"Maybe we should make a wager?" She smirked mischievously and I guessed what she would bet.
"Let's just concentrate on the match," I said.
"How do I know you will not hold back?" She smiled again.
"I won't hold back." I looked over to the river and saw the people there had stopped to observe us. The water was eight hundred yards away, out of earshot with the sound of the current and the breeze, but it was easy enough for their enhanced vision to see that Shlara sparred with someone. They had probably figured out who I was by now. It was rare that I made public appearances without my horrific suit of armor, so most didn't recognize me. I actually preferred it that way so I could walk amongst the troops without them treating me any differently.
"Then, you think you will lose?" Shlara grinned and picked up a sword.
"I don't lose." I smiled back at her and hoped that it shook her morale.
"So let's wager." She licked her lips again and placed a finger on her chin. "If you win, I'll agree to your strategy. I'll hold the west flank while Thayer drives the middle. Malek will side with me after I convince him, and we can focus on killing Elvens."
"And if you win?" I smiled. She knew exactly what I wanted. We had been going around in a circle arguing about this battle for almost a week solid. It was getting old, and having her agree with me would put the matter to rest.
"I get to have you early, as much as I want, every night. Starting tonight." She bit her bottom lip again before she tossed me the sword. I caught it and spun the handle in my palm to feel all the sides of it.
"You know I'm not very good with swords," I said.
"Sounds like an excuse to me." She kissed the air toward me. "Oh, great Kaiyer! Leader of the O'Baarni and Destroyer of the Elven race. Do you fear your best general's sword that much? Or do you just fear my bed?" She raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"I am stating that I am not that good with swords, perhaps you should use a mace?" I was trying hard to keep myself from laughing as we circled each other. We were on a steep slope, and whoever held the higher ground would have a clear advantage.
"The sword is dulled so I don't hurt you too badly. Pretend it is like a mace, or if you like, I can cut down a stick from the tree over there and you could wave it around like a club." She smiled again and got into her stance. Her posture was perfect, down to the smallest angle of her foot. It had to be; she led thousands of men and women into battle and trained the warriors who would train them.
"Deal?" She raised an eyebrow. Wispy strands of hair that had escaped her thick braid fluttered slightly in the wind.
"Deal," I said. Almost before the words were out of my mouth, she attacked.
I figured her first few attacks would hesitantly test my defense and attempt to find holes. I was either mistaken in my judgment, or she already knew the holes in my defense. Her attacks came in fast and low, forcing me to drop my center of gravity and block her horizontal swings. The parries put my sword dangerously close to the side of the hill, where it could get tangled in the grass or rutted in the soft dirt.
Her quick flurry of swings left her head open, so I popped a swift kick at her face after she finished her initial onslaught. I didn't think that I had telegraphed the movement, but she moved her head out of the way easily and attempted to catch my leg with her free hand. I collapsed my hamstring around her grip and flexed my hips and body forward. My kick turned into a knee that collided with the side of her cheek and sent her reeling back before she grasped my extended limb. As she pulled her head away, she made a quick cut with her sword and sliced the top of my thigh apart.
"I thought you said the blades were dulled?" My skin began to itch and close around the wound.
"I wouldn't shave my legs with them." She smiled and spit out blood.
"I think I just lost a few hairs there." I grinned.
"No Air." Her face went blank again and her eyes hardened.
"Making the rules up as you go along?" I said in mockery as I got into my stance and moved back a few steps. She circled toward the river, giving me the higher ground unexpectedly.
"No. You'd win if we brought Fire into this."
"You should have thought of that before we put the stakes so high." I felt the smile fade from my lips. I was quite skilled with the magic that could create Fire, but none of my generals were very aware of that information. Or so I believed. The first few years when I practiced with Entas, Thayer, and later Alexia, my skills had lagged behind my two friends. Now it was not the case, but I had spent countless hours alone, training the power until I was confident that I could rival Malek with my skill.
"Kaiyer!" She frowned as she pleaded.
"Fine. I hadn't considered using it anyway." I smiled down at her and made a quick series of cuts at her head.
I thought I was stronger than her. Each of my blows could cleave through a tree that stood as thick as a man. My first one angled down to cut her skull in half, but she brought her sword up in time and deflected it with a simple turn of her wrist. I changed the direction of the blade and slammed it back again, not really aiming for her head, but the handle of her sword. The shock smashed through my arm and she held her weapon. Her face was a blank mask of concentration. The swords we crafted were forged in fires so hot that only our magically enhanced bodies had the strength to pound the blades, temper the steel, and sharpen the metal. Shlara had claimed these were dull, and I believed her, but they still screeched like hateful eagles and created showers of blue sparks when they connected with our rapid parries.
She made three quick vertical cuts and then a long stab that left her exposed. I blocked each one carefully and let her thrust travel to the outside of my sword on my left side. I guessed that this was a feint and she was expecting me to take the easy bait, pull my weapon free of her attack, and slice into her open flank. Instead, I grabbed the inside of Shlara's right arm, pinned it to my blade, rolled my body underneath her reach, and then brought my sword through in a deep cut that should have disemboweled her. Before my blade's edge could find her belly, she sprung off the ground and laid her body flat. My sword ripped through empty air beneath her jumping form, and I used the momentum to carry me through my missed attack. I tried to clear her sword with my blade, but felt a long cut across my back.
"You'll have to do better than that, my love." She attacked low again in the same three swing combo. I blocked in a similar fashion, but avoided retaliating immediately. I was getting a feel for her rhythm and I wanted to be more methodical next time I pushed my offense. It had been many years since I sparred with someone of equal speed and strength as me. The Elvens could only hope to be a challenge with numbers, and while I had a close group of personal guards to train with, none of them were of Shlara's caliber.
We exchanged a few series of cuts to feel out each other's defenses. She seemed to favor the low attacks against me, but I didn't understand her strategy. Maybe I had done something those many years ago that convinced her that there was a hole in my defense there. Perhaps she was preparing me for a change in her tactics. The guessing kept me off balance and I didn't concentrate on my offense.
Shlara started on her series of low cuts again, but I knew that she was planning to change her last swing. I parried her first two strikes and then she suddenly changed her grip and came in high on her last attack. I was close enough so that it would have ripped open my chest if I hadn't expected the movement. I was able to duck under and make a quick cut at her arms while she was still on her backswing. She halted her twist and then pivoted around to block my strike. The instant her sword contacted mine her eyes opened with surprise. I had feinted the attack toward her arms, and instead slammed the palm of my hand into her beautiful face.
There was a horrendous crack as the bridge of her nose shattered and her head snapped up to look at the sky. The blow would have been avoided in a normal battle situation, where we all wore helmets, but the lack of protection gave me an edge that she probably wasn't used to defending. She was
still an amazing warrior and she backflipped down the slope and skidded to a halt about forty feet from me, dodging a dozen of my strikes that almost cut her in half. Her face was a mess of blood and broken cartilage, but it mostly affected her vision. I could tell her eyes were watering and she was trying to flush out the pain with her tears.
She would heal within the next minute, so I pressed my attack again. I took three steps down the slope and then launched into the air, traveling the short distance between us and thrusting my sword out to spear her stomach. She stepped to my flank and swung her weapon at my hips, a risky move that paid off when I couldn't twist my body out of the way. I felt her blade tear into the side of my abdomen. I flicked my blade up at the last second and cut into the shoulder of her right arm. But like my earlier wound to her hip, it wasn't enough to end the fight and would mend in a few dozen seconds.
I made a quick, vertical attack at her collarbone and she raised her sword to block. The sound of our blades smashing together was almost deafening, but I could hear her grunt from the force. I smiled and pushed down on the blade, then released the pressure suddenly, brought the weight to my side and tried to slice off part of her arm.
She was ready for the tactic and only lifted her weapon enough for the brief second of pressure. Her sword shifted around to block mine, and she kneed me quickly in the hip where I was still healing from the cut she gave me a second ago.
The pain should have been excruciating, but I'd dealt with plenty of torment in my life. I shrugged off the screams of my body and pushed her down against her stable leg when she launched the knee. She tumbled down to the rocks on the edge of the water and came up easily from a somersault.
We had some distance again and the ground was becoming more level and rocky as we got closer to the river. A small crowd had gathered around the shore to watch us spar. I couldn't get an exact count before Shlara kicked a rock up from the slope at me and then tried to take my arm off when I blocked the stone with my weapon.
I twisted to the side and narrowly avoided her blade across the arm, but in my haste to vacate the space, I made my lower left side open to attack. She whipped her weapon around and sank it deep into my thigh, meeting the hard bone beneath and almost cutting through that as well. I pulled my sword and knocked her blade free of my flesh. My leg fought to keep control of my stability, but I didn't utter a grunt of pain from the wound. Shlara moved back and began to circle me like a hunting wolf, a wide smile painted with bloody lips. She smelled victory.
"Concede?" she asked as she spit out blood.
I shook my head and smiled. The movement seemed to anger her because she came in recklessly with a cut aimed at the leg she had already maimed. I swept her blade past me with a back step that almost toppled me over onto the hill. Then I tried to counter with a thrust of my own, but she easily blocked it and moved out of the way.
"You lost, Kaiyer. You can't fight me with your leg like that."
I didn't respond and the smile faded from her face. She circled me again and I had to hobble to make sure I was facing her. My leg was healing as quick as it could, but it would still take a few more minutes. It was time I didn't have.
She swung horizontally again but it was a feint, at the last second she stopped her weapon before I blocked and then thrust toward me. I twisted my body, but the side of her blade still ripped through my shirt and across my chest. I had to knock the sword away with my free hand to clear it.
The stones around my feet were slippery and coated with my blood. Shlara's bleeding had stopped, but her nose was still shattered beyond recognition. She circled me again like a lioness playing with her prey.
"I can't believe it is taking you this long to finish me," I taunted with a smile. She frowned and made an attack toward my uninjured leg. She hinted at this swing so I saw it coming. I blocked it and spun around my edge to catch her arms. She hissed in annoyance as she came away with a small cut across both of her forearms.
"You're good, Kaiyer. I thought you would be slower." She smiled at me and I noticed the lust in her eyes. I had come to recognize that look after all the years we spent together.
"You might still win, as long as you don't lose hope," I said sarcastically. It got a laugh out of her.
She came in low with her usual three cuts. The movements had to be a set up for something. She couldn't possibly be using the same combination against me in this manner. She would know that I would eventually find a hole in the attack and win. I played the exchange safe, trying to move as little as possible so that my wound would heal quicker. At the end she retreated out of my reach before I counterattacked.
"I might have to cut the other leg out from under you. It will be fine though, I'll send some of my best lieutenants to carry you to my tent tonight." She smirked as she angled toward the uninjured side of my body. I grunted in annoyance.
"No witty reply?" she laughed as she made the same low cuts against me. She moved slower this time, lazily cutting her horizontal slashes so that I might easily block. "You must be getting tired. Just give up so you'll have energy for me tonight." Her eyes narrowed and she came in for another series of strikes aimed at my thighs.
I had an exceptionally high pain tolerance, but bending to combat her attacks was tearing up the wound in my leg and putting extreme pressure on my lower back. I didn't think I would be able to handle much more of it. But I hated to lose, especially if winning meant that I would get her compliance for the strategy I wanted us to execute in our final battle.
Losing meant she would finally have what she wanted from me. Though I would enjoy spending my nights with her, I had gone so long without risking a relationship, I was determined not to put our army in jeopardy a few weeks before we crushed the Elvens and finally liberated our race.
Maybe I was just being an asshole.
Shlara came in for her series of low attacks. Before she could make her first cut, I kicked a loose stone from the bank of the river into her face. She turned her head in time so that it bounced off her jaw, but it threw her momentum off enough for me to close in the gap. My leg screamed in agony as I put my weight on it with my sprint. Then the limb howled in frustration when I skidded to a halt and slammed the point of my blade through the bicep of her sword arm.
She tried to move away from my thrust, but she had been too busy trying to push her own attack and dodge the rock, so she misjudged my strength. Or perhaps she hadn't misjudged my strength, she just didn't think I would be willing to endure the pain.
She let out a gasp of shock as her arm turned useless and her sword dropped out of her hand. I thought I had gotten lucky and won our little match with a quick gamble on my leg. But I should have known better. Shlara was my best warrior, she was driven to win as much as I was. So when she used her left hand to trap my grip on the pommel of my weapon, swung her impaled arm out, and pushed my own blade into my stomach, I guessed that she might have wanted to win our wager a little more than I did.
I stumbled back as I felt the sharp metal spear through my abdomen, but she had latched onto my arm with hers. Then her left leg wrapped behind my hips and she tightened her body around mine like a snake. The effect caused me to collapse backward onto the smooth stones of the riverbank, driving the point farther into my stomach.
"I fucking win!" she screamed into my face as she pushed down on me. The movement slammed the blade deeper. The air from my lungs was being squeezed out by the pressure she was putting on my chest. My vision started to dim and black spots appeared in front of my eyes.
My left arm was still trapped against her hand, against my sword, impaling myself. My right was free though, and I reached out to my side, hoping to reach a river stone I might use to bash Shlara off of me. But there was nothing.
I tried to think of what I could do to win. It seemed hopeless, but there was always some way out of even the direst situations. My brain was losing oxygen and blood so fast that all I heard was the sound of my heart beating. Forcing the Earth through me. Forcing th
e Water through my blood.
Earth.
Water.
Shlara had not excluded those Elements from our match. We needed Earth to control our strength and healing. Water was almost never used since it was so similar to Air and could not be combined with Fire. But I knew how to use Water. I had done things even Entas had not believed.
Things he made me swear never to teach anyone else.
I grabbed onto Shlara's neck with my right hand and tried to focus. I yanked the power of the Earth from the ground into me in a swell of energy. Then I brought Water from Shlara's body, through her skin, and into me. She gasped in surprise as her muscles overheated instantly. I pulled the magic back into me and felt the addicting surge of power, life, and strength.
My left hand broke free of her grip and I held her leg against me with my arm. Once she was trapped, I rolled her over so that I was on top of her. Her eyes were wide with fear as she tried to struggle but suddenly had only the fortitude of a normal, mortal human. I ripped the sword out of her arm and laid the blade across her throat.
"I win. You'll talk to Malek and agree with my plan?" I smiled down at her.
"Yes." Her voice was a whisper and I saw the terror in her eyes. "What did you do? I . . . I can't move.” She coughed and blood erupted from her mouth in an ill-sounding gurgle.
Oh shit.
I put my ear down to her chest and listened. Her heart was beating too slow and the air sounded weak in her lungs.
"I need water, now!" I screamed at our observers. A few looked to each other in confusion, as if I had just woken them from a dream. A woman ran forward with a water skin.
I grabbed the bottle and popped open the cork. I poured the water into Shlara's mouth as her body started to seize like a fish out of the river.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Come back to me!" I said as I tried to hold her down against the ground. She was weak now, and I could keep her grounded easily. Entas had warned me against attempting to use Water.
The Destroyer Book 2 Page 35
