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faster, until the blades became a whirling blur of metal, bone, plastic and
wood, spiraling through the space between them.
Jak was impressed by the speed and assurance with which they handled the
blades, judging the weight and speed of each weapon in flight as it came to
them, adjusting their stances to receive the blade by its grip before sending
it spinning across the space between them with a delicately controlled
movement of the wrist, the muscles on their forearms as taut as cord, the
seeming ease of their stance belying the concentration of will and physical
power that went into each throw.
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At a whistled command from Gloria, they stopped dead, the last throw of each
blade returning it to its owner.
Jak, standing and observing with fascination, had failed to note that Jess was
watching him.
"Hey, Whitey, you seen enough yet?" she called to him.
Gloria turned, flashing him a smile as she recognized their audience. "You
want to join in, sweets?" she said to him.
"Not my people. Not my rhythm," Jak replied simply.
"I wouldn't say that," Gloria replied. "I saw you against those stickies,
remember? You're a natural warrior, and anyone with the gift can pick up the
rhythm. Join us, yeah?"
Not allowing Jak the chance to answer, she tossed her panga through the air,
spinning it wickedly with her wrist so that it seemed to curve elliptically in
its flight pattern. Without even pausing, the albino altered his stance to
curve with the flight and plucked the panga out of the air with his right
hand, bringing it down to his side and killing the momentum. At the same time,
his left hand snaked into one of the hidden openings in his patched camou
jacket, producing a leaf-bladed throwing knife that he sent flying toward the
warrior queen. It flew straight and true toward her head, and Jak noted with
admiration the way in which she stood perfectly still, not moving a muscle
until the knife was within a fraction of an inch of removing her left eye.
Then, with a movement so quick that it was beyond even a blur, she plucked the
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Axler,_James_-_Deathlands_59_-_Amazon_Gate knife from the air, her reflexes so
sharp and precise that she was able to trap the blade between the middle and
index fingers of her hand, sweeping her arm away from her body to diffuse the
speed and forward motion of the knife. All the while, she was unblinking, her
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diamond blue eyes fixed on the albino who stood before her, the rest of her
body rock solid.
"One all," she whispered huskily as her arm came to rest. "You're very good,
honey. Mebbe we could learn a lot from each other. So you want to join us."
"If all as good, then yeah," Jak said, his scarred face breaking into
something resembling amusement for the first time in days.
The albino was accepted into the triangle, which became a circle, and after a
short while juggling the blades one of his own knives now joining the whirling
blades as they crisscrossed the open space they turned to combat training. Jak
was surprised to see Tammy and Gloria begin to fight, circling each other,
thrusting and parrying with their blades, with no concession. It was quite
possible that the Amazons could injure or even kill each other.
Which was something he kept very much to the forefront of his mind as he
stepped into the circle to contest with Jess.
"No holding back, Whitey, 'cause I won't," she said simply and without malice.
Jak nodded agreement, and they began to fight. Circling each other in slow,
light steps, both parties drew their blades. The Emerson was smaller than the
leaf-
bladed knife that Jak held easily in his palm, but it had a sharp cutting edge
honed onto both sides, a refinement that Jess had obviously customized since
taking possession of the blade.
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She feinted, and Jak moved to his left, all the while expecting her to make
her next move, which was to follow the feint with a thrust to her right that
should have taken the blade into the space now occupied by Jak's ribs. But the
albino had already shifted direction, and allowed the blade to pass harmlessly
past his camou jacket, all the while preparing his own attack, which was to
her left side, now open to attack by the movement of her body, leaving her
defenseless down that side.
Or so it seemed. Jak's blade came so close to Jess's naked torso that it could
almost have shaved the top layer of skin from between her second and third
ribs.
Instead, it passed her, his momentum carrying him just forward enough for her
to move in close and grip his arm with her free hand.
The grip closed above the muscle and tendons just below Jak's shoulder, Jess's
small, bony fingers gripping like iron bands and numbing any feeling or
response that he could muster. Jak felt his arm go dead and the pull of her
body weight as she attempted to unbalance him and take him to the earth. She
expected resistance, so Jak did the opposite. He pitched himself forward,
knowing that the deadened arm would be useless, and so allowing himself to
roll and bring Jess across his body as her own balance was lost, and she fell
onto him.
As she moved across him, Jak pushed off the ground with his thigh and dug the
heel of his combat boot into the earth, the force of his wiry muscles digging
a ridge from which he propelled his foot, thigh and, gaining in momentum all
the while, his body, so that he swung over on top of Jess, pinning her knife
hand with his left knee, and using his still functioning arm to hold her other
hand down. His right leg was diagonally across her body, pinning her to the
ground.
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"Neat move, Whitey," she said calmly. "How about we do that again, this time
in slow-mo, and you show me just how it's done& "
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JAK BECAME a regular part of training after that, Gloria observing him with a
growing interest as the albino's character emerged fully. Jak was a good
teacher, and was also keen to learn from the Amazons when they came up with
techniques that he hadn't encountered before. The time between, Gloria kept
Jak more and more to her, drawing from him stories of his youth in the
Louisiana swamps and of his travels across the Deathlands with Ryan Cawdor and
his people. He also told her of his wife, Christina, and daughter, Jenny, and
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