The Reef's Treasure
Chapter 13
Fight to the Death
The entire room went silent; it was nearly stifling. Then, as if by unseen cue, they erupted with excitement. It didn't matter if they were wearing armor or the long fancy dresses favored by the pretentious sophisticates. They loved the glory of a fight. They enjoyed the combatant's blood splattering to the ground; regardless to which it belonged.
"You…you scum – you human!"
"I rather prefer the term Guardian!"
"You are without honor and unable to fight with valor."
Getting every bit as testy as my bloodied opponent I spat back, "You mean like the Fallen? Like how they defeated the Awoken on their own turf?"
As soon as the harsh words leapt from my lips, I felt my stock with the crowd plummeting. I glanced in the Queen's direction to see if she was taking note yet. I was frantic to revive the onlookers who also did not like my chastising comment.
I borrowed from Huntress Seetra's earlier behavior and waved my hands high in the air. With blade still in hand, I declared, "I was sought out by your very Queen to hunt your enemies down and destroy them!" Turning around to face my opponent, I finished, "I believe she cared more about their demise then how we Guardians did it."
Sensing the spectators were contemplating my line of last minute bullshit, I added with a great deal of arrogance, "Your enemies in which I was asked to hunt down don't exactly play by the rules."
Taking advantage of my distractions, the huntress charged me. Infuriated, Seetra managed to knock my dagger free sending it spinning across the floor. With great skill she was able to entangle me and we fell to the ground. At last, the ruler of the Reef seemed interested.
Both of us struggled for control of the only remaining knife. I was too close to use my legs to pin her and she crossed arms to shield herself from another head-butt, I was suddenly at a loss of what to do. I couldn't remember the last time I was actually in hand to hand combat; well without a gigantic sword that is. Not making matters any better was the screaming crowd surrounding us. It was almost deafening.
As we grunted, an idea came to me. For a second I let go of the knife, something I knew she would not do, and pushed myself up on top of her. It didn't take long to mount her therefore gaining the upper hand. However in that moment of small victory she had been able to drive the dagger upwards, slicing into the skin of my cheek.
Ignoring the flesh wound, my hands immediately covered hers to again fight for control of the sharp blade. Straddling her, I leaned forward with all my upper body strength and managed to turn the blade away from me and down on her. In my mind I was simply going to disarm her, however with her killer gaze and the death grip on the blade, she was never going to let go and she was going to use that rage on me the first chance she got.
The Queen of the Reef was now sitting at the edge of her seat as was her lover, intently watching as I slowly pushed the tip of the knife downwards. To my surprise the brother of the Queen suddenly looked as uninterested as his sister had been all night.
As the tip neared Seetra's face, it was clear how strong she was. Thankfully she wasn't on top as I might not have been able to hold her off. After all, I was used to holding guns; large and small but not a dagger… if only I had been a hunter right now, I would have this in the bag.
With gritted teeth I continued to descend while Seetra struggled against me. With her labored breathes and bucking beneath me, I couldn't help but think under different circumstances this might have been enjoyable. But, the psycho Awoken bitch was trying to kill me; clearly we weren't on the same wavelength.
After what felt like an eternity and with the tip of the blade now only inches away from the huntresses' flush cheek, I paused to see if there were any instructions from the Queen.
(Insert chirping crickets here - lol)
There was none.
Against my better judgement, I continued my downward struggle, slowly slicing into my opponent's beautiful blue skin as she watched helplessly. The steel blade sliced a three inch gap until I heard the words I had been waiting for since the fight first began.
"That is enough!"
All eyes except Seetra's, who never took her eyes off the dagger, looked in the direction of the voice. Sitting high on her perch was the Queen herself who gave the order. I could tell that both her brother and lover where not pleased she had halted the fight to the death.
I immediately withdrew my assault and Seetra pushed me off of her as hard as she could. Although the audience applauded for a good show it was hard watching my opponent reach her feet. Feeling that I almost took the life of another, who was not an enemy of the traveler, was disheartening at the least, but as I glanced at the woman next to me, the humiliation was far worse than death.
Defeated and dishonored, Huntress Seetra stood erect gracing the Queen with an honorable curtsy of respect. Although as the blood still slowly oozed from her wounds, the heavily panting warrior kept her wits about her. Staring at her, I had to give credit where credit was due; she was a highly skilled warrior. The next time we meet in battle, I hope it is at her side and not against her because I seriously doubt I could stomach it again.
I felt a shiver run up my back when she peered back at me. All I could focus on was colored eyes staring back at me. I could tell there was a great deal of disgust but I was hoping to see a sliver of respect.
In all the commotion, I barely noticed the Queen's brother coming up behind me. I felt a sharp prick at my neck and before I could even growl a What the fuck his way; I felt my knees buckle and once again I found myself flat on the ground.