Frost and Snow

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-three.

The cloaked figures looked strong, but nothing we could not handle, the only one who might be a problem was Fennin; he had deceived us all this time, who knew what other tricks he had up his sleeve?

“You two take the minions, Fennin is mine.” Valeria said, keeping her eyes on her former mentor, magic sparking around her hands already. Asalie and I agreed with that, focusing on our own targets. These men were another kind of elite forces that operated in the shadows; I had never seen them before – they took their job serious – but I knew of their existence. They fought with thin, short blades and were quick; extremely quick and agile, but their armor was weak and only made of thick leather to not hinder their movements like plate would do. I was not as fast as one of these shadow agents, but I had a better defense and hopefully I would be strong enough to pierce through their leather armor.

Asalie was taking on her battle stance as well, observing her opponent carefully. She had her sword ready, as well as a smaller shield that fit better to the confined space of the sewers than her usual shield.

The battle began when Valeria flung a handful of energy towards Fennin, who quickly threw up a barrier and deflected the attack. The shadow agents sprinted towards us and I met the attack of the one that came towards me head on. I looked the man in the eyes, they were frozen with the curse and the rest of his face was covered by a mask, and with a growl I pushed him back. Keeping one dagger in a defensive position I attacked with the other, but my blow was parried and countered.

My opponent had only one sword, and though it was a bit longer than my weapons, I had two. In the narrow tunnel our fight almost became like a dance as we stayed close to each other, blocking and dodging. He managed to find a few weak spots between my armor, but I stepped away quick enough to prevent deep cuts.

He was too fast for me to inflict a fatal wound and I would have to do something about that. After striking at his chest a few times, the shadow agent did not expect a dagger quickly flashing towards his leg and he could not dodge it. He spun away when I had stabbed through his armor, twisting the dagger out of my hands.

Though the dagger was still stuck in his leg, it did not slow him down. “Damn curse, it would not hurt him at all.” I muttered and mentally slapped myself. It had cost me a dagger and I had gained nothing. His blows came even quicker after my little failure and it was hard to keep up with him; I still had my sword sheathed on my right side, but I would have to move away from the other two battles that raged inside the tunnel if I wanted to use it to its full potential.

I had no other choice; if it continued like this I would not be able to land a blow that would finish him off. So slowly I backed up, taking small steps backwards and hoping that he would not notice what I was trying to do.

He did not. And when I was far away enough I waited for another blow to come my way. I blocked it and with my free hand pulled my sword free and in a fluid motion slashed at the shadow agent. His own blade was still busy blocking my dagger and was not fast enough to stop the sword that was aimed at his side.

The sword hit its target and the man was flung backwards by the force of the blow, leaving a large gap in his armor and flesh. I hoped that it would be enough to stop him, but it seemed the Snow Witch had improved the curse; the shadow agent did not even bleed a little and stood up almost immediately after he hit the ground. Piercing his heart would not be enough, the only thing that was going to stop him was decapitation, I realized.

With my sword back it was easier to keep the shadow agent away from me and he had trouble getting past the blade that was much longer than his. I should have pulled the weapon out earlier instead of thinking it would be more convenient to fight with the daggers. Only a few times did he manage to dive under my sword and attack me from a close distance. Where he would be stopped with the dagger I still had in my other hand.