His posture signaled that he was not going to let it go easily.
“I’m saying. She’s. Off. Limits,” Tynan said slowly.
“You are not the one who decides. Let her say it.” Denis mirrored Tynan’s pose.
“I –” I started saying.
“She declines,” Tynan spoke over me.
“Do you think because of your name you can come here and –”
“There is no need for that. We can always solve our issues in a friendly fight.” Hanoch materialized out of nowhere.
His voice sounded suspiciously excited, as if he had been waiting for something like this to happen.
“Sure.” Denis did not take his eyes off Tynan, who gave him a thin, taunting smile.
“Tynan is challenging you, Denis. You can have your choice of weapon.” Hanoch looked like he was having the best day ever.
“Wait.” I protested, but the three men already moved to the clearing. “What’s happening?” I whispered.
“They’re going to fight over you.” Victor snorted.
“I don’t want them to fight.”
“You should have told that to Denis when he started getting the idea that you are somehow together,” Victor continued.
“What?” I peered at him.
“You talked to him,” Frid said.
“I did talk to him. Just talk, nothing more.”
“There are rules here. People are too uptight with the old ways.” Frid shrugged.
“What does that even mean?”
“You talked to him, never letting him know that you’re not interested,” Victor said.
“And?”
“That’s it. He thinks that he’s courting you now. Why do you think Tynan was so pissed?” Victor leaned back in his seat.
“Why didn’t you warn me? I had no idea that talking to someone could mean that I was somehow encouraging them.” I shifted my gaze from Victor to Frid.
But Frid only placed a finger to her mouth, turning to the fight.
Still in shock, I watched Denis take out his sword. Tynan looked unfazed when his opponent offered him to take an ax. My blood ran cold. I did not know much about fighting, but it seemed hardly fair when one of the weapons had a longer reach while the other one was clunky and heavy.
“No!” I stood up, but Frid forced me to sit back down.
“Don’t,” she hissed and I clenched the edges of my seat.
Denis started moving and my heart skipped a beat. I wanted to close my eyes, but I could not stop watching Tynan, his beautiful, graceful posture of a warrior. He stepped sideways anticipating an attack right when Denis lunged at him without any warning. The blade clashed into the ax and Tynan spun around, deflecting the blow with the grace of a dancer. Another wide swing from his opponent and he caught the sword with the handle of his ax. He made a circular motion with his wrist with such power that the sword sprung up in the air and landed half buried on the ground.
“Are you done?” Tynan asked.
“Fuck you,” Denis growled, struggling to retrieve his sword.
