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But was this going to be enough? I willed her up with all my might, hoping against hope that somehow, she would be able to survive.
Chapter Nineteen
Ava
I struggled for breath. I could feel warm blood swimming across my tongue and staining my teeth. Every bone and every muscle ached. It felt as though I had just run into a mountain. I blinked as I stared up at the morning sun and for a moment, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to move again. Then I heard the crowd chanting for me to rise, and who was I to argue with their demands?
I slowly pushed myself up, gathering my strength again as I returned to my feet. Naaro stood opposite me, as still as a rock, waiting for me to attack again. He was faster than I had anticipated, which meant that my speed was nullified. Usually in fights I liked to overwhelm the opposition swiftly, but that would not be possible with Naaro. This was going to require something more subtle.
He had the advantage in power and height and probably experience too. I spat out a glob of blood. It formed a dark shadow on the sand.
“You should have taken my offer to walk away,” he said.
“Never,” I replied. I charged in again. I watched as he shifted his weight and moved his arms, ready to counteract my movement again, but I knew what he was thinking. He might well have been experienced, but I knew when he looked at me, he saw some hotheaded woman who let her emotions rule her actions. That might have been true a lot of the time, but it was not a rule I lived by. Just as I reached him, I slid under him, sending up a wave of sand. I passed between his legs and then quickly leapt onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck so tightly I wanted to squeeze the air out of his throat. I clamped my fingers together and coiled my legs around him like veins, holding onto him with all my might as he reached up to try and haul me off. He clawed at my arms and my face, and he tried to pry them away, but I grit my teeth and I ended up screaming as I put all my strength into holding on. I could feel him fading beneath me. He began to sink to the ground and all around us there were shocked gasps, in awe of the fact that I might be able to pull off the impossible. It had never been impossible for me though.
I never went into a fight thinking that I could lose.
A smile twitched upon my lips as I tightened my grip. Sweat glistened on my body, flowing from every pore. It stung my eyes and I blinked it away as I gave him everything I had, and just as I felt him succumbing to it, he roared and found some reserve of strength that had been hidden within him. He rose on shaking knees and I felt myself teetering back. There was only one way for him to break the hold now, and that was to crush me. I had already felt the impact of the ground and did not want another mouthful of dirt. Being caught between the ground and his body would not be a kind fate, but he wasn’t just trying to shake me off, and he wasn’t going easy on me. He had laid out the terms of the challenge and he was going to take me to the limit, and if I died then I died.
As I felt myself heading backwards, I released my grip from him and fell away, rolling out of the line of his impact. He crashed to the ground, sending out a wave of sand that got in my eyes. I coughed and spluttered as I clawed to clear my vision, while he heaved and panted as he got to his feet. I knew I needed to press the attack while he was staggering. I ran forward, still fighting to see clearly, and thrust my hands out, sending a flurry of punches against his stocky frame and hard muscles. Pain reverberated up my arms, but I kept punching him because I knew that if I dealt enough damage then I could fashion an opening for myself that would give me the opportunity to kill him.
I circled his body, still trying to use my speed, but he whirled an arm around through the air, hard enough to knock my head off my shoulders. I managed to duck, but as he shifted his body around, he stuck out a leg and took out my legs from underneath me. Once again, I clattered to the ground and found myself trying to crawl away from him, searching for an opportunity to rise to my feet.
This time he wasn’t going to give me one.
I felt two heavy hands clamp around my ankle and he dragged me away, tossing me across the makeshift arena. He snarled. Clearly, I had angered him. He must have thought this was going to be an easy victory, that he could just swat me aside like a fly and teach me a swift lesson, but I was proving to be more difficult. I managed to get to my feet just before he reached me. He brought his hands down in a crushing blow, but I held my arms firmly together and caught the impact. I braced myself because it felt as though he was hammering me into the ground. I jumped and jabbed him in the face, making him stagger back. I tried it again, but this time he caught my hand and bent my arm back, twisting it to the point where I thought he was going to snap it away. He then punched me in the chest again and watched me fall to the ground once more. He stood over me, casting a long shadow.
“Yield,” he said, his voice raspy and hot.
I glared at him.
“Never,” I spat, and kicked out at his shin. He avoided the attack, but it allowed me the opportunity to leap to my feet. I managed to deal a few more blows, but no matter how many strikes I managed to land upon him, all he needed was to hit me once with his brutal force and I was drained of my strength. Already the pain was beginning to overwhelm me. I breathed heavily, and blood trickled out of the corner of my mouth.
I pushed myself to my feet and shook out the pain in my limbs. He snarled. I could see in his eyes what he was thinking, that I was some fool for still putting up a fight, that I should have stayed down when he had first hit me. I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted though. I wasn’t going to show him that my lions were so easily defeated.
I ran in again, like I had before, but this time it was different. This time when I went to strike him, I held my punch, waiting for him to strike back. He went to catch my fist. I ducked under his arm and caught his arm, twisting it around him. I then kicked him in the back and sent him sprawling. I followed this up by running after him and throwing myself at him. My knee connected with the back of his head and he went face first into the dirt. I landed and turned, happy to feel the shock of the crowd that I had managed to bring Naaro to his knees.
I then stood over him.
“Yield,” I spoke mockingly, giving him the same order that he had given me. He looked up with bloodshot eyes and then grabbed my ankle. He dragged me down, I was lost in the sweaty bulk of his body, rolling around and around with dirt gathering on our clothes and skin. His hot breath blasted the air as we clawed and bit and tried to strike each other, but there was barely anything in between us. Eventually we kicked out and managed to get some distance between each other. We were both panting, looking as though we had emerged from some volcano. Our bodies bristled with heat and neither of us had managed to gain a good advantage. I was looking the worse for wear, but he still hadn’t beaten me, and with every moment I lasted against him it counted as a victory.
We prowled around the arena, our eyes locked upon each other. The crowd were in a frenzy. I doubted they had seen anything like this in, well, perhaps forever. I breathed deeply, trying to ignore the frantic beating of my heart. I felt the bloodlust raging within me, the long-held frustration burning inside. It was borne from years of being persecuted by my own father, by being treated like a monster.
“I see you have not learned the limits of your powers yet,” Naaro said.
I tilted my head. His words were enough to catch me unawares for a moment.
“What do you mean?” I asked. He just smiled, and I thought he might have been trying to get under my skin. I didn’t mind that, for it meant that he thought he had to resort to other tactics to beat me rather than relying purely on his physical strength. When he didn’t reply I just stared at him.
“I have honed plenty of skills over the years though, and perhaps it is time that we put these to the test. It’s clear that we are not going to be able to come to a decision when we are both in this form. You wish to see what I am capable of as a lion? Then let us fight as lions,” I said, and immediately began to shift. My sleek golden coat seemed to shine in the morning sunlight, while my roar bellowed out into the air, a warning sound to announce that I was not going to submit easily. I lengthened my claws and bared my teeth, disappearing into my animal instincts.
He shifted as well, his fur the color of ebony, his eyes being lost in the abyss of his body. He was a hulking thing, his mane thick and dark, and I have to admit even though I had confidence in myself, I did, for a moment, think about reconsidering my decision to enter combat with him. But the decision had been made and there was no turning back now. I sprang forward and lunged at him, slashing and swiping at his hide, hoping that I might strike some vulnerable part.
I bounced off him. He turned slowly and bared his teeth. His lips rippled as he let out a low growl, and then he began to walk towards me. Each time his paws hit the ground it was as though a bell tolled for me. His intent was naked, raw, and primal. I dug my claws into the ground and lowered my head, wanting to show him that I wasn’t intimidated. I knew he wanted me to think that this fight was over. I knew he wanted me to believe that I couldn’t defeat him. Maybe that was correct, but I didn’t have it in me to simply roll over and show him my heart.
I began to pace towards him as well. We met and roared at each other. His breath was blistering and it caused a cacophony around my mind, blasting me with everything he had. My roar could not match his intensity, but I still gave him everything I had. I still made the air echo with the cry of my people.
And then we fought. This time we struck claws at each other, digging them into each other. I knew what it was like to have hooks in me and this was no different. We reared back onto our hind legs as we attacked each other, then we circled each other and fought, snapping our jaws at each other. I lunged at him and managed to leap onto his back. I dug my teeth into his spine and he writhed in pain, turning his body so rapidly that he threw me down and I went sprawling onto the ground. He followed up this attack by charging towards me like a bull and butting his hard head into me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I had been in the process of rising up again, but this forced me to spend some extra few moments on the ground.
