Serial
30: Knives of the night
December
22nd, 32 S.D. 02:27 Western Frontier, Henron
Their battle began without delay. Koter jumped backwards, sailing over a set of boxes and landing near the far side of the western wall.
“Shall we make this interesting?” he asked, hunching as if he meant to charge at her. “Just the two of us then?”
With his left hand, he tossed a knife high into the air, rotating it quickly end over end. The same hand snatched the other knife and flung it similarly straight upward. In this manner, Koter began juggling the two blades single-handedly. His right hand then curled into a tight fist with only the index and middle fingers exposed. He stuck these digits into his mouth, pursed his lips, and blew heartily. At first, Losha heard absolutely nothing, but out of the corner of her view, she noted that the ears of Koters’s dogs perked up.
Suddenly a wave of disorientation crashed upon her. A deep sense of vertigo attacked her as her vision split and wavered. Her sight danced and faltered while her eyes uncontrollably shuddered. Dropping to one knee in a gasp, Losha saw shifting, double images of her opponent. Whatever Koter had done destroyed her concentration; she inadvertently stopped the series she’d used to freeze the dogs. Though the orb dimmed and winked twice, she managed to keep its light active. The dogs, despite being free now, did not come after her. Instead, they swiftly filed out of the storehouse. Had those been Koter’s orders?
“Most people cannot stand that frequency of sound,” Koter said, extracting his fingers. With a single swipe, his right hand stole one of the knives out of the air; the other landed neatly in his left. It didn’t seem to matter to him that Losha was partially disabled; he threw a knife at her regardless.
Though she could not see well, she had learned that he always grunted slightly as he sent his knives out. It was a small cue, but an invaluable one. Her sense of direction was yet warped from Koter’s curious whistle, however, it didn’t matter where she moved, as long as she did so in time. She launched herself into a desperate tumble, rolling over once along the floor. Coming to her hands and knees, she saw the outline of that knife diving into the ground scarcely half a meter away. Keeping low, she half walked and crawled her way behind a large crate. She had to recover her senses and avoid any further projectiles. Shaking her head several times, at last she returned to normal as she leaned against the wooden box.
Koter paced about, walking back and forth; he didn’t appear to be in any particular hurry to carry out the fight. Judging from his seras frequency, he apparently maintained their distance from one another.
“Not bad,” he called out. “Not bad. Like I said, it all boils down to reaction time. Yours seems pretty good. Instinct. Survival. All part of the same motive.”
Losha slowly stood up to a point, careful to keep her head below the crate’s height. The series responsible for the orb of light indeed was second nature to her, for through all the chaos it had faithfully followed her side. Yet its glow surely gave away her position, compromising her location. No doubt Koter intended to wait for an opening. Perhaps she could use it as a feint, however.
From the right side, she sent the orb floating away on its own. Though Koter’s nerves could act faster than what was ordinary for others, he also had the unfortunate tendency of acting far too soon. At the merest hint of seeing the ball, he sent two knives hastily across the air. While this ploy was set, Losha turned the other corner of the crate and took deliberate aim at her opponent. As he realized that he’d harmlessly assaulted nothing instead of her, Koter turned in an instant as he glanced at Losha’s true form. His brow furrowed. His teeth gritted into a tight frown.
Losha threw out another bolt of electricity. Even so, Koter’s speed and advanced awareness allowed him to predict the coming shock and dodge it before she could in fact accurately target him. He evaded the arc of lightning, but only by throwing himself on the ground. As the blast traveled overhead, it zapped the wall in a hail of sparks, charring the spot it had struck. Prior to hitting the floor though, Koter somehow pulled a new knife and tossed it in retaliation. It was a highly pinpointed move nonetheless. Below the tables, it sliced over the tops of so many boxes with a clearance no more than a centimeter. This knife was on track to critically strike her just above the knee, yet a quick, spherical burst of kinetic energy around her deflected the weapon to the side.
They both scrambled away after unsuccessfully hitting one another. Losha ducked behind yet more tables though she had no idea where Koter had gone. She focused on his seras frequency for a moment to determine his general position. The third-eye series she’d adapted from Denze would have helped a lot, but Losha remained dubious she could effectively utilize it in the heat of battle. The tension was simply too high; the stakes here did not allow her to rely on such an unperfected technique.
After having sent her orb of light out as a decoy, she canceled that series entirely; it would only become a liability if she maintained it. The last source of illumination in the storehouse then was the lantern Koter had brought. In any case it would be difficult for either of them to see at all. She paid the utmost attention to the sounds around her, listening for even the slightest movements of her foe. Given Koter’s keen and sharp detection, he was probably doing the same. This inspired her to try yet another tactical act of deception. A simple kinetic series could push or pull objects even meters away. If she could do that with Koter on full alert...
Losha serialized on the point of margins, producing no radiance. A nearby barrel began to slide across the ground, making soft shuffling sounds as it dragged gently along. Without delay, Koter leaped up from his spot, dispatching two swift knives at the noise’s source. The blades, however, simply attached themselves into the container’s rounded frame. Koter frowned again as he heard them strike wood rather than flesh. Losha, though, had already emerged, and unlike before, she now meant to shoot two spears of lightning instead of just one. Koter’s quickness zeroed in on Losha as his eyes widened; he realized the coming attack.
The first electric stream whipped out at him through the darkened room, surging forward as a white, crackling beam. Koter still dodged the bolt, but this time it was only by a dozen or so centimeters. According to Losha’s observations, however, Koter could only move like that for very short distances, and to run off again, he’d need sufficient time to anticipate her actions. She’d already discharged one round, and her other was poised to fire. There was no way he could have escaped again; it was simply too soon. However, Koter never attempted to flee. Instead, he seemed to know the bolt would strike him. Rather than dash away, he stood there with one arm drawn behind his back.
She activated her series at the same time Koter threw something to his right at the far wall. The intense shock moved madly through the air, bearing down straight upon the Field Lead. Yet as it coursed violently about, its path suddenly veered off-target. It pulsed hard to the side in the same direction Koter had sent something. Almost instantly, a fixed spot on the wall jolted and surged fiercely, dispersing dazzling bits to the ground as her lightning struck it. Through the great flash, Losha thought she saw something sticking out of the facade, something that seemingly drew her lightning to it. For a moment, she halted in confusion.
“You almost had me,” Koter said, pointing at Losha. He pulled out a long knife from behind him. Strangely, it looked mostly black, even in this darkness, but she saw it glint briefly. From the looks of it, the short razor seemed heavier by appearance alone; the way Koter so easily spun it around his fingers made it difficult to say for certain. Losha risked a glance at the wall where her attack had diverted. A thin, long object sat embedded there, presumably a knife; its end sizzled with leftover static as the handle itself steamed.
“Sa, it worked, just like the researchers told me it would,” Koter began, pacing once more, falling into a talkative mood. The knife twirled constantly about his hand. “I had these made especially for such an encounter. They are constructed of some material or another that acts like a lightning rod. They just so happen to be pretty magnetic too. A shame you have no metal armor; I would have liked to see if it could home in on someone.”
Losha remained silent while a plan formed in her mind. If he was carrying more of those odd knives, perhaps she could get him to use them all. Swiftly, she raised one hand and expelled another electric bolt. Reacting to this, Koter threw the blade away as the lightning followed. However, Losha repeated her offensive without hesitation. A look of surprise mixed with excitement gleamed within his eyes. Rapidly, he drew another black knife and tossed it to the ground where the bolt soon traced. For her part, Losha continued to press on, executing the same series with alternating hands. Koter was forced to send out his knives one after another in order to avoid this barrage. She started walking towards her opponent all the while, shortening the space her lightning would have to push through and thus reducing Koter’s time to react.
Understanding what she meant to do, Koter backed off in an attempt to preserve that distance. He stepped in reverse as Losha hurled one bolt and then the next. In sync, he flung his knives at various different angles. He even once threw one directly into the path of her attack, but as their two forces collided, his knife was blown right towards him. Grunting, he tilted his head as the blade snapped past him barely centimeters away before it impaled the wall behind him. A powerful electric line arced over his shoulder, missing him only scantly. He glowered at the miscalculation, but he remained ever trained upon their combat.
However, as this display went on, with Losha serializing coils of thunderbolts and Koter misleading them with his black knives, something had to give. Koter’s resources were the more limited between the two of them. He suddenly found himself up against a wall with nowhere else to go. His eyes shifted all the way to the side in a bout of panic. Reaching behind him, his hand only grasped at empty slots. He looked up at Losha; the result of this foray was clear to both at this time.
Losha conducted a final bolt that struck Koter in his chest. Electricity curled all around his body as his limbs spread out stiffly. His head yanked back as he made a rattling, gurgling cry that stuttered. The upper portions of his body seemingly convulsed with a terrible speed. Her series lasted about five second altogether. When it ceased, Koter’s arms fell limply to the side; he collapsed forward to the floor. His face, turned sideways, lied harshly on his cheek. Minor loops of dissipating electricity ran along his back. A strong burning smell arose shortly thereafter. Obvious and notable patches of Koter’s leather armor had blackened, fried by Losha’s own handiwork. She approached him cautiously, inspecting his prone figure a meter away. For a minute, she waited to make sure he wasn’t going to move anymore. When his only action appeared to be breathing, she thought that he was unconscious, if not incapacitated. Satisfied with that, she turned around.
Her next concerns primarily revolved around the fact that she might no longer rely on stealth to protect her. The enemy may well have known by now that she was among them. However, Losha wasn’t entirely certain that much was true. Why had Koter come alone? With the exception of his pack, the Field Lead brought no backup with him. Perhaps he’d acted on his own all along, purposefully neglecting to inform both peers and superiors of the situation. Could he really have been so reckless as to engage her one-on-one? He certainly seemed young, charismatic, and impetuous, exactly the type to try a solo stunt like this.
Losha clicked her tongue at the very thought. How foolish and careless of him. This wasn’t some sort of novel where pivotal characters could have daring duels against their adversaries; this was warfare. Losha wouldn’t have been so lucky if Koter had summoned the full force of the Henron army. But as she noted, not even the sentries outside made their rounds; no one seemed to be aware of her presence. Maybe Koter had told them not to interfere. She shook her head and walked away slowly. For what it was worth, his mistakes were her fortune.
She had only taken a few steps towards the basement entrance when all at once the back of her neck prickled over. A flash of urgency spread throughout her body as hints of danger washed across her skin. For a moment, Koter’s seras frequency evaporated. She wondered if she had overdone things and killed him, but Losha realized that the frequency was merely dormant, halted. Was that how he’d been able to approach the storehouse without her knowing? Was that how he stalked his prey? Summing up all of these clues, Losha spun around, however, her response was too late.
From behind, Koter sprang up, lunging at her with both arms held wide and curved. He swooped in, grabbing her in a choke-hold. The force of the grapple stole all the air she had, leaving her breathless. With supreme, almost animalistic strength, he swung her over his shoulder, using only a single arm. Following through this martial motion, Koter rotated around and slammed Losha down. On her back, she crashed heavily onto a metal table, scattering small items as she dented its frame. Gagging in pain, she slid off the other end and onto the floor from the inertia. Koter stepped forward as he began to speak.
“Never turn your back on the enemy, not until they lie dead. It is not often that I have to pretend like that. Usually, I am the hunter. But you failed to kill me. Frankly, I doubt you have the will to. I saw the results from Lake Lada. Plenty of fatalities. None from you though.” Koter punted the table away, revealing a sprawled, moaning Losha that stirred not. “I, on the other hand, have no qualms about the matter.”
He took out another knife, however, this one was holstered to his thigh. The blade was longer with the last five or so centimeters jaggedly serrated. The handle was engraved with an ornate pattern all the way around. He spun the knife intricately between his fingers as he stooped over Losha from behind. With a flick of his wrist, Koter stopped the knife and firmly held out his hand. The fine tip of his weapon pointed downwards, ready to sink into her breast and skewer the heart. He started to plunge the knife, yet as soon as he began, Losha’s hands grabbed his wrist, preventing the lethal attack.
Confounded, Koter looked down at her face. Initially, her eyes were closed, as if she had some way of seeing him regardless. When her eyes split open, however, she threw her leg up, kicking Koter in the face. The assault knocked him upright, giving him a black eye. Had she been playing dead too all along?
“Shrieks!” Koter swore as he stumbled backwards, holding his eye. Losha wretched herself up and delivered a punch to his cheekbone, adding more damage to his head. Since the hand he nursed his eye also held his knife, he couldn’t defend himself immediately. “Grah!” he spat, reeling away.
Losha took a few steps back, holding up her hands to react to any surprise Koter might have had. “You talk too much,” she said flatly. “You also show off too much.” Those were her only words for their entire encounter; after that, she said no more.
Koter removed his hand and looked at her seriously, as if he were contemplating. The slight signs of a frown crept over him, but it changed into a smile. He changed his stance, readying to resume their match. Tensing up, he dashed at her, but Losha knew it was time to end this. As her opponent closed in, she cast a series to make another orb of light. This one, unlike the last, was intensely bright and short-lived. Its single moment of existence created a blinding ray. She shut her eyes as the series detonated. The great whiteness enveloped Koter as he cried out at once. Losha quickly opened her eyes and walked around the flailing Field Lead.
In a stupor of sorts, he stumbled to and fro, guessing where his attacks should have landed. By then, Losha had safely moved behind him. In this state of impairment, Koter stopped and sniffed the air. Though he could not see properly, apparently he caught her scent. He turned around quickly, but in doing so, Koter accidentally knocked over the lamp he’d earlier set down. As the glass shattered, the oil leaked out fast; the fire soon blazed along this little stream. What began as slight burning ultimately caught other nearby objects. It looked like her job, strangely enough, had been completed by the enemy. Left unattended, the fire would consume the storehouse and cause the gunpowder to explode. She just had to neutralize Koter and escape.
Losha sent a heavy wave of kinetic energy at Koter. The force swept him off of his feet, thrusting him into the air. He rammed backwards into the wall with a great, quaking thud. His head tossed up, then he slid down to the floor in a slump. He gave no indications that we could fight any longer, and at that Losha exited this scene. She took one parting glance at the brewing fire before she cast another series to help it along. A large spiral of flames roared high up to the ceiling as she used serialization to excite the combustion. With a quick speed-step, she propelled herself out the door. There was no time to go through the basement. Whatever was outside, she’d just have to run from it.
As soon as she left the storehouse, Koter’s dogs came after her, racing forward on all fours, panting and barking feverishly. Her speed-steps were sufficiently quick enough to outrun even their kind, however. As she zipped away, gradually leaving the dogs behind and soon the enemy’s base altogether, she saw that hardly anyone seemed to come after her. Either their state of alert was slow to rise, or Koter really had kept his comrades in the dark about her intrusion.
While she remained preoccupied by the Henron to her rear, she almost careened into an animal that darted from her peripheral view. Braking as best as she could, Losha slid along the snow before stopping two meters from the creature. The beast was wild and white, bigger than she was, especially as it rared up on its hind legs. Its nostrils flared and smoked in the winter chill as it let out a loud neigh.
“A horse?” Losha asked herself as it pedaled its front legs about before proudly stamping to the ground. It had a saddle already on it, and for whatever reason it looked at Losha as if in expectation. “Where did you come from?” she wondered. Yet as the hounds growled and gained on her lead, she had no time to consider her luck. Losha hadn’t ridden a horse in ages, but if she couldn’t remember, she’d simply have to master it firsthand. A decent horse could easily get her back in Sventa and save her a notable amount of seras.
Mounting the horse, she pulled at its reins. It cried, throwing its head back as it lurched forward like a bullet. The dogs moved to intercept her path, but they only got in the way of her charge. She clipped one canine underfoot; it yelped as it spun to the ground. The rest jumped aside to avoid getting trampled. They gave a howling pursuit, but they were not enough against the horse. Soon Losha was beyond the perimeter. The storehouse glowed with an orange intensity as she galloped away. Along the frozen tracks of prairie, she headed homewards; her task here was finished.
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