Page 99 of Fate and Flame
“I knew it.” I strapped the daggers back to my chest and pulled my own sword. “It has taken control of his mind. He’s the only one without magic.”
“Occupy Kai while I take on the vysa,” Fen barked, moving away.
“Two for Kai, one for the creature?” I protested.
“Keep him alive.” He stared up at the vysa standing eerily still, observing the chaos unfolding before him with those ebony stones for eyes.
Gaea spirited away as Kai got closer and pivoted to make me his new target. I thought his mind was blank and he wasn’t really in there, but a flicker of emotion showed me he was. The vysa had convinced him we were the foes. I had trained with Kai enough to know how he moved. I knew he favored his right side because of a pain he sometimes got in his left knee. I knew he would block a second late when he should have countered. I could do this.
But could Fen defeat a vysa on his own?
“Go help Fen,” I told Gaea as she landed beside me. “I can take care of Kai.”
She huffed and spirited away.
I raised my sword in time to block Kai. He swung to punch my ribs, but I was faster. I moved to the side and then advanced on him, watching for Fen out of my peripheral vision. But Kai was strong, and if I let myself become too distracted, he would take the opportunity. I swung, blocked, and countered. The familiar vibrations of our swords crashing into one another jolted through my body, the sound of a deadly sword fight reminding me of my father. I felt him speaking over my shoulder, whispering to me.
“Tighten your core,” he would say. “Shoulders back.”
I moved. I spun. I kicked.
“Chin up, Ara.” He was there. I could feel him.
I blocked.
“Balance your weight.”
Jab. Slash. Pivot. Shuffle.
“Faster.”
Tears stung my eyes as the phantom of my father’s memory overwhelmed my senses. Why was this happening? Was it the proximity of home?
Kai swung through my blurry vision and struck my thigh. The burn of his blade pulled me from the distraction of my recollections.
Gaea spirited beside me.“My turn.” She pushed me toward Fen.
I stumbled, turning to see the creature watching me instead of Fen and Kai. Had he known? Had he felt my misery? Something was off.
Fen tore through his own magic.
The vysa’s shield was nearly gone, so he shifted forward. He was no longer going to sit back and watch this battle and that was when he became very, very dangerous. We moved quickly, deeper within the forest, beyond the familiar parts I knew and closer to the river I had used to outsmart a knovern.
Gaea spirited back and forth, keeping Kai occupied as we went.
Where are we going?I asked Fen as he struck the shield with magic.
Only deeper into the forest. Away from the edge.
I knew what that meant. He was worried I’d eviscerate the world. If not the world, then a good radius.
Just in case,he assured me. His hands were steady, but the bond never lied.
We stopped moving. The crack in the vysa’s shield slid down the side like a raindrop and then the entire thing shattered into a million pieces of ancient magic.
“You’re up.” Gaea’s shoulders drooped from the battle with Kai.
But Kai didn’t come for me; he didn’t focus on Gaea either. Kai and the beast were both headed toward Fen.
