Torment and Terror by Craig Halloran Page A

staggered back and covered up.
    Gondoon hit him all over with a flurry of hammer-like blows. Cheers exploded all around them.
    Brak was getting pounded. Jostled. Whipped. Desperate, he threw an uppercut that landed.
    Gondoon’s teeth clacked together, and he faded back.
    Sweat poured off both man and ogre, huge drops at a time. Gondoon’s arms hung at his sides. Brak could barely lift his fists. He wasn’t a brawler, not like the ogre. It was obvious that Gondoon thrived in pounding the weak into submission. It was his arena.
    Brak cast a swollen eye around. He found Jubilee and Fogle with worried looks on their faces and knives to their necks.
    Jubilee was pleading, “No, Brak. No.”
    He grunted, turned away, and shuffled forward. Head lowered, he waded into Gondoon and started swinging.
    Whap! Whap! Whap!
    It was like hitting a wall. Every punch Brak threw hurt his fist more than the last.
    Gondoon absorbed it, countered it, and punched him back.
    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
    Brak crashed to the ground. A rowdy chorus of victory followed.
    “It’s over, berserker.” Gondoon was doubled over with his hands on his knees. “You can’t hurt me. Gasp. But I can hurt you. Let me get a blade and vanquish you.”
    Brak wiped his mouth and spat. “No.”
    “You fought with honor,” the ogre said. “But you need to quit. Gasp . You stand no chance. No one ever has.”
    Fighting against the anchor of fatigue that wanted to hold him down, Brak got back up. “No.”
    “Then you will suffer. You will long for death.”
    Brak rambled forward, stretched out his fingers, and locked them onto Gondoon’s neck.
    With a throaty laugh, Gondoon dug his own nails deep into Brak’s neck and returned eye-popping pressure in kind.

 
     
    CHAPTER 21
     
     
    Venir stood outside the Magi Roost with his arm around Kam’s waist. Erin was tucked in Kam’s arms. Her chubby little face was smiling at him. He tickled his little girl and made some cooing noises.
    “You’re awfully chipper,” Kam said to him. She didn’t smile, either.
    “I have my life and all my limbs. I’d say chipper is an understatement.” He swatted her on the rump. “One would think you’d be thrilled as well.”
    “I guess I should look on the brighter side of things, but it’s just been so long since I had a good day.” She sighed.
    “The good ones are the ones that see you through to the next.” He wiped his face off with a bar rag. The Magi Roost creaked in the stiff winds. He made a head count. Melegal, Joline, and Jasper were all accounted for. “Say, where did that woman go?”
    “I am here,” a voice said from behind him. Trinos stood tall and beautiful. Her armor was gone, replaced with some refined and casual green robes. Her platinum hair sparkled in the sun. “Is there something you want?”
    The woman’s wounds were gone. Her refined features had been restored.
    Kam’s elbow stopped his gazing.
    “I’m just making sure everyone was accounted for. I can’t determine whether I should worry about you or not. I assumed you might have floated away or something.”
    “No, not yet.” Trinos walked up and stood between them and the building. Her hands were locked behind her back. She nodded back at the Magi Roost. “You’re fond of it, aren’t you.”
    Kam looked up at Venir and gave him a ‘Is she talking to me?’ face.
    He shrugged.
    Kam replied. “I built it. It was full of many wonderful times, but of late it’s been nothing but a tavern of nightmares.”
    “I see,” said Trinos.
    The boards of the tavern popped and cracked. The rooftop swayed from side to side and came to a stop.
    “That was close,” Venir said. “Maybe I should go inside and see if I can secure some of the posts. Melegal! You coming? You’d make an excellent beam.”
    Melegal was sitting on the ground with his hand on his tummy. He took Jasper’s hand and let her help him to his feet. “Why the slat not? Besides, my tumbler could use a