Ordinaries

Chapter 13

Jonathan made the first move, thrusting his spear towards Jade's gut. In an instant, Jade turned with grace, the spiky hunk of metal sailing right past her lithe frame. She rammed her trident into the long, wooden handle of the spear and forced it downwards. Jonathan's faced showed his surprise as he nearly lost his grip on his weapon. He went down to the ground, turning his spear upwards and freeing it from Jade's weapon. Jade cast her net, keeping her fingers laced into the squares at the edges of it. Jonathan moved at the last second, the net nearly catching his shoes as he rolled out of its reach.

It turned out that's what Jade had been counting on. She thrust her trident down as Jonathan rolled. The weapon impaled his shoulder with a sickening squelch, and copious amounts of blood welled out of the point of impact. Jade swiftly pulled her trident out of his body, but I noticed that the effort seemed to strain her. Jade wasn't very strong, but she was quickly proving Ventrice wrong concerning the comment he had made about her mental capabilities. Jade was smart, smarter than most Extraordinaries. That was her biggest advantage in this fight.

Jonathan yelled in pain, but wasn't as disabled as he seemed. He swept his spear along the ground, knocking Jade's feet out from under her; luckily, he hit her with the wooden part instead of the end. She fell to the ground, emitting a sound of surprise. Jonathan immediately got to his feet, whirling his spear around and thrusting it downwards toward her chest.

Whether Jade foresaw his move or acted out of instinct, I didn't know. She dropped her trident into the sand and hoisted her weighted net up with both hands to meet his spear. The spikes at the end of Jonathan's weapon splintered some of the metallic strings in her net, but not enough to break its hold. He pushed down harder, more and more of the net breaking. I paced my breathing, which had become dysrhythmic and labored. This wasn't looking good.

As the last fiber in her net broke, Jade maintained her grip on it and slid downwards, ending up right between Jonathan's legs. As his spear impaled the sand where her chest had just been, she brought her legs up in a wide arc, kicking Jonathan's backside and sending him sprawling forward into the sand. She scrambled up and tossed her net on top of Jonathan's body. He panicked as he tried in vain to get up, only succeeding in further entangling himself in Jade's net.

Jade reclaimed her trident and marched up to him. She glanced up at Ventrice and smirked before returning her attention to Jonathan. He shook his head vehemently as she observed him struggling.

"Wait," Jonathan pleaded. "You don't have do this."

"I'm sorry, Jonathan." Jade's voice was deadly soft. "But you would've done it to me."

She gripped her trident with both hands and plunged it straight into his chest. Its golden tips disappeared into his body. Jonathan gasped, and fidgeted for a few more seconds until his movements subsided. The hunter in the crowd were silent, shock and disappointment clear in their expressions. Even I was surprised—the match hadn't lasted longer than two minutes.

Ventrice curled his lip. Jade wiped her brow, even though there wasn't any sweat on it. "So, am I done now? Your little game is really getting old. And I don't mean these fights."

Ventrice looked startled for a second, but he recovered in no time. I had no idea what Jade was talking about, but he obviously did. He glared down at her. I tried to catch Jade's eye, but she was smugly awaiting a response.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Ventrice. "We have yet another winner." His tone made it clear applause weren't expected. He nodded at a couple of guards in the pit. "Make sure she chooses wisely."