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Magic throbbing and buzzing in preparation, I remained frozen where I had crouched, my cloak flapping softly as an unnatural breeze whooshed from behind. As the idiot gave himself away.
“I thought I smelled a rat.” The lilting tone of the Fae was filled with malice as he came up behind me, the air ripe with the zing of his sword as he unsheathed it. “You were a fool to think you could take me.”
I couldn’t help it. I smiled. Stupid, arrogant Fae. He hadn’t revealed his power yet, but it didn’t matter.
“That’s where you are wrong,” I said as the high-pitched tone of his sword hit my ears, the air cutting as he brought it down atop me, ready to sever my head from my shoulders.
He sliced through air instead.
My magic screamed joyfully as I brought it to life, all of the power and time I sucked from the bush flowing through me as I let it take me through the black of nothing and plunged myself through the Ether and forward in time.
The magic of a Sypher.
Everything around me froze, the Fae’s sword only inches from my head as the edges around the Fae became hazy. The Sypher magic was alight in my veins as I stepped around the rippled shadow of the Fae on a phantom breath, his gasp of surprise puncturing the heaviness of the air like a boom. With a small tug of my magic, the Fae moved again, this time at a quickened pace as time moved around me, me staring through the Ether as I remained unseen.
As though I was watching the scene through water, the Fae’s sword rippled in shadow as it dug into air and dirt where I had been and sent the Fae stumbling forward. His face screwed up in confusion as he stood, looking around while the air rippled around him in waves. I expected him to use the magic I saw in so many of them, but he simply stood with a dumb look of confusion on his face.
Fae magic was strong but rare, and unlike the broken fragments of my kind, the descendants of the Lynar, had been left with after the war between the Goddess and the Sister, the magic requiring two to ignite it, the Fae held their magic all on their own.
Much the way I did. Except mine was due to my sister giving her power to me. By putting both Catalyst and Requisite together I could access the magic of fíra all on my own. I’d rather have my sister back than magic like the Fae, but I could not change the hand I was dealt.
The Fae turned, still no sign of whatever power he held as his blond hair swung down to his waist, his vile pointed ears sticking up like a flag, begging me to end him. If it wasn’t for those ears, he would look like any other man. It was their ruse, after all.
The Fae looked one way, then the other, dumbfounded as he tried to figure out where I had gone and how I had vanished.
This was going to be easier than I thought.
I released my hold on the power, knowing I would need to conserve it, and slid from the Ether. The ripples of the world fell away as time caught up with me. It had been minutes for the Fae but less than a breath of time for me. I stood from where I had been previously crouched, grabbing the Fae from behind as he stood, staring into the nothing.
“I win.” I growled in his ear, and he stiffened.
The fool, in his confusion, had left himself completely exposed. It would be so easy to kill him now, to slice my blade across his throat and watch his eyes and mouth fall in horror. But where would the fun be in that?
Playing with my kill before removing their heads from their shoulders was always more entertaining. I plunged the sharp curve of my blade into his shoulder, aiming to injure but not to kill.
He screamed with a sound that was high-pitched agony as I dragged the wicked sword down and he spun, my blade pulling from his flesh and the elegant clothes he wore, leaving a growing splotch of indigo behind.
You would think he saw a ghost with how he looked at me, his sword hanging limp from useless fingers.
“How?” the Fae gasped as I lunged, nearly knocking the sword from his hand with one clang.
Dodging his blade a second time, I stepped closer, letting my blade sink again into his shoulder and sending him screaming as the musky aroma of his blood drowned at the pine of the forest.
My face reflected in the wide, dark eyes of the Fae, indigo specks of his blood covering my pale skin, my jaw tight and square. That wasn’t what he was staring at, though. It was my eyes. One like ice, the other returning to its deep blue hue. The color was already fading as my magic released its hold on what little time I was storing from the plant.
“I simply used what your kind tried to steal from us,” I settled, lifting my blade again. This time, he was ready. He lifted his own sword, the hold stronger as the long, slender rapier collided with my dagger with a zing.
He grit his teeth and winced, still obviously in pain. A fine line of fire rippled down the side of his sword. There was his magic, if you could call it that. The power of fíra was weak, flimsy.
I nearly laughed. Instead, I pulled up the other side of my magic, both eyes sliding to the deep blue shade as I pulled my own fire from the fíra side of my power, the brilliant lines of gold and red rippling down the edge of my blade as well.
Except where his was a pitiful trickle, mine was an inferno.
“Nice sword,” I taunted, slicing the long edge of his blade down and pushing his sword back with ease. His flame went out with one swipe. “Useful if you want to keep your enemy at arm’s length. I like to get nice and close.”
I swiped again with my blade, fire rippling dangerously through the air as I stepped dangerously close to him. The Fae’s eyes grew wide as I lunged, preparing to sink my blade into his gut. He blocked, his arm moving faster than his sword. My blade sliced against that instead, fabric and skin singeing as I pulled the flame from my blade and back into me. He screamed at both the slice and the flame, the fine silken green fabric of his tunic and shirt singed black and gray as it stained further with the deep purple of his foul Fae blood.
“Even the Ramal’s army knows better than to wield those ancient monstrosities. Did you think you would get far with that rotten piece of metal? Or do you carry it because it's easier to kill and take our children that way?” I hissed and swiped again, this time aiming for the cut on his arm. He was already struggling to hold the sword, but one more swipe, and it fell to the ground with a thud against dirt and underbrush.
