Read Siege of Night for Free Online

presence in the room. Faces filled with panic turned quickly, only to melt into warmth and relief when they saw Athel leaning against the wall. The smile splitting her face held as much amusement as it did warmth for seeing her two close friends. “Am I interrupting a lovers’ quarrel? Perhaps I should come back at a more ‘convenient’ time,” she said as her eyebrows flittered up and down.
    “You know you are always welcome in our chambers, my lady,” said Hasur as he strolled over to her and embraced his friend tightly.
    “Please save the formalities for public eyes and ears. You know my name,” she said as she returned the embrace.
    “Forgive us, Athel, we tend to forget ourselves on occasion,” said Timith as he moved swiftly to replace Hasur in the hug. “And to what do we owe this wonderful surprise this fine afternoon?”
    Athel just grinned a moment as she eyed each one up and down. “Truth be told, I have an itch that needs to be scratched. Gentlemen...let’s dance!”
    * * *
    This was one of the few spectacles that could stop these men from their grueling regimens. A small crowd gathered around as Athel began to grind her lead foot into the firm, cold sand. She slowly twisted the ball of her foot right, then left, then right again. At last seeming to be satisfied with the traction, she slowly reached behind her back.
    A slow, snakelike hiss filled the air before she returned with two beautiful half-moon blades in hand. “You know we don’t use steel, my lady,” came a playful taunt from one of the watching brutes. Of course she had no intention of sparring with real weapons, yet alone using her one-of-a-kind set. She just liked the attention she got when drawing them in front of others.
    “A shame, I thought you were all men,” she replied in the same playful manner. “In that case, I will cater to your cowardice.” The men laughed as she tossed her blades aside. After catching the wooden sparring short-swords thrown her direction, she instantly began to whirl them in individual circles to her left and right.
    Around her back and over her head, the wild juggling act continued as more men stopped doing the very thing they were born to do and walked over to admire the girl’s dazzling skill. She suddenly stopped as the whooshing sound of cutting air halted, now holding them crossed out in front of her face. She peeked left, then right as her beads rattled, before shouting, “How can you men use these sticks? The balance is terrible!”
    Laughter had just begun its contagious ripple through the group when she lunged at Timith and Hasur, who were standing side by side. They weren’t completely caught off guard, as they were fully aware of her sneaky tactics. Luckily, each had their wooden swords in hand, although low and pressed in the sand as lazy supports. However, their recovery was lightning-quick, as each had spent years in service, and besting either one was no small feat for any man, this being one of the reasons they were always partnered together.
    With her high slashes to each one’s head parried easily with a loud clack, the three spared a moment to exchange cat-like grins. With surprising explosiveness she thrust their interlocked swords back with a single push, but followed immediately with a series of snake-like strikes, both high and low. Each was parried with the loud clacking sound of wood on wood, but the strikes came so rapidly that neither of the men could mount any offensive counter. True, she was using two weapons while they each only had one, but that should not have made this much difference.
    As she pressed her relentless assault with fury and speed like no other, the men figured it was time to change tactics. If the position remained, they had the speed and skill to negate her furious assault, but they needed to spread out in order to “test” her properly.
    Timith dove left while Hasur dove right, quickly rising to their feet from the side- rolls, flanking her from