Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » A Knightess & A War

She scoffed. "Unfair fights are for scum who should be wiped off of Oduryon, much closer to you." She said in response. This man was starting to ruin her day. "But... since that is how you wish to play... allow this... 'princess' to dance." She finalized, leading to her strikes. She knew this would hurt her, and him more than she probably, but she was not going to stop until she deemed him either to weak to fight, unable to fight, surrendered... or dead. Asthan could clearly tell that he was skilled, though not in swordplay it seemed to her.

She couldn't see well... but she could tell that his face was covered in a red, food-like paste. Wait... that is what it was! She burst out laughing at this folly. It was actually quite a warm laugh, genuine happiness lasted at least five seconds before she stopped and regained her composure. She took a few more breaths and got into an entirely different stance. This time... though, with her modular armor, she slid her blade into her gauntlet, or a small crack that fit the blade. The hilt was towards her fingers, and he blade passed her arms length when she stretched it out. With one free hand, and one acting as a shield, she was ready for whatever he threw at her next.

Seeing him slash at the flour... she knew what he was doing. She grinded her teeth, and then started clicking with her tongue. The first click was quiet, the second louder, and the third even more so. Being more than angry than she was at the start, she decided to play like he was. She knelt down on one knee, and listened, waited. At this point, she didn't let him hit her, but she wasn't prepared for it and wasn't ready. Now she was. She could easily predict what he was going to and would counter. She didn't need her eyes to win, she didn't even need her legs, all she needed was her arms and her sword... and she would win.

Anything he threw at her, strikes, kicks, punches and anything else... she would parry without fail. "The power of foresight is a natural gift, given to me by my mother. And her mother before her. Thank them for your defeat." She said, using her guarded arm with the blade to back-elbow and lead to the blade going right next to his neck. "My victory?" She asked, remarking at the position he was in. The blade brushing against his neck and her elbow to his shoulder.

Zelote had a silent pause as the blade was etched closely to his neck, "Foresight you say? So much for preaching fairness in the first place then, and as for shaming me for fighting dirty, you have a natural advantage over anyone who challenges you, so don't you dare speak of fairness when it suits you.", he replied, his voice once more void of emotion as he still halted there. His blade slowly lowered as he placed its tip into the ground, his drone-like eyes never leaving her as he glared down at her.

He knew that the duel was likely done with this, her foresight made it likely that if he tried to slap the blade away with a free hand, his neck would be cut open if he was too slow to do so. With that noted, he then spoke, "Well what is it now knight? Kill me and be done with it like nothing ever happened, just like any noble that does as they wish, or is it that I'll face the judge and be sentenced to death anyway for the crime of attack nobility?", he stated, not as a question, but an acceptance of his fate.

"Regardless, I'll likely be dead anyway if you're anyone else I've met so far. So just kill me and be done with it already, won't you? I'd rather not have my ass sat down to listen to an oldman lecturing me about my crimes only to have the death penalty regardless of what he preaches. Honestly, it'd be very surprising to see a grump like you be merciful."

"Well, so much for trying to fight when all of my senses are practically blocked. And I almost never use this because I have a reason to keep it hidden. I use intuition, but you forced me to use this!" She said, quite pissed off as she pressed the blade to his neck, it almost piercing the skin. "I won't bring up a point unless I deem it the truth. So when I say I fight fairly due to my circumstances, that is the case. You, I assume, are nothing more than a man with a short temper, not to say I don't have one today as well." Her scowl was covered when she put her helmet on, the crowd slowly raising their voices in applause for the show.

"I don't kill unless I deem the person to be actually capable of killing me. And that isn't my ego speaking, it is fact." She said. "And I am no noble. I am a knight first and foremost, and I have proven my worth and mettle to those of the city. I won't disgrace myself by sullying my name and blade with an over-enticed civilian." She added, lowering her blade from his neck and unhinging it from her gauntlet, putting the blade back in her hand. She smirked, sweeping a leg behind his knees. "Though... you got dust, dirt, and flour in my eyes, which annoys me the most. Unfair, but clever. I might've asked you to join the ranks of the knights if you didn't do that, you fight better than most of my comrades."

Her mood was a little better now, the fight having been won in her favor. She took a gauntlet off and wiped her eyes, turning around towards the crowd asking for some water to use. One of her friends, a Ðrauŷ, came up and she knelt down to pick up the water, washing her face after taking her helmet back of. She called out for whos stall was broken and she went to go pay for the damages caused by her hitting him into it. Walking back to the man she fought with, she knelt in front of him if he was still on his knees. "I am Asthan Vurlou, belonging to the knights that guard the city. May I request your name? No harm will come to you in the official forms, and I will not press for you to go to court." She said with a small smile. Asthan opened her eyes with an almost evil smile. "But who said that I would be merciful? You're going to be my squire for the next month, and whatever that entails, you will do."

Zelote's pride was hurt slightly by the outcome of the match, but who is to say he had any at all? He had basically thrown it away by the time he left his family after the passing of his father, running away was the moment that aspect of him had dissolved. His hand rubbed the spot the blade had almost pierced, his heart hadn't been racing as it would, the only reason it was even doing so was purely adrenaline, honestly he had preferred if he had died there when he felt something coming up involving the knight.

But before he could say anything, he felt the eyes of the nearby dwarves looking at him, his temper was already short that time, he shot them a murderous look that showed that he would stoop as low as killing them if they didn't stop staring at him. They had caught the message as they averted their eyes, very much preferring to keep their heads, whether he was bluffing or not. Zelote then had to wipe his face of the tomato juice that had been spilled upon him no thanks to Asthan's shoulder bash, he hated the sticky feeling it left and now he'd have to wash it down...if he can even find a proper washing station.

Zelote had raised a brow at the woman's inquiry about his name, though he figured it wouldn't hurt to just tell her, with a simple sigh, he answered with, "Zelote Moss, a sellsword and...former son of the Moss family.". At that point, that family name is meaningless in the city he's in now, not that they had any influence to start with thanks to his brother. Though his expression had truly changed at the mention of being forced to be a squire for the girl before him, "...You're serious...?", he replied deadpanningly, "You have one hell of a sense of humor woman...but if it means I get some place to sleep at instead of being under a bridge...I guess it isn't....the worse..."

Auren walked through the crowds of people, making sure he did not bump into anyone. In fact, he was making sure that he kept physical contact to a minimum, and avoiding as much attention as he could; there was no sense, he reasoned, in letting the entire world know of his heritage. That could only lead to trouble.

Auren was wearing his standard getup, with one addition: a wide brimmed hat, meant to keep his face in the shadows. Other than that, his lightly armored attire allowed as little restriction on movement as possible. He liked keeping his movements fluid and quick. The hat, on the other hand, was slightly annoying, as it constantly drooped down a little, obsuring his vision- like this time.

He lifted it back up with irritation. Annoying nuisance... Why did I get THIS kind of hat?, Auren idly wondered to himself. The hat was honestly poor quality, though what could he expect, paying for it at a cheap price? However, Auren should have known better than to let his mind idle.

Blood blood blood blood blood bloo-. He quickly squashed such thoughts as best as he could, and looked for a distraction. Thankfully, one was provided in the form of a fight. If seemed like a female knight and a male fighter had some quarrel, and it drew in a crowd. Auren normally didn't like watching fights, but any distraction was a good distraction right now. He moved quickly, managing to make it to the front of the crowd.

The fight itself was actually entertaining. In the beginning, he mentally applauded the male fighter for his dirty tricks, though his incessant hateful prattle was annoying. That being said, he quickly soured against the fighter when he saw that he did not drop his sword to fight the knight on a more unequal footing- he had more of a chance to kill her. However, Auren was surprised that knight actually won. That is, until she told the entire world she had foresight.

Way to reveal your most useful trick to all your enemies..., he acidly thought. Not that he was her enemy, but still- A child bumped into Auren into his musing, causing his hat- which was drooping at this point- to fall, in addition to the child. He chuckled quietly at the child's antics, before leaning down to help the child up. "Be careful- not all adults are nice like me." Auren said, admittedly, slightly formally.

Yet all the child did was stare at him. Auren belatedly realized she could see his black veins, in addition to his other traits. He quickly grabbed his hat, and put it on. "Some wounds," Auren said to the kid, "don't heal easily." He then shooed the kid off gently. He then resumed looking at the fight, or at least the outcome of it, hoping that the child wouldn't tell her parents about him.

Auren's eyes narrowed at the fighter when he saw him giving the dwarves a death glare, but that was interrupted when the knight came back, and declared the fighter was to be her squire. Now, THAT was a surprise. What did she see in him? It couldn't be mere fighting skills. Nor could it be his charm- he had absolutely none. So what was her motive?

(Way to go Dark! /Applause/)

Hearing that he agreed to it made her a bit happy, to say the least. Her family wasn't really well known across Oduryon, save for the Ðrauŷ people. "I am very sure. I told you already, 'I don't bring up points unless I deem them the truth'... Did I not? She said with a cocky smile before bonking him on the head with the hilt of her blade jokingly. She had a headache now, not from using her foresight, that had no repercussions, but instead about the stamina potion. She hid it well, but when it hit, her eye flinched, still visible.

The point about him being under bridge to sleep made her feel pity. She never slept anywhere except on a bed in her life, never leaving the city and being part of both the Knights Conglomerate, a group of knights ranked above the highest in strength- in which she was the weakest- and also part of a decently wealthy family. Not rich or anything, just a bit more than enough to get by easily. Her train of thought was broken when a certain child walked up and pulled at the cloth of her outfit. The child wasn't scared, but they were worried... just a tad.

"What is it lass?" She asked in a gentle tone, kneeling down. The Ðrauŷ girl went and whispered into her ear about a man with some bad scarring on his face. Asthan misinterpreted this, thinking the child was talking about some pedophile. A small grimace crossed her face. "Don't worry lass, just run along to your parents and the knights will take care of it." She said, giving the girl a smile, hurrying her along. She looked around for someone that seemed out of the ordinary, but couldn't find anyone. Even foresight can't help with things that have already occurred.

She stood up. "Well... that isn't something I can work on right now." She mumbled. In truth, she wanted to get to the problem right away, but it would go against her vows. If it isn't happening at that moment, she can't interfere, reporting's to a knight directly are brought to the knights barracks and placed on a board, much like the bounty board near the entrance of the city. She had an idea. "Alright, first errand for you. Go report a child-rape case to the barracks, just in front of the castle yard." She said, shuffling in her gauntlet for a moment before she slid her hand out holding a piece of paper. "Hand this to the front guards of the castle and they'll let you in without me for one time." She added. She was told to carry one of these whenever she went outside of the barracks in case she found someone that might apply for knighthood. Though you don't just apply, you need to be a squire for a few years first.

For now, she would go check something out. The pungent smell of bread was in the air right about now, and she needed to investigate.

((Agreed, nice!))

The mercenary's brow twitched slightly, not from irritation, merely from slight surprise, had he not known that the woman before him could lay him out in a fair fight, then he would have called her arrogant, and if he had not been made a squire, he had tried to teach her a lesson, but as it is now, he learned his lesson and he's already paying for it by being made an underling for her. Truthfully though, he had a small admittance that he was glad at least, to have some place to stay for a while. Given the other knights and such that he had met on his travels, some whom had boasted bravado, bravery, and honor only to end up robbing and abusing for the supposed greater good, and those that truly had good hearts but had their lives cut short because of it, Zelote figured that this woman may at least be different.

"Child rape?", he said deadpanningly, his face wasn't surprised at the statement of the supposed case, it instead was very much plain, he had been very much used to hearing about this, whether its from this city or another, it was pretty common, to him to hear of it at least, and what had once been concern, eventually mellowed out into complete indifference. "All right then, I'll see you around later.", he then replied as he made off in the direction of the castle yard.

Zelote made his way into the courtyard when he spotted it and saw a gateway being guarded by two knights that seem like they can certainly lay him out like Asthan did. He had approached one and immediately saw him place a hand on the grip of his saber, which ticked him slightly but he nonetheless pulled out the paper handed to him. The knight took another hand to read it and then his posture relaxed, his hand now taken off the weapon when confirming his purpose. The knights nodded to each other and opened the gated for the newly appointed squire, whom had then made his way in to look for the office he should be reporting to.

--

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT OFFICE!", he yelled in annoyance, his feet now hurting and sore from pacing around the large castle for several minutes, his voice echoed loudly enough to startle even the gatekeepers outside, they looked at each other for an awkwardly long pause before they recomposed themselves. His face was basically steaming as frustration started to mount...until a hand tapped his shoulder, another knight. The knight then pointed to the door way...right in front of him...with a small sign next to it naming it as the office...

After a moment, Zelote's anger then turned into embarrassment as he was then left alone, the knights allowing a small snicker to escape them. His sense of direction was rather poor, for a long while actually since he had left home, it was so bad that he can't even read a map properly, which would be large hinderance for any group looking to travel...

(Thanks!)

When Auren saw the little girl that bumped into him talking with the knight, his first thought was, That knight is the girl's mother? He then shook off that thought- they looked too different. He could be wrong: the child could favor her father, or the knight could have taken in an orphan...

This thought process was interrupted by a growing sense of dread and caution. The child bumps into him, showing his heritage, and she goes to the knight... Put two and two together, and she's going to be looking for a monster. His initial alarm proves to be right, at first, as she scans the crowd. Act calm, don't draw attention to yourself. Meanwhile, in the back of his mind, another thought process is going on: The hunter should not be the hunted.

He squashes this menacing thought, and then his alarm, as he notices the knight giving her new squire papers and sending him off in the direction of the castle. It seems like she IS suspicious of his presence, but not in the worst case scenario. Still, Auren's not in the clear yer. He just doesn't need to draw attention to himself.

He turns to head to the inn, when he stops, seeing the knight going in the same direction he is intending to go. Just my luck... He resumes walking to the inn- he has nothing to fear, he's not shadowing her or trying to hide from her... That much. Still, he memorizes her scent, just in case.

(Here I am!)

No, she wasn't the child's mother, but she was indeed a friend of their mother- a lovely lady, though she secretly planned on killing Asthan one day, though not that she or her daughter knew. The girl would grow up to be a pretty lass, and be adopted into a royal family in a few days. She had blonde hair and green eyes, signs of beauty in young ages.

Walking to the Inn, she had no idea if he was there or not, and didn't really care- it would be an acceptable bonus on her part. Finding herself inside of the inn, she saw many a Ðrauŷ drinking merrily as they saw Asthan walk in. She waved at them all, smiling instead of grimacing. It was a pretty decent day for her all in all. She looked to the inn-keep, ordering a single drink of rum. He nodded and poured her a flagon-full. "On the house for the pride of Ommathan." He said as she reached for her coin-purse. She smiled at him gently. "Thank you." She replied.

She looked around the inn, seeing a new... hat? Grabbing her flagon as she walked over to the new man. Requesting the Ðrauŷ next to him to move over one seat kindly, him and the rest moved down by one in unison- they were quadruplets after all. Now sitting next to him, she looked at him. "It's rude to wear hat's indoors." She told him, pausing for a moment which lasted at least four seconds. "Are you new here?" She asked again. "I've never seen you around here before." She raised her metal gauntlet in the air, still holding her sword in her other quite loosely. "Another drink, if you please inn-keeper MaÐanali?" (the Ð is a TH sound) He nodded, this time she insisted on paying.

She also asked for the amazing smell she smelt from outside. "Is that the bread I recommended?" Asthan asked. She was quite inquisitive today. The inn-keep nodded one final time as he brought it out from the stone oven and set two on a wooden plate. She was almost salivating, but she swallowed and offered a piece to the stranger. "Come on, I insist."

After the whole situation of reporting the case had settled down with his temper, Zelote had then left the office with his task done, now he just had to find Asthan again and get things settled before midnight. Otherwise he'd have to find a place of his own to sleep in for the night and he'd have done that too many times already prior. The man made his way back to the marketplace and traced off on where he last saw her go off to before he left.

As he walked on, he passed by man of the locals, many of whom failed to pass him in height, which would make it very easy to spot out Asthan if she were among a crowd, which she didn't seem to be in, at least not in that area. Reluctantly, he had to go and ask around if any of the folks had seen her around, by which he was then back on her tail toward the inn.

On the way over to the building, he had bumped into the same girl that pointed out the mysterious Auren. He had scowled furiously at the kid as he passed her and found himself at the door way.

As Auren was forced to sit next to the knight, he inwardly cursed his luck. Why, at all times and places, did she want to come here now? Ordinarily, he would've actually approved of the knight's kindness; this time, he found it to be irritating, just this once, when it that same said kindness was directed at him.

In response to her first request, Auren opened his mouth as if to speak, maybe to argue or to give an excuse, when he realized he had none. He closed his mouth, and slowly reached his hand up with his hat. That's when the knight fired her next question, and Auren thought of a way to delay the inevitable. Auren lowered his hand, and waved it, somewhat flippantly. "No, I'm just passing through town. I'm going back to my uncle's, and I had to stop here for a rest." When the knight THEN offered a piece of bread, Auren took it, feeling slightly touched that she would offer him some, but mainly ackward; if she was wanting to converse with him, she would find him a poor conversationalist. In Auren's own opinion, he was not a people person.

While following along this train of thought, Auren was interrupted by someone entering the inn. He looked, and saw that it was the fighter that the knight had bested and made into her squire. Yet again, Auren silently cursed his luck. Two potential enemies, one with foresight... He stopped, and realized he could ask the knight a question: "I heard you saying you had foresight; how does it work? Do you see what the person is going to do, or do you see multiple possibilities, where your actions determine the outcome?"

After asking this question, Auren thought of something completely unrelated to foresight- Judging by how persistent this woman is, she's going to still want me to take my hat off. Therefore, he took off his hat, but he kept his face slightly downtilted, as if he was concentrating on the bread he was about to eat. No one could mistake, though, how attentive Auren was to the knight's reply to the question he put out.

She tilted her head, wondering what he was going to say, or if he even spoke their tongue. That'd be a piece of work. Asthan didn't know any language other than Ðrauian, both ancient and common. She enjoyed the Ðrauian tongue. It was so fun to use and to speak it fluently was even better. She could easily communicate with the people of the stone, in which she took pride in. She understood compliments given to her, and complimented others. Children knew her and would ask her to join them in their games. Most of the time, she would join them, play around and get back to work when the children went on home.

Seeing him lower his hand, Asthan didn't think much of it, just her distracting him by accident. The waving of the hand, though, for some reason caught her attention. "Ah... Ok." She said. "If you wanted to go through here to see your uncle the fastest way possible, you'd have to ask the Mintali men. They make contraptions that take you up to the surface of the mountain from all the way down here, a few miles below the surface where the ground is perfect for farming. Offering him bread was the least she could do for a passerby, and one that could speak Ðrauian at that. "Go on, eat! I had this bread made to see if it would help the Inn, which it seems to have." She said, turning towards the rest of the patrons raising her flagon with yell that the entire surrounding area joined in, even from the outside! Everyone in the Inn was hearty, laughing and drinking while also eating and singing.

She saw his gaze, or how little of it she could see, travel to the door where her squire stood. She waved him over, to where there so happened to be one seat left. "Zelote! Come join us!" She said. "And order yourself a drink and some bread if you fancy it!" She said with a grin. Her day had started looking up for her. She looked to him, curiosity covering her face. "Yes? I didn't see you watching, I'm sorry you saw me like that." She said, slightly flustered, but not embarrassed. "From what I've gathered on my own notes, my foresight shows me what will happen with one hundred percent certainty. It has never been wrong, and I know what will happen based on what I do as well. Once, someone sent an assassin after me, but I saw this in my dream, so I carried a crossbow with me, in which I could easily reload it and fire it back." She said, taking a breath. "The farthest I can foresee is up to a week from what happens, with no repercussions other than a slight headache if I do use it for that long."

It didn't really matter if she told him the truth about her foresight anyway, it gave her a hidden weapon. It wasn't a magical thing that could be nullified by alchemy or magics either. It was natural, though it didn't seem so. When he finally took his hat off, she remembered the description the child gave her. "Sir... did you happen to see a child when you watched me fighting?" She said in finality.

Zelote's posture slacked a little as he spotted the woman who had taken him in as a squire, partially against his wishes, but he swiped that thought to the side as he made his way over. He had observed the bright and warming nature of the dwarves that loom around in their seats and tables with their friends and family, a sight that he had silently envied since he had left home, but even then he had to admit that it didn't exist back there either if he ever went back. His thoughts had once again settled away as he took his seat by Asthan and the man she had followed. He seemed rather strange from what little he could have seen of him.

When a waiter had walked by, Zelote called him out and ordered some mead for himself as suggested to him by Asthan, the taste was still foreign to him, this lands seems to have made a different brew than the one back home, not that he'd complain. His attention then returned to Auren, the person seemed well and decent enough to him and apparently the woman, but he felt it was best to keep his guard up around this mystery character.

"So, what purpose do you have to be here in this city? From what I can tell, I cannot discern you from a wandering orator or a mercenary. So I'm quite curious myself.", he asked finally, his voice attempting to take on a 'softer' tone as he spoke to Auren.