The Kiss Of Death - A Percy Jackson And The Sea Of Monsters Fanfiction

16 - A Deadly Fight Turns into a Make-Out Session

"One on one," I challenged Luke. "What are you afraid of?"

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order. Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear–man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse.

It was the first pure-black pegasus I'd ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus mare bucked and whinnied. "Sir!" Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "Your steed is ready!"

Luke kept his eyes on me. "I've told many times, Mini-Maliha," he said. "You can't bait me into a fight."

"And you keep avoiding one," I noticed. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

Luke glanced at his soldiers, and he saw I'd trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. For my part, the best I could hope for was to distract him, giving my friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Annabeth could.

On the downside, I knew how good Luke was at swordfighting.

"I'll kill you quickly," he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was over a foot longer than my knife. Its blade glinted with an evil grey – and – gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. I could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. I almost smirked when I saw it. Damn – I made that!

Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather – and – bronze shield. He grinned at me wickedly.

"Luke," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield."

"Sorry, 'Beth," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."

I put my knife away, grabbing my Falx sword, it was thinner than Backbiter, but still curved. It was longer though, with a long handle and blade – perfect for someone with a short reach, like me.

The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defence and versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill. I thought back to Chiron, who'd told me to stay at camp no matter what, and learn to fight. Now I was going to pay for not listening to him.

Luke lunged and almost killed me on the first try. His sword went under my arm, slashing through my shirt and grazing my ribs. I spun around, braid flying as I slashed out with my sword, Luke tried to sidestep out of the way, but the blade grazed his chest.

We fought; Hades knows for how long. The cut on my ribs stung. My heart was racing. When Luke stabbed at me, I jumped – tucking my knees to my chest and dodging the blow. I turned, running and jumping, kicking off from the wall and side-flipping, I slashed out with my sword and managed a cut on Luke's arm. He screamed, lunging forwards and stabbing at my legs as I landed.

Suddenly my thigh was on fire, with a pain so intense I collapsed. My jeans were ripped above the knee. I was hurt. A horrendous, huge wound was upon my thigh, crimson red blood stained my leg, running down it and onto the floor like a waterfall.

Luke hacked downward and I rolled behind a deck chair. I tried to stand, but my leg wouldn't take the weight.

"Maliha!" Percy yelled.

I rolled again as Luke's sword slashed the deck chair in half, metal pipes and all.

He advanced slowly, smiling. The edge of his sword was tinged with red.

The pain was so intense I thought that I would black out, but I stood. Head held high. Several people gasped. I limped towards Luke, swinging the Falx with a battle cry.