Disclaimer: You should know the drill by now – I do not own any of the characters and places, (except for the ones I made up and the plot – all mine) they belong to Tamora Pierce.
A/N – I left it there because I wanted to do a short chapter from Joplin's point of view. I just thought it would be interesting.
14. The Fight
Joplin went over to the Unicorn
'Joplin, my dear, this is Ilane. I would like to see you two fight. Don't hold back'
He was a bit confused now. He wouldn't have thought to disobey her, but why did she want him to fight this strange girl, going all out as hard as he could? He would kill the poor thing. He was the best fighter in this group, and the Unicorn knew it. Who was this Ilane? She looked very pale, but maybe that was just lack of sun. He nodded at her by way of greeting, and she returned his nod with cold eyes. Maybe she was to be a new trainee, but she seemed too old. Oh well. Who was he to question the Unicorn? She clapped once to start the fight.
Joplin moved carefully into a defensive stance. There was no sense getting cocky. The girl just stood there, looking at him. She hadn't moved. He felt sorry for her. With a lightning fast leap, he spun and aimed a kick at her torso. He only just realized as he went flying past that she had dodged him and grabbed his foot, twisting it so he was falling awkwardly. With an astonished look he quickly wrenched his body around as he fell and sprung back up to his feet as soon as he touched the ground, spinning to face her and deflect the lightning fast hail of blows she was aiming at him. This girl could fight! He realized what the Unicorn had said about not hanging back, and began to attack in earnest. Neither of them was still. They kicked and punched and dodged and defended, neither scoring too much of an upper hand at first. Joplin thought the girl could easily be his equal, but he was taller and stronger and could win yet. He watched her carefully, looking for any sign of weakness. And then he saw it. As she dodged, her foot slipped and she began to fall heavily, unable to recover. He seized the moment, darting in ready to give a devastating blow to finish the bout.