Operation Phoenix:  The Hunt For Samhain


Part 7


 
	The two warriors circled around eachother, keeping the distance, 
and eyes locked.  Samhain's blade shone with a dull, shadowly lustre 
reflective of its wielder.  The Commander's blade shone and flashed in the 
few beams of sunlight reaching the pair with a pale blue glint that, had 
Samhain had time to think about, he would have found quite beautiful 
indeed.  But he dared not consider it, as that would mean diverting his 
attention from the battle at hand...

	The 2 simultaneously stepped forward, and the blades clashed 
together in a few brief exchanges as they felt out their opponent, then 
stepped backwards into the circling pattern again.  Each was pondering 
their course of attack...

	The Commander lunged towards Samhain and swung his blade in a 
horizontal arc towards his midsection.  Samhain lifted his hand high, and 
angled his wrist so that the blade was vertical, the tip near his waist 
and the hilt near his neck.  The commander's blade crashed against it, and 
Samhain's parried it and lifted it out and away as he spun himself around, 
inside outing the blade and preparing for his counter attack, which came 
immediately.  He rotated the blade over his head and swung downwards at 
his opponent's shoulder, trading places in the arena with the commander as 
he did so.

	The commander, turning and facing Samhain, had his sword up in 
time to block the attack easily.  He swung his sword in a circle in front 
of him, bringing both blades down to to knee level, then pulled it away 
from the katana for another attack, taking the blade back around where it 
had come from and angling in towards Samhain from above.

	Samhain ducked under the blow, raised his katana level above him 
to block it, and stepped forwards a step and swung the blade backwards and 
down behind him, catching the commander's forearm with its tip and drawing 
both blue phosphorescent blood and a growl.  The arm was now fairly 
useless in wielding the sword, but he other was still just fine, so he 
quickly turned to face his opponent again, not giving a chance to attack 
while his back was turned.

	Their eyes locked again.  The commander swung around, and Samhain 
parried, circled the blade in a swirling motion, and worked the tip of his 
katana towards the ornate wrist-guard on the hilt.  He snagged it with his 
katana, and using the dull back edge of the blade flicked it high into the 
air.  As the blade was falling back to earth, Samhain swung again with the 
katana, catching the guard again and sending the blade flying tip first 
into a nearby tree, where it embedded itself far enough to stick.

	Samhain raised his blade vertically in front of him in a salute of 
respect and honor, and returned his katana to its sheath.  Honor demanded 
that he would not strike an unarmed opponent with his own blade.

	"You fight well, human.  And with honor.  The deal will be kept 
should you win.  But first, you must win."  The commander grinned broadly, 
showing his sharklike rows of teeth in an attempt at intimidation.

	It didn't work.  Samhain's eyes sparkled back at him as if to say 
"You've already lost--you just don't know it yet," and he grinned right 
back at him.

	The Commander was equally unimpressed, an made an attempt at a 
diving 
attack, but Samhain was just too quick, and side-stepped the attack, 
pushing him into a rock as he did so.

	The commander caught himself with his arms, but not soon enough to 
prevent bloodying his snout on the rock.  He turned and snarled, he eyes 
filled with rage.

	He stepped forward, and made as if to put his clawed hands on 
Samhain's shoulders and grip him.  Samhain ducked the blows, and did a leg 
sweep to try and keep his opponent off balance.

	The commander hopped the leg sweep, and swung his powerful tail in 
an arc.  He misjudged Samhain's location, so the ridges along its back 
were parallel with Samahin's face when it met his head, splitting open his 
cheek and sending him sprawling onto his back on the ground.

	Samhain struggled to see through the stream of blood flowing into 
his left eye, but managed well enough to see the commander coming at him 
in a flying leap-kick that would finish him if it connected with him.  
However, it didn't get that chance.  Samhain's hands were up in the air, 
and one grabbed the bottom of the lead foot near the heel and the other the 
back of the foot in a powerful grip.  He swung his body in a circle on the 
ground to get out of the way, and twisted the foot violently as he did 
so.  There was a loud crack and a howl of pain as the bone in the lower 
section of his leg snapped under the combined force of the twist and the 
impact with hands which gave surprisingly little.  He released the ankle, 
rolled away from his foe onto his belly, and stood halfway up, waiting to 
see what the commander would do.

	The commander struggled to his feet, wavered under the pain of the 
broken bone, then shifted his weight to his other foot and his tail.

	Samhain took the offensive, and dove for his opponent's neck.  The 
commander put his arms up, catching and bloodying Samhain's shoulders with 
his clawed hands and lifted his injured leg into Samhain's midsection as 
he did so, and flipped him upside down over his head and back onto the 
ground behind him with a muffled *oof* as the wind was knocked out of 
him, and his elbows skinned themselves on the rocky surface.

	The X'hirijq commander dove at him headlong now, perceiving a 
chance to finish his opponent off as he lie there bleeding.  Instead of 
landing on his chest full force, though, and having his hands around his 
neck, he found Samhain's feet in his chest, and gaining momentum as his 
powerful leg muscles accelerated him over his body.... and straight into 
the rocky face of the cliff.

	His eyes went wide in horror as he realized his folly... just a 
fraction of a second before his head smashed into the rock and his skull 
cracked from the force of the impact.  Blood gushed from the wound on the 
top of his head as he fell to the ground, and rolled down the small slope 
to the flat area, where he stopped and lay on his back.

	Samhain shook off the effects of the paralyzing venom spreading 
from the wounds in his shoulders, his extraordinary healing 
abilities kicking in instantly to neutralize it and filter it out 
of his system.  He approached the commander cautiously, and looked down at 
him with pity... his eyes were completely dilated, and many of his muscles 
were quivering.  He was suffering from a massive concussion as well as 
severe brain trauma.  It was time to finish the battle.  He knelt next to 
his opponent's head, and put a hand on either side of it.

	"I truly regret that I must do this to such a valiant, noble 
warrior.  But I must, and I fear that if I did not, you would never be the 
same again anyway.  So I give you the fighting, noble death you deserve.  
You have fought well."

	And with that, he twisted his hands violently, snapping the 
Commander's neck with a loud crack and ending his suffering.

	The circle of X'hirjq warriors stood immobile, closed their eyes 
briefly, and then knelt and bowed to their fallen leader.  Samhain watched 
quietly, fascinated.  After a few moments of silence, one of their number 
stood and approached the body, and placed some kind of device on it.  He 
removed the rank insignia from the body, and activated the device.  The body 
faded, and dissolved into a pile of dust roughly resembling the shape of 
the body, then blew away with the winds.

	He stood, his head down, for about a minute, placed the rank 
insignia 
in its proper position on his own uniform, then raised his head again and 
spoke to Samhain.

	"You have 10 minutes to do with as you please.  Then we shall come 
after you again.  We will keep the agreement."

	Samhain bowed deeply from the waist, then turned, and ran off into 
the forest...



	"SIR!  We're being hailed by one of the alien cruisers!" called 
the communications officer aboard the TRES ship.

	"Well, answer it already!" came the reply from its commander, 
"find out what they want!"

	The communications officer recorded the message sent, printed it, 
and handed it to his communications officer, a puzzled look on his face.

	The message read:

TO:  All Jihad Forces
FROM:  Commander X'krejna of X'hirijq ship _Stalker_

        Several members of your society have been marked for death by 
our Ally Barney. These people are being tracked by a magical 
enchantment, which uses the invasion force itself as its locus.
        This enchantment allows anyone in the invasion group to track 
them--regardless of their guise, place, or amount of cover.

	That is all.

	-----END OF MESSAGE-----


	"I'll be damned..." muttered the commander, and he forwarded it 
across all Jihad channels...



To be continued...


"The Hunt for Samhain"
Copyright 1995, David R. Hibbs
All Rights Reserved.