Fair Deception

Chp. 4, Part II

When a rustle came from one of the bushes, I rolled onto my knees, then feet, picking up my tonfa as I stood.

Turning sideways, towards where the sound came from, I watched a young, slender man step into the clearing. And when he saw me, he froze. I lowered my tonfa, smiling at him apologetically.

"You look ready for a fight," he laughed good-naturedly but didn't take his eyes off the weapons.

"Can't be too careful." I shrugged. His eyes drifted from me onto my bag on the clearing floor.

"Seems like you've come prepared," he said with an odd smile.

"Yeah, it's such a nice day; it would be a shame to stay inside," I replied.

Because he was unusually still, and watching me intently, discomfort wriggled, barely hidden, under the skin of our conversation.

"Do you smell that?" He sniffed the air and took a step towards me.

"No. I don't smell anything," I said warily.

Like a dance, he took another step forward and I took one back, my eyes narrowing. "It smells Fae; Seelie," he said as a sly smile broke out over his lips. "You know about us don't you? Have you been claimed?"

I took another step back and didn't say a word, but tightened my grip on the tonfa in my hands. Stepping again, he came closer.

"If there's a problem here, I'm sure we can figure out a solution," I tried to reason.

"Oh, I highly doubt that."

My mind was racing with all the possible outcomes of this scenario. I didn't want to fight him. My dad would always say that, 'an intelligent mind can reason its way out of anything'. I knew fighting should always be the last option, however, it didn't seem like this guy was aware of that. The last option was fast approaching.

"Leave me alone," I ordered. He laughed and the air around him began to shimmer.

Recognising the signs from the night before, I didn't wait to see what he turned into, I simply moved forwards and struck out with my tonfa. A noise of surprise escaped his lips when he jumped backwards, but his now-yellow eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You're the human from the club last night aren't you? I never thought I'd be the one to find you." A sinister gleam lit up his eyes. "Zeph will be pleased."

At his words my adrenaline spiked, making my pulse thunder like heavy metal drum beats through my skull. During our stilted conversation he had begun to circle me like a moth to a flame, so I pivoted on the spot and waited for his inevitable attack. His arm shot out, quick enough to blur, but I managed to flip my tonfa round in time to batter his fist with the long end. He yelped in pain, and I think surprise, but didn't pause. I flew through different movements, punching and flipping the tonfa but I couldn't quite hit him again; he moved too swiftly. Finally, I kicked at him, then let out a cry as pain scorched through the back of my calf. He hadn't quite managed to hold my leg, but cruel nails, sprouting jaggedly from his fingers like snapped branches, had ripped into my skin. A gleeful laugh escaping his lips sent powerful emotions rippling through my body; fury and the desire to maim.

A familiar pain started to throb behind my eyes, but couldn't afford to close them, so stared intently at the fairy in front of me. It was as if someone had huffed warm air onto frosted glass and then wiped it completely clear; I saw him in almost mesmerising detail. Yellow eyes were hooded by overgrown, slanted brows, all of his skin had cracked, with craggy rucks weaving along its rough, bark brown surface, and his fingers had elongate into thick, pointed twigs. His expression changed under my scrutiny - confusion illuminated eyes under scowling brows. I didn't give myself a chance to wonder why. Instead, I punched my left and right fists in blindingly quick succession, managing to thwack the end of my tonfa into his chest. While he gasped for breath, I moved into the cat stance and repeated the move from earlier, bringing my tonfa up in an arch and smashing both sides against his skull simultaneously. Then l swift-kicked him in the stomach, for good measure, and he flew a few meters backwards across the clearing.