46 Fierce Fight

Brightise felt the cold metal of a knife touch her throat.

"What did I do this time?" she wondered out loud.

This was just her luck. She had just wanted to avoid getting punished by the Queen for not warning her about Clober's special power, and now she was about to get beheaded by a total stranger in a quiet hallway.

She wished this kind of death felt as cool and brave as it sounded.

"I don't know what else you have done," the voice said, "But breaking into our fortress is a crime in my book!"

"I did no such thing," Brightise croaked out. The knife was pressing harder against her neck now, so she wasn't sure if the other woman could hear her.

Before she could repeat herself, she felt the woman thrust her arm forward. The motion alerted Brightise, who turned her neck sharply to the side and grabbed her attacker's hand. The woman cried out and tried to stab her again, but this time Brightise got a hold of the knife's handle and snatched it from her enemy's hand.

Then she turned around to face the woman. The young Amazon standing before her had short brown hair, a long fringe, and a pair of eyes that seemed to be perpetually angry. The look in her eyes reminded Brightise of Rayvad's expression when he had accused her of killing his twin brother and threatened her own life.

Astonished, the Amazon glanced at the candle she was holding in her other hand. It seemed like it was not often that she found herself unarmed.

Brightise almost laughed out loud. She sure wanted to watch the Amazon use that flame against her!

Before she could be properly amused by that idea though, the other woman lifted her leg and kicked her in the gut.

Brightise grunted in pain and dropped the knife on the floor. As she folded her body in anguish, the Amazon pushed her down against the stone floor and thrust the candle in her face.

Brightise let her. The warm flame of the candle was exactly what she needed to forget about the pain in her stomach. Brightise basked in its refreshing energy. Perhaps the Amazon thought that she was too hurt to try to get away from the fire, but that couldn't be further than the truth.

One second later, Brightise grabbed the candle and shoved it against the Amazon's right cheek.

The young woman screamed in agony and tried to back away, but Brightise pushed the candle even harder against her skin.

She had never felt this urge to hurt another person, but she felt that the Amazon deserved it. She had attacked Brightise for no reason, she had not given her a chance to explain, and then she had tried to kill her with both a knife and a candle.

Brightise was furious. She had endured so much to get there, only to discover that this was not the safe place it was supposed to be. This was a place were one got murdered for leaving their room at night!

"How do you like that now?" she asked the Amazon angrily.

By that time, almost half of the woman's face had been burned beyond recognition.

Brightise felt a strange sense of satisfaction over that. This woman had almost cost Morral her only chance of being saved. Brightise felt that half her face was a fair price to pay for that.

"Stop!"