“So, have you got a name?” Shen asked.

His sword met with the back of the woman’s knuckles, sparks flying at an ever-increasing pace as his defense rose to match the speed of her attacks. Unlike Rontu, he had fought other people before. He had even fought other Shutok, though those were more in the style of a duel. His opponent wasn’t holding much if anything back though. Honor had long since left the equation as her rapid punches turned into a quick twirl to snatch more knives from her wrist. Shen barely had time to dodge backward, the point of one of the said blades barely scratching his belly. Any slower and his guts would be spilling into the dirt.

The woman pivoted on her heel, spinning close to the ground as she aimed to kick Shen’s feet out from under him, just as Rontu had done to her. Shen was, fortunately, a bit more quick-witted.

“Jagged Shutok is all you need to know,” she said in a sassy tone. “No need to bother with anything else.”

Rontu was struggling to make himself useful. Running into the brawl just seemed silly and more likely to impede Shen than help him. He threw the occasional rock at the fighting pair, but they only seemed to ping off of the woman’s armor. He hadn’t really expected it to hurt, more so annoy her. Neither seemed likely though. He really was useless.

‘A half,’ he thought.

He watched as Shen was repeatedly shut down, each swing he barely etched out was easily dodged. The woman was not only strong but incredibly agile. Rontu didn’t see them exactly winning this as long as he stood on the sidelines. Tactful or not, he had to make some sort of move to give Shen an edge. Rontu didn’t have anything to defend himself with besides his fists, he was far less threatening than his sword-wielding friend. Shen was the center of the Jagged Shutok’s attention.

Rontu decided to play to that weakness.

While the pair was occupied, he slowly made his way back to the incline where he had first met the woman. Embedded in the stone of the canyon was one of the bright blades, which he quickly pulled free and inspected. It looked more like something that would be used with a power tool than something that a Shutok would just carry around. Five or six inches long, one side smooth with the other serrated and ending in a point. He hid it in his hand, holding it between his knuckles much as the owner had before.

Shen found himself backed against a boulder, his back pressing hard against the stone as the Jagged Shutok got right in his face. She grasped his sword in one hand, pushing it against his chest before bringing her knee up and smashing it into his abdomen. The force caused Shen to loosen his grip just enough so that she was able to wrench the blade free.

The Jagged Shutok planted her foot against Shen’s chest, idly holding him back as the point of her heel buried itself an inch into the plates of her armor. She inspected the sword, curiously checking the hilt and construction. It wasn’t often that something was able to stand up to her attacks. Her blades typically shredded anything that wasn’t extremely thick or specially forged. Layered with a few scratches was an ornate rose stem, the thorns extending to the edges of the blade as the engraving twisted down to the hilt.

She let out a loud whistle. “Guess that explains it. Or at least part of it anyway.”

Shen tried to move but found the stiletto digging deeper into his sternum.

“What’s a Tao doing all the way out here? What, feel sorry for all of us suffering in the Barrens? Come down from your ivory tower?” The Jagged Shutok said. For the first time, she sounded angry rather than playful.

The Jagged Shutok wouldn’t have time to allow Shen to answer. Movement caught the corner of her eye, tracking Rontu as he suddenly bolted towards her. He was hefty and clunky, far from as sneaky as he wanted to be. She stood in place, clenching her fist as the blades on it began to whine to life. One blow would knock his block off, then she’d go back to the Tao.

A flash of orange caught her eye as Rontu punched at her. He quickly let the scavenged blade peek from his fingers, changing the trajectory of his fist to uppercut the woman. She knocked her head back, the blade skimming the edge of her chin with a gruesome screech.

Rontu thought he had gotten her, a flutter of hope in his chest as he watched the Jagged Shutok pull her foot from Shen’s chest. A loud hiss broke him from his triumphant trance though, one of the larger spikes along the woman’s waist suddenly firing out behind her like a harpoon. It barely missed Rontu’s shoulder, going past him as it buried into the wall of the canyon. Rontu could barely make out a razor-thin string linking them.

Or a wire.

Her body jerked backward, suddenly soaring past Rontu as she was reeled in. As she met her anchor point, she slammed her fist into the brown stone, perched fifteen or so feet above Rontu and Shen.

Shen clutched his chest for a moment, almost dropping to his knees before Rontu caught him.

“You okay?”

“Somehow. She was too distracted by the shiny thing I suppose.”

Rontu was silent for a moment, the phrase rolling in his head before he realizes Shen was making a joke. He didn’t have time to laugh though, the Jagged Shutok letting go and falling to the ground with a light thud. The harpoon she had fired off followed suit, the wire quickly being sucked back up above her thigh as the blade locked into place.

“You know I really pity you. If you were worthless I would have just killed you as soon as I could. I guess that’s the price of fame.”

Rontu turned to look at Shen from the corner of his vision, who had now picked his sword back up and returned to a fighting stance.

“What the hell is she talking about Shen?”

“Focus, Rontu. Do not worry about me or what she says.”

The pair slowly made their way forward with their defenses up, but Rontu still had a nagging feeling about both the new ability the Jagged Shutok was showing as well as what she saw in Shen.

The woman quickly raised her arm, firing off another harpoon to Shen’s left. The action caused both men to flinch, their attention following the blade as it went wide. It was far from hitting either of them, but it was enough to distract. While they looked elsewhere, she let the blade in her right heel detach, still connected by a wire. As she soared past them she let her boot kick Rontu in the side of the head.

The pair were offset by the sudden lunge, Shen rolling forward and Rontu awkwardly shuffling as he rubbed his head. The Jagged Shutok bounced from wall to boulder, flying past the two of them with each pass and planting a new anchor at each destination. By now they were noticing the thin wires that were now being left behind, doing their best not to run into them as their dodging became clumsier and clumsier.

Even with several dozen wires attached to her body, the Jagged Shutok didn’t show any signs of slowing down. Each time she landed she simply shot out another, slowly corralling Shen and Rontu towards where she had planted her boot anchor. The web was growing denser and denser, enough so that slipping through them easily was no longer possible.

Rontu and Shen found themselves back to back, watching the woman zigzag past them like a greenish-yellow bullet. Their escape had been long cut off, and by now they had no choice but to be dragged around by her whims and patterns. Rontu looked over his shoulder for reassurance, but Shen offered little more than the bobbing of his helmet as he tried to follow the woman’s speed. His foot shifted, and Rontu felt himself kick something. A loud, metallic clink pierced the pair’s ears, and Rontu and Shen both watched as the boot spike slowly rose into the air.

Just like that, the Jagged Shutok released every one of her harpoons, the wires attached to her body all suddenly spinning and twirling like mad as they began to wind back up into the boot spike.

Rontu and Shen felt the wires constrict around them, the thin strands etching grooves into their armor as the razor wire bound them together in a tight cocoon. Their balance was knocked loose and the men found themselves on their sides as they struggled. A heavy boot planted itself on Rontu’s hip, rolling him around as the Jagged Shutok waggled a finger.

“Wouldn’t move too much. You’ll lose a limb or two that way.”

-----

Archie sat on one of the lawn chairs Rontu kept around, his leg crossed over his knee as he skimmed one of Rontu’s research manuals. There wasn’t a whole lot he understood in it, but there wasn’t much else in the Gemmer for entertainment. Shen had gone off to find Rontu, leaving the man to some much deserved alone time.

A rustling tore his attention from a section of sedimentary rock layering, Archie’s eyebrows rising quickly as he noticed the yellow figure dragging his two companions with little more than a string. He quickly pulled the book back up to hide his face, hands trembling on the edges of the notebook.

“I can still see you, Fatty.”

He lowered the book slightly, revealing the grinning and demented visage just over the edge.

“You a Shutok?” she asked.

Archie shook his head.

“You lying?”

Archie shook his head harder.

“Liars go to Hell you know.”

“I ain’t lying!”

She remained inches from his face for a few more agonizing seconds before she opened the door and kicked the helpless Rontu and Shen inside.

“Can you drive?”

Archie nodded.

“Good. We’re goin’ somewhere.”