The woman smiled. She almost seemed friendly; she was the only one in this forsaken place to understand it. Pain shot through Kura’s arm and she cried out, grasping her saja wound. Her own pulse beat beneath her hand.
“The more you resist, the more it will hurt.”
Kura locked eyes with the woman, her voice a whispered breath. “What?”
The woman’s blood-red lips twisted into a wide grin. “Have they really taught you nothing? There was a time when men quaked in fear at the sight of me.”
Kura grit her teeth against the pain. “Am I dead?”
“Oh no, pet, you are very much alive.” The woman lifted a slender hand, and the campfire fell to mere coals; the searing heat leapt into Kura’s veins. She screamed.
“Give me the sword, girl.” The woman seemed so calm, but her simple command carried the force of a storm.
Kura shook her head, limbs trembling.
“The sword!” the woman repeated, flinging up her hand.
Fire surged through Kura’s veins, fracturing her natural wall of stubbornness, and she clamped down on another scream. What did she care about the sword?
The pain vanished. Kura fell onto her hands and knees in the dirt, coughing as she drew in ragged breaths. A bird called overhead.
Just a bird? Of all things? She almost laughed.
The fog swirling among the spires receded to reveal a scraggly dead tree a short distance away, with a bird perched on the top branch. It was the size and color of a raven, except for the spots of white—like stars in a dark sky—scattered across its chest. The bird gave another call, the sound a harsh chatter, and flapped its wings to reveal the golden feathers on its underside. It was a flicker.
The woman hissed. “Out of so many, you come for her?”
Kura struggled to her knees, but her limbs didn’t support her own weight. The woman turned back to her, brushing aside her displeasure with a grin. “Go on. Fight.”
Kura tried to stand, but her feet slid on the dry dirt.
“Fight with all the strength you have.”
Kura fell back, chest heaving for air. The woman held a staff, a long wooden pole that held a single-edged blade—one straight and the other curved—at each end.
“That way my victory will be all the more sweet.”
With a shout, Kura ripped her sword from its scabbard and met the woman’s advance. That rusted blade clashed with the sharpened staff, the impact reverberating through the stone spires as a flash of white sparks lit up the darkness. For just that moment the woman’s face was illuminated, and for just that moment her smile faltered.
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sounds so good.
ReplyDeleteSounds amazing! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy fantasy reads.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an exciting book.
ReplyDelete