Azure Mist's Arc

Chapter 2 of 7

Word traveled faster than Azure could fight. The scarred man she had beaten now talked to anyone who would listen. He told them how she rolled, how she struck from below. By morning, half the yard knew her only trick. Fighters smirked when she passed. She saw it now: her win had turned into a warning. She could not enter the ring with two hundred warriors ready for her. So she packed her twin swords and left the city for the woods. If her one trick was spent, she needed new ones. She walked until the trees closed over the road. A small wooden cabin sat in a clearing, smoke curling from its brick chimney. Its shingles were red and green, its porch worn smooth. Azure raised her hand to knock. A rustle stopped her. A woman dropped from a branch and landed in a crouch. She was small, no taller than Azure, with long black hair and pointed ears. Two swords rested at her hips, their blades a strange green. She rose slow and studied Azure's weapons. "Twin blades," the woman said. "Most children can't lift one." "I'm not a child," Azure said. "I'm Azure Mist. I came to train." The woman drew both green swords in one smooth pull. "Jade Shadowblade. Show me why." Azure attacked the way she knew. She dropped low and rolled beneath Jade's guard, both blades sweeping for the ribs. Jade was already gone. She had stepped over the roll and set a green edge against Azure's neck. "I heard about you before you got here," Jade said. "Everyone did. That's your problem." Azure pushed the blade away and stood. Her face burned. "Then teach me a problem they can't solve." Jade sheathed her swords. She walked toward a wall of thick green stalks at the clearing's edge. A towering plant grew there, its stems crowned with open jaws full of teeth. Tendrils drooped and twitched. Azure smelled something rotten and sweet. "That eats deer," Jade said. "It moves faster than any fighter. One pattern won't beat it." She pointed at Azure. "Get past it. Touch the trunk." Azure ran in. She rolled. A jaw snapped where she had been. A tendril caught her ankle and threw her back. She landed hard. "Roll again," Jade called. "It already learned that." Azure rose, breathing hard. This time she feinted low, then cut high, then spun the other way. A jaw missed. She slid past a tendril and slapped her palm flat against the trunk. Jade almost smiled. "Better. You have one move. I'll give you ten." She turned toward the cabin. "Stay. Training starts at dawn." Azure looked back at the biting plant, then at the small elf who had beaten her in one breath. Her single trick was dead. But she had found the one person who could hand her a whole new fight.