The hammer's head dragged a furrow through the sand as Luke let it hang loose at his side, the weight settling into his palm as if exhaustion wasn't weighing on him tille now.
The man's grin faltered for the first time.
"A hammer." He rolled the word around like he was tasting it. "Didn't take you for a brute."
"You talk too much."
Luke didn't wait for a reply. He closed the distance in a single bound, the hammer arcing up from low and driving toward the man's ribs.
CLANG
The man caught it on the flat of his blade, boots digging trenches into the sand as the force shoved him back a full meter. His eyes widened. He hadn't expected the boy to hit like a falling wall.
"Tch. Heavy."
He didn't give Luke room to follow up. The blade whipped around in a backhand slash, and when Luke pulled back to avoid it, the man was already there, scabbard snapping forward like a club aimed at his temple.
Luke barely got the hammer's haft up in time.
THWACK
