” Soorong said. “We can’t afford to lose one of those.”

“Then she shouldn’t have challenged me to a duel,” Sureya snapped.

“You know, when you’re dead,” Juala said, “I think I’m going to name my half-brother to my Seat. Akai’s better suited for it than me anyway.”

“That’s not tradition.”

“Fuck tradition. Actually, you know what, why wait? Akai, get over here.”

From the crowd, her brother shoved forward. He looked unwilling or unable to meet Juala’s eyes.

“We thought you were dead,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, and what a shit funeral it was. Congratulations, I hereby abdicate my Seat in favour of you. You now represent Seat Moseina.” 

Sureya took an angry step towards Juala, “You can’t–”

“Seat Kurangi has no problem with this,” Leilynn said. “That is two votes to one. The motion is passed. Akai now speaks for Seat Moseina.”

Akai looked as if he didn’t know what had just happened. But then again, most everyone present looked the same, Otter included. Otter wasn’t sure she trusted Leilynn. Not fully. And this just seemed like another dangling web they’d just walked into. 

Leilynn’s eyes met Otter’s, and she smiled briefly. 

Well, that made it feel even more confusing and irritating. But at least Otter wasn’t as irritated as Sureya looked. Her face was starting to turn red.

Okay. She was angry. Otter could work with angry. Angry meant sloppy. 

“You know, since getting here in the Islands, I’ve only managed to breed one woman,” Otter said, pretending to examine her nails. “Liaru. Nice girl. Not on your precious ‘Lists.’ I think I might fuck her ‘blind’ wife next.”

“Call the fight,” Sureya growled at Soorong.

Soorong had allowed a brief smile to cross her face, but quickly contained it. “Duelists, separate to opposite sides of the space provided. When I say ‘begin’, you will fight until the other is dead. There will be no mercy in this match.”

Otter focused on Sureya’s face. The anger on it. And she remembered every shitty thing Sureya had done since she’d gotten here. The Silayan Islands were pretty nice, but there was a festering sickness in it, a hatred for anything deemed ‘other,’ and while some of that hatred was justified, it’d been allowed to grow beyond sanity. And Sureya was to blame for it.

Sureya, and her Lists, saying who got to breed, and who couldn’t.

Sureya, and the decline of any so-called ‘half-breeds’, their kind going missing from the Islands nearly entirely.

Sureya, and the murder of anyone who disagreed with her, or who she couldn’t effectively control.

Sureya, who’d tried her hardest to make sure Rua had grown up as alone and unloved as possible. 

Otter wasn’t an angry person. She liked chill vibes and having fun. But Sureya was the kind of asshole Otter would happily abandon that for.

They made their way to their respective corners - a silly term, considering they were in a circle - and waited until Soorong finally said, “Begin.”

Immediately, Sureya said, “Kneel.”

Otter felt the Willcasting, and shrugged it off immediately. Sureya probably easily outstripped her own Will, but Otter was furious enough to just shove it aside.

Otter summoned her Thread of the Scourge, and as she did, Sureya sang a note, high and pure - and Otter hated that it sounded so good - and suddenly the metal nails from a piece of decking tore themselves free and sailed directly at Otter.

She spun the golden thread in a circle, striking the projectiles down, and Sureya launched another volley of them from another direction. Otter spun, knocking these aside, too, but then a third note sang out, and a nearby metal bucket sailed at her and struck her from behind. 

No further attacks came, which Otter had been expecting.

Her conversation with Il-Su - wherever the fuck he was - hadn’t been brief, or contained to the plan. She’d asked him for every detail he knew about Sureya’s Pact. Apparently the little shit had gone through every one of her notes while working for her, every single diary entry he could find.

She was something called an Echothief, someone who could copy Pacts. Il-Su wasn’t certain of the details, but she could mimic any Pact she encountered. But, according to the notes, she could only use it three times before she needed to refresh the copy. From there, she needed to move onto something else in her arsenal.

So, that had been Sami’s Steelsinging. She’d need to move onto something else.

Otter launched her Thread at Sureya, willing it to encircle and bind her. Sureya held out a hand, and a blade of darkness appeared in it. She hacked the Thread in twain, and then vanished.

Il-Su’s Voidblade and Cloak of the Void. Il-Su had been loath to tell Otter any details on his Pact, and had made her swear herself to secrecy. She’d promised not to tell anyone, and then as soon as the call had ended had told Sami everything. 

Voidblade could cut through most things, but was particularly strong against anything light-based, which Otter’s Threads seemed to be. It only lasted a short duration, and if disarmed, would require it to be recast. Cloak of the Void had a more obvious weakness. While using it, you were effectively invisible, but it felt as if a great weight was pressing down on you. It made it difficult to blitz your opponent while you were gone from sight. 

Otter had already prepared her counter for this ahead of time. Most of Sureya’s ship was made from Adamant, the stone that people from this world inscribed glyphs on. How it floated, Otter had no clue. But the ship was also made of wood in parts. Particularly the decking that Sureya had just torn the nails from. 

Squeak appeared over Otter’s shoulder, and together, the two of them used a Woodweaving to make the planks underneath Sureya’s feet come to life.

There wasn’t much they could do, most of them nailed down as they were. But the ground rippled and shuddered, and Sureya cursed, and there was a thump on the decking. 

Otter didn’t bother waiting for Sureya to recover. She summoned another Thread of the Scourge and lashed the area, the wood burning as her Thread hit it. Except in one spot. There was a brief flicker as Otter struck Sureya’s Tenacity. Otter lashed again and again, and more sparks came up as Sureya was unable to effectively get away, having to dismiss the Cloak of the Void in order to regain anything resembling speed to dodge. 

Otter didn’t let up, continuing to make the ground beneath Sureya’s feet heave and tremble, all while lashing at her. Sureya showed her back, trying to get away, trying to run while staying in the confines of the ring.

And that was when Otter realized it. Sureya was powerful. But she wasn’t a fighter. At least, not at this kind of fight. She was used to having others do her dirty work for her, or out-maneuvering people in shadowy ways and backroom deals. She’d accepted the duel because she’d assume the opening Willcasting would work, just as it had before when she’d saved Il-Su from Otter before.

But back then, Sureya had the element of surprise on her side, and Otter had prepared for it. Had prepared a lot for this fight, going over what she could do to win. And win was what she was going to do.

Sureya turned, and then flashed a smile at Otter, her teeth showing. And then fire landed out of Sureya’s palm, and slammed against Otter’s Tenacity, bowling her over. 

Right. Sureya had access to every Pact. Including Yurgein’s stupid mind reading one, and whatever asshat was apparently hogging fireballs and not letting Otter have them. 

Otter took another fireball to the chin, unable to dodge. Sureya had probably been waiting for Otter to get cocky, monitoring her mind with whatever bullshit Yurgein had, and the second Otter had grown confident, Sureya had shattered it. 

Otter summoned another Thread of the Scourge with her other hand, and lashed with both of them at the same time. Sureya slashed one apart with her borrowed Voidblade, and the other went completely off course, diverted aside like Otter was some kind of n00b who couldn’t aim for shit. 

“You really thought you could beat me?” Sureya asked, and golden thread spun out of existence all around her, and she was wearing a white uniform, exactly the same as Otter’s. 

“Yeah, I kinda did.”

It was small. Very small. But for a second, Sureya flinched. There was a tightening about her eyes, her lips thinning. 

That hadn’t been fear. That’d been pain.

And Otter felt a brief flicker of triumph.

Sureya wasn’t just using active Pact abilities. She was also utilizing passive ones. Passive abilities like Rua’s lie detection.

“You’re a great person,” Otter said. “Stellar personality. Knows what’s best for her people.”

Sureya hissed in pain. 

Otter summoned a new Thread, and feinted as if she were about to lash. Sureya didn’t dodge, knowing the attack was a lie. But it didn’t matter.

“You can’t turn the passive abilities off, can you?” Otter asked. “Once you copy them, you’re stuck with them, since there’s no activation limitation. That’s powerful, but also kind of sucks. Because I’ve had to give my girlfriend a lot of scalp massages. Which I absolutely hate doing.”

Sureya stumbled back a step at that one. She threw another stream of fire, and Otter’s Tenacity broke under it. The heat hitting her. She shielded her face, and her Thread of Sanctuary protected her from getting burned for the most part. She activated it again, and added gloves and a ski mask to her ensemble. 

Otter made feint after feint, all while yelling at Sureya, “I hate Rua! Kir isn’t that hot! I don’t forgive Sami, and never will! This game of Holt’s is the worst fucking thing to ever happen to me!”

Each attack she pretended, every word she uttered looked like a physical blow against Sureya. She dropped her Voidblade, and clutched her head with both hands. She screamed, and even that scream sounded beautiful.

Too late, Otter realized, so beautiful that it sounded like a note of music.

Something slashed the side of Otter’s thigh, sharp and painful, and as she fell, blood exploding out of the wound, she saw a spear take someone in front of her in the ring directly in the thigh. The onlooker swore, screaming in pain, as the weapon meant to kill Otter only clipped her and went full momentum into her. 

“Sami’s not the only Steelsinger I’ve encountered,” Sureya said triumphantly.

“Foul!” Soorong called. “Third party injured, pause for-”

“Fuck your adjudication!” Sureya called, and then sang another note.

Another spear was yanked from the hands of a nearby warrior and flung at Otter, but she was already rolling, clutching at the slash to her thigh to try to staunch the bleeding. 

Well, two could play at this game.

Otter worked a Woodweaving, and yanked a spear from someone else’s hands from afar, hurling it at Sureya in turn. It slammed against her Tenacity, and the shield broke, appearing in view just to shatter.

“Pause the fight!” Soorong called, and others jeered, drowning her out.

Sureya screamed, “These are my Islands! They will not be taken from us!”

Otter expected Sureya to summon more spears, to pull more weapons out, but Sureya’s eyes focused, something sharp and cruel coming into them. 

“What is this ability,” she said, her voice entirely too calm. And then she held out her hand.

And a glowing red Thread appearing in it.

Otter’s Thread of Fate.

“It permanently reserves a piece of my Will,” Sureya said, holding it up for inspection. “Curious. I don’t know what it does. But it must be powerful.”

“Mexican food is the shittiest of all foods!” Otter lied as she tried to scramble away, but Sureya sang another note, and that was when the spear came.

It slammed into Otter’s hand, which was pressed against the decking. The blade went right through flesh and bone and into the planks beneath, pinning her in place.

“You don’t want to–” Otter tried saying, but it was too late.

Sureya lashed at Otter, and the red Thread of Fate struck her, entangling them together.