Macha's Journey

Tyr looked over to Aila, "It"s nothing. Just focus on your match. Remember, Roland likes to do triple attacks, so don"t let your guard down." He did not want his problems to distract Aila today.

Aila nodded and walked towards the battlefield. She met Roland in the middle. They both bowed and drew their weapons. Roland"s armor was the opposite of Aila"s. Where Aila seemed to be the embodiment of light itself, darkness enveloped Roland. Roland"s armor seemed to absorb the light around it and a dark purple miasma surrounded her.

Aila stood with the wide blade of her sword shielding her body. She started the match in a defensive position. Aila wanted to see what progress Roland showed since their last match. The two of them constantly fought each other in the final matches for over a hundred years. It was always a toss-up who would win.

Roland"s blood colored eyes looked towards Aila. She never liked Aila because she felt Aila always looked too knightly and pure. Roland found it sickening that Aila tried to be above the darkness. "I see you are as full of yourself as always," Roland drawled.

Aila"s face did not change. "It"s unfortunate you see me that way. I"m happy to see that you"re in good health." Aila did not take offense to Roland"s rough way of talking. She respected Roland as a fighter and admired the woman"s skills.

Roland moved in and twirled her double-bladed spear in front of her to mask her intentions. She whipped one of her blades towards Aila"s lower legs. Aila parried it with ease, no emotion showing on her boyish face. Aila knew Roland was just testing her reflexes.

Roland followed her attack with another attempt at Aila"s legs, but Aila jumped over the second attack. Roland became angry at Aila"s lack of enthusiasm for their fight. "Just fight me already!" she snarled. Roland raised her shaft and tried an attack on Aila"s head. Instead of parrying, Aila caught the blade with her gauntlets and raised the staff above her head.

With her other hand, Aila whipped her sword across Roland"s torso. Roland"s armor blocked most of the attack, but some blood oozed from the metal plates. She jumped to the back of the stadium and clutched her wound. "This is nothing but a flesh wound," she muttered. Roland did not feel the pain from Aila"s attack because her anger and adrenaline distracted her.

Roland raised her hand and a dark steed formed from her dripping blood. She mounted her stallion and charged across the stadium at Aila.

Aila raised her sword into the air and golden light wrapped around her. She crashed her weapon into the ground making the earth rise and crack in front of her. She took cover behind one of the boulders that flew high into the air.

Roland charged through the boulders and Aila cleaved her from behind with the flat side of her sword. The force knocked Roland far into the stands. The crowd tried to part and get out of the way, but the impact of Roland"s body hit a few members of the audience. Aila took a bow because she knew she had won by default. She had pushed Roland out of bounds and was satisfied with her win.

****

During halftime, they had the new initiates fight. Macha left the viewing box and headed out to the field. She looked towards the direction that the Obsidian Dragons were seated and gave them a wave. She was proud that they won every match they competed in so far and hoped she would do well.

When Macha looked at Tyr, he seemed upset. He continually ran his hands through his hair and looked towards Freyr. Macha tried to give him a little smile, but he did not pay attention.

Macha"s first two fights ended easily. She beat the other opponents without breaking a sweat. She found their movements slow, and they lacked defense. Macha almost thought it was unfair, but was not willing to lose on purpose.

Macha made it to the finals, and she felt proud that she could represent the guild until this point. Her opponent for the final round was a woman named Kurbiika from the Azure Bengal guild. Kurbiika had black hair and dark skin. She gave Macha a wide smile, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, as well," Macha said and drew her daggers. She liked Kurbiika"s friendly att.i.tude and found it refreshing. Today, many of the contestants enjoyed making jeers at one another.

Kurbiika was the daughter of Ode, the Azure Bengal"s guild leader. She used brawler"s gloves and wore loose orange clothing that tightened around her wrists and ankles. Kurbiika hopped from foot to foot lightly to warm up.

When the flag waved in the air to signal the start of the match, Kurbiika waited for Macha to make a move. She had not been able to study Macha"s fighting style because Macha"s fights had finished quickly. Macha wanted to know how fast Kurbiika moved, so she also waited for Kurbiika to make the first move. She remembered that Mia told her that the element of surprise was important, so she wanted her fighting speed and style to be masked as much as possible.

Kurbiika decided that the little woman would not move, so she ran at Macha. She jumped up into the air, her arm drew back, and she punched Macha in the face. Macha flew to the ground and Kurbiika followed her attack with another punch that caused Macha to fly up off the ground.

Macha stumbled but recovered with ease. The attacks were fast, but not as hard as Constanza"s blows had been. Macha noticed that Kurbiika favored her left hand, so when Kurbiika came in to punch Macha"s chest, Macha took the punch but stabbed Kurbiika in the upper forearm. Macha twisted her dagger and heard a snap.

Kurbiika cried out in pain. Macha split Kurbiika"s radius from her elbow. Kurbiika"s left arm dangled at her side and she looked at Macha. Macha"s blood oozed down her cheek. Her face had been cut when Kurbiika hit her.

Kurbiika bent her knees and charged up an attack. A blue light formed around her fist and it grew bigger with each second. Macha was not sure what to do. No one had ever attacked her with a magical attack before. She wanted to charge in, but Kurbiika was a hand to hand combatant. If her attack finished charging as Macha got there, then that would ensure the ending of the match. Macha decided to put more distance between them.

Kurbiika finished charging up and ran at Macha. Macha was frightened by the blue glowing fist, so she ran away. The two of them ran around the stadium. No matter how much Kurbiika tried to close the distance between them, Macha would ensure that her opponent never got close.

The crowd laughed. Kurbiika became tired and the ball of blue light disappeared. She slowed down and stopped to rest. Macha still had a lot of energy, so she turned around. She could tell that Kurbiika was winded and still could not use her left hand, so Macha focused her attacks on Kurbiika"s left side.

Kurbiika knew she was going to lose, so she raised her hand and conceded. Macha sheathed her daggers and shook Kurbiika"s hand. "Thank you."

Kurbiika laughed, "You ran away from me! Who runs away in a fight?" She thought this had been the funniest match she ever witnessed.

Macha hid her face in her hand. She felt embarra.s.sed, "I didn"t know what to do. I was running until I thought of a plan."

Macha was tired after doing three fights and wanted to talk with the members of the guild, so she headed over to where Tyr and the others sat. Krystof ran up to be the first to congratulate her. He laughed good-naturedly, "Macha, I"ve never seen that tactic in the games before! That was great."

Macha smiled and scratched her head, "I didn"t know what to do. Your matches were amazing. All of you are so strong." She looked at everyone. Their friendly and open personalities hid their power.

Luna shook her head, "No, we"re just doing our best. Everyone can reach our skill. It"s about daily practice, you"ll get there someday." She could already tell that Macha learned at a rapid pace.

Macha knew Luna was being modest. She hoped she would become as strong as them someday if time allowed. Macha sat down beside Tyr. "Sorry, the crowd laughed at me. I still won though... Did I embarra.s.s the guild?" She noticed Tyr did not congratulate her or say anything to her. She worried he viewed her win as an embarra.s.sment.

Tyr sat hunched over with his elbows on his knees. "You aren"t going to go back to be with Freyr?" He was in a sour mood again. He tried to say it as nonchalantly as he could, but he realized it came out sounding like a jealous lover. All day he had to see Freyr touching Macha"s hand or arm, while he conversed with her. He second-guessed if Macha actually was interested in his cousin or if she was playing games like Fenrir used to.

Macha looked into Tyr"s eyes. She wrinkled her nose, "No! I wanted to be here with you guys all day. Freyr is nice, but I just want to enjoy the tournament with everyone. It doesn"t feel right not being with the guild."

Tyr gave a lopsided grin and sat upright. He scolded himself for thinking Macha would be like Fenrir. Macha was not the type of woman to play with people"s emotions. All of Tyr"s earlier tensions released, and he reached over to squeeze her hand. "You did well. Congratulations on your win."

Mathis came up. "All right, you two. Macha, I have to heal you up." Mathis was tired but knew Tyr would have his head if he did not attend to Macha"s wounds. He was glad that none of her wounds were too serious.

Krystof shouted to Tyr, "Yeah, gimme a break. You gotta get ready for your match!" He threw a balled up towel at Tyr"s head.

Macha got up to follow Mathis, but before she left, she leaned over in front of Tyr. Macha closed her eyes, and she slowly leaned towards him. Her full lips seemed to pull Tyr in. Time slowed down for him and he stared at her lips as they came closer. Tyr"s heart raced and his palms shook. The sound of the stadium drowned out, and he felt the heat of her body draw closer to him. Just as he was about to embrace her, she kissed Aži, who was on his shoulder. Macha stroked Aži"s chin and wished the little wyvern luck.

As Macha was walking away Tyr looked at his companion and whispered, "d.a.m.nit Aži, I bet you liked that didn"t you." He hoped Macha did not realize he expected the kiss to be for himself.

Aži replied by licking Tyr"s cheek with his dry tongue that felt like sandpaper.