Page 48 of Black Sea

Unfortunately, it won’t be my only disadvantage.

I tensed up as Amlach took a nervous breath. We glanced at each other sideways, lacking enthusiasm.

“I see,” I then said in a grave tone.

Roxior swallowed the last bit of melon, turned his gaze to his men, and beckoned them with a crook of his finger. “Go ahead, then,” he said to Amlach and me.

The soldiers set their crossbows down and drew their short swords. From their excited faces, it was clear they had been looking forward to this moment, maybe to show their Master that they were better than us.

That they could beat me.

Fools.

As we turned to face them, Amlach leaned over me and whispered, “This disadvantage will try not to be too much in your way, Elf.”

I glared at him, and that coaxed the usual irritating smirk from him. Then, we focused on the five opponents ready to draw our blood.

I had lost my strength, my speed. But that did not mean I had lost my fighting skills.

So, when the first two guards attacked us, I showed them what I was truly capable of.

I parried and dodged the lunges, adapting to the tugs that Amlach unintentionally gave me while he punched and kicked.

Where I embodied fluidity and lightness, he represented brute force. And soon, we engaged in a dance known only to the two of us. When I ducked, Amlach’s blow landed. When I blocked, he struck back. The chain that linked us transformed into a weapon to wield whenever our eyes met in the fray.

The soldiers were so uncoordinated that they stood in each other’s way. While Amlach and I . . . we were one.

One mind.

One breath.

One heart.

And when only one man remained standing, we knew what to do without even looking at each other.

Livid for his fellow soldiers on the ground, who were writhing in pain from cracked ribs and broken fingers or trying to stay conscious after a brutal blow to the head, the fifth guard lunged at us.

We dodged his slashes without counterattacking to make him tire a bit more. When the moment arrived, I acted as bait for his blows and shifted aside at the last second, enabling Amlach to strike him in the face, on the side, and at the lower back.

Furious, with the face dripping with blood, stooped, and bent on the struck side, the man flung himself onto us one last time, making a battle noise.

We attacked, too, colliding with him halfway. I deflected the lunge with a slap, allowing Amlach to block the man’s wrist and deliver a powerful uppercut to his belly, making the guard lose his grip on the short sword. The soldier spat blood mixed with saliva, bending double, and I seized the chance to slip behind him and kick his ankle. He fell on one knee, and in a split second, Amlach stood next to me so I could wrap our chain around the human’s neck.

“Ah-ah, friend,” Amlach warned him cunningly when the guard started to rise. “I would stay down, if I were you.”

I drifted my solemn gaze toward Roxior. His irises resembled two blue flames brimming with excitement. The thirst for revenge cast a dark, almost terrifying shadow across his face. Even though he was staring at us, he did not see us, but rather what we would soon obtain for him.

The blood we would shed in his name.

The fall of those who had taken his loved one from him.

“ Very well,” he said, his voice trembling with a dangerous greed.

He snapped the fan shut and rose from his long armchair. He waved his hand to signal someone at the garden’s edge, and old Lotte joined us with two men, one of whom carried a basket covered with a crimson cloth.

“Would you let go of the head of my guards, Princess?” the Master asked, glancing at me with some mistrust. “So he can remove your irons?”

Amlach and I eyed each other, and he nodded at me imperceptibly. So, I unrolled the chain from the soldier’s neck, and he got up quickly. If his master had not been present, he would have lunged at us again. Instead, he took gurgling breaths due to the blood, pulled the small key from under his armor, and freed us.