But it was so easy to avoid.
And so easy to take advantage of the openings Artemisia kept leaving me. I was able to stab at her, slashing into her skin. The smell of burned hair and burned flesh filled the air, but it didn’t slow her down. She didn’t seem to be feeling any pain.
Using a weapon that heavy would require a great deal of energy. She wasn’t being powered by her god, and she was going to tire out.
While I felt like I could fight for the next fifty years and never miss a step.
My fury aspect gave me strength and power, but the savior aspect was a hundred times better. Stronger, faster, enduring.
It was simple to parry her attacks, to use the momentum of her swing to push her weapon to one side, again throwing her off-balance.
“Perhaps it is you who should lay down her weapon and surrender,” I said.
“Be silent!” Artemisia seemed past reason. She was breathing heavily, holding the hammer lower than she had before. She didn’t seem to realize how badly this was going for her. She was so bent on her revenge,so determined to kill me and everyone in Ilion, that she was willing to pay for it with her life.
She swung for my midsection and I pivoted out of the way, cutting a line up her right arm. She began to bleed heavily but didn’t notice.
“Your tunic’s on fire,” I told her. “Time to give up, Artemisia.”
Her eyes widened and she used her hand to put out the flames on her sleeve.
I heard Xander grunting, as if in pain. I quickly looked to the right to make certain that he was well.
Artemisia took advantage of my temporary distraction by coming at me, and I decided that this had gone on long enough. Xander might need my help. It was time to stop this.
I began to swing and lunge at Artemisia, driving her back farther and farther. She tried to use the handle of the hammer to block my thrusts, but she wasn’t fast enough with it. Couldn’t be. She was barely keeping up at all.
The advantage of speed became imminently clear to me. The flexibility that I had in my footwork and bladework, the ability to slash at her while still maintaining a cover for myself, the fluidity and precision I had to batter away at her without missing a step. Her exhaustion made her fall for my feints, and she didn’t seem to register when my blade made contact with her body.
And when she tried again to swing her hammer at me, this time I used my speed to knock the hammer out of her hands. When it fell, I grabbed it and threw it as far as I could behind me.
Artemisia put up her hands, as if surrendering. She was panting but still managed to smile at me. “Is this where you take your revenge? Do you cut off my head for all the bad, bad things I’ve done? Have you lain awake at night dreaming of this moment?”
I thought of who I wanted to be. Who the goddess thought I was.
“Dea Nikos.”
Her eyes widened when I turned off the flame.
“I’m going to lock you in a prison cell under that palace, and you are going to rot for the rest of your days,” I told her. “You will live your life knowing how badly you failed and that I beat you. Knowing that Arion will never best Dea. You will think of me every minute of every day. But after today, I will never think about you again.”
Her smile faded.
Xander made a sound of pain and I couldn’t help but look to make sure that he was safe.
“You will remember me,” she swore.
And I turned around to see that she had pulled a dagger from her belt and was going to throw it at my husband’s back.
Chapter Sixty-Six
Again, time slowed. Without thinking, acting purely on instinct, I brought my sword down on her arm, cutting it above the elbow. She looked on in shock as her arm hit the dirt, still gripping the dagger.
Artemisia sank to her knees and began to laugh as blood poured out from her severed arm onto the ground below.
“Look, Lia. The soil is still red.”
The smile froze on her face and she tipped over onto the dirt.
