Kingdom of Snow

Chapter Twenty-One - Thane

The man just smirked at me.

I threw one of my swords at him. "Pick that up. I'm not fighting an unarmed man."

He picked it up. "Interesting."

"Castor, how could you do this to Annaliese? Have you forgotten your feelings for her?"

He frowned and unsheathed the sword. "What are you talking about? I'm going to kill her as soon I'm done with you."

My jaw clenched. I have always wanted to know how strong he was, since I respected him as an equal. But not like this. Not when he is under a spell.

The look in his eyes, however, did not have any hesitations. I could see the extreme hatred and the intent to kill. It must have been hard for Annaliese and Agatha to see him like this.

"What's the matter, Lockwood?"

But spell or no spell, the fact is that he hurt them both, and now, he wants to kill Annaliese.

I will not let him lay a finger on her.

I drew my own sword. "As I said, if you want to get to her, you'll have to go through me."

"Very well." He abruptly charged and I caught his first attack. I was a little shocked by the force. He is the prince and future king of Eleos after all. But he had to do better than that. I twisted our swords down resulting in a turn, followed by a set of thrusts. Of course he parried them, but not as easily as I thought he would.

I lunged and he stepped aside in a flash, and then he put out his own attacks. I blocked them without difficulty and when it was open, I planted my fist on his face. He fell down and the sword flew from his hand.

"Castor! Have you forgotten how much you loved Annaliese?"

He didn't move for a few seconds and I advanced, my sword inches from his head. He looked up with a glare and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "That all you got?"

Before I could get move, Castor shifted his body such that his feet was directly under my sword hand. Then he kicked my hand straight up and as the sword was in the air, I felt my legs suddenly weaken underneath me.

I quickly retrieved the one that fell out of his hand and blocked another attack in time. A foot sweep eh? I've never seen him do that or any of the things he just did. I guess I underestimated him.

I kept him away long enough for me to get up on my feet and regain my stance. His eyes darted to the house behind me, where Annaliese was still resting.

I won't let him hurt her again.

Before I knew it, I was charging at him, and the moment our swords connected, I felt my body being empowered by a rush source of energy. He backed up and soon enough he was the one on offense. I avoided his slashes easily and when it was my turn, I hit him once again with no more hesitations. He caught it though, but I complemented my attack with a punt that sent him sprawling onto the snow. I seized the opportunity but he rolled to the side and hit me on the side of my head.

I was a dizzy for a while and so I stepped away from him, and he did the same. This time, he was the one who attacked first, and with more force than before. I pressed harder too, and then when our contact broke off, with a slash, I aimed for his chest. He avoided it too late. His tunic was cut and I saw blood.

I thought it would faze or at least confuse him in the slightest, but he showed no reaction at all. He resumed attacking, but he was carelessly aiming his thrusts that it only took me a few moves to send him on the ground again.