The Fracas

Umbra lunged at Hawkins, naginata aimed dead for his heart.

Hawkins stood firm, cool and calculated malice glinting in his unforgiving steel-colored eyes. In the split second before Umbra's blade hit his body, he sidestepped, grabbing the pole of his weapon and jerking Umbra closer.

Hawkins' strength was incredible, Umbra's slender frame having trouble gathering the required to match him.

Umbra's body heaving hard, strained breaths, he and the much stronger man struggled, Hawkins continuously twisting the part of the pole he held tightly to make Umbra lose his grip. Umbra didn't spare a glance behind him, but he could hear the sounds of fighting and assumed the rest of the battle was raging on around them.

Hawkins grunted, shoving Umbra down with an unexpected surge of power. Umbra slammed into the wooden floor, letting out a cry as his body connected with the dusty floorboards.

Hawkins towered over Umbra, clutching the weapon he had wrenched out of Umbra's hands. The fae scrambled back, hoping to avoid being stabbed by his own weapon. However, Hawkins made no move to attack him, instead he snapped the pole of the naginata over his knee, casting the remains behind him. The weapon burst into blue sparks.

Red-tinted runes shined under Hawkins as he held out his hand, and a whip appeared in his hand. The whip's leather was studded with small, red-hot stones that radiated heat, making Umbra shudder. This was no weapon to trifle with. Umbra was going to have to be careful.

Out of the corner of his eye, Umbra saw Aunora engaging Finch, and it seemed that the demon horse was winning. Finch attempted to pull his gun, but Aunora snarled, swatting it out of his hands with brute force. Finch clutched his hands, blood streaming from the deep furrows that Aunora's animalistic claws had left.

"It looks like you suck at fighting, Umbra," Asher's voice called, pulling Umbra's attention to the other side of the room. Asher lurked towards Umbra and Hawkins, notching an arrow and pulling the string of his bow back. "Already down on the ground, pathetic."

Sweat dripping down his face, Umbra felt the floor behind him. His hand touched a familiar soft fabric, and Umbra's heart stopped. That was the vest Time was hidden in!

Eying Asher's bow and arrow cautiously, Umbra gritted his teeth. If one of those arrows misses their mark, Umbra thought, Time would die.

"Oh yeah?" Umbra snarled, quickly formulating a plan in his mind. "How about you put down that long-range weapon and show me your obviously superior fighting skills?" Before Asher or even Hawkins could answer, Umbra leapt to his feet, taking off to the other side of the room.

He heard Asher scream a string of curses and then the tale-tell sound of a weapon dissolving. His bait had  worked.

But to what avail? Umbra's mind intruded upon his impulsive wits, bring cold reality to light. You just challenged a man to a fist fight, and you can't even throw a punch correctly.

Asher stalked towards him, a wicked smile on his face. His hands were tightened into fists and were prepped to fight. Hawkins was behind him, slowly following him.

"I've been waiting to do this since we were kids, Umbra," Asher whispered, the disturbed look in his eyes making Umbra shudder.

Asher threw the first punch. Umbra gasped for breath, pain shooting through his ribcage. Asher was strong. Stronger than he was.

But Umbra excelled in one aspect of physical combat: agility. Now fully aware of the fight, Umbra nimbly dodged his next punch, swinging around to his other side.

Once he saw an opening, Umbra tried to summon every memory he had of he and Matthew's sparring practice. But nothing of use resurfaced.

It can't be that hard! Umbra thought, balling his fist and reeling his arm back. Just hit him!

Umbra's fist collided with Asher's face. Hot tears filled Umbra's eyes as intense, searing pain traveled through his arm, stemming from his knuckles. Asher was thrown back, seemingly in as much pain as Umbra was.

Umbra cried out, taking a step back. Blood seeped from his hand. With a quick inspection, he found the skin running across his knuckles had tore, revealing stark white bone.

He swallowed down sickness as Asher rose without difficulty, his nose broken and lip bleeding.

"You're lucky you got boney knuckles, Umbra! Otherwise that friggin' weak punch wouldn't have hurt!" Asher lunged at him again, grabbing him by the collar and socking him across the jaw.

Umbra fell to his knees, tasting metallic blood in his mouth. There was no way he could beat Asher in his current shape. Looking up, Umbra saw that Hawkins was steadily watching the fight, ready to step in at any time.

He had to call for reinforcements, no matter how much it hurt his pride.

"Aunora!" Umbra screamed, desperation leaking into his voice. "Help me!"

From across the attic, the demon horse looked up, bloodlust glimmering in her scarlet eyes.

Author's Note- wow, this chapter was getting long, so I had to split the fight into two chapters :D yay

Anyway...you think we can make it to 1K views before this story ends? I think we can :D

Also: still sorry about the fight scenes XD fast paced scenes are not my strong suit. I think this chapter got better as it went on??? Idk hahaha