Say Geronimo

Chapter 2

Fiern lifted the sword in his hand and pointed it at the woman before him.

"Are you sure you're ready this time?"

Mari gripped the twin blades. "Don't patronize me."

He grinned and charged. Mari lifted the swords and swung at him, rushing the point of her steel into the place she predicted he would be but the blade merely picked at the threads of his shirt. Fiern slapped the flat of his sword at every unprotected inch of skin. A sick sort of pleasure came over him.

Mari growled. Her misty eyes flared and glowered at a space several inches from his eyes. "Fiern!"

He laughed and backed a fair distance away. "I asked if you were ready."

She glared at the blank space and walked off the mat. Fiern grudgingly followed her to a bench in the back of the room. Mari sat back and rubbed the bruises forming on her ribs.

The girl lifted her shirt and ran nimble fingers along the damage. Purple and yellow bruises blossomed across her dark skin. She shook her head and let the tunic fall. "You're a jerk."

Fiern pulled a chilled pack of ice from his pack and handed it to her. "Mars, You asked me for the match. And you needed the competition," He paused, tasting his words, "You are blind, Mari. How can you expect to become a champion if you cannot even defeat me?"

Mars massaged the ice pack on her ribs and said, "There is not a single competitor in this tournament at the same level of fight as you." She fumbled with the zipper on her pack and pulled out a canteen. "You are the only person I know that can give me a certifiable beating."

"Well, that doesn't mean much to me as you only get out of your apartment once a week," Fiern smirked.

"That is also true," She laughed and sipped the water.

Fiern watched the open skyline just beyond the deck. The towering scrapers brushed the tip of the clouds with neon blue and white lights. From their perch in the dojo, the city below appeared quiet and serene- devoid of a spreading virus or any heinous crime.

His black dreadlocks whipped in a faint wind that smelled of smoke and rain. Mari closed her eyes and breathed a sigh.

"I'm starting to get that feeling, you know? That kind of nervous energy before something big happens. It's crazy . . . Like non-stop adrenaline."

Fiern cast her a side glance, "So, you're really going to do this tournament then?"

Mari stayed quiet but then said, faintly and sure, "Yes."

His jaw locked and he looked away from the resting girl. Through all their training and toning he had never truly believed she was ready. And he still felt that way.

"I know that silence." She groaned as she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "I'm not going to back down from this, Fiern. I think you and I both know this is something I need to do."

He shook his head but remained quiet.

Mari set the ice pack on the bench and touched his shoulder. "You should be there," She paused then said, "Mom will be in the second row if you do come."

Fiern nodded, if only because he knew that she needed to feel his confidence, false or true, before she entered the tournament.

"Did you just nod or...?"

He smiled and shook his head. "I will be there, you pain." He nudged her shoulder and she punched him back.

She slipped the canteen into her bag and stood, a thin walking stick held in her left hand. "Well then, I will see you there." She walked down the hall, the tick, tick, tick of her stick on the marble floor echoing as she walked.

Fiern rubbed his eyes. If Mari did compete in the tournament she would be the first blind person to do so and that was something he wanted to see. He just didn't want to see his little sister cut down blade after blade. Being blind would not matter to these people. They would kill her without a blink.

He would go but not to watch the bloodbath that would incur. No, he would go to protect Mari.

The young man stood and walked to the deck. Hundreds of feet below him he watched Mari exit the building and fall into pace with the swarm of the city's finest night-owls. After several blocks, when her figure was little more than a blur, he saw her turn down the curb and wave down a hovering rover.

The rover floated through traffic to the street's side where Mari slipped inside and zipped through the living city's veins.