Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [46]
Abdel braced himself for what he knew was coming.
"Yaga Shura is no ordinary Bhaalspawn," Melissan had warned Abdel while he had been selecting his weapon in preparation for battle. "His mother was a giant from the tribes who live among the volcanoes of the Marching Mountains."
"That's disgusting!" Imoen had gasped.
"Don't be naive, child!" Jaheira had snapped, taking her anger at Abdel out on the young woman. "Bhaal was no mortal man. He could assume any form he desired. A giant is as close to a god as a human or an elf."
Imoen had shaken her head, stubbornly declaring, "It's an abomination."
"Bhaal's taint is an abomination in any form," Melissan had replied, effectively ending the conversation.
The soldiers parted, clearing a path for their champion. The sight of Yaga Shura's approach snapped Abdel's mind away from his recollections and to the present.
The shirtless giant towered over his men by several feet as he made his way through the crowd. His broad shoulders, muscular chest, and massive arms were clearly visible above their helms and even the points of the spears they raised in salute. His skin was the color of ash and soot, his beard the same flaming red hue as the long hair that hung down in a single braid past his shoulders. The double-edged head of the enormous axe strapped to Yaga Shura's back seemed to devour any light that struck its obsidian surface.
Abdel tightened his grip on the broadsword he had chosen to bring into battle and shifted his weight rapidly from one foot to the other to try and work out any lingering stiffness before the duel began. He wore no armor-he wanted to use his quickness and agility against his much larger opponent. Abdel had surprised men half his size with his inhuman speed. He was certain he could do the same to a foe the size of a lumbering giant.
Yaga Shura's long, heavy strides quickly brought him free of the crowd and closed the distance between the two combatants. The giant stopped less than twenty feet away and slowly reached back to draw his own weapon from its harness, the muscles of his bare torso flexing as he did so. Abdel was now close enough to see the head of the weapon was not solid black, as he had first imagined. The weapon's edges were inscribed with blood red glyphs and symbols.
The implications of those markings were not lost on Abdel. Instinctively, he knew these sigils were the same as those that had marked the arrows of Illasera, the archer in the clearing. Like Illasera's arrows, Abdel knew any wounds he received from Yaga Shura's axe would not disappear.
He spread his feet wide, lowering his stance. The knowledge that his enemy could harm him, perhaps even kill him, didn't scare Abdel. It just changed his battle plan to a more defensive strategy.
The two men slowly circled each other, Abdel in the unfamiliar position of looking up into the eyes of his opponent. The sellsword hesitated, uncertain if a signal would be given to begin. An impatient roar of anticipation went up from the assembled host, and Yaga Shura lunged forward.
As Abdel had hoped, Yaga Shura's own bulk worked against him, slowing the giant down. He bull-rushed Abdel, his great axe held high above his head. Abdel waited until the last second then ducked to the side and rolled clear of the clumsy chop of his opponent. As he did so, he slashed his own blade across the rippling muscles of Yaga Shura's unprotected stomach, slicing him open.
Abdel spun around to deliver the coup de grace to his dying opponent's exposed back, only to find the giant had also spun around to face him. Already the gaping gash Abdel had inflicted had become nothing but a faint scar of blazing white against Yaga Shura's soot-colored skin. A second later that too was gone, leaving no evidence of Abdel's attack.
The shocking realization that Yaga Shura shared-maybe even surpassed-his own remarkable invulnerability to injury momentarily confused Abdel. He had expected to finish off a dying opponent writhing on the ground. He