The Cathay-raht couldn't stay in the hall for long. If it wasn't the poison it was the magic and soon it retreated. Malakaus moved his way to the front and charged, trampling over the other bandits, who were either dead or dying. Malakaus chased after the Cathay-raht with his spear out and his shield up, ready for anything. Soon the narrow hall widen to a more open cave. It wasn't all that big with barrels and boxes crudely stacked together. There was one platform with a large metal chest and a table, and a lower level that had a single campfire fire surrounded with bedrolls. There was no other entrances or exits from where Malakaus could see, and the Cathay-raht had lead himself to a dead end. Either that or he was getting ready for a last stand.

Malakaus moved carefully. Although the Cathay-raht was large and in heavy armor, Malakaus knew that even the most bulkiest of creatures could be capable of surprise attacks, more so since no one would believe that they were capable of such things. Malakaus's caution paid off when, as he was moving to the lower area, he saw from the corner of his eye the glint of the Cathay-raht's tower shield. He had just enough time to turn his body and shield towards the Cathay-raht's sword swing. As though time slowed down Malkaus could see that he had very little options to actually block this attack. It was simply too heavy a swing for him to be able to keep his guard up and he'd rather not leave himself open. So he hopped back, avoiding the swing and putting distance between him and the big bandit.

With his ambush foiled the Cathay-raht had no more reason to hide and stepped out. His shield was in a sorry state and Malakaus was certain that a few blows from his axe would likely sunder it thanks to all the damage done to it. But before that would happen it was still a tower shield, and Malakaus only had a lance and his own targe. The Cathay-raht growled at him and Malakaus did the same. The two sized each other up, looking for weakness. The Cathay-raht was much larger than Malakus by at least a head and twice as wide. While his shield and armor shown damage, the Cathay-raht himself seemed unharmed. Sharee's poison might be affecting him, but Malakaus was uncertain if the bandit had managed to take an anti-toxin after he fled. The orc was still confident in the bandit leader's defeat if only because Malakaus was not fighting alone, but for now the orc had to worry about if he could weaken the bandit long enough for his allies to come, or if he'll get killed in the process.

The bandit Cathay-raht was not so arrogant to think that his size would give him an advantage over Malakaus. His ability to sense and dodge his ambush told the Cathay-raht that Malakaus was a perspective opponent and would not be defeated with simple tricks. His armor was also unlike anything he's ever seen, but if it was an orcish make, the Cathay-raht knew that the armor itself was going to be as stubborn and thick as the orc it was worn by. He too was aware that it was only a matter of time before he would be trapped by the orc's allies and that he needed to make his escape. And lastly, there was the orc's weapon of choice, the lance from one of his fellow bandits. A simple iron spike on a stick, but it had a much better reach than the Cathay-raht's own sword. He wasn't too worried about the spear itself so much as for what the orc planned to do with it. Did he want to try to impale it through the tower shield, making the damaged board even more useless than before, or perhaps would the orc play it safe and simply hide behind his own shield, poking at the Cathay-raht's defenses until his allies could come? The big bandit could see the axe and short blade on Malakaus and knew that even if he destroyed the lance, the orc was far from defenseless. 

For what seemed like hours the two stared of at each other trying to see holes into each others defenses. But the Cathay-raht knew that time was not on his side, and that if he was to fight, he would strike first. He lunged out and swung his blade at Malakaus. The orc anticipated this and tried to stab the Cathay-raht's shield, noting what would be the weakest spot on the shield and attempt to break through it. But the Cathay-raht did not attack Malakaus, but the lance. The bandit slammed the edge of his greatsword into Malakaus's lance, splitting the wood into twain before the lance could even make contact with the tower shield. The explosion of splinters surprised Malakaus and put him on the defensive but the Cathay-raht was relentless. Without the threat of the lance the Cathay-raht attacked Malakaus with his own shield charge. Malakaus was steadfast but even he could not stop the bandit's charge. He was lifted off his feet and pushed into the wall. He was being crushed, however his armor did well to protect him from the worse of it. Better still, the Cathay-raht was within Touch distance now.

Dropping the useless spear shaft as Malakaus was being crushed between the bandit's tower shield and the cave wall, he reached into his satchel bag and took out one of his spell Scrolls: [url=http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Scrolls#Disintegrate]Disintegrate Armor.[/url] And on the heavily damaged Tower Shield the thing turned to rust and crumpled into dust. Malakaus than rolled off the wall before the Cathay-raht could realize what happened. Malakaus put space between him and the Cathay-raht and took out his crossbow. He only manage to pull off one shot at the bandit before he turned to face him. The bolt managed to break through the badnit's chain mail and dug into his flesh, but it didn't seem to do anything but annoy the Cathay-raht. He lunged again, thrusting his sword at Malakaus. But instead of trying to dodge he actually tried to block the blow. Or better said, intercept it. The Cathay-raht's greatsword broke through Malakaus' targe and would have stabbed Malakaus through the head if he had not planned for this.

Twisting the shield on his arm Malakaus shifted his foot position so that his shield was locked onto the Cathay-raht's balde. Despite how much he pulled and pushed, the blade would not be released. Malakaus had captured the blade and now aimed to take it away. With a quick and brutal flourish Malakaus disarmed the Cathay-raht, sending both his shield and the bandit's sword off to the other side of the room. With his shield free-hand Malakaus than punched bandit in the groin and knocked him to the ground .He readied his crossbow at the bandit, as well as holding a scroll of [url=http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Scrolls#Paralyze]Paralysis[/url] in his hand.

Once again Malakaus and the bandit looked at each other. This time however the Cathay-raht had no shield nor sword, while Malakaus still had his axe, wakizashi, Crossbow, and an unknown assortment of spell scrolls. Not only that but by now the others have entered the cave and would be ready to eliminate the bandit leader. He was defeated. And Malakaus spoke to him. [b]"You fought well. Certainly stronger than the rabble you had before. It would be my honor to slay you now, but a shame to lose a fighter such as yourself. So I shall give you a choice. We can kill you, or you can join us. What say you?"[/b] Malakaus still had his weapons trained on the Cathay-raht but his offer still stood. Neither one of them had been too hurt by their skirmish but the situation did not favor the bandit.