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“I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t think I can be killed by someone named Brody. Maybe if your name was Mason.”
He scoffed. “Mason? Surely you jest. Mason isn’t a warrior. Mason is someone who works as a snotty maître d’ at the upscale steak house.”
“Be that as it may, I still see Mason as more likely to kill me than Brody.” I watched and waited. If that taunt didn’t bring him closer, I wasn’t sure what would.
Brody brandished his newly made broadsword and broke into a run. Good thing Ray encouraged me to bring my own.I jumped out from behind the tree with my sword at the ready. Our blades clashed, and the sound of steel on steel rang through the quiet forest. Birds that had been lurking on branches scattered into the sky.
“You’ve had training,” he said, with a note of admiration. “And here I thought the old skills were lost to the younger generations.”
“How old are you anyway?” With his relatively smooth skin and reddish-blond hair, he didn’t look a day over forty.
“Old enough to know I can disarm you in two more moves.”
Which the bastard did.
The sword twirled through the air and landed five feet away in a snow-covered thorny bush. Terrific.
Before I could move to retrieve it, leaves snapped off the surrounding branches. I glanced up, unimpressed. “Too bad it’s winter. You’d have a lot more foliage to work with.”
Brody maintained his confident air. “I’ll make do.”
More leaves, along with sticks and stones, hurtled toward me in large clumps and began to move together in a circular motion until I found myself in the center of a woodland tornado. A delightful combination of dirt and snow blew into my eyes and mouth. I made the mistake of using my hands to smack away the twisting debris. With the amount of bandages I’d need later, I’d look like a mummy.
“You know what they say about sticks and stones,” I shouted to be heard over the noisy tornado.
“They break your bones?” he offered.
I crouched down in a squat position, careful not to get hit by the flying debris. It would be all too easy to lose an eye to a sharp stick in this chaotic mess. I wasn’t sure what Brody’s next move would be, but at least I knew mine.
I withdrew one of the throwing knives from my boot and braced myself. Ducking my head to protect my face, Icrashed through the tornado wall and somersaulted to a standing position.
“I should’ve tightened the twister,” Brody said. “I misjudged your size.” He pointed to a spot on his cheek. “You’ve got scratches and a dab of blood here. Any other injuries?”
I made a show of examining my limbs. “I think they’re fully functional. Let me test that theory.” I whipped the knife at my assailant. The blade lodged itself in Brody’s chest, just above his heart.
His head tilted to observe the knife. “Nice shot. I wasn’t expecting it.” He wrenched the blade from his body and tossed it back to me.
“Very sporting of you,” I said.
His grin was almost infectious. “You’re going to need it, love.”
Vines slithered down from the trees and coiled around me as roots broke through the earth to attach themselves to my boots. They entangled me, preventing me from moving. The more I strained against them, the tighter they became. The knife fell from my hand. So much for that idea.
“Would you mind picking that up for me?” I asked.
Brody chuckled. “I like your style.”
“And I like this trick, except the vines are digging into my skin. It’s uncomfortable. Show me something else you can do.”
Brody ambled toward me with the dull side of his sword resting casually on his shoulder. “So you can run away? I don’t think so.”
“You insult me, Brody. Do I seem like the kind of person who runs from a fight?”
His grin faded. “No. You don’t, as a matter of fact.”
He was close enough to reach. I gathered my strength and snapped the vines wrapped around my left arm. Before hecould react, I lunged, punching the wound in his chest. His blue eyes widened at the shock of my touch. Taking advantage of his momentary pain, I forced my way into his head and let the darkness seep into his skull. I quickly released my hold on him, not wanting to overdo it. For someone who wanted to kill me, he didn’t seem half bad.
