LINKED | Brothers Online Series | BK #1

Chapter 17: Patience

Brenda (Zara) Lockwood

I watched Karim's shield soar and activated my own skill. "Slash" enveloped my blade and with a step, I ran, Thom a good three yards ahead of me. He leapt and smashed his staff down, clanging on the blade of the elfin knight. I didn't have time to see what happened next. A sword swipe reminded me of the situation.

Gritting my teeth, I blew out my skill and slashed across the blue eyed man in front of me. He stepped in with a sword and blocked the slash, sparks exploding from the impact.

Then he spun, slicing up from his waist to my face. The flat of my blade came up to defend. The follow up strike caught me off guard and I fell back.

'Crap! Come on, get back!'

The mental encouragement surged me to my next attack. I used a new skill this time, "Hammer Blows". The move smashed the flat of my heavy two-hand on to the lighter one-handed sword of the elf. It worked and pressed down, opening up the NPC for the second move, a spin around to deliver a horizontal slash.

'Yes! Score!' My triumphant crow was stopped in its tracks when I checked the elf's health.

Ninety-eight percent.

'W-what? How? That was a good hit!' I stood there stunned, stupefied as to how much damage I did. Unfortunately, I should have kept moving.

The elf slashed at my face again. I just stood there blinking owlishly in return. The move would have hit too if it wasn't for the hand on my shoulder.

Whoever it was yanked me bank, forcing me to stumble clumsily. I glanced up to see Thom, his eyes narrowed strangely.

"Could you at least move? Like how– ugh – hard is that?" He parried the strike quickly. The f-word appeared in his vocabulary and I blushed at the harsh use. "Seriously, get up! You're open!"

"R-right!" Pushing myself upright, I watched Sho engage two opponents at once. The red tinge on my cheeks remained, amazed at the events occurring in front of me.

Left parry, right parry, kick left kick right, bam bam bam. Thom unleashed a series of lightning fast attacks and immediately put the elves on the defensive.

His staff twirled around his neck and he followed with it, clanging the weapon off of metal and flesh. A move struck an elf's face and it contorted into a pancake.

'Bullseye! Go get them Thom!' My mind couldn't help but cheer on the ass in front of me. 'Beat them up!'

A twinkle of light flashed suddenly from behind me, coming from Yumi. It stuck itself in an elf's arm, still glowing from the skill. The hilt of the dagger looked awkward in contrast to the elven armor.

"Jesus Christ Yumi!" Thom roared out, "I WAS FUCKING RIGHT THERE!"

I cringed at his yell, looking at Yumi in apology. "He doesn't mean it." Yumi just nodded.

She crouched down and flit her eyes to the other boys. Karim and Cobalt seemed to be managing with their shields and swords, evenly matching the spearmen that they faced.

However, it wouldn't last for long.

"Mother fricking," Thom muttered as he spun back, two sword slashes hissing like snakes by his neck. "I swear to flipping Moses. Calm your tits!" The reference to female anatomy set my cheeks ablaze again. I didn't know why I was still mentally defending the guy.

'Maybe because he's cute?' The thought flashed by, making me squint up my eyes. I looked like I had eaten something sour, trying to dispel that traitorous idea. 'No, no no! He is not cute! He's just... different. Yeah, in a sarcastic sort of way.'