Chapter 26: Whose Justice?

The impending altercation had started to draw the attention of passersby. It made Nienna grow uneasy; she was not keen having so many eyes on them. She worried one of those passing pairs could belong to the Byrnes or one of their thugs, and she didn’t want to loudly announce their arrival in Hoelbrak. Across the way, the norn trio exchanged raucous words that made Nienna’s cheeks flush in anger and shadow creep into the edge of her vision. She took a deep breath in and out slowly through clenched teeth. The anger and shadow retreated, leaving her centered once again.

Nienna wove her way to the front of her group. Even though her previous attempts at diplomacy hadn’t worked, she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t try one more time. “We don’t have to do this. No one has to get hurt. We’re simply moving through Hoelbrak, so if you let us go without a dispute, we’ll gather our supplies quickly and be on our way before the sun sets. You won’t have to see any of us again. Fair?”

“Not a chance,” Brandt snapped. “That traitor’s daughter isn’t leaving without a reminder of what happens when she shows her pathetic face here.”

Nienna frowned. Appealing to their better nature failed yet again.

“You’re going to have to go through us then,” Clarkus roared. He drew his weapon and banged the pommel against his steel chest guard. The sound echoed throughout the courtyard, drawing startled gasps from onlookers.

An eruption of insults broke out between the two groups. Even Tuborg jumped in with a few terse phrases that made Nienna’s eyes go wide. As the shouting continued, she disappeared into the back of her people again and crouched down next to Alena. A concern popped up in her mind, and she wanted to make sure it was addressed before it was too late.

“Stay close to Clarkus. He still has our special bundle on his back,” Nienna said quietly.

The asura shook her head. “He won’t let anything happen to it,” she tried to assure her, “not after what happened at the camp. He refuses to let it out of his sight now. He almost bit off a Priory member’s hand when they got too close, trying to offer him a blanket for his cot.”

“I know he wouldn’t let anything happen to it on purpose, but I don’t think this fight is going to just magically dissolve. We don’t know what’ll happen after the first blow is struck. You have your minions. They can help. They can see, right?”

Alena nodded. “In a matter of speaking. They’ll know what to do.”

While the asura went to seek out her charr friend, Nienna sought out Dee and tapped her arm. “How’s this going to work? Three against five? Doesn’t look like much of a fair fight for them.”

“Imagine three of me on my best day,” she replied with a smirk, but her lips fell into a frown almost instantly. It became increasingly clear to Nienna that her friend was not thrilled about the fight either, but she worried Dee’s reputation would diminish even more amongst the norn community if she backed out.

“Fair point. But is potentially killing each other vital?”

“Not necessarily,” she replied looking over at Brandt and his friends, “but considering our history, they might not see it any other way.”

“I really don’t understand why—,” Tuborg began, but his words immediately ceased as his focus was pulled away by quick movement on the edge of his vision. He instinctively drew his shield from his back. A transparent blue-hued light formed a protective dome over their group and wavered where Ylva collided with it. The barrier sent her stumbling backward before it disappeared.

A brief moment of stillness settled over the courtyard as Ylva processed what had just happened. Her confused visage quickly twisted into anger, and all three norn rushed toward the group. Nienna and the others only had a brief moment to react before they clashed with each other. Not having time to draw his sword to engage, Tuborg instead raised his shield to block Ylva’s strike. The weapons collided with a loud clang that momentarily drowned out the norn’s battle cry. She struck again and again, and the repeated force eventually sent Tuborg down to one knee. Coming to the sylvari’s aid, Clarkus rushed forward and grabbed the norn by her arm, his sharp claws sinking through her woven tunic and into her skin. Grimacing, she let out a furious growl and retaliated by landing a punch on the side of the charr’s head.

As everyone engaged in the fight, Nienna remained toward the back while surveying the unfolding skirmish. The norn were quick to engage, but she didn’t want to approach the fight without some sort of plan. Sidestepping around two of Alena’s bone minions heading straight for Ylva’s ankles, Nienna watched Egil weave his way around the engaged combatants toward Dee who had unsurprisingly gone straight for Brandt. The dark-haired norn patiently waited until Dee raised her great blade to strike at Brandt and then thrust his blade toward her. Nienna sped into the fray. A flash of red entered Egil’s vision, and instead of his blade sinking into the norn woman’s flesh, his weapon met Nienna’s axe. The gothic design etched into the dual-headed weapon undulated bright red as she held his weapon at bay.

“Sneaky,” Nienna commented with a smirk. She had to give him credit for taking advantage of the situation. If the shoe had been on the other foot, she probably would have done the same.

“Was worth a try,” Egil replied, and without hesitating, he pulled his sword back and swung at Nienna’s shoulder.

She twisted her body to dodge the strike and took a few quick steps backward to get some distance between her and Egil before he could attack again. Rushing forward, he thrust his blade at her abdomen. Nienna parried with her axe, but he was strong, and the sword’s edge glanced off her side. It made a deep slice into her overcoat’s leather, but a shallow cut into her flesh. She was thankful that’s where it stopped.

Before Egil could strike at her again, Nienna threw her axe at him. It spun in front of her, sending out claws of green energy that slashed at the norn’s chest. He clutched his torn doublet and flashed Nienna a murderous glare as her axe returned to her gasp. Wrapped up in the momentum of battle, she advanced on Egil and raised her axe to bring it down hard on his shoulder. But he anticipated her strike, and brought his blade up to block. Nienna then felt a sudden force against her gut as Egil thrust his boot at her stomach, sending her stumbling backward. Her breath caught in her throat as shock and pain enveloped her entire abdomen.

Egil didn’t wait for Nienna to recover. He came for her again, and she did her best to raise her axe to block in time but was too slow. His sword glanced off the front blade head and cut into her upper arm. She cried out from the pain, as well as in frustration for leaving herself open to his strike. She should have seen him coming, but what was done was done. She wasn’t going to let him get in another shot if she could help it.

Motivated by the threat of failure, Nienna mustered all her energy as she rolled to the side and scrambled to her feet before Egil brought down his blade again. The weapon cut into the frozen ground. He uttered a frustrated growl while he worked to pull it free. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Nienna raised her axe and cut through the air, sending claws of green energy tearing at Egil’s chest repeatedly. He recoiled, and while he was vulnerable, she threw out her hands and released a surge of dark energy, its shockwave spreading throughout the courtyard and carrying the sound of a spiteful scream. Despite the heavy exertion of her energy, Nienna did not pause to catch her labored breath. She forced herself to advance. Grabbing his shoulders, she then swept a leg behind his to knock him off-balance. The large norn, stumbled and fell hard onto the ground.

“Yield!” Nienna commanded as she crouched over him, breathing heavily from the exertion of battle. The sharp edge of her axe drew little beads of scarlet as she pressed it against his throat. It would have been so easy to keep pressing until he stopped moving—so easy. A sudden chill ran down her spine, and she broke out in a cold sweat as she recognized the dark road her thoughts were going down. She swallowed hard and pulled her axe back a little. “Yield, and tell your friends to stop. I’ll do the same for my people. This ridiculous fight needs to end,” she continued through labored breaths.

Egil blinked and looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “What are you playing at, woman?” He tried to lift his sword, but Nienna pinned his arm down with her knee.

“No one else needs to die over this,” Nienna said as she put all her weight down on his chest and arms to keep him from moving.  All around them, the battle raged, but she kept her hold and focus on Egil. “Please, tell him to stop.”

Something cracked and softened in the norn’s stern visage at the sound of the word. Or maybe it was the threat of death staring him in the face. Nienna wasn’t sure, but he eventually grumbled something under his breath and let his sword drop from his grip. “Brandt!” he shouted. Nothing happened, so he shouted his friend’s name again, louder this time, and the cacophony of battle slowly diminished until silence fell over the courtyard.

Brandt pushed Dee back from him until he could figure out what was going on. “What?” he roared, still keeping a wary eye on his opponent. He glanced over at Egil pinned beneath Nienna. His eyes went wide, and his cheeks turned a deep shade of red. “What is this? Get off him!”

“Everyone, stand down and back away from each other,” Nienna ordered.

Dee wiped away strands of earthen hair matted to her forehead with sweat and streaks of blood from a gash near her hairline, Dee shot Nienna a sharp glance. “What’s going on?”

“You’ve had your fight and made your point,” Nienna said as she made eye contact with an extremely flustered Brandt. “What would your dead friend say, hm? Would he want more people to die?”

“He would want justice!” Brandt boomed.

Nienna narrowed her eyes. “His justice or yours?”