08 Blood War-Blood Destiny by Connie Suttle

he wasn't here to be scrutinized.
    "I want the female to go against Mardis." The High Commander was pushing his agenda, now.
    "Liss, are you sure?" Solis asked again.
    "Most definitely," I nodded. Mardis deserved to die. He wasn't expecting to do anything other than kill whoever came against him and then hand total control of both armies to the High Commander. He had his sights set on Solis, who was the General's best swordsman.
    "Bring Mardis," the High Commander smiled. Torches were brought, as was Mardis, and a fighting square was set by placing a torch in each corner. We had to stay in that area to fight. I was learning the High Commander's rules—if you stepped outside the square, you were declared the loser and beheaded as a coward. He had some fucked up rules, all right.
    Solis, Cordus and Desmun all pulled me aside to talk to the General. "I'm not familiar with your skills, Liss, and I am placing my trust in you over this," he said softly. "If you are able, take him down swiftly."
    "How fast do you want this to be?" I asked.
    "As fast as possible." The General wasn't comfortable with this, I could tell. I could see the concern in his face, and that surprised me. The concern wasn't for what this might do to his command if I lost—the concern was for me.
    "I'll make it fast," I nodded. Solis walked with me to the edge of the square. Mardis, wearing trousers only, was already inside the fighting square. He made quite a show of flexing bare arms and shoulders. Well, if there was a bigger asshole on Vionn, I hadn't met him yet.
    I drew both my blades and checked them over, just to have something to do. "Think you to frighten me with two?" Mardis snorted. I didn't answer him. I was tempted to launch into a diatribe over what filth and scum he was, and that wouldn't do. Dragon and the other Falchani let their blades do the talking. Mine were about to sing.
    "On my signal," the High Commander stood on the perimeter of the fighting square, as did the General and the Captains from both sides. I watched Mardis. There was no way I wanted any surprises from this asshole. I watched his left hand (which was gloved and clenched), and then noted where he was standing, extrapolating the movement he'd have to make if he threw something in my eyes. Yeah—he was a jerk on top of being an asshole. A deadly jerk.
    The High Commander shouted and Mardis moved swiftly to fling his handful of pepper flakes, but not swiftly enough. I had enough time to close my eyes against the pepper he'd tossed in my face, but his head was already severed. I stood there, sneezing violently as our audience watched Mardis go to his knees and then topple over, his head rolling out of the fighting square.
    I was led away between Solis and Desmun, still sneezing, my eyes watering from the pepper flakes that clung to my skin. I'd sheathed my blades, but I'd have to clean them when I could see properly again.
    "Here," Solis handed a small towel that he'd drenched in water to me.
    "The calf-brained idiot planned this," Desmun swore and paced along one wall of Solis' tent.
    "More than likely with the High Commander's blessing," Solis agreed quietly. "Keep your voice down, Desmun. Do you want the spies to hear?" Solis watched me as I blinked; I was finally seeing better after washing my face twice. The sneezing had stopped, thankfully.
    "Who taught you how to fight with blades?" Solis asked when things settled down and Desmun's curses had softened.
    "My father-in-law," I answered honestly. If I'd done things my way, I'd have gone to mist, those pepper flakes would have gone right through and my claws would have severed Mardis' head.
    "You're married." Solis said it flatly.
    "Yes. Is that a problem?" My answer caused Solis to look up at Desmun.
    "I'll never tell," Desmun muttered. "I've never seen anything like that. Those skills don't need to be hidden away in the home."
    "Were you not aware that married females aren't supposed to join the army?" Solis was grinning at