A Court Of Night and Fire

Chapter Twelve

Why do I always find myself in these bloody situations?

The moment the door opened, Articus threw the table like a spear. The legs snapped off as it sailed through the doorframe. The first man to appear, a black haired Darkling, caught the tabletop full on. Articus heard the Darkling cry out as he was thrown back a good five spans into the waiting room.

Articus sensed movement to his right and immediately jumped back a step. Everything around him slowed as he Accelerated.

The movement he had sensed was another Darkling--a Caprian man who had Accelerated to outflank him. To the Darkling's surprise, Articus wasn't where he had been moments before, causing the descending sword to miss him by inches.

The Caprian, having stopped his Acceleration, turned his head slowly toward Articus. Balling his hands into a fist, Articus lashed out.

The moment his fist connected with Darkling's stomach, he felt time resume to normal. Shocked eyes met his right before he grabbed the Darkling's throat and lifted him up off his feet, slamming him into the floor with a loud crash.

A third assailant, a Ghourdian woman, jumped out from the waiting room as Articus stripped the dagger from the unconscious Caprian. To his shock, he found that it was a Reaper's da'kka.

Seeing her fallen comrade, she reached out with her left hand and threads of spirit started to mix with the air's energy.

Cursing, Articus charged slightly off to the right while simultaneously pulling his left shoulder back, narrowing his attackable surface. The act saved his shoulder from the threads of energy by a finger's breadth. Halfway to her, he feigned the charge and side stepped to the right. He was just in time to feel the Acceleration taking over him again. The woman pulled her sword up at his charge but stopped in confusion when he suddenly disappeared.

He was at the wall in moments and, reversing his grip on the da'kka, he used it to propel himself to her right flank. Her eyes slowly turned toward his direction, but it was too late. She cried out wordlessly as the da'kka penetrated her collar bone, piercing her heart.

As her body dropped to a kneeling position, Articus grimly tore her sword away from her death grip. He was only half surprised that the sword was a sa'dka.

The Darklings must have killed three Reapers to get here. The thought only firmed his resolve. Grabbing a handful of her hair, he used the sa'dka. He slit her throat.

"No!"

It was the first Darkling he had knocked back. In a heat of rage, the Ghourdian Darkling charged him. Articus pulled the da'kka from the female Darkling's shoulder and, using the sa'dka, met the charge. As he blocked the Darkling's attacks, he watched the sa'dka seamlessly grow and shrink as if his need to change it was all it required.

No spirit is needed to use this? Articus was shocked.

He had been so preoccupied by the torrent of attacks and his new weapon that he hadn't realized that the Caprian had come too. Suddenly, Articus found himself defending against two opponents.

"You bastard!" The Ghourdian one said as he violently brought his sa'dka around at Articus's head. Ducking, he kicked him just as the sword passed over his head.

Articus caught a glimpse of green spirit gathering around his foot before it connected with the Darkling's stomach. The Ghourdian Darkling cried out in pain as he was launched through the door for the second time. Unlike the first time, however, he flew across the waiting room and into the next room where the Blood were supposed to be.

I did that? With one Darkling still left, Articus told himself he didn't have time to ponder over something so trivial. He turned to face the Caprian.

What happened next was nothing he could have expected. He cried out in pain as a knife sliced into his shoulder blade. Articus looked behind him and his eyes grew wide in shock. The Ghourdian woman who was supposed to have been in hell had stabbed him with her da'kka. He went to one knee and almost toppled over.