14 - Round Two

The shortest minute of my life passed, and before the drum had even stopped ringing, Anna was back in the fray. She leapt up for a downward punch, which the elf sidestepped easily. When she landed, Annalisa followed it with an elbow from her left, and an uppercut from her right. Her opponent caught the elbow, and lashed out with his knife at the same time as the uppercut glanced off his cheek.

Annalisa caught the worse of the exchange. She stepped back, palm to her forehead where a gash had opened, spilling blood into her left eye. She shook her vision clear, but the elf didn’t let her regroup. He moved in, striking low with alternating jabs. Annalisa gave ground, parrying his blades as best she could. But she was completely on the defensive. She came up against the ropes, and the elf drove in, knives coming from both sides.

Annalisa bounced off the ropes and closed in, hitting the elf with a headbutt like the one Storm had given to the drakkyn. Caught off guard for the first time, the elf stepped back, blood spurting from the bridge of his nose. Annalisa took the initiative, hitting him with a jab to the cheek, and a left hook the elf barely caught. But when he lowered his guard, his nose had already stopped bleeding. A cold feeling passed over me. He put weight onto his right leg—the one that ought have been limping—and stepped across Anna’s center, driving a backhand knife towards her. She took a cut on her forearm blocking the strike. All of her wounds still seeped blood.

He’s cheating, I realized. Someone in the pub was healing the elf. It was subtle work, but now that I knew it was happening, I could feel it happening. Like pressure from the sheerest silk, soothing webs layered onto the elf, removing the worst of his wounds and his fatigue. He was already the better fighter. With a mage in his pocket, Annalisa’s chances dropped to approximately zero.

Why do you care?

I’d bet against her. Hell, I’d led her here by the nose on the back of a false fortune. Told her she was going to clobber this elf rogue when her crown told me she was careening toward misfortune. All I had to do to collect my three cunnings was let it play out.

She caught my eye again, with her one remaining good one. The other had caked in blood. The brass drum sounded again and she returned to her corner. Jeedle wanted something, but she clearly disagreed. The dwarf stormed off, and I realized what had happened.

He wanted her to pull out—for the love of her brother, no doubt. She’d refused.

The elf was going to kill her. He sat in his corner, looking as though he had not a care in the world—like all Dragonmaw was his stage. Many of the jeers had turned to shouts of approval and praise. People like a winner. The elf soaked it in. He twirled his knives, eyeing the plane-touched. A card started to form above his head. The hanged man arcana, inverted. Needless sacrifice, grudges repaid.

He wasn’t just going to beat Annalisa. He was going to kill her.

As the drum sounded again, I pulled my Deck of Wills out underneath the table. By the time Anna closed and took two more cuts for a jab across the elf’s jaw, I had the cards fanned out on the underside of the table. I sent my will into them. I wouldn’t let the elf cheat his way to victory. I wouldn’t let him kill Annalisa of Dunnemarsh.

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His knife came down from above, aimed squarely at the side of her neck.

I would deny him.

The cards sent their will straight back into me. I nearly seized under their power. A new feeling spread from the deck, one I had never felt before, but instantly recognized. The two of towers.

The dagger scraped off Annalisa’s skin, leaving a bloody rent, but not severing her artery as it had been intended. The elf looked shocked. Not as shocked as I felt.

Anna didn’t waste the opportunity, she smashed the heel of her hand into the underside of her opponent’s jaw and snapped a kick into his wrist that sent the knife spinning out of the ring. A handful of observers dove to the side to avoid it, and it skidded through the dirt. But Annalisa nearly stumbled herself. Her stamina waned. Instead of following up, she circled and let the elf recover. He flipped his remaining knife from hand to hand in a repeat of his slight of hand tricks from before. His jaw looked bruised, and bled from where he’d bitten his lip. The blood dripping down darkened his chin.

Darting out again with his knife, the elf caught Annalisa twice when it wasn’t where she thought it was. He shifted it from hand to hand, almost effortless. I could focus on it, see where it was going to be. Annalisa had trouble tracking it.

The suit of dragons pulsed in my hand. I moved my fingers, finding the three. But instead of willing it into myself, I sent it into Annalisa. She froze, startled at the burning energy that coursed through her body. I knew the sensation was alien at first, uncomfortable even. When using the three of dragons on myself, I knew the effect to be fleeting, because it drew on my own will and stamina for a very temporary boost. But rather than draining her, it siphoned my stamina and focus directly to her. It was never meant to be used on myself!

The elf, mistaking the pause for hesitation, drove forward, nimble fingers displacing his blade through sleight of hand. His knife dropped once again, poised for a kill. Annalisa turned it with the back of her hand. The elf followed it up with a kick that forced the plane-touched back.

More.

I continued pouring my will into the deck. I knew Annalisa’s focus must be growing tighter, no longer flitting about like a drunk starling, but instead honed like a razor. She could follow the dagger’s path from hand to hand, now, track the sleights and the feints and the false transfers. The knife came in low this time, angled up to drive under her chin and up through her palate. Annalisa held her hand out, palm toward the point. A black shimmer appeared in the air. The dagger struck it, tip shattering as it struck the portal to the plane of obsidian. The shock of it loosened the elf’s grip, and he cried out, dropping the knife.

The deck practically sang under my fingers. I felt resonance with another card, unable to tell which one it was. But more power flowed out of the deck and into me. I directed it all to the plane-touched. It was all I could do to concentrate on keeping Annalisa alive.

As the portal winked out, Annalisa’s fist was right behind it. She struck the elf square on the jaw, then grabbed his empty hand and spun him over her shoulder. Credit where due, the plane-touched had a low center of gravity and the elf tumbled over. She wrapped her arms around his throat, pushing the back of his head. The elf fought, scrabbling at Annalisa’s stout arms, and finding some grip there. The pair struggled, and I pushed so hard with my will I felt something bend, then bend more, then break.

It took me a moment to realize what it was. The precipice arcana still burned above Annalisa’s head. But it was no longer inverted. Clairvoyance, meteoric rises.

Annalisa pulled tighter, fending off the elf’s attempts to dislodge her. Her legs wrapped him, and even her tail pulled joined the clinch. His fingertips went slack on Annalisa’s arms, then his hands dropped to the dirt. Annalisa let him go, and the limp elf flopped bonelessly to the ground. I couldn’t keep the dragon buff going any longer. I released it, trying not to gasp with relief. Annalisa wavered on her feet, and then fell next to him.

The crowd went mad.