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She moved forward, her feet blessedly silent on the damp earth and pebbles, the sounds of the dripping water the only noise.
The man still stood with his back to us.
In seconds, Lancelet had nearly closed the gap. She was just a few feet away. Striking distance.
I watched, tense and waiting.
Her daggers were out. She was close enough to use them. But still, she hesitated.
She raised her right hand.
Even from where I stood a few meters behind her, I could see that it was trembling.
Oh, shit.
A pebble clattered. Lancelet misstepped.
Double shit.
Our foe turned. For a moment, his eyes widened with shock as he saw Lancelet behind him.
But as she remained frozen, making no move with the knives she held, the man’s expression changed to a sneer, and he slid his sword from its sheath.
I didn't hesitate.
Darting forward, I briefly caught a glimpse of Lancelet's panic-filled face as I passed her.
And then it didn’t matter anymore.
I was lunging at the man, my blade slicing through the air.
The small rapier was no match for a longsword. Its reach was laughably limited in a close-quarter fight like this. And we had lost the element of surprise. Nevertheless, as the man's blade hit mine, I somehow held my ground, gritting my teeth and pushing back against the force of the heavy sword with everything I had.
He was larger than me. Stronger than me, most likely. I was probably going to lose. Unless Lancelet snapped out of it and did something to even the odds.
Instead, it was Draven who came to my aid.
The hilt of the rapier began to pulse with latent power as if responding to an unspoken command. A subtle tremor coursed through my hand, sending shivers of warmth up my arm.
Transfixed, I watched as a slender stream of fire snaked down my wrist and across the top of my hand, weaving its way through the steel of the rapier.
The blade’s dull metal roared to life, shimmering with ethereal flames as its surface blazed with a fiery glow.
The heat began to cascade down the rapier's length, more and more intense.
I glanced up. The look in my enemy's eyes shattered my trance. Panic filled his face. I knew this was my opportunity, and it was bound to be brief.
Heat was pouring from the rapier now. The longsword the man held was beginning to gleam with a contaminating heat. Soon, the sword would be too hot for him to hold. From the look in his eyes, he knew it, too.
Clenching my jaw, I shoved forward before the man could rally himself and do the same to me. With a sudden desperate burst of sheer force, I sent the longsword pressing against his chest. The man let out a yelp, presumably from the heat of his sword, but he didn't let go of it.
That was all right. I leaned back swiftly, then arced my arm forward, quickly altering my grip on the rapier. As my blade sliced through the air, I targeted it towards a gap in the man's chainmail, just above the collar where a worn link had created a vulnerability.
I pierced downwards, shoving my flaming blade into that gap. The molten steel sliced through the weakened metal and into the man's throat.
A gurgling sound escaped his lips. I yanked the rapier out and stepped back, breathing hard.
The man clutched at his throat, desperately trying to stem the bleeding, but it was no use. He collapsed to the floor.
