Chapter 7

"I will"

Everyone started staring at me. I could hear people laughing and whispering. Saying that I was no match for these boys.

"What are you scared of? I'm just a girl. If I loose I'll leave." I said to the man standing on the pedestal. He was the one announcing the matches.

"The problem here is that you could get hurt. And you also need to give a few coins to enter." Said the announcer.

I threw my small bag of coins at him and he caught it. He was shocked to see so many coins.

"Fine. You may enter. But don't blame it on anyone here or complain about it if you get hurt." Obviously he had no problem. He would get a good amount with bets. And how much exactly did the life of a young girl really matter to any of them?

"I won't fight a girl" said Aligoren.

"Huh. That's a nice excuse Aligoren. But could you save your tantrums for yourself until after you loose." My statement and grin made him angry. And I have to say this was fun.

I tied my long straight hair in a bun and entered the ring.

"You choose the weapon. Afterall I don't want you to complain afterwards when you loose." My words annoyed him every minute. He finally chose the sword.

I had to be calculative about the fight. My opponent had a larger structure and heavy muscles. This meant that he wasn't as fast as I was. I had to use his structure and his speed as his disadvantage. On the other hand this meant that his grip on his sword was strong. So I had to cause him pain or manipulate his movements to my advantage. He also preferred his right hand over his left.

The round began and without wasting a second he attacked me with the sway of his sword. I had seen it coming though. But I had to be calm and have minimal movement. I had to study his movements first. So I dodged towards the left. Still not attacking or even using my sword for defense. If I did move much I could make a mistake. If I used my sword I could give a lot of information to him.

He kept attacking and I kept dodging him. Until I saw my window. I moved swiftly and landed with a sharp strike at his right shoulder and arm joint. This would definitely cause a bruise later. While he recoiled I moved in front of him and attacked. He dodged it and moved his sword to his left hand. With a few more blows I swung the sword out if his hand and put the blade of my sword on his neck. I had won.

The crowd that was silently watching this till now erupted in a cheer. They were cheering for me!

"What's your name girl?" Asked the announcer

I obviously couldn't say my real name. So I looked around and spotted a raven take flight.

"It's Raven."

"Raven has won this round. Is there anyone else who would like to challenge her. Sorry Aligoren. Must hurt loosing to a girl." I looked at Lycargos and his group and could visibly see them fuming, except Lycargos who looked pretty amused. Another guy came from their group to challenge me. And within minutes he was on the ground . Then came another and then another. All of them lost. Another noble from their group stood up but Lycargos stopped him and came to challenge me himself.

"Look I don't want to hurt you" he said as he looked concerned.

"You won't get to." I was being overconfident.

The round started and none of us attacked. This was making me impatient and I did something impulsive. I attacked. I know I shouldn't have. Errago would have killed me if he saw.

He dodged it and smiled. God that smile! I wanted to kiss him and punch him at the same time. What was happening to me? I attacked and I attacked and with every dodge he started staring at me like I was some kind of toy that he enjoyed playing with. This annoyed me even more.

With another strike he blocked me and twirled me into his arms to a point where the only thing blocking his sword from slitting my neck was my own sword. My back could feel his chest and I could hear him breath. So close! Something in my chest was fluttering. I couldn't loose. So I pushed harder and with the space it created I struck his face with my elbow.

He wasn't angry until I had hit him in the face just now. He suddenly looked at me with a dark look. And he started attacking me and I started blocking and dodging. With every strike he pushed me closer towards the ring boundary. I spotted one of the 4 poles that usually stood at the ring boundary. I moved towards it to get an advantage. Instead he blocked me mid way and my back hit the pole.

He pushed his sword and I pushed mine. Till the point that our faces were almost 4 inches apart. I looked in his eyes. He was focused at pushing me out. Then he looked into mine and I could see focus turn into confusion. He looked at my eyes and lips. This sent shivers all through my body and the fluttering was back. It felt like nothing else mattered. The world around me blurred. Those eyes! damn it those eyes!

I could feel his grip loosen. So I stomped his feet and pushed him. This took him by surprise. I attacked and I attacked. He dodged every one of them. In a final attempt I took hold the handle of his sword and turned to elbow his stomach. This made him loose grip and it made me get another sword. Both of the blades now pointing at him. I had won.

I looked at him with a smirk on my face and he looked at me in awe. And by looked at me I mean LOOKED AT ME. I had a fit, combat- ready body with slight curves. I knew I was pretty but the way he looked at me at that very moment made me feel like I was beautiful. It was the first time a guy was actually looking at me like that and I couldn't help but blush. Damn these flutters!

Suddenly there was a commotion in the crowd that turned into chaos when someone yelled "Nydalidian guards are here". Shit. I dropped the swords and started running away when someone grabbed me by the hand. I turned to find Lycargos holding my wrist.

"Who are you?"

I didn't have time for his questions. So I removed his hands on my wrist and turned to run. That's when I saw her. Standing there with her arms folded and expressions that said I was in trouble.

"You girl, have a lot of explaining to do." Said aunt Val.