“When facing unideal odds, you have two options left to you: overwhelming force to crash through your foes and even the chances, or flee to regain the advantage. Only a fool stays and fights a battle she knows she cannot win.”
- Hunter handbook (1st edition)
“Be nice, be quiet, and we won’t leave your body for the beasts. Got it?” Prince James cooed from atop a boulder. He held one of the ward poles like it was as light as a pebble in his hands. He hopped down the ten or so feet like it was nothing. “You’ve been very naughty, Thea Shade, wearing the Duke’s legacies like you were somebody. It’s just insulting. And we’re here to remind you of your place. On your knees.”
His three lackeys circled me, each of them wielding a pole like it was a spear. With its staked edge on one end, it kind of was. My breath quickened as I assessed my chances. Four on one, and with all of them having who knows how many enchanted tricks up their sleeves, I knew this battle was a foregone conclusion.
I need to run.
I felt no shame about that notion. This wasn’t a fair fight. Hells, fair fights were fantasies manifested by the strong and privileged. I grew up in lower Halistair. I didn’t play fair.
“I love what Professor Redmoor did with your face, James.” I called back, ignoring his clear threats and likely innuendo. His cheeks flushed with rage, and I allowed myself a small grin.
Anger is the enemy of smart, Thea, my dad drilled into me during our lessons. Lose your cool and you lose your fight.
“I honestly prefer you this way,” I continued, wary to keep my back to the high wall so that they couldn’t surround me. “Your face is much prettier now. Though I think those blows he gave you might’ve caused more damage if he didn’t have to punch through so much baby fat. You sure you’re old enough to be out here with the Orions?”
“I am going to make you BEG for death after I’m through with you, you rat-pissed commoner!” He spat the last word like it was the worst insult he could think of. I just chuckled, though my heart continued to race as his companions circled me. One of them tossed her pole up and down like it was a pebble she couldn’t wait to chuck at me. Her smile dripped with sadistic pleasure. I grimaced.
“Good job for noticing I’m a commoner, your Majesty. Did it take you until just now, or did one of your friends have to give you the answer again?”
“THAT’S IT!” Prince James screamed. The muscles in my back coiled.
One breath.
He rushed me, followed in suit by the three others. One threw their spike and I took a single step back. The unwieldy object struck stone and ricocheted off into the grass with a dull thud.
Two breaths.
I inhaled right as he reached me, his right arm ablaze with golden light. The tip of the pole he held glowed with a dangerous sheen of energy as it shot toward my head. I stumbled back, narrowly dodging the strike. His attack went wide, and I stepped in, punching forward with my arm as fast as I could manage. Twisting my hips, I aimed for his gut, right below his sternum.
My blow landed. Silvery light sparked where my fist made contact, and it felt like I’d just punched the stony wall behind me instead of flesh and bone.
“It’s going to take far more than that to pierce my hide. I wonder how difficult it will be to pierce yours?” The young prince jabbed his free hand toward my neck, and it was only then that I noticed the claws. Over each finger was a golden talon sleek with sinewy metal. In the center of each knuckle was a green gem that burned with molten energy. I yanked my head back and fell to the ground. I tried to twist my fall into a roll, But I was far too slow.
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The girl reached me and shoved the spike down. I raised my arm and wood met steel as the gauntlet appeared.
“Oh, now you show up!” I yelled at the inanimate object. Frustrated and desperate, I yanked the pole out from her grip and kicked at her legs. She dodged back, but then the next two boys were on me. One swung for my torso, the other for my temple. I pulled the pole in front of their blows, newfound strength coursing like a river whose banks are now flooded with excess water. They howled as the maplewood clashed with the skin of their fists. I got to my feet and held out the pole like I was fending off hungry wolves.
“You should’ve knelt, girl,” Prince James intoned to my right. He strolled around where I fought for my life like he was off in some royal garden, taking in the sights. He nodded to his companions. “Finish her.”
The boys lunged for my body while the girl knocked the pole from my grip with an expertly performed kick. The wind knocked out of my lungs when our bodies collided. I tried to get on top of them, but their weight and superior skill made the effort futile. That is, until my gauntlet managed to grasp one of their uniforms. I activated the one rune I knew to work and a burst of kinetic force shot the assailant backward. His spine smashed against a nearby boulder and his eyes rolled back into his skull as he fell to the ground.
“No!” The girl yelled and her ferocity went from that of a cold executioner to a rabid monster in a butchery. She kicked and slashed at me with boots and painted nails alike, each stripping me of cloth and flesh alike. Numbness started to seep into the places where her fingers scratched me.
Oh, no.
A pale beam whistled through the air. It struck my head with incredible force, and I flew toward the edge of the trail where the hill dropped off. The sky spun and the high wall appeared to be in six places at once.
“It seems you found your natural habitat, Thea.” Prince James’ voice came from some distant place. I struggled to pinpoint his location as the world turned red and hazy. “The mud,” he quipped.
A boot found the small of my back and I careened forward. The rocky hillscape far below me was suddenly a lot steeper than I remembered it.
“Get the gauntlet,” Prince James demanded. I heard the faint hiss of a dagger sliding along leather. I crawled away from the sound. I needed to get away.
You can’t have it! I wanted to scream the words, but my voice wouldn’t rise to the challenge. My thoughts were as cacophonous as the ringing in my ears. Someone grabbed my right elbow and pressed down hard.
I yelled. No one came to my rescue. I wasn’t some princess like in the stories I loved. I was a rat with a golden ring, and now the jewelers had come to reclaim what was theirs.
No.
The sentiment rang like a bell through my heart. I earned this item. It didn’t belong to them any more than it belonged to me before I grabbed it from its dead predecessor. That was the deal. Here, if you managed to grab an advantage, you gotta keep it so long as you could fend others off of it.
And I’m not going to give this up.
Heat surged in my right palm. A fierce roar escaped my lips right as I felt cold steel against the skin of my bicep. I pulled with all of my might and released the tension I felt built in my gut. Condensed air steamed out of the center of my gauntlet. It struck the boy with the dagger like a geyser straight out of the sixth hell. Free of his weight, I rolled.
The girl reached for me, and I released that same power I just felt. She tried to duck the blow of boiling steam that shot out of my palm, but I aimed for the center of her mass. She flew backward and collected a wide assortment of dirt and stones as she dragged along the ground.
The prince snarled and leapt for me. His taloned hands slashed for my face and I lifted my exhausted arm to block him. Gauntlet met claws, but the force of his blow was enough to send me to my knees again. His second hand snaked around my fatiguing defense and clamped shut around my neck.
“I think we’ll just take it off of your corpse, rat.”
He lifted me off of my feet. My boots scraped the edge of the rocky earth as he hauled me toward the edge of the path.
My vision darkened. I knew with sudden and unyielding certainty that I was about to die. I tried to speak through his grip, but it was futile. He noticed my vain attempt and loosened his grip ever so slightly.
“What’s that, rat?” He inquired. He smiled like some hellish predator finished with toying with its victim. I tried again, but failed miserably. Red met black along the edges of my sight. “Speak up, little rat.”
“Say…Goodbye…” I croaked. My feet dangled precariously off of the edge.
“Goodbye?” James asked in confusion.
“...To…Your eye.”
My hand whipped up from where it gripped his wrist and slammed against his face. Instead of punching, I merely cupped the side of his face as I released the final remnants of whatever charge had built up in my gut. Pressurized steam burst from the center of my palm and traveled point blank into his eye socket. He wailed and dropped me as he clutched at his right eye.
I didn’t hesitate. I jumped off the side of the cliff toward the forest below.