Private Tales Secrets of the Vale

[Nasrin Fyldirae]

Rin stood on the packed earth that was the training field her dual swords in hand as she practiced her form against a wooden dummy that was situated along the edge. The Astenvale Monastery had been her home now for 20 years, found as a babe left in the woods by one of the Knights Pursuant. That Knight, now among the Masters of the Order, had brought her back to the Monastery. Now on the path to becoming a full member of the order herself, Rin had worked hard during her years as a squire. She hoped that one day soon, she would be able to complete the trials to become a Knight Sworn. She wished to be the light to others light the Knights had been for her all those years ago. She would pay off her life debt by saving the lives of others, whether that was by defeating dangerous monsters or by helping those in need she wasn't sure. She had no idea which Sanctum would serve her best, or rather which she would serve best. Sweat dripped down her face as she swung. Noises of others practicing their skills echoed around her, but she was so focused that they were merely a buzz in the background.

 

[Hector]

Thwack, thwack!

Wooden sword smacked against wooden shield as the Knight Sworn circled the Squire, so turtled up behind his bulwark.

[1]

"Come now, Hector!" The older Knight gave his sword a twirl and a flourish as he stepped around him. "You cannot hide behind your little wall for too long!" A step forward and a tap on the shield, A step to the side to draw the shield away. Always at a distance, never too close. Never close enough for Hector to step in.


[2]
"Go easy on him, Chadwick," a young woman called out. She sat atop the fence posts that quartered off the sparring ground. Her eyes were on her fingernails. "He's a spear fighter, remember?" She dug some grime out and flicked it to the side. "Not so great with the sword?" She emphasized.

"Ha!" Chadwick stepped in quick, hooked the tip of his sword beneath Hector's shield, then crashed forward as he pulled the squire's guard open and thrust simultaneously. "Sword's point, faithful squire," Chadwick said, his sword at the half elf's throat. "You could have won the round you know?" He flicked the practice weapon away.

Hector panted, sweat beads run down his face. "I, I saw no opening," he managed breathlessly.

"Well, look harder next time, Hector my friend, less you want to wind up dead come your trials."

Hector nodded.

"Take a break, and fetch me some water, would you?" Chadwick shooed him off.

"Oh, um, ok, I will be right back." Hector managed and hurried off, quick to hop over the fence.

Chadwick smiled wide and nodded, pleased. "Excellent."

"Rude," His twin sister replied from her perch.

"Nothing of the sort, dear sister, to spare them now is to doom them later," the knight assured.

"That sounds like something Dejan would say,"

"Well," Chadwick cut quick. "Pursuant Dejan is a wise man!"

"That's a word for it, to be sure,"

"Come, Edwina, that is too far!" Chadwick glared at her.

"Why don't you fight Rin instead of poor Hector?" She said, and picked some other bit of dirt out from under her nails.

"R-rin?" Chadwick replied, surprised. "I mean, Hector is no gosling, sister, he is a squire, soon to be tried."

"And Rin isn't?"

"I, I never said that,"

"Well then? Take her under your great wing, dear brother."

Chadwick glared at his sister. "Very well," he said in a small and dry voice. "Rin!" He called out, and his displeasured expression spread into a warm smile. "Care to learn a thing or two in the ring?"

Edwina smiled cruelly.

 

[Nasrin Fyldirae]

Rin heard a voice shouting her name from across the field and paused in her practice to look that direction. It was Chadwick. She wasn't really keen on fighting with him, personally she thought the man was a bully of a teacher, but that method worked on some people she supposed. Not that she could really say much, she was just a squire after all. What did she know of teaching.

The young half elf walked across the training field to the pair of knights. Once she was near enough she responded with a short. "Of course."

Once she was across from the other man, she stuck the point of her swords in the ground momentarily as she adjusted the gauntlets on her arms making sure they fit snuggly. Gripping the hilts of her swords again, she readied her stance. The longer sword leading and the shorter sword ready to block or help redirect.

 

[Hector]

"Ha! Good squire, that's the spirit," Chadwick said proudly. and he cut the air with his practice sword, left side then right, and raise it up to point its tip at his junior. "Now now, don't hold your swords too tightly now,"

"She isn't brother, her form is fine," Edwina corrected from the fencepost, eyes half-lidded as she looked on.

Chadwick looked struck. "Well, I was only giving advice,"

"I don't know if she needed any, to tell it true."

"Edwina!" Chadwick cut with a raise of his voice. "I am the Knight leading this instructional bout, thank you very much."

Edwina's expression remained blank and uninterested. "Weren't you the one just saying how we mustn't spare each other now, less we doom each other later?"

"Yes, well, I... oh forget it!" His eyes cut to Rin, and he flourished his longsword once more and set into his stance. "Rin! On guard!" he lunged forward with a test thrust, turned his blade quick and cut for Rin's wrists, stepped back, and began to side step around her.

Hector returned with a water skin, and watched as his counterpart faced off against Sworn Chadwick. "You got this, Rin!" he shouted out.

Edwina smirked.

 

[Nasrin Fyldirae]

Rin didn't need the verbal warning. She could read his movements by watching him. His muscles contracting as he lunged forward, but she could tell he wasn't committing to the thrust. She moved so that her short sword deflected the cut towards her wrists while stepping away from his attempt to move around her. Her main hand swung her sword in the direction he had decided to move in with an upward strike.

She heard the encouragement from Hector on the side, but she didn't entirely process it, so focused was she on the fight. After blocking the first thrust, she kept her short sword ready in case she needed to block again. She could have followed through with a secondary forward thrust, but she didn't want to overcommit herself and find herself losing this early into the bout.

 

[Hector]

"Ha! Good! Good!" Chadwick glowed as he side stepped away from the up-slash, light on his toes as his sword angled with threat toward the young knight. He tested her guard with another cut, blade whirling with a quick whip of his wrist, the strike attempted to get under her her short-sword arm.

"See how she keeps her distance?" Edwina spoke to Hector. "Stays balanced, doesn't over commit."

Hector nodded.

"You keep good space, but you squires always play it a little too safe," she nodded again to Nasrin. "Let's see how Nasrin does," she smirked, and there was as an impishness there.

 

[Nasrin Fyldirae]

She didn't let the talking distract her as she slid one of her feet back allowing her to dodge with a gentle push of her sword. More a redirect than anything. Rin then brought her sword across to block the strike attempt made to get under her short sword while stepping forward again to trust forward with the shorter weapon. Chadwick was the stronger fighter, with more experience than she, but he was also a show off. Wanting to prove he was the better fighter, even against the younger squires. She wasn't expecting to lose, but she also knew it wasn't a sure win. She'd need to be unexpected and press the odd advantage.

 

[Hector]

Chadwick, startled by the sudden shift in weight, and the ease with which Nasrin closed the gap, jerked his sword up in a most ungraceful way, but one that bat her weapon up and off target so that its thrusting point only glanced off of the sleeve of his chainmail shirt, rather than score against his chest, and, being as practiced as he was, he was able to stay on her off side, away from the short blade and too close to her for her longsword to get a good cut.

His off hand searched for the wrist that wielded the short blade, an he would try to yank her off balance as he brought his weight into her with a twist of his hips and a hard ram with his shoulder. His sword's angle too vertical to pose a threat, Nasrin forced him into harsher melee.

Edwina hoted happily. "That's it, Nasrin! Don't let him think he can just bully you around!"

---

Nasrin Fyldirae

 

[Nasrin Fyldirae]

The squire felt the Knight's free hand close about the wrist of her left hand in an attempt to pull her forward and off her footing. For someone who might be a beginner, this could of easily thrown a fighter off, but Rin had been training with the Knights since she was old enough to hold a weapon. While she was too close to really use her sword, she moved with Chadwick's direction but as his shoulder moved to ram into her side she brought up her gauntleted fist intending to bring it and the pommel of her sword down on his head or shoulder to force him to release her wrist.

 

[Hector]

Proud creature that Chadwick was, and experienced as he was, despite his lesser responses and appareaneces, the Sworn Knight bared the blow of Nasrin's pommel. His head tucked behind a raised shoulder. Armored as it was, a pommel strike did little more than slide off the plate and skate off the top of his head.

Hurt? Yes, surely.

But a Sworn knight was tougher than simple hurt. His grip was tight, and his footing sure. Most importantly, he had gotten into her center of gravity. His heel tried to hook behind Nasrin's lead foot, and he drove his mass forward as he attempted to bull her over. A common tactic in a brutal melee.

@Nasrin

 

[Nasrin Fyldirae]

Rin could tell what Chadwick planned to do the moment he reached his leg forward to hook his heel behind her leading foot. Instead of allowing herself to be pushed off balance, she pushed her weight into him. With one of his feet attempting to lock and pull against her foot, he should have been easy to throw off balance as all his weight would have shifted to his own back foot. Hopefully he would fall back a bit, allowing them both to readjust for a second assault.

 

[Hector]

Mass mattered when two bodies came to crush. As did experience. Center of gravity low, with his knees bent, his whole body had been planted firmly on the ground, weight distributed evenly across two feet until one slid across the dirt of the training yard and he threw his larger mass forward. He was no dancer. No spell slayer, he was a shield others stood behind, and he would not be so easy to knock back.

Nasrin struggled back, but he was no strange to grapple and melee. He would not double back. His weight stuck to hers, and his arms tried to hook behind her after she pressed so boldly against him. Should his grapple find purchase he would wrench the smaller fighter off her feet and throw her to the ground.

"Oy, Chadwick!" his sister, Edwina, called out with a laugh. "Goin a lil hard on her, aren't ya?!"

Nasrin Fyldirae

 

[Nasrin Fyldirae]

Rin felt the heavily armored form slam into her gut and gasped for air, before being thrown to the ground. She wasn't going to give up yet. Her short sword spun from her grasp from the force, but she managed to keep ahold of her longer blade.

The squire kicked at the side of the knight's knee, while pushing with her other foot off the ground and into him. Hoping the combined combination of attack and pressure would at the very least push Chadwick off her enough that she could regain her footing and regather herself.