“Hey...” I said. “Isn’t that...?”
“Do you recognize them, Instructor?” Lynne asked. “I can’t make them out.”
“Yeah, it’s that half-naked guy—the one with black bandages around his head. He’s walking toward us with a great big smile on his face.”
“Half-naked guy... Black bandages...” Lynne seemed shocked. “And with a great big smile on his face...?”
Rashid wore a grim expression, his usual relaxed demeanor nowhere to be found. “If that’s the man I’m thinking of, then we might be in some trouble.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ve met him before. He was no pushover.”
Rashid went quiet for a moment. “Really now? I suppose I shouldn’t have expected less from you.”
“Instructor,” Lynne said, “are you saying it’s...Deadman Zadu?”
“I think so? The name rings a bell...”
In an instant, the man vanished from sight.
“[Parry].”
My sword moved almost on its own. There was a thunderous crash, and sand blew in all directions as something impacted my weapon. All of a sudden, the strangely dressed man was standing right in front of me.
“Long time no see, weird guy,” he said.
“Could you be more careful? What if you’d hit someone?”
The man’s creepy smile didn’t falter. “As always, we’re not even close to bein’ on the same page. So that’s the Black Blade, huh? Guess it’s true what they say about it bein’ indestructible.”
Barely a moment later, the daggers in the man’s hands cracked and shattered. He tossed their hilts onto the sand and plucked a new pair from the loop of sheaths around his waist.
“Are you here for Rolo again?” I asked.
“Not this time. I’m after that.”
“My...sword?”
“You got it. Think you could play nice and hand it over? Don’t wanna do more work than I need to.”
“Sorry, but no.”
“Yeah, figured.”
The man vanished from sight again. A sneaking suspicion caused me to swing around and raise my sword.
“[Parry].”
There was another clash of blades, and my weapon sent the man flying back, destroying his daggers in the process.
“C’mon, give me a break...” I said. “I told you last time, didn’t I?”
In midair, the man grabbed another two daggers from his waist and landed smoothly on the sand. “Ah, what a pain. You’re a real nuisance to go up against, you know that? Stubborn, for one thing, and my collection always ends up in pieces.”
“You could always just leave.”
“No can do. Job from a real special client, y’see.”
Again, he vanished.
“[Parry].”
I timed my swing to counter his attack. Although it sent him flying back again, his expression remained nonchalant as he landed and replaced his broken weapons.
“Still, this ain’t gonna get me anywhere,” he drawled. “What to do, what to do...?”
The man turned his gaze to Lynne. Ines was already moving to protect her, and Shawza stepped in front of Rashid.
“Please get behind me, my lady.”
“Sorry, Ines.”
“Don’t move, sir.”
“Thank you, Shawza. My apologies, but I’m leaving this to you.”
Zadu’s grin widened when he saw the guards’ scowls. “The rumored ‘Divine Shield,’ huh? I see you’re with the infamous prodigal son of House Sarenza, and the demonfolk I missed out on before. Coin to be made wherever I look...but we’ll need to take a rain check. Sorry, but my sights are set on a much bigger prize.”
Yet again, the smiling man vanished. I felt a sharp prickle on the back of my neck and spun around.
“[Parry].”
I just barely managed to hold up my sword before the blades of the man’s daggers reached me. Had I been even a beat slower, they would have been buried in my neck by now.
“Seriously, could you cut that out?” I asked.
“Sure. Soon as you hand over the sword.”
“I told you I can’t do that.”
“Figures. S’pose I should have used it from the get-go instead of wasting my time.”
“Used what?”
In lieu of a reply, the man dropped his arms to his sides and stared into the distance, where the massive sandstorm still approached us. It grew fiercer by the second.
“Went to the trouble of making the thing,” he said. “Might as well make use of it, right?”
Only then did I notice them—countless sharp, silver flashes of light hidden within the onrushing wall of sand.