Warrior Bride

A C H A L L E N G E R

Just like me.

Martin smiled confidently and spun his club around in casual circles. He was in for a shock if he thought my staff would break at first contact with his heftier weapon.

A bell rung out, silencing the onlookers momentarily as they held their breath waiting to see who would make the first move. I knew better than to be that person.

Martin and I circled each other slowly, weapons poised.

I watched his eyes. The eyes were what held the first sign of any kind of plan. Keeping each of his other movements recorded with my peripheral vision, I focused on his eyes.

He looked down my legs and watched my foot placement, then noted my arms and my torso on his way up, judging what his first move should be. I let my foot slide in the dust two inches and faked a wobble to my left. His eyes gleamed and he attacked my right side.

I rolled forward with my staff outstretched and tripped him with it before leaping back up to my feet on the other side of him.

"Oof!" he grunted before his face crunched into the dirt.

The audience laughed and Martin spat the dirt out of his mouth, fuming. In the crowd, bets began to be placed in my favor. Breads on the table tonight if I can finish this guy off spectacularly.

"Oh I am so sorry!" I exclaimed like a valley girl, approaching him with my staff lowered, outstretching my hand to touch his shoulder gently, "Are you alright?"

Growling, he swung his body at me. He pulled me to the ground with his momentum. He tried to flip on top of me while still holding my arm. I pushed, aided by his momentum and flipped him to the other side of me, freeing my arm.

I jumped to my feet as the audience laughed harder and money began changing hands.

"Down dog!" I said sternly, keeping him confused with the many personalities I was portraying, and keeping the audience in love.

He roared angrily, letting his weapon stay in the dirt as he charged me like a bull. He head-butted my gut before I could dodge him and we both went sprawling in different directions.

"Okay, no more Goody Two-Shoes." I announced, rolling on top of Martin before he could recover.

I punched his nose squarely and then sent a roundhouse to his jaw. I pummeled either cheek and then rolled off of him to grab my staff. He grabbed his club and swung it down directly at me.

I jumped forward to dodge the club and pushed his chest, knocking him off balance.

I swung my staff, driving him back even as he stumbled.

"Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!" the crowd began to chant.

"Finish him!" one woman cried, and I smiled.

Martin gathered his strength to swing his club in a roundhouse arc at my feet. I jumped over it and raised my staff high above my head. One downward sweep and he was a dead man with a staff down his throat.

But I adjusted my aim two inches and brought down my blade into the ground between his feet, the other blade coming to a stop right in front of his face.

"That's a match!" the referee excitedly announced the end of our fight, "Our winner is Brietta Wolfslayer!"

The crowd cheered but Martin protested, "Hey she hasn't won yet! She didn't do anything! I still have my weapon and am standing strong!"

The referee rolled his eyes, "Two more inches and you would have died. It was a fatal scenario. You're lucky she let you live."

Martin huffed and joined the group he had come with. An elder man stared at me strangely as Martin approached him like a toddler whining.

The man barked at Martin to shut up, and looked back at me, bowing his head briefly with respect.

I bowed back, glancing at the rest of their company. Standing behind them with his arms crossed over his chest was another man, slightly older than Martin and appeared much more mature.

He stared me down coldly, but nodded in acknowledgement that I had won.

Three men and a girl. A strange company.

I turned back to the crowd who was looking either delighted and amused or absolutely pissed.

Just then sirens sounded overhead and neon lights began to flood the twilight sky.

"Enforcers!" someone voiced everyone else's thoughts, "Scram!"

I disassembled my staff while gritting my teeth. Half the betters were already gone and now I would not be getting that winner's money. I knew better than to chase them down, they would never part with a dime having left the ring where it was bet.

Slipping my blades in my belt and picking up my cloak, I became a shadow in the darkening alley. A lower-class ghost returning home from an unfulfilling day.

I thought it was an ordinary day, but little did I know it was the day everything changed...the day that marked the end of ordinary.