Emily watches in horror as Blue dives towards Sir Barrion, expecting the ostrich to tear through his clothes like butter and keep going until he hits the gooey insides. Time seems to slow down as Emily desperately grasps for her mana, preparing it as fast as she can in a hopeless attempt to stop Blue.

  Just before Blue’s claws sink into the man’s chest, though, he moves slightly to the side and draws his sword from its sheath, metal screeching against claws as he just barely dodges one of Blue’s claws and manages to just slightly deflect the other set away from his vital areas.

  Blue’s claws rake across Sir Barrion’s ribs, tearing his flesh wide open. Before Blue can land on him, pinning him down for the coup de grace, he manages to roll away and keep his feet underneath him.

  Sir Barrion spins to face Blue, his expression calm and collected despite the massive wounds streaming blood down his chest. He takes a step back and dodges a reaching peck from the ostrich, his shoulders twisting to the side before he takes yet another step back to put distance between the two. Blue lets out a frustrated screech and pursues after the man, his lanky neck stretched up and his arms scratching in the air in warning.

  The ostrich and Sir Barrion stare at each other for a moment, as Blue crouches low to the ground and lets out a deep, reverberating hiss that puts Emily’s hair on edge. He slowly circles around Sir Barrion, as the swordsman does the same, his sword in a loose grasp at his side.

  “S-stop it!” Emily cries, as the shock of the moment finally wears off and she finds the ability to move once again. “Stop it, Blue! Don’t hurt him!”

  The swordsman glances at Emily as she cries out, and Blue takes that opportunity to strike. His neck flashes out as quick as lightning, low to the ground, and grasps the swordsman’s leg in his mighty beak, crushing down on the limb with all the force he can muster. As he does so, the swordsman swipes back with his sword, slicing into the ostrich’s thick hide.

  Blue takes this very personally, and tugs on Sir Barrion’s leg, twisting it this way and that in an attempt to bring the swordsman to the ground. Sir Barrion lets out a cry of pain, and he pulls back his sword, taking careful aim at Blue’s head.

  “I said stop!”

  Emily blasts the pair with a pillar of wind, knocking them both off of their feet and dragging them through the dirt. Sir Barrion’s leg is ripped out of Blue’s grasp, leaving behind deep wounds and tearing the muscle beneath his skin to shreds.

  Blue and Sir Barrion scramble up to their feet at the same time, Sir Barrion almost collapsing on his injured leg as he holds his sword warningly at Blue. Blue lets out a screech at Sir Barrion, before turning towards Emily and giving her an irritated look.

  “Blue… Stop it.”

  Blue screeches at Emily, stamping his feet.

  Emily holds up her glowing hand at the ornery ostrich, her other hand on her hip as she stares at him.

  “Stop iiiit…”

  Blue turns to look at Sir Barrion one more time, his blue eyes taking in the obvious limp that the man’s now sporting and the dangerous glint in his eyes. Emily can almost see the ostrich’s mind churning and calculating, weighing the merits of listening or disobeying Emily.

  But before Blue can make up his mind, Sir Barrion lunges out, taking a contemptuous step towards the ostrich before his arm swings out with a flash of steel. He slices right across the ostrich’s chest, cutting through his majestic chest feathers and opening up a deep wound.

  Blue roars in pain, his pupils dilating to pinpricks and his eyes locked on Sir Barrion. He rushes towards the swordsman and tries to snap his beak down on him again and again, Sir Barrion barely dodging his strikes and retaliating with lightning-fast swipes of his sword as the fight draws nearer and nearer to Emily.

  “That’s enough! You’re hurting him!”

  Emily releases another wind bolt at Sir Barrion, trying to just get the two separated so that they’d stop fighting already. But instead of the wind bolt slamming into the knight like she expected it to, Sir Barrion pivots on his good foot, just barely spinning around the spell and pulling his sword arm back.

  Emily has a moment to be surprised, before her eye catches the telltale glint of sunlight off of a sword coming straight towards her head.

  She drops backwards as fast as she can, letting out a high-pitched cry as she overextends and nearly falls backwards on the floor, but manages to successfully dodge the knight’s first swing. She swings out her arms in an attempt to counter balance but fails, falling onto her back and somehow dodging the follow-up swing by a hair, Sir Barrion’s sword whistling past her nose.

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  Emily holds her hand up towards Sir Barrington as he stands over her, letting off a quick blast of wind and causing him to stumble backwards. He falls into Blue’s waiting arms, and the Ostrich takes no time at all to bring his sharp beak down onto the swordsman’s shoulder and snap his collarbone like kindling.

  For the first time since the fight started, Sir Barrion lets out a scream, his arm going limp and his sword dropping to the floor.

  He takes a few steps back, holding onto the limp appendage and gritting his teeth, a slight sheen of sweat starting to form on his forehead. Emily get up from the floor quickly, her mana ready to answer her at a moment’s notice while her hands shake and her heart pounds in her ears.

  “Wh… Why?” She asks, as tears come to her eyes unbidden. “Why did you do that? You… You almost killed me.”

  Sir Barrion lets out a laugh, the sound hollow and mirthless. He takes a few shuffling steps back that Blue watches intently, his beak starting to chatter.

  “This would have been so much easier if I managed more than an ‘almost’”, he replies, as he shakes his head in disappointment. “I’d have gladly given my life if it meant I’d have taken out an enemy Archmage.”

  Emily’s blood runs cold. “You knew I wasn’t from Wrendale this whole time?”

  Sir Barrion gives Emily an amused smirk. “I’ve never met a blonde that doesn’t have a Fortsworth accent.”

  He glances at Emily’s still-glowing hands.

  “And I’ve never met an archmage that wasn’t so full of it, it was leaking out of their ears.”

  Emily lets out a breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

  “So… What now?”

  At that, Sir Barrion raises his eyebrow. “What, are you asking me?”

  Emily’s face flushes red. “Yes? So what? I’ve never done this before!”

  Sir Barrion’s eyebrows raise up in surprise, before a grin stretches on his face. He lets out a soft laugh, then a louder one, before he’s overtaken with giggles. Emily feels her face getting redder and redder, as the knight finally stops laughing at her, taking a deep breath at last.

  “Of course the first archmage I meet on the enemy’s side is this innocent.”

  He gives her a confident smile.

  “You’re not going to kill me.”

  Emily feels her heart squeeze at the thought. “Why… Why do you say that?”

  “Because you’ve never killed anyone before.”

  Emily glares at Sir Barrion. “Who said that I haven’t?”

  Sir Barrion suddenly shuffles towards Emily, startling her and causing her to let out an undignified shriek. Blue lets out an excited screech, about to rush at the knight, before Emily holds out an arm and stops him just in time. “No, Blue! Don’t!”

  Sir Barrion sweeps his foot underneath his sword and flicks it up into the air, catching it with his other arm. Emily recovers from the shock and holds her hand up towards him once again.

  “Stop! Don’t move, or I’ll do it!”

  Sir Barrion smiles at Emily, pointing his sword towards her. “No, you won’t.”

  “I… I might!”

  “If you were smart, you would. I know that Greenbarrow has Archmages in the forest now. Killing me will give your king a few more weeks before war finds him within his own borders.”

  He winks at Emily, a cocky grin on his face.

  “But you’re not going to do that. You’re either going to have to kill me or let me walk free. Because I won’t let myself get captured. I’ll fight you until one of us is dead.”

  Emily bites her lip and tries her hardest to think about what the hell to do. Dread starts to leak into her bones like ice, as she realizes that she might not have any choice.

  “Don’t make me do this…”

  Sir Barrion starts backing off, keeping his eye on Blue the entire time while he does. Seeing the ostrich stand in place as Emily commanded him to.

  “You won’t do it. You can’t. You’re too soft.” he replies, as he keeps walking backwards. “You’re going to let me leave, and you’re not going to do a thing about it.”

  He turns around and takes a step away from Emily.

  “Don’t move!”

  He takes another one, more confident than the first, as Emily feels her eyes start to fill with tears.

  “I’ll… I’ll really do it!”

  He starts jogging away, sheathing his sword as he does.

  “Crap… I… I can’t.”

  Emily lets out a shaky breath, as the tears start flowing. She lets out a sob, as she realizes the truth of his words.

  “I can’t do it…”

  She holds up a finger in the air, and Blue starts hopping from foot to foot, his beak clacking in excitement.

  “Blue?”

  Blue lets out a screech that pierces right into the heart of all the creatures around and scatters them to the wind.

  With a loud sob, Emily points towards Sir Barrion’s retreating form, her eyes just barely able to make out his form through the tears.

  “Hunt.”