6.

I threw myself back, bending at the waist, and the tip of the blade soared past. My momentum continued, and I did a cartwheel.

A sharp jolt shot from my chin all the way to my spine when I landed on my feet, which was when the ambient laughter I’d been hearing stopped all at once. My fingers rubbed over my skin, and I glanced down. They came away red.

I looked back up, watching my attacker recover her balance.

May clicked her tongue.

‘I can’t believe you dodged that. Guess your height is good for something.’

My mind finally caught up to the reality of the situation.

‘You tried to kill me,’ I said, unbelieving.

May let go of the sheathe she held in her offhand. It clanged to the floor, and she took her stance; her blade held below her hip, the point angled towards the floor.

‘After the luring, the first strike should be quick and clean,’ May said. ‘That’s how kingfish hunted, wasn’t it, Rankless?’

The reminder of our hunt was what fully planted me into the moment. What the heck was going on? My thoughts spun, trying to trace over what had happened in the last few minutes. But my heart was beating too fast, and the memories were barely more than a blur. Yet one thing definitely stood out to me.

I glanced to the side. The siren was grinning at me. And I meant grinning. I knew for a fact the carving had not been smiling that wide when we arrived.

‘May,’ I said slowly. The thing was sending spiders crawling down my leg. ‘You’re making a mistake.’

‘Maybe,’ she said.

She shuffled forward.

‘I’ll accept your welcome down there with open arms if I am.’

My lips drew a line. Those were my own words she was throwing back at me. Hearing them like this wasn’t funny.

‘This is not the time for being cheeky, May.’

I took a half-step backwards to keep the distance between us.

‘I think the siren is messing with our heads.’

I don’t know how I didn’t notice before. May and my own reactions were too over the top for it to be anything else.

The pain just now must’ve shaken me out of the spell. May was still under it. Her facial expression didn’t match the comedic jab she threw out, and it hadn’t changed the slightest bit after hearing what I said.

I stepped to my right. She stepped with me to cut me off, and it was like I was back in the forest, trying to get on the outside of the fox’s bad leg. Only, the arena was different. The landing platform we were one was square, with a staircase on my right side leading down to another landing, which would take me outside. Behind me, the platform cut off, offering a fall that would see me caught by the pool below us.

My gaze fell on the stairs again. I could run, I realised with a start. May was standing in the middle of the platform, and the landing was quite big (I would need at least five steps to reach the edge). Though she was doing her best to keep me in front of her, she wouldn’t be able to cover the entirety of that distance if I simply dashed towards the stairs. Not with her limp….

I searched my chest, and I frowned at the strange knot of emotions I found there. What would happen to May if I left? Would she stay under the siren’s influence? It was too risky to try. However, more than that, a more primal urge gnawed at me. I could run. However, running was admitting defeat—admitting that she was stronger than me without even trying. That didn’t sit right with me.

‘What are you grinning for, Rankless?’ May said.

Funny she would ask me that. She was grinning herself.

‘Just thinking,’ I said lazily.

I’d wondered before if I was making enough progress. May was a hunter with S rank potential, and after our recent battles, she must be one of the strongest in our year. Beating her here would mean something.

Beating her, huh. Why was I making this about beating her? Was the siren still influencing my thinking?

Maybe.

But I drew my daggers. I cleaned them this morning, so they slid out their sheathes smoothly, the metal gleaming. My accelerated heart rate slowed. I breathed out, taking May in. Fully.

The rise and fall of her shoulders were at a minimum, and her silence was a physical chain around my ankle. It reminded me of the pressure the elders exerted through their maura. A light shade of it, sure, but still a remembrance.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

My attention locked onto her injured leg. Though she could put more weight on it than before, her front foot was trembling since it needed to compensate. She was slouching a little as well. Not in a bad way: she was poised and coiled. A snake ready to launch itself.

She can only swing once, I thought. Twice maximum. And she wouldn’t be able to chase me with the follow-up strike if I created more space.

‘I didn’t think you were so coy.’ May smiled, the mirth never reaching her eyes. ‘The waters are behind you if you want to swim away.’

Chuckling, I absentmindedly spun my daggers.

‘I’m not baited that easily,’ I shot back.

I needed a plan. Quick.

‘Credit where it’s due,’ she said. ‘Your brain is bigger than you are.’

I would’ve flipped her off if my hands weren’t busy flipping my daggers between a throwing and stabbing stance. Closing the distance myself would allow her to keep her balance. She knew I knew that and wouldn’t give it to her.

Which is why she wouldn’t expect me to rush her. I gauged the distance. The goal was not to kill her, of course. Only to hurt her. Hopefully, the pain would work the same way for her as it did for me.

I caught the dagger in my main hand by the tip, signalling I was going for a throw.

‘This is going to hurt,’ I said.

‘It won’t,’ she promised. ‘You won’t feel a thing.’

I lunged forward, cramming maura into my legs. She didn't fall for my bait, but that didn't matter. Right here, I thought, and stomped down, killing all my momentum. I judged correctly. The upwards stroke of her sword rent the space in front of me, missing my nose by an inch.

That’s one, I thought and launched again. The dagger in my offhand, which I had hidden behind my back, went for her middle. My aim was to solely slash through her robes and cut a small wound on her stomach, so I had to pull the strike a lot. It saved me.

May skipped back ever so slightly. Her blade turned face down, then descended with a vengeance, going for my exposed neck. But the dagger I wanted to slash with was near, and I immediately changed directions to hold it above my head. Luckily for me, her base was disrupted, and her weight wasn’t behind the strike, making the blow a grazing one that bounced off my blade.

That’s two. She’s open! I made myself smaller, preparing to hurl myself forward again—

But I leaned backwards when the same upward stroke as before tried to rip my throat out. I stepped back, eyes wide. That dodge had not been a conscious decision on my part.

I looked up at May. The sides of her mouth were scrunched up, and her front leg trembled even hard than at first. But her pupils were steady and clear. She exhaled the pain. Then, her face became passive again.

The weight she exerted in the room increased. This…what was this I was feeling?

My confusion must’ve shown.

‘Surprised?’ she said.

‘Quite,’ I blurted out before I could catch myself.

Her lips curved towards the ceiling.

‘“We’re the same rank. I can take her.”…I bet that passed through your head, didn’t it?’

The thought hadn’t passed through my mind exactly like that but the intent behind it was the same.

‘Rankless,’ she said.

A pause. Her chest shrunk, her chest expanded, then the blade caught fire, the flames fanning with her breath.

‘You’re untrained, aren’t you,’ she continued, her tone the opposite of the heat wafting towards me.

I clenched my jaw.

‘Thought so.’ May huffed. ‘No swordmasters on your farm? Just livestock?’ Her smirk was cutting.

‘Training young creates bad habits,’ I said, repeating from rote more than belief.

She scoffed.

‘Old wives’ tales? Mommy tell you that when you begged for lessons?’

‘…yes,’ I said, at a loss for anything else to say.

May chuckled softly.

‘And you said you weren’t abandoned.’

I chewed and swallowed the lump in my throat. Mother wouldn’t lie to me…would she?

‘Forget it,’ May said.

She turned her face towards the ceiling, speaking to a patron god only she could see.

‘Father must’ve bought the whole academy if he’ll hire complete novices like you. But I’ll show all you—’

May changed her stance. The blade rose over her shoulder, with the tip pointed towards the floor. A heavy air settled around her. It was a choking, circular zone that seemed to expand around her. Her feet were the centre, the length of her blade the diameter, and when she shuffled forwards, it moved with her.

‘—it’s all worthless next to my training and preparation.’

I didn’t need to be shown. My insides told me beyond a shadow of a doubt: if I tried to duel her as things were now, I would die. My sole options were throwing my knife and bleeding her, or—

Shit. My escape route is gone. She distracted me with the talking while she closed the gap. She was so far forward now that dashing to the stairs for safety was a fifty-fifty gamble.

My forehead creased. Why did I ever get it into my head that I could beat her? I wanted to yell. But the answer was obvious. A glance to the side was enough to tell me.

The siren’s skin was glowing blue, anticipating the climax that was encroaching. I was a hare with my feet stuck in a bear trap, and the fox was here for revenge.

So, now what? Are you going to cower and accept death? Like I had done before. Like…I exhaled the negative thought before it could take root. That was the girl I was yesterday. The girl who hadn’t yet killed an initiate for survival. Today’s me was different.

Today’s me wouldn’t hesitate.

I brandished my daggers. They twirled within my hands, reflecting the glare of the siren, and May followed their movement with a glint in her eye.

‘Prepare yourself, Rankless.’

The weight on her front leg doubled. So, I knew she was coming before she spoke. There should be no way with her leg the way it was. Yet she was coming.

She was less than a fiery blur, and her sword cleaved through where I was standing. Where I would’ve been standing if I hadn’t jumped.

I somersaulted in the air, catching an upside down shot of her chin slowly moving upwards. I landed before she could fully turn to me. Her back was wide open, and my dagger flew, aimed where her love handles would be.

The dagger never hit. Her leg was finally abused too much, and it gave, making her tumble forward. My eyes went wide. She was going to fall into the pool. The pool glowing the same as the siren.

No, you don’t! I burst forward, spending most of my maura to reach her in time. For once, my instincts failed me. I overshot, barrelling into May instead of grabbing hold of her. We were over the edge in an instant and plummeted towards the waters.

I cursed all the deities known to me as my speed returned to normal and the world snapped into place. What I saw guzzled down my heartbeat. Our fall passed in slow motion, allowing me all the time in the world to admire the human-shaped faces of the creatures peering up from the waters.

They were anything but human. The eyes were too big, the heads too elongated, and the teeth too sharp—like jagged ice. But the most damning giveaway of their inhuman nature was their skin, which was part of the water itself.

There were at least a dozen, and I’d just offered them two juicy snacks.

image [https://i.imgur.com/Ji9WB2b.jpeg]