Lykaon

Chapter 14: Try Again

POV: Jai

I flipped my Bowie knife into a reverse grip in my sweaty palm. It gave me less stabbing range but if this came down to a very close-quarters battle, I was sure that I'd have the upper hand.

My enemy's primary weapon was ranged but in this setting it had little use. The thick concentration of trees combined with the darkness of night made sight rather difficult. The dense undergrowth is where I crouched, hidden. All that was left to do was either sneak close enough to strike or wait for her to get in range of my knife.

Every detail of my surroundings was processing through my mind with intense scrupulosity. Missing one tiny sign could very easily lead to my defeat. I swear I could hear my heartbeat resounding. Normally I had little fear but I knew how adept my enemy was in combat. One mistake and I would be at her mercy. That's something I was absolutely terrified of. My mind was racing with every possibility of how this could go; very few them ended well for me.

Cautiously, I began moving in the direction I had last seen her. I had to be extra careful to ensure that I made no noise as I crept through the fallen leaves and branches. It was odd, I could've sworn that she had come this way but as I observed the ground, I saw no signs of her presence. Her stealth abilities were incredible.

Suddenly I heard the sound of cracking behind me. I quickly spun and dove into a roll, hoping to get behind my opponent and catch her off guard. As I came out of the maneuver, she was still nowhere to be seen. "What the-"

Cold steel lightly touched my throat and I realized I'd been tricked. "Drop your weapon," she commanded.

I gritted my teeth, not willing to give up so easily. I jolted my elbow backward and caught her in the side. She jerked away just enough for me to rotate around and swing my blade at her head. She ducked under it but I brought my weapon back just as fast in the opposite direction. Her extreme agility allowed her to leap back and avoid my attack. I burst forward in an attempt to close the distance between us. Allowing her to get too far away would put me at a huge disadvantage. Oddly, she made no attempt to flee and stood her ground. Lunging at her with my knife, she just barely moved out of the way and allowed my arm to go between her's and her chest. As soon as it did, she tightened her arm around my wrist and pulled upwards, forcing me to release my weapon. Still controlling my arm, she allowed herself to fall backwards and placed her foot on my chest as she did. Using my own body momentum, she managed to land standing up but I was thrown flat on my back with the air knocked out of me. Before I could recover, my enemy executed a front flip, simultaneously loading her weapon as she did. She landed standing directly over me and once again put her foot on my chest, making sure that I knew I was defeated. Her crossbow was now pointed directly at my face.

"Yield."

I sighed deeply, "Okay, fine. I give up. Could you get your foot off me, please? I can't breathe."

Calypso slyly smiled down at me, "You're not moving fast enough. You should've held back instead of charging me at the end, it was all too easy to counter you." Removing her foot, she took a step back and reached out her arm to help me up, "You've been relying on your ability to win fights for too long. Try again."

I grasped her hand as she pulled me off the ground, "I know, I know. That's why we're out here, isn't it? Although, I think it'd be more immediately useful for you to teach me how to use my aura." I brushed various small leaves and branches from my clothes.

"So you think. The thing is there's only a handful of aura users, while there are millions of people who don't use it. These are the fundamentals. Before you learn true aura, you have to know how to fight like a normal human. You won't survive long out here if you can't do that. Dakoda would tell you the same thing."