But this time she was ready.
The movement of the mat told her which direction he was attacking from, and the whisper of air she could inexplicably feel rushing outward from his position told her that he was swinging his arm towards her face. Instead of ducking, she threw her own hand out, meeting and deflecting his blow with her forearm. It wasn’t her smartest idea, since she’d forgotten to take into account his Meyarin strength, so all she managed to do was earn herself one mother of a bruise.
From then on, every time she ‘felt’ the Meyarin come at her, she ducked, jumped, lunged and rolled out of his way. Sometimes he managed to land a hit, but more often than not her instincts moved her out of his path in time.
Alex wasn’t sure how long they were going to keep ‘experimenting’ when her opponent said, “You’re doing great, Alex. Let’s try something more challenging and see how you go.”
She had no idea what he meant; not until she heard the distinct sound of rasping metal as he unsheathed a weapon.
“You can’t be serious!” she cried.
The sharp whistle of steel through the air told her that he was indeed serious.
Her instincts compelled her to duck out of the path of the blade. “You’re going to kill me!”
“Just concentrate,” he told her. “Open your mind and listen.”
“Stop telling me to listen.” She jumped back when she felt him lunge towards her. “And let me fight you fairly, with a weapon and no blindfold. You’re Meyarin—you’ll still win.”
“If you have a weapon, you’re more than welcome to use it,” he said. “And if it makes you feel better, I’m just as blind as you.”
“What!” Alex shrieked, dropping to the ground and rolling away from another attack.
Was he honestly fighting her blindfolded as well? Oh, she was so going to end up skewered.
“Can’t you feel it, Alex?” he asked, and she sensed his weapon stab towards her again. This time she was too distracted by her fear, and the blade nicked her arm, causing her to hiss as it grazed her flesh.
“I certainly felt that,” she said. “Too close, buddy.”
His voice was amused when he said, “Buddy? Really?”
“You haven’t given me any other name,” she said, jumping backwards when his blade swiped at her again. “And what exactly am I supposed to be feeling?”
“Everything,” he told her reverently. “Let your instincts guide you.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing?” she huffed. “Building a submarine?”
“You’re not letting go completely, Alex,” he said. “Listen. Feel. Experience.”
Alex stopped moving, ducking only when she felt the blade swing at her again, and tried to centre herself. A few times during their ‘experiment’ she felt what she thought he was talking about. It was a natural instinct that took over and guided her to move in ways she didn’t understand but still made sense. The feeling had so far been sporadic, and the rest of the time she’d just been plain lucky. Now that the Meyarin had a blade, their game had changed, and she was more than ready to even the score. It was time for her to take an offensive position and test the limits of her senses.
When Alex felt him come at her again, she crouched down to avoid the blade and swept her leg out, using his own trick to hook her limb around him and knock him off his feet. It half worked, and she sensed him stumble to his knees, but he recovered quickly and sprang back up, renewing his fight. She twirled around him, dodging another swipe of his blade, and when she sensed she was behind him, she jumped onto his back, wrapping her legs around his torso and reaching down until she held his weaponed arm. But his strength was too much for her and he effortlessly detached her from his body throwing her over his head and onto the ground.
She hit the mat harder than expected and the fall dazed her, taking away all her ‘listening’ skills. By the time she came back to full awareness, all she knew was that there was a blade flying through the air, straight towards her head.
Alex didn’t have time to move out of the way; all she could do was raise her arm to protect her face and hope that the Meyarin would pull back after he realised he’d hit flesh. But the blinding pain from her wrist being amputated never came. Instead, there was a metallic clang as steel met steel.
Alex’s shock almost caused her to drop the weapon that was now in her grasp and blocking the other blade from slashing through her body. Where had it c “You’ve been holding out on me,” the Meyarin said, and Alex could hear the anticipation in his voice. “Now we can really experiment.”
Alex didn’t have the chance to tell him to stop. She felt the strength behind his blade ease for a fraction of a second before he lunged towards her again, prompting her to roll out of the way and jump to her feet, raising her weapon in front of her.
It was then that her entire perception of the world changed.
She still couldn’t see anything, but she didn’t need to. Everything else was magnified. She could hear, feel, smell and taste the air around her. Her senses drew together a perfect picture that she couldn’t have seen with her eyes open. She was suddenly aware, and it made her feel powerful. Invincible. And when the Meyarin sliced his blade towards her, she met his attacks over and over again.
They lunged, they parried, blocked and deflected. They spun, jumped, ducked and twirled. Alex gave as good as she received; never before had she felt so capable with a blade. In the end it was her human weakness that ended their fight, but only when she became so breathless that she could barely draw air into her lungs.
“Enough,” the Meyarin said. “I think we’ve proved my hypothesis correct.”
Alex collapsed to the ground and panted heavily, dropping her weapon to the side. A moment later the Meyarin released her blindfold, and she winced at the painfully bright Myrox barrier surrounding them.
Only when her companion sat beside her did she notice that he was also affected by their workout. His breath wasn’t anywhere near as ragged as hers, but he was definitely drawing in more air than normal.
“Why are you winded?” she asked, continuing to suck in deep breaths. “You’re Meyarin.”
“And you just fought like one,” he told her with a brilliant smile. “That was incredible, Alex.”
“What do you mean?” she asked stupidly. Their fight had seemed like a whirlwind to her, but that was mostly because she’d been blindfolded, right? Her sense of, well, everything had just been distorted… Right?
“My hypothesis,” he said, “do you want to know what it was?”
“Definitely,” she answered without hesitation.
“I wanted to test whether the dormant Meyarin blood in your veins—Aven’s blood—could be utilised.”