carried across 52

 

52 Knee To Face 

Sera 

“Begin.” 

Taya looked at me and smiled. Her teeth were white against her bruised lips. 

“Look around, Princess,” Taya said. Her voice carried easily in the freezing air. “Take a really good look.” 

I did not look around. I kept my eyes locked on her collarbone. 

“There are no palace guards here,” Taya continued. She took a slow, heavy step to her right. The frost crunched loudly under her boot. “Your little servant girl cannot hide you. And the Alpha is not going to step in and pull me off you today. You are completely alone.” 

“Are you going to talk all morning?” I asked. My voice was steady. 

Taya’s smile widened into a sneer. “I am going to take my time breaking you. I want everyone to see what happens when southern trash insults an Ironmaw chief.” 

She stepped forward, her heavy boots thudding against the dirt. The ground vibrated slightly. She wanted me to panic. She wanted me to back away. 

I held my ground. I kept my weight centered on the balls of my feet. I remembered Yvara’s voice. Do not look at the hands. The hands lie. Look at the shoulders. Look at the hips. 

Taya closed the distance. She planted her left foot. I saw her right shoulder dip a fraction of an inch. 

The kinetic chain started. The punch was coming. 

I shifted my weight to my left leg and ducked. 

Taya’s right fist snapped through the empty space where my head had just been. The speed of the punch displaced the air. A sharp gust of wind slapped my ear. 

The crowd let out a low murmur of surprise. 

Taya recovered instantly. She used the momentum of her missed punch to spin her hips. A low, sweeping kick aimed right at my knees. 

I saw her hip twist. I jumped backward. Her heavy boot swept through the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust and shattered frost directly in front of me. 

I landed on both feet. My heart hammered against my ribs. I did it. I actually saw the movements. I evaded her. She was incredibly strong, and she was fast, but she telegraphed her heavy strikes. 

Taya stood up straight. She frowned. 

“You learned how to dodge,” she said. She sounded annoyed. 

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She stepped in again. Faster this time. She threw a rapid jab with her left hand. I saw the shoulder twitch. I slipped to the right. The leather of her knuckle wrap grazed my cheek. She immediately followed with a right cross. I brought my forearms up tight against my face. 

Her fist crashed into my guard. The impact sent a violent shockwave down my arm bones. My boots slid back an inch in the dirt, but I stayed standing. 

Taya growled. She threw a wide, sloppy left hook. She put her entire upper body into the swing. 

Her right side was completely open. Her ribs were exposed. 

This was it. The opening. 

I dropped my guard. I planted my back foot hard into the dirt for leverage. I twisted my waist and drove my right fist straight toward her exposed ribs. I put every ounce of my body weight behind the strike. 

Taya’s eyes locked onto mine. 

She smiled. 

It was a trap. 

Taya did not try to block my punch. She simply dropped her right elbow. She clamped her thick arm tight against her side, catching my wrist perfectly between her elbow and her ribs. 

My arm was instantly pinned. My forward momentum pulled me directly into her space. 

“Did you really think you could outsmart me?” Taya whispered. 

She planted her boots. She pivoted her hips with brutal efficiency. She drove a short, devastating right uppercut directly under my jaw. 

The bone hit bone. A loud, wet crack echoed across the yard. 

The force of the impact lifted my boots completely off the ground. My brain rattled violently inside my skull. The world flipped upside down. I flew backward through the air. 

I hit the frozen dirt hard. The breath exploded out of my lungs. My teeth clamped down on my tongue. Warm, thick blood instantly flooded my mouth. 

The pack erupted. Hundreds of wolves howled and stomped their feet. The noise was deafening. 

I rolled onto my side. I spat a massive glob of blood onto the white frost. My jaw throbbed with a blinding, white-hot agony. My vision swam. White spots danced in the corners of my eyes. 

Taya walked forward slowly, her boots crunching on the ice. 

“You trained five days and thought you were a warrior?” Taya mocked. She stopped three feet away from my head. “I have been doing this since I was five years old. I break bones for sport. You are a fucking joke.” 

2/3 

+25 Bonus 

I placed my hands flat on the frozen ground. My arms shook violently. I pushed myself up to my knees Blood dripped steadily from my chin, staining the collar of my tunic. 

I forced myself to stand. The yard spun for a second before settling. I raised my hands back into a guard. 

Taya laughed. It was a harsh, barking sound. “Still playing soldier. Fine.” 

She closed the gap in a split second. She did not throw wide punches this time. She fought tight and technical. 

She threw a straight jab at my face. I raised my arms to block. 

She faked it. She dropped her level instantly and drove her heavy boot straight into my left thigh. 

The muscle tore. The impact felt like a sledgehammer hitting my leg. My thigh went completely numb. My knee buckled involuntarily. I dropped down onto my left knee. 

Before I could even process the pain in my leg, Taya grabbed a thick handful of my hair. She yanked my head back violently. My neck popped. 

She drove her right knee straight up into my face. 

“Gaghhh!!” 

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