At least the pole had given her distance.Her club, however, was a good foot shorter than Kenzie’s sword.Distance just stopped being her friend.
That leaves speed and surprise.
Kenzie swung his sword, and Ailith tried to block it, but her skirts twisted around her legs, and the heavy steel blade knocked the club out of her hand, whipping through the air and away from her reach.
Feck.
The crowd didn’t cheer for Kenzie this time but was oddly silent.Ailith kept her knees bent and hands out in front of her, clueless as to what she would do when he attacked next.
She needed time to pick her weapon.
Kenzie stepped forward again, raising his sword high.
“Kenzie!”Alistair yelled.Kenzie froze, turning his head to look over at the man.“Dinna kill her!We canna start a war with the MacDougals!”
“Feck that,” Kenzie spat, returning his attention to Ailith.“She pricked me!The Morays will have us, and I dinna care who ye open ye legs for.I hope he enjoyed ye because he’ll no’ get the chance again.”
Ailith could feel the air thicken around her, the tension from the crowd dense and stifling.She was getting tired, and there was no official to call this fight and no timer to end it.Kenzie had gone mad and wasn’t listening to Alistair, and she knewthatwasn’t going to end well.Could she kill this man if it came to that?He was pressing the issue.Her heart slammed in her chest.
It might come to that.
Kenzie shoved forward to finish his swing, but Ailith faked a move to the left and dove to the right, grabbing her broken pole off the ground and popping up in a fighting stance.
Fury broke from Ailith in a scream as she threw the club at Kenzie’s face and rushed him.The sound of cheering reached her ears – the two boys rooted for Ailith again, not caring if their words earned them another wallop.The club flew over his head, and he ducked away from it.Kenzie managed to avoid injury from the club but not from Ailith’s foot that collided with his left knee.
Kenzie’s left leg dropped to the ground, and he used his sword like a cane to stand.In a quick move, Ailith kicked out, knocking the sword out of Kenzie’s hands and to the ground.That was when she felt her blade shift against her thigh.
My knife!The one William had recently gifted her.How had she forgotten that weapon?
Kenzie shuffled with a limp for his sword, but Ailith drew her knife and stepped between him and his weapon.His good eye widened at the sight of the unbloodied lass with the knife in her hand, then drew his own much longer knife blade.
Briefly, Ailith considered going for the sword, yet as weary as she was, she didn’t think she would have the strength even to lift the weapon into the air, let alone wield it with any measure of skill.Her second thought was to circle to Kenzie’s right, hoping to get in his blind spot now that his right eye had completely swollen shut.However, if she did, he’d just go for his sword again, and she’d be back where she had started, only without her pole and much more tired.
She had to attack but also needed to stay between him and his sword.
Ailith shifted her knife so she held it the way William had instructed while Kenzie held his blade up with his fat fist wrapped around the handle.Kenzie squeezed the handle so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
She raised her left hand like a shield, remembering her promise to William.He had been right; using her own body as a shield was no easy decision.She had to force herself to stop thinking about blocking his knife with her hand.If she needed to, she would do it.She swallowed hard at how far this fight had gone.What had happened to putting him on his arse to end it?
“Kenzie!”Alistair continued to yell to get Kenzie’s attention.“Kenzie Keith!”
So he was trying to stop it.That was something.
Yet, Kenzie was no longer listening.He saw red and was going to do his all to kill her.She read it plainly on his infuriated face.
He stabbed at Ailith, but she blocked his blade with her knife the way William had instructed her, grateful that she didn’t have to use her own arm to block.Kenzie stumbled forward, exhausted with nothing left to give, but managed a desperate reach for her throat with his left hand.Ailith slashed out at his fingers.Dark crimson sprayed the ground, along with two of Kenzie’s fingers.
Ailith froze, wide-eyed at the bloody wound.She had injured people before, bruises, and a broken nose, but nothing like this!
Kenzie stumbled to a halt, dropping his knife.He grabbed his left hand with his right, bringing it in front of his face to stare at his ruined fingers, and screamed.
At that, Ailith shifted into action again.Wrapping her fingers and thumb around her handle, she leapt into the air, bringing her knife down like a hammer, hilt first, onto the center of Kenzie’s forehead.Kenzie’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he dropped to his knees, then onto his face in the dirt.
The same move William had used with Eoghan, only a wee bit harder, knocking Kenzie unconscious.Thank god she didn’t have to kill him.She wasn’t quite ready to take a life.
Surprisingly, the onlookers erupted into cheers for Ailith.Sweaty, panting, and fatigued beyond belief, Ailith spun around to make sure Teagan was on the platform.Gulping for breath, she felt that her legs were going to give out on her, and they did.Her knees turned to rubber, and she dropped to one knee to catch herself from falling flat onto the ground.
With shaky legs, she forced herself to stand and managed another step forward.A movement at her side caught her attention, and she paused.Her gaze landed on the two boys who had cheered for her and gave them a wink.Then, recalling the terms of the trial by combat, Ailith took a deep breath, and under the irate gaze of Alistair Keith, she made her way back over to Kenzie’s unconscious body and gestured at the prone man.
