She smiled crookedly, gently tucking the crystal away again. 'Such strength,' she whispered, barely audible. 'You always had such impressive strength.'
I ignored her, still breathing deeply. Centering.
She tipped back her head and drew in a long, sibilant breath, her arms raising from her sides. Standing there, a parody of crucifixion, she gathered energy of her own. A few long, dark hairs lifted around her head as if in static.
Without looking at me, still staring at the clouds above her, she said, 'So is this to be it?'
'You tell me. You called me out here.'
'Yes, but you came, didn't you? That was your choice.'
'I had no other pressing engagements.'
She laughed at the heavens, genuine, bubbling laughter. Slowly her face came back down to stare at me, her arms still raised to shoulder level. 'Do you want it to end now? Here?'
'It has to end sometime.'
'We've tried to end it before. I wonder if it can be done.'
'I'm prepared to keep trying.'
She laughed again and rushed me. Her hands slammed together in front of her chest, violent, crackling energy erupting between them and she closed the distance between us in an instant. She thrust her hands out again as she came, meaning to hammer them into me. I sidestepped and pumped out a kick, the edge of my foot driving into her ribs. She bent sideways over my leg for an instant and staggered away, her breath forced out in a rush.
'Still fast then,' she said breathlessly, gasping slightly for air.
'Still arrogant of your power then,' I replied.
She smiled, her eyes dark and mean now. The beauty was still there but it was beauty like a shining scorpion, perfection of form, yet deadly, unpredictable. The energy still crackled around her hands, her fingers stretched apart. I let my own energy manifest at my hands.
With blurring speed she came again. This time it was too fast for me to avoid so I met her head on. Her hands came clawing in toward my throat and I pushed them aside with a sweeping block of my left hand, my right palm hammering for her sternum. She twisted at the waist, my hand missing her by millimetres, then snapped back, bringing her own hands around again.
Our hands flew in arcs of buzzing, pulsing energy, crashing together with blocks and strikes, each trying to find an opening in the other's defences. Our bodies turned and twisted, our feet moving almost like a dance, bracing, driving, dipping, turning.
With a sudden, stinging shock the edge of her palm cracked into the side of my jaw. My breath escaped in a grunt as stars and sparks exploded in my mind and vision and I stumbled back, my solid footing lost. By sheer automatic reaction my hands spread in front of me, a solid wall of energy snapping out with them. I heard her curse as she bounced against the wall, stumbling back herself. The impact drove me further back and we both dropped low to avoid falling and stopped, panting, staring at one another.
For a moment her eyes were black and full of malice as she stared across the gap between us. Then her face softened slightly once more. 'Close one, Granite Man,' she said between hitched breaths. 'Nearly cracked you that time.'
My jaw throbbed painfully, the ache spreading down the side of my neck and up past my ear. I resisted the urge to press my hand to the injury, rub the hurt. I'd be damned if I'd give her that pleasure.
For a moment we were frozen in tableau, both catching our breath. Then she swiftly gathered energy again and threw a sizzling ball of power straight at me. I dodged to one side and with a sweep of my hand and my mind I gathered billions of icy water particles from the air and pressed them together, launching a frozen dagger at her throat.
She leaned back in surprise, her hand whipping up to block the speeding projectile. It shattered an inch from her face, brief sparkling shower. Again we stood in face off. Her hand still before her face she flexed her fingers slowly, her eyes wary. I caught the coppery scent of blood and smiled slightly. 'Close one,' I said. 'Nearly cracked you that time.'
She sneered, lowering her hand slowly.
'First blood to me?' I asked. My Qi was powering through my body now, pushed along by adrenalin and excitement. I could feel my eyes sparkling.
The sneer vanished and she smiled again, held up her hand, palm out. There were a couple of thin, red lines across her palm. 'Well done, big man. You must be very proud.'
I let my smile slip softly away, but the amusement remained in my eyes. She would try to lull me with words and actions like that, then strike like a cobra. For all her inventive, unpredictable attacks, I knew her tactics too well.
She slowly lowered her hand again and we stood, eyes locked together, waiting.
I felt her energy building as she gathered herself for another attack and I let my own energy build with it. In a flash she attacked again, rushing in and turning a long, well aimed kick at my midsection. I deflected the kick hard with my forearm, using it as a weapon as much as a block. I aimed a strike with the heel of my palm at the underside of her chin and once again our power crackled and flashed as we furiously battled for supremacy, striking and kicking, grabbing and avoiding, hands, feet, elbows knees and raw, primal power.
I struck a blow into her shoulder, disrupting a punch and stunning the muscle and tendon there. With a grunt and a burst of energy she turned and made some distance. As I met her energy with an electric blue flash of my own she spun a lightening fast kick towards my head. I ducked the kick and stamped out a low strike towards the knee of her grounded leg. With remarkable agility she leaped and changed legs, avoiding my strike. I came up from my ducked position and thrust two fists and mind-guided energy directly towards the middle of her chest. She brought her forearms together to shield herself and absorb the blow. The strike rocked her backwards. As she stepped back to secure her stance there was a dull clang and a sudden look of terror passed swiftly across her face, like a cloud across the moon.
With her heel hooked over the exhaust pipe of my bike her back hit the seat and her balance was disrupted. She went over backwards, the bike falling with a crash underneath her. She landed on her back, her legs caught uselessly over the machine, and I followed her over. I dropped one knee crushingly into her chest and hammered my fist into her face. Lying on the floor there was nowhere to go and the punch rocked her, blood spraying up from her split lips.
She tried to defend, to block with body and mind, but my fists and my energies pummeled her relentlessly. She tried to kick at me and use her legs to right herself, but the bike hindered her and my weight did the rest. She was weakening and losing her focus, the punishment quickly becoming too much for her to bear.
Suddenly I felt her energy gather in a different way, her mind reaching out. Before I could respond there was a pop behind me of air filling a vacuum. Something slammed into my back, knocking the wind from my lungs. I rolled over the top of her and turned, rising to my knees as a black, leathery creature came straight at me. It was a demon familiar, some hellspawn sucked from the depths of her fevered mind. She must have had it standing by somewhere in between, waiting for her call. Cheating bitch. She obviously doubted her chances.
The creature was no match for me and she knew it, but it was a distraction. As it came at me I pistoned out one hand and grabbed its throat, my other hand sweeping round in a crunching blow across its jaw. Immediately I drew my arm back, delivering a powerful backhanded blow to the other side of the creatures head. As it swung limply, stunned ragdoll-like, I threw it aside, using mind and energy to crush it and banish it from this plane.
The bike was lying on its side in front of me. Of course, she had gone. I stood slowly, panting heavily, concentrating on getting my center and focus back. It was a cold, wet silence again as I turned in a slow circle, my eyes scanning the shadows. She'd gone, returned to some lair to lick her wounds.
So it's still not over. Still the war goes on.
I picked up my bike, frowning. How much damage? Luckily, surprisingly little. The clutch lever was snapped off at the end and the left front indicator was smashed. There were scratches on the engine casing and the bars were slightly bent. I stood the bike on its stand and braced myself against the ground. With concentrated energy and force I bent the bars back into position.
My crash helmet had rolled off to one side, spilling out my damp gloves. I retrieved them and put them on, got back on the bike. 'A mundane, harsh form of transport,' I said quietly to myself and started the engine. 'Huh! Nearly your downfall, siren.' I revved the engine and pulled out of the pub car park, into the wet, chill, misty night.
© Alan Baxter, 2002
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