Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

pair to meet in the middle, their staffs coming together with a sharp crack as they both attempted to land a crushing first blow, the sound eliciting mutters from the watching captives.

Quick as thought, Siray twirled her staff, the movement disengaging Melora’s weapon from hers, and brought one end around to spear forwards in sync with a deep lunge, before she followed up with a wide swing.

Melora deftly dodged the first attack and turned her shoulder to face Siray, her own staff spinning around to form a thin vertical wall just out from her side to block the next blow. Then she flipped her staff again to the horizontal and adjusted her grip, so that the next time she swung, it was almost the entire length of the staff coming at Siray’s head rather than just half of it. A bold strike, it was also one that was hard to dodge, due to the increased reach of the attack.

Knowing this, Siray decided to adapt a strategy she had learned that morning, and she avoided the impending blow not by retreating, which Melora might have expected, but by planting her feet and leaning deeply backwards into an arch, her free hand reaching up and over her head to brace her palm against the warm sand of the arena. Barely had she sunk into that position when she felt the whisper of air from the passage of Melora’s weapon over the slightly exposed skin of her toned midriff, gasps sounding from the other captives.

Yet Siray was already moving again, even as the momentum of Melora’s swing continued on past her. Tensing her body, she pushed up powerfully from the sand with her hand, the strong muscles of her arm, shoulder, and back working together to launch her upright. And as Siray swiftly straightened up from her arch, the weapon still gripped in her other hand came around in a low sweep, and she stepped forwards with the leg on the same side to add further power to her counterstrike, swinging hard as she aimed for the nerve on the outside of Melora’s thigh.

The wooden staff made a loud thwack as it connected with her opponent, and Siray felt the impact of the blow reverberate up through the length of her weapon. Yet the sound of Melora’s growl at the hit was the most satisfactory part of the strike.

The blow also did something to Siray—it made her more eager to continue, to see her opponent on the ground before her, begging for mercy. So she eagerly moved into a new attack, her pulse pounding in time to her movements.

Yet Melora had rapidly shifted, even as she managed her pain, and was now twirling her own staff, bringing it down to trap Siray’s successfully.

Aggravated, Siray scowled and retreated a step to free her weapon.

Mistake.

Melora anticipated the move, and as Siray stepped away, the female brought her staff up and around over her head, then angled it for a strike at Siray’s temple.

Despite seeing the blow coming, Siray judged in that instant that her staff was positioned too low to raise it in time to block the incoming attack. So with defence impossible, she decided to attack again. It was a strategy she never would have considered previously, but now she felt a driving urge to win, to use whatever means were at her disposal. So, ducking her head, she leapt forwards beneath the falling staff of her opponent, tackling Melora around the waist with one arm, her other hand still holding her own weapon.

They went down hard, rolling in the sand and then kicking and punching each other as they both tried to gain the advantage. Siray’s knuckles flared in pain as she landed a violent hit against Melora’s cheek, then she gasped as the other female’s foot buried itself deep into her midsection.

When they both happened to roll away from each other at the same time, causing a little room to open up between them, Siray brought her free hand up to join the other on her weapon, then rolled back quickly and used her momentum to swing the staff with both hands at Melora, who was also still on the ground.

Wood met wood with a deafening crack, and Siray rose to her knees before she pushed up from the ground, leaping onto her feet, all while trying to land another blow. Melora was just as fast to gain her feet, though her balance was affected by the hit she had taken earlier.

And as Melora began to retreat a step at a time, Siray grinned, the pounding in her veins urging her to push herself still harder, to win this, quickly. She doubled her efforts, paying no mind to the stinging in her hands as she twirled her weapon before her, forcing Melora back yet another step. This was what she had wanted to do from the first—to fight against those who would harm her. And now she was finally getting to do just that.

As Melora reluctantly retreated another step, Siray followed, raising her staff for a final blow as she sneered superiorly at her inferior opponent.

‘Siray!’

The desperate shout came from behind her, and Siray turned her head just enough to track who it was that had called her name, her eyes registering the faces of allies, enemies, and those of Master Herrin and the gaping captives. That glimpse saved her life, as she spotted and dodged a potentially lethal strike from a male in Melora’s unit. The male’s weapon swept by so close that Siray actually felt it brush against her hair as it whipped down past her skull.

Yet as fast as Siray was, even she couldn’t avoid the impending blow completely, so she twisted her head and neck away, bringing around her shoulder to bear the brunt of it instead. The crack of the staff connecting with the top of her shoulder was loud in her ear, and although pain exploded in her shoulder, radiating up her neck and down through