Page 85 of Tiger's Destiny
“Was that the best you could do?” Wyea taunted.
“They barely put up a fight at all. It’s disappointing, really.” Shala sighed and ran his thumb along the edge of his remaining blade.
Wyea smiled smugly in my direction. “At least we won the girl. Come, brother, we don’t have much time.”
“It’s for the best,” Shala said, picking up Ren by the shirt. “Neither of you were man enough to keep your woman anyway.”
He thrust Ren back into Kishan’s arms, and the twins started toward me.
I narrowed my eyes as they approached and brought my hand to the Pearl Necklace, remembering that my fire power was useless in this realm. There was no way I was going to go without a fight.
The brothers were halfway to me when I saw Ren and Kishan rise up as tigers behind them. They leapt, claws extended, and pushed the fire Lords down. They ripped at their backs and arms with claws and teeth until the twins fell between the pillars. The cats nimbly circled, heads angled down, watching the Lords of the Flame as if they were mice chased into a hole. Ren and Kishan snarled and growled as they paced.
Suddenly a stream of fire shot up between the pillars, and the tigers darted away from the flames. Implacable, the fire Lords emerged in a swirl of flame and stood on top of the columns.
Shala spat, “Got a second wind, did you?”
Ren and Kishan morphed back into men. I let out a pent-up breath, seeing that they were completely healed.
Kishan smiled menacingly. “It will take a much strongermanthan either of you to bring us down.”
“Kelsey will never belong to you. That I promise,” Ren threatened.
Shala and Wyea lifted their arms. Fire flowed down Wyea’s extended limbs and shot toward Ren. What looked like throwing stars made of flame just missed Kishan as he leapt to the side.
Kishan turned on Wyea and landed a series of punches and elbow strikes, then pivoted and did an inside sweep on Shala. Meanwhile, Ren leapt over the fallen Shala and cross-blocked a downward hammer-fist strike Wyea had aimed at Kishan’s head. Unsuccessfully, Ren tried to target pressure points: joints, the throat, the eyes, and the ears. But the twin fire Lords recovered too quickly for the open-handed jabs to be effective.
The Lords of the Flame repeatedly shot streams of fire and burning throwing stars at Ren and Kishan. I shouted that they were cheating again, but they ignored me.
Finally, Ren and Kishan seemed to have the advantage. They pressed the twins until the Lords of the Flame stood back to back. All four of the men were now extremely weary.
Kishan kicked Wyea across the face, and the fire Lord collapsed. Leaning over him, Kishan yelled through gritted teeth, “Do you submit?”
Wyea spat blood, and the crimson liquid trickled from his mouth. “Never.”
The twin closed his eyes and mumbled some words. A clicking noise surrounded us on all sides.
“What is it?” I called out. “What did you do?”
The clicking sound got closer, and I gaped in horror as a giant red creature emerged to crawl across the top of the pillar near me. It was a scorpion! It popped up on the top of the column, followed by dozens more. One of them struck at me with its tail. Panicking, I blasted it with a lightning bolt, but it absorbed the power and actually grew bigger.
“Alright! That’s it!” I spat.
I’d had enough. The Lords of the Flame were cheating, which meant I had every right to intervene. I stroked the Pearl Necklace at my throat and felt a cooling rush of water hiss through my limbs. My anger calmed and my head cleared. I felt waves pulsing, almost lapping gently at my fingertips. Raising my hand, I struck the giant scorpion next to me with a burst of water. It emitted a high pitched screech as it fell over the side of the pillar.
Spreading my fingers, I let the waves of water rush down my arms, and I blasted two creatures that slid away to the dark ground below. One by one, I pounded the scorpions, making my way closer and closer to the fighting men. Ren and Kishan had been able to kick the monster arthropods off the posts, but the scorpions just turned around and climbed back up again. I manipulated the water, taking out almost all of the scorpions.
“Call off your creatures,” I shouted to the Lords. “This fight is over.”
The men stopped and looked at me.
Shala smiled. “The fight isn’t over until someone wins.”
“It’s over . . . becauseIwin.” I narrowed my eyes at the fire Lord.
“Prove it,” Wyea taunted.
He launched a fireball at me. I lifted my hand and caught it, bounced it up and down a few times and then threw it back, aiming for his head. I missed, but the action caused the Lords of the Flame to stare in shock.
