Sorcery and Sidecars: A Zyan Star Novella by A.A. Chamberlynn

Author:A.A. Chamberlynn [Chamberlynn, A.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-12-26T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

The woman pulled both of her swords with a long, low hiss. Moonlight glinted off the blades, and my first thought was how pretty it was.

My thoughts turned to defense, however, as she strode toward us with very clear intent. Or, strode toward me. This supernatural clearly wasn’t here for Patrick.

He didn’t know that, though. He stepped forward, placing himself between me and my attacker. I scanned the area around us for something to use as a weapon. My senses were sharper than a human’s, so I was able to take in a million details in the matter of a moment. To my left, a thin pipe crawled up the side of a building. I snapped off a section of it and whipped around to face the ninja warrior.

She raised a brow and cast me an amused smile at my choice of weapon, to which I responded with a shrug. Patrick tried to step between us again, but I shoved him to the side. The warrior and I met with a clash of metal on metal, and with two swipes of her swords she had cut my pipe to a length of six inches. But I had also gotten in close enough to use a disarming technique Alyona had taught me, which sent one of her swords dropping into my open hand.

We spun away from each other, each of us with a sword now. She gave me a nod of admiration for partially disarming her. Circling like lions, we were all rigid tension and locked gazes. She feigned a lunge toward my heart, which I ignored. Then she flew at me from the other direction.

Our blades clashed again with a terrific echo that ricocheted down the narrow street. She fought much better than Boren and Chauncey, and even better than Alyona. I was betting she could top just about anyone. Except me. I’d spent the last century in the nearly sole pursuit of perfecting my swordsmanship. Hopefully it hadn’t been all for naught.

The night fell away, along with my worries about Patrick and my immortality. I existed only in the moment, only in this battle. Blood welled up here and there as my opponent’s blade made contact, but my sword took its payment as well. I kept my focus on her brown eyes as we spun and lunged and whirled. She was liquid fury and raw movement, and I matched her move for move.

We began to draw a crowd as several people from the main street were drawn by the ringing of our blades. My attacker frowned as she looked over my shoulder at our onlookers. When sirens were heard in the distance, she stepped back and saluted me by lifting her blade before her face. Then she disappeared into the night.

“I’ll be back for my other sword,” she called over her shoulder.

Patrick rushed for me the moment she’d gone. “Zyan, are you okay?! Who was that?”

“I’m fine,” I said, though my breath came in short gasps. In fact, I felt more exhilarated than I’d felt in a long time.

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