The First Nova I See Tonight by Jason Kilgore (best ereader for pdf and epub TXT) 📗

Eow nodded at Dirken in grim determination. He recalled what she had told him the day before: Like a supernova, I also wish for an honorable death.

The Bloodhawk made a point of looking over to Juarez then back at Dirken. "I thought you were bluffing during your interrogation. I see now that you actually are a friend of the Governor — at least, enough to die with him. Or was it you who speared him?" Dirken didn't answer.

The Bloodhawk continued, "No matter. He will outlive you, a traitor to his people. There's only one sort I hate more than those who steal from me, and that's traitors." Without taking his four eyes off Dirken, he reared up and then stomped his foot down onto the head of the "slave" Acolyte who had once served him, smashing her skull with a sickening wet crunch.

Then he leapt at Dirken, yelling, sword raised.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

DUEL

Dirken tried to dodge, but hemmed in by the walls of the entryway, he managed only to block the blade with his own. The Bloodhawk's scimitar slammed into the arc blade with such force that Dirken was thrown to the ground on his back.

The Bloodhawk pounded his blade down over and over, using his commanding weight to his advantage. It was a brutish attack, one that Dirken couldn't use swordsmanship to oppose. He managed to block each time, but it took both hands on the handle to counter the intense strength of the centaur. Each hit brought the blades closer and closer until they were mere centimeters from Dirken's nose.

The Bloodhawk put his weight into it, bringing his broad, sneering face lower to look into Dirken's eyes. Sparks flew from Dirken's blade, hitting the plasma edge in tiny explosions that flung beads of blue electricity from the scimitar. Dirken's biceps strained and shook against the force, threatening to give out.

Still pressing the swords, the Bloodhawk placed his bloody front paw upon Dirken's pelvis and pressed down with enough force to make Dirken grit his teeth against the pain.

An explosion resounded from the sky, deep and booming, echoing off the ancient structures.

"Captain!" a Rigellian pirate said, pointing upward with one flap-like hand. "The Dragonfire!"

From the corner of his vision, Dirken saw a massive fireball and debris expand from the pirate brigantine.

The Bloodhawk looked away, pulling back ever so slightly from the pressure on his sword. Dirken seized the moment.

He rolled, his hip slipping out from under the Bloodhawk's paw. The pirate captain stumbled. His plasma scimitar bouncing against the arc blade. Dirken parried it and stabbed upward. The arc blade sliced deep into the swollen burn on the Bloodhawk's chest and shocked the centaur.

The Bloodhawk wailed in pain and stepped sideways, swiping down with his blade and missing as Dirken leapt to his feet. Dark green blood spurted from the pirate's fresh wound, one which surely would have been fatal to a human.

The Bloodhawk swung again, but Dirken dodged and the scimitar slammed into a communications array, cutting through the fine, metal projections on it. Dirken shuffled behind the array, trying to catch his breath for the next move.

Landing craft from the Excellentia touched down in the acropolis below the pyramid.

"It's over, Neenan!" Dirken yelled, wiping sweat off his brow. "You've lost!"

"Hardly! But you won't live to see my triumph!"

The Bloodhawk jumped and crashed through the communications array. Bits of broken metal flew from it as Dirken backed up, his feet now at the edge of the stone platform. He blocked another swipe from the scimitar.

The pirate captain grabbed a piece of the shattered array with his other hand and threw it at Dirken. The spiked metal piece smacked into both the arc blade and Dirken's head. He lost his balance. Fell backward off the edge. Slammed onto the next level of the step pyramid three meters below. Knocked the wind out of his lungs.

The arc blade clattered to the stones next to him. He grabbed the handle just as the Bloodhawk jumped down after him, yelling in fury. Dirken rolled as the plasma scimitar hit the stone where his head had been.

The brigantine exploded again. They both glanced up. The Dragonfire's engines went dark. She fell from the sky, making a swan dive and trailing fire and smoke.

On his feet again, Dirken swung, cutting across the Bloodhawk's right flank.

The captain howled in pain and sliced downward. Dirken blocked it, grunting against the centaur's strength, then parried again.

The brigantine slammed into the earth just to the north. The resulting explosion sent a mushroom cloud of fire high into the air and shook the building. Stones fell from the ancient walls. A shockwave of hot air blasted across them, almost knocking Dirken over.

The Bloodhawk flinched and blinked. It was all the distraction Dirken needed.

He stabbed forward, the arc blade plunging into the Bloodhawk's belly before he could block it.

The centaur screamed in pain as he was shocked, yet he he somehow managed swung his scimitar.

The plasma blade cut deep into Dirken's left arm just below the shoulder.

Dirken yowled and backed away.

The Bloodhawk staggered back. Pulled himself off Dirken's blade. Fell to his haunches as green blood poured out of the wound.

Dirken stared down at his arm. The plasma had cauterized the cut, but he could see the white of bone. He screamed in intense rage, his sight reddening with fury as he whipped back around to the Bloodhawk.

The pirate grimaced, his stern countenance tightening in pain and resolve. He raised his scimitar in a dazed defense.

Dirken danced forward and knocked the scimitar from the Bloodhawk's tentacle digits. Swung again.

The arc blade cut clean through the Bloodhawk's neck.

The pirate captain's head dropped to the stones with a heavy thud and rolled, the red beret flopping off. The eyes blinked once, twice, then grew flat and lifeless. His body fell the other way, thumping to the stones with a spray of green blood, then sliding off the edge and falling to the next level of the