Page 89 of Storm of Desire
A fist became the center of her vision and Árdís's head snapped back as it landed, her ears ringing and the inside of her head vibrating. She barely had time to swing her sword up before the whip of Ylve's blade clashed againstit.
This wasn'tsparring.
Nor was itpractice.
She deflected the next blow, but the jar of it ached up her right arm. Ylve lashed out, sinking her boot into Árdís's midriff, and she staggered back, tripping on a rock. The second she hit the ground she rolled backward over her shoulder, coming up onto one knee, with her fingertips on the shale. Ylve strode forward, lifting her blade, but Árdís's eyes narrowed. Fine. They weren't sparring. It was clear the other woman planned to fightdirty.
Launching forward, she drove her shoulder into Ylve's midriff, sending the other woman crashing back into a boulder. Árdís dug her knuckles in under the woman's ribs, and then darted to the side, her sword scraping along Ylve's and slicing down the woman's forearm as she gained somespace.
"First blood," Árdís said, breathing hard. Her shoulderached.
A flicker of black entered the field of her vision. Balder, slinking in from the side. Ylve had forced her back within the ring of standing stones, most likely precisely for this veryreason.
"Árdís, watch out!" Haakoncalled.
One sword against two. Árdís immediately backed her way between two of the enormous standing stones so they could only come at her one at a time. "Focus on your own fight," she yelled. Haakon couldn't afford to bedistracted.
Wiseadvice.
She ought to take itherself.
Swords swung at her, and she moved like lightning, breathing hard as she avoided each blow. Her only saving grace was that they couldn't afford to hurt her. They were trying to hem her in, and disarm her. Árdís's head rang again as the hilt of Balder's sword slammed into her cheekbone. Her world narrowed down to a moment of pain as she staggered, and doubt whispered through herheart.
Haakon.
She was fighting now indesperation.
A knee drove into her thigh, and Árdís's vision exploded into white. It felt like she'd been stabbed. Ylve caught her by the shoulder, and drove the same knee up into herabdomen.
Árdís crumpled over the blow, her breath choking her as her lungs seized up. Her vision narrowed to a pinpoint, a rushing sound echoing through her ears. She saw Balder turn away from her to face some new threat, but she couldn't see what washappening.
"I'm enjoying every second of this, Princess." Ylve's whisper somehow broke through the ringing echo in her ears, as the female's fist clenched in Árdís's braid. "Every.Second."
Thedrekidrove her to her knees, pinning her there. Without her magic or her sword, she was helpless to resist. Árdís forced herself to breathe through the ache, until she could almost focusagain.
"Don't hurther."
A pair of boots came into her field ofvision.
Ylve forced her to look up as Roar sauntered into view, clad in strict black leather. She bared her teeth. What was happening? Where was Haakon? She could hear someone grunting, and the hard slam of a fist burying itself in someone's flesh, but she didn't know who waswho.
"Did you say something about me being an overgrown bat?" he taunted, his pale gaze caressing her face with an intensity that sickened her. "I swear, Árdís, you should be nicer to thedrekiwho's going to mate withyou."
"I'd rather cut off my own wings," she shot back, "than mate withyou."
His smile softened, and he took a menacing step toward her, his hand sliding behind her head, as he drew a knife from the sheath at his hip. "Perhaps I'll do it for you, so you can never,everrun away fromme."
"Get your hands off her!" Haakon yelled, and a flurry of movement blurred in the corner of hervision.
"Haakon!" Árdís screamed, straining against Ylve'shold.
"Is that his name? Thank you, Árdís. I always like to add their names to my list when I kill them." Roar traced the tip of his blade down her cheek, but something came over her. Something she'd never feltbefore.
You will not have me, roared thedrekiof her soul, and something surged within her. Something wild and chaotic, and utterly overwhelming, pressing at her skin from the inside as it fought toescape.
"But first, the man," Roar said, flipping the short ugly dagger in his fingers. "Pin him down,Balder."
Haakon.
