“I will,” she whispered with a wink, then kissed me back and turned to go.
Now, I had to trust fate.
No, not fate, I had to trust Izzy. Maybe that was all I needed? I hoped so.
IZZY
The arena was massive,like everything else in the titan lands. I wished I could say I was getting used to it, but being the size of a squirrel compared to everyone else really was off-putting. And this arena…
The throne room had been gargantuan, but now I needed a word for something that was many times the size of that room. Just like Cliffside Arena was a huge stadium, many times larger than any of the “large” lecture halls on campus, this arena was the same. My mind boggled at the scale. Carved from a natural cave, deep in a mountainside where the titans lived, I couldn’t begin to comprehend how many “normal” people could fit in here. Millions? Tens of millions? It didn’t really matter; I should be focusing on the two titans entering the far side of the arena onto the sandy floor.
I am not a squirrel, I am a strong elven woman, a badass.I repeated this to myself as part of my psych-up process.
On our day-long journey, Bayn and I had talked at length about strategies and preparation. He’d been rather surprised to learn I’d only learned earth magic and bodyenhancement a few days ago. So, he’d taken up my instruction where Lhorine had left off, giving me some advanced lessons. He’d seemed to like the fact that he knew far more than I did.
He’d walked me through a few high-level earth-wielding techniques as well as some advanced body enhancement methods. I’d soaked it all in and was using it now. It was still strange to think that I might be physically stronger than the towering woman stomping toward me across the arena, but I probably was. It wasn’t muscle mass that made someone strong in this world, though that helped, and it was part of why the titans had made themselves into giants. No, it was your magic potential that made you strong.
So, I had a few tricks up my sleeve, though there was one that even Bayn didn’t know about, something I’d been pondering ever since Bayn had shrunken himself a little more than usual in the bath. I’d talked to Grandma Oli about it before I’d left and she’d said it was theoretically possible, but she hadn’t been certain if any nymph had ever tried it. Today would be a test run. We’d see if it worked.
Bayn and I stopped near the center of the arena. I’d been sprinting to keep up with his casual stride. His parents stopped about a titan’s height away from us, both looked extremely imposing, glowering, ready for a fight.
“Most glorious titans!” some announcer’s voice boomed through the arena. “Bayn The Deceiver has challenged his parents, the honorable and righteous King Tagnaruk Dava, and the beauteous and noble Queen Duvonora Dava to a deathmatch!”
Well, at least they’re not being biased,I thought sarcastically.
“Bayn’s second is a filthy elf whose name I shall not dignify.”
Yup, definitely not biased.
“May the strongest win and rule over us with honor for millenniums to come!”
Yeah, I really didn’t think this was going to go the way they wanted it to go. I could see now the overwhelming opposition Bayn had been struggling against to convince the titans to join us.
“Fight!” the announcer shouted, and at the same time a great gong sounded.
Bayn and his father charged each other.
The queen didn’t even move, but her power surged. The ground between us rose up in a tidal way to crush me… and fell limp when it got within a dozen feet of me.
I smiled.
While we’d waited, I’d put a binding on the earth around me, making it immutable, so no one could use it against me… unless they were stronger than me and could override the binding. It seemed Queen Duvonora was not stronger than me.
She snarled and charged me, exactly as I’d been hoping.
She didn’t deign to come down to my level, but instead simply tried to step on me.
I let her.
As the shadow of her massive bare foot covered me, I quickly made a hole and dropped down, before her foot landed. I then shifted laterally through the earth. I could sense where Duvonora stood, using my earth sense, and positioned myself roughly between her legs before shooting myself back to the surface.
She didn’t even notice me, still pressing her foot down in a squashing motion shifting it back and forth.
Okay… time for my big surprise.
Surging my nymph shape-change abilities andempowering it with my elven body magic, I made myself as massive as she was, growing exponentially for half a second while bringing my fist up in a punch to her chin, which landed as I reached full height.
I probably should have foreseen the consequences of this change… namely… all my clothes being ripped to shreds leaving me naked.
