Free Mercenary Little Death Bringer by Catherine Banks Page A

sure it wasn’t broken and I could still fight and
then jumped forward, attacking with everything that I had.
    He spun around and nearly caught me in the
side of the head, but I ducked at just the right moment and hit him
in the stomach with the pommel of my sword before rolling to the
right and hitting his lower leg. He swung down at me and I rolled
away just in time to avoid his blade. I jumped up and he came at
me, one side high and one low. I blocked both and spun around him
to put my blade against his lower back and throat. “I win,” I
whispered.
    “Never let her get that close to you when
she’s dual wielding,” Master Sean said. “She’s famous for her spins
of death.”
    Christopher saluted me with his swords and I
saluted him back. “Well done,” he said as he limped out of the
arena.
    Micah walked out to me to take his sword back
and said, “That was good, but you were open several times. If
Christopher hadn’t been so focused on getting a solid blow in, he
could have nicked you several times and caused you a lot of
pain.”
    “Good thing for me that he didn’t see the
openings,” I whispered as my shoulder began to throb. I pulled my
shirt down and was shocked to see a three inch long gash in my
shoulder, bleeding slowly down my arm. “Hell,” I whispered.
    “Sixth year. Final combat,” Master Sean
called.
    “Marin, you shouldn’t continue…” Micah
began.
    I glared at him and pulled my shirt up. “Keep
quiet. I only have one test left.” He didn’t want to let me
continue, I could see it on his face. “Go,” I said angrily. He
frowned irritably, but walked to the railing and climbed up to sit
on top of it. I turned and stared in absolute shock at Favian
standing in the center of the ring watching me. “What exactly is
final combat?” I asked Master Sean.
    “It’s a test to find your weakness. You fight
with any weapons and the only rule is no killing.” That did not
make me feel any better. “Begin!” he yelled.
    I could feel the blood beginning to run down
my arm to my elbow, but I had to forget about that. I had to forget
about everything and fight Favian. Fighting him was not easy when I
was in top shape. Fighting him with my emotions on edge and my body
injured was going to be downright impossible. I had to do it
though. I had to prove that I could be a mercenary, that I could
attack my best friend if I had to. I took a ready stance and raised
my hand, crooking one finger and moving it towards me to tell him
to come at me.
    He looked at me with cold eyes and for the
first time I felt afraid of him. He was looking at me like we
weren’t friends. He was looking at me like he didn’t care if he
hurt me or not. He was looking at me like he didn’t know who I was.
The energy I had felt before and the fire I had inside turned to
ice at the look in his eyes.
    He charged forward and I ducked his first
punch and kicked at his legs, but he sidestepped and my kick
missed. I wanted to use my sword, but I was right handed and the
wound on my shoulder would only hinder my sword fighting abilities
so I couldn’t use it. Favian continued to press me and fight me and
it was all I could do to ward off his blows.
    I needed to attack him. I needed to fight
back, but I couldn’t. I had my throwing knives, but they weren’t
dulled and technically I wasn’t supposed to be carrying them
anyways.
    Master Sean had said any weapons
though. I was about to pull one of them out when two spears were
thrown into the center of the arena and I knew what I could do. I
dodged Favian’s attack and ran around him and towards the center.
He was right on my heels, but I snatched up a spear before he
caught up to me and spun around in a perfect arch, brought the
spear up and hit him in the head.
    Or I would have if he hadn’t grabbed a spear
as well and blocked me. I tried my hardest to hit him or cut him,
but he was too skilled at everything for me to land a shot. I
thought I was out of options until I saw