Page 37 of Synnr's Ride

Jori bit back a curse.

Fally's wings were bright white with flecks of blue lightning. And they were twice the size of anyone else's.

He had a Match.

A Matched Synnr team was worth a dozen unmatched soldiers. Jori didn't know if it was the same for Matched civilians, but he feared he was about to find out. Though, since everyone else around him had normal sized wings, Fally's Match wasn't in the bar.

If Kark didn't know about the Match, he didn't let it show. He lashed out at Fally, their sparks dancing in the air between them.

And then it was chaos.

The patrons leapt from their chairs in a formation that would have impressed Major Ozar. Two came for him, while the others attacked Jursor and Mardoz. No one got in between Fally and Kark.

The first patron, a man with red wings tipped in yellow, managed to swipe at Jori and slice his arm with one of the broken glass shards.

Jori paid that back with a whip of his own spark that made the man scream and collapse.

The other kept his wings ready, the pose indicating he had at least a little self defense training.

But he was no match for a trained Synnr soldier.

The pain of the wound on his arm disappeared as he fell into the fight, parrying each burst of spark with a lash of his own.

An errant spark from another attacker sent him staggering, and Jori spun to face the second opponent, all while keeping his spark flying at the first guy. But there was no one there.

This wasn't a battle, it was a brawl. And Jori had to stop playing nice.

He swiped an empty beer glass from the closest table and chucked it at his opponent, who wasn't expecting anything but more of Jori's spark. That distraction was enough to make the man drop his guard.

And then he dropped to the ground, a wound on his hip still sizzling.

Jursor and Mardoz had taken care of most of the others, while Rexx kicked a man who was already in a pile on the floor by the door.

Fally had Kark cornered. Kark's wings completely circled him, guarding his body from any blast, but making it impossible to send out a blast of his own. His spark was starting to flicker, the beats of it growing longer after each of Fally's attacks.

Kark couldn't hold on for much longer. And once his spark failed, a single blow from Fally would kill him.

And Jori could let it happen.

One lucky strike from Fally, and the problem of Morn Kark would disappear. Men like Kark died in places like this all the time. Kill the leader and his minions would scatter.

Making the job ten times harder.

Kark was a means to an end, and Jori had to see it through.

Fally was so focused on Kark, or so sure that no one would intervene, that he paid no attention to the rest of the fight. Jori took an open shot at his back, and Fally screamed in rage and turned the full force of his Matched fury focused directly on Jori.

Jori pulled his wings in close and hoped he wasn't about to die for a man he'd rather spit on than save.

* * *

"I'm going to do some inventory." Hanna held up an empty bottle and waved it at Zilly. "It looked like we were running low."

"Yeah, no problem." Zilly didn't look up from the drink she was pouring. "We're not too busy right now. I can handle it."

Hanna didn't need more permission. With Kark and his men gone, the bar was nearly empty, and none of the gang was there to catch her. Jori wouldn't like it, but since Jori was off riding with them, he didn't get a say.

She couldn't think about what they might be doing. She would know if they suspected him of something, if this was some ruse to go and jump him. Hanna kept telling herself that. If they suspected Jori, they'd suspect her. And no one would be letting her walk around unsupervised if they suspected her of something.

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