Mri
Apprentice Scribe
:)
Posts: 207
|
Post by Mri on Dec 27, 2009 8:23:10 GMT -5
Deal!?
Marina gave him her iciest glare, but alas he'd missed it as he turned back around to face Llane. And before she could protest verbally, they were being herded and hustled back into the arena. Her skin grew clamly as she tasted the bitter scent of fear and trepidation upon her tongue. And by the time Monkuta turned to give them a little peptalk, she was more afraid than angry...but then he went and said that.
"Don't die? You, you, you," she sputtered, unable to find the words to even express her resolve. The little, oooh! He should be more careful about watching his back cause she was seriously thinking about sticking a knife in it. Winging it, he was just bloody winging it. They were going to die, seriously, seriously going to die. She didn't want to die! Not now. Damn it, she didn't even get to meet her father! Though not that she wanted to, she quickly reassured herself, he'd left her afterall. But dangit, now now.
She sent him another glare before turning her back on him so he couldn't see her tears - of anger, of course. Well, if Monkuta didn't have a plan, she'd have to come up with one, but what could they possibly do to escape? Her doubts were high where the deal with Llane was concerned - there was no way he'd just, let them go as he claimed; they were too much of a liability. No, they needed to escape on their own terms and then - what? Tell the King? King Duncan while he was in the midst of a war? No, they needed a good portion of their troops overseas...it might take a while before they could even deal with the matter...hmm...there was something. After all, they were already here and Monkuta was a ranger, and she one in training, and she'd bet Lea knew something of combat...hmm...
But before she could form her plan completely, their opponents were ushered in. Five of them - all ugly and menacing looking and immensly tall. So much for her hope of fairness in it all. She sent another look to her mentor, gave a nod of her head, and readied an arrow in her own bow. She figured they could just take them out at a distance cause she very much doubted she'd do well against one head-to-head. She only hoped Monkuta was thinking the same thing considering he could shoot faster and more accurately than she.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Dec 27, 2009 8:58:00 GMT -5
Lea smiled icily at the brute, resolving her firm dislike of the man. Fine, she would just kill him later, in his sleep perhaps...
She listened doubtfully to the deal and was amazed when Monkuta went along with it. What was he thinking? Did he actually believe the man would keep his word? Naturally he would put them up against opponents that would be nearly impossible to defeat - thus eliminating his problems and making him money at the same time. Lea gulped, hoping with all her heart that she wouldn't be pitted against Wesley. Not only had she developed a certain fondness for the huge man, but she had no desire whatsoever to fight him.
She had thought Monkuta might have something in mind when he huddled them together, but then his grand plan was, "don't die." Marina lost it and Lea just stared at him as if he were the village idiot that had just said something profound.
"Great plan, Ranger. Really. Great plan." She muttered as she scanned the arena, knowing there was not much of a chance of escape.... but then she was an expert climber... She really wanted to get her claws on that Rikan fellow, but knew that would have to come later, probably much later.
The two rangers readied their bows and Lea assessed her dwindling supply of knives. She noted that their opponents each carried a dagger in addition to sword and shield. Though they were big, they didn't appear to be particularly bright or fast.
She stood with her back to Monkuta and Marina, her hands at her side and calmly waited while the five fanned out in a ring around them and slowly advanced. She was going to have to wait until they got within throwing range and she only had two throwing daggers left. She would have to take two of them out nearly simultaneously, before they knew of her skill with the knives.
she decided to mess with their heads and pulled her skirt up her hip, a smile on her face, "Hey big boy!" she taunted the one in front of her. "You don't want to fight do you?" There were cat calls from the stands above them and several whistles.
The man looked confused and glanced up at Rikan's throne and then shook his head, a determined look in his eye. "Have to. He will kill us if we don't fight." the man called back and several people in the stands booed and laughed at him. His face turned red in anger. "You fight - or just stand there and die quietly." he pointed his sword at Lea.
Lea shrugged, accomplishing her goal of unsettling him, "If you think it so easy, then come and get me!" She called out to him and swirled her skirts again, "or aren't you man enough for that even?"
Now his companion next to him was chuckling, ogling her thighs. "I'll take you on, wench!" he roared. "Right here in front of everyone!" The crowd cheered and Lea waved at them as if she were at a party and the center of attention. She blew the man a kiss, taking a step forward.
They were not quite close enough yet. Surely they were within bow range now though... when was Monkuta going to start shooting?
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Dec 27, 2009 11:08:51 GMT -5
He got the hint. Monkuta loosed two arrows in succession, dropping the distracted man along with the one next to him before either of them had realized what as happening. Then he spun around and managed to catch a third who was stunned with surprise. He shot and in seconds, the man was on the ground. That was easy. Enjoy it while it lasts...
Two enemies were still advancing on them and that trick of Lea's wasn't going to work a second time. He retrieved a fourth arrow from his quiver and placed it in his bow, but the men had their shields up. Oh well, he let himself think sadistically, Aim to cripple, then. ________________
Llane watched from above with growing interest as the first three men dropped to the ground. It had been many years since he'd seen a Ranger fight. Very impressive. But he would run out of arrows, eventually. That's when the fun would start.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Dec 27, 2009 14:19:32 GMT -5
Lea broke ranks with the ranger and his apprentice, moving out away from them, hoping to draw one of the remaining men toward her so Monkuta could get a shot at thim from the side.
She drew one of her long daggers and twirled it in her fingers, the blade flashing in the torchlight. She attempted to dance around the remaining men, dividing their attention, taunting them about not being able to kill a girl. She twirled the knife in her left hand, weaving it around her body as she danced an erotic and mesmerizing dance, she hoped. She certainly had the crowd's attention if their noise was any indication.
The crowd above cheered her on and jeered at the two men now aproaching Monkuta warily. It was obvious they considered the ranger the biggest thread, and rightly so, but they mistakenly thought Lea to be next to harmless.
The stayed together and advanced on Monkuta, giving Lea a chance, as they were forced to turn their sides to her in order to keep their sheilds between them and the ranger.
"Hey sweetie!" She called out loudly and the one on the right turned his head toward her. That was all she needed.
Her tiniest throwing dagger flew through the air, flipping so fast that the blade was a blur and landed in the man's eye socket, buried up to the hilt.
He dropped his sword and sheild and grabbed at his eye, screaming, trying to dig the blade out, but the point was so deep it was pushing into his brain.
He sank to his knees and slowly fell over and stopped moving. The crowd cheered creating so much noise Lea had to pause before continuing her plan. She skipped over to the body of the first man that fell and helped herself to his weapons, leaving his sheild behind.
Lea smiled sweetly at the last man, still twirling the long dagger in her left hand and the previous owners sword in her right and danced toward him. "Your turn, Handsome!" She laughed at him, taking note of the nervous look on his face as he tried to watch her and Monkuta at the same time, virtually ignoring the youngest person in the arena.
|
|
Mri
Apprentice Scribe
:)
Posts: 207
|
Post by Mri on Dec 27, 2009 20:12:43 GMT -5
Marina had held her bow as Monkuta shot the first three and Lea took out the second. It's happen so fast she wouldn't have been able to knock off a shot anyways - well, one that would've counted. By the time her arrow would've hit, the man would've already been killed by one of the other two, but she was ready for this one and let loose as soon as she saw her chance.
She aimed not for any vitals, but for the bottom of his shield, her face set in cold determination as she watched him whip around at the force of it. He instinctly lowered his shield, allowing her second arrow to cut deep into his throat. She'd released it as soon as the first had left her bow, knowing she wouldn't have gotten past the shield otherwises.
Her eyes stayed locked on the man as he dropped to his knees, the round shield hitting with a thud before wobbling to a stop. His hands had crept to his throat as he fell and he died that way, searing his image into her eyes. Marina started to shake with the realization that she'd taken a life, regardless of the situation of kill or be killed. She'd taken a life. Feeling sick, she lowered her bow and stared at his lifeless body, her stomach churning and if she'd recentally eaten, she doubted she'd have been able to keep any of it down. She'd taken a life.
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Dec 27, 2009 22:37:55 GMT -5
Monkuta frowned as he saw Marina's reaction. He walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Good shooting, princess. You might make a ranger, yet," he said softly, trying to lighten the situation. He put one finger under her chin and said, "Chin up. We're not done yet." He remembered his first kill. His mentor had commented about how most apprentices either fainted or vomited seconds later. Monkuta had been rather excited about it. He'd even tried to save the arrow. The thought made him smile a bit. Better days.
He heard the sound of large doors swinging open behind him. Time for nostalgia later. He spun around and, after giving Marina another assuring pat on the shoulder, walked forward to Lea's side. He readied another arrow in his bow as three heavily armored men with large swords stepped out of the darkness of the Undercroft.
With a sharp swallow, he said to her, "How many more times do you think those tricks of yours are going to work before these guys wise up?" ______________
Wesley entered the seating area above the Arena, mere yards away from Llane Rikan's private booth. He sat with a loud thud, looking around. The crowd was going wild and he wasn't even in the ring. What could be creating such an uproar. It had woken him from his sleep in the tavern. It had to be good. His eyes fell to the battle below and smirked as he saw the woman from earlier with blood on her blade. Her friend was there too, as well as a little girl he had never seen before. Were they fighting each other? No. They were together.
He leaned his axe on the seat beside him and leaned forward, head resting on folded hands. It had been days since he last watched a fight.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Dec 28, 2009 23:06:26 GMT -5
Lea saw the look on the girl’s face and felt sorry for her. She had been about the same age when she had killed the men that had killed her mentor. But she had been so angry at the time, she hadn’t felt sick or sorry. Still, she knew how tough it was the first time.
She knew they weren’t going to have much time and that their next opponents were going to be much harder to eliminate. She quickly ran over to the bodies and removed as many of their weapons as she could and carried them back to the center of the arena, dumping them on the ground. She picked through the daggers, stowing as many as she could, which included the dagger she’d put through the man’s eye.
Monkuta approached and she handed him back two of his arrows that had survived their targets mostly intact. “The point is loose on that one.”
"How many more times do you think those tricks of yours are going to work before these guys wise up?" Monkuta asked her.
Lea shot him a grin, “They’re men. What do you think?” She laughed and swung one of the swords in her left hand as she warily watched their new opponents moving into the arena. “Seriously though, I figure they aren’t going to work at all on this bunch.” She glanced at Marina. “They are going to try to come at us one-on-one I suspect. Divide us up. We need to work as a team, but not stick together in one place. We pick a target and all three of us go after him while avoiding the other two.”
She looked over their opponents. “They have a lot of armor. Can you penetrate it with your arrows? I might have to go in close on this one. Set them up for you to shoot them.” Whatever they did, it was not going to be easy. But she had the crowd on their side now. Just maybe that would help, somehow.
She saw the giant she had been talking with in the bar come in and sit down. She smiled up at him and waved. Then she blew him a kiss and the crowd cheered. She saw Rikan in his booth and blew him a kiss too, just to mess with his head. She looked back to Monkuta. “What? Aren’t you having a good time?” She grinned at him.
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Dec 31, 2009 17:13:16 GMT -5
Wesley smiled as the woman from earlier blew him a kiss from inside the ring. Several of the other audience members around him jeered and laughed at the gesture. This didn't make him happy. He turned around, grabbed the nearest offender by the arm and crushed his elbow in his fist.. The others got the message. Every person within twenty yards of Wesley went completely silent. Satisfied, he turned back to the fight and waved back at the woman. She seemed nice. ___________________
Monkuta smirked rolled his eyes in mock annoyance at Lea's question. Then he returned to the matter at hand. He frowned and said, "Our arrows won't do any good against these guys from more than a yard away. We could aim for the joints, but there's no guarantee that it would do any good, even if the shot was dead on."
He hung his bow over his back and drew his knives. "We're going to have to get dirty this time," he remarked, jokingly. They were all covered head to toe in dust and mud from the events of the day already.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Jan 7, 2010 13:07:45 GMT -5
Lea nodded at Monkuta in agreement. They certainly were going to get dirty this time, and probably take on some wounds too. She picked up another short sword and swung them both, checking the balance one final time. They weren't perfect, but they would do. It had been a long time since she had fought with swords and she needed to get back into the feel of it. She would be in serious trouble if any of them were any good, because she was mediocre at best.
"That guy in the middle seems to have taken charge of them, judging by the fact he was doing all the talking just now. Let's take him out first." She suggested, hoping Marinia and Monkuta would go along with her plan. "Time to go to work." She said as they advance, fanning out. "Oh, and Monkuta?" She waited for him to look at her. "Don't get dead!" She laughed wickedly and then danced away from him, twirling her swords and flashing her hips.
She moved gracefully, and in spite of their opponents being determined not to pay attention, two of them couldn't help it and kept glancing from her to Monkuta. She danced in close to the one in the middle, and then slipped away suddenly, laughing at him, baiting him. A scowl crossed his face beneath his helm and he moved to follow her.
She danced in again, her swords a whirling blur around her head and torso. The man howled in rage and lunged at her, raining a blow down on her head.
Lea ducked and threw up both swords to block it by crossing the blades. The shock drove her to her knees and so she just went with the force and did a somersualt past him to the side. She felt the bite of steel on her shoulder as the blade sliced her. The cut wasn't too deep. She'd had worse.
She ignored the stinging pain and sprang to her feet and instead of dancing away again, she whirled in behind him and slashed out with both swords along his kidney and underarm on the right side. She was hoping to score a good blow, but the armor absorbed the slice under his arm. The lower sword, though drew blood, managing to slice through some of the heavy leather plates.
The man growled in pain, "your little tricks aren't going to work on me, slut." He had a heavy Skandian accent. "I am going to slice you up and serve you to the boss."
Lea laughed at him, though she was more than a little concerned about surviving this particular battle, she didn't think anyone else needed to know that. Besides, she was trained to excel in impossible odds. That was what the SWC did. Dougal would be really pissed at her if she got herself killed here. So she laughed at him and danced away again, her blades whirling, with blood spraying off her elbow from the shoulder wound.
"Well, come and get me, you miserable excuse for a man." She loudly taunted him. "I bet the whores laugh at you when you take off your pants at night." She smirked, egging him on and danced just beyond reach, keeping his attention on her, yet still aware of where everyone else was in the arena. The crowd laughed at her comment and cheered her on. She did a spin and waved to the crowd, pretending she wasn't paying attention to her opponent,waiting for him to attack her again.
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Jan 7, 2010 16:46:08 GMT -5
"Don't get dead!"
I'm never going to live that down... he thought with a smirk. He followed Lea into battle, but the other two men stepped into his path as she sparred with the middle man. He tried to dive around them, but they were surprisingly fleet footed, despite their armor. He glanced past them and saw blood. Lea'd been hit. Shoulder? It wasn't clear. He couldn't waste any more time playing games with these men.
He crouched down and took a fistful of dirt from the Arena floor, throwing it up in the air. One of the men took it in the eye. The other had a coughing fit. He couldn't have asked for a better distraction. With the skill and speed that it took Ranger training to obtain, Monkuta lunged forward, sliding through the blind man's legs, spinning around and jabbing his knives into the back of his knees. A weak spot. The man, who had been clutching his eyes in pain, fell forward in agony. Monkuta jumped back, wary of the odds of him living if the man happened to fall on him.
The other man had regained his composure and wasn't wasting any time in avenging his fallen compatriot. Monkuta just barely dodged a broad swing from the man's blade, slipping on the pool of blood spilling from the first enemy's legs. A small cut on his forearm. He would live.
Monkuta scrambled to his feet and circled until he was practically back to back with Lea's foe, his own enemy quickly advancing on him. Oh boy...
|
|
Mri
Apprentice Scribe
:)
Posts: 207
|
Post by Mri on Jan 11, 2010 10:44:40 GMT -5
Marina swallowed, her mouth dry, her hands in a sweat, as she watched her two companions take on the other three. She trembled slightly as she fought to keep her composure and the face of the man she'd killed out of her mind. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips as she watched, her shoulders taunt with fear and aprehension.
Monkuta threw dirt from the arena floor at the eyes of his two opponenets before immediately lunging foward, bring one of them to the ground. She was a good ten yards back from the second man, neither of her opponents having thought that a child might do them permanent harm, with her bow nocked and ready and though her target was clear, she hesitated to take the shot. She couldn't do it.
Her bow lowered slightly as shame washed her features, her breath coming in rags. She fought desperately to keep the image from her mind and momentarily squeezed her eyes shut in a further attempt to do so, but that only worsened matters so she opened them quick enough. And saw Monkua stuck between a rock and a hard place. Swallowing, she aimed for a split second and before she could back out, she closed her eyes and let it fly. And only after she felt it slip through her fingers did she realize that she probably shouldn't have closed her eyes...
She peeked one eyelid open to find her arrow speeding toward the man's shoulder. As long as he didn't move, it should him and not Monkuta. But of course, he moved ever so slightly to the left, removing all obstacles from the path to her mentor's chest.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Jan 12, 2010 10:39:52 GMT -5
Lea heard the man behind her growl low in his throat and move toward her. She listened for the sound of his swing and dove to the side as his blade descended from right to left in a downward arc. The blade whistled past her ear as she rolled on the ground and came back to her feet in one fluid motion. She was now standing practically under his shield arm.
She pushed the shield up with her left hand and drove the short sword in her right hand up into his armpit, hoping the angle was right. She jerked it out, but the man spun before the sword came free and his momentum threw her right into Monkuta, and the path of an on coming arrow.
The ranger arrow slammed into her chest, just below the collar bone and she just looked at it in amazement as she landed in a heap on top of Monkuta. She looked up and saw Marina’s stricken face, peeking at her with one eye open and then realized what had happened. Lea burst out laughing at the irony of it. Then the pain hit and she dropped the sword in that hand, trying to roll off of Monkuta before their opponents took advantage of them. Monkuta was probably going to be a bit irritated now, she thought, and was still laughing, even though sobbing from the pain. Damn she hated getting hit by arrows. She then noticed that the guy she had stabbed was on the ground and not moving. One down, two to go, she thought as she struggled to stand up, her breathing a bit labored.
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Jan 21, 2010 20:42:29 GMT -5
It took a fraction of a second for everything to process in Monkuta's mind. But with one man dead, one unable to stand and another moments away from bringing a large pointy object down upon his skull, a fraction was all he could spare. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lea trying to stand. He pushed her back down. No one with an arrow in their chest should be standing up.
Then, with all the strength he could muster from his position on the ground, he jumped up and rammed into the one remaining man's stomach, knocking him to the ground. He immediately regretted the decision, his shoulder aching from the impact on the man's armor. But hey, it worked, didn't it? Wasting no more time on his own pain, he lept onto the warrior's stomach and shoved his dagger deep into his throat. The sight was gruesome. I should make Marina look at this when this is all over, he thought, but then took a moment to decide whether or not she would faint at the sight. The thought made him chuckle quietly. Children...
Then he remembered his friend with the arrow in her chest. He stood from atop the corpse and ran back to Lea's side. He yelled to Marina, "Get over here!" Then he turned his attention to his wounded comrade. He raised an amused brow and said, "Well, that was stupid of you."
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Jan 26, 2010 9:00:58 GMT -5
Lea fell back to the ground hard when Monkuta shoved her back down and the fit of laughter ended abruptly. "Damn it, Monkuta! Stop that!" She lay there a moment with her eyes clenched as the impact of the ground jarred the arrow and caused an intense pain to shoot down her right arm. She probed gently around the arrow with her fingers and determined that it hadn't hit anything vital. She hoped the girl was using field tips and not broadheads so they could pull it back out rather than shoving it on through. It seemed to be lodged up against her collar bone from what she could tell and she couldn't move her right arm without extreme pain. Her fingers were tingling as well.
Lea sat up just in time to see Monkut finish off the third man and she was attempting to get to her feet again when he walked over and loomed over the top of her with an irritating smirk on his face.
"Well, that was stupid of you."
Lea glared up at him, "I didn't do it on purpose!" She retorted. "Don't think for one minute I launched myself in front of that arrow to save you, Ranger!" She sat back down again, now that the immedate danger was past and then noticed the crowd cheering and tossing some coins into the arena. "Apparently we are popular. Now get this arrow out of me before that rat up there sends in the next round of fighters. Or break it off and leave it in if you think it is going to bleed too much. We can take care of it later."
She tried to sound like it was not a big deal and that it didn't actually feel anywhere near as bad as it did, but with each breath, the arrow moved and seemed to grind on the bone. She didn't know how long she would last in another fight at this rate.
She glanced at Marina and smiled up at her in reassurance. "Don't worry, lass, this isn't so bad." She knew the girl was probably feeling terrible. "But could you do me a favor from now on? Please keep your eyes open when you shoot!" She grinned at the girl, hoping she would know that Lea wasn't angry with her. She was young and not likely to repeat the same mistake. Sometimes lessons had to be learned the hard way.
She turned back to Monkuta, "Well, what is your assessment?" She glanced at the arrow, wondeirng if he thought it better to come out now or later.
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Jan 26, 2010 15:23:26 GMT -5
Monkuta looked at the arrow, then moved his gaze down towards the wound. "It's in there deep. Nice shooting, princess," he said ironically, with a smile. He ripped off a small piece of his own sleeve and draped it over his shoulder. Then he put one hand on Lea's shoulder and the other around the arrow. "Deep breathe. This is gonna hurt like hell."
He ripped the arrow out of Lea's chest and dropped it, quickly taking the piece of cloth from his shoulder and putting it over the wound. "Keep pressure on it. Try not to move around too much. Marina and I will handle the next batch if you need a rest," he said, only now noticing how labored his own breath was. He could have used a little break too. Rikan had no such plans, however. No sooner had the desire crossed Monkuta's mind, than had five more men entered the arena, the giant doors slamming shut and locking behind them.
He grimaced and exhaled. None of them were as heavily armored as their opponents from the last round, but they all seemed much more agile. Already, they were spreading out, circling around Monkuta, Marina and Lea... and closing in fast. He looked at Marina for a moment as he drew an arrow, pulling back and taking aim. "Do what you did to her, to these guys, and we might not die today."
He let go and one man fell, an arrow sticking out of both sides of his neck, bleeding profusely.
|
|