Feathers

Chapter 10

I stepped into the circle of people around me. Well, they weren't exactly people. They were angels. Four of them to be exact. Jeremiah, Gabe, Har, and Castael. 

They surrounded me in a circle and stood straight as boards. 

"This is an ancient duel to find the next warrior. You are not the next warrior so don't get a big head. This is just the best way to find out if your ready to take on Kushiel. Normally there would be ten of us but seeing as we only have four... yeah," Jeremiah said. "You will have four minutes to get all of us on the ground. Once we are on the ground we are, how you say, "out". We cannot fight any more." 

"So it's like tag?" I asked. 

"No," he said. "Shall we begin?" he asked.  

I nodded and prepared myself.  

"Go." 

I went to Castael first because I had a plan for him. I hit him in the stomach but he grabbed me and pinned my arms behind me. 

"Hey, babe!" I said. 

"You just called me "babe"!" I could hear the excitement in his voice. His grip loosened and I took this opportunity to flip him on his back. I got him on the ground and straddled his hips. I gave him a kiss on his nose. 

"Bye, babe!" I jumped off of him and picked my next opponent. They were all coming at me so I picked the closest one to me.   

Gabe came at me full swing so I knew it wouldn't be hard to get him on the ground. I just used his own momentum to push him off of his feet. He was down in seconds. What I hadn't realized was that I had already used a minute of my time which would have gone into good use for Har. She was older, but she was quick. 

I tried to throw a few punches but she easily dodged and retaliated. Once, she caught my fist and twisted my arm over. I screamed in pain but used the angle she had me at to catch a kick at her. She dodged this one, too, but released me from her vicious grip.  

I rolled my shoulder to get some pain out.  

"Honey, it takes a lot to beat me," Har said. We were circling each other, my fist up, her hands at her side. She seemed utterly calm.  

"Two minutes!" Jeremiah shouted.  

"Shit," I muttered. I thought about doing that awesome jump-on-the-wall-and-get-a-good-angle-to-punch-someone thing, but there were no trees around her and I don't think I could have done it.  

"Get it together, Alice!" Gabe shouted.  

"She's doing great! Fight for Mo!" Castael reassured me.  

I thought for a moment and then decided my next move. I went to kick Har but she caught my leg just as I had hoped. I used her strength to lift myself up and kicked her in the head with my other leg. I rolled when I landed and Har looked up at the sky stunned.  

"You're down," I stated. There was a flash of pride in her eyes before her face settled into an angry expression. I was too distracted by my feat to remember that I still had Jeremiah to fight. He kicked my knees out and I went sprawling on the ground. Before he could get near me though, I was up again.  

"Am I out?" I asked. 

"No, that's only for us," he replied. 

I picked my knuckled back up. I went for a punch but he easily dodged it. I went for another one but he blocked it.  

"Thirty seconds," he sang. I mentally cursed as I tried for another punch. He pinned my arm and threw me over his shoulder. I struggled to get free but to no avail. Jeremiah made a quick movement and I was thrown a few yards away from him. The wind knocked out of me, I laid there for a few moment. I could hear him counting down as he walked toward me.