Chapter 23

When it occurred to Zach that Knight was toying with him and he had no intention of striking first, Zach lunged for him, but in his naïveté he overstepped his balance, and when he overextended his reach, Knight easily slashed his blade across Zach's forearm making him hiss deep in his throat.

A collective gasp could be heard from the gathered crowd that now circled the arena like it was the UFC match of the century.

Zach blinked the sweat out of his eyes. The pain in his arm was explosive and all too real. Knight wasn't dicking around and Zach didn't need to be a genius to know he was screwed. Thankfully, the Kevlar of his jumpsuit stopped most of the damage to the muscle of his forearm, but not all of it.

Zach was finding it hard to grip the sword properly, and the blood was already coursing from the wound and dripping down toward his elbow to land in droplets on the black mat underneath his feet.

Zach expected the match to be stopped and to be given the troll bile to deal with the gash, but Knight continued to stalk him and feint toward a now much more leery Zach, who shied away like he had in the first few days. All his bravado had vanished after the drawing of first blood.

When Knight sneered, "Again!"

Zach got the impression that he meant to have him continue to strike out with his sword so that Knight could easily slice him to pieces. Then the so-called once and honorable knight would be justified in turning him into a human pincushion. After all he would only be defending himself.

When Lauren called out, "Drop the sword Zach," and he saw the piteous look on her face something inside him snapped.

He growled deep in his throat and lunged at his opponent over and over again and at first he missed every time, and he received a new gash each time for his troubles. After a time though he was able to stop some of the blows before Knight struck and his sword rang with satisfaction, but other times he failed to block the blow and now his arms and legs and even sides were riddled with gashes and they told the tale of his inexperience.

In between great gulping exhausted breaths and moments of intense pain, Zach's head began to hurt and he heard the now familiar ringing in his ears. It was then that the voices came rushing in, and Zach was powerless to stop them.

At first it was just a garbled mess, but then they took on clarity as one voice after another came to the fore.

Poor Zach . . .

Brah gonna kill him . . .

Why aren't the teachers breaking this up . . .

Where is Principal Tuma . . .

Should I go get Principal Tuma . . .

He even heard a few of the voices he didn't recognize calling him a pussy and a loser.

These mysterious other students clearly thinking if Knight had a hate on for him; well didn't he deserve this.

While Zach thought between blocking blows or not:

And wasn't that how all bullying started?

Zach heard Knight's voice clearly in his head:

He thought with derision:

Look at them all taking pity on the Nephilim?

Then the garbled voices in the crowd came rushing to the fro again:

He's going to kill him!

Oh my God someone needs to stop this. . .

I'm getting Tuma . . .

Then Knights voice broke through again:

The children think I am being too harsh.

But they don't know angels like I do.

Then he heard a familiar voice. Her thoughts broke through the pain:

His bag?

I have to get to his bag!

Knight growled in his head then and Zach felt the sting of a deep gash across his ribs. He had to concentrate or he was going to end up skewered, but he was distracted again by Knights thoughts:

Angels are a scourge on the planet and need to be eradicated from this plane.

Lauren's frantic voice broke through again, in and among the other voices coming through he heard her inner monologue:

Where is it? OMG! I swear Zach you are the most slovenly . . . oh there it is. She sighed with satisfaction in her own head.

Just as Zach blocked another blow he heard Knight again:

They don't understand; nobody does. If left to their own devices angels will destroy us all.

That was when Lauren started to chant:

Smitten, battered, beaten, torn

I prick at thee as if a thorn

Suffer now I will not wait

With this pin I seal your fate

Pins so sharp and made of steel

I strike at thee, these pins you'll feel

Smitten, battered, beaten, torn

I curse you now, your pain is born!

As an afterthought she said in her head:

Let's hope there's enough of Knight's blood to activate the charm.

With those words, Zach finally knew what was happening. Lauren had retrieve the voodoo doll from his backpack in his locker and had activated it with Knight's blood, but before he could feel smug about having gotten a blow past Knight's defenses, one that had drawn blood, he heard Knights thoughts again.

He proved he's just like them today when he put his whole class at risk.

Those words made Zach falter. Knight had a pretty racist view of angels, but he wasn't wrong about that? Zach had endangered everyone including Lauren.

Zach's hesitation and self-doubt was rewarded with several slashes that he had failed to block.

Then he heard Lauren's frustrated voice in his head:

GURRGH! Come on Zach, get with the program! I'm trying not to be obvious here. She growled, but if I have to I will break his arm.

That was when he noticed Knight stagger on his feet. The sure footed swordsman had done nothing of the sort before and Zach knew that was Lauren's doing. Even Knight looked shocked at his faux pas.

Zach used the advantage and lunged at the teacher. When Knight swung his broadsword this time his sword arm was just a fraction too slow, which gave Zach plenty of time to slash at Knight's side and leave a gash on his ribs.

TAKE THAT!

He thought.

Hurts like a son-of-a-bitch donnit?

Lauren crowed in her head thinking:

That's it! Get the jerk!

From that moment on Zach was a whirling dervish. He pivoted, he slashed, and he bashed Knight with the pommel of his sword.

All the while thinking:

Serves you right for damning an entire magical race, because of your narrow-mindedness.

That's when he heard it, or felt it, he didn't know what came first. The boom of the gyms swinging doors as they collided with the wall or the overpowering feeling of power that wafted like a tsunami into the room, but he did hear the calm and cool voice of Mr Tuma carry across the gym to say, "Mr Knight a word please."

That was all it took to take the wind out of both their sails.

Knight lowered his sword arm, and just as Zach slumped exhausted to the mat, Lauren came rushing in with a vial of troll bile, and practically forced it down his throat, vial and all.

When Zach started to complain, she muttered, "Save it. You are doing a really good impression of a sprinkler right now.

As Knight fell into step behind Tuma his friends rushed in to help him up.

"Dude that was epic," Quinn crowed.

And Kyle slapped him on the back making him wince and cry out, "Way to go Brah!" he bellowed excitedly.

The rest of the gang echoed similar sentiments as they helped him to his feet, and while Lauren wrapped him in a protective hug, he wondered where she hid the doll.

He could feel the Troll bile doing its work and slowly knitting him back together. The accelerate healing left his skin feeling itchy and tight, but as he walked toward the change room with his friends, he couldn't help but grin, not only had he had faced his demons, but he'd managed to stay upright while doing it.

Zach's heart did a happy dance in his chest when it finally occurred to him, for the first time since finding out about the magical world, that he just might belong in this world after all.

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World of Lies and War by

Long May I Reign by SplendidDraggy