The idea of a contest bothered me as I walked toward Lord Narashiba’s home. As with the homes of most nobility, or perhaps in this case, royalty, Lord Narashiba kept his manor in the center of the city.

  Tiled roofs swept up over the center of the city, starting with the walls encircling the complex. This was more than a simple manor, it was a a sprawling fortress. I suspected the town had started with the manor and expanded from there to include the present confines of the lord’s palace.

  Guards became more common near the stone walls and the buildings near the governor’s manor contained more and more stone until everything within two blocks was made of stone with wooden accents at the doors and windows. Small towers made from stone rose up behind the roofed walls from which more guards looked out over the city streets below.

  A small line of men waited at the gate to be admitted.

  I stood at the back of the line with Hanari beside me. We’d waited to arrive until we were certain the “contest” the governor arranged was due to begin. None of the criers or information brokers I’d spoken to knew what this contest entailed, which gave me a bad feeling about it. Lords, especially distraught lords, were not known for the reason.

  The men who lined up at the walls all held weapons of various shapes and sizes. One man carried a pair of spiked ball maces over his shoulders, another wore two swords at this belt in the same style as the Maelae and his caravan guards from the other day. Another man wore a bow over his shoulder, a hawk with her breast on his other cheek and a small bandolier of daggers and other throwing weapons across his chest.

  Most of these men looked like nothing more than up-jumped bandits to my eye. Hanari had a better stance and root than any of them. We waited a few minutes under the sun before another man walked up behind us.

  This one had an enormous belly which stretched his jacket and vest. As far as I could tell he did not possess a weapon of any kind.

  When he leaned in to speak with me and Hanari, I was surprised to find his breath sweet and his body free from the expected odor. “Are you two ladies here to rescue the Lord’s daughter-in-law?”

  Hanari turned and cast her eyes up at me from their corners. I bowed and said, “we are. What about you?”

  “Oh, I work in the palace for the governor.” The portly man shook his head side to side and straightened himself up. “It’s rather an important, if unknown post. I doubt you’re heard of it.”

  His fingers were soft, the man was well-fed and his skin looked as if the sun had few opportunities to darken it. Large sausage fingers waggled at the end of the man’s hands as he sweated behind us in line. Whatever he did couldn’t be too bad, he was awfully proud of his position.

  I turned around rather than entertain him further. He wanted me to ask him what he did, the yearning for questions all but leaked off of his skin. When I looked away, I could almost hear his bone shake in surprise and disappointment.

  “What do you think the contest is?” Hanari whispered her question to me, but not quietly enough for our eavesdropper to miss it.

  “Oh, it is a contest of martial skill!” The man swelled his chest as he spoke. “I understand it is a grand battle to the death before the lord and his family.”

  To the death? That is insane!

  I turned to look behind me and realized my mistake only too late. The man leaned forward, his sausage fingers twirling in the heat of thes summr sun.”Would you care to know more?”

  I did. But I didn’t want ask this particular person, even if he seemed rather well-informed on the matter. For no other reason, I could practically imagine him following Hanari and me through the palace complex for hours if we engaged with him too much.

  The guards at the gate did slow work in moving people through. I could imagine they might not have the most incentive to move the line too quickly. Speed meant mistakes. But these were being slow to the point of impoliteness. Or I’d grown impatient with the sweet-breathed fool behind me in line.

  After what had to be thirty minutes of waiting, we finally managed to reach the gate. The guard didn’t look up from the slate he wrote on. “Name?”

  “Isha.”

  “That’s it, just Isha. Nothing fancy you want the folks to scream after you?”

  Hanari leaned forward and said, “write down Jade Serpent, that’s a bit more thrilling, isn’t it?”

  I tried to wave her off, but it was too late by then. The guard had already written down my name and ushered us off to the next station.

  There an artist drew a depiction of my and Hanari’s faces while another guard demanded I remove the wrap from around the Mountain Cutter. Yet another artist drew up an illustration of the Mountain Cutter and its scabbard before they sent us on down the line. At the next guard station, they gave us small ribbons marked with numbers and bade us tie them around our arms.

  All this for a series of duels.

  I shook my head. I’d seen tournaments with fewer preparations than this place. As many guards as there were stationed outside the walls, there were two or three times that within. Every few feet guards stood with their backs to the stone and watched the contestants mill about in the courtyard. Several groups of guards wandered the courtyard itself, keeping eyes on the foreign warriors.

  The resident guards’ inability to capture the princess must have left a bitter taste in their mouths. I could respect that as a warrior myself. And though no fights broke out between the mercenaries and the house guards, each flashed unpleasant looks at the others.

  I felt as though the contest had already been delayed by more than an hour. From where the sun sat overhead, we’d been waiting at least an hour. Just as I looked up to check the time by the sun, the guards began to corral us into a smaller group, facing an empty podium. It only took a few seconds for a young man with too little hair on his face to affect a proper bear of mourning, stepped up to the speaker’s platform and cleared his through.

  “Good people of Fukan, here me now!” His voice cracked, which left me wondering whether we’d just met the junior lord of the estate or yet another foppish noble here to waste my time. “Good citizens, thank you for coming to my home today.” He wiped his face on the sleeve of his blue silk robes and my toes curled. The fabric was expensive and he’d just used it as rag. It made me wonder; Just how much money did Lord Narashiba possessed and how much of it would he promise for the return of his young wife. “A terrible tragedy has befallen my home. As I am sure you heard, my young Hisaki was kidnapped from my home days ago. I will pay you handsomely, but I require you bring her back home safe.”

  He was verbose and awkward, but from the way he checked his notes and sniffled at the podium he honestly wanted his wife brought back. Not that it really mattered to me as long as I got paid. I’d expected some other official to step up and clarify the young lord’s remarks, but he stood there using his sleeves as a kerchief and resumed after wiping away his tears.

  “My father has suggested a contest to sift the powerful among you from the weak and to prove your devotion to returning my wife.” He held his head up and pressed his hand to his chest. “And I agreed with him. As to the parameters…”

  None of the warriors milling about whispered now. A contest was unusual, but we’d all known the terms when we came here.

  “We will host a fight to the death among our champions and only the final four remaining will be permitted to seek my wife.” Murmurs rose up among the watching mercenaries. “The fee for her successful return will be two hundred pieces of gold for each of the four who survives. Those of you who are not interested in the contest are encouraged to leave now.”

  A fair number of the men who’d gathered to listen to the young lord left at the mention of a fight to the death. It was one thing to risk their lives for money directly, quite another to risk their lives for a chance at risking their lives again.

  More than half of the assembled warriors left. I’d estimated about one hundred men had shown up at the lord’s estate to linger in his courtyard to hear the terms of the contest and participate. But those who lacked confidence in their abilities walked out. A surprising number of burly tall men wearing insufficient armor left the courtyard.

  I leaned over to Hanari and hissed at her. “You should go too.”

  “I don’t wanna go.” Hanari folded her arms and held her ground. “I can fight too.” She stuck her chin out, but didn’t sound convince by her own words.

  “You heard what he said, only four of us can search for the wife. If you stay that means you, me and two others.”

  “Exactly why I want to stay behind.” Hanari pulled her sleeves aside and wheeled her arms in a complicated dance. “Besides, you haven’t even seen me fight.”

  That was the point, of course. I didn’t want to see her fight and I didn’t want to have the burden of protecting Hanari in a fifty-person battle to the death. I trusted the Jade Avarice to keep my own flesh safe, but I had no such guarantee for Hanari.

  “Is there anything I can say that will convince you to go away?”

  Hanari brought her hands together in front of her, bring them palms down toward the ground and blew out a breath. “Not that I can think of, no.”

  I shook my head, but before I could argue further the Narashiba lording cleared his throat. “This is your final chance to leave, warriors. There is no shame in choosing not to participate.” Glaring at Hanari, I tried to will her to walk back out through the gate, but she clenched her jaw and held firm. “Very good,” the lordling clapped his hands and turned away from the podium. “Please follow the guards.”

  He walked toward a low wooden bridge which crossed a stream in the courtyard. With the mass of people around me and the junior lord’s speech, I hadn’t taken a moment to consider my environment. Odgen would have chided me over my lapse.

  Stones lined the sides of a stream which split the outer courtyard from the inner. It made for a secondary defensive border between the house and I imagined soldiers belonging to the lord’s house mustered her. The dirt ground was well compacted and looked as it had seen a thorough raking from time to time.

  Trees lined the grassy area on the other side of the stream, many of which looked like low, manicured fruit trees. None of them bore fruit this time of year and most had shed their leaves. Soldiers kept the line of guest warriors off of the grass and on the stone path behind the lordling.

  Twenty soldiers against close to fifty mercenaries. It spoke to a certain amount of trust between the lord and his subjects they maintained such a small guard to protect the lord’s heir. Of course, there were more guards at the walls and archers could be seen manning the towers behind us in the dirt portion of the courtyard, so only a fool would have initiated hostilities here. Mercenaries were not known for their wisdom or intelligence. It made me question the lord’s own foolishness, or at least his motives.

  For the purposes of a normal job, I would have conducted a bit more research into the town. At the very least, I would have made sure my employer could pay my fee. Based on the house, the expense of the guards around us and the extravagance of Fukan, I had confidence about being paid. Or at least I was confident the lord could afford to pay me. Perhaps he would try to back out or try to have me killed rather than make good on his debt. I couldn’t say so I would have to keep my guard up.

  The lordling led us to a large arena next to the main house. From the way the benches had been arranged and the grounds swept, I guessed this served as a training ground for the lord’s guards and soldiers. It was larger than I’d suspected based on the lord’s manor. And it suggested the lord had a larger standing army than I’d guessed.

  Why was he hiring outside mercenaries to rescue his daughter-in-law? It made little sense to me, but perhaps more would become clear as time passed. Or I would simply slip away after accepting the job and find a different city to pay me. The latter option troubled me and I would have preferred to avoid it.

  The lordling walked up to a small stage and waited while the guards ushered us into a loose formation. Based on the lines, there were exactly forty-nine of us waiting for the lord to speak. He did not waste our time.

  “Thank you for your bravery and for helping my house rescue my wife.” He bowed to us lower than custom required and said, “and I apologize for the deception,” tension rippled through the mercs as many of us clenched our weapons and braced for treachery, “but there will not be a battle to the death this day.” He came up and opened his hands. “My former announcement was intended to drive away the timid and those unwilling to put stake their lives on my wife’s safe return. Those of you who chose to stay are to be commended for your bravery.” He rapped a knuckle on his podium and guards came forward with training weapons in large wheeled carts. “You will be fighting until only four of you remain, but you will not be fighting to the death.”

  The lordling waved his hands and the guards backed away. I was surprised at this turn of events, and more surprised to see a few of my fellow mercenaries grumbling about not getting their chance to murder someone. I kept my own mouth shut and tried not to pay attention to those grumbles.

  “I will ask you to leave your weapons in the care of my guards, who will keep them safe and trade you for chips to secure their return.” A few more grumbles came from the crowd and I smiled. Men like this would not want to surrender their arms. The lordling could sense the discontent. “Those of you who refuse to abide by my terms are welcome to leave now as well.”

  Two men actually walked off, shaking their heads as they did. Now these two confused me more than anything. Killing for me was a necessity, not something I strove for. They gave up their chances at a good deal of gold, enough for most men to give up a life of warfare and retire until age claimed them because they would have to turn their weapons over to guards or because they wouldn’t get to kill someone needlessly today.

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  Hanari elbowed me. “See? Now I am super glad I didn’t tuck off with my tail between my legs now.”

  I rolled my eyes at her and shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you’re going to last the entirety of the melee though.”

  She hopped on the balls of her feet and flipped her white hair about. “Don’t care, this sounds like it might be fun!”

  When the two men had left with their guard escort and the rest of us had traded our real weapons for wooden ones designed to maim or injure rather than kill, the lordling resumed speaking. “There will be three rounds of battle today. Your chips have colored marks indicating when and how you will fight. Half of you will fight in the first round, the other half in the second. And the third round will continue until only four fighters remain.” He waved his hands toward the benches observing the field. “My guards will judge the combatants who survive each round and declare those who’ve been eliminated. If you have a blue mark on your weapon chip, please vacate the field. If you have a red mark, please hold it up and remain.”

  Hanari turned her chip over to me and grinned. She had a red mark on her chip while mine had a blue. She’d turned in the goblin’s katana and picked up a similarly carved wooden sword. I wondered how much she really knew about the weapon as I turned and walked over to the benches to watch.

  The way the lordling had arranged the fight meant neither group had an advantage over the others. Whoever remained from the red group would get to watch the blues fight. As long as the blue group had a chance to rest after their match, we would be even when we faced off with the winners of the red match at the third round. I nodded to myself as I sat down, the lordling had earned a tiny fraction of respect in my mind.

  My black robes covered my body so I took the opportunity to surreptitiously release my armor and let the scales of the Jade Avarice gird me. No one gasped at me or pointed and none of the other warriors around me made a comment, so I’d managed to avoid drawing attention to myself.

  The guards set the red warriors up in a circle just large enough to encompass the arena while the lordling remained in his place at the podium where he could observe. The men one either side of Hanari eyed her disdainfully. She was short, obviously a woman, and with her ochre robes and wooden sword tucked into her sash, she did not look like much of a fierce warrior.

  But compared to both of them, she had a better stance. I scanned the other twenty men around her and found myself clicking my tongue at the sorry display. Many of them had well-developed muscles or were generally just big men. But few of them exhibited the kind of quiet confidence I’d expected from professionals or masters.

  Of the lot, only three people aside from Hanari interested me. One of them carried a simple wooden staff. He was bulky, large, and sank into his heels like the bones dug deep into the ground to anchor him in place. Another man stood without a weapon, looking small compared to the warriors around him. He had removed his robe and fought shirtless. Unlike the men who displayed their bulk, this man had no fat on him I could see. Every inch of his frame was covered with tight cords of muscle like fine silken strands spun into thin ropes and chased over his body.

  He drew my attention not merely from his physique, but from the way his warrior’s spirit sang over the others around him. In an outright battle, I would have sought him out first because of how strong his will projected a ring of threat and danger. Purely based on the killing urge in his eyes, he was the most dangerous person on the field. I hoped Hanari avoided him.

  The final man held a club in two hands and stood larger than any of the others in the circle. Someone like him could have led a comfortable life as a guard from shear intimidation factor. But the easy way he swung his wooden clubs and the way he kept his balance light on his feet suggested he’d trained extensively. His biceps were larger than my thighs and his chest broad enough I could have stood side by side with my reflection and he would have still been wider than me. And yet he moved with quick, bursts of speed as he waited for the lordling to call the fight to order.

  The lordling bowed to the assembled warriors and said, “I thank you for your efforts today, may all of you perform in ways befitting your abilities.” He clapped and shouted, “begin!”

  I appreciated his lack of formality and had already fixed my gaze on the arena. As I’d expected, the two men flanking Hanari went after her first. One of them bore a long wooden two-handed sword, the kind favored by the Southern kingdoms. And the other carried two long wooden swords in each hand. They leapt at Hanari together, as if they’d coordinated their strikes.

  It took more effort to still my breath watching this fight than it did participating in one. When was the last time I’d watched a fight?

  Hanari slid forward. Her stance deepened, she turned, and stepped into the two-handed sword wielder’s space and guided his slash into the dual-wielder. With that one move, she took out one opponent. The judges called the struck man out while Hanari slid her feet in between the two-handed swordsman’s legs.

  When he tried to step away, Hanari hit him with reverse palm. As he fell back over her legs she grabbed his right arm and twisted it over his left. The man yelped when Hanari broke his wrist and sent him skidding over the field. She didn’t stop there.

  With a whirl, she turned back to the general melee. But not before she pointed at me and winked. The tactician in me expected her to move toward an easy win. But she jogged for the largest man in the arena, the club wielder.

  Engaged with another opponent already, the club wielder struck him down before Hanari reached him. The man showed no signs of strain as he casualty swung his wooden club toward Hanari. I winced as I expected Hanari to take the full club strike on her side. But she went and broke one of the clear rules of combat, she leapt up like a salmon and curved around the club swing. The big man was too experienced to let something like missing throw him off balance. His return swing had already started by the time Hanari reached his shoulders.

  She wrapped his neck with her legs.

  My jaw dropped open. From my perspective, the man’s head was entirely concealed in flowing ochre robes. But the portions of his body below Hanari’s robes twitched as he dropped his club. I had no idea what she’d done to him as Hanari kipped up onto his shoulder and jumped away before the large man hit the floor.

  Her roll carried her to a clear section of the arena.

  In stories, fights lasted far longer than in real life. In less than thirty seconds, almost half of the men on the field had been eliminated. Only two fights remained, both pairs of men circling each other timidly.

  The bare-chested warrior with the sleek physique thumbed his nose at the fighters, walked over to one group, and knocked the current winner out with a single blow to the back of the head.

  At once the judges called the battle and the fighters in the arena stopped and glanced around at each other. A few of the huffed and panted from their fights. And only the one giant I’d noticed at the beginning had been culled from the group who’d caught my eye.

  Hanari bounced at her win and raced up to where I sat on the benches. “What’d you think?”

  I laughed at her question, covering my mouth as I did. “You were impressive. I didn’t expect that.”

  “Thanks!” She flexed her arm and added, “rawr,” as she sat down next to me. “You have to win the next round to, so all of the pressure!”

  I continued to laugh at her display as the lordling called the rest of the warriors to the arena grounds. Few of the men in the benches had drawn my attention during the first melee. But as we walked down, several of them exhibited the same fierce warrior’s spirit the man with the bare chest had displayed.

  None of these men were the same size as the giant Hanari had laid out. But several of them looked as though they’d fallen just short of his mass. I took my place at the ring of warriors, activated my armor and tossed my robes off of my shoulders. A few gasps greeted my presentation as the warriors to my right and left shifted warily. I doubted the rules of the fight would let me count the Jade Avarice’s protection. But the intimidation factor was worth the display. And of course the armor did not inhibit my movements.

  When the last of the warriors took their positions, the lordling called out the start of the battle. I’d held my own spirit in check until now. There was no sense in giving the men around me a preview. As the lordling spoke, I unleashed the full fury of my killing spirit. From the way they inhaled, I expected both of the men to my sides to rabbit as soon as the fight began.

  As soon as the fight started, they did just that. Both men shot away from me as if fired from a crossbow. I turned to the man on my right, shuffled forward with my sword at guard and slapped him across the back. He fell forward and skidded a foot.

  I put my back to the edge of the arena and watched. To my extreme disappointment, none of the other combatants dared face me. A semi-circle of clear ground formed around me and I sighed. It was a kind of honor to be feared so. But it was disgraceful none of the others wished to test their skills against mine.

  The battle ended there. I, with my back to the arena, and the rest of the combatants finished each other off until only half remained.

  At least I would be fresh and rested for the final round.

  I shook my head as I walked back to the benched and reigned in my killing urge. Hanari had stood up and was clapping for me as I reached her.

  “Nice job!” She patted my shoulders. “You scared all of them off!”

  I snorted at her and swung my discarded robes up onto the bench. “Thank you. I am feeling…”

  Hanari said, “blue balled?”

  That drew a proper laugh from me. “Something like that I suppose.”

  The lordling had the fallen warriors treated with magic while the rest of us waited. Considering how short the bouts were, I did not believe the group would need much time to rest. But still, the lordling had dancers and gymnasts take the field while the fighters rested up. It was a decent consideration for the men who’d just fought. And none of them would complain about the extra time to gather their wind.

  As the dancers cavorted and jumped on the field, long cloth streaming behind them, the man with the bare chest walked up to Hanari and me. He bowed with his fist in his palm. “May I sit here?” He indicated a clear space next to me and I nodded.

  “My name is Huang, Huang Ji.” He remained standing as he introduced himself.

  I stood up and bowed in return. “I am Isha Blackheart and this is my traveling companion Hanari.”

  Hanari remained seated and nodded to the man.

  Politesse satisfied, Huang sat down next to me. I expected him to throw a barrage of questions at me about my armor, but he pointed to Hanari and said, “You’ve trained in the Jian style, haven’t you?”

  Hanari tilted her head. “It wasn’t called that when I studied, but maybe?”

  Huang smiled and leaned toward Hanari. “Your take down of the giant was exquisite. I could not have done better.”

  Now grinning, Hanari nodded to him. “Thanks! I did my best.”

  Huang leaned back and tipped his head toward me. “You possess a great warrior’s spirit. You defeated the whole of your round with nothing more than that!”

  “Thank you.”

  “It was magnificent.”

  I nodded to him. “Your spirit is also a palpable thing. I noticed it before the fight began.”

  He grinned at me, pleased with the compliment. “Thank you.”

  Neither I nor Huang spoke again for a few seconds. Hanari pointed to him and said, ‘so why did you come over here?”

  Huang winked at her. “Do I need a reason to flirt with only two lovely ladies in this crowd of roosters? Not to mention you are also two of the better fighters in the arena.”

  I rolled my eyes at his words, but Hanari leaned over and said, “You think I’m pretty?” Her eyes flashed with something which made my shoulders ache.

  Huang saw it and retreated. “I do, but please do not be offended.”

  As quick as flash powder burning itself out, the vague sense of threat I’d felt from Hanari faded. She tilted her head and grinned at Huang. “Oh, I’m not offended.”

  Now the silence became a weighty thing between the three of us. Hanari kicked her legs under the bench and Huang retreated to his own position where he appeared to turn his thoughts inward. I did my best to ignore them both and stared after the dancers.

  Nobility confused and bothered me. The extravagant display of wealth and power before us did nothing to save his kidnapped wife. If anything, our lordling would have been better off hiring trackers and sending an army to rescue his beloved. And yet… I rolled my shoulders and readied myself to stand.

  Huang leaned in and said, “I wonder if the two of you would consider an allegiance for the upcoming bout.”

  Hanari giggled at him, but I let my balance shift back to the bench and said, “What?”

  Huang pointed to the rest of the stands. Here and there men stood in conference with each other, some of them eyeing the three of us. “It is a standard strategy of warfare, is it not?” He swallowed as if the notion were anathema to him. “Gathering strong allies, that is.”

  I clenched my teeth. There were few things which I abhorred more than politics. And yet Huang was not wrong. The fact he was right only made the words more bitter to swallow. “And you’re suggesting an alliance between the three of us?”

  “I am.”

  “Why? Because we’re pretty ladies?”

  Huang retreated before my glare, as if he could turtle his head into his trunk. “No.” He swept his hand over the crowd. “Because you are the most terrifying pair of warriors in the benches and the other fools around us are too proud to approach you.”

  I looked at where he’d motioned. Huang’s words rang true and I sighed. “So you’re displaying your respect and your bravery, huh?”

  He pressed his hands together and opened them as if freeing an insect trapped between. “I am but a humble warrior. I would use the purse from this mission to establish…”

  I held up one hand. “I don’t need to hear your story.” I turned my head toward Hanari and said, “what do you think?”

  “He’s cute and he’s complimentary. I say we agree.” She blinked at him, but showed her teeth at her next words, “and make sure he understands what will happen to him if he breaks his deal with us.”

  I pointed to Hanari while I looked at Huang. “You heard her. Can we trust you?”

  He pressed his fist into his palm again and bowed over his hands. “I swear upon my master’s grave and my hope of following in his footsteps. I will not attack you in the upcoming round, if you agree to do the same.”

  Huang was taking a lot on faith by trusting Hanari and me. I looked out over the groups of warriors which had formed in the benches. Many of them stared over at the three of us with hatred or fear in their eyes. Perhaps Hanari and I would need Huang’s assistance.

  “I agree then.” I turned to Hanari, who spoke up before I had a chance to ask.

  “Me too, no backsies though!”

  Huang nodded to us both, bowing with his hands in the same position. “I feel as if I have gathered powerful allies around me now. Thank you both.”

  He remained in place for the rest of the dancing and entertainment.

  With the festivities concluded and the arena cleared of half the aspiring warriors, the lordling called the rest of us to the arena. “Only four of you may win this final round. I trust you’ve taken your opportunities to form groups and make deals?” A few of the too-proud warriors who stood alone on the field looked up at the lordling in surprise. I could imagine them reconsidering their choices now. The lordling did not give them the chance to consult with their fellows. “I will call the final round to begin…” He took a breath and shouted, “go!”

  A battle broke out amidst the dirt floor of the arena with his word.

  Two groups of four men approached me and the others. I raised my sword and squared off with the center as Hanari swept he right leg forward and kicked a wave of dust into the other group.

  One slash from my wooden training blade brought the leader of the other group down. His companions darted in as if they thought me distracted. But Huang honored his bargain, intercepting the one on my right. At the same time, I delivered a kick to the chest of the man to my left. Before he recovered his balance, I swept my blade across his chest and sent him sprawling into his fallen companion.

  Hanari shouted and rolled into the final man in the group of four. She stood from her roll and tossed him a solid five feet from where he’d stood. The man landed in a heap and did not rise. Huang’s opponent dropped from a series of lightning quick strikes too fast for me to track from my periphery.

  We’d turned before Hanari’s dust cloud settled and laid into the second group. Blinding and coughing, they each dropped faster than the first group. I left Hanari and Huang at my back as I patrolled the border of our fight with my wooden blade. Two pairs of men, all four of whom had been alone when the fight started, backed away from me. I did not grant them a moment’s quarter.

  I hit two of them in one swing of my blade, taking out half the pairs at once. A thrust from my wooden swore laid a third man out. And as I readied myself to drop the fourth man, Hanari slithered forward, kicked his legs out from under him and dropped an axe-kick on his chest. He surrendered before she struck.

  When the last of the dust cloud settled, only the three of us, another pair of warriors and a trio remained on the field. The two men looked between the two groups of three and chose to attack us. From my right, Huang chuckled and advanced to where he knew I could see him.

  The trio of warriors hung back. They would attack whichever group looked the strongest, so I motioned with my left hand to the other and we put our backs to the edge of the arena. Huang hit one of the pair with both fists in a surprisingly impractical attack, which removed his opponent from the battle.

  At the same time, I pressed the remaining fighter of the pair with my sword while he deflected my attacks with his staff. Hanari slipped into his guard and hit him in the right side as Huang approached from the man’s left.

  He dropped last, before the final trio managed to collect themselves and face off with us. They looked between each other and I smirked. Again, I motioned to Huang and Hanari, who retreated back into the range of my sword and stood at the ready.

  The man in the back of his trio shook his head, and hit both of his companions in quick succession with his short wooden katana and wakizashi. They cried out as the judges called the men down.

  And with that, the arena battle for the honor of rescuing a princess ended.