The Frozen Elm stands alone in the middle of the small white crystalline cold falling from the skies. The sky has lost all light; no stars can be seen. The greyish sadness of the weather is only broken by a few lights from the small pieces of glowbrick that the villagers use as a means of lighting the quaint darkness of their home.
Steam can still be seen rising from the waters surrounding the Frozen Elm. The warmth of the hot spring has stayed the same even after hundreds of years; Gazmir is sure it will stay the same for hundreds more.
His steps were carefully measured. In front of him, right next to the Springs, was the Plaza, separated from the water by a low wall that still allowed people to see the Frozen Elm's majestic visage. The Plaza's ground was hard and well made. Mud from Lower Dalmas mixed with the hot, sulfurous water of the Elm Springs was pressed into molds and dried over the steam, then baked in the spring kilns until it turned to stone. The result was a combination that stood throughout the test of time. Those bricks had endured hundreds of years' worth of snow and footsteps, long after the hands that laid them had turned to dust.
He looked around.
The Plaza was not empty. There were people here, holding their glowbrick lanterns, waiting. Gazmir strained his eyes. He could see the members of the Guards, Dazun included, standing vigil there to make sure that nothing bad would happen. Yarda and Weaz were also in the crowd, their weapons stowed; the two troublemakers might be a potential problem later.
Rahzar, the one who declared the Nil Mac'gjar to his own uncle, sat cross-legged, alone. His greatsword was nowhere to be seen, but Gazmir knew that it was buried under the snow somewhere next to him. At his back, he was watched by the Frozen Elm and, all around him, by the villagers, who were now starting to turn up and act as witnesses to see whether the Nil Mac'gjar's result would be honorable and proper.
"..." Gazmir strained his old eyes towards the crowd, only to find that Nouz was nowhere to be found. It was a reason for concern.
Nouz was the son of Nouan, previous lead for the Hunters of Elm. He was a man of many talents. Bestowed with great skill as a tracker, he was lethal in his swordplay, and he knew how to concoct poison. Poison that was lethal enough to kill even Nhivens at that time. An absolute pragmatist, Nouan cared nothing about anyone, including the well-being of his own party.
Gazmir, when Nouan was still alive some ten years ago, was a leader of another hunting party. And there were multiple times when he might have lost his life to Nouan's cunning if he wasn't careful. Nouan would poison the entire forest if it would enable him to hunt and kill the biggest game, and he would destroy the whole mountain if it would bring him the best results. Gazmir was unaware of how far Nouan would go to achieve results, up until the time when the Rimelord herself came down to greet them, each flap of her wings a blizzard.
Gazmir lived that encounter only by pure chance. If the Star of Avarice had not shone upon him that day, Gazmir would have shattered along with Nouan and his entire retinue.
Nouz was not worse than Nouan. He was different. He was lucky that Nouan died, shattered by the Rimelord a decade ago, so that he did not have enough time to inherit all of Nouan's terrible perspective toward hunting. Yet, even though he was different, he was still Nouan's son. And Gazmir could see that Nouz had developed his own twisted sense of accomplishment from a mile away.
His propensity for staying in the shadows, his use of weird and fantastical poisons, and his ability to handle his throwing knives and darts were way better than anybody else in this village. And Nouz was also more disciplined than his father, which made him a force to be reckoned with.
Gazmir knew the outcome of this fight between uncle and nephew. And he knew that Nouz did not have to lift even a finger in order to ensure Rahzar's victory. Rahzar was stronger than his uncle. It was just a cold, hard fact at this point.
"..." Gazmir moved his vision toward the roofs. He could see Nouz there, right above the Chief's abode.
Nouz looked at him; he knew that he had been noticed. He smiled at Gazmir.
"Nouz." Gazmir balled his fist.
He wanted to be seen.
Nouz might not have had to do anything. But understanding how his father's mind had worked, and how Nouz's own mind worked after he joined Rahzar's party, Gazmir knew he would do something.
He would do something really, really bad.
"Dazun." Gazmir moved towards Dazun's position with haste. Dazun looked at him and nodded. "Nouz is right on top of Rahzmir's house. He will do something. In fact, he might already have done something."
"I will send people there as soon as possible." Dazun eyed the members of the Guards right next to him, listening to his conversation.
"Try to be discreet. Always assume that he knows that you're coming."
"I will try."
Dazun moved back and delegated something to two of his guards, who moved with haste and disappeared behind the veil of falling snow.
"Where's Rahzmir?"
"That's also a question that we're trying to answer. He has already accepted the challenge, and we are now just waiting for him to appear." Dazun looked around. His face didn't really show any worry, but Gazmir knew that he was concerned. "I've sent some people there not ten minutes ago, and they said that the house was locked. It feels like he wasn't there."
"...Hmm." Gaz knew that his old friend, Rahzmir, was a man of his word. If he said that he would build a plaza at the center of the town, he would build one. If he said the duel would commence at sundown, then the duel would commence.
"Yaaaawn." Rahzar, who had been sitting on the ground in the middle of the plaza for quite some time, finally moved. The snow that had piled up right on top of his head and on both of his broad shoulders fell off. He clutched his massive greatsword, which he had left buried inside the snow, with his right hand. The massive shift in the snow pile could be easily seen. "I wonder where our..."
His posture, the way he carried himself, his confidence still blazed in the middle of the darkness of the Plaza. Being witnessed by the Frozen Elm, he stretched and yawned again, and looked at Gazmir.
"...Great Chief, might be."
A pang of pain could be felt in Gazmir's heart; something bad had happened. He instinctively moved his head towards Rahzmir's house at the northern edge of the Plaza. Nouz was no longer there.
A scream could be heard, then not long after, the sound of multiple footsteps rushing towards the plaza.
"...Nouz." Gazmir swallowed. "...what did you do, you daft bastard."
Members of the Guards that Dazun had just sent toward the Chief's house returned with utmost haste. Their faces were pale; it felt like they had seen their own death being prophesied or something.
"Captain Dazun! Sir! The Chief, the Chief has..." One member of the Guard did not even look at him while trying to catch his breath. His eyes were aimed towards Rahzar.
"The... the Chief... The Ch..." The other member, a girl, lost all strength in her knees and buckled down.
"Guards! Calm down! Regain your composure, tell me what happened." Dazun caught the girl with both hands and lifted her up. She was very clearly being overcome with emotion.
The girl looked up towards him, and looked towards Rahzar with eyes that burned with disgust and anger. "...You!"
She stood up and unsheathed her sword from her back. "He did it, Captain! He's the one!"
"No, wait, Irmeyn! Don't..." Her partner tried to grab her, but he was too late; Irmeyn was already dashing towards Rahzar's position.
"YOU!!" Irmeyn lifted her sword high and jumped. She focused all of her rage into this one strike, aimed at the head of the challenger.
Rahzar looked at this, and without any shred of confusion or anything, stood silently, still brimming with confidence.
"...!!! No!!" Gazmir ran forward, knowing whatever would follow would be extremely bad for this village as a whole.
Without even the slightest of sounds, Rahzar had already released his greatsword from its sheath.
The sheath dropped to the snow with a heavy crack, destroying the pavement with its weight, and with the grace of a swordsman he was already in the middle of a single-armed swing stance, aimed right at the middle of the torso of Irmeyn, who was still in the air.
Without even any shred of hesitation, Rahzar swung.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!
Silence.
A delayed strong gust followed the swing, forcing everybody surrounding the Plaza to cover their eyes and faces from the snow that was blown away. The snow stopped falling down to the Plaza. Everybody looked up and they could see that almost the entirety of the Plaza itself had been cleansed of snow just by that single swing.
Everybody that was there to act as a witness of Rahzmir and Rahzar's Nil Mac'gjar took a couple of steps back instinctively. They knew that Rahzar was powerful, but they didn't know that Rahzar was that powerful.
Irmeyn landed on the ground with a heavy thud. Her head almost connected with the ground cleanly on its crown, yet a hand protected her head from a direct impact. She opened her eyes, and right in front of her was Gazmir, already in the process of removing himself from her and standing up to see Rahzar.
Her eyes widened. Gazmir had tackled her in the air right before the sword connected with her torso. He had saved her life.
The people who surrounded the plaza could only stand in silent awe when they saw that in the middle of the plaza, right in front of Rahzar, there was a gash on the pavement.
"There's no way. I didn't hear his sword touch the ground when he slashed..." A man stepped backward a couple of times, his eyes filled with fear.
"He... cracked the pavement just by swinging his sword?" A member of the Guards shivered with worry. His right hand, which had been resting on the hilt of his spear, suddenly went slack.
"SURROUND HIM!!" Dazun shouted with all of his might, and the members of the Guards that were still there and still hadn't yet been intimidated by Rahzar's strength brandished their weapons at him at the same time. Spears were readied, arrows were nocked.
"NO!!" Gazmir stood up and walked a couple of steps toward the Plaza. "Dazun. Tell your men to stay away from the Plaza and order them to keep the villagers safe."
Dazun looked at him with eyes that were filled with disbelief. "...Why?"
"Because he is stronger than all of your combined strength. Go home, protect your family, protect your neighbours and the other villagers."
Rahzar looked at Dazun with condescending eyes, and opened his mouth. "You heard your ex-captain, Dazun."
Dazun gritted his teeth and sheathed his sword, clearly reluctant. "...No. We will stay here and make sure that this man will answer for his crimes."
"And what crimes are that, pray tell?" Rahzar took one step towards Dazun's position, and all the other members of the Guards took a step back instinctively. "As you can see, good Dazun. I have been here the whole time."
"He is right, Dazun." Gazmir shouted from the sides, right next to Irmeyn, safe and sound without any wounds on her body. "Listen to me, and remove your presence from this plaza at once. No Nil Mac'gjar will be held this evening."
"Old Captain Gaz! Wh... why?" Irmeyn looked at him and stood up.
Gazmir responded without even looking at her. "Who would return to your daughter, Syndri, if you die tonight?"
"I... I have to avenge..." Gazmir could still see the rage behind her eyes. She was in pain. Irmeyn gritted her teeth.
"Avenge...?" Gazmir looked at her, his eyes already burning with sorrow. Deep in his heart, he already knew what was coming. Nouz and Rahzar had done something, and Nouz had stayed on top of Rahzmir's house just long enough for Gazmir to notice him before disappearing. "...Explain yourself, Irmeyn."
What Gazmir was hoping for right now was only a faint glimmer of hope, that his old friend was only bleeding and wounded. He knew that Rahzmir was strong, he knew that Rahzmir was amazingly resilient. If he could just recover, then perhaps...
"The Chief, sir. The Chief was..." Irmeyn's words threw a pebble into the lake that was his thoughts.
Gazmir stood up and faced Rahzar, greatsword resting on his right shoulder, his attention somewhere else. Blood was dripping from Rahzar's blade.
"When we went there, we found that the door was left ajar..."
The pain started to radiate from Gazmir's back. He walked forward towards the Plaza a few steps, facing Rahzar. He knew what Rahzar had done.
A Taboo.
"Sob, the Chief... gasp, Captain Gazmir... your back..."
Irmeyn's knees buckled once more, and she looked towards Gazmir, who stood between Rahzar and her. His back was drenched in blood.
"Continue your report, Irmeyn."
Gazmir did not even show any difference in expression. Irmeyn lost her composure, her tears started flowing freely. The other members of the Guard unsheathed their weapons, and everyone was looking at Rahzar.
"The Chief... sob, sob... We found him in front of the fireplace..."
Rahzar was looking at the sky. The snow that was gone before because of his swing started to return. His expression was... different. He was just looking at the sky quietly, as if waiting for something.
"He was..." Irmeyn held back her tears; she swallowed what spit, snot, and tears she could swallow. Gazmir needed to know. "...beheaded in his own home."
Gazmir's eyes turned blood red.
A single drop of snow landed on Rahzar's cheek.
He grinned widely from ear to ear.