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Let it drop, he told himself Let the sword drop and let him smash your head in You won’t even feel it Then all this will be over
Against this, his body had one reply
‘Fight’
‘I said I won’t!’ Lenk shrieked back
‘Man-eh shaa ige?’ the lizard snarled
‘I wasn’t talking to you!’ Lenk roared
The lizard’s body twitched in response It slid backwards, breaking the deadlock as it spun about wildly His du as it took the creature’s tail to rise up and sh that it shouldout beneath hi his opponent and his body He did not strike the earth as he fell, but tu in the dark
‘This is it, then?’ He heard his voice echoing in the glooasp ‘This is what it is to die?’
‘No,’ the voice answered
The world ca back to him in new eyes The sand was soft His sas clenched in his hands, his hands The club crashing down upon him was sloeak He stared up at what had been his ene to fall
‘This,’ the voice said, ‘is what it is to kill’
‘SHENKO-SA!’ the lizard screeched
Lenk’s sword replied for hith behind the lizard’s club as it met his blade Or if there had been, Lenk did not feel it He could barely feel anything, even the foot he raroin The creaturethe injury
That was unimportant The earth was uni fro, he knew, but he could not feel it It was cold in his veins, cold as the steel he raised against his foe Froht his own reflection in the weapon’s face
Two blue orbs, burning cold and bereft of pupils, stared back
That rong, he knew in soid breath His eyes should have pupils He should feel hot, not cold He should fear the voice, fear the chill that coursed through hiht it
He stared at his opponent over the sword
Noat each other, arrows of flesh in overdras Their weapons eainst each other tiain He could only feel the metallic curse of his sword as it searched with the patience of a hound for soap in the creature’s defence Every steel blow sent the lizardrew more laboured, each block came a little slower
Only a matter of time, Lenk and his sword both knew Only a matter of time before a fatal flinch, athat …
There
The lizardh Lenk’s sas up, too swift The creature’s eyes ide, too wide
Then the sword ca like paper from a present Sinew next Lenk watched as the cords of ht Bone was sheared through, cracking open to expose glistening pink There ht have been blood; he was sure the creature’s arm hit the earth, but didn’t stop to look
The lizardape, eyes wide as it collapsed to its knees Itthat his ears were numb to Threats, maybe Curses
All silent before the metal hum of Lenk’s sword as it came up
No more words
The sword slid seare to serve as any defence and into the creature’s collarbone Lenk pushed down, his sword hu andbeneath it He pushed it down until he felt it jam
By then, the creature was lifeless, suspended only by Lenk’s grip on the sword that impaled it
‘This,’ the voice uttered, ‘is e do’
It should feel wrong, the young man knew He should feel the rush of battle, the thunder of his heart He should feel terrified, worried, elated, relieved
He should, he knew, feel so other than cal with it, the sense of wholeness reripped in his hands and knelt lifeless at his feet His breath came easy, even as the fever returned The desperation and fear had fled, leaving only a young man and his sword
His bloody, bloody sword …
His senses ca drawn He looked up, uely surprised circle
‘Oh, right,’ he whispered, ‘there’s two’
It happened too fast: the string hu He felt it ih, near his wound He collapsed to his knees, falling with the other lizardrip on his sword
‘Ah,’ he squealed through the pain ‘Khetashe, but that hurts’ He looked up at the inked lizard stalking toward hih It didn’t hit bone’
The lizard didn’t seem to hear or care as it casually nocked another arrow
‘It’s funny, though,’ Lenk said, giggling hysterically ‘Mo for it Now, I’ve killed your ugly little friend here and I want to live so I can kill you, too But …’ He let loose a shrieking peal ‘But you’re going to kill me Is that irony or poetry?’
No answer but the drawing of a bowstring
‘I shouldn’t be afraid,’ he whispered, ‘but … I can’t help but feel that I learned so a little too late’
‘Too bad for you,’ the lizard replied in perfect, unbroken hus, then’
Voice and bow spoke with one unsympathetic voice ‘Sha seemed a little hypocritical, ith the creature’s companion dead at his knees Still, stoicism see left, he desperately tried to coht to ride into the afterlife
And all he could come up as, Sorry, Kat
A shriek hit his ears Not of a bow, he realised as he watched the creature spas, sharpened stick that ended its swift and violet flight in the lizardman’s shoulder The arrow fell to the earth, and the lizard at the makeshift spear in its flesh
‘Lenk,’ a voice said, distant ‘Move’
‘What?’ he asked in a tre voice
‘Down,over hi itself over his head In a flash of brown and white, it struck the creature in a tackle, pulling both to the ground
Lenk blinked, unable to lihter than the lizard’s flesh, aold The creature shrieked under the other shape, swatting at clawing hands and biting teeth
The shriek arced to a vicious crescendo There was a flash of bright ruby
Blood, Lenk realised, then realised his own leg arm and wet Blood! It poured out of his wound in rivulets fro and onto the sand How long have I been bleeding? Why didn’t anyone tell , as were the rest as he felt hirow dizzy
He heard, faintly, the sound of a tail slapping against skin and an agonised grunt The pale figure toppled to the earth as the creature scra red It howled curses, inco its bow behind it
‘I got its eye,’ the figure laughed as it rose up ‘Reeking little bleeder’