Page 84 of Tiger's Destiny
“Here’s some news,” Kishan said, “I’m immortal too, and I’ll remove your head in the blink of an eye before I let you anywhere near Kelsey.” He pressed thechakraminto Shala’s throat. “Now . . . do you concede?” he asked.
The Lord of the Flame smiled. “Fire never concedes.”
Shala’s body grew red hot, but still Kishan held on though he grunted in pain. The skin on the fire Lord’s face sizzled and his entire body turned black. A stiff wind blew around him and the ashes of his form were swept to a new location a short distance from Kishan. There the ashes swirled into the shape of the man and, with the snap of his fingers, he was whole once more. Shala had cheated again.
“Nice trick,” Kishan admitted.
Shala smiled. “It comes in handy. Now where were we? Ah, I was about to kill you and take your woman.”
“That’s not how I remember it.”
Kishan ran, flipping over the fire Lord entirely, twisting in the air and attempting to carve Shala’s back as he came down, but Shala sidestepped before Kishan made contact. As Kishan landed nimbly on his feet, Shala whipped his staff in a windmill, attacking with a flurry of strikes until Kishan staggered under the assault and dropped his shield. With a triumphant shout, Shala thrust the sharp edge of his blade into the middle of Kishan’s breastplate. Kishan’s armor seemed to stop the weapon, or at least most of its progress. Shala was unable to dislodge the staff so Kishan wrapped his hands around it and held on. The two engaged in a tug-of-war for the staff until finally Kishan raised thechakramand brought it down, severing it.
Shala reeled away with the broken piece of his weapon while Kishan yanked the other piece from his armor. It made an awful shearing sound. His hands shook, and I gasped when I saw the tip was covered with blood. Panting, he bent over and threw the broken end of the staff at the fire Lord’s feet.
Furious, Shala picked up his ruined weapon and circled Kishan. “Did you think this would stop me? Itoldyou! Fire . . . doesn’t . . . yield!”
Flames shot down his arms and ignited the pieces of the staff. He twirled them, one in each hand and attacked again.
Another burst of flame from the other side of the field caught my attention. Ren had wrestled Wyea to the ground, and the two were rolling dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Ren’s sword and trident were missing, and theGáe Bolgawas nowhere to be seen. The fire Lord stopped them at the cliff edge and pressed Ren’s head back as if trying to push him over.
Chunks of broken turf cascaded over the side and dropped to the valley floor far below. Ren brought up his hands and wrapped them around Wyea’s throat. With a mighty shove, Ren rolled the two of them away from the cliff and proceeded to strangle Wyea. But the twin Lord brought his palms up to Ren’s chest and a stream of fire shot out from each hand like a flamethrower. Crying out, Ren rolled away and got to his feet. His armor was smoking and charred.
Wyea stood, cracked his neck, and said, “I think it’s time we made this more interesting.”
The ground began to shake. Wyea mumbled something and raised his hands slowly into the air. As black soil cracked, sooty puffs exhaled all over the ground, leaving the arena riddled with holes. Still the fire Lord chanted.
Shala shoved Kishan to the ground near his brother. They looked down on my tigers with a maniacal gleam in their eyes. The arena shifted. All four fighters rose into the air, positioned on top of black poles that emerged from the ground. The battlefield looked like the bulletin board in the language lab at Western Oregon University where Artie worked— no notes, just hundreds of pins placed in perfect symmetry, Artie style. For a minute, I almost wished we were back in the safety of my hometown, where my biggest foe was Artie and his datebook planner.
Each pillar was no bigger than six inches in diameter and positioned two feet apart on every side. I walked up to the wall of posts high above my head and rubbed my fingers against one. It was blackish brown in color and as smooth and shiny as glass. Looking at my tigers perched precariously above reminded me of the crane move fromThe Karate Kid. But I knew this was no movie, and it was going to take a lot more than just the power of the underdog to win a happy ending.
Wasting no time, I asked the Scarf to weave a ladder between two pillars and scrambled up quickly. When I reached the top, I carefully placed each foot on a post and balanced my weight between them. A burst of flame hit Ren, and he fell between the black posts. Worried, I scanned the dangerous path ahead and saw the twin Lords gleefully balancing on their respective poles while Kishan jumped from pillar to pillar to get to Ren.
Kishan lay across the top of several posts, steadied himself, and held out a hand.
“Jump!” he shouted.
With a tremendous effort, he pulled Ren up between the obsidian trunks and rolled to the side to make room for his brother.
As Ren got to his feet, he touched a place on his chest and his armor folded up and shrunk back into a brooch form. Kishan hooked hischakramonto his belt and did the same thing. The Lords of the Flame bowed in a mocking way and with the snap of their fingers, their armor disappeared as well.
Kishan waved his golden sword, but the only weapon Ren had left was the trident. The fire Lords moved closer. Ren jumped from pole to pole and executed an aerial corkscrew. His feet impacted solidly with Shala’s chest, causing the fire twin to fall heavily atop the columns. Ren landed with perfect balance and resumed a fighting stance. Shala almost fell between the pillars but clutched the top of one and rolled to his feet.
As Ren moved in to attack again, Shala recovered, twisted his hand, and threw a ball of fire. The blast hit Ren squarely in the chest. He flew back several feet and started to fall between the pillars. At the last moment, Ren extended the trident to its full length across two poles. When he whipped his body back into the air like a gymnast on a high bar, Shala was prepared for him. He brought out his barbed whips and snapped them one after the other, pummeling Ren mercilessly. Ren spun in the air, rolled across the top of the pillars, and dropped the trident. I sucked in a breath as the weapon fell between the columns, landing too far below to retrieve.
In an impressive display, Ren charged Shala, twisting his body in the air, and grabbed the end of first one whip, then the other. He snapped his arms violently apart and wrenched the weapons from Shala’s grasp. The ends slithered down the pillars as Shala tackled Ren—the two of them rolling dangerously atop the pillars.
Kishan fought Wyea with his sword and managed to dislodge the spear from Wyea’s hands. It soared through the air until the heavy morning star propelled the weapon down between the pillars. Wyea backflipped impressively and reached down between the columns to grab his spear, but Kishan was on him too fast. Wyea rolled away a split second before Kishan’s foot crashed down.
Using his momentum to rotate in a backward crescent kick, Kishan regained his balance and tornado-kicked Wyea in the face. He brought his sword up under Wyea’s chin, but the fire Lord murmured a few words and Kishan’s sword grew so hot he could no longer hold it. Kishan’s scorched flesh healed as his weapon fell to the ground.
With no weapons left, Ren and Kishan turned the battle into a martial arts brawl unlike anything I’d seen before. Ren targeted Shala’s vulnerable spots with the eagle claw technique. Kishan employed the monkey approach. He stayed very close to Wyea, tearing at his torso and arms and even darted up Wyea’s leg only to leap over him to land on Shala’s turned back.
Ren had to constantly block the spinning blades of Shala, and he and Kishan ended up switching places often throughout the battle. Ren heel-kicked Shala and reverse-punched Wyea while Kishan grabbed Wyea’s arm and flipped him. Then Kishan hook-punched Shala before he could attack Ren.
Just as quickly, the tables turned and the fire Lords claimed the upper hand. Wyea shot a stream of flame at Kishan’s chest. In pain and seriously injured, Kishan ripped off his shirt before it engulfed him and collapsed on top of the pillars. Seconds later, Shala flung a broken piece of his staff at Ren. The razor-sharp edge glinted in the light as it rotated in the air and imbedded itself in Ren’s back. Kishan caught Ren as he fell and somehow managed to keep them on top of the pillars.
Pulling the weapon out, Kishan threw it violently down between the poles and held onto his brother while the twin Lords mocked.
