|
|
|
|
|
Of Light, Shadow and Love: Volume 2 Chapter 7 Enough The
feathers darted in and out of Lightsider’s vision as he tried to shield
himself with his wings. All this really accomplished was to focus the attack
onto them, instead of his body. It still hurt like the dickens though. Enough! Lightsider yelled mentally. His
wings burst away from his body, and then swept forward, creating a massive
surge of wind. The feathers scattered and embedded themselves in the ground
and in trees. A few of the razor-sharp plumes lopped off branches before
coming to rest. Shadowdancer
smiled as the doctor forced the feathers away with the same element that
moved them to him - wind, generated by his wings. Still,
it didn’t do to wait too much while he recovered. She leapt at him, her
swords coming out of their sheaths as she did, and grinned as he materialized
his blades barely in time to block her. He bounced off her, and managed to
recover in time to dodge the blow she aimed at his arm. Lightsider
deflected another spinning series of strikes, each one designed to either eviscerate
him or to take his head clean off. Finally, he managed to block a strike like
he wanted, deflecting Shadow’s katana and sword arm high. The surprised drow
only just managed to turn Lightsider’s own strike with the wakizashi in her
guard hand. Lightsider pressed his attack, and Shadow noted the strange
close-combat style he had. It wasn’t just techniques learned with a katana.
There were other styles in there too. She recognized European fencing,
Chinese tai-chi, and even something vaguely reminiscent of saber work. She
smiled to herself. If he can mix
styles, then so can I. She
pulled back a step, then launched into a series of strikes that was meant to
disarm or injure, instead of kill, with a rapidity which would have ended the
fight for a lesser opponent. As she
swept past him, she landed a flat-bladed strike against his wing, and heard
him yelp in pain. Lightsider
spun, gritting his teeth in pain, swinging his katana slightly lower than he
would have normally, adjusting for the difference in height. Shadowdancer
dove into a roll, and caught his wrist with her ankles. She threw him and
rolled to her feet, rising and striking once more, all in one single,
unending motion. Instead of laying him open with her blade, she struck aside
his blocking arm with her own arm, then lashed out with a kick to the knee. Lightsider
had regained his balance and stance by then, though, and Shadow’s kick missed
completely as Lightsider moved his leg, just enough. She felt a gentle tug on
her own leg, and then was upended completely as the doctor used her own
momentum against her in a move that made the spirits of Lightsider’s ancient
teachers proud. Then, in
a brutal reversal, Lightsider put a hand on Shadow’s neck and slammed her,
stomach first, across his knee in a blow she felt straight through her
armored robes. The
little drow woman felt the air rush out of her lungs as Lightsider took her
wrist and the front of her robes in a smooth motion, and tossed her over his
shoulder in a perfect judo seoi-nage
shoulder throw. She let herself fall, and like a cat, twisted and kicked her
legs out, one across the back of his knees, and one up to his groin. She met
him halfway as he toppled, her fist bunched around her katana’s handle
crunching into his jaw. As he fell backward, she rolled to her feet and aimed
a hard, and powerful kick to his ribs that sent him skittering across the
ground. She did not wait for him to stop moving... she immediately sent a
wire singing after his legs. Lightsider
bounced once, and heard the hiss of the wire. He frantically formed a small
shield and sent it in the direction of the sound. It grabbed the end, and as
Lightsider flipped back up onto his feet, he sent the small Shield bubble,
and it’s captured wire, in entangling circles around Shadow. The
little drow responded by grabbing the end of her trailing obi, and spinning
around with it held high over her head. The Kami-woven silk broke the
Shielded wires into sparks, and she darted forward, out of her spin, two
fingers outstretched to whip four wires across where he stood. As expected,
he dodged them, but she let them vanish as soon as he did. She came in fast
and hard, alternating randomly attacks meant to disarm, blocks, and attacks
meant to kill. She did not rely on her swords alone this time, but used her
entire body in the endeavor. She even used, to Lightsider’s horror, her
wings, catching him on the arm and thigh as he leaped back. What in the world is she?! She’s
practically a living weapon! Lightsider winced, feeling the blood trickle down his leg, a
part of him amazed at the realism of the simulator. The
other part of him was occupied in a sinking, frantic feeling, one he hadn’t
felt in over four hundred years. He was losing.
Lightsider
retreated several meters and took a moment to analyze Shadow’s technique,
replaying every movement and strike in his mind. He cast his memory
backwards, searching for something, anything,
that might help. He found
it in one of his earliest memories, when he was just a boy. The old
master smiled at the boy’s question. “Assassins, ninja. Yes, they are hard to
fight. The best are as good as any samurai, and they have many, many tricks,
too. Remember, though, they usually work in stealth. Even in open battle,
they often go for the sure, swift kill. It is at this time they can be the
most vulnerable.” Shadowdancer
was an assassin, and a very, very skilled one. She preferred to strike once. Lightsider
winced at his bruised ribs. Of course, she could also fight dirty, but she
seemed to favor all-or-nothing, killing strikes. The doctor crouched, and
gave a gentle smile that momentarily puzzled Shadow. He spread his wings, now
shining with blood instead of Light, and dug the balls of his feet into the
ground. “Watch the
birdie . . . ,” teased Lightsider. Lightsider
launched forward at Shadow, much faster than she’d ever seen him move before. Shadow
was caught a little off guard, but only a little. She set her own feet as Lightsider
rushed at her like a runaway bullet train. It was a lightning fast, killing
strike, but Shadow briefly wondered why he was leaving himself slightly open.
No matter, she told herself. She knew all sorts of techniques for a mad rush
like this, but the simplest was usually the most sure. Her eyes
met his for the last time, and, for an instant, it wasn’t a game anymore.
Suddenly, she didn’t want to do this. But the sword flashed up anyway, and
then down. Shadowdancer felt only a slight resistance as the blade made
deadly contact. Lightsider’s
eyes widened in blank surprise as he was cleaved from shoulder to hip. Shadowdancer
only had a moment to think about the blow, but that moment seemed to stretch.
For some reason, the thrill of victory she expected, had always felt, was
missing. There wasn’t any thrill in this . . . it was . . . wrong somehow. The
moment passed though, and she looked at Lightsider’s body, still upright and
moving toward her, as if in slow motion, and still in two pieces with that
terrible blank look on his face. And
then, he disappeared with a pop and a little flash of Light. Shadow
stared in disbelief, but had no time to react. Her blow had her sword pointed
at the ground, and before she could raise it in a guard, Lightsider dashed
through the remnants of his own illusion and brought his left foot down on
the tip of Shadow’s sword, pinning it to the ground. At the same instant, he
kicked forward with his right foot, smashing into Shadow’s sword hand and
sending the sword spinning away into the underbrush. Shadowdancer
fell backwards, and Lightsider spun to his left, following the momentum of
his roundhouse kick. He shifted his katana to his left hand in a reverse
grip, and stabbed it straight at Shadow as she hit the ground. The
molecule-thin edge of the sword stopped just as it started to bite into her
neck. At the same time, the entire clearing blazed with Light. Shadow cast
about her for any shadows she could use, but in vain. There was no escape. They
both stood there, gasping for breath. Lightsider’s eyes glittered in the
blazing Light, as he looked down at Shadow. “I win,”
he gritted through his teeth.
|