CHAPTER 353: STOLEN PROPERTY

"Raven, don’t—"

She spoke a tad too late.

The two warriors exploded into motion. Steel clashed against steel, the sound ringing through the night air and probably waking up every bird within five miles.

Sirah moved like rage incarnate. Every swing of her sword carried enough force to split a tree in half, but she controlled it perfectly. Years of training, hundreds of battles, all condensed into economical movements that wasted nothing and promised death, fully on display.

Raven, on the other hand, was smoke and shadow, slipping around attacks that should’ve taken her head clean off. Her smaller blade darted in and out, testing, probing, looking for weaknesses in Sirah’s defense.

This wasn’t random scouts or drunk warriors anymore. Sirah had probably killed more people than Melisa had ever met. She knew every trick, every feint, every desperate move someone might try when they were about to die.

But Melisa wasn’t about to let Raven face her alone.

Sirah brought her sword around in a vicious horizontal arc. Raven threw herself backward, the blade whistling inches from her throat.

"Ignis, nerca, var fal!" Melisa called out.

Melisa’s signature blue flame nearly crashed into Sirah’s back, but the darian avoided it at the last second.

"Two against one? How honorable."

"Fuck honor," Melisa shot back, already tracing another spellsign. "I’m no soldier."

Raven rolled, came up swinging. Her sword caught Sirah’s armor, scraping across the leather with a screech that made Melisa’s teeth ache. No blood. Barely a scratch.

"You’ll have to do better than that," Sirah taunted.

Melisa finished her spell. Ice spikes erupted from the ground between Sirah’s feet, forcing her to jump back. Raven used the distraction to feint left, then spin right, her blade seeking the gap under Sirah’s arm.

But Sirah was ready. She brought her elbow down on Raven’s wrist.

Raven’s sword went flying, spinning through the air to land in the mud ten feet away.

[Shit! She’s too fast!]

"Glacies, spica, perforare!"

More ice spikes shot up, aiming for Sirah’s legs. The darian danced between them, moving closer to Melisa.

"My turn, little mage."

She lunged. Melisa threw herself sideways, Sirah’s blade missing her by inches. She hit the ground hard, rolled, came up casting.

"Ventus, spirare, defendere!"

Wind magic deflected Sirah’s follow-up strike, but barely. The darian was already pivoting toward Raven, who’d retrieved her sword.

They crashed together, steel ringing against steel. But now Melisa could attack from the side.

"Lumi sanguine, dolor!"

Blood magic. Strings of red went from Melisa’s right hand and wrapped themselves around Sirah’s left leg, making her stumble. Raven’s blade darted in, opening a line across the darian’s thigh.

"Clever," Sirah snarled. "But not clever enough."

She ducked Raven’s next swing and rolled away from Melisa’s incoming ice blast. When she came up, she was holding a throwing knife.

It caught Melisa in the shoulder, spinning her around. Pain exploded through her arm.

"Melisa!" Raven shouted.

"I’m fine!" She wasn’t. Blood soaked her shirt. But she could still cast.

Sirah pressed her attack on Raven, driving her back toward the water. Each blow rang against Raven’s blade, the impact jarring up her arms.

Melisa moved to flank them, ignoring the fire in her shoulder.

"Ignis, core, protev mein!"

Flame shield erupted between Sirah and Raven. The darian had to leap back to avoid getting burned.

"You’re making this tedious," Sirah said.

She charged Melisa instead. Melisa tried to dodge, but her wounded shoulder slowed her down. Sirah’s gauntleted fist caught her in the ribs, lifting her off her feet.

She hit the ground, gasping.

"Melisa!"

Raven threw one of her knives. It caught Sirah in the arm, drawing another line of blood. But the darian just pulled it out and threw it back.

Raven barely dodged in time.

They circled each other in the shallows now, water swirling around their ankles. Moonlight turned the river silver, made their blades gleam.

Melisa struggled to her feet, ribs screaming. She had to help. Had to—

Sirah struck first. A diagonal cut that Raven barely parried. The force of it drove her to one knee.

"Getting tired?" Raven asked, surging upward.

Her sword trailed water as it swept toward Sirah’s neck. The darian leaned back, the blade missing by inches. She grabbed Raven’s wrist, twisted.

Raven’s sword splashed into the river.

"No!" Melisa cast again. "Aqua, pressura, explosio!"

Water erupted beneath Sirah, knocking her sideways. But she kept her grip on Raven, dragging the smaller woman down with her.

They wrestled in the shallows, mud and water flying. Sirah was stronger, but Raven was quicker. And Melisa kept casting ice and wind magic that made Sirah’s movements jerky.

Raven slipped out of the darian’s grip, came up behind her.

Her arm snaked around Sirah’s throat.

"My turn," she whispered.

Sirah threw herself backward, crushing Raven against the riverbank. The smaller woman’s grip loosened. Sirah spun, grabbed Raven by the throat.

This time she lifted her clear off the ground.

"I could snap your neck," Sirah said conversationally. "Would you like me to?"

Raven clawed at the hand around her throat. Her feet kicked uselessly in the air.

[Do something! She’s going to kill her!]

Melisa stepped forward, hands already moving in a spellsign.

"Let her go!"

"Or what?" Sirah laughed. "You’ll throw more fire at me?"

"Something like that."

Melisa completed the spell. Ice erupted from the riverbank, sharp spikes that forced Sirah to dodge sideways. She dropped Raven, who hit the water, gasping.

"Interesting," Sirah mused. "But predictable."

She charged Melisa, sword raised. Melisa tried to cast another spell, but Sirah was too fast. The flat of the blade caught her across the temple, sending her sprawling.

Stars exploded across her vision.

"Now, where were we?" Sirah turned back to Raven.

The assassin had found her sword again. She stood waist-deep in the river, blade ready.

"Round three?" she asked.

"If you insist on dying slowly."

They crashed together again. This time, Raven fought like a cornered animal, all desperate fury and reckless attacks. Her blade wove patterns in the air, seeking any opening.

Sirah deflected every strike. Her own sword moved like liquid metal, always in the right place at the right time.

Raven tried a spinning attack. Sirah caught her wrist mid-swing, her grip iron-strong.

"Enough games."

She brought her knee up into Raven’s elbow. The joint bent the wrong way with a wet crack.

Raven screamed.

Her sword tumbled into the water. She cradled her ruined arm against her chest.

"Now," Sirah said, raising her blade for the killing blow. "Let’s finish this."

Melisa’s vision was still blurry from the hit to her head, but desperation cleared her thoughts.

She quickly muttered:

"Lumi sanguine, dolor!"

Again, another set of red strings, this time aimed at Sirah’s left arm.

Sirah’s eyes went wide. Her grip faltered.

Just for a second.

But that’s all Raven needed.

Despite her broken arm, she lunged forward. Her good hand found the knife at her belt and drew it in one smooth motion.

The blade swept across in a perfect arc, catching Sirah’s left wrist.

The hand hit the mud with a wet thump, fingers still twitching, still gripping air where a sword should’ve been.

Sirah screamed.

Not a warrior’s battle cry or a shout of rage. A raw, animal sound of pain and shock that echoed off the trees and made Melisa’s blood freeze. She stumbled back, staring at the spurting stump where her hand used to be, blood pumping out in rhythm with her heartbeat.

Raven raised her knife for the killing blow, blade gleaming red in the moonlight. As she brought it down, Sirah caught her wrist.

They stood there, locked like that.

Melisa raised a hand and was about to finish Sirah off when-

[Huh?]

Crashing through the underbrush. Voices shouting.

The rest of the warriors had heard their Blood Sister’s scream and were coming fast.

"Shit. Raven, we need to go. Now!"

Melisa got off one spell.

"Ignis, nerca, var fal!"

Her blue flame crashed into Sirah’s back and Sirah screamed even harder than when her hand was cut off. Raven went to stab her neck, but Sirah dodged back, purely off instinct.

As Raven stepped forward to try finishing Sirah off again, Melisa caught her good arm.

"Come on!"

Raven hesitated, but only for a moment before turning with Melisa.

And they ran off. But Melisa looked back.

Sirah had fallen to her knees in the mud, cradling her maimed arm against her chest. Blood soaked into the ground around her, dark as spilled wine. But it was her face that confused Melisa.

Gone was the fierce warrior who’d claimed her. Gone was the confident predator who’d... well, fucked her senseless.

No, the face she saw looking back at her was that of a woman who’d lost everything in the span of seconds.

The first warriors burst through the trees, weapons drawn and panic in their voices.

"Blood Sister!"

"Get the healer! Now!"

"Find them! Don’t let them escape!"

Melisa turned away from Sirah’s heartbroken expression and ran. She followed Raven into the darkness, branches tearing at her clothes, the sound of pursuit growing behind them like an angry storm.

[Sorry, but I’m not gonna be anyone’s captive.]