Healing+Lightning=
Wizard Launcher
Avalahn was already halfway through the anti-lightning sigil when he realized that the hedge wizard's spell was continuing. Surprising. Dual element spells were rare enough amongst polished circle elves. For a backwood self-taught like the human in front of him, they were signs of a prodigy.
Still, it was hardly worth worrying about for someone with his centuries of experience. He simply relooped his hand instead of closing his fist, preparing himself to charge his sigil with a second element in turn.
Or, so he thought. His almost bored counterspelling was replaced by consternation.
The first spell he’d identified clearly enough. Aerothurgy of the third ring, a lightning blast designed to cripple warriors by overdrawing their muscles. Atypical for wizard duels, but perhaps the hedge wizard was trying to avoid lethal options. He would be disappointed if he expected the same courtesy from Avalahn himself.
But the second spell, he’d never seen used in a duel before. It was a biomancy spell, but far more intricate than the lightning spell. At least sixth ring. He’d seen something like it used to reattach severed tendons.
Why would he try to heal me, right after harming me?
The hedge wizard maintained focus as he traced the last symbols through the air, completing the cast. Avalahn closed his fist and finished his sigil, protected from the lightning part of the attack. If there was a look of trepidation on the hedge wizard’s face as he finished, Avalahn assumed it was fear from fighting a superior mage.
He assumed wrong.
There was a sound like the rigging of a ship tearing loose, like a mighty cord breaking under unimaginable strain. The hedge wizard howled in pain, but more important than that, he flew. Avalahn had no time to cast a physical barrier. He’d been prepared for lightning and thunder, not for the filthy half-feral man to cross the thirty foot gap between them in half a second. His brain was still trying to process how healing plus lightning resulted in a wizard launcher.
The wizard slammed into him at waist level, a dagger sharp shoulder aimed perfectly at his diaphragm. The sound he made as every fragment of air left his body was similar to the noise a rat would make while getting run over by an oxcart.
The two bounded down the road, a knot of limbs and robes. Avalahn may have been caught unprepared for the dive tackle, but he wasn't completely useless in a scrap. His reflexes were still top notch, and even when he couldn’t tell up from down, he could still cast a ward against blows.
The hedge wizard was definitely slower and smaller than Avalahn himself was, but if nothing else he was in his element. Avalahn managed to throw a few sharp elbows into his ribs, but when the scramble stopped the human was the one on top.
The sigil was not focused enough to full stop the first blow, but it softened it. His head still bounced back against the grass, but it was hardly the crushing blow that the hermit had clearly hoped for. The second blow was also warded, but still went hard enough to draw a trickle of blood from one nostril. He tracked the recoiled fist of the human wizard and was surprised to see a large rock clutched in its palm. He must’ve snatched it off the path some point during the tumble.
Clever little bastard.
He did have an ace of his own, a little trick built into every ward he cast. Wrapped in all of his defensive casts he always threw in an energy trap, a way to turn the enemy's strength against them.
Between the tumbling and the punches, the physical ward was practically shimmering with built up charge.
He released it with a snarl. The hedge had no time to react, one second he was trying to pummel Avalahn to death with a rock, the next he was physically thrown ten feet back. If he’d landed on his back, Avalahn would’ve had enough time to finish him off with an ice spear, but the stupid, grimy, wicked little beast landed on both feet and charged foward like a bull.
Centuries of knowledge, analyzed in fractions of a second. Spells, wards, sigils, none could be cast before the human crossed the gap.
Only one choice.
He swung a haymaker at the humans jaw. His mind worked faster than his arm could alter course and he watched in slow motion horror as the human twisted his head and ducked, taking the blow on the forehead instead of the chin.
Avalahn’s punch had more power than sense behind it, and decades of sedentary life had made him soft. He barely had time to wince at the boxer's fracture he gave himself before he felt the little man’s arms wrap around him, surprisingly from behind. He must’ve managed to slide under his leg.
As he reached down to break the vice grip that the human had, he realized that the humans fingers were twitching the same lightning spell that they had before. He’d been too busy fighting for his life to process what the hell that opening move was, but in that split second, he realized what was about to happen.
The human didn’t use lightning spells to attack directly. He used them on himself, as a way to overload his muscles and gain a temporary and painful burst of superstrength.
The healing was just used to fix whatever horrible damage he did to his own muscles in that moment.
The twitching stopped and he knew that the convocation was complete. He could only sit in silent horror as he felt every muscle in the humans body bunch together in one powerful pulse.
The arms around his waist crushed together like a vice, harm enough to snap at least two of his lower ribs. He felt his feet lift off the ground as the muscles in the humans back pulled taut, saw the ground rush up to meet him as he was flung carelessly over the human’s shoulder.
It wasn’t a clean knockout. It was a filthy, vicious, visceral knockout, and in the human’s eyes, that was far better.
The hedge wizard spent a few seconds on the ground, quietly contemplating his choice to pull every muscle from his hamstrings to his shoulders. He didn’t have enough mana to fix himself right as rain, but he could work up enough to at least get himself onto his feet again. He took a moment to drag the unconscious elf into the shade under a tree before rummaging around the finely tooled leather bag the traveler had brought. There was a bag of candied nuts that he helped himself to, as well as a small bottle of brandy, but the rest he left be. He liked his creature comforts, but he wasn’t a bandit. He’d just wanted to make a point about what happened to people that tried to barge through his woods, only to threaten violence when told to leave. He couldn’t tolerate bullies, but he especially couldn’t tolerate bullies blessed with magic.
Still, he felt a little bad for his petty theft, and slightly impressed with the physicality of the fight. He hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before fishing through the pack again, this time pulling out a quill and some parchment. Using one of the hardbacks in the bag as a desk, he wrote a small note to leave on the unconscious elf's lap.
Nyce heighmayker. You can travil thru, provyded you bary your shits. When you retern to your Very Fancy Sercil, try to reed a book on how NOT to get suplecksed. Haha!
Syned,
Tom Bug
Ps. Your desent enuf for a book wizard. I gess you can stop by agen, if you behayv. Bet your frends are pricks tho. Tell them to stay away or I will kill them with a rok.
