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Post by Brandwyn on May 21, 2009 5:49:46 GMT -5
Henry took his eyes off the fight long enough to look in surprise at Adrian. He wasn't used to people betting against Katrina, but then this was a whole new group of soldiers who didn't really know her.
Henry could see there was a good deal of betting going on and most everyone on deck was watching the match. He wondered just how many were betting against Katrina. He figured Katrina was going to win this match, in spite of loosing yesterdays. Dougal was not really at the top of his game. Henry still felt a bit guilty about that, but this might be a good chance to make some extra money.
"Sure! I'll take that bet!" Henry replied to Adrian. Then he turned to Shamus, "how about you? Want a piece of the action, Shamus?"
Shamus never took his eyes off the two combatants, and after a moment shook his head. "Nope. I can see this fight going either way. Too much risk."
"Ever the diplomat, I see." Henry muttered good-naturedly. Then he returned his attention to the fight, wondering how Kat was going to block those blades and not leave herself open to another attack from Dougal. He hoped he hadn't made a mistake by betting for Katrina, but he was fiercly loyal to her and would likely bet for her regardless of the chances.
He had to admit that Dougal and Katrina were nearly a match in skill. This could get interesting, as long as they both kept a tight leash on their emotions.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 21, 2009 9:51:27 GMT -5
Katrina saw the danger in blocking both his weapons with both of her swords and that she would be playing right into Dougal’s hands. Since she was already starting a spin from her blades not making contact with him because he had stepped back, she decided to complete the spin. She twirled very fast and brought her left elbow up with her sword tip pointed to the ground and instead of doing a hard block on both weapons, she merely deflected them over her head as she dropped to her right knee and hand, rotating her elbow towards the ground so it lifted the tip of her left sword and his blades slid down along it.
She swept her left leg out, hoping to knock Dougal off his feet, but not really expecting it to work. She didn’t really have enough force behind that sweep to be effective, but she hoped it would distract him or at least give him something else to think about.
She actually completed her spin by following through with a roll on the ground as his blades whistled by just a fraction away from her bare head and then she had rolled beyond his reach and was back up on her feet in one fluid motion. Now he was going to have to step forward to re-engage her.
She twirled her left sword down at her side, show-boating a bit. She would never use either the spin or the roll on the ground in a pitched battle, it was far too risky and normally there wasn’t enough room to complete the barrel roll. Besides loosing your footing in the middle of a battle normally spelled your doom, even if you did it on purpose. However, here in a one-on-one fight it was a good tactic – as long as you could do it very, very quickly.
Katrina had practiced many hours as an apprentice to gain speed and agility while fighting and she was now known for both attributes as well as taking risks that a more conservative fighter would never consider let alone try. Her main flaw was that she lacked raw power and strength, so she had to make up for that in other ways. She also could not withstand the amount of blows that Dougal could, so she had to make sure none of his landed because if they did, it would likely be devastating.
“You didn’t really expect me to fall for that little trap, did you?” She smiled sweetly at him, chuckling under her breath. She was going to let him initiate the attack this time, figuring he would go with the front-on brute force type attack that he seemed to favor. But she watched his eyes, just in case he had something else up his sleeve.
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Post by ivory on May 21, 2009 14:26:54 GMT -5
Adrian's mouth dropped open as Dougal didn't bother to press the opening and then closed again when he went on the attack. He grinned enthusiastically as his bet was taken and when Henry turned toward Shamus so did he.
"Nope. I can see this fight going either way. Too much risk."
He shrugged off Shamus' words of them being of equal skill, doubting them most intimately. All his life he'd heard of Dougal's strength and ferocity in battle. He'd grown up dreaming of becoming as great as he one day and he always wanted to be the best. Of course, that would mean someday defeating Dougal, but by the time he was experienced enough he figured he'd be in his prime and the captain would be fading away. A little. Maybe. Hopefully.
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Dougal
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Post by Dougal on May 22, 2009 3:57:21 GMT -5
Katrina spun to avoid his attack, kicking out at Dougal's feet. He aborted his attack tog et out of the way, there was no point in putting himself in any danger, and then attempted to get in close enough to hit Katrina in the back. He missed, just, because Katrina decided to turn her spin into a role. Interesting. He knew that she would never have pulled a stunt like that in combat, so Katrina was obviously taking advantage of the conditions. The kiss yesterday had obviously been meant to given him a shock, but had turned nasty. It was a shame, because Katrina's tactic would probably have worked but for one event so many years ago.
Dougal's musings allowed Katrina time to get back on her feet and even show off a little. It was tempting to do the same, but the hilt of his falcata didn't allow such fancy moves and he wasn't sure he could pull it off and watch Katrina at the same time. Hopefully she would be too chivalrous to sneak an attack in on his blind side, but Dougal wasn't discounting that as a possibility. Katrina had so far shown herself to be someone who take opportunities when and where she found them. Of course, if he could trick her into thinking his vision was worse that it actually was, he might be able to get her to underestimate him. But how to do that and survive? A plan took shape in Dougal's mind and he smiled, a fraction of a second before Katrina smiled at him and began to banter with him.
“You didn’t really expect me to fall for that little trap, did you?”
Shrugging, Dougal kept his smile and replied in a joking tone,
"It was worth a try."
In order for his plan to come into effect, Dougal would have to let Katrina attack him, so he began to circle Katrina, keeping about two metres away. He knew that Katrina was probably waiting for him to attack, so he was simply going to circle until she could no longer stand it and attacked him. The two metres gave him just enough time to counter any attack Katrina made, no matter what aerobics she used. If Katrina was true to form she would attack and then get back out of the way when Dougal ignored her attack and launched one of his own. He could take much more punishment than Katrina and she would know that. Next, he would convert his movement into a slight turn so that his left eye, the one that was glued shut, was presented to Katrina. It would present her with an opportunity that Dougal would only stop at the last second, as though he could see less than he actually could. Risky, but it added some fun to the match.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 22, 2009 18:14:18 GMT -5
Katrina saw Dougal take a couple steps to circle her and figured out he wasn't going to attack. She wondered what his game was now, knowing he was trying to set her up for something. She didn't want to get maneuvered into an area of the deck where she couldn't move around much, so she only took one step to the right as he tried to circle around her, then she held her ground, still twirling her right sword, hoping it would distract him, or at least confuse him so he would not know where she was going to strike.
She debated for a moment on circling him until he decided to attack her or just going ahead and attacking him, as he obviously wanted her to do. Her curiosity won out and she decided to oblige him by attacking again. She stepped back towards him and her twirling sword went straight into a slice at his right side and then followed it up with a backhanded shot to the left side shoulder. She held her left sword down at her side, ready to block his counter attack. She decided to stay in close for the moment, hoping she could get out of the path of his falcate when she needed to, ready to do another tumble to the side or spin right on around behind him.
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Dougal
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Post by Dougal on May 22, 2009 18:43:33 GMT -5
Katrina tried to pysch Dougal out by twirling her right sword around, but he had seen showmanship before. The easiest way to work out where you were about to be attacked was to watch the person's eyes. Very few people he knew could attack another person while locking their gaze onto their opponent's, and even fewer could do what Katrina was doing at the same time. He could see her tossing up whether to try and wait him out or not, but then she attacked. It was a smart move, because Dougal could have quite happily walked around Katrina all day.
Now came the most dangerous part of Dougal's plan. He was going to ignore the sword coming at his right shoulder and press the attack. In preparation he'd put himself into what the Temujin instructor called, when translated from Temujai to 'forward stance'. One of Dougal's favourite moves when attacking someone who had training in unarmed combat was to pretend that he was going to perform a jumping front kick but to turn it into a lunge punch. His opponents generally prepared to block a kick and couldn't defend their throat or face as easily. In any case, it always put them on the back foot. He wasn't sure how well it would work on Katrina or if he could translate the move into sword play, but he was going to try it.
Dougal's right knee came up as he launched off his left leg, falcata and kukri raised above his head. He hoped that he had enough height so that, if Katrina didn't back out, her sword would hit his padded jack and not his arms. The jump would also, hopefully, put him inside the arc of the sword, reducing its effectiveness. Finally, the jump would provide Dougal with enough force to bash down Katrina's blocking sword onto her head. She'd block with the flat of her blade if she knew what she was doing, so she'd only suffer a mild bruise but, just in case, Dougal was prepared to pull out at the last second. However, he didn't expect that any of that would happen. Instead, he expected Katrina to try dodging him.
Either way, the jar when his right foot hit the deck was going to hurt like hell.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 22, 2009 19:24:14 GMT -5
Katrina watched Dougal raise both arms and then was surprised as he launched himself into the air. She realized he wasn't going to block her blow to the shoulder and just managed to pull it before the blade made contact with his ribs under his arm as he jumped into the air. The blade barely grazed his padded jack, causing little damage as far as she could tell. She wondered if he hadn't seen it because his eye was swollen mostly shut, or if he had just chosen to ignore it.
She had never faced this move before and wasn't sure what he was planning. He raised his knee as if he was going to kick her in the stomach, but his eyes were looking into her face. She thought he had something else in mind. Several options flitted through her mind in the blink of an eye. If she went with the obvious maneuver she could block his swords and risk him kicking her in the gut or groin. The result could prove disastrous. If he landed a kick to her stomach she had no doubt that he would knock the wind out of her and probably crack a rib or two in the process. She really didn't want to go into battle with cracked ribs. So number one was out.
She was already set up for a spin around him to the left from pulling her blow. She could spin around and hit him square in the back as he landed and then jump back a step, but that would put her back into that tight corner near those crates. She didn't really want to be there.
She could just do a standing hand spring straight backwards. That ought to surprise him, but she wasn't sure she could pull that off from her current position. She wasn't set up for that and it would be awkward. If she fell as she completed the spring, she would be vulnerable.
She could do a somersault and roll out of the way and spring up beside him on his left side with the swollen eye. This would seem to be her best option, but something was nagging at her that this would be a bad idea. Why? What could he be planning that moving to his left side would set her up for?
All of this flashed through her mind in a split second and she made her choice quickly. As she pulled her blade back away from his side, she tucked her arms in to her side and sprang up into the air too and arched her back. She stuck her right hand out as her feet went up over her head and did a momentary handstand on her sword hilt and then finished the back spring and landed on her feet, barely keeping a hold of the sword in her right hand.
She raised the left sword into a defensive position in front of her as she recovered from the handstand. She was now a good four or five feet in front of Dougal, but had put herself up fairly close to the railing in the process. Not where she wanted to be. She had to move forward quickly or Dougal could trap her against the railing and rain down blows on her until she passed out or yielded.
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Dougal
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Post by Dougal on May 22, 2009 19:50:38 GMT -5
Katrina aborted her attack, grazing his padded jack slightly, and performed a backflip, but not just an ordinary backflip. She pushed off the ground as she was upside down and pushed off, sending her back about five feet. It was so unexpected that Dougal forgot to brace himself for the pain that was about to hit him.
Thud.
Dougal's right foot hit the deck and he felt pain shoot up his body. Muscles protested against the abrupt stop and his cracked rib screamed in pain. It would have been worth it if Katrina had only stayed where she was. Letting out a grunt, Dougal didn't bother straightening up. Katrina was close to the railing and he wanted to push her up against it. She still hadn't fully recovered from her acrobatics, so he wanted to push what advantage he had. And what a small advantage it was. His vision had blurred slightly on impact but he still knew where Katrina was and, although it hurt move his arms, he did so once more, although this time he kept the kukri back in defence.
Launching off the deck once more, Dougal tried to close the gap between himself and Katrina as quickly as he possibly could. He could knew that he could only keep this level of fighting up for so long before he had to slow down a bit to reduce the pain to more manageable levels. Of course, Katrina was probably going to pull another stunt and escape him, but this time Dougal was prepared for it. He launched a side cut at Katrina's left side with enough force and speed that, even if Katrina did roll of to one side, Dougal could use the momentum to aid him in spinning and taking a step forward to attack. He could even change the angle the sword took if Katrina stayed low in the hopes that his sword would go straight over the top of her. If she didn't roll or flip or whatever, well, Katrina was about to find herself in dire straights.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 22, 2009 23:36:17 GMT -5
Dougal charged at Katrina faster than she thought he could move, cutting her off in an attempt to pin her to the railing. She was amazed that he was moving like that when his eyes were hazy with pain. She thought briefly about yielding so he wouldn't end up hurting so bad, but then realized that he probably wouldn't appreciate it. Neither would he like it if she deliberately let him win, she was fairly certain. 'Well, he is a big boy, if he couldn't take it, he wouldn't have agreed to spar today.' She thought and then charged back at him, trying to close the distance and get inside the force of his swing as well as further away from the railing.
She tried to block his side cut, but wasn't prepared for the force behind it. His sword drove hers backwards and into her own side. She grunted in pain, but the flat of her blade was between his sword and her armor so it didn't cut her. She hadn't moved fast enough and felt the full brunt of his attack. 'That is going to leave a mark,' she thought as the pain radiated out from her side.
Now she was in trouble. He was going to try to push her backwards into the railing unless she could figure out a way to get past him. She figured she really had only one chance, but didn't think it was a very good one. She got right in his face and then tried to throw a wrap shot to his back with her right sword, her left sword was still pinned to her side by his sword. She stepped slightly to the right as she threw the shot, intending to spin around him on that side and get back out into the open. This should also help to get her left sword free as she moved away from him there. She threw everything she had into he blow, hoping to slow him down a bit so she could get past him.
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Dougal
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Post by Dougal on May 23, 2009 5:51:45 GMT -5
If Katrina was surprised by Dougal's speed then he as doubly so. His brain must still be a little bit fuzzy, because he'd misjudged just how much speed he was capable of putting on, not that that was a bad thing. He liked being able to surprise himself. Katrina attempted to block his side cut, but he proved too strong for her. Noting that she'd reflexively blocked with the flat of her sword, Dougal didn't pull this attack and smiled with a grim satisfaction as he hit her with all his strength. And yet she still kept on going. True, the armour had probably absorbed a lot of the energy, but Katrina launched a counter attack, one that might even work. However, in order to do so, she was forced to come right up close to Dougal, almost literally into his face. He normally would have put her into a bear hug, but she was wearing armour, so that wouldn't work. Instead, Dougal head butted Katrina, aiming for the top of the forehead so he didn't actually hurt her.
When his head contacted Katrina's Dougal knew that he had made a bad decision. The world started to spin and his vision clouded up completely. Henry must really have given him a few good belts for him to feel this way. Staggering backwards, Dougal knew that his normal contingency plan - which involved waving his sword around until he hit something or his regained full control of his senses - was very dangerous and would do nothing to enhance his already tarnished reputation. Instead, Dougal dropped to one knee and yelled out
"Hold!"
When no blow came, Dougal decided that Katrina had respect the rules of sparring and had stayed her blade. Shaking his head to try and clear his head, Dougal felt even more dizzy. Looking over at when he though Katrina was, Dougal grinned lopsidedly and laughed ironically.
"I'm guessing that I took more of a beating yesterday than I first thought. Damn, but I thought I had you. Ah well, shows you what happens when you try fancy stuff."
Flopping back down on the deck, Dougal groaned and started laughing as endorphins rushed through his system, triggered by the pain he had experienced and the recent, and caused him to laugh about his sore muscles.
Wow, he was really out of it.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 23, 2009 8:50:05 GMT -5
Dougal's head butt came as a bit of surprise, not so much that he had thrown it, because she was half expecting that, but because she forgot she wasn't wearing her helmet like she normally did. She ignored the head butt and too late realized that she should have dodged it.
Her forehead exploded and her vision went black. She thought she might pass out. Since she was already moving to the right from his blow to her side, she staggered sideways several steps until she ran into a pile of crates, her own attack rendered useless.
She faintly heard Dougal call "hold!" and squinted at him, trying to make her bleary vision clear. She saw him down on one knee and for a moment couldn't think what had happened. Then she realized his head butt had inflicted as much damage on him and she started laughing. She couldn't help it; he had almost knocked himself out in the process of trying to knock her out.
"I'm guessing that I took more of a beating yesterday than I first thought. Damn, but I thought I had you. Ah well, shows you what happens when you try fancy stuff."
Katrina winced as she laughed, the pain in her side a sign her ribs were protesting the movement. "You would have had me if you had been able to press on with another attack. Damn! You have a hard head!" She grinned at him, her head throbbing. When she moved things seemed to swirl around her at an odd angle. Suddenly she felt an arm slide around her waist and a hand remove her left sword from her hand which she immediately pressed to her left side, testing the damage. Henry was already pushing her hand away so he could take a look while Katrina couldn't hold back the chuckles as Henry eased her down to sit on one of the crates and then knelt beside her, probing her side.
"So, who won?" She asked Dougal. "I think that could be considered a draw." She knew that she would not have withstood another blow from him after that head butt and would have yielded. It was only because he was already in a bad state to start with that she had gotten that far. "Actually, I think you would have definitely won if you were not already in pain, so it should go to you." She changed her mind.
Henry looked up at her, "Don't say that, Sir, I have a silver riding on you." He grinned and then shot an apologetic look at Dougal, "I thought for sure you were going to be moving slow enough that Katrina would beat you today." He turned back to trying to determine if a rib was broken but the armor was making that difficult. He poked Katrina hard on each rib to see what her reaction would be.
"OW! Henry, careful!" Katrina abruptly stopped chuckling as Henry probed a tender spot. "I am ok. Stop prodding me." She gently pushed his hand away.
"You might have a cracked a rib." He tried to start probing again, but she grabbed hold of his hand. "I should check it." He insisted.
"Later. I don't think it is cracked anyway, just a bit bruised." She looked back to Dougal. "Why don't you get some of those bruise pouches out of my pack? Give a couple of them to Dougal. He can decide which two bruises he wants to put them on." Katrina grinned wickedly at the Captain. "You soak them in hot water and then lay them on your bruise for a while. The herbs in them draw out the bruising and reduce the swelling so you heal up faster." She explained to Dougal. "Helps take the pain out too. I would suggest one for your eye."
Henry had brought up Kat's medicinal pack on deck and went over and grabbed it and came back and held out two of the bruise packs to Katrina and then held out his hand to help Dougal up. "You ready to get on your feet yet?" he asked, surprised a bit that he was actually concerned for Dougal's health.
"If you sit down over here, I can probably bind up those ribs which will make them a bit more comfortable." Henry knew Dougal had at least one cracked rib; he had felt the rib give way beneath his fist yesterday. The least he could do was to patch Dougal up, especially since Katrina would not let him assess her damage until later.
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Post by ivory on May 23, 2009 18:56:43 GMT -5
Adrian couldn't help his jaw from dropping to the deck as Dougal yelled for the fight to be momentarily held. At least he hoped it was momentarily and not just for the silver he'd betted on him either - though that was part of it. For most of his childhood he'd heard of Dougal's invicibility. He'd taken on a thousand Wargals by himself and had shot an arrow all the way to Heaven. He couldn't have lost, but his next words confirmed it.
"I'm guessing that I took more of a beating yesterday than I first thought. Damn, but I thought I had you. Ah well, shows you what happens when you try fancy stuff."
Even Katrina's answering words didn't make him grin through the shock he was feeling. He just sat there, mouth open and eyes wide. Until the word 'draw' reached his ears and he perked up. Seriously? She was really going to offer a draw?
"Actually, I think you would have definitely won if you were not already in pain, so it should go to you." His eyes narrowed at that. That little-
His thought was cut off by Henry's words, "Don't say that, Sir, I have a silver riding on you. I thought for sure you were going to be moving slow enough that Katrina would beat you today."
Hearing that his anger mounted and he started to rise, but stopped himself when Katrina protested at his prodding of her side. So he sat, foot tapping, hand gripping the sword at his waste and waited for Henry to finish playing doctor.
The jerk had known all along that Dougal was hurt and had taken his bet anyways. So much for being honorable about it, he thought gruffily. And with his next thought his irritation increased tenfold. And too bad I'd been raised not to take it back.
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Dougal
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Post by Dougal on May 24, 2009 2:50:21 GMT -5
"You would have had me if you had been able to press on with another attack. Damn! You have a hard head!"
Dougal laughed at Katrina and then winced as his cracked rib caused him pain.
"If only I had ribs that hard."
He laughed some more and then, as his vision began to get back to normal, Dougal looked around. Greer was trying not to laugh at his commanding officer, Henry was helping Katrina and Adrian looked stunned. Dougal had seen that look many times before when a sergeant was beaten in combat in front of newly trained soldiers or when a knight of high renown was defeated in front of adoring fans. So, Adrian hero worshipped him a little? Maybe it would be a good idea to go and comfort his broken heart a little. Okay, who was Dougal kidding. He liked the fact that at least one person on the ship looked up to him and wanted to give something back to Adrian. Ah well, it wouldn't be too hard. Just show a few scars, tell a few stories about the old days and tell him that it didn't matter if an old man got beaten or not. But that would have to wait as Katrina was talking again.
"So,who won?I think that could be considered a draw.Actually, I think you would have definitely won if you were not already in pain, so it should go to you."
Henry interjected before Dougal could reply and told Katrina about the bet. This gave Dougal reason to smile once more as Henry apologised. He was more than used to being bet on or, in a few rare cases, against so Henry's decision had some firm foundations. Besides, he'd actually used a bit of logic to determine who would be the likely winner of the fight instead of just betting on Katrina to be loyal to her.
"I'd have probably bet the same way myself. Let's call it a tie, because Katrina normal wears a helmet, which would have meant that I would be out cold on the ground right now."
Katrina offered Dougal a couple of bruise pouches and Dougal accepted the offer gratefully. He'd be much better off if he could actually see in both his eyes, especially if he had to use his bow during his fight against the Aslavians.
"Thanks."
To Dougal's surprise, Henry actually helped him up. Just as Dougal was about to thank him, Henry offered to bind up Dougal's rib. Just getting up had caused Dougal pain, so he decided to let Henry work on him. Besides, if he refused this friendly gesture, who knew what Henry would think.
"Right, thanks."
Walking slightly unsteadily over to the box, Dougal gingerly removed his padded jack, waving Henry away when he tried to help. Although it would be less painful to have Henry help him, Dougal had never really gotten used to the idea of having someone help him put on and take off armour and it just didn't sit quite right with him. Perhaps it was because he'd had to make his own way in life, or maybe it was just that he had never been a knight. Presumably they became so used to firstly putting other knight's armour on and, later, having a squire put armour on them.
After he had removed his padded jack, Dougal pulled off his under shirt, wincing as he did so. His head had begun to throb and the sun was just in the right position to make things worse. Shuffling around a bit, Dougal got more comfortable and then looked down at his chest. Areas were mottled purple and blue from where Henry had hit him and you could barely see the scars. In other areas, scars formed a rough, disturbing patchwork. All up, Dougal knew, there were twelve circular scars from the red hot pokers of Rhianwen's friends, a diagonal cut across his left ribs from a Wargal's short sword, a narrow scar from a bandit who had knife in Dougal's stomach and many, many more cuts and marks. How had he ever received them all and lived? Still, twenty two years in the army was enough time to accumulate a large variety of scars. What was it with his introspective mood today anyway? He must still be emotional from yesterday. Well, the headache should take care of that.
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Post by ivory on May 24, 2009 9:07:04 GMT -5
Adrian's mouth dropped in horror as he saw the welts and scars on Dougal's torso. He should be dead by now, he thought in his shock. And then his shock turned into idolized awe. Wait until he told William about this. He'd tell him all about how Dougal almost died and then came back from the dead all because of sheer will power. Man oh man. Was William going to be jealous as hell, probably try to fight him. Scratch that, probably try to get his sister to hit him for him since he knew Adrian liked her and couldn't hit an unarmed woman anyways, especially if she was a Lady. Regardless that she was shrewd and hit like a man.
He grinned like an idiot at the thought of her, his anger at Henry forgotten.
She had lips like blood he remembered and hair the color of bright straw and limbs as long as...well, long limbs. She walked like an angel and danced like a demon when it suited her, but other times danced like an angel too.
He grinned at the beginnings of another poem. He hadn't written her one in a while so he figured he should just because.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 24, 2009 11:17:34 GMT -5
Katrina noticed one of the Skandians from the galley bringing a bowl of something steaming over to them. Apparently someone had overheard her explanation of the bruise bags and had ordered some hot water for them. The Skandian set the bowl down on the crate next to her and shot a knowing grin at her. Katrina dumped her pouches of herbs into the water and let them steep for a bit. She sniffed in the pleasant smell in the steam and it seemed to calm her.
"I'd have probably bet the same way myself. Let's call it a tie, because Katrina normally wears a helmet, which would have meant that I would be out cold on the ground right now."
Katrina laughed and then groaned as her side protested, "I doubt you would have tried a head butt if I'd had my helmet on. But this debate could go on for hours, so lets just call it a draw. We shall have to settle it before we dock, though." She grinned at him. "It would never do to leave this contest hanging over our heads when we go into battle." She teased. "But I think I am going to take tomorrow off. It is not often I get a vacation." She leaned back and placed one bruise pack on her vividly purple and black cheekbone and the other on her forehead where a bruise from his head butt was just forming. If her mother could only see her now… she thought with amusement. "I believe I shall be a slug tomorrow and do nothing but lie around in the sun…" her voice trailed off.
Katrina then remembered that she had promised Adrian a sparring match and she groaned at the thought. Her head was killing her and her side wasn't any too happy. She thought of Dougal and wondered why he had even agreed to spar this morning. He must be agony. Must be that silly male ego. Men certainly were slaves to it, she thought.
She glanced over as Dougal removed his armor and saw his bruises and scars and closed her eyes quickly, pretending she hadn't seen anything. He had a lot of scars and then she thought about her own scars. Would she look like that in 20 years? She was well on her way already. Oh well, such was the life of a warrior.
She glanced back over and watched Henry bind Dougal's ribs, wondering how he could be helping Dougal when she knew he was still harboring some resentment over Dougal hitting her yesterday. He must be doing it because he knew she would be happier if he and Dougal could get along with each other. She looked back and forth between them and tried to figure out why she was more attracted to the man who was nearly twice her age, plain looking and covered with scars rather than the younger, very handsome man with the big heart who was in love with her. She closed her eyes again thinking she must be a right royal fool.
Suddenly she felt like fighting again and there was Adrian tapping his foot as if he was pissed about something. She pulled the bruise bags off and dropped them back into the water and turned to Adrian, "So, do you still want to do some sparring?"
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