Gentle Green

Chapter Five

Four red eyes glowed against the darkness that stretched out before her. They surrounded a large, round mouth filled with jagged teeth. All these were stuck to a bulbous head capped with whip-like locks of black hair.

The rest of the evil spirit's body materialized from the shadows as he approached. His stumpy, barrel-shaped torso expanded with every breath, and the bulging muscles on all four of his limbs pulsed whenever he moved. The angry red scales that covered his body rippled with them.

"You've chosen to play again, little girl?" the spirit asked in gruff, echoed tones. His round mouth, which took up almost all of his face, stretched out as if to grin. "How foolish."

"I'm not here to play, Binasa," Sua said, her voice thin. Despite the many times she'd faced this monster already, he still frightened her. "I'm here to fight for my mother."

"Even more foolish!" Binasa stepped to one side. He started circling the clearing and, as a consequence, trapping her at the center of their makeshift arena. "Your mother's soul belongs to me. It was mine the moment she borrowed my magic to help defeat your pathetic father's enemy."

Sua clenched her teeth at the insult.

"My father was not pathetic." She raised the blade higher. Her fingers turned white from clenching the hilt. "He saved my mother from being auctioned off to the highest bidder. He won Tamisna in a duel. Turned it around into a good business. A respectable business."

"With my help!" The spirit lurched, and Sua stumbled back. "Your father was a weak man of the books with no talent for the blade. He would have lost that duel if I didn't possess him, and your mother knows it. You know it. You were there the moment he died."

Sua's hands shook as the memory returned to her of its own accord.

She remembered the night her father stumbled home, bruises painting his body blue-and-black, blood dripping from a cut on his lip. She remembered her mother's anguished tears as they helped him to bed and stayed by his side until his last breath. She remembered his apology for not being able to fight back against the ruffians who'd robbed him.

"He may have been frail, but he tried his best. Just like I will." Sua pressed a stud on the blade's hilt. The sharp weapon started spinning like a top. "I'll slice your heart out and win my mother's soul back from you!"

Sua lunged at Binasa. She held the blade out, hoping to pierce its twirling tip into his stomach. But the evil spirit jumped over her head to escape.

Binasa kicked her in the back before she could turn around and chase him. The spirit's large foot connected with her side and part of her spine. The painful blow knocked the breath from her body as she fell to her knees.

Luckily, she managed to swipe the dial on the hilt before the blade could cut her. It retracted through one end of the metal handle and emerged at the other end. The weapon's tip dug into the ground, and she used this to get back on her feet.

Another quick swipe of the dial brought the blade back to where it was. It arched in the air as she spun around to go after Binasa again. She ran towards him, the weapon raised over her head, intending to slash his shoulder.

Binasa, however, had anticipated the move. He dove low and tackled her before the blade could come down on him. His blunt but hard fingers dug into her stomach as he gripped her and flung her away.

Her back hit the ground with a loud thud. Her weapon tore through part of her mantle, but she paid the damage no mind. She stumbled to her feet and clutched the blade once more.

"Foolish, foolish girl," the spirit mocked. He brought his hands together and cracked his knuckles. "You end up battered and bruised every time, yet you still come back for more."