“Bastard!” Sandra tossed the shattered wood aside and danced backward, away from Daro’s next attack. “Leave my upbringing out of this. Urchin.” Daro spat on the ground and gave her an ugly grin. The blood running between his teeth helped the look. “Filth herder.” “Keep talking.” Sandra came toward him fast. She sent a strong thrust toward his head, which he easily parried, and then stomped on his foot. In his arrogance, he was wearing only soft riding boots. They provided basically no protection against her heavy sollerets and Daro growled in pain. He couldn’t bring his sword around quickly enough, so he shoved her instead. He was strong! Sandra was thrown backward by the force and had to work to catch herself from falling. Her metal boots screeched and threw sparks as they dragged against the hard rock. Rather than pressing the advantage, Daro limped backward and raised his own sword in a defensive posture. He obviously came into this fight thinking that it would be simple to dispatch her. After all, she was just a human. How could she possibly expect to succeed against a dragon?
