Innocent Sorrow: A Tale of Twisted Hearts Book One

Chapter Thirteen

When the trumpet sounded a second time, Feli dashed out carelessly while allowing her sword to slash out loosely. It was a juvenile mistake…a foolish mistake caused by her mood and allowed her opponent a glaringly obvious opening. If she had been a weaker fighter, she could have easily sustained serious damage from the blow aimed at her torso. The blade barely skimmed along her side, slicing the fabric of her dress. A step closer and it surely would have dug deeply into her ribs. Dodging to the left, she ducked around the tall man and stumbled back a few steps while turning to face him. She glanced down at the tear in her dress but since the trumpets didn’t sound and she saw no blood, Feli knew the match wasn’t over yet. In the few seconds she stood there, staring at her side, a red haze filled the corners of her vision and anger seeped into her veins. She was angry; angry because her parents refused to understand her worries, angry because they still saw her as a hapless child even after all this time… Feli was angry because, for the first time, she wasn’t sure where she would belong in her own country.

With a loud but short shout, filled with her anger and frustration, she threw herself towards the man with murderous intent. When she brought her blade down against his own the sound that rang out was filled with every ounce of strength in her arms. Lifting her sword from his own, she swung it down again and again as though to hack through the metal that stopped her from slicing through her opponent. In the back of her mind, she dimly recognized the panic in the older man’s eyes. The fear he showed under this strange onslaught gave her pleasure she had never felt before. His fright fueled her pleasure, made her attacks stronger and made the red haze thicker. Once she had pushed him into the center of the ring where they had started, Feli surprised the man by turning her sword to its flat and used it to sweep his legs out from under him. Without even waiting for him to hit the ground fully, she lunged at him, straddling his chest and lifting her sword above her head with what she knew must have been a terrifying grin on her face. She could hear the gasps of those around the ring but they didn’t register…they couldn’t stop her. As she started to bring the sword down, fully ready to stab this man in the head, a voice rang out loud and clear yet strangely distorted. It resonated deep in her soul and drew her out from under the red haze.

“Do not kill, Feli. You can’t kill…”

At the last moment she turned her blade, the tip digging deeply into the dirt while its cruel edge sliced through the man’s cheek. It drew a thin line of blood that welled up and spilled along the gleaming metal. She sat, straddling her opponent’s chest while panting for breath and staring deep into his frightened eyes. The silence carried for a long beat until the shaky voice of the announcer called out. “Um…it would seem…Princess Feliciana of Beldan has won the match and is moving on to the final round of this competition!” Feli stood, carefully pulling her sword away from the man’s face and dropping it to the ground as though it had burned her. She turned swiftly, unable to make eye contact with the man, only to drop to her knees half way to the railing. She had almost killed the man…she had honestly tried to kill the man… Looking up, she carefully avoided the worried orbs of her family and scanned the crowd, stopping on the black mask of the warrior from earlier. Staring at him, she somehow knew he was watching her regardless of the fact she couldn’t see his eyes. Feli stared at him for what felt like eternity till the shaking she hadn’t noticed subsided and a feeling of calm and serenity overcame her, allowing her to stand once more. Nodding her head to him subtly, somehow knowing he had, in his calm and quiet presence, influenced this new sensation flowing over her, Feli turned to face the man she had so brutally taken down and who was now standing there trying to stem the flow of blood with his hand. Feli quietly removed the handkerchief that her mother had used to wipe the dirt from her face and walked over to the man.

“Here sir, use this to stop the bleeding.” She fixed a smile on her face though inside, she still quivered in shock. That red haze was hiding somewhere in her mind…and that thought frightened her. The realization that she could get angry enough to hurt someone frightened and shocked her. The man on the other hand watched her for a moment before taking the cloth and holding it against his flesh. “Thank ya…” he paused for a moment, releasing a soft sigh. “You are a good fighter…I was surprised. You shouldn’t fear that power so much, I’m certain it will save your life someday.” Feli blinked up at the man, her eyes wide with surprise as he gave her a lopsided grin. This man didn’t fear her…nor was he angry at her for his vicious defeat… Instead he was comforting her! Feeling her eyes burn with tears, she blink rapidly and smiled widely at him. “Thank you! You fought well, as well. If I had been a hair slower, this would have ended very differently.” The man nodded a final time and walked away from her, leaving the ring to the cheers of the crowd. Feli also walked away from the center of the ring, knowing she was holding up the competition. Along the way, she gently picked up her discarded sword and flicked it through the air to clean it of the quickly drying blood before slipping it back into its scabbard.