Ascended

I didn’t know if she was an enemy.

At Gher, she’d killed the researcher who had been working on a cure for Zombies, then she’d killed the town doctor for trying to blackmail her. She’d been helpful with exposing the Human traitors who had been helping the Zombies, but I couldn’t imagine that made up for the fact that she had some connection to the Touched Master.

I reached back and touched the handle of my sword. Fyga wasn’t armed that I could see, but I knew she had magic, which I’d be hard pressed to defend against if she started throwing around spells.

Hugh must have taken that to mean that I was about to help the short woman. He drew a dagger with a blade the length of his hand, let out a deep bellow, and charged at me.

I took out my sword and for a moment thought about not charging it with magic. I shouldn’t need it to win the fight against the large Human, but I didn’t need to waste my time fighting him and anyone who came to aid him.

The blade flashed purple as I ran magic into it. I sidestepped his charge and danced away from the blade that moved so fast it whistled through the air as it moved.

“You just attacked a Bokor.” I pointed my sword at him, holding it with only my right hand. I called a fireball into my left and pointed it at the tangle of men in the middle of the street that were trying to get up. “I suggest you run and let me never see your faces again and maybe I’ll forget about it.”

The big man looked confused for a moment and started to slowly back up to the edge of the crowd.

“He’s a fake, you moron!” The large man finally made it to his feet. “He doesn’t have the marks! He’s just some amateur performer.” His eyes were full of hate. “Kill him and you can have his sword!” He slapped the shorter man on the rear. “Shill! Quit faffing around and bring me that woman!”

“Want some help, Byler?” Fyga walked out of the doorway and spun out of the reach of the muscular man.

The tall one swung his short blade at me again. This time I parried and stepped around him as he charged. As I sidestepped the off-balanced man, I thought about cutting him, but I turned my blade so that my swing hit the back of his leg with the flat of the blade.

He stumbled, then looked down at his leg in confusion.

“Last chance.” I glared at the tall man. “Next time will be the edge.”

Hugh was smart enough to realize that I could back that up. He held up his hands and backed up into the crowd.

As soon as I was sure that he was really leaving, I turned back to Fyga.

The Touched woman wasn’t being as nice to her opponent. He was on his stomach with her on his back, holding his right arm at a very weird angle. He was trying to scream in pain, but her left knee was on the back of his neck, pushing his face into the dirt.

“You.” I pointed my sword at the round man. “Call off your man.”

The short man looked like he didn’t like being given orders. His face got very red and veins began to bulge. “It’s not my man who needs to be stopped! That who-!”

I punched him in the nose.

“You need to watch your mouth.” I looked over at Fyga who had a huge smile on her face. She was giggling as she continued to twist the big man’s arm. “Fyga, let him go.”

“You going to arrest me?” The blue-eyed woman tousled her prisoner’s hair.

“Depends on if you’re going to try to run.” I nodded at Eveth who pulled out her sword and began to circle around to the doorway of the building they’d all come out of.

“YOU BROKE MY NOSE!” The insulted man pointed at me. “MY FATHER IS GOING TO HAVE THE GUARDS HANG YOU FROM THE WALL BY YOUR TOES SO THE ZOMBIES CAN EAT YOUR EYES!”

I’d been around a lot of Zombies and I’d never known any of them to eat eyes. Mostly, they latched on and started sucking. They only really tore flesh off of Humans because the Human was trying to get away. Eventually they’d inject enough infestation into their prey that the Human would start to turn, at which point, the Zombies would leave them alone. He’d obviously not been around a lot of Zombies, though I was curious if the town was using that particularly gruesome version of punishment. It was something I’d have to talk to the mayor and Val about.

“You know what?” I walked over and hit the screaming man on the forehead with the butt of my sword. He crumpled like a stone. I looked at Fyga. “Let the man go.” I tapped my foot when she didn’t comply immediately. “Or you’re the one who’s going to carry him to his dad.”

That got her attention. She released her hold on the burly man and jumped off of him.

“If that’s all, then…”

“You’re going with us.” I moved in front of her. “Don’t make me chase you.”

“Think you can catch me?” She smirked. “Didn’t work so well last time.”

“Last time, there was only one of us and I had a town full of Zombies to fight.” I put my sword away. “You can come peacefully, or I’ll find something to tie you up with.”

“You know all the things to say to go straight to a woman’s heart.” She glanced at Eveth. “But won’t your girlfriend get jealous with you flirting with another woman in front of her?”

“Not my girlfriend.”

“Not his girlfriend.”

Eveth and I said almost the exact same thing at the same time.

The black-haired woman grinned. “What about the Bokor?”

“Master James left.” I took a step forward and grabbed her arm.

“Then it sounds like we’re going to have some fun.” Fyga laughed, but she didn’t try to get out of my hand.

I tried to ignore her antics as I looked at the man she’d wrestled. “You know where his father lives?”

“Yes, Master Bokor.”

I nodded at the unconscious man. “Carry him there.”