Chapter 323 - The Verses of Victory (IV) (1/2)

”Aahhh!”

Rima hit the ground with a smack, the stone floor jarring her arms where she managed to catch herself. Her face throbbed where Gryffyn had hit her with the hilt of his sword, and she could taste the metallic tang of blood in her mouth.

She took a breath, not daring to move as Gryffyn stood above her.

”You are an echo of what could have been, a foul replacement for the heirs I could have had,” Gryffyn condemned, ”And you're not even good at that. Perhaps I should have done just as Yashi probably thought I would. Perhaps I should have just taken you to my bed, that way at least a part of you would be useful. Your w.o.m.b if nothing else”.

Rima's jaw clenched. No way in the God's Lands was she stepping even a metre closer to this despicable man's chambers. Threat of a beating or not.

Rima's gaze flicked up, and she caught the gaze of the Tribesman nearby, who was still nearly low so as not to insight Gryffyn's wrath. He stared back at her, saw her rage, and his terrified gaze turned to shock.

Rima inhaled, then spat the blood in her mouth onto the ground before she turned to look up at Gryffyn, ”You did not deserve my mother. She knew it, her father knew, the entire Blue Suns Tribe knew it, as well as all the Tribes surrounding, and now, as you stand in nothing but your robe while your city burns to the ground, you only see fit to prove them all right. I am not the useless one, I'd bet all I had that if someone got a chance to castrate you, nobody in your Tribe would mourn your so-called manhood”.

The room was utterly still for a beat of silence. Two beats.

Gryffyn seethed, gripped his sword and lofting it over his head. Rima shifted, hooking her leg behind his and pulling with all her might. Gryffyn's roar of rage was cut off mid-shout. He toppled forward. It would have been almost comedic if not for the fact that Rima was terrified.

Rima untangled herself from Gryffyn and launched onto her feet to backtrack towards Gryffyn's throne. Gryffyn scrambled to his feet, grabbing the sword as he did so and turning to pursue Rima in an instant.

Rima readied herself. But Gryffyn was a large man, at least three times her petite size, his sword was size of one of her legs. Her eyes registered the swinging pendant around his neck, and she could not help internally cursing at what this situation asked of her. Gryffyn swung, and Rima jumped backwards. But backwards wouldn't get her closer to the Pendant.

Gritting her teeth and working up her nerve, Rima continued to dodge Gryffyn powerful but sloppy blows. As if he'd once been trained in this, but didn't have it in him to persist after years spent doing not much more than tumble behind the curtains with his harem.

Rima registered this, wondering if she could perhaps wear him out. Maybe it wouldn't take her dodging within his guard for her to achieve her goal. But just as the thought registered, Gryffyn lunged forward, stabbing his sword straight towards Rima's waist. Rima gasped, twisting as she breathed in to let the blade pass her by. Shocked by the closeness of the blow, she wasn't able to dodge out of Gryffyn's strong-arm grip.

”Get off me you c.o.c.kless bastard!” Rima screeched, trying to throw herself forward out of his arms. Gryffyn jolted as he yanked his sword from where it had stabbed into a column, then turned, throwing Rima across the floor as he did so.

The Tribesman who'd been observing the fight from his kneeling position, barely registered the tumbling Rima in time to catch her. They both sprawled onto the ground, Rima with her back to the Tribesman's c.h.e.s.t as the air wooshed out of him.