“And what would we gain, if we were to help you?” Kai said, crossing his arms.
Hansa glared at him for a second. “I’m sorry, can’t the queen speak for herself?”
“She is speaking for herself,” another Manticore replied.
“She speaks through all of us,” a third chimed in.
“Queen Neha only uses her voice for those she deems worthy of her utmost respect and fealty,” Kai said. “But she speaks through all of us for everyone else. We hear and feel her at all times.”
It made sense now—that moment when they’d all blanked out earlier, just before they offered to save Caspian and Blaze. That was the queen talking to them. And to us, through them. The Manticore nest must have a hive mind, where the queen spoke and her subjects listened and communicated her wishes.
“A hive mind,” Hansa concluded as well. “Does that mean you’re all telepathically connected?”
“In a way, yes,” Kai replied. “We’re all connected to our queen.”
Hansa nodded slowly. “I understand. Well, then, to answer your question, Your Grace, the Manticores would regain their freedom of movement in this world. I thought that was obvious.”
“You’ve taken quite the risk to come all the way here and tell us this,” Kai said. “Have you not considered the fact that we might have settled our territorial disputes with the daemons already? That our settlement here in Akrep Gorge is a part of that settlement?”
My muscles tensed. I hadn’t thought of that. I hadn’t even considered the possibility.
“I’ve thought about it, yes,” Hansa replied, unfazed. “But let me ask you this: are you okay with living here, confined between these rocks for the rest of your lives, or would you like your lands back? I see your numbers are slightly higher than we anticipated. Do the daemons know the size of your tribe? Do you think they’ll just let you live and rebuild your armies?”
The queen smirked. “And what guarantee do we have that your people won’t claim Neraka as their own once they arrive here?” Kai asked.
“Eritopia has twenty planets of its own, and we’ve recently overthrown our own version of an evil overlord,” Hansa scoffed. “And GASP is an alliance between worlds, dedicated to supporting and protecting those who need help. We do not conquer. We do not claim. We simply restore, nurture, and assist, in pursuit of peace and prosperity. We live and die by that credo.”
Kai and the queen looked at each other once more, before they both shifted their focus back to us. “Very well,” Kai said. “And how could we possibly assist you in finding the swamp witch? We do not know where she is, or how to get to her. And the daemons will not take kindly to us raiding their city. They will wipe the Akrep Gorge off the map.”
“We’ll handle that part,” Hansa replied. “We need to know that when we call, you will come. We do not have strength in numbers, but we are resourceful and organized, and we may need your help to create a diversion for us to get the witch out if we can’t do it on our own. And, now that you’ve mentioned it, we’ll need your word that you will not rise against us when we lead an attack against the daemons and Exiled Maras—if you do have some sort of agreement with them, that is. We are stronger than them with our armies here, and you will want to be on the right side of history here, not fighting for those bastards out of fear of losing this little patch of dry land.”
Queen Neha chuckled softly, prompting the Manticores to smile in eerie unison.
“There is only one way for you to earn our allegiance,” Kai said. “In order for the queen to trust you, she must see with her own eyes that you are strong, reliable, and capable of seeing this mission to the very end.”
“What will it take?” Hansa asked, giving us a brief, slightly nervous sideways glance.
A grin slit Kai’s face from ear to ear. “Your strongest fighter against our greatest Manticore warrior, in close combat. Use of weapons and whatever abilities you have included. The first to fall loses.”
“That means your warrior can use the venom in an attack, and potentially kill our champion?” I gasped, then looked at Caspian and Blaze, who were slowly returning to consciousness, slumped on the ground next to Caia and Harper.
All the Manticores looked at me, including the queen. Suddenly, all eyes were on me, and I felt like a candle beneath a powerful spotlight, slowly melting from the heat. I really didn’t like all that attention, particularly not in these circumstances.
“That is correct,” Kai said, slightly amused. “Our queen will offer her support only if your fighter wins.”
“What if we refuse to put our fighter at such a risk? Given our current situation, we cannot lose any of our people. We need all hands on deck to get our swamp witch back,” Hansa replied.
“Given your current situation, your biggest concern should be getting yourselves out of this gorge alive,” Kai hissed. “Your only choices are to stay and fight, and earn our support, or try and flee, and die before you reach the main passageway.”
That didn’t sit well with any of us, but there wasn’t any time to waste worrying over our predicament. The choices were clear, and there was no way in hell we could get out of here alive—not with our dragon still recovering, anyway. We’d told Blaze to hold back earlier because we needed to speak to the Manticores, not kill them. Ironically, now that we did actually need him to go full dragon, he couldn’t. He could barely sit up at this point.
“So, who will you nominate?” Kai asked, smiling and sizing each of us up.
Hansa turned to face us, frowning at the sight of Caspian and Blaze still sluggish and weak. She let out a heavy sigh, slowly shaking her head. “Blaze would’ve been perfect to shut them all up,” she said. “I could give it a try.”
“No way,” Jax replied bluntly. “No. You’re not even immortal. You can’t heal as fast. No, I should fight.”
“Guys,” Harper interrupted them before Hansa could object, and stood up from Caspian’s side. “I think I should take this. Hansa, you know I can hack it.”
Hansa and Jax stared at her for a couple of seconds, then looked at each other. “She’s ruthless,” Jax said, shrugging.
“And she’s got that barrier thing, plus her other sentry skills,” Hansa added, a grin blooming on her face as she turned her focus back to Harper. “You’ve seen the Manticores fight already. What is your assessment?”
“They’re fast, but so am I. Their claws cut deep, but so do mine. They’re fierce and well-coordinated in one-on-one combat, and they pay attention to their opponent’s attack techniques before they engage the second time around. They learn fast, and they are strong. But there’s no way in hell I’m letting any of us die in this place today. Besides, I learned a couple of new tricks from Bijarki before we left Calliope, and I’m dying to put them to the test in a one-on-one.”
Hansa and Jax both chuckled lightly.
“That’s the spirit,” I replied, giving her a friendly nudge.
“So it’s settled, then,” Hansa said, then turned to face the queen and Kai. “I nominate Harper Hellswan as our champion.”
I moved closer to Harper and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. “Be careful out there, Cuz,” I whispered. “Watch the Manticore’s feet.”
“You noticed the foot shuffle, too, huh?” Harper replied with a wink.
“What foot shuffle?” Caia frowned slightly.
“They all use the same stance, using the left foot for support. They shuffle briefly before they charge,” I explained. “It’s that split second that can make all the difference.”
Harper patted us both on the back, then took her backpack off and pulled her hair up in a tight bun. “Thank you, ladies. Now, allow me to kick some Manticore ass.”
The crowd murmured as the females behind the queen moved to the side to let one of their own through. A young Manticore girl made her way to the front and joined Kai and the queen. She didn’t look older than sixteen, and she was dressed in solid warrior attire—dark red leather garments
covering her chest and hips, sandals strapped all the way up to her knees, along with wrist cuffs and knee and elbow plates made of silver, and a beautifully molded silver helmet that covered the top half of her head. Her mane was braided back in thick cornrows, the tips wrapped in red leather strips.
She carried a short sword and two long knives, along with her eagerly twitching scorpion tail. The young Manticore was slender and short compared to Harper, and had to tilt her head back in order to look her in the eyes.
“Very well,” Kai said on behalf of the queen. “Meet our champion, Pheng-Pheng.”
I didn’t have too many years of experience under my belt, but one look at the young Manticore and I knew that her size had absolutely nothing to do with her title as champion. According to the painful churn in my stomach—my instincts reacting—Harper was in a heap of trouble.
Harper
Pheng-Pheng was a spunky and spry little thing. My first reaction was to let out a chuckle, which I promptly stifled as I realized, by the look on her face, that she was going to be my opponent. Her expression was firm and cold, but her amber eyes burned with a fiery, quiet rage. The smirk on Queen Neha’s face confirmed my suspicion: Pheng-Pheng was a potentially deadly opponent.
“Don’t let her size fool you,” Hansa whispered, then gave me a brief pat on the back and nudged me forward.
The crowd cleared a wide space in the middle of the arena for Pheng-Pheng and me, while the queen, Kai, and the rest of my team stepped back. I had my twin swords on my belt, plus two knives in my boots, and the metal plates on my chest, arms, and calves for protection. My heartbeat was erratic as Pheng-Pheng and I circled each other.
“This will be a simple fight,” Kai said, raising his voice. “Like I said, the first to yield loses. And Pheng-Pheng is not the kind of warrior to easily yield.”
I looked at Pheng-Pheng, a chill running down my spine. I certainly couldn’t afford to underestimate her based on her age. Not too long ago, I was just like her—surprising the seasoned officers of GASP in one-on-one sparring sessions, as they fell flat on their backs with the air knocked out of their lungs.
The way she moved, the way her hips swayed, and her fingers gripped the sword handle—they all told me the same thing. In many ways, Pheng-Pheng was a lot like me. Fierce. Determined. Lethal. I had a feeling her fighting skills were out of this world.
Just to cross certain dos and don’ts off my list, I briefly tried my mind control on her. It wasn’t my strong suit, but I still had the ability to manipulate someone, provided they belonged to a species that was vulnerable to a sentry’s abilities. Crap. I couldn’t get in. I could see her emotions clearly, but I couldn’t influence her actions. So, mind control is out of the question.
“Begin!” Kai shouted, and my muscles instantly stiffened.
Damn. Relax!
I was off to a bad start. Pheng-Pheng measured my stance, sliding her left foot back for hers. That was my first sign that I was in a bit of trouble. She used her right foot for support, and I no longer had that split-second advantage prior to an attack. I had to keep my distance and find another weak spot in Pheng-Pheng, since she didn’t use the same fighting stance as the other Manticores.
“Are you going to make your move, or shall I get this over with and just kill you?” Pheng-Pheng smirked, drawing her sword.
“Oh, man, you’re one of those,” I muttered, and brought my twin blades out, bending my knees.
She frowned. “One of those?”
“One of those who can literally talk their opponent to death,” I shot back with a light chuckle. Flames flared beneath her eyelashes, but she didn’t move. She wanted me to attack first.
Okay, so be it. I couldn’t play this waiting game. A quick in-and-out attack was enough for me to briefly assess her defenses, while she collected her own impressions of my offense. I darted toward her and brought one of my swords down.
She blocked it effortlessly, then brought one of her knives up, nearly nicking my ribs. I pulled back, my gaze fixed on hers. Pheng-Pheng was fast and observant. I wasn’t going to repeat that basic move again—if she’d nearly cut me this first time, she was definitely going to poke me the next.
Pheng-Pheng came at me in an exploratory attack. She slashed at me multiple times, and I swiftly dodged each hit, then brought my swords up in a cross to block her blade, which came down surprisingly hard and heavy, given her muscle mass. I didn’t doubt her technique or skill, but I had hoped that her strength wasn’t as potent as mine. I was horribly wrong.
She grinned, noticing my surprise, and took a couple of steps back. The Manticores and my team quietly watched us—the latter were choked with worry. I could tell from their expressions, and from the deep yellow auras surrounding Blaze, Caia, Hansa, and even Caspian, the only Mara whose emotions I could read. He was awake and focused on me, as was Blaze. They’d finally come to.
I heard Pheng-Pheng’s feet shuffle across the dirt, and instantly switched to defense mode. She came in like a boulder in an attempt to ram her sword through me. She missed me by inches, and I retaliated. She was letting herself loose, and it didn’t bode well for me.
She was ridiculously fast, darting from left to right before each attack. Her sword strikes made my shoulders hurt whenever I blocked them, either with my blades or my forearm plates. She was relentless, too, not giving me more than one, maybe two seconds to breathe between blows. The worst part was that she was constantly studying my defenses and getting better and more accurate in her attacks.
Five minutes in, and it was becoming more difficult to keep up with her.
Why the hell am I so intimidated by her? I’ve fought daemons galore, and big-ass pit wolves... I couldn’t let a little girl get the best of me, but I knew, deep down, exactly why she was getting to me. Pheng-Pheng was a younger version of me. I was right. She fought like me, and learned from me.
I couldn’t employ my usual tactics on her. Every attempt to cut her ended in her sword clashing with mine, making my blades zing and tremble in distress. “You’re too slow,” she said, then brought her sword down—I blocked it, but didn’t have the extra split second needed to stop her knife from puncturing my side.
The blade made it in several inches, and the pain was sharp, spreading through my torso like liquid fire. I gasped, and instantly kicked her in the ribs. She coughed, and withdrew her knife in the process. Now I’m riled up.
I got angry, and fast. I went in, releasing a flurry of double sword hits, which she expertly blocked and dodged, grinning with delight. I wasn’t sure if it was a display of arrogance or if she was really enjoying this fight, but I knew that my only way out alive was to win this.
Pheng-Pheng wasn’t ready to give up that easily, though, as expected. She slipped to the side and came back in with her sword. I blocked her hits once more, and used my legs this time to weaken hers, kicking her in the side of her knee whenever I could. She hissed from the pain, and made her first mistake, coming in too slow with the sword.
My right blade met hers, and my left blade slashed her wrist before she could bring the knife into my side again. She dropped her sword, then growled and instantly pulled back, blood dripping into the dirt in rich crimson droplets.
Though I expected retaliation, the sheer force with which she came back took me by surprise—she was pumped up by the adrenaline, and I had to work harder than ever before. The angrier she got, the more vicious her attacks became.
I gave it all I had, hitting back with all my strength. It was enough to rattle her a couple of times, but her speed still knocked me off my feet. She brought her knee up into my stomach, and I fell backward with a grunt. She didn’t wait for me to get up, though. Pheng-Pheng was relentless, but I’d been holding back, too.
I pushed out a barrier, strong enough to send her sliding on her back through the dirt. She jumped back to her feet and came at me again. This time, she had both knives out, and her scorpion tail pointing at me. Uh-oh, she’s bringing in the heavy artille
ry.
The sun was down, and the sky turned dark pink and purple over us. My eyesight adjusted, noticeably sharper in the absence of light. I could see the fluidity in her moves, and the nervous twitch in her tail before it went straight for my head. I dodged the hit and darted to the right, then attacked.
As long as I was the one hitting, and she was the one on the defense, I had a minor upper hand. I looked for weak points, but, for the life of me, I couldn’t find one—not while she was focused on the actual fight. I needed to wound her again, to get her angry enough to lose her momentum for just a second.
Most importantly, I had to be unpredictable. She could see my hits coming from a mile away at this point. Think! What wouldn’t Harper do?
It was time for a drastic measure, before she brought the tail in again. I deliberately delayed one hit, giving her the split second she needed to push back and attack me. She slashed at me with vicious strokes, going straight for my throat. I let her cut my shoulder, and hissed from the searing pain. I caught the flicker of a smile on her face, and made my move.
I dodged another strike and dropped to one knee as I brought my sword out at a tight angle, cutting into her side. “Argh,” she yelped, and I instantly twisted and used my right knee for support to kick her ankles with my left leg. It was a straining move for me, but it got the job done.
Pheng-Pheng fell flat on her back, holding her bleeding side. I’d cut deep, judging by the amount of blood coming out of her. Now comes the anger. She was going to get up and—her scorpion tail came up, and she stung me.
Oh, crap.
My heart was pumping fast from all the physical effort. I only had one, maybe two minutes before the poison really kicked in—and I was already feeling lightheaded. The venom spread through my body, and I was burning from the inside out.
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