In Search of Adventure

[Kat]

Linwe was surprised that Eslakon had dodged her attack, most fell victim to that one. Then again, he must have been trained extremely well since he was a dragonrider. She jerked the blade back, smiling slightly when she realized that the wire had gotten him. So it wasn't all for not.

Linwe jumped backwards, eyes wide as she dodged his blade for the most part except where it barely hit her right hip. She winced at the pain and the fake blood, but otherwise ignored it as she twitched her left hand and made the knife fly after Eslakon again.

The blade soared through the air, whistling as it sliced through it. She jerked it slightly so the tip wouldn't hit him, even if it was suppose to stop just before contact, it was what she used to do with her mother. Instead of the tip hitting him like it would have, the side of the blade would hit him if he didn't dodge in time.

[Eslakon]

Eslakon instantly noticed the fake blood coming from her right hip, and then watched as it evaporated off of the tip of his sword. With a startled cry, he tried to roll out of the blades way, but it passed right through his right bicep. Fake blood splattered him in the face, and ran down his side. His sword clanged against a rock as he dropped it, and then clenched his teeth as he pulled the blade out of his arm, he forgot that it would stay.

The blood lingered until the pain went away, and he suddenly regained control of his right arm. Quickly picking up his sword, he made a quick slash at Linwe’s belly so that he could attempt to regain his ground.

Chara watch closely, wondering if the blood coming from his arm was real or not, even though she knew of the spell Eslakon had enchanted their weapons with; There could always be a flaw. This was the reason she hated it when Eslakon sparred with other, especially those who used weapons that did the most damaged when stabbed into someone’s gut.

[Kat]

Linwe winced when her blade got him, feeling bad even though they were sparring and it couldn't literally hurt him. Eyes wide at the amount of blood, Linwe pulled her knife back and jumped back a step, sensing there was a tree behind her. Cursing her stupidity, she started to move so she could get around the tree when Eslakon came at her.

Eyes wide, her instincts kicked in and she back-peddled to get away from the sword and she hit the tree. Seconds later she gasped in pain and almost doubled over, clutching her stomach as she knelt and rolled out of the way, sweeping her leg out to catch Eslakon's feet and pull them out from under him. Fake blood poured from her stomach before it finally vanished with the pain. She was glad that wasn't real, otherwise she probably would have died just then.

[Eslakon]

He winced as his blade caught her in the gut, which had not been intended. He lowered his sword as she rolled out of the way, and then gave a wild cry when she swept his feet out from underneath him. The air was forced out of Eslakon’s lungs when he hit the ground, but made no action to get up quickly. Instead, he pushed himself up and onto his knees. The enchantments on the blades were draining his energy rapidly, and he decided to end the spar.

Severing the flow of magic to his blade, he stood and sheathed it, but he kept her weapon enchanted just in case she did not realize that the duel was over. “That’s enough.” He held up his hand to Linwe, he did not want to cause or receive any more pain. “That was a good spar . . . lets not do that again for a while.”

Chara pushed herself onto her paws, and then stepped over the tree trunk. Several branches that were holding it up snapped under her weight, yet she did not slow her diligent pace over the tree. “Well, who won?” Eslakon asked Chara, offering his hand to Linwe.

”I will have to say that Linwe one, for you would not have been able to pick up your sword after that blow to your arm.” She sniffed Eslakon’s arm, and to her surprise, it smelled like blood, as did the area around them.

“Yeah, that was a nasty spill.” He frowned, and then smiled. “Good job. You bested me.”

[Kat]

Linwe sat crouched on the ground, waiting for Eslakon to get back to his feet to keep fighting. She didn't want to strike while he was down, that was cowardly. But instead, when he got up he sheathed his sword and held out a hand, calling the match.

Panting with the effort of fighting, Linwe took his offered hand and let him pull her off the ground. She stumbled but gained her footing quickly enough, just in time to keep from falling into him. She took a couple of slow steps back. The pain she had felt when Eslakon's sword bit into her stomach was still fresh in her mind even though she couldn't feel it anymore, and it had taken her breath away and made her dizzy. "That was a nice match," She said, smiling. She nodded. "I agree, that last hit you got on me was painful as hell..." She said, cursing as she rubbed her stomach. "At least it's gone now."

Linwe looked at Chara when Eslakon asked her who won, and looked surprised when she had said that she one. "Me?" Linwe asked, then frowned. "Yeah that is true, after I hit your arm that would have made it harder for you to lift your sword. After that, I could have just used the wire to yank your sword from your hand. It's harder to do that when you have a firm grip on it with both hands." She shrugged. "It was still a nice sparring match. I can't remember the last time I sparred with anyone."

[Eslakon]

Chara nodded, ”That was a painful slash. If his sword had not been enchanted, you may very well have been cleaved in two. Though I say it was a good match, I’ve seen better, but Eslakon knows that he is no master.” She snapped at nothing, filling the air with a sharp click.

Eslakon severed the spell to Linwe’s blade, and staggered when he was finished. The amount of energy that had required was exhausting. Every blow that landed only sapped his energy the more. Chara lowered her head, and caught Eslakon as he stumbled backwards. He was very dizzy, and now wondered how Zidane had been able to spar with him for so long in the past.

Balancing himself once more, he allowed Chara to raise her head from the ground. “Yeah, I was not expecting my sword to hit that hard.” He tapped his right arm, happy that it was free of pain, “I’ve never had that happen before, and it was unexpectedly painful, but nothing compared to you stomach.” He recalled all of the blood that had spilled onto the ground before evaporating. If they had continued, he wouldn’t be surprised if he saw red clouds floating in the sky.

“Yes, a good match indeed. That is a fine weapon, and was very interesting to fight against.” He paused, lifting his sword from it sheathe a few inches before letting it drop once more. “Did my sword nick your Tetsugin?” He slurred until he got the name right. “I can repair it if I did, but not right now, I need to regain my strength.” With a grunt, he slowly walked over to Chara and leaned on her shoulder. He patted his right bicep again, making sure that it was still unharmed.

[Kat]

Linwe smiled weakly as she fell back on the ground, leaning against the tree that would have been her downfall if Eslakon's blade hadn't been enchanted. "It felt like I was cleaved in two," She admitted, resting her right arm over her shoulder after she wound the wire around her left arm again.

Linwe laughed slightly and closed her eyes. "If this tree hadn't been here, it probably wouldn't have hit so hard," She said. "But for some reason my instinct kicked in and made me back up instead of dodging it. But, I backed up and hit the tree and couldn't get out of the way in time." She sighed, angry with herself at making such a stupid mistake.

Linwe opened her worry-filled eyes. "I didn't hurt you too badly did I?" She asked. "I think that was why I didn't think when you lunged at me like that. I was worried the enchantment had dropped on my blade and it actually hit you." She wasn't used to sparring with enchantments, since her mother couldn't use magic they had just sparred and were careful not to harm each other too badly.

"No, you didn't knick the blade," Linwe said as she looked down at the knife. It looked perfectly fine, as if they hadn't just sparred. "It's fine. And my mother made this one for me. I take good care of it to honor her memory as best I can." She shrugged and looked away, lost in her memories of her mother as her hand traced the soft scar tissue on her cheek. Her mother had died not long after she had gotten this scar, and now every time she thought of her mother, she would trace the scar.

[Eslakon]

“Yeah, I guess Chara did that one.” He said, but dropped the sarcasm when she shot him a glare. “No, you didn’t hurt me, but I felt pain. That’s all. Good, I’m glad I didn’t harm your weapon.” He wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead, and then looked at it on his hand, expecting to see blood. “I spar commonly with Zidane, a very skilled elven warrior. He fancies any weapon that will cleave easily, such as a sword or hand-axe. I don’t think that he has ever used a shield. Perhaps you can meet him later.” Eslakon smiled, and then let himself slide to the ground.

“I remember when he enchanted arrows in the fashion that our weapons were today, and he had me either dodge them or block them with a sword.” He recalled all of the diving and jumping he had done, and also how far the arrow would throw him when it hit, knocking the air out of him as well. At least it didn’t do any permanent damage. “Perhaps you can try if we do meet him. Its actually pretty fun.”

”Other than the pain.” Chara added, she had also been subject to a similar test, but she was in the air with three elves shooting enchanted arrows at her, for it seemed that she was too agile for one elf. ”Mine hurt worse because I had to wait until I landed to get the arrows pulled out.” She was much more tolerant to pain than other dragons, for they hardly feel pain due to their hard scales.

Eslakon snapped a nearby limb with his hand, remembering to come back and cut up this tree with Zidane when he had the time, which he would have plenty of until Chara can fly again. “Do you want to go meet him?” Eslakon asked curiously, for he hadn’t seen the old elf for a long time.

[Kat]

Linwe nodded. "He sounds like a good fighter," Linwe said. "I can't use any weapon besides my tetsugin. I would be at a huge disadvantage if I lost the use of my weapon, or even just my left arm." She rubbed her stomach, frowning. That had felt so real, for a minute there she was almost panicking.

Linwe was surprised when he said he would take her to met Zidane. Most people ignored her for some reason she didn't understand. She smiled, nodding. "Alright," She said. "That would be interesting to met the man that trained you. He did a good job." She smiled at him.

Linwe winced when he said he was shot by arrows. "Even enchanted, that sounds painful," Linwe said. She would really be at a disadvantage if she were shot at by arrows, or even if something came at her from her left side. She wouldn't be able to see it. "Dodging arrows has to be hard," She said. "At least you have full use of your vision though."

[Eslakon]

“Yes, he is a very good fighter. He sometimes doesn’t enchant my sword when we spar. He can also be very sarcastic for his age.” Eslakon pushed himself onto his feet, glad that she had agreed to meet him. “I know how you feel, because I can really only use a long sword when fighting, because that is what I used in the beginning.” He nodded his thanks as he brushed off his pants, and then waited for Chara to stand before retrieving his dagger from a nearby tree.

“I didn’t really use my eyesight when I dodgedthe arrows, I just waited for the twang of a bow and then leaped out of the way. When I had to block the arrows was when I got hit, because you have to time it where your sword either hits the tip of the arrow or knocks it to the side by its shaft. I am sorry for your eye, how di-“ He cut himself off, perhaps asking her how it happened was not the best thing to do right now. He had seen her run her fingers over the scar, lost in thought.

Chara yawned, stretching out her forelegs as she did. When she closed her gaping maw, she noticed that Eslakon had picked up his pack, his dagger sheathed at his side. He glanced up to wards the sun, noticing that it was in the middle of the heavily clouded sky. “I say its almost noon. Time sure flies by when you’re sparring.”

Shifting his pack’s weight on his back, he offered Linwe his hand again. “Lets get going, shall we?”

[Kat]

"Ah, most older elves I know can be very sarcastic," Linwe said. She dropped her hand when she realized she had been running it along the length of her scar. She needed to break that habit, but it was so hard. She watched him retrieve his dagger from the tree he threw it in.

"That's as good as you could do really," Linwe said, nodding. That was what she would have had to do. "It's hard to see arrows flying, dodging them would extremely hard." She bit her lip when he asked about her scar, turning her head away. She didn't know if she could answer that. She glanced back at him when he was suddenly in front of her. She must have zoned out, thinking about what had happened. Smiling faintly, she took his hand to let him pull her up.

"I was... Kidnapped when I was a child," Linwe said slowly, unsure if she wanted to explain it. Unknowingly, her hand lifted and started to trace her scar again. "My mother had come to save me. While her and the man were fighting, I jumped between them just as he was about to execute a death-blow on her..." Her hand fell to her side and she looked away. "My mother barely got me out of the way, but I got this scar, and I lost the use of my left eye because of it..."

[Eslakon]

“Yes, indeed they are.” He said, a small smile barely made its mark on his face.

”Especially Zidane . . . At times.” Chara raised her right paw, and then set it down on a nearby branch with a crunch. As she stretched her wings, a massive shadow covered both Eslakon and Linwe.

A rush of air flowed over them as she flapped her massive wings, yet she did not rise off of the ground, leaving Eslakon’s hair sticking out in all directions. ”I hate this. I can’t fly.” She grumbled, and then tucked her wings at her side. She paused at Linwe’s story, a vast feeling of sympathy washed over her, and Eslakon.

“That is terrible.” Eslakon said, trying to keep himself from frowning. It was horrible for something like that to happen to someone at such a young age. “I am sorry for your wound, many children have come to bear permanent scars. Ever since the Dark Elves began their siege on Drania. It seems to be the world we live in now.” He shifted his packs weight onto his left shoulder, trying to think of something else to say. He felt dreadful for having her explain such a story and bring back old memories, though it seemed she had delved into them earlier, before the spar.

”We should go. Chara broke the silence. ”If we are going to meet Zidane, we better do it early in the day, for he has the ability to stay up all night talking.”

Eslakon nodded.

[Kat]

Linwe's fingers traced over the scar before she realized she had picked up her old habit and let her hand drop to her side, the metal of the wires clinking along her arm as she did so. She gazed up at Chara when she thought she was going to take off, holding her hand up to her face again when her hair was whipped around her face from the wind.

"Why can you not fly?" She asked, confused. She had thought it was strange when Chara didn't fly into the clearing earlier, but she hadn't put much thought into it. She glanced back at Eslakon and shook her head.

"No, do not be sorry for that," She said. "It saved my mothers life, even if only for a year." She sighed sadly. "She was wounded though, just as I was. Although the sword had gone past me and into her hip, it wasn't a deathblow like it was suppose to be." She frowned, not sure why she had told him all of that, but not really caring much. She hadn't told anyone her story before, and it felt better to tell someone, as if a weight was lifted off her chest.

She smiled faintly when Chara said Zidane would stay up all night talking. "That sounds like the elder of my old village," She said. "Although I would stay up with him to listen to his tales. He had amazing stories that I loved to listen to when I was only a child."

[Eslakon]

”The Dark Elves have invaded the border of the forest, the elders have not allowed me and Eslakon to fly for quite some time. Though it would be best if we could patrol the borders and wipe out these intruders themselves.” Chara’s wing fingers twitched slightly, shifting the membrane that connected them. They could have avoided the tree falling if she could have merely leaped over the trees, but then they might have startled Linwe more than they already did.

Eslakon chose to remain silent so he wouldn’t bring back any more memories, though she has probably dwelled upon them all by now. He instead focused his attention on the subject of the Dark Elves. “Yes, they fear that we will be shot out of the sky either by magic or arrows, or both. Though I can ward off most attacks, they will probably use magic that I haven’t even heard of yet.” He sighed, looking up to the sky, and then to the trees.

“Speaking of the Dark Elves, they would be another reason we leave here, because this is the only part of the city that is closest to the border, and we may be intercepted by them.” Eslakon said, stating another reason to go see Zidane. He forced a smile, trying to cheer Linwe up. “Yes, Zidane has a lot of stories, some I’m not sure if they are true or not. Perhaps they have met, and perhaps not.”

Chara stepped back over the tree, merely stepping over it instead of breaking it down even more, and then strode over to the gap where the tree had been, which was no more than a hole in the ground. Eslakon slowly started to follow, but he stopped and waited for Linwe.

[Kat]

Linwe stopped walking when Chara had said something about Dark Elves. She had seen a few before, and anger blazed in her eyes. They were near here? Near her home?

She listened to Eslakon and Chara, waiting for them to finish speaking about the Dark Elves before she spoke up. "Would you mind if we stopped by my home before we set off?" She asked, worried. She had many potions, as well as very deadly poisons, at her house. She didn't want the Dark Elves to get a hold of either of them.

The worry showed on her face, and even a bit of fear, even though she tried to mask it. She had to do something about those poisons if nothing else. She couldn't let anyone get a hold of them. "If we don't, many lives may very well be in danger."