Swing and Thrust: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 2)

by Scot C Morgan

  Two minutes inside and I questioned why there wasn't a cover charge at the door. The place was music, dancing, drinks, smiles, and wild-ass costumes, including many which generously put the ass component on display. The only things missing were the DJ and glow sticks.

  If a college babe from Austin was in Yedia, I thought, she'd be in here somewhere. But with a sea of people, I knew it was going to take a while to find her. We decided to split up. Alara said she might be able to sense something from the woman because of the summoning connection. Nithia said she go with her. Tara claimed she would do her best to scout the place for the woman, but I could tell she was entranced by the flash and fun of the party. I suggested we meet in the center of the auditorium-sized room by a massive u-shaped banquet table I could see in the distance. We agreed to roam for twenty minutes, then find each other there.

  We fanned out, and I headed into the sea of people. The farther into the room I went the more I experienced the friendlier side of Yedians. With little room to stand, let alone walk and look around for someone whose face I didn't even know, bodies brushed against me from every direction. The men acted like I was an old friend and the women acted like they wanted to take me home. More than one person shoved a drink at me, but I tried to stay focused.

  We'd come all this way to save a woman I'd never met, but after my run-in with Ms. Thompson and her dark lord headmaster, I knew I had to find every last person from Earth before she could vamp them to feed her power-hungry fantasy. I scanned the crowd and excused my way between people who were dancing, talking, or gazing around the room bleary-eyed. Standing an inch or two above most everyone helped my search, but I began to get frustrated after several minutes and only getting halfway to the center of the room. The next drink offered into my hand, I accepted and slammed down half of it as I began to think my plan woefully inadequate.

  I kept up the search, but less optimistically. Five minutes later, I broke through the crowd into a small island oasis, free from the shoving and bumping. I was next to the large u-shaped table I'd seen. Only a few of the forty or so seats were taken. A spread of food larger than a Vegas buffet ran the entirety of the table. Around the area, serving as a wall for the oasis, a heavily padded couch extended in a huge semicircle. I'd stumbled in through the only opening from the main floor.

  As I stepped up to the table and grabbed the back of one of the empty chairs, a woman cleared her throat to get my attention. I turned around to the couch and saw her shaking her head. Smoking hot. Brown hair cut to her shoulder, big breasts on a petite frame. I noticed her shoulders curled inward a little. Makes sense. She had a diagonally-cut skirt that covered one of her legs down to just above her knee and did a much less thorough job on her other. She knew enough to keep her knees together, which made her all the more attractive to me.

  "I wouldn't if I were you," she said.

  "No?"

  "Nope."

  Nope? I wondered if any other Galderian talked that way, or if it was just part of the magical language skill bestowed on me through the summoning which made me hear her talk like that.

  She tilted her head and stared at me. "You okay? You seem lost."

  "I just needed a break from the crowd."

  "Tell me about it."

  Okay. That's not Galderian.

  "I'm Den…Dennis." I wanted to ask if she was from Earth, but I decided to give her a minute. If she was, I'd find out. If she wasn't, I wouldn't come off so weird.

  "Allison." She waved. "You're not from around here, are you?"

  "How can you tell?"

  "For starters, you almost sat at the champions' table. Big no-no. Everyone in Yedia knows that."

  I looked at the table, then down at the three men sitting near the u-shaped bend. Each of them wore similar clothes—red and yellow, military looking. I remembered the flags on the wall by the gate.

  I turned back to Allison. "Thanks." She had a long coat, maybe a cloak beside her. I looked at the spot on the other side of her. "That seat taken?"

  She suddenly looked nervous. "Uh. No…but I'm waiting for…"

  "Boyfriend? Husband?"

  "My…" She glanced around, then looked at me again. "I guess you can sit for a minute. Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

  "Thanks." I sat down next to her and exhaled audibly. The couch felt great.

  "Long day?"

  "Long couple of weeks." I turned to her to her gauge her reaction. "What about you? How's your life been going for the last week, or two?"

  She drew her head back a little when I emphasized the word ‘two’. "Okay. I'm going to say something that might sound a little crazy. If it does, please just ignore it. Okay?"

  "Try me," I said. "Crazy I can understand."

  She held her hand up with her pinky and index finger extended, and her two middle fingers curled down with her thumb over them. "Hook 'em horns?"

  "Holy shit. Yeah." I mirrored the gesture used by students and fans of UT Austin, my college and evidently Allison's too. "Right back at you."

  "Oh, my god!" Her large boobs dipped as she breathed out in relief. "I thought I was the only one."

  I shook my head. "No. You're not alone. I came here to find you."

  "Oh, Dean!" She threw herself onto me and held on tight.

  "It's Den," I said as best I could, while she squeezed the air out of me. I suffered through it, though. The feel of her giant breasts against my chest made it worthwhile. She began kissing me all over the side of my face.

  "What's going on?" a man said from behind me. He sounded extremely pissed.

  Allison jumped back from me.

  Three men stood behind my rival suitor. They looked pissed too. At least they back up their man, I thought. Not good news for me, though.

  I glanced at her and could see she was scared. "Boyfriend?"

  "Hello, Mettin," she said. Her hand shook as she held it out toward me. "This is Dean."

  "Den," I said, feeling heated at seeing her fear of the man.

  "Right. Den. He's from my hometown."

  Mettin looked at me. "Is that right?"

  I could tell it was a rhetorical question, but I didn't want to sit quietly through the interrogation and leave the outcome up to him. "Yeah. We go way back. Matter of fact, we were just talking about taking a trip back. It's been too long."

  Mettin stared at me for a moment, but to his credit, he restrained his obvious desire to punch me in my face. I felt the same way about him, but I wasn't sure if I was going to hold back.

  Eight more of his buddies walked up behind the other three. All their clothes matched the three sitting at the table. They got up too and walked over. Allison and I were surrounded.

  "You leave me no choice," he said. I wasn't sure if he was talking to me, or her. If he meant me, I was fucked. His old-school Cobra Kai buddies would see to that, I thought. Maybe he'll dump her on the spot? That'd be a lucky break.

  He glanced back to his dojo friends and nodded. I reached for my sword, but too many of them jumped on me before I could get it out of the sheath. I struggled, but starting from the couch made it impossible to fight them off. I broke a finger or two and gave two of them a nice facelift with the front of my skull, but the managed to subdue me with three of them on each side holding my arms and a couple on each leg.

  "Enough!" Mettin said. I looked over and saw he had Allison by her arm and a blade in his hand. "Don't make me reclaim her honor with her blood. It's the last thing I want to do."

  "Then don't!" I said, pulling against the men restraining me.

  "So, you accept?" he said.

  "What the fuck are you talking about?"

  "We will fight in the arena. Honor will be restored." He looked at her. "And she will go with her rightful champion."

  "I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!"

  "Good," he said. "You accept."

  I tried to break free again, but there were too many of his friends holding me. "What is it, guns at high noon, then?"

&nb
sp; "Guns?" He turned to some of his men and the shrugged. "Take him to the arena. I'll be along in a minute. I'm going to get a drink and have a talk with her first."

  I watched Allison cringe as he stepped closer to her. His men dragged me away despite my efforts to get free. They pulled me through the crowd, most of whom stepped back to clear a path. I couldn't see Allison anymore and I looked around frantically for Alara, Nithia, or Tara, but most of the room had been oblivious to my encounter with Mettin and his men. A few seconds later, his buddies dragged me through a door and tossed me over a balcony. I fell fifteen feet onto my back.

  I coughed to recover, when I could breathe again, I sat up and looked around. I was on a wooden floor of a circular pit, a hundred feet across. There were no doors or ways out of any kind. The wall around the perimeter was shear. I stood up and a few seconds later throngs of people started coming into the upper level where I'd been thrown from. They spread out around the railing and stared down at me. They were noisy and seemingly excited.

  Chapter 27

  I stepped back toward the center of the arena so I could see more of the people still filling in along the balcony to watch. I looked for any of my women. I wondered if they knew what had happened—where I was. I knew if Alara spotted me the two of us might be able to fight our way out somehow, maybe with Tara and her bow. I couldn't see them. People were screaming and cheering, apparently eager for the evening's entertainment to start.

  Then I saw a rope ladder unfurl from the balcony. The crowd roared as Mettin climbed down. When he reached the bottom of the arena someone pulled the ladder up and he walked toward me, pulling his sword from its sheath. He slashed diagonally at the air in front of him as he approached.

  He stopped several feet in front of me. "Draw your sword," he said, holding his vertically in front of him.

  "I don't want to fight you," I said, but I was lying. I wanted to kick the shit out of the guy, but my life at risk meant Alara's life was at risk. Even if I could take him, the stakes were too high.

  "You don't have a choice," he said. "Unless you plan to stand there while I run my sword through your gut."

  "Shit. No. Not part of my plan."

  I didn't figure him for a man to change his mind, especially with hundreds of people looking down waiting for us to go at each other.

  I pulled my sword from its sheath. "I still say this is a big misunderstanding." I glanced around one last time to see if I could see Alara or Nithia or Tara, but there were too many people and too much commotion for me to take the time to sort through everyone. Screw it. If he's going to force it, then I'm going to make him pay.

  "No, sir. This is about honor. Yours and mine." He glanced to the people watching from the balcony around the arena. "They will see we both stand to defend our reputations. That is why we are here."

  "Actually," I said. "I'm here because your buddies dragged away." I glanced to the balcony. "And tossed me over that railing. But potato potahto. Right?"

  He did answer, except to step up and start swinging. He was fast, but I duck or parried his first few attempts, then I gave it back to him. Our swords clanged over and over as each of us fought to draw first blood. Then I cut his off hand but only slightly. He'd sloppily left it floating between us as our blades met and mine slid off his. He shook his cut hand, but paused for less than a second before coming at me again with swings and thrusts. Again, I drew on some previously buried memories of swashbuckling films—moving with the spirits of Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks.

  But then he outdid my Inigo Montoya with his Man-in-Black agrippa technique, closing the distance between us and striking me in my jaw with the pommel of his sword. I lost focus for a second and he swung down toward my body. At the last instant, I contorted to get my sword across me to stop his blade, but the force of his swing caused my hand to slip from the grip of my sword. He followed up with a step forward and another swing at me, but I jumped back to get clear of it.

  Then he stopped, seeing I'd lost my weapon.

  I eyed my sword on the ground behind him.

  "I'm not going to win that way," he said, stepping back a few feet while keeping his eyes on me. He bent down and reached over with his free hand to pick up my sword. "Here," he said, standing up and tossing my sword to me.

  I caught it and wiped the sweat from my brow with my forearm. "It really is about honor with you, isn't it?"

  He nodded toward my sword. "You ready?"

  "If we're still doing this, then, yes. I guess I am."

  He charged me, swinging his sword overhead. I parried it, sidestepping his advance. With our blades to my right, I clocked him with a left hook. Sweat and blood spewed from his mouth and he staggered, dragging the tip of his sword across the floor.

  He pulled a dagger from the back of his belt and came at me crouched over with both weapons.

  He brought his sword in first and I knocked it aside. He let go of it and followed through with his charge catching my sword arm with his free hand and thrusting his dagger toward my stomach with his other. I grabbed his wrist, as the tip of his blade pierced my hip. I held his hand back so he couldn't get the point in more than a quarter of an inch—but it still stung like a bitch.

  Each of us holding the other man's wrist, we scrambling to overcome one another. After a few seconds, he plunged his body into mine, knocking us both to the ground. When I fell back and my sword arm hit the wood beneath us, my sword slipped from my hand and slid several feet away.

  Both of us focused on controlling his dagger, we tumbled and rolled, straining to ply the blade to our advantage.

  Seconds past, then I wrested the dagger from his hands and threw my elbow across his face, stunning him just enough for me to get the blade against his throat. I let it knick the skin as I fell across his chest, putting his my down onto one of his grasping arms. He threw his hand against my neck and pushed his thumb in hard against my throat. I coughed then jerked my head to slip from his clenching fingers. Staying just shy of the artery, pressed the blade a hair more, making it clear to him he must yield or die.

  "I'd rather not take your life," I said. "But you must yield!"

  He flexed hopelessly against my weight. He punched me in my ribs, but I held the blade steady.

  "Yield, damnit!"

  He dropped his free arm to the floor and ceased his struggle. "I yield. Now, kill me."

  I grinned from relief. "Not today." I removed the blade from his neck and tossed it aside. I got off of him and knelt beside him, catching my breath. "You're one tough son of a bitch. You know that?"

  He turned his head to look at me. "Why didn't you kill me?"

  I shook my head. "I never wanted to fight you in the first place. You may be a bit of an asshole, but as long as we're cool now, I'd rather save my killing for someone else."

  "I don't deserve it," he said. "But I'm glad to be living." He rested his head on the floor and looked up at the ceiling. The crowd cheered, apparently satisfied at the spectacle. "In front of my people, you've defended your honor." He took a couple of breaths. "And by waging my life to protect my name, I've done the same." He looked over to me again. "Our dispute is resolved. I relinquish Allison to you."

  Huh? "She's her own woman. She's not mine. And she's not yours." I stood up and walked over to him, reaching down to offer him a hand to get up. "If we can agree on that, then let's get the hell out of here."

  He took my hand and I helped him to his feet. The crowd erupted in even louder cheers. He turned around and waved to them, then held his hand out to point to me.

  I bowed my head slightly.

  He chuckled at me. Then he walked over and picked up both our swords and brought mine to me. "You will come to my home for dinner," he said, as he handed it to me.

  "Really? After we just tried to kill each other?"

  He glanced back to where I'd pinned him with his dagger to his throat, then looked at me. "It couldn't get much worse, could it?"

  I chuckled. "I suppose not."
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  "And Allison will be your companion at dinner," he said. "Not mine. She is no longer with me, but you both are welcome at my home."

  "I'm here with some friends," I said.

  "Yedians?"

  "No. Out-of-towners, like me. More or less."

  "Then they will come too. I will tell you about the history of our people."

  "Thanks, Mettin." I looked up at the crowd. Some of them were still watching us, most had returned to whatever they were doing before our headliner event. "Now I just have to find them…Allison."

  "Allison will be up there, waiting for you. My friends and I will help you find the others."

  "Yeah, they seemed pretty eager to help before." I gave Mettin a look a disapproving look, but he only laughed in response.

  Chapter 28

  Mettin gave us a tour of his place, a two-story stone beachfront spread. Like all the other champions of the city, he lived on the northernmost part of town, on the only side of the city which didn't have a wall. He showed us the view from the balcony at the back of his house—the Yedian sea, he called it. Then he told us it was the northernmost part of the Sea of Ronak. The waters looked much rougher than what I remembered from the port of Pertlass. I asked him what was across the sea from us. He gave me a deadly serious look and said, "Dragons. And we leave that part of the world to them."

  I asked him if he could tell me more about them, but he said refused and said we should go inside for dinner. He had house staff who had prepared our meal, which I learned was one of the perks he and his fellow champions had earned for their years of service defending the Yedian coast—against what he wouldn't say. I couldn't help but wonder if it was from the dragons.

  The food tasted amazing—fish, something like lobster, vegetables swimming in a cream sauce. But the best part was looking around the table seeing all of my women safe and happy. Allison even looked fairly comfortable once she accepted Mettin meant what he said, that she was free from him and could come and go with me, or if I chose, on her own. I let her know right away that I didn't do slaves, and she was her own woman. But she stayed close to me, which didn't surprise me. After all, I was the only person from back home she'd seen she arriving in Galderia.