by Billy Wong
Wait, maybe there was. She thrust at his face, missed as expected. Instead of withdrawing like she would have before, she continued her forward motion and walked directly into him. Of course, he wasn't so unsavvy that such a move would confound him. He tucked an arm under her armpit and threw her. But while most anyone would have been disoriented being tossed through the air, she retained her ability to think offensively. As she flew, she whipped her free arm up and slammed her shield into his jaw.
She landed hard on her back while he staggered. In the midst of rolling over she slashed at his belly, falling short as he sucked it in. She missed stabbing him in the ankle, pushed herself up and unleashed a flurry of cuts. He retreated, but even backing up countered much more effectively than she had been able to and wounded her again and again. Still she kept pressing forward, and when she finally slashed a red line down his arm, pushed even harder. "Why do you continue this pressure?" Gabriel asked. "Do you intend to keep going until one of us drops from exhaustion or makes a critical error? Look at how much I hit you for every time you hit me. You won't be the one who survives."
"How do you know?" she replied simply.
"You aren't the first unskilled warrior who tried to drown me in their desperation. None have succeeded."
Unskilled? Ouch. "How do you know today won't be the day? Have you asked the fates themselves?"
He kicked her powerfully in the chest, hurling her to her back. "I have the tools to keep you from doing so."
Instead of getting up, she just lay there. Since Gabriel knew she wasn't likely unconscious or dead, he hesitated for a moment, then stepped in to chop down at her. She rolled under the blow towards him and slashed at his groin. He caught her blade expertly in his hand, not even cutting himself, but she swept his legs out from under him with her shield and put her knees up so that he landed spine-first on them. He grunted in pain, scrambled to his feet. "Many have used 'unpredictable' tactics to try and compensate for their inferiority against me. It has never worked."
"But they've troubled you, haven't they? Otherwise you wouldn't even mention it. Why do you keep dwelling on the past? Just because you've gotten through before, doesn't mean today isn't the day it catches up to you."
Gabriel nicked her shoulder with a thrust, but she was able to duck in and rock him with a massive punch aided by her shield. He avoided having his chin bisected by an uppercut with her sword, but suffered a small cut. "You are truly impressive. You've improved a lot."
"I keep getting that. I'm reaching towards my potential!"
"Good. It would be boring if none of you gave me any resistance."
She started bobbing and weaving her upper body while standing in place. "What are you doing?" Gabriel asked. "That dodging style offers no defense against-"
"I know," she said, having stopped his slice at her leg with her blade. "Baited you." She tried for a head kick, which he blocked, but then landed kicks to the knee and body. She went for another big punch with her shield; he slipped it and wobbled her with an uppercut. When he attempted to put his sword through her throat, she spun behind him, gripped him about the waist and threw him over her head. "Getting easier and easier," she taunted while she chased after him. In truth, she was tiring fast, in part obviously due to the blood loss, and feared he had more left than she did. But if she could keep up her facade of unstoppability long enough, maybe she could get him to make a big mistake and...
Suddenly Gabriel turned left as he was forced to guard a stroke from Leroy's Grim Razor. For moments Kath and Leroy assailed him together, and he backpedaled as if he had become an "unskilled" fighter. Then the walking shadow interposed itself between Kath and Gabriel. She risked a glance around. Violet and Fred still battled against the dark man while Christopher took on the easterner, but everyone else was down. Melv and Marv apparently hadn't been able to overcome whatever tricks the walking shadow had. It struck at her, and she blocked with her shield. Looking at its weapon, she realized what the issue was. Being cloaked in shadow like its wielder, it was impossible to discern its form. The twins might have been overly cautious as a result, leading to their downfall. She hoped it wouldn't be the same way for her.
"What are you?" she asked. "Are you even human, or some other kind of being?"
"Huuuuu... hue... harrrl..."
She didn't know if it was a monster or a person trying to be mysterious and frightening. But what she did know was Leroy faced Gabriel alone for the moment, and she worried about how long he could last. She attacked the shadow vigorously hoping to minimize the problems posed by its unidentifiable weapon by keeping it on the defensive. It kept pace with her and struck back just as much, but with each impact against her sword or shield she gathered more about its weapon. It didn't seem too heavy, maybe more like a long rapier than an axe or bastard sword. She knocked the shadow off balance with a forceful shield block, slashed its middle before it could recover. Bright red, undisguised blood dripped to the ground. It started a thrust from too far away while backing up, which Kath took for desperation and a sign she was winning—until its weapon seemed to grow in length and pierced her shoulder. What?
She tore herself free with a hiss and tried to spin inside the shadow's reach. Now its weapon appeared to shorten to less than its original length, becoming more suited to close combat than her own blade like a shortsword. Pokes came at varied points on her torso with blistering speed. She warded most with great difficulty, but one shallowly pierced her groin. As she bent with pain, the shadow tried to cleave her neck. She blocked with her shield and thrust at its ribs. It twisted aside, split her lips by hitting her with something that felt long and thin, and disengaged. The weapon adjusted to mid-range length again.
Behind the shadow, she caught glimpses of Leroy's duel with Gabriel. Leroy had the weight advantage both bodily and weapon wise, but like Kath struggled with Gabriel's skill and speed. Already he bore half a dozen wounds he didn't have before; though he occasionally stumbled Gabriel with a heavy blocked hit, he spent much more time flailing frantically to ward off the torrent of attacks. Leroy attempted to surprise him with a haymaker, but Gabriel brushed it aside and made him grimace with a sharp body punch of his own. He then slashed at Leroy's head. Leroy threw himself back just in time, but the tip cut his forehead slightly and blood trickled towards his eye. Kath knew she had to help him soon, before it was too late.
Being struck by the thing that bloodied her mouth let her figure out what was going on. The shadow wielded a spear-like weapon with a long head and short haft, the latter of which she'd been hit with, and switched its grip to different points to make it seem longer or shorter. She advanced, watching its hand more carefully as they traded blows. She attempted to time when it would stretch the spear out long and grab it behind the head, but it recognized what she intended and wouldn't give her a good chance. Still, this forced caution hampered its style and she slowly gained the advantage by staying at mid range where it seemed least potent.
She slashed its leg, then its chest, and it tried to force the matter by rushing in close. Meeting its thrust with her shield, she drove the butt of the spear into its solar plexus. She tried to cut its throat with a backhand which it ducked, but caught it with a shield punch to the temple in the same motion. It staggered aside. Kath ran after it. It turned and stabbed at her, but was too dazed to be fast enough. She sidestepped and cleaved away its arm, then hacked into its neck. It collapsed and the shadows melted away, revealing the corpse of a cold looking yet handsome young man with silver hair.
Leroy had locked weapons with Gabriel and in desperation momentarily pinned him up against a large rock. He peppered him with knees, short punches and even foot stomps, attempting to do whatever damage he could in the restrictive position. "Another youngster who thinks they can close the gap by making a fight sloppy. How foolish." Gabriel gouged his eye, then hit him twice with a hilt to the face. Leroy fell on his back, tried to sit only to have a vicious boot lay him out. Gabriel plunged his sword down.
Luckily she had grabbed the blade as it entered her bosom, and held it from going too deep. "Sacrifice myself? No, I'm going to beat you!" She kicked Gabriel in the knee dropping him to a crouch, sliced his inner sword arm, then kicked him in the face. Finally he was knocked away—losing his grip on his hilt. Kath stood and threw the sword at one of the great rocks jutting towards the sky. It hit and stuck there, dozens of feet up. "Finally got rid of that thing."
Gabriel rolled by her, snatching up Leroy's Grim Razor, and stood. "If you think me wielding a different weapon will turn the tide in your favor, you are tragically mistaken."
The battlefield was almost quiet now. Violet and the easterner lay next to each other, motionless. Only Christopher still dueled with the dark man, their blades ringing far more slowly as both must be exhausted. Zack walked up beside Kath, face badly bruised but ready to fight again. "Go help Christopher," she said. "This one's much too fast for you."
"But..."
"Go on. You'd only slow me down. I have this."
He ran off, and Gabriel smiled. "Selfless of you to willingly die first. But do understand he will just follow-"
"Shut up! I'm constantly learning and adapting, getting better and better as the fight goes on." Maybe an exaggeration considering she got ever more hurt and tired too. Maybe a big exaggeration. Yet she had to keep hope alive, right? "By the time it ends, I'll be good enough to beat you!"
She raced at him, her battered blade meeting Grim Razor in a thunderstorm of steel. His change in weapon did make a difference. Though he remained faster than her, it was by a smaller margin, and she didn't feel like she escaped death by a hair with every swing of the heavier sword. She poured it on, accepting hits to give them like before, but mixing in kicks and shield strikes with even greater frequency. Instead of just her, wounds soon covered both their bodies. It seemed to her as though he stood atop a high peak, and she clawed her way up ever closer towards it...
"Enough!" he boomed, and got in an upward diagonal cut that gashed her from hip to shoulder. She fell away, but with a shaking hand grasped two damaged pieces of her armor barely hanging on and ripped them free. When Gabriel approached her prone form, she turned over and threw them at his face one after the other. He smirked a little as he leaned aside from one, but the other gashed him badly an inch below his eye. He glowered and Grim Razor swept down. Kath batted it aside with her shield, stabbed at his heart. He caught the blade again. She turned it and pushed it forward, slicing his hand. He dodged just in time so that it only scraped along his ribs as she sprang up, elbowed her in the back of the head. She stumbled a few steps, spun hurling a dagger at his throat. It bounced off Grim Razor, held vertically before him. She hunched over with pain and fatigue.
"You are very good," Gabriel said. "It is almost regrettable that your potential will be squandered by your life being cut so short."
"It's not over yet!" Kath rushed again. She was wearing down faster than him, especially with her new bad wound, and couldn't afford to let the fight go on much longer. Their blades collided in heavy, deafening clashes, and she feared hers might break. Please not yet, it wasn't time yet. She threw another dagger right after jumping back from an exchange, hoping to catch him off guard. He did that same vertical block again. Hmm, what if... She hammered at him with quick cuts and jabs, searching for a hole in his defenses. None presented itself before he kicked her in the stomach and followed up with a downward chop. She blocked with her shield but reeled back, then rolled away. As she came up, she drew the special sword off her back and threw.
He sidestepped instead of trying to block, the blade burying itself in a rock slab behind him. Damn, she had been hoping it could go through Grim Razor and end him. "Good try. Heh."
"How did you know to dodge?" she asked.
"I read in your eyes that you thought you had a trump card. You gave yourself away."
So she did have a ways to go after all. But she wouldn't admit defeat. "All or nothing, then!" They charged each other once more, Kath deciding she wouldn't break away again until one of them stopped moving. Their struggle painted their frames red—redder—and likewise the ground at their feet. They both aimed a tremendous over-the-shoulder chop at the other's skull. When their swords touched, though, Kath's weakened one snapped.
She just ducked Grim Razor, which snipped away bits of hair as it passed over her head, and turned her blow which fell short into a thrust with the broken blade. It penetrated his shoulder and she ran forward pushing on it, driving him back. They passed by a jagged rock. She clasped her arms about his waist and lifted him, spun around to slam him down on it. He screamed. She bashed him in the face with her shield multiple times and crushed his nose, then wrenched the blade around in his shoulder some more. He dropped the sword. She pinned down the wrist of the injured arm with one hand while gripping her hilt with the other.
"No!" he cried as he comprehended her intent to saw through the joint and remove his arm. He drew a dagger and plunged it up to the hilt in her side. Pain stole her strength, and he seized the opportunity to force himself up with a yell. He pushed her back, towards where the blade of her special sword stuck out the far side of the slab. She fought him, the two of them turning each other back and forth in a circle, but they inexorably approached the embedded blade. Almost there, Kath tried in desperation to bite his throat. He tucked his chin to block it, the taste of his sweat and blood salty against her tongue, and shoved her at the sword. Fiery agony exploded through her back—and then her chest, as the tip burst through it.
Gabriel had begun to smile triumphantly while she stumbled back from his push, but his smile disappeared when he felt her fingers close around his arms. She pulled him forward onto the blade with her, impaling them together on it. He tried to speak, but only choked noises came out. Kath put one hand on his chest, held onto her hilt with the other, and shoved him off both blades. He toppled backwards to lay still.
Kath walked off the blade transfixing her and looked to Zack, who stared at her crouching over an injured Christopher. The dark man lay nearby in a pool of blood. She wiped her broken weapon, sheathed it and walked over to retrieve the special sword, all while clutching the wound through her. "See?" she said, holding the blade at her side after she drew it out. "The more skilled and powerful doesn't always win. Sometimes it's just the tougher one who does."
"How on earth are you still alive?" Zack asked.
"I just am." She felt like hell; her vision was hazy, the pain such she almost wanted to be dead, and she could hardly feel herself move as if in a dream, but somehow she still stood. Maybe it was a gift she never knew she had. They manifested in many ways, after all. Or maybe she was just that tough and unwilling to die. She preferred the second idea. She didn't know if she wouldn't die later, though. But she'd make the best of whatever time she had. "Who else lives?"
"Melv and Marv are both dead. Fred is just resting for now like Christopher, and they should both be fine. Violet's alive but I'm not sure if she'll make it. And Leroy..."
"I'll wake up the big lug. Can't you at least go and heal Lucia from her drugged state so she doesn't revive the serpent and then all this will be for naught?"
"I don't know what will happen to me, but okay."
Before either of them could get far, the dark man lurched upright, raising a scimitar to throw at Kath. In her condition, she doubted she would be able to move quickly enough... a crossbow bolt appeared in his temple, and he fell. She looked towards Zack to see him lower his bow and smiled. "You finally saved me."
"Yeah. Happy to be of service."
Kath limped over to Leroy. "Rise and shine, hero," she said slapping his face lightly, and he opened his eyes.
"What happened? We're alive? Did you..." He looked towards Gabriel.
"Kicked his ass."
She waited for him to stand, not trusting herself to help hi
m, and they went to Violet. She lay on her back with blood all around her mouth, and Kath doubted she would be as fortunate as her. "Did I fight well?" the woman asked.
"You fought magnificently," Kath said.
She smiled. "I watched you finish him. Was an honor battling with you. See you soon." She closed her eyes, and her breathing stopped. Kath bowed her head sadly and a tear tickled her as it ran down her cheek.
"What did she mean, see you soon?" Leroy looked at her more closely, and his eyes bulged. "Your chest! Are you..?"
"Don't worry. I'm an iron woman."
They turned to Zack, sitting on the slab beside Lucia who lay still after presumably being cured. "She all right?" Leroy asked. "You all right?"
"I think she's just sleeping now." Zack swayed on his seat. "As for me, I feel kind of, like, drunk. Isn't too bad."
"Kath!" Dread filled her at the realization it came from the direction of Gabriel. She looked to see him up, walking towards her with Grim Razor in hand. Even after all she'd done, she couldn't stop him... He laughed hysterically. The sword felt so heavy when she tried to raise her arm. She told herself she could still fight, would rally her strength once more when the time came, but in the back of her mind feared she deluded herself. He moved closer and closer. "You win," he said. "I can't defeat you." Gabriel stepped forward onto her sword so that it slid through his chest. "Because you will never give up." He fell to his knees, then crumpled sideways and lay with his eyes open, truly dead this time.