Our swords clashed, and the vibration raced up my already aching arms. That’s when I spotted our enemy lurking around the corner of the house.

If not for their elongated shadows appearing on the dome beside the house, we might have found ourselves caught off guard.

This time of day created an almost perfect mirror on the plasglass surface. The red and orange light from the sun dropping toward the far horizon cast a back-shadow along the curve of the dome.

Alyssa’s carbon fiber sword painfully thwacked my arm as my gaze remained riveted to the more significant danger.

Alyssa’s surprise at getting through my defenses would have been hilarious, except she finally understood what distracted me. Immediately, she turned until her shoulder came up against mine as we created a unified front against the impending attack. “We’ve got this, Kat!”

The men growled as they realized we were no longer easy targets. Rather than remain in stealth mode, they charged ahead, swords at the ready, while yelling out their battle cry. The swinging of their swords signaled they meant business.

Adrenaline pumped with my first lunge, blocking my attacker’s longer reach, the aching muscles of my arms long forgotten. I would have to defeat him fast before the last of my energy reserves ran out. I couldn’t afford to fight elegantly.

As the stronger swordswoman, I noted Alyssa seemed well-matched with her opponent as she held her ground. Not worrying about her, I parried several more blows while shifting my feet along the ground until I could hold a more defensible position.

I hoped the dirt would obscure my opponent’s vision, even to the point where I considered kicking some up into his face. As if it obeyed my bidding, the dry earth billowed in great plumes of dust around us as we continued to fight across the open, flat enclosure. Sweat caused rivulets to appear down my arms in the layers of filth settling onto my skin.

Even the failing light would not create any advantage for me in this fight. My opponent’s familiarity with this area equaled my own. No, I needed a break in his form or pray he grew tired before I collapsed from exhaustion.

Alyssa let out a battle cry.

The momentary distraction allowed me to thrust my sword forward and bring it to a swift halt at the edge of Drew’s throat. “You’re dead!”

Alyssa’s announcement of victory a mere second later made my grin grow wider.

“I yield,” Drew said as he and Marcus let their swords fall until the tips rested on the ground.

Only then did I let my battle stance relax. I wouldn’t put it past the boys to renew their fight without any regard for the rules of the game. “That’s not very fair of you to ambush us at the end of our practice session.” I glared at Drew as I settled my sword into the scabbard at my waist.

“What? Do you think your real opponents are going to wait until you’re well-rested and ready? You should be thanking us for pushing you harder,” Drew said. “After all, we’ve only got one more week until the tournament begins.”

Alyssa defended me against her twin brother, “Yeah, Drew, and I’d say you’ve got a lot more practice to get in. Even tired, we defeated both of you in less than ten minutes. How do you think the Sword Dome will have any chance of regaining the trophy in the Tatsu tournament with fighters like you?”

“That’s easy,” Marcus said, a grin spreading across his face as he glanced over at me and quirked one eyebrow. “All we need to do is make sure Kat’s the last warrior standing in the ring. Our team just needs one supreme fighter. The rest of us will eliminate all of the lesser competition and leave you to fight their best.”

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I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Marcus to worm his way out of having to put in more practice time. I spent nearly every waking hour sparring with anyone who’d put up with me. I wanted to lead us to victory.

“I don’t just want to win for our dome. Think about the advantages the wins will bring to our families. We could move to Dome 1, have better food, and the best job choices after we take the FEE. I think we’re able to win the trophies from every dome this year.

“Don’t you think it’s about time we showed everyone that Dome 2 is the strongest and best?” Even as I spoke the words, my sister’s voice in my head encouraged me. Her faith in my talent made me want to prove her correct.

“But what if any of us lose? We’d have to take the Dragon’s Dare and could end up worse off. Besides, it’s never been done before,” Marcus argued, shaking his head as he lifted his sword to inspect the rough edge near the hilt where Alyssa’s sword nicked off a chunk.

“Exactly my point. Don’t you want to make a name for our class? This is our last year in school. We’d be the first to achieve this monumental victory.” I couldn’t let myself think of any of us failing. The Dragon’s Dare held a twenty-five percent chance of certain death through the dragon passage. Nobody ever came back from there.

“I like it,” Alyssa agreed, a small grin lifting the corner of her mouth.

I could tell she imagined us crushing the other teams. I knew that gleam in her eye, the kind she usually reserved for our scheming.

She would stand with me until the bitter end, no matter the risk. I could not have asked for a better best friend. Just as I opened my mouth to tell them about my plan, the klaxon sounded, drowning out all conversation as the noise reverberated throughout the dome.

As one, we turned toward the plasglass wall of the dome. That klaxon only sounded when Viceroy Blair’s spaceship entered our airspace.

With one last operational ship left and no spare parts to repair it, I enjoyed the rare sight of witnessing the majestic craft come in for a landing.

All thoughts of the tournament left my mind as I pointed toward the heavens, where I spotted the lights surrounding the massive vessel. “He’s coming in pretty fast. I wonder if they’ve got a problem onboard.”

“Nah,” Drew said. “He’s just showing off.”

We stood in silence for a few seconds as the ship’s descent rapidly decreased.

“I wonder if they were able to bring back any new food synthesizers,” Marcus said, his nose almost pressed flat against the see-through wall.

I shook my head. Leave it to Marcus to think first about food.

Although, I agreed that the food quality dropped precipitously in the last couple of years. “Forget that; I hope he brought back some new gear for the auchieball games. The helmet strap disintegrated in my hand as I tried to fasten it.”

Even as I imagined the bounty held inside the incoming vessel, a streak of red lightning raced across the horizon. Almost immediately, another streak appeared, which could only mean one thing: a brewing storm. My heart constricted painfully. Last year’s storm took my sister’s life.

To hide my tears, I said, “Uh, oh. I think we’ve just discovered his need for speed.” My attention remained divided between the sheets of lightning and the ship, trying to gauge which one would arrive first.

“A big storm is coming,” Marcus added unnecessarily.

We could hope for two good outcomes. One, the storm would blow past the domes without going over us. Or two, Viceroy Blair could get the spaceship suitably docked before the storm hit.

In any event, the maneuver held significant risk. The third outcome did not bear mentioning as it would permanently end our planet’s space-faring ventures.

Had my sister experienced anything when the last storm blew in?

I leaned forward, wishing I could view the landing zone, yet knowing it stood just out of our sightline. If we lived in Dome 1, then we’d have a perfect view. The electricity outside vibrated the dome and energized my body everywhere I pressed myself against the plasglass surface.

In a minute, the converters would activate to harvest the energy and pull the feeling away from the dome’s surface. Unable to see much after the craft moved past us, we waited for the klaxon to stop.

The storm rolled closer, gaining momentum as it barreled over the barren countryside. Without any vegetation or landscape structures to slow down its advance, I knew we could expect a spectacularly fierce storm.

My family knew the danger to the crew of the spaceship. Before my sister’s death, we would have relished in viewing nature’s rare spectacle beyond the safety of our dome.

After several agonizing minutes, the klaxon’s three final beeps signaled the successful docking of the spaceship. “I should head home and get showered,” I said.

“Yeah, you stink,” Marcus said.

“I think you’re smelling the funk cloud surrounding yourself.” I discreetly tipped my nose toward my armpit. That would’ve been embarrassing, although I didn’t need to impress either of these two boys.

I moved away from the dome wall and toward the side yard to leave.

“You’ll come back after dinner, right?” Alyssa said.

“I wouldn’t dream of missing Grandma Talya’s storytime!” I broke into a trot to rush home.