It nearly turned to follow her, and that was its undoing. Tarian was there in an instant, twirling hisstaff in a very pretty light show. He hacked at a limb as it swiped with the other. She hopped up behind it and plunged her sword into the center of its back.
I really need two weapons,she thought dismally as she was forced to rip it out again and spin away.
Why would you leave a weapon in…an…enemy?Tarian asked as he, too, cleared out of the creature’s reach.
Oh…I don’t know…
She darted in, caught its attention, and hesitated. Tarian did the same, but the creature knew he was the more dangerous of the two. Which kinda hurt her feelings.
Tarian snickered, having heard her.
Because of this.She sprinted at it and plunged the now-dagger into the creature’s lower back, at the base of the spinal cord. It howled, the first time it had done so. That would hinder its movement. She envisioned what she meant to do, then spider-monkeyed up the creature’s body, using the sword as a bracing point for her foot, wrapping one arm around the creature’s neck and reaching out with the other.
Tarian tossed his blade to her. The second it was in her palm, it reduced in size to the perfect knife for the job. She slammed it into the creature’s eye, dodged its agonized swipe, and fell away as it spun. She hit the ground hard, her hip flaring with pain, then rolled so as to present a moving target.
Tarian yanked her blade from the creature’s back, left his where it was stuck, and swung. His muscles bulged as he hacked the head from the creature’s shoulders.
She squealed, hoped he hadn’t heard, and scooted away from the oblong head spraying the stone near her as it rolled by. The knife made a satisfyingclunk-clunk-clunkas it went.
“Huh,” Tarian said, looking around for something to wipe her blade on. “I see your point.”
She pushed to standing and grabbed his knife. She looked down at her filthy clothes and thought,Fuck it. She ripped off her sleeve, which had been hanging on by a thread anyway, and cleaned his blade. He walked to her and, before reaching for his blade, wiped her now-switchblade-sized knife on the part of the shirt still on her body.
“Really?” she asked quietly, not knowing how loud they could be. “You couldn’t use the part Ijustripped off?”
Smirking, he tossed the knife into the air and took his before she startled and juggled it out of the sky. Unlike a normal blade, when this one fell against her hand, it was as dull as a stone.
“Cute,” she whispered, keeping it in her hand.
“Shall we?” He indicated for her to go first, which would’ve been chivalrous had it not been more dangerous. His voice was at its normal volume. “That went much smoother than I could’ve anticipated.”
She still whispered, “You say something like that after every skirmish.”
“Yes. You continually surprise and impress me.” He paused, looking down at her with annoyingly pretty, sparkling eyes. “You’re not going to gush with that compliment?”
“Oh shut up,” she muttered.
He laughed. “No, but really, I am surprised and impressed. You handled that creature like you’d battled it a million times.”
“I handle every creature like I’ve battled it a million times. Confidence makes the arrow fly true.” She tilted her head. Was that a saying or had she made it up?
“And you’ve earned it.” He held out his hand when they reached the other side of the space. The walls condensed into a tunnel not unlike the one they’d come from. He put his finger to his lips, then to his temple.
We’re miming instead of talking now?she asked.
We worked very well together against the Celestials. I wondered if that was a fluke. It seems it was not. I think we can expand our communication to nonverbal cues.
She twitched up her shoulder, something Zorn would’ve known was“yeah, sure, whatever,” but that Tarian gleaned from the thoughts tumbling through her head.
Yes, you do have a dizzying mind at times,he murmured, his focus snapping back to the issue at hand. The bioluminescent moss was back, covering much more of the ceiling than at the beginning of the tunnels. It cast the two of them in an eerie glow.And yes, I’ll be able to cheat until we teach you how to shield your mind.
She looked over at him with a quirked eyebrow. His gaze roamed her face, paused on her eyes, and stuck to her lips.I don’t know what that means, but I’m happy to be looking at your beautiful face.
She rolled her eyes.
Idoknow what that means,he murmured.
You’ve never mentioned there was a way to shield my mind.
