Interstellar Ross

Chapter 12 The Dead Fight Better

Witch Pocket Realm

Month of the Black Dog

I tore through the darkness of early morning, my bare feet carrying me across the damp earth with the all the speed and finesse of the wind. It would be more accurate to say I was flying rather than running. Not an animal stirred from slumber as I passed them, racing down the middle of a heard of dozing dear with all the grace of one of Circe's felines. My breathing was strong and even, pumping air in and out of my lungs, my heart beating a steady rhythm.

There was a low rumble from the gathered clouds overhead, and I noticed the near silent steps of someone heading in my direction, using the sound as a distraction.

The first few drops of rain began to fall from the sky as Bryn collided with my side, sending us rolling into the grass and down a steep hill.

I jumped to my feet as Bryn produced two whips from either side of her hips.

She cracked one whip in my direction, and I unsheathed a slender dagger from my right hip, severing the thin wire of her whip in two. Bryn leapt my way with her second whip, cracking it against the tip of my nose.

I hissed in pain and from shock and she pushed me hard at my chest to push me over.

"I've been told to trash talk you if you fight like trash." Bryn cracked her whip when I was still on the ground and I rolled away from it.

I produced a small throwing knife from a pocket in my pants and I tossed it her way before finding my feet. She cracked her whip and it looped around my right wrist, I pulled her forward sharply, clenching my teeth as the wire bit into my skin. The whip laxed as Bryn drew close to me and she used our close proximity to loop it around my neck.

"Well now that I know we're fighting dirty." I struggled as Bryn synched the wire tight around my neck from behind.

I threw my head back, breaking her nose with an audible snap. Her grip on her whip loosened and I swung around to kick her in the stomach, sending her stumbling backward. I unlooped her whip from my neck to lash it her way, she grabbed a hold of the end of it with her fast-Elven reflexes and pulled so hard the whip grazed through across my palm and between my fingers out of my hand.

I gaped at the cut that was already bleeding profusely. I heard the swinging of a fist sailing through the air just in time, bobbing down to avoid Tiberius's attack from behind. I threw my elbow backward, jabbing between his ribs.

"Shit." He cussed as Bryn approached, double edged dagger in hand.

She slashed my way hard and fast and I only missed each jab just in time, playing defensively.

"What happened to the trash talk?" I tried to throw my own punch and was met with a slash across my forearm.

A glint similar to the refraction of light on the blade of her dagger flashed in her green eyes as the sun peaked a little over the horizon.

"The dead fight better than you." She somehow managed to fight faster, cutting me several times.

"Everyone fights better than you." Tiberius launched a savage blow to my lower back and my knees buckled.

Bryn was able to easily wrap her arms around my neck, ready to suffocate me at the drop of a hat.

"I taught ya'll how to fight though." I glared up at him, the pair pinning me between them.

"You think I just let my heavenly father drop kick me without a fight?" He chuckled. "I don't think so."

"You're not who you used to be." Bryn began to squeeze, and I lifted my chin up to try to escape her hold. "I personally don't think you'll ever be able to fight again." The trash talk was getting to the point where it didn't really seem like a joke anymore.