The Black Horseman
Page 37
Navarra smiled, it had worked better than he had hoped. He quickly moved forward on the attack, knowing he had to end this before the boy could recover. He had him though, he was sure. He rushed forward as the boy backpedaled, blinking furiously and wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands, which were now covered in ash and soot.
The boy spun helpless before him. He raised his kali in defense, but his eyes were still blinded and he was blinking, desperately trying to clear them.
“I’m Tar Navarra!” the Executioner yelled and raised his right hand. He dimly heard the Fultan girl scream just as he started the blow that would remove the young Prince’s head. He struck hard; he struck fast. The boy was directly before him, an easy target, but his kali moved only through air and empty space where the boy should have been.
Navarra looked down, thinking the boy must have ducked quickly to the ground, but he was not there.
“You are no one!” A voice said from behind him and Navarra whirled only to see a kali slice through his right wrist. Time slowed for the Executioner then, as he stood and watched his hand fly through the air and land in the grass just beyond the pit. Before Navarra could react another slash and his left kali flew off in the other direction. Navarra raised the stump of his right arm before his eyes, pain swallowing his senses then suddenly the boy was at his throat lifting him up and slamming him hard onto this back, knocking what little wind he had from his lungs.
“Now, you’re just food for my dogs,” Gwaynn whispered into his ear and slammed his right kali up through his sternum and into his heart. Navarra groaned and stared for a moment into the eyes of his enemy. He started to laugh, hiccupped once, blood in his mouth, before dying without another sound.
Gwaynn stood up, now weak and dizzy from his exertions. He stepped back staring at the man on the ground, when all at once the girl approached in a rush. Gwaynn stared at her, her face contorted with anger, pain and bloodlust. She raised her axe with both hands despite her obvious pain, and with three quick blows cut the head from the corpse lying on the ground. She glared down at the body in triumph, looked briefly, wildly, into Gwaynn’s eyes before dropping the axe and staggering away toward the woods. Gwaynn watched her go, staring at her back. From behind, her clothes were filthy, her hair was in tangled knots, her feet dirty and bare, her arms covered in scratches and oozing blood, but he thought…perhaps…she was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes upon.
The End