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.Unlike many, it did not depict her in any fighting pose; instead she stood upright, sword raised before her face, eyes gazing outward with calm readiness.The look on the Goddess's face gave Mirage strength.We will do what we can.If that's not enough, then so be it.But please, Warrior, at least give us that fair chance.I promise I will use it well.Something of the quiet she had gained in the temple stayed with Mirage as she returned to the Cracked Oak.The clamor of the streets did not bother her; the annoyance of an overturned wagon of beer kegs did not touch her.She entered the inn feeling calmer than she had in some time.If trouble awaited her, at least she had made her peace with the Warrior.The common room was deserted; those who wanted breakfast had eaten it and gone, and the rest had not yet risen for lunch.One of the servants had pushed several tables to the walls so she could scrub the boards of the floor, but had left the job half done; the bucket sat abandoned in the middle of the open space.Mirage, carrying her purchases, passed it on her way to the stairs.Halfway there, she spun and threw the flask of saddle oil.The Hunter behind her ducked it, but Mirage had bought herself time to draw her sword.And then she was backing up, retreating from the blur that was his attacking staff.The floorboards were still damp; that was all that saved Mirage a moment later.Another Hunter leapt out from behind one of the overturned tables, but skidded on the boards, and thus gave her just enough warning to drop into a sideways roll.And as.she came to her feet, Mirage realized just how much trouble she was in.Hunters.Four of them.Thornbloods, her mind told her coolly, and then she was retreating again, trying to keep distance and the remaining tables between her and her attackers.Two were armed with staffs; two were bare-handed.No blades? Why not? She sidestepped a staff blow at the last moment, so that the man went reeling off-balance.Thornbloods almost always use blades.Sword against staff.Mirage tried to cut through his weapon, but it had been well-hardened, and for a Thorn-blood he did remarkably well at catching most of her blows on the staff's iron bands.He wasn't quite quick enough with the unaccustomed weapon, though.Mirage swung at his right side, but disengaged before he had even fully blocked it, then drew her elbow back and turned the motion into a quick jab that found a weak point in his leather armor.He collapsed, and then Mirage was running, vaulting a table to get clear of the other three.She maneuvered to keep the unarmed pair, a man and a woman, away from her back, so she could concentrate on the other staff fighter.He was better than his friend.Mirage had to leap over the butt of his staff and immediately block the descending upper end.The effort jarred her arms, and all she gave in return was a tiny slice along the back of his hand.She did the same to the other hand a moment later, but it was minor damage at best, and his friends were about to enter the fray.Void it—I've got to get free of this! Mirage looked for an exit and found none.And in her moment of distraction, the staff fighter struck twice: slamming the elbow of her sword arm, and then knocking her blade clean out of her hand.The other Thornbloods charged.Mirage created her own exit; she rushed the staff fighter, who had not expected such a move, and shoved him into the unarmed man.She failed to break free, though, and found herself fighting the other bare-handed Hunter, a woman, while at her back the men rose to their feet.She feinted right, as if to bolt for the door; behind her she heard one of the men shift.Then she reversed direction and headed left, toward the stairs.Two steps into her flight she spun and kicked the bucket of soapy, dirty water.It flew into the face of the staff fighter, blinding him.The woman charged in.Mirage wasn't afraid.She'd bet on herself in a one-on-one fight any day, so long as she didn't have a concussion going into it.But the story would change quickly when the other two got back into the fight.She broke two of the woman's fingers just as the staff-man arrived.His first blow she dodged, but the second clipped her in the diaphragm; she spun out of that and hook-kicked him in the kidneys, but he hardly grunted.His retaliatory blow, while not very strong, was enough to send her off balance and rolling to the floor.Mirage came up right next to a table and leapt onto its top, but the unarmed man had anticipated that, and was waiting for her there.His roundhouse kick threw her right back onto the floor.Another roll, but she was hurting now, and the Thorn-bloods knew it.They spread out around her, trapping her near the overturned table, and advanced steadily.Mirage spat blood and forced air back into her lungs.There would be no backup coming for her.She had to finish this now, before they finished her.The broken-fingered woman was the weakest link of the chain.Mirage targeted her.She got in one good kick, but it wasn't enough to take the woman down, and then the staff smashed into her lower back.Her spine erupted in agony.She snarled it away and spun, slamming her stiffened hand into the back of the staff fighter's neck.The woman kicked the back of her knees and sent her to the floor.A boot caught her chin and she flew backward, hitting the floor hard, and before she could force herself to her feet there was a sharp pressure on the small of her back, and someone twisted her arms painfully behind her.Mirage tried once to heave the weight off and got her face slammed into the floor.Then the female Thornblood knelt in front of her.The woman wound her unbroken fingers in Mirage's hair and dragged her head up so she could see.Mirage spat more blood at her, but the woman ignored it, instead reaching up to pull the mask of her head covering down."Ice," Mirage mumbled painfully.The Thornblood smiled.It was not a pleasant expression."I've been looking forward to this for a while," she purred."I see it only took three friends to get your nerve up," Mirage said, putting as much acid into her tone as she could.Ice was not perturbed."Ah, this was not just personal.This was a job." Her smile got nastier."There's a witch who wants to see you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]