Djinn Unleashed by Mark Albany

Author:Mark Albany [Albany, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

11

I blinked the sweat away from my eyes. It proved of little use as my eyes ended up stinging anyway, but I ignored the pain. More an annoyance, really, but at this point, distractions could prove a good deal more painful. I blinked again.

It made no difference. I ground my teeth, gripping the practice stick in my hand tighter as I darted forward.

Aliana smiled, tracking my movements and taking a few steps backward as I feinted to the right, spinning on my heel and coming back around to the left, my ‘blade’ arcing for her neck. She swayed away from the strike, waiting as it sailed harmlessly past her neck before she aimed a strike at my face with her practice weapon.

I dodged as well, leaning backward to avoid the cut. I moved a few steps backward, around and to her left, aiming a strike at her flank that she wasn’t ready for when my foot caught on an rock. I grunted, tripping and falling hard on my face but not before tapping lightly at her exposed back.

“Well that was embarrassing,” she said with a grin, placing her stick on my neck before I could recover. “Almost as embarrassing as that…what do you call it? Beard?”

I scratched at the stubble that had started to grow over the past two weeks or so. It wasn’t quite a beard, but it would be in another month or so if left untended. I wasn’t overly pleased with it. It looked scruffy and undignified and itched incessantly.

Lacking any tools to shave it, though, I was forced to keep it in place for the moment.

“You’re one to talk about questionable choices,” I said, pushing myself smoothly to my feet in a single motion, keeping my ‘sword’ in hand and pointing it at her hair, “with those ridiculous bangs. And how is it that over the two weeks we’ve spent here, my hair and ‘beard’ have grown unruly, while yours remains the same, laughable though it may be?”

She reached up to stroke her hair in an instinctive motion, opening her mouth in mock offense. “My hair was considered quite fashionable in my time. And it has never grown. One of the benefits of being what I am is never having to worry about that sort of thing.”

“Yes, it was fashionable… what, fifty years ago?” I asked, grinning. “Maybe more?”

“Oh-ho!” she exclaimed, twirling her weapon around. “That’s quite a sharp wit you have there. Have you been honing it instead of your fighting skills?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, moving into a ready stance. “I had you in that last bout.”

“Oh please,” she replied with a laugh. “You sacrificed your footing and balance for a light tap to my back. That can hardly be considered a victory.”

I grinned and would have continued if she didn’t move forward again at a blinding speed. I was almost used to seeing her move like that by this point. Fourteen days of practicing to better my skills with magic and combat.

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