Bor the oneeyed genereal was a wound in the side of the clan, a bully whose power was built on fear and intimidation. Nym had just handed Ruk the scalpel to make the first incision.
He spent the next two days in a state of focused preparation. He continued his hunts in the upper tunnels with his body a finely tuned, his movements deadly. He pushed his evolutionary energy bar upwards, with each kill a small but victory. But his mind was elsewhere... It was in the fighting pits.
Nym's information was a seed that had taken root in the fertile ground of his mind. "He visits the fighting pits every third day… to assert his dominance… He is overconfident and his guard is down." It was a pattern, a weakness, a crack in the wall of Bor's authority and Ruk was going to use it.
He didn't plan to fight Bor directly. That would be a very short suicide. His plan was more subtle. He was going to introduce a single drop of doubt into the clans perception of their general. He was going to make him look weak, foolish, and, worst of all, dumb. In a society where strength was the only currency, the perception of weakness ment death.
On the third day as the sun began its slow descent, casting long, bloody shadows across the cavern, an energy began to build. The warriors with their bellies full from the day's hunt began to drift towards a large and circular area at the far end of the cavern.
The fighting pits.
It was a crude arena, a bowl of packed earth and stained stone, surrounded by chaotically shouting spectators. This was the clans primary form of entertainment, a place where disputes were settled, dominance was asserted, and blood was spilled for the sheer thrill of it.
Ruk for the first time did not retreat to his crevice. He found a spot in the shadows at the edge of the crowd, his short body easily overlooked by the toering crowd and his presence a ghost in the chaos. He watched as two young and ambitious warriors entered the pit with their chests puffed out, their crude weapons held at the ready. They circled each other while grunting and their taunts echoing in the enclosed space, then they clashed with a brutal, and clumsy violence. The crowd roared its approval, their bloodlust a big force in the air.
Then Bor arrived... He walked with a swag of ego to the edge of the pit and his massive frame parting the crowd like a ship through water. He watched the two young warriors trade blows for a moment with a sneer of contempt on his face. Then with a bored sigh, he lunged into the pit.
"Enough of this pup's play!" he boomed with his voice silencing the crowd. He backhanded one of the young warriors and sent him sprawling to the ground and kicked the other out of the pit. "You call this fighting? You are an embarrassment to the Black-Tusk name"
He stood in the center of the pit with his chest puffed out and his single eye scanning the crowd. "Who among you has the guts to face a real warrior?" he challenged all with his voice a taunt. "Who wants to learn a lesson in pain?"
This was his ritual and an assertion of dominance. He would pick a young, inexperienced warrior from the crowd, someone with more ambition than skill and he would brutally and humiliatingly destroy them in front of the entire clan. It was a demonstration of his power and a reminder to everyone of his place in the hierarchy.
Ruk's eyes scanned the crowd of young warriors.
He saw the fear in their eyes and the hesitation to step into the circle. But he also saw the burning ambition and the desperate desire to prove themselves to everyone. He used ANALYZE on several of them, his mind sifting through the data and looking for the perfect tool for his plan.
Then he found him.
A young orc named Ugron. He was bigger than the other young warriors and his muscles thick and powerful, but there was an uncertainty in his eyes with a lack of real-world experience. Ruk focused his ANALYZE skill on him.
[Target: Ugron]
[Race: Orc (Warrior)]
[Level: 4]
[Disposition: Ambitious, Eager to Please, Naive]
[Strengths: High Physical Strength, Natural Athlete]
[Weaknesses: Inexperienced, Lacks a Killer Instinct, Vulnerable to Feints, Weak Left Ankle from an Old Injury]
A weak Left Ankle? That was it. The point upon which he would lever Bor's downfall.
Bor's gaze fell on Kael with a cruel smile spreading across his face.
"You," he grunted. "The big one with the dumb look on his face. Get in here! I'm going to teach you how to hold an axe"
Kael with his face a mixture of fear and desperate hope, stepped into the pit. He held his stone axe in a clumsy and two-handed grip with his knuckles white. He was a lamb being led to the slaughter.
The fight began and it was exactly what everyone expected... Bor was a cat toying with a mouse. He didn't attack directly but dodged Ugron's clumsy swings with ease and laughing as the young warrior stumbled and overextended. He would land a casual blow here and there or a punch to the gut and a kick to the ribs, only just enough to inflict pain and humiliation... but not enough to end the fight quickly.
The crowd jeered and laughed with their mockery directed at the struggling young warrior.
Ruk watched with his mind a calculating tha patterns of both warriors. He waited for the right moment to find the perfect opening. Bor in his arrogance was becoming sloppy and he was so focused on his own performance and basking in the adoration of the crowd, that he wasn't paying attention to the details.
Kael with his face looking like pain and desperation, swung his axe in a wide with a horizontal arc. Bor with a theatrical sigh, ducked under it with ease and that was the moment.
Ruk standing from his position in the shadows bent down and picked up a small sharp stone. He didn't throw it at Bor or at Ugron. He threw it at the ground, just in front of Ugron's left foot. It was a small and insignificant act.
No one noticed. No one except Ugron...
The stone landed with a soft click, a small sound that was lost in the roar of the crowd. But Ugron with his senses on high alert and his mind desperately searching for any advantage or any sign had saw it. He saw the small tiny sharp stone and in that split second with a a flicker of instinct and not a whisper of a thought that was not his own had surfaced in his mind.
The ankle. The feint pivot.
As Bor came up from his duck with his face split in a mocking grin, he was ready to deliver another humiliating blow but Ugron did something unexpected. Instead of resetting his stance and preparing for the next attack, he stumbled. He let his left weak ankle roll and he fell forward with his axe slipping from his grasp.
It was a perfect piece of acting and it looked for all the world like he had simply lost his footing with a clumsy and pathetic end to a pathetic performance.
The crowd groaned in disappointment...
Bor's grin widened and he stepped forward with his guard completely down, now ready to place a triumphant foot on the fallen warrior's chest.
And in that moment Kael exploded upwards.
He wasn't falling he twisted his energy and was coiling. He pivoted on his good right foot and with a blur of motion, drove his shoulder into Bor's unprotected midsection. It was not a powerful blow, atleast not by a warrior's standards. But it was a perfectly timed, perfectly placed and utterly unexpected one.
The air got knocked out of Bor's lungs in a surprised whoosh. He stumbled backward with his eyes wide with disbelief. Bor the war general, the master of the pits, had just been struck by a whelp. It was an insult so profound, so unthinkable! that for a moment, he simply could not process it.
Ugron didn't press the attack, instead he scrambled back with his face of feigned terror, as if his own actions had surprised him. He had created the opening and landed the blow. He had done the impossible and now, he was terrified of the consequences.
A stunned silence fell over the crowd.
They had just witnessed a miracle of a whelp that had not just survived Bor's game. They stared at Bor while waiting for his reaction. They expected a roar of fury with a brutal and bloody retribution.
But that's not what they saw.
They saw a flicker of uncertainty in his single eye with the faint flush of embarrassment on his scarred cheeks. They saw a general who had been made to look foolish and in that moment, the first crack appeared in the pillar of his authority.
Bor recovered quickly with his face contorting into a mask of pure rage. He let out a roar that shook the cavern walls and lunged at Ugron with his axe.
But it was too late...
The moment had passed and the damage was done. He wasn't a confident predator toying with his prey anymore, he was an angry and embarrassed bully throwing a tantrum.
He beat Ugron senseless with his blows uncontrolled. But it was a hollow victory and the crowd watched in silence as their earlier bloodlust replaced by a strange and unsettling feeling. They were not watching a display of dominance but were watching a display of insecurity.
When it was over, Bor stood over Ugron's broken and unconscious body with his chest heaving, his single eye burning with a hateful fire. He scanned the crowd with his gaze daring anyone to mock him or question him. But the damage was not in their words, but it was in their silence... in the way they looked at him with their eyes holding a new subtle calculation.
Ruk had already slipped away and his heart pounding with a fierce, triumphant joy.
It had worked.
It had worked perfectly and he had not laid a hand on Bor, but he had wounded him more deeply than any axe could. He had wounded his pride and his reputation. He had planted doubt and he knew that in the fertile ground of the clans brutal politics, that seed would grow.
He made his way back to the small, circular chamber where he had first met Nym. She was there waiting for him like a shadow among shadows. Her face was as always an unreadable mask, but he could see a new light in her eyes. It held light of respect with a light of excitement.
"That was a dangerous game" she whispered, her voice a silken thread in the darkness.
"The most dangerous games are the only ones worth playing" he replied, with his voice filled with a confidence that was entirely new.
"You made him look like a fool" she said, a slow smile spreading across her face. "He will not forget this and he will hunt for the one responsible"
"Let him hunt then" Ruk said, his own smile cold and sharp. "He is a hammer looking for a nail and he will never think to look for the hand that holds the stone"
"You have proven your worth" Nym said, her voice turning to business. "You have proven that you are a valuable partner to me" She reached into her satchel and tossed him a small heavy pouch. It clinked with the sound of stone against stone. "A payment for your services and a down payment for the next"
He opened the pouch and inside were a dozen more Heartstone shards, their crimson light glowing with a warm and inviting energy. It was a fortune and it was a declaration of her commitment to their alliance.
"Bor's humiliation has made him reckless" she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "He is planning a hunt in the deep tunnels tomorrow. It will be a dangerous hunt and he wants a big kill to restore his reputation now. He is taking only his most loyal warriors with him and he is leaving the cavern… under defended."
The implication hung in the air with thick possibility. An under defended cavern. A reckless and, distracted war general. It was a tempting opportunity.
"What kind of opportunity?" Ruk asked, his mind already racing.
Nym's smile widened with her eyes gleaming in the dark. "The kind of opportunity" she said, her voice a seductive whisper, "that could change everything"