Time To Fight

Chapter 9

Squeezing the hilts of my swords, I wait for her mark.

Garner stood in front of me with both hands crisscrossed in front of him. The white tape around his left leg could be seen as he crouched, favoring his right.

“You sure about this Kyra?” Ariel called out from her normal chair. From the corner of my eye, I could see Jaden standing behind Ariel’s chair, waiting to see how badly I would fail.

“Don’t worry Ariel. I got this. Call it Leira,” I replied, sliding my foot back, mirroring Garner’s stance.

Leira leaned against the side of the entrance. She bring up her hand, palm open and let it hang there. As I wait for her call, I cock my head to the side and watch Garner holding his stance without even the slightest shake of his legs.

He’s a Firelin like me, which means his moves aren’t so different from mine, but we’ve seen each other fight. Unless… unless he’s been holding back? Unless all him, Shinju, Pane and Mintos have all been holding back? By Nature, I hoped not.

“Go,” she cried and then Garner charged towards me.

Before I could even shift backward to avoid his charge, his hand aimed for my gut. I force my forearm down to push his arm away, giving me a chance to hit back with my other sword. My other sword gathers my energy, summoning whirling fire around the sword’s blade. I slide the foot in front of me the side and force my fire filled sword slicing towards his side, his other hand, surround by fire as well, meets my blade, leaving us in a deadlock – for a moment.

He swings his foot, aiming to kick me in the gut, but I push back. We both stare each other down as we get ourselves back into our original fighting stances. Both our breaths are heavy and I could see a small drop of sweat going down the side of his face.

“Enough,” cried Leira.

Garner leaned his already bent foot forward, making him kneel before me. “As you wish, Miss Leira. Great effort, Kyra.” He stood up and walked to the other guards, taking a spot next to Pane.

My mouth drops. That’s it? What kind of test is giving me?!

“Pane,” she started, glancing at me for a moment before shifting to the she chose to command. “Don’t get too close. Understood?”

He gave her a curt nod and then made his way onto the center of the floor. A few rolls of his shoulders and crack or two of his neck happen before he gives me a warm smile. “Best of luck to you.”

While I take my stance, he continues to stand there, arms by his side, each hand taking turns to flex. She has some sort of plan. I know it. More than that, I feel it. I could sense my fingers prickling to be let free a few flames. This wasn’t the normal drive I’d get from a fight though. This was more defensive, full of tension. I try to brush off the feelings and let my swords be enveloped in flames. Whatever was planned, I could be sure it wouldn’t be a breeze to fight.

“And commence.”

Pane continued to stand in his place, so I rushed forward, swords at my sides in hopes of reaching a higher speed. Then he summoned large, sharp, dart-shaped rocks and shoved both palms out in my direction. I managed to duck. I could feel the darts flying through my hair as it followed me to the ground. Slicing both swords in an ‘x’, hoping a part of my fire slices would meet with his legs, but of course, he jumped and began to send a barrage of rock darts my way once more. I rolled to the left and used the momentum to stand back up and charge; moving left, right, ducking with a side-step, and jumping to keep from being pushed down. Each time I’d think I could get close enough for a close range attack; he’d side-step further away. I could feel when stray darts would nick my legs arms, two or three nicking the sides of my torso as I tried to retaliate with a few fire darts of my own.