Before she could call out the number, a second screeched and barreled toward her, claws raised.
She sidestepped, grabbed it by the wrist mid-swipe, and drove her axe into the joint of its elbow, then the side of its neck. It collapsed in pieces. “Three!”
I fought two at once, my swords flashing, movements tight and deliberate. I severed the first’s leg, then opened its chest with a wide horizontal slash. The second caught my arm, claws biting in, but I spun and drove my blade through its throat, twisting hard.
“Four,” I muttered.
Sadie’s axe embedded in the skull of another. “Four!”
I slashed at one’s throat with the tip of my sword. “That’s five.”
“That one was already dying!”
“They never really die, so it all counts.”
“Then so do mine,” she huffed, kicking her next opponent in the ribs and cleaving its head off midair. “Five!”
A Nameless leapt from the ledge above me. I caught its fall with a blade through its abdomen, then flung it into the canyon wall where it crashed into another body. They both cracked the stone, and didn’t get back up.
Sadie whistled. “Nice move, but jury says that only counts as one.”
“Six.” I laughed, but there was no time for more.
We moved in a blur—back-to-back, breathing hard, cutting through the swarm. Sand sprayed beneath our feet and blood sizzled in the heat. My arm burned where the claws had caught me earlier, but I ignored it.
Sadie grunted, “Nine.”
“Eight,” I shot back.
“You’re going down, Your Highness.”
“Not without taking a few more with me.” I arched backward, swinging the sword over my body to behead another one, putting us equal once more.
The last two came at once.
Sadie tackled one to the ground, buried both axes into its chest, and yanked them out with a roar. It spasmed once, then stilled.
I locked blades with the other, shoving its claws aside, and delivered a brutal headbutt. It reeled. I followed with a strike that split it from shoulder to hip.
I turned toward her, breathing heavy. “Ten.”
Sadie wiped ichor off her cheek. “Ten.”
We stared at each other, then spoke at the same time. “Draw.”
But the fight wasn’t over.
Something shifted in the air.
Thicker. Heavier.
A single Nameless stepped out from the canyon shadows.
This one was taller. Broader. Less grotesque and far too human in its movements.
It didn’t charge. Didn’t shriek.
It smiled.
