Free The Living Sword by Pemry Janes

shrugged off their blows, and their knives glanced off of him, so he made short work of them.
    Broken Fang had no more problem than he'd had, though her opponents would never recover as they were bleeding out on the street. That left the Blood Lord.
     
    ***
     
    With her left arm Leraine locked the Linesan's right, creating the opening she needed. His sneer turned to astonishment as her sword slid in and up. Now propping up a dead man, she pulled her blade out before letting him go.
    Breathing a little harder, she turned to where her teacher still fought the blooddrinker. Her blade was a blur, as befitting the fighter who carried the name Viper. Its slender length danced in her hands, never letting up.
    “This is great!” the blooddrinker crowed with a grin plastered across his face. He was matching Irelith's speed, but was only defending. A cut across his cheek, already scabbed over, showed he hadn't come through the fight unscathed.
    He pulled back, and Irelith didn't follow. Leraine now noticed her teacher breathed a lot harder than her student was. “Name's Rik, what's yours?”
    “I am Viper.”
    “Of course you are.” His eyes scanned his surroundings. “Oh, that's just great. Didn't even last five minutes,” the blooddrinker grouched. “And they had the balls to call themselves professionals. Hah!” His grin faded. “Guess I'll have to cut this short. Too bad.”
    He literally flew at Irelith, completely evading the pillar of stone that shot up where he'd stood. Leraine blinked and the blooddrinker no longer faced her teacher, but stalked towards Eurik. Frozen, she watched Irelith fall to the ground. “No,” she whispered in her mother tongue.
     
    ***
     
    “And you're supposed to have defeated that san,” the Blood Lord said. “Must say, not impressed.”
    'Don't worry, don't fear. Just do,' Eurik reminded himself as he flapped his hands to generate Wind chiri . Only fire, sunlight, silver, and a magical weapon like Misthell could kill a Blood Lord. He didn't trust himself to use the living sword effectively against Rik, and that left hurting him.
    “Ha, shaking in your boots, I see.” Rik twirled his blades. “Feh.”
    Pain screamed through him as the two chiris were forced into one body. But Eurik had expected it this time, he'd been ready for it. He moved. Rik was already reacting, bringing his swords together to cut him into pieces, but it was too late.
    His first palm-thrust Eurik aimed for the Blood Lord's right shoulder. A spike of Earth chiri slammed through his enemy, splintering every bone it came into contact with. Rik stumbled back, and Eurik's second attack mostly missed, only snapping a rib or two.
    “Damnit!” Somehow, the Blood Lord still managed to keep a hold of his weapon even though his right arm hung uselessly at his side. “That hurt!”
    He knew he needed to move, that he had to attack now, but he couldn't hold on to the Wind chiri . It evaporated, his legs threatened to buckle.
    Rik raised his good arm, then stopped and tilted his head as if listening for something.
    A trumpet sounded, not far away. And through the Earth chiri Eurik could feel many feet running towards them. The city watch had noticed the fight.
    Rik had come to the same conclusion. “Kill ya next time,” the Blood Lord vowed before shooting straight up into the sky. He vanished between the rooftops, ducking the last rays of the setting sun.
    Broken Fang passed him by and knelt beside her companion. Viper lay there with empty eyes, her throat coated in blood. “Leave,” Broken Fang ordered.
    “What?”
    She looked up, her eyes bright even in the evening's gloom. “I don't want you here. And you don't want to be here,” Broken Fang bit out. “I am considered nobility because of who my mother is. You are nobody to them. They will lock you up, and that is not where you want to be when that blooddrinker comes at you again. Leave,” she repeated before turning her attention to her fallen friend.