Page 115 of Graevale
Despite Shirez’s early morning warning, the blood had still drained from Alex’s face upon first seeing Trell’s weapon, such was the lethality of the staff.
“The same goes for you,” Alex returned, somehow managing to keep her voice steady, along with her grip on A’enara. The flaming sword had caused quite the commotion amongst the Shadow Walkers when she’d first summoned it, but other than a slight widening of her eyes, Trell hadn’t otherwise reacted.
Alex was just thankful that she and the Shadow Walker were starting their fight face to face rather than with a surprise attack like last time. Trell didn’t seem fazed either way, since everything from her relaxed stance to her amused expression told Alex just how much of a joke the Shadow Walker seemed to think their match was.
Silence descended upon the enraged, catcalling crowd and Alex looked through the flames to see everyone’s attention focused on the balcony of elders. All three of the ancient Shadow Walkers were seated on their thrones and looking out over the assembled masses. In the next balcony over, Alex saw Jordan, D.C., Bear, Caspar Lennox and Shirez all watching together, with Soraya restlessly pacing beside them. The wolf was smart enough to understand when Alex had told her to stay, but that didn’t mean she was happy about it.
“The victor of thevatali targo, Trell Roven, has been challenged by the human, Alexandra Jennings,” Radek called loudly from the elder’s balcony, causing the crowd to hurl insults towards Alex in both the common tongue and their own until he raised his hand for quiet. “Trell Roven has accepted the challenge. We shall witness their battle and, regardless of the outcome,”—Alex could see he looked entertained by the very idea of Trell not winning—“continue with our celebrations to signify the end of the trials.”
Another roar, this time excited.
Saber spoke next, directly to Alex and Trell. “Your battle will be considered complete when one of you willingly yields, or when one of you is unable to continue.”
The next words were from Azalia, and there were only three of them. “You may begin.”
After the surprise beginning last time, Alex was prepared even before the three-word statement that offered at least a modicum of warning. Adrenaline scored through her body, blocking out everything from the screaming crowd to her fears of failure. Instead, she narrowed her focus solely onto the white-haired, grey-skinned Trell. And when the Shadow Walker lunged into action, Alex was ready.
With a battle cry that was painful to Alex’s ears, Trell charged forward, her staff held in the middle by both hands and raised high over her shoulder. Alex planted her feet and used a two-handed hold on A’enara to block when the Shadow Walker swung the staff down in a powerful blow, their weapons clanging together in a shriek of sparking steel.
Undaunted by Alex’s easy deflection, Trell immediately sliced the bottom half of her staff upwards in an attempt to catch Alex with the second blade. But Alex hadn’t spent hours practising that morning for nothing—and with Niyx, aZeltora-trained Meyarin warrior who no Shadow Walker would come close to beating in a fair, unmoving fight.
Jumping back from the second attack, Alex leapt forward while Trell re-centred herself, hoping to catch her off guard. But before A’enara could make contact, the Shadow Walker disappeared in a flash of darkness, reappearing behind Alex.
Spinning around, Alex only just managed to duck in time when one of Trell’s blades soared so close to her head that the air whistled past her ears. While she was crouching and the staff still following through above her, Alex swung out a leg and hooked it behind the Shadow Walker’s ankle, tugging her forward.
Trell staggered and disappeared in a cloud of shadows again, rematerialising to Alex’s left.
With a growl of frustration, Alex went on the offence, lunging forward and swinging A’enara low. Trell blocked just in time, twirling her staff down, but Alex was encouraged when she saw the Shadow Walker’s hands jolt from the strength behind the attack. Bolstered, she swung again, but Trell disappeared before she could land a second hit.
The Shadow Walker didn’t reappear right away, and the tension mounted as Alex whirled on the spot, waiting and watching for her next attack.
When it came, it was relentless.
Trell appeared with a throaty roar and a burst of shadows, her staff following through on a downward trajectory that would have sliced clean across Alex’s chest if she’d been a fraction of a second slower to deflect. From there, she was unbalanced, having had to twist unnaturally to block the incoming staff and the newly relocated Shadow Walker.
Trell pressed the advantage, coming at Alex over and over again. But every time Alex struck back, no matter how fast she was, Trell disappeared, always reappearing with her staff swinging viciously overhead.
With Trell’s weapon so much longer than her own, the only hope Alex had was by getting in close—but whenever she attempted to do so, Trell would whisk herself away, sometimes taking Alex with her.
Three times Trell was close enough to sweep them both up in her shadows, prompting a sense of disorientation in Alex as they moved between the flamed sections of the star. Trell’s blades made contact each of those three times; short, shallow cuts, but enough to chip away at Alex’s confidence.
Panting during a momentary hiatus as they circled each other, Alex was heartened to note she wasn’t the only one showing signs of fatigue—nor was she the only one wounded, since she could clearly see black blood oozing from Trell’s own grazes. Alex wasn’t sure when, but she’d managed to get a few of her own swipes in. Something which, judging by the Shadow Walker’s expression, had been unanticipated from the ‘human’.
Alex knew by the look in Trell’s hard eyes that the end of their fight was coming. The Shadow Walker’s early humour was now gone. Alex had shocked her with her skill and speed yet again, but Trell was clearly gearing up to end it. If Alex was to offer one final surprise in the hope of turning the tide in her favour, then it would have to be soon.
Trell’s gaze was calculating as she watched Alex intently, her feet light on the ground as she began twirling her staff, building momentum until it was a speedy blur. But Niyx had pulled the same manoeuvre with Alex, so she wasn’t cowed by Trell—not even when the Shadow Walker sprang forward with a bellow, ready to cleave Alex in half from top to toe.
But she didn’t get the chance. Because that was whenAlexmoved.
In the blink of an eye, she pulled up the horrible memory of Aven again, wrapped herself in the darkness of that moment and activated the Shadow Essence in her ring, concentrating on what she needed and making it happenfast. But she needn’t have worried about speed, because Lady Mystique had been right—now that Alex knew what she was doing, it happened in an instant. One second she was in front of Trell, looking at the bladed staff sweeping towards her head, and the next she was ordering the shadows to move her so that this time it washerwho appeared behind Trell in a burst of darkness.
The moment she reappeared, she forced away the dizziness and made sure not to waste the only advantage she had. While Trell was still following the momentum of her downward swing, a swing that overreached now that Alex was no longer there to block it, Alex banished A’enara so both her hands were free.
Still mid-swing, the Shadow Walker’s face was a mask of disbelief when she realised Alex had shadowed away, which Alex saw when she surged forward to Trell’s side and wrapped her fingers around the staff in a move to wrestle it loose.
Trell was too shocked to offer much resistance, but she managed to give a hearty tug that caused Alex’s right hand to jerk along the staff and onto one of the bladed ends, opening a large gash in her flesh.
Hissing from the pain, Alex renewed her hold despite the sharpened steel. She spun around, heaving with all her might, causing the Shadow Walker’s grip to dislodge as Trell lost her balance and went flying through the air, skidding face-first onto the marbled floor. Not hesitating for a second, Alex threw the staff straight into the purple fire, where it immediately went up in flames.
