Sentinel

Chapter 43 - By shadow consume

“A Sentinel who can barely control her own element?” He smirked, pushing down against her blade. “There is nothing to be afraid of.”

Her arm shook under the pressure but she refused to give in. “I bested your Hunter and made it to Alguarde, didn’t I?”

He laughed at that. It was a cruel, harsh sound that made her shiver.

“You made it to Alguarde because I needed you to be somewhat competent with your magic before I had a use for you.” He increased the weight he was putting behind the blade, leaning towards her. “With Jesse working as my eye, you were never far from my reach. One order from me was all it took for him to catalyse the shadows lurking on your skin.”

Skye tried to jerk the blade away a second time. She didn’t want to hear this. Something akin to betrayal lurked within her at the mention of Jesse invoking the nightmarish visions she’d suffered through. The shadows, the darkness reaching fo-- She clenched the hilt harder.

Not his fault.

 “I made sure you wouldn’t become too comfortable in Alguarde, having Jesse alter the ward and place the suspicion on you,” said the Master. “And when it was time, I had him show you what would happen in Naisha. It took him a while to accept the inevitable but like everything else, he gave in.”

Figures, the same ones as she’d seen while sparring with Alicia appeared around her as nothing more than shapeless dribbles of shadow, but she knew what they were. Dying elves that clutched their wounds; reaching for her with clawed hands and begging for mercy as they dragged themselves to her feet.

She pulled again. The blade held fast.

She almost let it go.

“And you came running, leaving the safety of Alguarde’s wards as I knew you would. Jesse poisoned the Queen to ensure the Silverborn, more specifically Tayne, would be ordered to follow you--“

It wasn’t Jesse’s fault. It was hers.

Anger tightened her grip. “That’s enough.”

Magic rushed up her arm and fed the blade. The flower on the pommel bloomed while green light ripped at the spell fusing the blades together. The Master stepped away, holding his arm out and watching it with an amused expression.

They broke apart. Skye jerked her sword away and evaded the blade crashing down on top of her. She vaguely recalled her plan, knowing she’d have to act before he simply spelled her useless.

Dancing out of the way, Skye took another glance at Jesse.

Shadows concealed most of him from view. With every pulse like a heartbeat, they swirled faster and grew. Another beat, and she couldn’t see him anymore. She had to end this now or risk losing Jesse to the corruption entirely.

Skye risked it. She lowered her blades the slightest amount, offering the Master a subtle opening.

As she’d guessed, the Master tried an overhead swing. Skye deflected his blade, pushing its point to the ground and lashed out with her foot, catching him behind the knee. He stumbled and though he recovered quickly to sidestep her next cut, he was on the defensive. She followed up with her dagger, slashing at his arm while her sword flew at his now open side.

His only option was to leap backwards to avoid the blades. She gave him no chance to recover, no chance to gather his thoughts, unleashing a rapid series of attacks that had him struggling to block.

The Master seemed to realise what she was doing. He switched his sword into his left hand and his right began to gather sparks of magic. Alarmed, Skye struck out with her dagger and caught him on the wrist, leaving a thin red line traced on his skin.