Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

I chuckled nervously. “Hahaha. I’m in danger.”

“Don’t let her scare you, Hector! You can do it!” Rin cried, bouncing up and down beside Suri.

I puffed my lips out and shook my head, rolled my shoulders, and stepped up. I bowed on the threshold of the arena in the Korean style, then teleported up into the air and dropped, landing acrobatically in front of the Priest-Queen. She stared at me, unblinking, and did not break eye contact as she reached for her spear and pulled it free. I began to counter-circle her as she tipped the curved blade on an angle toward the sand, and began to slowly pace, a low, dangerous growl trickling from her open mouth.

“Commence!” The ringmaster rang a small gong.

The Priest-Queen lunged at me, obscenely fast. I was barely able to see her move, ducking on pure instinct as the butt of her spear came for my head, then parrying as she swirled her polearm around the blade of mine and nearly flipped the weapon out of my hands. I hung onto it, circling and jabbing, but she effortlessly caught every strike—and then knocked one away with a fierce scream, breaking into my guard. There was a panicked moment where I lost track of her, and before I oriented, she swept my feet out from under me. Gasps went up as I sprawled out in a cloud of sand. Solai moved to pin me, but I rolled away and flipped up to my feet before she could hook the blade against my throat.

“You’re faster than I thought you’d be, paragon!” Solai’s face was an insane mask: ears back, teeth bared, her pupils nothing more than mad slits in a sea of frosty blue. “I always thought humans would be slow!”

“Depends on the human,” I shot back. “Let’s dance.”

Within a minute of back and forth—jabs, parries, metal knocking against metal—I knew without a doubt that Solai had top Master ranks in Spearfighting. She read my body and mind with every step and thrust, rush and swipe. She came in sharply, stabbing high and low, and as I stepped out she hooked the end of her polearm around the back of my knee and dropped me a second time. I couldn’t get up fast enough—she blocked my roll with the spear blade, pinning me to the sand by the skin of my neck.

“Five, four, three, two, one!” Her terrifying mask relaxed, and she laughed with delight at the end of the countdown as the crowd howled encouragement. “Hmmm... what shall I do with you tonight? Nice clothing, absolutely... something to compliment that beautiful smooth skin of yours.”

I clambered up to my feet, rubbing at the small bloody wound on the side of my throat. “Two more rounds.”

“Indeed.” Solai flew at me again, as graceful as the ribbon of silk around her waist, and smashed the blade of her spear against mine. Pound for pound, she was much faster and more skilled than I was, but we were almost the same strength. The queen’s muscles bunched as I bore against her and pushed, keeping her spear locked against mine. She flexed her claws into the sand to stop from sliding, and that’s when I broke the standoff—shoving against her, then rolling up under her recovering strike and bowling her off her feet. She yelped as I took her down at the knees, then hissed playfully as I rolled onto her and held the point of my spear at her cheek.

“Maybe we could go for a swim? That’d be a fun date.” I grinned down at her.

“The nerve of you, human.” Her eyes narrowed. “Assuming I do not like to swim because I am feline? I dived for pearls and spearhunted fish for most of my life.”

“... Four! Five! Come on, Hector!” Suri called from the sidelines, bouncing up and down as hard as Rin.

I removed the blade and Solai bounded back to her feet. We began to circle, our weapons almost touching as we searched for the first flinch, the next moment of weakness. When her spear dipped slightly, I tested her guard—once, twice, then darted in. She caught my weapon with a twirl, launching it up and over her shoulder. I felt time slow as she spun past me in a blur of white and red, then cracked me over the back of the neck with the haft.

“Shit!” I tried to save my balance, but I was off-kilter—and a great chorus of delighted laughter rose up as Solai smacked me over the ass with her blade, then cut my feet from under me and sent me down to my face. I pushed up on my hands, sputtering, only to feel the bluesteel tip of her weapon dig into the back of my head.

“Her Highness, Priest-Queen Solai, has won this duel!” The servant rang the gong again as the crowd yowled enthusiastically in support of their queen.

“Pfffbt, pfft.” I spat sand out of my mouth and turned around to sit upright. “God dammit. That’s the first straight-up spear fight I’ve ever lost.”

Solai planted the end of her weapon into the ground, and offered me a hand. She was back to being pretty and kittenish, and squinted happily as she pulled me to my feet. “There is no shame in this loss, Paragon. You are many levels lower than I, and I had to defeat every woman ahead of me in rank to become queen of my people. There are not many who can say they brought me to my back even once. You are quick and strong.”

“And you are seriously talented,” I said. “Can you teach me how to fight like that?”

“Hmmmm.” Solai’s eyes hooded, and she made a show of thinking, strutting around her spear like a poledancer, then leaning in to rub her cheek against the haft. “Perhaps. But not for free,