“Pardon?” He didn’t look up from his book.
“We’ll settle before, or I won’t lose. I’ll win them all and leave with the prize money.”
Loot was faster than she expected. If she hadn’t had the joba seeds and firerum, she might have been quicker. But as it was, he grasped a fistful of hair, sending her beloved trinkets clattering around her on the stone floor.
She twisted to meet him face-to-face, careful not to pull on her hair. He was holding a dagger up to her face, and two Gummers had stepped out of the shadows. The dagger wouldn’t do much damage. She’d fought off worse without a weapon.
“Now, I have no doubt you can get out of this. I’ve seen you tackle three men to the ground with little more than your fists.” His smile was wide, the whites of his teeth like stars in the night sky of his skin. “But the thing is, in about two strikes you’ll start to feel a smidge queasy. Then you’ll get a headache, right here, that’ll make your brain feel like it’s being carved in two.” He ran the blunt side of his blade down her forehead, his smile roguish. “Then blood will start running out of your nose and ears. You’ll start vomiting, incessantly.” The word ran together with his lisp, but Sylah didn’t laugh. “Until your vomit runs blue from the blood of your guts disintegrating within you. Then, finally, after two more strikes of the purest form of agony, you’ll die.”
He stared deep into her eyes, shifting back and forth between them. Looking for something; she wasn’t sure what.
She forced a smile, and he grimaced. “Your teeth are going red. I thought you were better than that.” He shoved her away, knocking her dainty teacup over.
She pulled in a ragged breath, “I don’t know why people say, ‘better than that,’—who’s ‘that’ and why should I listen to them?”
Loot scrutinized her, then burst into laughter. “You really have got fire in your blood.”
She nodded; if only he knew.
“Bring it to the Ring. Then we’ll talk money.” Sylah didn’t remember seeing his Gummers melt back into the shadows.
He pulled out the antidote seemingly from thin air. The small glass vile held droplets of a liquid that could just as well be water. She downed it straightaway. Better to be safe than dead.
“See you later, Loot.”
He had already turned back to his book.