The park stretched out ahead, a yawning expanse of what Av’ry knew to be green, but in the darkness was the sort of dusky blue that the eyes resorted to when there wasn’t enough light to see color. Normally, the open space would seem inviting, even serene, but under the circumstances it looked exposed and alien. Dangerous.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Av’ry asked, unnerved.

  “No. But it’s the best one I’ve got,” Mikiva replied. “We can’t keep running forever. Much further and we’ll be too tired to fight when we do stop. I’d rather turn and face them then let them run me to ground and slit my throat.”

  “How many are still with us?” Av’ry asked softly as they positioned themselves on the flat, open ground.

  “Four. They are spread out and approaching cautiously. And I think we lost all of the archers back on the rooftops,” Jade assessed. “Mikiva was right. They are uncomfortable out here in the open.”

  “But so are we,” Av’ry muttered darkly. “Not much of an advantage, is it?”

  Neither woman argued. They waited as the Scorpions closed slowly around them. Patience was a difficult, but essential skill in these situations. Sometimes you had to wait for an enemy to come to you. Clamping down on the impulse to run, Av’ry considered the tools he had at his disposal; making his choice, he reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a small pouch. Glancing over, he saw the knives in Mikiva’s hands; they seemed to just materialize there, as if they were always a secret part of her, like a cat’s claws. However much they might bicker, he was grateful to have her here.

  The assassins made their move. Being professionals, they focused on their target, two of them moving towards Jade while to other two separated to the sides to deal with Av’ry and Mikiva. They wouldn’t need to kill them, after all, just delay them while the others claimed their prize. Though, if the most practical way to accomplish that was by slitting his throat, Av’ry doubted that they would hesitate. He faced his adversary holding his two gloved fists closed near his chin. He left his sword sheathed; it would likely be ineffective in this situation anyway. Av’ry was passable with a blade, but he wasn’t good enough to square off with a trained assassin.

  “I am not here for a fist fight,” the Scorpion taunted, moving until he was just beyond arms reach. “Did you think I would get close enough for you to hit me?”

  “No,” Av’ry admitted. “But I did figure you would get close enough to let me do this.”

  With that, he opened his palm and blew a white powder into the man’s face. The assassin screamed and began clawing at his face as the caustic substance burned his eyes and skin. Av’ry had been told it was very unpleasant, he hadn’t felt the need to try it himself. The Scorpion dug his fingernails into his face so hard that they drew blood, but it wasn’t going to help. There were few things that would. Carefully brushing the remaining dust from his gloves, Av’ry moved quickly to restrain the man so that he could go and help the others.

  Mikiva watched the assassin advancing towards her with no small amount of amusement. The man was out of his depth, and he clearly knew it. He moved apprehensively, uncertain of himself, and she could see the slight tremor in his knife-hand. She imagined that he was currently regretting being much better at running than he was at fighting. He feinted right but she easily saw through his movements and intercepted him as he came at her from the left. Striking him in the throat with her elbow, she knocked him to the ground and drove a knife through the web of his hand into the dirt. As he cried out, she instinctively went in for the kill, driving at his throat with her off-hand blade. Just before it hit, she caught herself and turned the knife away, sinking it into the dirt instead. Seeing her hesitation, the assassin seized his opportunity and drove up at her with his own blade, straight towards her stomach. Mikiva twisted and tried to roll away, but she was a beat too slow and the blade bit into the flesh of her left arm as she turned, slicing open the skin and scoring deeply up her limb. Completing her roll, Mikiva regained her feet and faced the man again. He lashed out with a wide swing of his blade, but she stepped in close, blocking the arc of his arm with her body. She kneed him in the stomach and, as he doubled over, clubbed him in the back of the neck with both fists. The man crumpled to the ground, for good this time.

  Jade was at a distinct disadvantage. Not only was she lacking a weapon, which her subconscious had apparently not deemed necessary for her little trip, but she was outnumbered 2 to 1. She wasn’t particularly concerned, however, because based on their last encounter with these men, she knew she also had one important advantage: they wanted her alive. They weren’t going to slit her throat or stab her in the heart. Anything else, she could handle, at least until the others were able to assist her. As the duo moved towards her, she raised her hands as if in surrender.

  “Get down on your knees, and we’ll make this easy on you,” the one closest to her growled.

  She obeyed without a word, hands and wrists held out compliantly. The man in front took out a thick cord to bind her wrists. Jade waited until he got close and leaned down to reached out for her hands, before she brought her fists up and cracked him in the nose. With a curse the man reared back, and Jade snatched the cord from his hands, scrambling to her feet. He lunged for her, and she lashed out with the heavy cord, whipping it across his face. He stumbled back with a cry. The second man had run up to help his partner, as Jade looked over, he was already winding up to deliver a punch to her jaw. With no way to really avoid it, Jade braced herself for the hit and as it connected, she grabbed his arm at the shoulder and pulled him forward. That, combined with the momentum of his blow, threw him off balance and he staggered forward a few steps. Jade felt her jaw disconnect as his fist hit home, but she ignored that for the time being. As he moved past her, she seized the opportunity and wrapped the cord around his throat from behind. Pressing her foot into his back, she snapped the cord taught and kept the pressure on. Instinctively, the man struggled, grabbing at the cord, trying to dislodge it from his flesh, but she had the leverage, and he couldn’t break free. Still holding him, she turned back around just in time to see the first man coming to assist his partner. He took a step towards her but crumpled to the ground when Mikiva’s knife hilt connected with his head from behind. As he fell, the man she was choking also succumbed and collapsed. Last one down.

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  “Well, that was bracing, wasn’t it?” Mikiva breathed.

  Jade grasped her lower jaw and snapped it back into place.

  “A blast.”

  “Are you alright? That was quite the hit.”

  “I’ve taken worse,” Jade shrugged. “You’re going to need that arm looked at though, cut looks pretty deep.”

  Mikiva moved towards Jade and was just about to respond when she heard a shrill whistle behind her, and her heart dropped to her feet. The sound was unmistakable, an arrow moving through the air, and if she was hearing it now, she wouldn’t even have time to turn before it found its mark. Futilely, she went to spin, but instead found herself on the ground, eating dirt.

  “Looks like we missed one,” the voice from above her observed.

  Mikiva looked up to see Av’ry pressing her into the ground, the shaft of an arrow protruding from his side.

  “Are you alright?” she asked.

  He’d saved her life just now, of that she had no doubt. Looking down at his new piercing Av’ry grimaced slightly,

  “Guess I was a bit too slow,” he chuckled ruefully. “Don’t worry about me, worry about the archer.”

  With that advice, he rolled off of her and Mikiva leapt to her feet, searching for the source of the shot. She spotted him instantly,

  “Jade, look after Av’ry, would you? Leave this one to me.”

  The hooded and masked archer was already reaching for another arrow, but seeing Mikiva closing the distance, he discarded the bow and drew a long, curved knife from his belt.

  “Well, well,” the man sneered. “This is my lucky day after all.”

  Mikiva recognized the voice.

  “M’arec. Figures. You the primary on this?”

  “Once I heard you were involved, how could I resist?” he pushed back his hood and tore off the mask, revealing a long, ugly scar running from his left cheek up through his clouded, milky-white eye. It disappeared into his hairline on the right side. “As they say, Mikiva, an eye for an eye.”

  “You lost that eye fair and square, M’arec,” Mikiva retorted. “You don’t get to take revenge because of a contest you instigated.”

  “You left before I could challenge you again. You left me disgraced and blinded with no way to regain my honour! You owe me.”

  “You consider an arrow in the back a rematch, do you? That is cowardly, even for you.”

  “A win is a win,” M’arec shrugged, unphased. “Besides, business comes first. I am supposed to kill you, and, as my target, I will do that in the most efficient way I can. But I won’t say I am not a little pleased that it turned out this way.”

  “You won’t be when I am through with you,” Mikiva growled. “Especially because there aren’t many jobs for blind assassins. But, if you walk away now, I’ll let you go with one good eye, for old time’s sake.”

  “You know I can’t do that,” he smirked. “For old time’s sake.”

  “I guess there is no helping it then.”

  “Just as there is no helping you.”

  With that, the one-eyed assassin lunged forward, aiming right for her throat with his hooked knife. He was lightning fast and Mikiva only barely managed to block him with the crossed points of her own blades. The time for talking was clearly over.

  Seeing the fight begin, Av’ry got to his feet and turned to rush over, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him,

  “And where do you think you’re going?” Jade asked.

  “I…”

  “Don’t even bother answering,” Jade cut in. “You aren’t going anywhere until I take a look at that,” she nodded to the arrow in his abdomen. “Mikiva can handle herself…” Jade glanced up just in time to watch Mikiva thrown to the ground, hard. She rolled out of M’arec’s reach and quickly regained her feet. “… I hope. Either way you won’t be much help like this.”

  “What would you have me do?” he asked impatiently, eyes riveted on the two assassins as they circled each other, knives flashing in the moonlight.

  “Just hold still a minute, this might hurt,” Jade tore his shirt open, exposing the spot where the arrow pierced his flesh. Palpating it with her fingers, she carefully examined its depth and position. Finally, she nodded curtly. “Good. It’s a relatively minor wound, hit mostly skin and a bit of muscle on your left side. It’s nowhere near any major organs. And the assassins are unlikely to be using poison, given that they are trying to take me alive. That means you should be fine.”

  “So, can I pull it out and go now?”

  “Of course not!” she replied indignantly. “Right now, that arrow is keeping pressure on the wound. If you pull it out, you’ll start bleeding. So, we’ll have to do that somewhere where you can get patched up.”

  “I can’t walk around like this!” he gestured at the projecting shaft.

  “Ok, give me a second,” grasping the arrow with both hands an inch or so from where it entered his side, Jade snapped it with a quick, sharp motion, leaving only a small chunk protruding. “Ok, I think that’ll do for now. Let’s go.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that,” Av’ry jumped to his feet and they both ran to join Mikiva.

  M’arec had improved since the last time she’d fought him, Mikiva reflected, dodging a strike before delivering one of her own, which he avoided in turn. However, he obviously still had the same problem he’d had back then; despite his efforts; the man lacked imagination. His technique was good, but he was just too predictable; he always had been, that’s how he’d lost his eye. She had fought with him long enough now to know his patterns, so she made her move, lashing her blade hand out in a wide, swinging arc, he threw his head down to duck under it, just like the last 3 times, but this time when he did, Mikiva’s knee connected solidly with his jaw and M’arec reeled back, stunned. Never one to waste an advantage, Mikiva slammed a fist into his solar plexus and as he doubled over, she delivered a downward kick to the back of his neck. M’arec crumpled to the ground. Cautiously, Mikiva kicked the knife out of his hand and leaned down over him. She rolled him onto his back, checking his pulse. As she did, he stirred and opened his eyes,

  “What are you waiting for?” he groaned. “Finish it.”

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Mikiva sniffed.

  “Why not? If you don’t, I’ll just come after you again, you know that. Killing me is the only answer,” as he spoke, he shifted his position on the grass below her.

  “I don’t kill people in cold blood, not anymore.”

  “You know, I heard people say you’d gone soft, Mikiva,” he gave her a pitying look. “But I had hoped they were wrong. There isn’t even any honor in besting you like this.”

  M’arec shook his head, leaning forward.

  “I used to respect you, you know,” he continued. “You were one of the best. Now, it seems, the most I can do is put you out of your misery.”

  Another knife materialized in M’arec’s hand, pulled from its hiding place in his clothing, and with a snarl he threw himself at her. He was already so close that she had no chance to get out of the way, all she could do was turn her shoulder into the blade and take it. She could feel the steel bite into her flesh and the knife tip jam hard into the bone just below her shoulder. As the knife struck, she twisted and lashed out with her own blade. So committed was M’arec to his own assault, he left himself completely open and her knife sank deeply into his exposed stomach. He slumped against her, coughing; a fine mist of blood sprayed into her face. She pushed him off and he fell back onto the grass.

  “See…” M’arec croaked a laugh.

  Mikiva leaned closer to hear him better.

  “I knew you were still a killer. It’s who you are. Put on airs if you like, but you’ll always be a killer, just like the rest of us.”

  Stone-faced, Mikiva watched as his eyes dimmed and the movement of his chest ceased. When she was certain he was dead, she meticulously wiped the blood from her blades. Re-sheathing them, she turned to see Av’ry and Jade approaching. Mikiva took a deep breath.

  “We’re leaving. Now,” she called to them.

  “Are you alright?” Av’ry asked, looking at her bloodied arm with concern.

  “Now isn’t the time for that,” she replied coldly. “They are still out there, and they will come for us again. And next time, they will likely send some assassins that are not fresh out of training. Unlike these idiots,” she nodded towards the incapacitated Scorpions. “We won’t get this lucky again.”

  With those ominous words, Mikiva spun on her heel and began making her way towards the palace. The less time they spent out in the open, the better.