Wind and flame swirled in the air and buffeted the two men as they faced each other. The fire roared and sputtered as the gusts fed the inferno then smothered it. The gale abated and surged as the blaze gorged on it then choked upon its meal. A wild tension held the burning storm in balance as it raged in the air between and around the two men.
“It is my deepest honor, emperor, to look upon your countenance. Unshackle me and I’ll give you an honorable fight, not a cowardly execution. Might even bake you some sweets.”
“You’re a traitorous cur. Show me the doors of the afterlife and I promise your death will be honorable.”
The man smiled. “I don’t seek honor, only victory.”
Both men had done away with their shoes and shirts, revealing etched muscles. Tongues of light were buffeted one way, then the next as they licked the form of the emperor. His black hair was kept in a tight bun. In contrast, the other man’s long black hair moved in sync with every eddy of the tumultuous winds. Heat waves distorted their vision of each other.
Hundreds of armored guardsmen encircled them in the courtyard with glaives leveled, ready. They kept themselves outside the aura maelstrom as the fighting spirit of the two warriors clashed. Rising slopes of green forests could be seen past the walls and red-capped towers surrounding them. Glimpses of archers could be seen in the windows.
“I’ll make it plain to you, Jun Jun. Join me, unveil your secrets. I will meet your every desire, clear you of every dishonor, make every art of battle available to you to learn.” The emperor’s eyes looked pleadingly at the man across from him. “Jun Jun, you don’t have to become my sworn enemy. I still remember our days together when we were children. You were dealt a failing roll that you overcame with tenacity. Telam needs men like you.”
Jun Jun shook his head. “Negotiation with a sword at your belt. The afterlife isn’t for you to rule. It would be destroyed and Telam with it if you did.”
The emperor’s eyes lost their veneer of kindness. “Perish.” The sun flashed against his blade between them as he drew and sheathed his sword faster than it could be seen.
A line of red appeared at Jun Jun’s neck. The swirling winds flung a cloud of cut hair into the air. The wind abated, his hair fell loose and lifeless upon his shoulders. Cut strands shriveled, smoked and burned with spurts of fire as the emperor’s aura smote them. Like tiny fireworks they burst into flame and were gone.
Jun Jun stood still for many breathless moments, then fell forward. His shackles clanked when they hit the ground.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The emperor didn’t relax. The head wasn’t decapitated. The neck was only partially cut. Jun Jun had avoided the worst of it.
The flames of the emperor’s aura diminished, receding to lightly outline his form.
Like statues frozen in time, not a single guard moved. Every eye was upon the fallen body of Jun Jun. No one dropped their guard. The tales of Jun Jun’s deaths and escapes were on their minds. Only by the power of several generals working together
The sun dropped lower in the sky, an hour past noon.
Finally, the emperor took a step back. He paused. “Captain.”
“Your honor.” Said a man from among the guardsmen.
“If he will not show his hand, then we shall force it. Burn the body, grind the bones to dust. Scatter it all to the winds.”
“It will be done.”
Orders were barked. Soldiers quickly retrieved a vat of oil. Others made a small mound of clay to encircle Jun Jun’s fallen body for a makeshift pool. The oil was brought to the edge and was tipped, the oil slid over its edge to the stone of the courtyard. A perfect circle of the liquid spread out, washed up against the clay dyke and slithered along its edge. The circle of oil touched the cloth at Jun Jun’s knee.
Jun Jun’s body leapt off the ground, spinning. His arms were free, the chain of his shackles cut through by the very strike that cut his neck.
The emperor’s aura roared back to life and was promptly blown to the side by a gale of wind. The flaming aura struck the oil as the liquid was misted into the air by the storm. The flaming cloud of oil exploded, setting nearby guardsmen on fire and knocking many others to the ground.
With a single flash of his blade, the emperor split the blast in two and sprinted through it.
The guardsmen at the perimeter jumped forward, aiming to cut Jun Jun to ribbons. His leg kicked out as he spun horizontal to the ground, jumping him over the blades. He reached out, grabbed a glaive’s handle and rolled himself up and over the heads of the guards. He kicked off the back of one of the guard’s heads and lightly off the points of thrusting glaives so that he ran over the tops of the crowd of guardsmen.
The emperor snatched a glaive from a guardsman and threw it at Jun Jun so it was only a flash in the sunlight in its trajectory. Jun Jun deflected it with his right shackle, the impact shattering the metal. Another was close behind and Jun Jun let his left shackle get caught by it pulling him up and towards the wall.
Archers fired volleys and the flying warrior struck them with his hands and feet. He deflected them, jumped off of and pulled himself upwards on their shafts so it looked as if he were climbing through the air.
The emperor grabbed another glaive while running full tilt, planted the blade in the stone and vaulted upwards, jumping off the glaive’s handle towards Jun Jun. Flashes of light and ringing metal followed as he deflected the arrows in his path. He reached the escaping criminal and slashed. His blade arched through the air, flashing in the sun. It struck Jun Jun’s braced forearms, cutting and cracking, but not breaking them. The impact threw Jun Jun and the emperor away from each other. Jun Jun flew backwards and over the wall and the cliff on the other side. Several arrows hit their mark in his back as he flew through the air.