Thorantilth agreed with Janius and hastily spoke up. "Wulanxeex, stop! The fight is over." He shouted. The boy had his club raised in the air, but stopped mid-swing and looked up to the treeminder. He was about to get off of Sabine, but then Zharanthixil decided to interject.
"No, she has not submitted yet. You say she is strong? Prove it. Wulanxeex, continue the fight." Zharanthixil said, barking the order to the hunter initiate.
"What? No, that is ridiculous. Wulanxeex, get off of her, you've won the fight." Thorantilth said with desperation in his voice and a shocked expression. He knew of the Master-Hunter's bias against outsiders, but he could hardly believe that someone who had so selflessly protected his village would be capable of such cruelty.
Fight her! Zharanthixil shouted, which was enough to make his confused initiate stop thinking and just act. He reared back with his club and started a swing towards her head.
And that was all it took.
Meesei immediately lashed out with a well-aimed telekinesis spell that sent Wulanxeex flying head over heels and landing a few feet away, while leaving Sabine untouched. Her action was the excuse Zharanthixil needed to finally draw his weapon. Taking the spear off his back, he rushed at Meesei with his weapon poised to impale her through the chest. She, however, had other plans. Launching an even stronger telekinetic blast, she ripped the weapon out of his hands when he was only a few feet in front of him. Meesei followed through quickly with a lighting bolt just strong enough to stun him, then a very satisfying punch in the jaw to knock him to the ground. The other hunters in the area had bows and spears drawn, but were too uncertain about the confusing situation to take action. It took Zharanthixil a few moments to recover from Meesei's surprise attack, but his response was almost predictable.
"Kill her!" Zharanthixil ordered, but Thorantilth stepped in almost instantly. He moved in front of Meesei, between her and the archers aiming at her.
"You kill her, then you kill me as well." The Treeminder declared, stopping the hunters in their tracks.
"You traitor! Not only did she interfere and violate the sanctity of the fight, but she attacked me as well." Zharanthixil shouted. His expression was completely earnest, showing that he was fully convinced of what he was saying.
"She violated nothing. It was you that decided to tarnish the spirit of this trial. The fight was over, the Breton had lost. Your order to your initiate was nothing but wanton cruelty. Enough is enough, I am taking a stand. Over the past few days, myself and Reanaseer have been tolerating your behavior. Your complaints, your attempts to have our guests exiled. Every flimsy point and loose interpretation of our traditions that you have presented have been met with patience and understanding, but no more. It is clear to me that your blind hatred of any non-Saxhleel prevents you from having any rational input in this situation. You have consistently violated the teachings of the Hist that we all strive to follow. I am going to speak to Reanaseer about having you removed from any consideration as to the proceedings of the Trials, or the Ritual itself. Thorantilth responded. He looked across the hunters around them who, while they still held weapons in hand, looked confused and unsure. He sighed, then tried to give them some direction. "Just...return to your homes. There is no threat here."
Meanwhile, Meesei was staring down Zharanthixil, who was returning her scowl. He thought he was a skilled fighter, and indeed, he probably was, but no matter what he could do, Meesei could do it better, and she wanted him to know that. If he left them alone from here on out, she would leave him alone, but she would take no threat to herself or her pack lightly. As Zharanthixil said nothing further, they slowly began to return to their homes one by one. The Master-Hunter had picked up his spear and brought himself to his knees, but after a few moments of staring at his weapon, he slammed it down on the ground in frustration, stood up, then stormed off towards his own hut.
Meesei wasted no time after the threat was gone to turn her attention to Sabine. She practically ran over to her and dropped down on her knees beside her. She put her arms under her, then lifted her up off the ground. Meesei held Sabine close to her own body and began to pour restoration energy into her body. The tide of magic swept over her like a soothing balm, numbing almost all of the pain and accelerating her healing. "Do not worry, they will harm you no longer. I said I would not let them hurt you, and I meant it."
By this point, Kaleeth was sitting on the ground next to a tree with her head buried in her hands, crying from the emotional stress of the entire situation. Everything just seemed to be going so wrong. Seeing Wulanxeex mercilessly beat on that poor Breton girl with a club, and her father shouting at him to keep doing it even when she had stopped fighting back, it was almost unreal. Her father, someone she had loved and cared for all her life, had become someone she hardly recognized. Not to mention he tried to kill that Argonian woman, Meesei. When she shocked him, Kaleeth feared for a moment that her father could be killed, which only further added to Kaleeth's fear. All of it made her wish that this was all a bad dream, that she would wake up in a few minutes in Janius' arms by the river. Her father would have never found them, they could just stay secretly in love, and Sabine wouldn't have had such a tough opponent. Unfortunately, Kaleeth knew she wasn't lucky enough for that to be the case.
