Chapter 15
The afternoon was dry but comfortably warm as Catty walked across the forest. It sounded more alive than usual with the different bugs buzzing nearby. She looked at the cleaned bandage wrapped around her hand, wondering if it was past time to get rid of it. Truth be told, her burn had healed a while ago, but she liked the fashionable look.
Her thoughts were cancelled when she heard Aly sigh right over her. She spun around and aimed, but Aly simply sat on branch, cross-legged.
“You interrupted my prayer and meditation,” the Sungstra said. “Could you not creep along more quietly?”
Catty chuckled and placed her hands on her hips. “Perhaps you should have taken your chance to strike while I was off guard. You are a silly one, Mastra. I fear it may cost you.”
“Nay. I told myself if I came across you, I would give you the decency of confronting you directly. I suppose I have become too sentimental for my own good.”
“I fear I suffer from the same notion, then. Truly, when Requai and Glani’s blast cleared, I had a clear shot at you. Yet I figured you, at the very least, deserved better, as well. Such travesties we be.”
The two laughed. Aly hopped down from her tree, bowed, and Catty did the same.
“Tell me,” Aly said. “Do you not know what this all means?”
“It means you shall silence yourself once I am to place your face into the gravel. Such is all I need.”
“As I thought. I cannot let you take this from me.”
“Then you shall have to try very hard in order to do so, Aly.”
The two froze when a twig above them snapped. “She be not your only concern, Catty.” Requai landed on Aly’s left and Catty’s right.
Aly wiped her nose. “Be damned, and I was to hope you and Glani would cancel each other out.”
Requai covered her mouth, acting offended. “This one has gained a sharper tongue over the years, Alytchai. Someone best put you in your place, for I do not fancy being taken lightly.”
“Neither do I.” Glani walked over to the group.
The mastras just looked at one another until Catty clapped her hands. “Ah, how poetic, yes? The final four are to have a standoff then.”
“Not for long,” Aly said as she unsheathed her sticks, twirling them between her fingers.
Requai sighed. “Whatever. I shall not lie. I never fancied the worth of being the final one standing. Yet, it would be nice to snatch the prize away from the likes of you overachievers.”
Catty got into a fighting form. “Then let me see what you lot be made of. On the count of three?”
“On the count of three,” the others agreed.
“Three!”
Aly saw every eye lock onto her in less than a second. Still, it felt like she had to wait forever as the three mastra’s markings glowed across their faces and aimed their hands at her head.
She heard the shots crackle when they erupted, ducking under the first, spinning around the second, and flipping over the last.
Glani be the nearest – try to finish – delay Catty – attempt to finish Requai. Her muscle memory’s plan zapped through her body before she could blink, and before Glani could prepare for a counter.
When Aly landed, she swept-kicked the mastra and front-kicked her into a tree before she could even hit the ground. She then rolled over to Catty and swung her left stick for her knee. And when Catty grabbed the weapon and ruined her entire forethought, everything in that instant went back to typical speed.
The other three knew the truth, even if she didn’t. Aly was the real threat, but that didn’t keep Catty or Requai from throwing punches, shots, or kicks at each other.
Glani got up slowly but hopped back into the fight, sooner than the others hoped or expected. The Goolians’ moves were synchronized with the one on the left, right, or front of them. No matter what they did, the attacks wouldn’t let up. When somebody landed a hit, another mastra saw the opening and countered on the other’s behalf, just so they’d have the right of getting credit for the “kill” instead. If one blocked, someone else threw a leg to get the hit in first.
Aly struck Requai in the jaw by swinging her right stick, while trying to roundhouse Catty. Catty swatted away the roundhouse, while she shot a quick beam at Glani’s chest. Glani twirled around the beam and fired at Requai, who she hoped was still recovering from Aly’s blow. Requai leaned to the left of Glani’s beam and fired her own beam at Aly. The strikes and counters looked relentless. It was pure art.
And even when somebody moved to the left, the other three seemed obligated to follow the path by their own movements. Aly shifted to the right and Catty went left. Requai hopped forward and Glani backflipped.
The only opportunity for a change came when Catty hopped right into the “kill zone” raised her arms to the sides. Glani and Requai were ready to counter, but they didn’t expect her to cross her arms and fire at their ankles. When both somersaulted back onto trees, Catty lunged at Aly, charged hand ready to strike. Aly jumped, wrapped her legs around the opponent’s extended arm and pulled it in. She struck Catty on the top of the head with an overhead swing, making her drop instantly.
That didn’t keep Catty from firing a warning shot, however, and Aly rolled back to get some distance. She took cover behind a tree, knowing the fight was now conditioned to the other three’s favor. Chunks of wood chipped away with every shot the other three fired before she swung off to another trunk.
Requai leaned off a branch and caught herself by wrapping her legs around it. Hanging upside down, she fired three shots, all of them missing the mastra flying up another tree by the aid of branches.
Catty, however, leapt and rammed her knees into Requai’s stomach, without warning. She then shoved her body off by planting her feet into the mastra’s chin as they both fell. Catty landed gracefully, while the other mastra slammed into the ground along with the debris from the tree. She strolled over to the mastra with one hand on her hip and another one aimed at her head.
“Oh, whatever it be,” Requai said, still lying on her back. She then pulled out her white ink and confirmed her defeat by slapping her arm. “Enough of this. I yield. Satisfied?”
Catty shrugged and hopped right back into the trees. She only made it to the second level when Glani crashed to the ground, hard; she was out cold.
Requai scrambled to her feet, ran over to the mastra, and knelt beside her. She slapped her in the cheek until she squirmed.
Aly hopped down and picked up the sparring stick she apparently struck Glani with. Catty also noticed the bloodied knuckles on the mastra’s left hand before wrapping them with a final roll of bandages.
“Is she well?” Aly asked.
Glani slapped Requai’s hand away, sitting up and rubbing the side of her head. “Truly, I believe that be quite enough for me.”
“Fine enough.” Requai patted Glani’s shoulder with the leftover ink on her arm. “Then I suppose it comes down to the two of you, yes?”
Aly didn’t move a muscle as Catty got down from the tree and walked up to her. She stepped back when she thought the mastra was getting too close, and swore for showing such vulnerability.
“Finally afraid, after all of your big talk,” Catty said as Aly eyed the ground. “You best be.”
Aly didn’t say anything, forcing her bright gray eyes up. She showed her respect to her opponent again, and Catty did the same.
“I make a proposal, Aly. Since there be two witnesses, why not make this a formal duel? If knocked down, we merely have ten seconds to arise.”
“Fair enough. What say you lot?”
“I can give the count, if need be,” Glani said, still rubbing her head.
Requai grinned. “Indeed, this sounds enticing enough.”
Aly took a step back. “Then, feel free to charge, Catty.”
The other mastra crossed her arms across her chest before shooting them out to her sides. The blast of being emitting from her fists kicked twigs away as the yellow glow reflected in
Aly’s eyes. Catty then dug her left heel back into the gravel as Aly placed her right leg back. She held her weapons in a reverse form as she hunkered down on her front leg, leaning forward slightly in preparation for a counter.
Aly’s hands trembled and clasped her weapons for dear life. No time for fear. Truly, I can do this. The thumping of her heartbeat sped up. She wetted her dry lips by rolling her tongue over them once. She relaxed her back leg, and held her breath. And then, Catty swung.
Evaluations of the Tribe - Prossia Book 0 : A Coming of Age Space Opera Page 32
