Inevera adapted quickly, turning her thigh to protect the convergence point. Asavi’s fingers missed only by an inch, but it was enough, and her leg remained planted as she used Asavi’s own momentum to drive her hard into the floor.
But before she could press the advantage, Melan threw a handful of wind demon teeth at her. The wards cut into the teeth activated, sending them flying with speed to make the air crack.
She threw a hand up, halfway between her face and chest. One of her bracelets was warded against wind demons, and a flare of magic protected her vitals.
Other parts of her body were not so fortunate. Wind demon teeth were sharp as needles and thick as straw. One punched a hole through her stomach, another her hip.
Inevera Drew hard on her jewelry again, healing the punctures, but two of the teeth were embedded in her thigh, and she did not have time to pull them free.
She stomped down, but Asavi had already rolled out of the way and kicked back onto her feet. Melan was raising a tube made from the leathery wing of a wind demon, and she knew what was coming next.
With nowhere to run, Inevera dropped to the ground just as the blast of wind struck her like the hand of Everam, slapping her down onto the floor so hard she felt floorboards crack beneath her.
Asavi threw a wardstone as Inevera lifted her legs to kick herself upright. It skittered across the floor, leaving a trail of ice in its wake. Power enough to freeze an enemy solid.
Inevera Drew on her ruby ring, the gold molded around a circlet of flame demon bone, and her body was filled with warmth to fend off the cold as she kicked the stone toward Melan.
The woman had been readying another gust of wind when the cold stone came her way. Desperately she turned the tube of demon wing and loosed. She succeeded in blowing the stone away, but she foolishly aimed the blast at the floor, and the rebound knocked her from her feet.
Inevera closed the distance between her and Asavi, driving pointed fingers into her shoulder. Asavi was not quick enough to block fully, but she tapped Inevera’s forearm just enough to protect her convergence point, turning a crippling blow into one merely painful.
With Inevera in close, Asavi caught her shoulder, holding her in place as her knee drove into Inevera’s kidney, once, again. Inevera accepted the blows for the chance to hook Asavi’s knee with her free arm, again taking the woman down. She snaked her other arm around Asavi’s leg as well, preparing to twist it from the socket.
She was not able to complete the move, but it had the desired effect. Unwilling to let her lover be maimed, or to strike with magic while she was in its path, Melan moved in close to join the fight.
Inevera had to drop Asavi’s leg to block Melan’s whip kick, striking a return blow to her chest that would have broken the breastplate of a normal woman. But Melan, too, was strengthened by magic, and resisted the blow as she fell back, kicking Inevera hard in the crotch.
Unlike other points, where an inch meant the difference between striking a convergence or not, much of a woman’s power centered between her legs, and the target was difficult to miss. Nerve clusters screamed in pain and Inevera’s legs went momentarily weak. Asavi was ready, kicking at them and at last taking her down.
Rather than be pulled, Inevera threw her weight into the fall, catching Asavi by the back of her neck and rolling to put the woman on top just in time to catch Melan’s driving knee in the back. Inevera kicked the two women into each other, rolling to her feet and sprinting across the room for her hora wand.
As fast as she ran, Melan’s throw was faster. Like a glowing coal, the hora stone streaked through the air to land between her and the weapon, impact wards blowing a gaping hole in the floor and striking her with debris. She had no wards against wood, and it left her bloodied and pincushioned with splinters. Amidst the smoke and dust, she lost sight of her wand.
There were shouts from outside, drawn to the commotion, but Asavi threw another impact stone at the doorway, collapsing the frame to prevent any from coming to Inevera’s aid.
Again Inevera Drew for healing, but she felt the reservoir of power in her jewels dwindling. She could not continue depleting hora at this rate.
Desperately, she reached into her hora pouch, closing her fingers about the familiar contours of her dice. She did not even need to look at them as she held them aloft and summoned light.
Light wards were among the first nie’dama’ting carved into their dice, that they might work further by Everam’s light. Even a novice could do it. Melan and Asavi laughed at the effort.
But Inevera’s dice were carved of mind demon bone, focused by pure electrum. The light she called shone like the sun itself, and the women shrieked, turning from the glare.
By the time they caught their senses, Inevera had caught Asavi’s arm, torquing it back until she felt cartilage pop and the woman screamed.
The move cost her a slash of Melan’s talons across the face. Blood began to flow into her eyes as she caught the follow-up blow and struck a convergence that sent Melan stumbling back.
She had to pause to pull her forearm across her eyes, wiping the blood away. Again she Drew for healing, but this time she felt the well run dry as the bleeding slowed. Asavi camel-kicked her away, pausing as she too Drew for healing.
The next minutes were a blur. Inevera was forced to focus almost entirely on defense as the women pressed her from both sides. They had come prepared, their auras continuing to glow brightly even as Inevera’s dimmed and she began to slow.
More, Asavi and Melan had been fighting together their entire lives, designing their own sharukin to fight in perfect harmony. Blocking one opened Inevera to attacks from the other, and the women took full advantage.
Inevera found herself missing more and more blocks as her power waned, and the few counters she managed amidst the pummeling were easily blocked. It became clear they were toying with her, savoring the moment.
“Accept your fate,” Melan said, landing a kick to the side of the head that sent Inevera reeling.
“Everam has forsaken you,” Asavi said, kicking her back the other way.
“It is your own fault,” Melan said, punching Inevera in the jaw so hard it took her feet from under her.
Asavi was positioned to catch her as she fell, dropping to one knee and driving Inevera hard into it. Inevera coughed a spatter of blood as the air was blasted from her, and Asavi hurled her onto her back. “You have grown complacent in your power, coming into battle with little more than your dice, flawed since you coated them as the Evejah forbid.”
Was it true? Had the dice turned from her? Had she truly fallen from Everam’s favor? If so, what had been her failing? Not confirming the death of the Par’chin? Coating her dice? Allowing Ahmann into Domin Sharum? What might she have done differently?
But then she remembered something, and her hand dropped to her hora pouch.
“They warned me,” she croaked.
“Eh?” Melan asked.
“The dice.” Inevera gasped as she reached into the pouch. “They warned me my power would be challenged. Everam has not forsaken me. This is just another test.”
It was forbidden in the Evejah to Draw on one’s dice for anything save light and foretelling, lest the hora might become so drained as to cause false foretellings. More, the items were the most precious thing a dama’ting owned. They were her key to the white, her guide through life, the heart of her power. No dama’ting would risk harm to her dice.