With a swift motion, Maya charged him, her sword raised high. Luka stood his ground, and with a wave of his hand, he summoned an uneven wall of rock and earth to block her attack. Her sword met the wall with a loud clang, but she quickly regained her composure and leapt over the wall, aiming to strike Luka from above.
Luka saw her approach and raised a hand, causing a wave of stone to shoot up from the ground and collide with her mid-air. Her breastplate took the hit, and Maya landed hard on the ground, quickly rolling to her feet, her sword at the ready.
“Are you alright?” Luka called out worriedly.
“Keep going,” she panted. “I’m fine.”
Maya went around him in a wide arc, as Luka shuffled in a tight circle, each looking for an opening. Maya lunged forward, but Luka countered with a pillar of rock that burst from the ground, knocking her off balance. Her breastplate took the worst of it, causing the rock to crumble under her.
She recovered quickly, however, and managed to slash at Luka’s arm with her sword. A deep red chalk mark marred the white of his shirt, showing where she’d caught him.
“Point to me,” she said in a sing-song voice, and Luka’s eyes narrowed.
With a fierce scowl, Luka focused his energy and summoned a massive boulder from the ground. It hurtled towards her, and she dodged to the side just in time.
“Pulling out all the stops, are you?” she said with a laugh. She got only a tight smile in return. Luka hated losing as much as she did, she remembered. He wouldn’t make it easy for her. And he would hate her if she went easy on him just because of his leg. But he was wincing in pain now, all this movement must be hurting his foot more than he wanted to let on.
She had to bring this to an end. Quickly.
Without warning, Maya charged towards Luka once again, but this time, instead of attacking, she dodged and weaved around his spells. She managed to close the distance between them, and with a swift motion, she sliced her sword through the air, making a large mark on Luka’s chest.
Luka stumbled backwards, as she landed on her feet, stumbling a little. She’d landed wrong and lost her balance. Luka took advantage of her momentary loss of concentration to throw up a large dome of stone around her, blocking her off from him.
“You little cheat!” she cried, incensed.
“This isn’t cheating!” he cried, but his voice was muffled.
If only she’d had her fortified gauntlets with her. She would’ve smashed through this stone wall with just her fists.
“Will you admit that I’m the winner?”
“Never!” she cried.
There was a rumbling of stone, and an opening appeared and grew in the wall before her, so that she was left standing with a stone wall at her back, effectively cornered.
“You are terrible cheat, Luka Kamenev,” she blazed at him as soon as he stepped into the little stone alcove with her.
“I won fair and square,” he said, shaking his head. He opened his mouth to say more, but his eyes widened as he took her in, his gaze arrested by something at her neck.
She wasn’t about to let it go so easily, though, and she stepped forward, wondering what he would do if she brought her sword up at him now. If this had been a real fight, she might’ve, but at such close quarters, even a practice sword could cause damage.
“You’re lucky I’m going easy on you,” she sniped as he stepped closer.
“Yes,” he said softly, and she realized the insult had sailed right over his head. She put her sword into the ground, and leaned over it as she tried to catch her breath. Luka took another step closer, and she straightened her back as she stood her ground.
“Is that—?”
Luka’s eyes were on her throat, just above her still heaving chest. Finally, she understood what he was looking at, and she cursed herself for not taking off the necklace he’d given her. But she’d worn it for so long, it had nearly become a part of her, and she’d honestly forgotten she’d even had it on.
His eyes were wide as he looked down at the deep red gem that hung at her throat. He raised his hand as if to touch it, his fingers hovering over her neck and the gem that hung just below the hollow of her throat, making her shiver.
Even though his fingers weren’t on her, her skin still burned, as if feeling the ghost of his touch.
She lifted her chin, daring him to say something.
“You kept it?”
Maya frowned. Luka said it with such surprise, as if he couldn’t believe she would hold onto the necklace he’d left for her the night before he’d left for the frontlines.
