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He was armed with a pair of blades that struck at me like a python. He drew blood from my cheek, neck, and forearms.
I could have used my ability but I held back. I didn’t like to rely on it like a crutch the way other fighters did.
I ducked behind my shield as the knives stabbed at me again.
Clang, clang, clang!
I backed away and swung my sword around. It was more to keep my opponent moving than an attempt to slash him.
I felt the blade bite into something that gave way beneath it. It couldn’t be a sword or his light armor as it made no noise.
I pulled my sword back and identified the blood along its razor-sharp edge.
Yes! I’d hit him.
I rolled up onto my feet and caught sight of him to one side, holding his bleeding ankle with one hand and his blades in the other.
His face was contorted with pain. I approached him slowly and cautiously. I’d been in too many fights to think the battle might already be over.
Fighters would use any trick at their disposal when they thought they knew they were on the brink of losing.
“Yield,” I said.
The fighter shook his head.
“I can’t. I have to keep going.”
“Yield or you will die.”
“You’re Kren. You never kill unless you need to.”
“So, this time I might need to. Yield.”
He screwed up his face and began to laugh.
“Not until you face the Fury!”
I had been right to be cautious. He leaped at me and his knives clang clang clanged against my shield. I barely managed to avoid the worst of the blows.
The blades were suddenly everywhere and I received another cut to my arm—my wrist this time, and another to my shin. The shield wasn’t long enough to protect me head to foot.
He couldn’t keep attacking like this. He’d been tired when he began the assault. By now, he must be exhausted.
Another slash to my shin. And another to my forearms. These wounds were deep and almost cut to the bone.
He couldn’t keep attacking. And I couldn’t keep taking the abuse.
I focused my mind and accessed the light in the center of my chest. It flashed in my mind’s eye and suddenly, the blows weren’t raining down so fast.
I peered over my shield. My opponent’s face was screwed up in rage as he brought his arm around and hacked at me again.
Now he was the one moving in slow motion. I’d taken his strength and used it against him.
His blade struck my shield and bounced off as his other arm came in to deliver the next blow.
I witnessed what it was like to have the creature’s ability to see the world through his eyes.
To him, the world was slow and lethargic and unexciting.
