The Wanderer

Chapter 17--Part 2

Kalysta adjusted her grip on the cast-iron skillet she held while eyeing Tyrus warily.  He growled angrily and rubbed his forehead where she’d kicked him.  He hefted his muscular frame from the ground and charged towards her, fumbling to grab his sword from its sheath.  He wouldn’t underestimate her again.  She’d have to use her wits as well as her frying pan if she had any hope of winning this fight.

            Unable to free his sword, Tyrus gave up and lunged towards Kalysta, armes outstretched and ready to choke her.  Kalysta stood still not moving.  At the last second, she sidestepped, dodging his grasp.  He stumbled forward, just barely catching himself before falling on his face.

            Huffing angrily, he whirled around again to face her.  This time he approached her more cautiously.  She eyed him with a look of amusement, one eyebrow raised, irritating him to no end.  Losing his temper, he swung his fist at her face, hoping to wipe that idiotic half-grin off her pretty face.

            She flung the pan up in front of her, moving her head sideways simultaneously.  His fist collided with the solid iron skillet.  High-pitched shrieks of agony rang out through the clearing.  Not pausing to let him recover from the mind-blowing pain, she kicked him hard in the shin.  He spun around, hopping on one leg, alternating between clutching his leg and cradling his hand.  During all of his bouncing around, his eyes fell on Emery who still sat on his log.

            “Emery, you idiot!” he hollered, anger and pain making his voice hard.  “Get off your blasted butt and help me, you fool.  Don’t expect us to do all the work while you sit whittling away.”

            “Who are you calling an idiot, you puffed-up numbskull?  You’re the idiot if you think I’d sit here and miss out on a fight if I could help it.”  He attempted to get up, but was unable to rise, his trousers staying stuck to the log.  “As you can see, I’m stuck to this worthless piece of timber.  I can only assume one of these cursed she-demons you invited into camp did this.”

"Actually, a friend of mine did that," Kalysta remarked.  "Your boss provided an excellent distraction by threatening me.  I really must remember to thank him."  At that, Emery snarled like some crazed beast and thrashed about wildly, trying to free himself.

            The sound of soft giggles filled the clearing, quickly turning into full-bodied laughter.  The sound only seemed to further enrage Emery who continued to growl and flail about in a flurry of long-hair.  When he attempted to hop with the log stuck to his bottom, Kalysta lost it.  She clutched her abdomen as she guffawed uncontrollably, complete with a few snorts.

            Tyrus used the distraction to wrench his sword free and charge towards her.  The laughter died in her throat as she caught his movement in the corner of her eye.  Instinctively, she lifted the pan up.  The screeching sound of metal sliding down the skillet split through the air.  The sword slid down the length of the pan and sliced a thin cut down Kalysta’s fingers.  The pain startled her into dropping the pan and she had to duck quickly to avoid being decapitated by Tyrus’ gleaming blade.

            Putting distance between her and the big bandit, Kalysta’s mind scrambled to find some other weapon or plan before he caught up with her and finished her off.  She dodged blows, narrowly missing being hit, and hid behind trees, putting anything and everything between herself and the sword.  With one vicious swing, Tyrus’ sword got stuck in a small sapling.  She quickly ran around and kicked him in the back of the knees.  As he fell forward and then struggled to get up, she ran to where she had dropped the skillet.

As she bent down to retrieve her weapon, she felt something rush by her head and froze where she stood.  Glancing up, she saw a knife embedded in a nearby tree.  She looked back behind her and saw Emery struggling to retrieve another throwing knife from his pants pockets.

“Great, now I have to watch out for both of them,” she mumbled to herself, before righting herself.

Having finally retrieved his sword from the tree, Tyrus again rushed towards her.  Kalysta carefully ran backwards, putting more distance between them and Emery, hoping to even out the odds a bit.  When he finally caught up with her, Tyrus swung his blade toward her.  Ready for him this time, she swung her pan to meet his sword.  With an upward thrust, she flung his sword away from her and twirled around him, avoiding a knife Emery threw her way.

While her opponent looked around confused at where his prey had gone, Kalysta couldn’t resist the urge and smacked him on the rump with the skillet before darting away.  He spun around angrily, rubbing his rear with one hand, while slashing at her.  She dodge more of his blows, dealing a few of her own, as well as a couple of well-placed kicks, while maneuvering around the flying blades that Emery sent her way.  One stray dagger landed in Tyrus’ thigh, much to his chagrin, at which point he gruffly demanded that Emery stop helping.

Kalysta could see that her opponent was tiring and bided her time dodging his blows and making him chase her around the clearing to fight.  She caught site of something on the very edge of the trees that made her smile.  Maneuvering the fight over there, she ducked and darted around the swings Tyrus threw at her.  When everything was readied to perfection, she made her move.  Using her speed and agility, she began her own assault, flinging her skillet like a deadly weapon.  She smacked his fingers causing him to drop his sword, and then continued to pelt him with blows to his arms and abdomen.

He backed up trying to avoid being hit until he suddenly felt something right behind his knees.  The pelting continued and he started to lose his balance as he fell backwards over the thing behind him.  Kalysta smirked in satisfaction before walloping him upside the head with her skillet and knocking him out.

She reached down to ruffle Darryn’s brown hair where he knelt on all fours in the dirt.  Giving him a hand up, she complimented, “Nice job, Darryn.  Did you bring any rope so we can tie him up?”

“Yep.  Hold on a sec and I’ll grab it.”  He ran off into the trees, disappearing from sight before returning a few minutes later with a thick rope in his hand.  After checking to make sure Emery wasn’t going to pelt them with more knives, the two set to work tying the big man up.

Finished, Kalysta smiled contentedly.  “Darryn, I’d say we work pretty well together.  I don’t think I’ve pulled that trick since I used to fight with my older brother years ago.  It brings back memories.”

Darryn’s mouth hung wide open.  “You mean you used to hit your brother with a frying pan?”

She laughed, pulling the young boy into a side hug.  “No, not the frying pan part.  I meant my sister and I used to take turns distracting him while the other got on all fours behind him and then we’d push him over so he’d fall.  It was pretty much the only time we ever got the best of him.”

“You might’ve won more if you’d used the frying pan,” Darryn laughed.