Free Lord Protector by T C Southwell Page B

dropped his remaining knife and punched him, jerking his head sideways. For an instant Blade's eyes lost focus, then he stabbed Storm in the hip before the Cotti could avoid it, making him recoil. Taking advantage of the momentary shifting of Storm's weight, Blade twisted free and jerked loose of Storm's hold. He rolled away as Storm lunged after him, catching hold of Blade's ankle. He kicked Storm in the face, sending him skidding away.
    They leapt to their feet, and Blade kicked Storm in the ribs as he bent to scoop up his knife. Storm staggered away, agony shooting through him from his side, face, hip and shoulder. Blade followed, but this time Storm stood his ground, drawing another curved knife. Blade feinted right, then stabbed left as Storm leapt aside, inflicting another shallow wound in his forearm. Storm lashed out at the same instant, slashing the back of Blade's wrist before he could jerk it back, then spun and leapt, his boot clipping Blade's ear as the Jashimari assassin twisted away.
    Blade used his momentum to spin closer to Storm and lunged in low, his dagger aimed at Storm's legs. The Cotti stumbled back with another wound in his thigh, Blade already out of reach once more. Storm feinted, then lunged, scoring a cut across the Jashimari's flank as Blade spun away, his dagger slicing into Storm's belly. They danced around each other, wounds appearing at every contact. The injuries were not serious, and neither could risk getting close enough to inflict a deep wound for fear of receiving one himself, but the cuts weakened them.
    Storm sprinted for the side of the inn, where a dark alley beckoned beyond the light of the torches outside the door. He reached the shadows' safety as a dagger whizzed past his head and clattered into the darkness beyond. Soft, quick footsteps behind him told him that Blade followed, intent on pressing home his advantage while Storm's wounds weakened him. Tripping over a pile of firewood stacked against the inn's wall, Storm sheathed his knives and scooped up a faggot.
    Knowing Blade would be listening to his footsteps, he turned without changing their tempo and moved back towards the front of the inn. In the darkness, he had only the sound of the Jashimari assassin's footsteps with which to locate him, but was as invisible as his opponent. Blade's footfalls stopped as he sensed Storm's approach, and Storm closed the remaining gap swiftly, then swung the faggot at the place where he judged Blade to be.
    It swished through empty air, and he stepped forward and swung it again. A movement made him leap aside, then pain exploded in the side of his neck as a dagger sank into it. Whipping around, he flailed with the faggot, but the Jashimari assassin was too elusive for such brutish tactics. With his hope that Blade would not follow him into the darkness squashed, Storm ran back into the light of the inn's torches, where he could see his opponent.
    A crowd had gathered outside the inn's door, some of its members swapping wagers on the outcome. Storm turned to face his enemy, who emerged from the gloom like a shadow. Storm gazed at the Jashimari assassin's pitiless face as he gasped clouds of steam in the frigid air. A trickle of blood oozed from Blade's nose and drew a scarlet line down his chin. His jacket's sleeves were shredded, and more blood seeped from the wound in his side, but otherwise he appeared unhurt. Blood ran down Storm's chest inside his clothes from the wound in his neck, where Blade's dagger had nicked his jugular. He pressed his hand to it to slow the bleeding, drawing his last knife from his belt. Blade remained out of reach, and Storm glared at him with a mixture of resignation and frustration, knowing that he was defeated.
    "I had you beaten."
    Blade rubbed his jaw. "Clearly you didn't, since I'm still alive."
    "I believe the tales now. Tinsharon protects you."
    The Jashimari assassin snorted. "So I've been told. If it's not him, it's bloody Shamsara."
    "You sound