Magic Rising by Jennifer Cloud

bloody battle they’d taught in school. They glorified bloody battles, breeding warriors for an army she never wanted to join. She never cared about government infiltration or infiltrating Bilderberg.
    Mom hadn’t really died on the exercise field. Somehow she set up an escape.
    * * * *
    The order for the attack on the field had been handed down because Scorpion had disobeyed orders and not punished her daughter for the failed assassination attempt. Dragonfly would’ve gladly taken her place but the leader wouldn’t have it. The result was called Contrition. Dragonfly never knew that it was designed as a death sentence.
    Scorpion was taken to the main courtyard or exercise area. There she stood in the middle and faced three of Stone House’s finest warriors. Scorpion was an exceptional fighter, and Dragonfly never feared her mother’s fate.
    Silver Touch attacked first. Scorpion wasn’t permitted a weapon. She had to face the three unarmed, while they had been well supplied. Silver Touch was a vicious fighter with her favored weapon, the staff. She was tall, wiry, with a deadly reach. Scorpion fought her while avoiding Fire Fox’s steady strikes with the morning star. That was no easy task. Fire Fox grew to be an expert with the ancient weapon, sending the spike covered ball into many skulls, then pulling back hard enough to make the chain rattle before slamming it down again.
    In the middle of the field Silver Touch swung the staff, Scorpion grabbed it, kicked her head, then shoved Silver Touch in the striking range of Fire Fox. Fire Fox was a large burly man but no amount of strength would pull the steel ball back from its path. Powerless to stop it, he watched the spikes go through Silver Touch’s face, blood sprayed, people cried. Silver Touch came forward with the ball hanging in her. She walked a few steps until the spikes loosened from her head, then she fell to the grass.
    Spider jumped toward Scorpion next. He had an axe embossed with a spider clinging where the handle joined the head of the axe. He was a better fighter than Fire Fox. Spider had more than weapons skill, and was highly proficient in hand to hand combat. Scorpion was on the receiving end of several blows to the head while trying to keep Fire Fox at bay.
    Finally, Scorpion gained enough distance and went back to Silver Touch. The long staff held in her dead hands was Scorpion’s only salvation. She pried the staff free before Fire Fox struck, missing her chest by inches. Scorpion came back, striking Spider across the head when Fire Fox came back around. She held the staff, letting the morning star’s chain wrap around the wood. Fire Fox pulled, the staff broke, but it was enough to distract Fire Fox. Scorpion shoved one broken end into the bastard’s throat. Blood flew, pulsed in a wild spray and even Dragonfly knew that Scorpion had severed his major artery.
    All that remained was Spider. Dragonfly knew that her mother could take him. In her eyes there was no greater fighter, no wiser person. Scorpion was better than these people and she would win.
    Spider swung with his axe while Fire Fox held his throat, falling to his knees, staining the grass. The swing was wide. Scorpion avoided it, flipping backwards. That’s what Spider wanted. Before Scorpion was able to get back into position, Spider was on her. The axe came close, cutting through her shirt in a line of red and Dragonfly couldn’t believe it. She never believed her mother could bleed.
    Without reacting to the wound, Scorpion kicked, hitting his face and turning his body with the momentum of the axe. She landed another hit, finishing his balance and Spider landed on the ground. Before he could rise, Scorpion landed on him, pinning his axe arm and breaking his neck. Dragonfly could still remember the sound. It echoed through the stone risers. Several cheered, others booed, and Dragonfly stood tall and applauded, even if the crack of bone breaking was the worst sound on the