WiP: Last Words of the Day - Dark God's Demise

With the rewrite for Dark God's Rise completed - just yesterday, I started on the third book for this trilogy, Dark God's Demise. Words for the day: 8,027. Last words for the day, below.

Dark God's Demise (words ending Day 1):

The intruder slipped a second blade from somewhere in the suit she wore. She threw it, putting the barbarian off his stroke, as he stepped sideways to avoid its flight, and followed her advantage with a lunge that left her exposed to Grunwol’s off-hand blade.

He struck, trying to make it count. His opponent’s build was slight. One truly good hit would put her out of the fight. He heard his blade crunch against bone as the woman gasped. Her eyes flashed wide for a moment, then they narrowed.

She barely flinched as he pulled the blade free, and then she laughed, watching as the Northman stepped back, raising his sword for a second strike.

Her voice rang high and free, bouncing off the portico’s walls, and giving Grunwol reason to pause. Within the music of its pitch, he heard madness, but she gave him no time to consider it. She spun sideways, exposing her sounded side, and raising her leading arm so he could see the damage for himself.

Keeping his awareness on the blades in her hands, Grunwol looked, and saw the flesh become whole. Keeping the shock from his face took more effort than he cared to think about. What manner of creature did he face?

The stone that had settled in his gut began to dissolve. Women were one thing, but creatures that could do what he’d just seen were another matter. Creatures like that he could kill without remorse.

End Notes:

The writing is going well, but I won't give you a due date until the final edit's been done, nor, as tempted as I am, will I give you a 'best guess' date, or the date I'm aiming at, because Life has happened a lot in the last four years, and even more intensely in the last 18 months, and I'm not sure it's done with me, yet. When I do give you a publication date, the final files will have been uploaded for release, and  you'll know it's definitely on its way. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long.