Nyte (Daye book 2)

The Duel

    "ACCEPTED, my queen." Decide bowed at the waist, smirking.

Luca cried out in anguish. "Why is she like this?" he moaned.

Karla jumped off the pile of pillows that she'd previously been lounging upon. She sidled up to the huntress, who in turn drew her own silvery weapons, glimmering in the dim daylight filtering into the room.

"Prepare to die, huntress," the queen snarled, unfurling her long scarf from around her neck, exposing an intricate and dark tattoo on her right shoulder.

"I should say the same for you," Decide replied, slashing forwards. Karla leaped backwards, narrowly avoiding the sweeping blades. Decide continued to attack, whirling around in a circle as she approached, her sword and dagger moving faster than the eye could see. But Karla continued to dodge the attacks, the heavy claymore she held in her hand of no hindrance.

"You're pretty agile, for a queen," Decide smirked, slashing downwards with her sword. Karla parried easily, their blades meeting with a resounding clash. "And you're pretty strong for a commoner," she gloated, her face flush with both rage and excitement.

They spun around the room, narrowly avoiding slashing apart Decide's annoyed companions. The huntress jumped to the top of a precariously piled pile of pillows, somersaulting as she rebounded off, her blades slashing diagonally at the queen. Karla brought her dark sword up, and the swipes glanced off harmlessly. Decide rolled to the ground, coming up with a spin and aiming he tip of her sword at the queen's heart. But Karla merely ducked under, her lengthy sword reaching out towards Decide's unprotected legs.

Decide, however, vaulted over the blade, tumbling onto the floor and rolling back onto her feet. As she whirled around, Karla dived forwards with another swift slice, managing, however, to only catch her briefly on her thigh. A thin line of red appeared on Decide's leg, but the huntress barely even noticed it. She was already charging for the queen again.

"Why don't we take this outside?" Karla leaped onto a stone windowsill that rose several feet from the ground. She swung around on the side of the palace, nimbly hopping to a rooftop below.

Decide followed suit, leaving her anguished companions behind as she hopped through the window grinning viciously. It'd been too long since she'd been in a one-on-one duel to the death like this. She missed the thrill of the anticipation of pain and death, the fear that she could possibly be killed. But every duel she'd ever had, she'd won. There was no reason for her to lose this one, to a queen of all people. Even if said queen was almost a foot taller than her. But now, Decide had awakened her dormant magick abilities. She was stronger and faster than ever. Her wounds healed almost instantly, and the pain was greatly lessened. If she could just figure out how to maintain control over another's blood, there was no stopping her.

She landed on the tiled rooftop of the palace, a couple of the fragile golden shards breaking underneath her boots. She balanced herself to find purchase on the slippery surface, but it was difficult, especially with her heeled boots on. She'd have to deal with them once she got out of there. Karla strutted before her on the apex of the slanted roof, her extensive sword drawing a crevasse in the tiles it sliced through. All at once, Karla darted forward, her sword held behind her in preparation to strike. As she drew closer, and struck, Decide flattened herself on the roof, the blade whooshing noisily above her back. She rolled along the slant of the roof as Karla chased after her, swinging to her feet and darting nimbly around as the queen swung slash after slash in her direction. Karla brought her sword up over her head, then straight down, a heavy strike that combined with the momentum it created falling could cut through both bone and metal as easily as through water. Decide quickly crossed her blades above her head, her dagger supporting her sword as the great claymore crashed down, ringing, upon them. It was Karla's brute strength against Decide honed power. However, the queen had the upper hand, gravity being on her side. She pressed down with all her might, the muscles in her thin arms bulging. Decide trembled under the tremendous force, the slick blade of her dagger beginning to slip. If she tried to move it, her other arm would give out and Karla's sword would come down hard. But if she kept it like this, soon enough her dagger would slip from underneath where it supported her own sword. It seemed that Karla had realized this as well, and strengthened her efforts in pressing down on the huntress' guard.