Emily's House: Book 1 of the Akasha Chronicles

Chapter 35: The Killing Time

Chapter 35: The Killing Time

The supersized ninja stood firmly, a devilish smirk smeared across his face.

“They’ll be tied up here forever you know. If you want to save them, you’ve got to go through me. And from the looks of you, still a whelp sucking at your momma’s breast, you’ll give up. I’ll take immense pleasure in killing them just because I can.”

I didn’t wait to take my stance or focus myself. His words had their desired effect. I was enraged and shot through the air straight at him.

“My ... mother ... is ... dead ... you tart monkey.” I hurled the words at him as our swords clashed. My arms were already tired from fighting the three amigos, but I had to keep going. I wasn’t sure if Jake and Fanny were real or an ephemeral figment of Madame Wong’s imagination. But either way, I couldn’t stand by and allow the guy murder them. Somehow I got my arm to swing the sword, more defensive than offensive. It was all I could do to keep supersize from cutting me in half. I was so unbalanced by his strength that I didn’t have a chance to land any blows against him.

I took to the air and bounced from wall to wall, trying to give my arm a rest while I avoided his attack. Everywhere I landed, he was there. It was like he anticipated my every move.

Then I ran across the walls. I know it sounds impossible, but I was like an insect defying gravity using the walls of that cottage like a floor. I wondered to myself what would happen if I ran really fast and I thought only of making myself move so fast I was a blur to him. After a few seconds, I took a chance and looked at supersize. He had dropped to the center of the room, standing on the floor, looking at me. Or trying to look at me and find out where I was exactly. Somehow I was moving so fast I was a blur to him, winking in and out of the room altogether.

I didn’t have a plan and wasn’t sure why I felt the need to run. But I had unhinged him a bit so I guess that was as valid a reason as any.

“Get down here and fight like a man,” he grumped at me.

“Ah, but I’m not a man. I want to fight like a woman.” I swooped down from the wall and struck him with my sword across his back. I quickly flew back up to my wall and continued to run in circles around the room.

Supersize only grimaced and shrugged off the large gash across his back. Blood dripped from the slash across his naked back.

“If this is what you call fighting like a woman, then women are cowards.” He ran up the wall and planted himself firmly like a fly on the wall, hoping I guess to stop me in my tracks. When I saw him there, I simply reversed direction so that I again came at him from the back. My second blow was a sword thrust to his back.

“Smart, not cowardly,” I said.

I had hoped that my strategy would do him in for good. Problem with my plan was that the Sword of the Order got stuck in his large, thick torso. I tried to thrust and pull but as I pulled, the sword stayed. I fell backwards and dropped to the ground with a thud.

Supersize stood for a minute, his feet defying gravity, stuck to the wall like a fly on flypaper. Then he gently swooped down to the ground and faced me, his face taut with rage. He reached his left hand behind him and pulled the Sword of the Order out of his back. His face showed only the slightest twinge of pain as he pulled the sword out. Blood gushed from the deep puncture wound, but I noticed that the other wound I’d inflicted only minutes ago was almost healed. I guess I’m not the only one for whom the Netherworld provides protection from injury.