“Gah, get out of my head!” I yell out as I try to shake the vision off and am transported back into my body. When I look back up to where Embrys had been he is gone, only the two horses remain, shifting from leg to leg in restlessness, their hot breath sending plumes of fog out into the crisp night air.
Where did he go?I scan the forest but it is too hard to tell if the shapes I am seeing are trees or man. If he is able to see through my eyes when these visions happen then he knows where I am. I have to move, and quickly!
I jump up from my hiding place and run towards the horses, hoping to make my escape once again but I only make it a few paces before the shadow of something whooshes by the corner of my eye. I whip around to find Embrys, standing only three strides behind me with his hands up, in a sign of non-hostility.
“Please Nuria, I mean you no harm,” he says, taking a tentative step towards me. I take an equal sized step back and point the stolen sword at him, squatting down, into my fighting stance as I narrow my eyes, trying to give him my meanest death stare. A stare I know Marissa would have made fun of.
“You meanmeno harm? Then why send the vargs to kidnap me in the first place? Or were you just followingDaddy’sorders?” He scoffs at that, I flare my nostrils, “I will be no one’sslave! I must rescue my sister. I meanyouno harm but I will do what I have to do without remorse,Embrys,” I say and hear his sigh followed by a chuckle at my outstretched arm.
His cockiness and miscalculation at my seriousness gives me a surge of rage that I will gratefully use to fuel my attack and douse my fear. “Go on, try me,” I say, prodding him to make the first move so I can figure out his weaknesses. I was alwaysparticularly good at goading on my opponents and causing them to attack foolhardily, giving me time to learn their moves.
“I am not going to fight you Nuria. You would surely lose. Come now, this is ridiculous. Give me back my sword and we can be on our way.” He goes to take another step forward but I have had enough of his coaxing and lunge, waving my sword in an arc towards his body. He leaps back and curses, then draws his own sword.Finally.I step back and tauntingly draw a line in the dirt of the forest floor just in front of my feet with the tip of my boot.
I show him my teeth like a wild animal. “You will not cross this line.”
Fencing has always been the only time I truly let myself go. The decorum of the sport often left my opponents bewildered at my feral behavior but there are no explicit rules against it and it usually worked in my favour.
Occasionally I would go a bit too far and end up with a penalty. Like the time in ninth grade when I told Carson Nugent that his inevitable tears of defeat would fill my chalice of victory, earning myself a yellow card. Hunt’s look of disappointment is still one of those memories that makes my gut sink whenever my brain decides to reminisce.
This was a real fight though, no penalties and no Hunt here to disapprove.
I hear Embrys’ chuckle again, the most irritating chuckle that doesn’t require words to elicit its meaning, as I have heard it from many male opponents before. I am often misjudged initially. He thinks I am a foolish girl and this will be easy for him.
I fume at his arrogance but hold back my urge to swipe at him. He feigns boredom as he looks at his sword, flipping it around in his hand a few times before suddenly, he lunges at me slashing towards my chest.
I quickly block using both hands on the hilt to take the weight of his hard blow before I spin out of his reach and swipe towards his open back. He is quick on his feet, ducking under my high swing and sweeping his leg back to knock my two legs out from under me.
I land hard with a grunt and can see him stand, sword in hand, plunging it down to my chest but he is met with my foot in his balls which causes him to stagger back, crying out in pain.What the fuck!Is he actually trying to harm me?I scramble to my feet, not letting my shock steal any of my focus, and sit back into my fighting stance once again. He growls and straightens up, ready for our next blows.Real fight! Real fight!
We are met strike for strike, parry for parry in an elaborate sequence of feet and singing steel as we dance around each other, unable to land anything effective. I can feel myself tiring at the prolonged fight and the heavy sword. Sweat trickles down my face and the beginnings of blisters are forming on my palms.
I will not give up, this is for Marissa!I push on, but it feels as though he is not tiring at all and my confidence starts to wane.
“I must admit, you are a worthy adversary, but I see you are tiring,” he says, grunting between breaths and narrowly missing the tip of my blade at his cheek as he leans back, out of my reach.
“Give this up Nuria.”
I falter for a split second and am met with a slice in my arm. I cry out but do not allow myself to stop as the warm gush of blood starts to soak into my sleeve. He winces at the slice as well and backs up a step, shaking his head.
“Gah! You bastard!” I jump back, out of his reach. I have experienced some small pokes and slices from my tournaments before but nothing as deep as that and the searing pain is too distracting. I have to end this soon.
In my fury I see an opening as he backs away and lifts his hands up. I tackle him to the ground, not giving into his feignedsubmission, crouching low, hitting him below his waist to topple his centre of gravity. We crash down as a united tangle of bodies, the impact knocking the sword out of his hand.
I try to sit up as I straddle him and get the longsword across his neck but its size has me awkwardly having to lean back to pull it across his chest, my arms too shaky now to fully lift it up. Embrys uses this moment to wrap his surprisingly nimble legs around my waist and flip me onto my back, pinning me to the ground and knocking the sword from my slackened grip as he takes both of my hands in one of his massive ones and restrains them above my head. He pushes his other forearm into my neck and leans in close.
“Had enough fun?” he jokes, but I can tell that it was also a struggle for him as his breath is coming in heaves and sweat is running in rivulets down the side of his cheek.
His strong body pushes against mine and I know that from this spot I will not be able to throw him off. Our eyes meet. My heart stutters for a moment. He sucks in a breath, his cocky grin drops.
Damn, he has beautiful eyes.They are exactly as I have glimpsed in my visions, yet so much more. I can see the browns and greens of the entire forest in fall and the raging fires of the dry season in his serious gaze.
A part of me submits to our closeness and does not want him to get off, inwardly purring at what else could be done in this position and sparking the memory of my dreams last night. His strong hand holding me down sends flashes of his touch shivering down my body, but I scrunch my eyes closed and give my head a little shake to dispel this ridiculous longing.
Not the time for this Nuria!The other, stronger willed part of me is pissed at losing this fight and won’t give in so easily so I strain my arms and writhe underneath him, trying to wriggle at least one limb free so I can escape.
“Marissa! Maaaarriiisssaa–” I shout, hoping she is somewhere in these woods and my shouts will bring out the rebels, one enemy traded for another, but I am cut short by Embrys covering my mouth with his calloused hand. I hear his breath hitch and he closes his eyes, turning his head away from me.
“Don’t writhe around like that,” he growls as he releases my mouth, letting his thumb brush against my lower lip. When he looks back at me I can see flames dancing in his eyes.
