Kacha barked out three names, and out of the long line of soldiers, three stepped forward. I wasn’t sure who was who, but in my head, I could see what kind of fighters they were before they even took their positions.
The large one was a bear, his weight and strength putting him in a class of his own. The middle one was a wolf, used to hunting in a pack, used to having his unit with him in battle. The last was a hawk. Sharp-eyed and used to hunting on his own. He was a sniper or… an electro mage?
I just needed to get through this fight, to find a way to succeed.
“Are you ready, Consort Airón?” General Kacha’s voice broke through my distraction, and I turned back to the three men.
I had been observing them, but they had also been observing me. What did they see in me? Hopefully, it was only a helpless northerner. A child too far out of his depth in the ocean: someone ready to drown.
Three on one weren’t odds I liked, even when I was the only one with a sword.
“Ready,” I said.
“Begin.”
At General Kacha’s order, the men leapt, their empty hands ready for me. The bear was the fastest, and he came at me with the force of a true bear in the forest. I didn’t let him get close enough. Instead, I spun to the side, using the flat of my blade to slap against his knee.
He grunted, turning to face me. This was why our blades were shorter. A longer blade had better reach if you were attacking from a distance.
Two armies facing off against each other needed longer blades, more reach.
But northerners were hunters. We set traps. We got close. It was no wonder that while the southern emperor had thoughtof the marriage as a way to politically destabilize the Northern Kingdom, my mother had only seen it as a way to get her own assassin into the Imperium.
The bear rushed at me again, aiming one fist at my face. I dodged it, whirling straight into his other fist. It struck me hard in my solar plexus. Still, now he was in my domain. I brought the blade up, slicing it across his stomach.
He growled again and didn’t fall.
I stumbled back, trying to keep all three of them in my eyeline. I had effectively sliced my dulled blade across his exposed stomach. If we were playing fair, even he would have had to admit he’d been mock-gutted like a fish ready for a dinner plate. It was a death sentence if the blade was sharp.
But he was still coming at me.
From the glint in his eye, this was no farce to him. He intended to end my life, and all I had was a toy sword to defend myself. They weren’t planning to obey the rules of their mock fight.
In three steps, he was on me again, and this time, I didn’t hold back. I slammed the blade up, the dull edge smashing into his nose as he wrapped two hands around my neck.
With a shocked scream, he loosened one of his hands, and I twisted free, grabbing at his other hand still on my collar. I pinched between his thumb and forefinger, stepping back until I had his arm fully extended. Then, I twisted back toward him, bending his arm until I heard a snap.
Blood poured from his nose, and one of his arms hung limply at his side. I released it, turning too late to realize that the wolf had circled around my back. He punched me hard in my stomach, in almost exactly the same place as the bear had.
I crumpled over, gasping, but I didn’t have time.
Turning it into a roll, I somersaulted out from between them. Once I was free, I caught sight of the hawk just outside the circle.He’d been about to come up behind me, and I didn’t want to see what the sniper had in store for me.
I rushed forward, slamming the hilt of the blade into the back of the wolf’s head. He fell onto his hands and knees, reaching back to touch his skull. As he gasped, I saw the bear come forward, swinging his good arm at my head. I wasn’t going to let him have a second chance to knock me out. Using the wolf’s back to jump off, I leapt forward, kicking the bear’s knee out from under him.
He fell hard, his weight making the impact even more brutal. The ground shook, and I struck the hilt of my blade into his temple. He collapsed forward, and I turned just in time to catch the wolf before he got off the ground. With a kick at his face, I danced to the side, swinging my gaze, searching for the hawk.
At the last moment, I caught him before he wrapped an arm around my throat. I used the flat of the blade to push his arm away from me, sending him off-balance.
Then I ducked low, spinning a kick that got his legs out from under him, laying him out flat on his back.
Time. I needed more time.
The wolf pushed up, surprising me with a tackle. I tumbled down, the impact waking all of my aches and pains from the assassination. My back seized, making it almost impossible to move for a second as my head spun, aching where it had slammed into the floor. He was on top of me, legs around my waist.
Blood from his head dripped onto my face as he wrapped two hands around my throat. I got one last gasp of air before he cut it off.
But I was from the north. I could hold my breath when I swam in arctic waters. And Yorîmu had trained me to hold it for even longer, long enough for guards to pass, long enough that most would think I was dead.
