You’re good!” Worked by her right hand, the whip did not strike her shoulder but danced back through thin air, yet the girl stood rooted to the spot and made no attempt at a second attack. She realized his fighting skills were as high above hers as the heavens were over the earth. “Out of my way, please,” the youth said, as if nothing whatsoever had transpired. The girl complied. The youth and his horse passed by her side, but when they’d gone a few steps more, the girl once again stepped into the road and shouted, “Hey, look at me!” The instant the youth turned around, the girl grabbed her cape with her left hand and whipped it off in a single motion. For a moment, the venomous glow of twilight seemed to lose its blood-red hue. Clad in not a single stitch, a naked form so celestial none save the goddess Venus herself could have fashioned it glittered in the breeze.
