A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

As soon as Zahra suggested calling the bet off, Astrid rolled her shoulder and grinned. Power was thrumming through her as orange runes flashed on her body. "That's a shame, but probably the smart idea," she chuckled mockingly. "There's no way just one of you can beat me."

"You—!" Zohran growled, turning from his allies to narrow his eyes at her. A wild look appeared in his eyes as he glowered at her. Erik smirked at the struggle he saw in the werejackal's eyes, clearly depicting Zohran's desire to charge Astrid and show her how wrong she was.

"Don't let yourself get goaded," Nasir chastised coldly, his voice cutting through Zohran's fury. "Zahra is not wrong. No one doubts your strength, but this woman's power is obvious as well. There's a chance you'll lose, and we can't risk too much on that."

Astrid smirked mockingly at Zohran. "That's right. Your master is calling you back. You'd better listen. You're just a fake werewolf, anyway, so I'm not really that interested in fighting you."

Zohran, who was just calming down a little, roared and stepped closer, his transformed claws tightly gripping the sabres in his hands. "Do not call me that!" he bellowed, his shoulders heaving.

"Oooh, struck a nerve?" Astrid giggled playfully, her eyes shining with glee. She extended a sword-filled hand and beckoned him. "Come and do something about it, doggy." Although she wasn't too knowledgeable about werejackals, she knew they were generally seen as the werewolves of Africa, and she expected this to be a sore point.

Zohran roared again and took another step forward. Concerned, Nasir and Zahra were about to stop him, but then he snapped out of it. Snarling, he averted his eyes back to the triangle table and began to lean on it, heaving loudly as he controlled his rage. Meanwhile, his allies breathed sighs of relief.

Meanwhile, Erik looked at Astrid with amusement and love. He'd not seen much of her talent for taunting before, but he loved it.

After a few moments of silence, Zohran got himself back under control. Still leaning on the table, he glanced at Erik with narrowed eyes. "You let her call our kind such derogatory words?"

Erik smiled and cocked his head. "First of all, I don't 'let' her do anything. She's my wife, not a servant."

Astrid smirked at that. She knew perfectly well how much he enjoyed his wives serving him in bed, but she was also gladdened by his reminder that he kept their public and private bedroom lives separate.

"Second of all," she grinned mockingly, continuing where Erik left off, "I know the difference between an alpha wolf amongst alpha wolves… and a little doggy…"

Zohran snarled but didn't let himself get goaded again. With a twitching snout, he looked away again. Meanwhile, Zahra and Nasir looked cautiously impressed by the relationship dynamic between Erik and Astrid. It seemed they both appreciated his view of marriage, where Zohran was perhaps a little more traditional.

Seeing the werejackal still needed a moment to calm down again, Nasir instead addressed Erik. "You'll let us call the bet off?"

Whatever else, he didn't want to get into a fight with Erik and Astrid right now. They had some home team advantages if they fought in this palace, but he knew their chances were still bleak without Zahra to back them up. Their previous battle against Erik, as well as Astrid's display of power against Zohran's clone just now, convinced him of that.

The feeling of Astrid's affinity still haunted him.

Erik shrugged nonchalantly at his question. "Sure. It was just meant as a way for my beloved to let off some steam." A confident smirk spread across his lips. "Your lands' eventual subjugation under my rule is inevitable, bet or not."

All three warlords immediately glowered at him for his arrogance, but Erik was unaffected, smiling all the way through.

Eventually, Nasir turned to Zahra with cold, crimson eyes, face still hidden behind his golden mask. "Then I agree… We should call it off."

Zohran growled unwillingly, but said nothing. Despite his temper, he was aware enough to realise he wasn't thinking clearly right now.

Zahra remained silent. Standing beneath the throne, in front of the table with her arms crossed, she stared at Erik thoughtfully. After a moment, she raised her voice. "If it's just to let off steam as you say… then how about we increase the challenge a little to offset the inequality of our demands?"

Erik cocked an eyebrow curiously. "What are you thinking?" he asked, as Astrid listened with interest.

Frowning, Zahra uncrossed one of her hands and raised it in a gesture of curiosity. "What if Astrid fights both Zohran and Nasir? If she wins, we surrender and accept your rule. If they win, you remove the sigil from my back. The demands aren't equal, but neither is the battle."

It was obvious that Zahra was confident in the battle's result, or at least knew that if Astrid could actually beat the both of them, there truly was no hope for Maghreb to remain independent from the Silfrmáni Empire.

The reactions to her suggestion were varied, but everyone looked somewhat interested.

Erik had confidence in Astrid. In his mind, it wasn't impossible for her to walk away with the big prize, but even if she lost, it wouldn't matter much to him. Besides, the excited look on Astrid's face told him all he needed to know about her opinion on this. She'd love a big battle with low odds.

Nasir and Zohran also looked cautiously optimistic about her plan, although the former appeared very anxious over Astrid's affinity. They nodded in assent of Zahra's plan and turned to Erik for his answer.

Erik exchanged a glance with Astrid and then turned back to Zahra. "Deal," he shrugged, hands still resting nonchalantly in the pockets of his harem pants. "But we do have one condition…"

***

After the details were agreed upon, the trio started leading Erik and Astrid to another area. Erik followed, hands clasped behind his back as he looked around. He'd always been a more austere person, but there was something appealing about the grandiosity of this palace.

Beside him, Astrid was focusing her gaze on her soon-to-be opponents in front of them, already calculating strategies—battle being the only thing Astrid spent a lot of time thinking about.

Eventually, they walked out of what looked like a back entrance, into a kind of backyard area, and Erik got his first view of the surroundings. They stood at the top of some stairs leading down to large, walled area, but right now he could still see across the wall.

It looked like they were in the middle of a city much like Enkare Nkai, but smaller, and made of mostly yellow sandstone. People filled the streets down below, and desert stretched around them, but he could also see a vast body of water in the distance. He figured it had to be the Alboran Sea, separating Africa from Europe.

After he got an eyeful, they descended the steps to enter what looked like a private battle arena.

It didn't seem like they were confident enough in their victory to do this publicly…