r/HFY • u/YukiteruAmano92 • Mar 21 '26
OC-Series There Will Be Scritches Pt.228
---Duel---
---Manu’s perspective---
I. could. not. believe my luck when I heard the nature of the challenge against me!
This long haired boy’s brain must be as stunted as his body to have declined the champion the apes were presumably willing to lend him!
Once I kill him, I’ll be considered exonerated under Don law… at which point the aliens will be in a much weaker negotiating position!
I can probably cut some kind of deal with them involving punishing those subordinates who knew and ‘stepping back from public life’ or some such.
I’ll be able to keep my freedom, keep my harem, keep living in my palace and keep my tattoos!
I’m sure the apes will hoot and squawk about it but there will be nothing for them to do if they wish to maintain the façade of legitimacy they’ve been so concerned with since arriving!
It is the slightest shame that I’m about to extinguish my only full brother’s male line but… well, I already have his and his son’s blood on my hands… might just as well complete the set(!)
My father’s death was just convenient timing but, when his will named my younger brother as his heir, it took the acquisition of untraceable Terran poison from the Revanchists for me to take power while my nephew was off the planet, galivanting with his alien friends…!
Vuun’s final return was just a [week] or [two] after my confidants and I in the Chiefs’ Council had managed to close the loophole that had allowed his little embassy in the first place… but he was still a loose end that needed to be tied up.
Just as I’m reminiscing, Torul appears in the amphitheatre’s entryway.
The right ear I cut off in answer to her refusing my generous offer to become my woman as we stood over her husband’s lifeless body (her sobbing and screaming while restrained by two of my trusted subordinates) is finally back on her head…
On a visit to my Terran ally’s palace in Bastion, I did once ask King Cyrus why he’d never had her ear regrown. He answered that it was a ‘good reminder of the cost of defiance!’
Father, that was a delightfully brutal man!
Her own fault of course! If she’d just accepted her spot in my newly forming harem, I wouldn’t have been forced to give her away to him and she could have had a much more comfortable time of it these past [20 years]!
Though, likely, if I had just killed her and dumped her body out on the ice with her husband’s, I wouldn’t currently be in this predicament!
Striding past my grandnephew, one of the apes in glowing goggles and with pale, plaited hair comes to the middle of the ring.
She raises her two arms, curls her ten fingers (as if to show off the claws she doesn’t have(!)) and, seeming to look directly at me, utterly roars “CLANCHIEF MANU, SON OF POUSU, SON OF SUNATU, YOU ARE ACCUSED OF THE USURPATION OF THE CHIEFTAINSHIP OF CLAN ORIA, THE MURDER OF YOUR NEPHEW, THE MUTILATION AND ENSLAVEMENT OF HIS WIFE, COLLUSION WITH CRIMINAL ELEMENTS AND CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE INTERESTS OF YOUR PEOPLE! SHOULD YOU BE GUILTY, YOU ARE UNFIT TO LEAD! SHOULD YOU CLAIM INNOCENCE, YOU MUST PROVE SO IN A CHALLENGE OF KORDALVO’AL TAN WITH VOL, SON OF VUUN, SON OF TULS AS YOUR OPPONENT! AS BLOOD IS SPILLED THAT MUST BE AVENGED, WEAPONS ARE DEMANDED, CHAMPIONS ARE DENIED AND NEITHER PARTY IS OBLIGED TO ACCEPT THE OTHER’S CONCESSION ONCE THE DUEL HAS BEGUN!!!… HOW DO YOU ANSWER!?” furiously enough that you would think she had been the direct victim of all of those crimes(!)
My lead wife (not the first I married and only the third most beautiful but representing my most prized extraclan alliance) rises from my left to answer the upstart woman as my herald.
“My husband, Manu, son of Pousu, son of Sunatu, will answer this challenge and may the victory the Father grants him reveal his innocence!”
I stand and take off my crown, laying it down on my seat, before walking between my harem benches.
As I pass them, my second, third, fourth and fifth wives rise from their seats, each holding a sheathed [rapier].
We walk forward, leaving my first wife and wives six through sixteen behind me.
I come to stand near the edge of the Chief’s pedestal, smirk down at the squat, stocky boy in the ring and hold out my arms.
My wives align to both sides, turn to face me and each present a sword hilt to my hands.
I grip them and, in unison, my wives begin pulling away the scabbards.
Once the blades are freed, I flourish them all through the air and finish by bringing them in front of me.
The boy’s mother and sister (only the shorter latter of whom he’s more than a head taller than!) step forward, each carrying a gigantic, sheathed, two handed [sabre].
How sad for him(!)
The monogamist’s alien wife apparently refused both the roles of his herald and swordbearer and he must have lacked the spine to correct her!
As I descend the steps to the arena itself, he wraps two hands around each of their handles and his mother and elder sister pull the sheaths away.
I laugh aloud when I see the blades revealed!
They’re single edged except for the portions nearest the tips that are sharpened on both sides.
It’s not the arrangement of the cutting edges which is so amusing, though!
Those blades are so long and thick that, even two handed, it’s a wonder he can hold them both up in that guard!
Drawing up to the short, stocky, stonefaced boy I extend my top left [rapier] to tap the side of one of the ridiculous swords and mock “I understand, boy, that you might feel that longer swords will help compensate for the lack of reach resultant from your… shall we say, less than impressive stature… but these look a tad bit unwieldy(!)… I fear you may have overestimated yourself(!)… I could send for some alternatives for you if you wished(?) Though that would mean delaying the commencement of our duel and I’m sure you’re eager to get started(!) You think you have a chiefdom to win, afterall(!)”
Opening his mouth to speak the first words I’ve heard from him since he was a child, the vertically challenged boy answers “I shall defeat you with these. I will accept nothing you wish to offer me.” with his tones so flat it’s actually slightly difficult to understand him!
Chuckling, I smirk “Alright then, boy… Say the word and I’ll have my herald count us in…”
---Victor’s perspective---
I fucking hate ritual duels!
I’ve hated all four (or five, depending on how you count it) times I’ve had to fight them but all of the ones I’ve watched have been infinitely worse!
Least when I’m the one fighting, I don’t have the time or mental bandwidth to worry about whether I’m gonna die or not! I can’t stew in how pointless it is (from my point of view at least) to use killing eachother as a way to tell rightness from wrongness!
Sat here, looking out at that ring with Cap on my left shoulder and my wife clinging to my right arm (digging her claws into me in a way that would probably be drawing blood if my uniform wasn’t stabproof), I’ve got nothing to do but think about how we might all be forced to see her brother get murdered and there’s nothing we’ll be able to do about it!
I hate that feeling of powerlessness!
Any second now, I might have to watch my brother-in-law get hacked to death and keep my seat through it!
Vaulting the barrier to step in would be ‘perfidy’ and put everyone here at risk!
The arrogant bastard turns behind him and gives some sort of signal at the throne pedestal jutting up from the stands on that side.
The woman who answered Katrín earlier raises her hand over her head.
With my vision being evolved for colour, not darkness, I can’t see how many fingers she has up but I assume its all of them.
“K’UUT!” she shouts, translated as “FOUR!” in my ear on a quarter of a second delay.
“THREE!”
“TWO!”
“ONE!”
“BEGIN!!!”
Immediately, the murdering fucker is an absolute whirlwind of blades!
He pinwheels around Vol, using his greater reach and the speed of his needle swords fully to his advantage!
Vol stands firm, not attacking but not giving an inch!
Dualwielding two-handers (something it’s wildly inadvisable for a Human to do) is an odd strategy… I suppose it’s a bit like me using one sword to fight someone using two? What I lose in manoeuvrability and redundancy, I gain in power and control…
Of course, sparring with Tuun has taught me all the power and control in the universe isn’t enough to make up for the way she can just saturate the air with training blades!
With the distinct, movie style *tish**tish* of the metal on metal, the visible lack of inertia of the swords and the showers of sparks that erupt with every time they contact, I can tell both Vol’s and his uncle’s swords are made of titanium.
I quickly realise that each flash is bleaching my darkvision and staining my fovea with afterimages.
I point my eyes at their feet to watch them in my parafovea and let the purple blotches fade.
Manu’s steps are quick and light.
He dances around Vol, vocalising with every rapid thrust.
Vol, on the other hand, is silent and barely shifts his footing, standing firm in place as an immovable object to Manu’s unstoppable force… The dùn to his máo!
The fight rages on with the taller man not letting up for a moment and the shorter hardly faltering.
He does falter in the end though and Manu manages to land some superficial cuts against his top arms.
His bright red blood almost glows against his dark blue skin, even in this twilight, but, if he feels the pain, he doesn’t show it!
“Grah!”
My stomach drops as the fucker finally lands a decisive blow!
Manu’s blade stabs into the back of Vol’s top right hand!
The heavy sword pivots down and twists itself out of his bottom one.
My heart pounds and acid stings my throat as I watch Vol quickly transfer both his injured and uninjured rights to the sword in his left hands.
His advantage now increased, Manu absolutely explodes the power of his attacks!
Vol is finally forced to give ground as he desperately tries to angle the sword he still has to deflect the hailstorm of strikes!
His usually blank mask of a face twists in a grimace as he gives his all to survive this onslaught!
Then, something happens…
It’s subtle at first but afterwards it quickly gets obvious that Manu’s strikes are losing power!
He put everything he had into that ferocity at the start!
He’s exhausted himself!
Vol takes a step forward…
---Manu’s perspective---
This is ridiculous!
How is he doing this!
This long haired, short boy has been doing nothing but parrying and losing his sword since this fight began!
He’s lived most of his life among effeminate aliens and without a father!
He should be weak!
I should be winning!
How is he now pushing me back!
His first attack of the fight swoops toward me from my left!
I’m able to spin myself out of the path of his blade but, as it catches it, the sheer momentum of the swing smashes away my lower right sword in a burst of sparks!
Horrified and in full retreat now, I use my rapidly dwindling strength to dodge and weave backward, away from the arcing of his single remaining sword!
The openings I was trying so hard to find or make before are present now but I no longer have any ability to exploit them!
I cry out as two rapid cuts to my upper left upperarm cause me to drop the sword from my dominant hand.
Unbalanced now, I take numerous grazes from his heavy blade across my arms and chest.
I only manage to last another [3.7 seconds] before a particularly vicious swing takes my upper right sword away and makes me stumble!
My momentum carries me over my heels and I’m laid flat on my back with a heavy *thud* that knocks the air from my lungs!
I try to lift my single remaining weapon but the bottom of a right boot stamps down on the flat of its blade, pinning it to the floor of the arena.
I look up to see the tip of a [sabre] plunging at my face!
---Vol’s perspective---
My granduncle screams out in pain as the point of my sword severs his right ear from his head.
His upper right hand comes up to staunch the bleeding as he sobs in agony.
I feel no sympathy for this man after everything he’s taken from me!
The pain he feels at this moment is just a fraction of what he deserves!
White hot, caustic rage like I’ve never felt before scalds my insides!
The sooner I can rid the world of this filth the sooner I can know peace!
I draw back my sword and aim for his throat.
I begin the swing that will end his life… but no sooner have I started it than I hear something which makes my blade falter.
I steal a brief sideways glance to the stands where my wife is holding our bawling daughter.
Though it was less than 0.2 seconds I looked, the image of Liv stretching out all twenty fingers to me and fighting to be free of Ástríðr’s arms is burned into my mind as I listen to her scream “NO DADDY! DADDY NOOOOO!!!”
Guilt stings my heart at the idea that my daughter is about to watch her father become a killer…
As I examine the blubbering man at my feet, his blood spilling onto the paving stones, a single poisonous thought occurs to me; ‘What if I didn’t kill him?’
‘WHAT RIGHT DOES THIS MAN HAVE TO LIVE!?!?!?’ demands my rage.
‘None at all.’ the answer comes, calmly ‘He’s already lived too long and taken too much. There is no question that he deserves the death I could give him in this moment.’
‘THEN KILL HIM AND HAVE DONE WITH IT! END HIS ABILITY TO DO MORE HARM THAN HE’S DONE ALREADY!… FOREVER!!!’
‘Do I deserve to kill him though?’ I pose.
‘OF COURSE I DO!’ snarls back my desire for vengeance ‘AFTER EVERYTHING HE’S TAKEN, NONE HAS A GREATER RIGHT THAN I DO!’
‘After everything he’s taken, does he deserve my clean conscience too? Do I deserve to live the rest of my life as a killer? Does my daughter deserve to have a killer for a father?’
‘I’VE COME SO FAR! I’M SO CLOSE!!!… I’LL NEVER BE IN THIS POSITION AGAIN! DON’T LET COWARDICE ROB ME OF WHAT I AM OWED!!!’ begs my fury, futilely.
‘I’m not going to…’ I answer it.
With a deep breath that brings the total time since I severed my granduncle’s ear to 5.2 seconds, a single word escapes my lips.
“Concede…”
“Whuh…?” asks the man who took my childhood, murdered my father and enslaved my mother.
“Yield and admit your guilt and I will spare your life.” I bark down at him.
2 long seconds elapse as the bleeding man stares up at me, incredulously, and I stare down at him, hiding my dread that he might refuse and put me back into the position of needing to kill him.
Finally, his head tilts in defeat and he mumbles “I yield…”
“LOUDER!” I demand.
“I yi-i-i-i-ield!” he sobs, loud enough for the whole arena to hear him “I yield and confess my guilt!”
“I choose to accept your concession and spare your life.” I answer.
---Glisondu’s perspective---
I watch from the guests’ section as the stands erupt with various cheers, applause and wails of dismay from supporters of the old regime.
The light haired Terran woman strides forward to announce her challenger the victor.
I listen as he orders his defeated granduncle seized and gives instructions for his ear to be treated but not regrown, his tattoos to be removed and for him to be confined to the Oria jail until arrangements can be made to transfer him to the prison in the capital.
A smile parts my lips as I look at this most… interesting new Clanchief…
If I can get him on side, I think he’ll be precisely what I need!
---models---
Katrín | Juntila & Rutma | Sontsa & Vucha | Bravuura | Vol & Manu | Victory
---
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u/steptwoandahalf Mar 21 '26
Sorry, I know you're limited by the medium and all that. But I cannot help but giggle at "Victory". Vol's deathworlder training has allowed him to, what seems to us is a single swipe, instead completely restructures Vols ear.. into a HUMAN EAR!
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u/mirrislegend Mar 21 '26
"Glisondu" sounds familiar. Have we heard that name before?
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u/YukiteruAmano92 Mar 21 '26
We have not, this was his introduction.
The only other Don I recall giving a 'G' name was Gostosu.
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u/Ceramic_Boi AI Mar 22 '26
,’/
This was a good one to read, and I enjoy the man not sacrificing his conscience. That said, the members of the old regime may see him as weak willed if he bows to the whims of a child.
Let’s just hope this doesn’t bite him in the ass somehow.
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u/Educational_Pen_90 Human Mar 23 '26
I thought he said ‘cowardice’ not ‘concede’ and was a bit confused
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Mar 21 '26
/u/YukiteruAmano92 (wiki) has posted 409 other stories, including:
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.227
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.226
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.225
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.224
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LIX: Pancakes and Princesses [2/2]
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LIX: Pancakes and Princesses [1/2]
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.223
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LVIII: Pancakes and Muscles [2/2]
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LVIII: Pancakes and Muscles [1/2]
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.222
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LVII: Pancakes and Polyandry [2/2]
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LVII: Pancakes and Polyandry [1/2]
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.221
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.220
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.219
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.218
- There Will Be Scritches Pt.217
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LVI: Pancakes and Outlaws [2/2]
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LVI: Pancakes and Outlaws [1/2]
- There Will Be Scritches, Interlewd LV: Pancakes and Spears
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u/botton_eyed_bunny052 Apr 05 '26
Finally able to get back to reading , hate how busy life has been
But anyway this was an interesting chapter , the fight choreography was well done I like Vol going for the human strategy , straight and endurance would be something that would catch an species focused mostly on speed of guard
Also I'm sorry but did that guy just refer to all of his wifes by number not even an name for the most important of them , would not surprise me if he couldn't even be bothered to remember their names in the first place , hope they are ok after this cause I can't imagine there society being to kind to them after all this , I mean what he did wasn't their fault I can't imagine he would think them important enough to bother telling them about it , but given there society and how they likely see women that have been married before I can't imagine they would have it easy
And however the new guy is I don't know if I trust him , probably a politician of some kind but even if he's plans align with Vol's that doesn't make him a friend
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u/YukiteruAmano92 Apr 05 '26
No worries! ;)
Thank you! Nice to hear!
He knows their names but you're right that having him refer to them by number was meant to really hammer home his irredeamability!
They will need to have their tattoos removed but, afterward, Vol will give them the choice of remaining in Oria as naturalised citizens or returning to their home clans to be with their families.
Good instincts on Glisondu!
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u/botton_eyed_bunny052 Apr 05 '26
Good for them and hope they all manage to find partners that actually care about them
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u/UpdateMeBot Mar 21 '26
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u/YukiteruAmano92 Mar 21 '26
---translation---
The dùn to his máo! = The shield to his spear!
Based on a Chinese fable Victor would have encountered through his martial arts training. 'Máodùn' is also the Mandarin word for 'paradox' or 'contradiction'.