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"Insolent knave," the Kougra growled, drawing his sword.
"Not the first time I've heard that before.
Tell me, is Skarl really this desperate for knights that'd he'd recruit scum
such as yourselves?"
The Kougra roared in anger and charged the Ixi.
She leapt to one side, ducking under his sword slash. The Kougra struggled to
recover again, but hampered by his armor, Mharen was much faster. She reared
up in her front legs and kicked, sending him staggering back with a dent in
his armor.
"They just don't make knights like they used
to," she said sadly.
The Kougra struggled to regain his balance,
then charged Mharen again. This time she leaped for him, reckless of his sword,
and crashed into him headfirst, sending both of them crashing to the ground.
The knight seemed stunned, but for good measure Mharen banged his head against
the ground a couple times to make sure he was really knocked out.
"Unhand him and face me!" the Kacheek snarled.
"Oh yes, I do love your honor codes, or whatever
you call that stupidity that demands single combat," she said, waiting calmly
for the Kacheek's attack.
The Kacheek charged her, and Mharen ducked in
low, catching his sword by the hilt. She twisted it to the side, and with a
cry, the Kacheek was forced to drop the sword. It fell to the floor with a ringing
crash. Mharen gave the Kacheek one last cheeky grin before kicking him flying
across the room to land on top of his companion.
"Now to see how Tharen is faring," she muttered.
Tharen, for his part, was doing not quite as
well. Davarain had backed Tharen in a corner with a flurry of sword attacks,
and now the white Draik stood with his back on the wall, staff ready to block.
The shadow Gelert approached first, cautiously making his way towards the Draik.
Tharen was not one to wait, however. He charged the Gelert, the sheer ferocity
of the attack enough to overcome the Gelert's sword and send him staggering
back with a couple new dents on his armor.
"We shall take him at once," Davarain quickly
ordered his group.
"But that is not honorable," Tharen quickly
pointed out.
"You are a common villain and do not deserve
any semblance of honorable combat!"
The three charged Tharen, but he was faster.
Spreading his wings, he leapt into the air and soared up to the top of the convention
hall, where he landed on one of the steel beams along the top. The fire Uni
hesitated a moment, then took flight also.
"Fool," Tharen muttered, and let himself drop
off the beam, folding his wings in a straight dive.
The Uni tried to dodge, but the armor he wore
made agility non-existent. Tharen smashed into the Uni - staff first. They both
fell from the air, Tharen in a controlled glide, the Uni like a rock. He hit
the ground with a crash and did not move. Tharen hit the ground hard but leaped
into the air again, flaring his wings and keeping his dive momentum for a charge
at Davarain and the Gelert. He crashed into both of them, the staff held parallel.
The Gelert was staggered back, but Davarain wasn't caught off-guard. He grabbed
hold of Tharen's staff and jerked hard. Tharen gasped as it was yanked out of
his grasp.
"Tharen!" came a familiar cry.
The Gelert turned around just in time to see
a shadow Ixi heading straight at him. The next moment, he was flying through
the air and hitting the wall from the Ixi's headbutt. She turned to help Tharen
with Davarain, but he waved her off.
"I am more of a knight than you shall ever be,"
the Draik growled to the Lupe.
"You are no knight!"
"I am a descendent of Echelon and I am more
royal by virtue of that alone than all your deeds combined."
"Echelon is a criminal!"
"Echelon was a hero!"
The two charged each other, Tharen snatching
up his staff and bringing it up in an underhand blow. Davarain aimed high, but
Tharen merely dropped on his back and kicked the Lupe's feet out from under
him. Tharen quickly rolled back onto his feet and landed a few blows on the
Lupe's chest and head. Davarain didn't move. Tharen waited a few moments to
make sure the Lupe was truly unconscious before joining Mharen again.
"We won, in more ways than one," he said solemnly.
"Indeed we did."
The two admired their trophy as the astonished
onlookers slowly gathered around the mayhem, wondering what had just happened.
"That was some nice fighting there," Infernus
commented, coming up to stand by the two.
"Thank you," Tharen replied graciously.
"Why were they after you?"
"It's a long story," he replied, wings drooping,
"and one I'd rather not get into."
There was a small period of awkward silence,
then Sabreur and Steve walked up, Steve holding the gold trophy.
"I - I'm glad I met you," Steve stammered.
"Yeah, me too," Sabreur added.
Suddenly, Steve's eyes grew wide and he lunged
forwards, knocking Tharen to the ground. The Draik hit with a yell of protest,
only to see Daravain's sword whistle right through where he'd been. He scrambled
to his feet and away from the Lupe, but looked back when he heard a resounding
crash of metal on metal. Daravain was on the floor again, this time fully knocked
out. There was a even bigger dent in his helmet, a perfect indention from the
trophy. Steve was standing still, a quite bewildered look on his face. The now
half-crushed trophy was clutched in his hands.
"S-sorry," he said to Sabreur.
"No, that's quite alright," he replied, quite
astonished, "That was some hit."
"You saved my life," Tharen breathed slowly,
reeling from his second big shock of the day.
"N-not bad for s-someone that has a s-s-stutter,"
Steve replied with a grin.
Tharen's jaw dropped and his eyes went round.
Steve didn't say another word, merely walked away, still grinning and swinging
the trophy.
"Nice meeting you," Sabreur said softly, then
followed his friend.
"Yeah, you too."
***
It was a warm sunny day in Meridell, and two pairs of beady eyes were crouched
in the brush.
"No one's coming," Mharen muttered.
"Someone will eventually," Tharen replied.
"I'm bored."
"Me too."
"How long until the next chess tournament?"
"Three hundred and twelve days, twenty-two hours,
and thirteen minutes."
"Shhh, I think I hear someone coming."
"Right."
The End
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