.

- Chapter Six -

- Mistress Archer vs The Champion -

- The Parched Path -

With a quick movement of her hand, Genildaa drew the fletching of the arrow to her cheek and took aim at the opponent below her. The heat from the sand made the air shimmer, as if creating a mirage, but the reflection of the sun on his armour told Genildaa her opponent was very real. She flexed her fingers and her bowline snapped forward, sending her arrow towards her opponent in a blur. He smiled and turned his body slightly, allowing the arrow to hit his armoured shoulder and splinter into a thousand pieces. Genildaa frowned and nocked another arrow before moving further along the tall dune she had taken position on.

The heat was nearly unbearable, but a light breeze touched her blue skin from time to time. Genildaa didn't envy her opponent in his heavy armour. Her own clothing was minimal and lightweight. Her shoes of stout leather, dyed a dark purple, with thick soles were probably the heaviest thing on her. Green cloth was wrapped the length of her left leg from ankle to hip with a few buckled straps holding it in place. Her right leg was covered to just above the knee with a white, brown speckled stocking with a purple band wrapped below her knee holding small spikes to the back of her leg. A leather belt around her waist held a purple loincloth over brown undergarments. Parchment thin metal, bronze in colour, covered her breasts while leaving ample cleavage visible while the same metal covered her left shoulder in three plates. Her left arm was covered with tight leather and her hand was bare. In contrast, her right arm was bare with a brown glove covering the hand.

A golden band was wrapped around her head, pushed up to keep her long orange hair out of her face. Small stones with round mounted gems at their centre pointed up from the band and rested in Genildaa's wild hair. The bow she held in her left hand was light purple in colour and sported spines running outwards from its handle. Whenever she drew back, hinges bent backwards at half the distance from each end. A leather quiver holding numerous arrows seemingly made of wood was hung on her right hip by a leather strap around her bare midriff.

As soon as she had regained her senses, and spotted her opponent, Genildaa had taken to the highest dune she could see in the harsh light; distance would be her friend in this particular battle. She didn't rate herself low in close combat, but something told her if she tangled with the Indestructible Voel, leader of the Empire, she would come out with a loss. Despite coming from Abyss, Genildaa had heard of Voel; most people would have. Ruthless in battle and blood thirsty to boot, Genildaa needed to hit his vitals below his armour if she was going to win.

Voel trekked slowly to follow the blue skinned Abyss, feeling the sand give way beneath his weight. It was this weight that prevented him from simply climbing the dune to reach her, he would flounder and fall and no doubt end up at the bottom in a hole. So he simply bided his time; his armour would protect him from her flimsy arrows and eventually she'll decide she needed to move position to beat him.

The armour that had made Voel into a leader of the Empire, shining in the light of the bright sun above, was golden in colour and covered him from head-to-toe. The only skin on show was around his eyes, nose, and mouth and a small ring around his neck to allow him to look around without hindrance. Each segment of his armour had been made from a single sheet of metal and had been joined by metal links hidden under the armour and out of view. Covering his knees were circles of red enamel with phoenixes mounted on top with their wings outstretched. Similar red segments, minus the phoenixes, were visible at his elbows in small triangles. His helmet had phoenix wings outstretched from the eye with a raised ridge running along its centre.

Two swords were strapped to his back by metal loops, each blade built for a single hand. The hilts were carved into phoenixes with red leather handles and a thick, solid bar as their guards. The blades were slightly curved with a golden triangle holding them to the handles. A larger two-handed version was held in his right hand, although this one was missing a guard; the handle leading straight into the blade instead.

Genildaa fired another arrow from her vantage point, aiming for the centre of his head, but Voel simply raised his left arm to block it. Genildaa cursed silently and decided that she needed to change the momentum in order to gain the upper hand. So she nocked another arrow and took a step forward to drop slightly onto the downwards slope that led to Voel and expertly controlled her balance to allow her to surf on the soles of her own shoes.

Voel smiled and dashed forward with surprising speed, given his armour, his sword already raised to attack. As Genildaa released another arrow, Voel hit the sand in front of him and sent a wave of it in the air. He ducked low as the arrow was thrown back and aimed a wide swing to where he guessed the girl would be. As it would have it, Genildaa had shot forward with a slide and appeared below him, a drawn arrow aimed at his bent forward face.

She loosed and Voel had to turn his head awkwardly to allow the arrow to splinter against his cheek guard. Genildaa continued her impressive slide between his wide stance before popping back to her feet. She immediately drew another arrow but instead of nocking it, she leapt forward onto his back and aimed to pierce him in the flesh of his neck. She was too close for his longsword so Voel used his free hand to interrupt the strike and shatter her arrow. He felt her brace to jump away but he snatched forward quickly and caught her around the wrist.

With a sharp tug he pulled her off his back and slammed her to the ground in front of him with a plume of sand. Immediately his sword hand swiped down and aimed to sever her in half. However, Genildaa was flexible and managed to dodge the blow while still being held around the wrist. She twisted to her feet and with a sharp, whipped tug, she managed to free her hand. With a quick shuffle-step Genildaa doubled the distance between them and drew another arrow to fire. However, now that she had closed the distance, Voel wasn't about to let her get away again.

His sword was long and with a lunge forward, he was nearly upon her again. She dodged to his side and fired her arrow at his right eye, but he spun quickly and the arrow shattered on his back. Lightning quick, Genildaa drew another arrow and nocked it before aiming at the sky. This arrow was different from the others, sporting dark red feathers compared to the grey of the others, and had a thicker shaft with black bands down its length. She loosed it upwards and dropped her aim before pulling two more arrows from her quiver.

One was her normal grey arrow while the second was identical but with blue fletching. Voel was just finishing his spin when she loosed and he was quick enough to raise a hand to block the grey arrow that was aimed at his face. He hadn't even seen the second arrow and looked down in surprise as it hit him in the chest. The wood shaft shattered on impact but the pale blue liquid housed within the shaft carried on forwards and splashed across his armour, sticking in place. Small grey wisps started rising as Voel tried to wipe the liquid off, only for it to stick to his hand as well.

"What is this stuff?" Voel said with his rugged voice filled with anger.

Genildaa didn't reply, instead she gestured with her bow for him to look up. He paused before glancing up and Genildaa quickly loosed an arrow at his exposed neck. Without even looking down, Voel moved his sword and intercepted the arrow, and then he looked down with a smile.

"I'm not that stupid." Voel growled as he stepped forward.

Suddenly a metal bar crashed into the top of his head and he dropped to one knee in surprise. A second one descended and clanged against his shoulder, causing him to reach a hand out to stop himself from falling flat on his face. A third one fell and struck him in the back, but he was stable enough to resist its force. Finally a fourth one dropped and hit him in the head again, knocking it downwards but otherwise doing no damage. Genildaa dropped to one knee and loosed another arrow at Voel's chest.

The angle he was leant at meant the arrow hit his chest and ricocheted to the sand below him. However, as it did so, a spark was created between the two and suddenly his chest had head was engulfed in flames. Voel roared in pain and leapt to his feet, attempting to put the fire out by patting it with his hand; of course, his hand also caught on fire and he screamed again.

Genildaa pulled another custom arrow from her quiver, this one with violet plumage, and aimed between his legs. When it hit the ground, the arrow's shaft exploded outwards and a netting of steel wire wrapped around Voel's ankles. Still stumbling from the pain of the fire nearly engulfing his head, Voel tripped on the wire and ended up face first in a sand dune. Genildaa sprinted up to him, placed a foot on his back and then bent forward to touch the tip of her drawn arrow to the back of his neck.

"You're not so tough." She said.

Suddenly, Voel twisted on the ground and Genildaa stumbled letting her arrow loose into the sand by Voel's head. The fire had been suffocated by the sand and a large angry burn now covered the left side of his face. His unburnt hand reached up and latched around Genildaa's leg, Voel's sword now rested in the sand a few feet away from him, and he pulled her to the ground beside her. He then stood up, leg still held tight, and dragged her along the ground to another rising dune.

Genildaa struggled to no avail so nocked an arrow and drew; then she stopped as she realised the only view she had was his armoured back. Voel lifted her by her leg and slammed her into the dune, causing her to drop her arrow, her long training the only reason she still held tightly to her bow.

With his longsword still on the ground away from him, Voel pulled one of the shorter swords from his shoulder and immediately stabbed forward with the intent of piercing Genildaa's stomach. She bent away from it, allowing it to pierce into the sand beside her, before gripping his wrist in both her hands and kicking him in the face with her heavy boots. He reared back but she held him in place by his wrist before rolling over it and depositing him on the floor in a plume of sand.

Voel grunted as Genildaa rolled to straddle his wide chest and aim another arrow, which she had managed to nock in the roll, at his face. Immediately, his free hand came up and knocked the bow off-aim before stretching out and latching around her face. Voel threw her off him quickly and rolled to his feet, sheathing his sword as he did.

As Genildaa got to one knee and shook her head to rid her off the double vision she was having, Voel walked over and picked up his long sword. He turned around to walk back to Genildaa and had to jerk sideways to avoid another arrow. However, at the same time he took a step forward. She fired another arrow but he did the same; dodging and taking a step forward until he was within reach. His large sword flashed surprisingly quickly and Genildaa barely dodged it with a quick side step.

She would have liked to back up to create distance, but Voel had managed to trap her within a particularly steep sand dune. Any attempt to climb it, regardless of their weight difference, would have resolved in a swift sword to her back. Instead, she fired another arrow and ran forward, dropping to a slide to get past him.

Apparently, Voel couldn't be tricked twice by the same thing as he quickly reverse gripped his sword and pierced it into the ground in Genildaa's path. Her feet hit it, but instead of coming to a stop as he thought she would, she used the momentum to flip up over him. She touched the top of his helmet with her foot and landed behind him. As Voel spun, sword out to attack, Genildaa dived backwards and avoided the blow with a roll.

Voel continued forward, his longsword swinging left and right quickly. Genildaa had no time to fire an arrow off so instead focused on ducking and diving to avoid his attacks. Eventually he slowed, sweat pouring down his face, and Genildaa realised that the heat of the desert was getting to him in his heavy armour. She could feel the heat on her skin too, but she guessed it was much worse for him.

With that in mind, she started to hang around in his range. Voel attacked a few times before suddenly stopping and stepping back to look carefully at her. He may have been a brute force kind of fighter, but he was smart enough to see when someone was trying to wear him out; it wasn't the first time someone had tried the same trick. So, he solved it the same way he had the last time; his free hand reached up to grasp one of his small swords and in a flash he had sent it flying towards his opponent.

Genildaa was caught off guard by the sudden attack, it was the last thing she would have suspected, and the blade carved a gouge out of her right leg. She managed to suppress a scream but she dropped to one knee and clasped the wound tight with her free hand, the other resting the bow on the ground to support her weight.

Voel walked forward and clasped his longsword in both hands before raising it above his head. Genildaa looked up at him, and as the blade came rushing down she suddenly sprung up on her good leg. The blade must have touched the hair on her arm as she passed by it, flipped once and landed on his shoulders in a one legged crouch; the injured one hanging down his armour.

Before he could do anything, he felt cold metal against the sides of his neck and grimaced as Genildaa loosed the two arrows she had nocked mid-flight, before jumping away as he swiped at her with his sword. She landed with a grunt, her leg giving out and dumping her on the floor, and looked up at Voel who had a smile on his face. She was spent, with the leg injury and the heat; she wouldn't be able to resist him any longer.

However, as he took a step forward, he felt a warm liquid rolling down his chest. He looked down but his armour was clean, except for the grey patch Genildaa's liquid arrow had created earlier. Then he reached up with his free hand to his neck. Immediately he felt the liquid and realised what had happened. The two arrows Genildaa had fired either side of his neck had sliced both of his carotid arteries and now his heart was pumping his blood out of his body.

He pressed down on the wounds to try and stop the bleeding but he knew it was too late, he could already feel himself weakening. He dropped his longsword and tried to use both hands to stem the blood flow but had no luck. Genildaa just sat and watched from her seated position. Voel couldn't help but feel impressed, not many people could have exploited his armour in such a way and so quickly. He nodded once, an acknowledgement of her ability, before collapsing forward heavily.

Genildaa struggled to her feet and hobbled over to Voel's fallen form. The sand around him was slowly being dyed red by his blood, and she exhaled as she realised it was over. Then a small laugh escaped her lips as she realised she had managed to beat the Empire's best soldier; a man said to be immortal.

She was still laughing when the white light descended from above and pulled her from the arena.