Young Writers Society

Adrian hadn't gone to sleep, even the inviting warmness of a proper bed wasn't enough, his joints ached and the armour was burning his shoulders. He saw a bathroom out the corner of his eye available, but it was a no for now. Adrian also considered throwing his armour off, but chose not too. Instead he decided the thing he needed most was to return his form before he was captured. He climbed off the bed and began with some press ups.

He lay down and began, his joints screamed in agony, but he needed to get back into shape. At three his eyes were streaming, but he needed to do this.

When he got to ten he was gasping in pain, and unstrapped his breast plate off, feeling such a weight go when he did. His joints still hurt, but no as bad. His breath became laboured when he arrived at twenty.

Adrian decided a bath maybe wasn't such a bad idea, and then he'd join the others.

Becky felt like she had just gone to sleep when she heard a loud knock.

For a second, she didn't know where she was. She stared around at the cozy room, complete with curtains and a rickety bed. The tavern. Right. But who was knocking?

Ria entered, looking stern. "Good morning, Stillman. Your training begins today."

Becky pulled the blankets up, blinking at her. "Wha?"

"Put these on." Ria handed her a skirt and blouse.

"They ain't mine."

Becky was sure she saw Ria wince at her grammar. "They're Finn's. I'll meet you at the stables in ten minutes." Ria left, as suddenly as she had come. Becky caught a glimpse of Kira outside the door. The little gryphon turned away when she met Becky's eyes, and the door closed.

Becky was left, feeling slightly stunned. She looked at the clothes. Finn's. Explains the print.

Valin was waiting for her outside the door.

"I was going to the stables anyway. A horse has an injured ankle, and I need to check on it."

"I en't a spy, Pri-" Becky looked at the other people in the hallway. "Sir," she said, knowing he wouldn't like it.

Valin didn't answer, but walked her all the way to the stable. Ria was waiting, with a pile of equipment. She handed Becky a sword-- Becky took it in her left hand, rather than try to hold it with the lump of bandages that was her right. It felt clumsy, and unfamiliar, unlike her father's had.

"I thought I'd start by assessing what you knew already. When Alden wrote to me, he was unclear. Have you had any formal training?"

"I..." Becky was caught off guard. "Maybe?"

Ria changed the subject. "You're right handed, correct? For now, see if you can transfer what you know to your left. A lot of sword-fighting is reflex, but it's also got a lot to do with memorization. Now, show me what you know."

Ria advanced. Becky parried her first few blows easily, but after that, as Ria adjusted, it became harder. Ria was beginning to annoy her, with her brisk confidence and no-nonsense attitude. Alden at least stopped to explain things. Yet again, Ria sidestepped Becky's clumsy thrust. She caught a glimpse of Ria's face, cool and collected, and felt herself anger. Faster this time, she attacked; the clash of metal was deafening as Ria parried blow after blow. The world seemed to be reddening, Becky lunged forward, slashing as fast as she could, but it wasn't enough. She needed to kill Ria; needed to watch her die and-

"Stillman! Enough." Becky ignored Ria's voice.

"Becky!"

Becky felt a jolt in her arm, and her sword clattered to the ground. She looked around wildly, confused and out of breath. Valin had his own sword out and was standing near her. A small group of people had gathered in the stables, and were watching. Valin looked from Ria to Becky.

"Don't let that happen again."

"Get your sword Becky," Ria said quietly. Becky backed up slowly, looking at Ria. Ria's sharp blue eyes never left Becky as she bent down to pick up her sword.

"Do you know why you lost?" Ria asked.

"I was winning," Becky said.

"You thought you were winning. What else?"

"I don't understand."

"Did you even see Valin?"

"Not until he grabbed me."

"You had tunnel vision. Instead of tunnel vision, you need situational awareness. If you are only concentrating on one person, but eight are attacking you, then the other seven will kill you."

"I'm sorry. I should have listened earlier."

"Listen in the future and I will forgive you. We have much still to do."

The woman was caught completely unaware. she didn't even have time to tighten her muscles before the dagger slipped between her ribs and punctured a lung. When she opened her mouth, possibly to scream or to call her guards, Dreffan twisted the knife savagely, taking her breath away as he clamped his other hand over her mouth. He could feel her mouth moving beneath his fingers, soundlessly mouthing words that would not come.

"Die, knowing that your forces are going to be decimated, that your fall was brought about by your own arrogance. Die, knowing that your death is part of something greater."

Harris' eyes widened as she shook her head in denial. Dreffan grinned. "Sleep, now," he said.

The spark left her eyes, and Dreffan silently eased her to the ground.

He looked to the door. The guard would be changing momentarily. Until then, he would wait.

Becky couldn't concentrate for the rest of her lesson with Ria.

Surely, she was going crazy. But now, she felt tired, but perfectly normal! Calm, even. Why had she gotten so angry, when Ria was only trying to help? And how was she able to fight left handed when she could barely write? Even stranger, why couldn't she now? Becky kept dropping the shield she was practicing with. Her fingers were clumsy again.

She could feel Valin's eyes on her, but refused to meet them, ashamed. He shouldn't have had to stop her. Fighting is about more than blindly attacking, Alden had said. It is about control.

"We're done for now," Ria said, taking the shield from Becky. "We'll practice again later. In the meantime, you can help focus on restoring your strength."

It took Becky a moment to realize Ria was talking to her. She had been listening to shouts from the town. Probably a theft. "Thank you," Becky mumbled.

"Shh!" Valin said, sharply.

"What?" asked Ria.

Suddenly, a group of ten or so crazed looking guards entered the stable, from the side door. They wore the dark blue uniform of Harris's soldiers.

"You're under arrest in connection to Harris's death!"

Finn and Adrian tumbled through the other door to the stables, followed by Sirloaz who had his sword drawn.

"Wha's 'appen'd? I 'eard shoutin'! Oh." Finn caught sight of the guards. They charged then, screaming threats and obscenities. Becky barely had time to comprehend what was happening before two of the men were upon her. She looked at her hip, but didn't have a weapon.

"Becky!" Adrian yelled. He threw one of the swords Ria had brought at her. It landed in the straw at her feet; she scrambled to pick it up then rolled out of the way as one of the guards stabbed at her. She looked at the two, trying to keep her cool. Situational awareness.

They was madness in their eyes. She could use that.

Becky aimed a thrust. It was parried, and she tried again, this time missing altogether. Her aim was off, and her entire body felt uncoordinated. Becky knocked aside one of the guard's swords, only to stumble over his foot. She almost fell, losing her grip on the sword handle. The guard advanced, sunlight glinting off his blade.

A blonde man jumped in front of her and smashed his fist into the other guard's cheek, giving Becky enough time to regain her stance. There was now only one guard attacking her.

I'm going to kill him, Becky thought, feeling the rage brew in her chest. It was uncontrollable, like a monster. Becky's vision blurred, and she charged.

"You're under arrest in connection with the death of General Harris!" the head guard had screamed as he and nine others charged towards the group.

Valin smiled broadly, and drew his swords.
"Finally. Its about time I drew steel against you lot," Valin said, already moving towards the attack. Becky was unarmed, of course, after he little escapade, but Adrian tossed her a sword which she quickly grabbed, and charged at the nearest guard.

3 guards began encircling Valin. The biggest one of them spoke in what he thought was a menacing tone.
"Oi, lookie 'ere, lads, we got us one o' 'em queerie pointy ears, wot" before lunging clumsily towards Valin. Valin easily darted out of the way, parrying the thrust with one sword, and slashing across his gut with the other, blood pouring out, ending his life. Not wasting any time, Valin moved to the second guard, both blades coming down around his neck, severing it from its body in one quick stroke. The third was dispatched in just as quick a time, after which Valin moved into the fray to help the others.

It was mistake for Adrian to fight so early after the year of wasting away in prison. He knew this somewhere, but right now he saw only revenge. These people had almost ruined his life.

He clashed steel with a rugged individual screaming in rage, the soldier smiled cockily, "Give up Paladin!"

Adrian screamed madly and stabbed the man in the gut, pushing his blade right through the other end.

The guy gasped, "But you're a man of god!"

The man fell, Adrian blade slid out, he gasped in shock at what he had done. Adrian had promised never to let his rage take over, his sword fell with a loud clatter, the memory came back thick and fast of the carnage of war. Adrian gasped and felt a hand push him over, he rolled over to see another soldier just about to stab him.

(OOC) Okay whoever does next fight post, don't kill off Adrian, I've a plan(OOC)

It was all so fresh in his mind. He couldn't believe that General Harris was dead. He had been ordered to take his post outside the Harris' office when the bell had tolled. He had followed his orders like he had always done and gone straight there, meeting the guard he was replacing on the way. "Anything new happening today?" He had asked.

"Nothiing much, really." The guard, Coln had said. "But there is a man from the Blood plains meeting with her."

They had shared a few jokes and then gone their seperate ways.

Sighard shook his head. Maybe if he had gotten there sooner... No. He couldn't blame himself. That would only make things worse.

He knocked on the door when he arrived to tell the General that he was the replacement guard, but no voice had answered. No sound had emerged from the room. He had waited paitiently for the General to answer, but when he could stand to wait no longer, he had burst into the room to find her lying motionless on the floor. Sighard remembered how shocked he had been, how he had met the body with disbelief.

General Harris was dead.

He had stood there. Frozen. He couldn't believe what his eyes were telling him. Then he had turned and run back to the Generals rooms. All the officers were gathered there and he had ran in and blurted out, "the Generals been murdered! She's dead!"

The Officers had acted immediately. They had sent out squads of ten men to apprehend the murderers. They believed that it was the prisoners. Sighard had volunteered to lead the search, but he had been denied the request.

Now he was heading towards a tavern to drown himself in ale. It was all his fault. The treacherous thought slipped through his mind before he had chance to stop it.

The clang of steel on steel reached his ears and he turned to see a group of soldiers fighting.

Zel kicked the sword out of one of the guard's hands. The guard threw a punch, only to have it blocked. Zel snapped his arm and delivered a devastating open-palmed strike to the guard's face. The man fell to the ground, unconscious.

Zel backed into the elf. The elf asked, "What are you doing here?"

Zel smiled, but didn't take his eyes off his enemies. "I was sleepin till you guys woke me up."

"In the stables?" the elf asked.

"Got wasted last night, thought it was my room."

"We can do introductions later, right now we must fight."

"Sounds good to me." Zel said as he took a swig of the small wine gourd tied to his waist.

The next thing Becky remembered seeing was the guard's body in pieces at her feet. So she had killed him. Good.

Becky turned around, just in time to see another guard, unnoticed, attack Adrian, who was staring at a body on the ground. She jumped in front of him, piercing him with her sword before he had time to notice her. If she hadn't had the element of surprise, that never would have worked, Becky knew. These men were strong.

The guard fell, and Becky jerked the sword from his chest. The group had finished fighting. There were no more guards. Somehow, Valin had managed to stay perfectly clean. He and Ria had each fought off two of the guards.

"I-- I stabbed him," Adrian said.

"That was me," Becky said, confused. "You was about to get killed, but I-"

"In cold blood. I stabbed a man in cold blood!" He wasn't talking to her, Becky realized. She looked at the body in front of him.

"Yeah," she said.

"Oh, God..." Adrian sounded terrified. He let his sword fall from his hand, seeing the design on the gilded handle. A religions symbol. She'd forgotten he was a paladin.

"We've got to get moving," Valin ordered. "Backup will be here soon. If Harris really is dead, we need to leave the city."

"Why'd they go after you?"

The strange, blonde man who had helped her in the fight had spoken. All eyes turned to him. He stood unsteadily, and from the straw all over him, it appeared he'd been lying on the ground. Why had he helped her?

"He'd better come with us," Sirloaz said. He wiped the blood off his dagger and sheathed it. "Can't leave him here, now. He'd be killed."

Zel interjected, "You guys fight pretty good. Maybe we can help each other out, eh? What's say you guys let me travel with ya?"

The elf picked up one of the bodies. "I'll admit you can hold your own in battle, but now is not the time to be talking about this."

"Ah, right. Le me give ya a hand." Zel picked up another body to help move them. "By the way, you can call me Zel."

Dreffan feinted to the right, as if he were going for the sword in the man's hand, then spun the spear in his hands, curling the blade around to pierce the guard's chest. With a sharp gasp of pain and surprise, he fell to his knees.

Without pausing to let the man die, Dreffan retracted the spear, the elegantly curved blade sliding from between two of the man's ribs.

Dreffan turned to find his Bloodguard, who were standing as his flanks. Both were standing at attention, their five and a half foot long blades in front of them. Dreffan looked down to their feet, and shook his head with a smile. Their efficiency was amazing. Three corpses lay at the feet of the first Bloodguard, five at the second.

Off to his left, Dreffan saw a group of people exit the stables. Among them were the three prisoners he had released, Miss Chant, and Valin Norovir.

"Get to the gate. Defend it with your lives. They must escape this town."

Without so much as a nod, the two soldiers took off at a dead run for the gate, swords held low at their sides. Dreffan knew they could (and indefinitely!) hold that gate until the group reached it. Until then, Dreffan would keep them safe.

He strode toward the group at a brisk pace, the head of his spear pointed toward the ground in a posture of readiness but non-aggression.

With the guards dead, Ria now ran for her wagon. They would need to leave the town before more guards showed up, and not many of them seemed to have horses. Ria found her wagon as she left it, hitched and ready. She got on and raced the wagon towards the others, who had now assembled their own horses.

Those without horses climbed onto the wagon. Ria wasted no time, but whipped the horses. They galloped to the gate.

It had been a while since Finn was involved in a true fight. Sure, there had been brawls, both major and minor, in the tavern, but they rarely involved cold steel--or death. Finn was no wuss, but death--or proximity to death--really was cemented in her mind as "something to be avoided." Fists she could deal with. Swords were a little daunting after so little practice. Thank the gods she kept her daggers on her at all times (more out of fear of thieves who occasionally sacked the servants' quarters than any trouble).

She didn't think she'd killed anyone, but there was still plenty of blood on her blades in the end, and a nasty gash down the back of her forearm that stung like hell. Wincing, she tore off a strip from the bottom of her apron and wrapped it around, tying it securely; she'd deal with it better later. For now, it looked like the party was on its way out.

"Finn!" Valin shouted, leading a horse towards her. Finn eyed the beast, a rather pissy mare, but took the reins.

"Lis'en to me, missy," she said, yanking on the bridle a bit to get the horse's attention. "Ye's goin' to behave yerself, or ye's goin' to regret it. Ken?" The horse snorted--enough of an affirmative for Finn at the moment--and she clumsily mounted the horse. Her skirts bunched and rode up to a little above her knee, exposing her bare legs to the sun and air (and common view, but she hardly cared).

"Let's go!" Valin called a moment later. Finn squeezed her bare calves hard against the mare's sides and yelped as the mare bucket a little and shot ahead of Valin and out of the stables, only to pull up short in front of a familiar-looking man with a long spear.

"Oi! Watch ye'self!" she scowled, trying to simultaneously stop the pounding of her heart and regain control of her mare.

The man ignored her and looked to Valin. "My men are holding the gates for us," he said.

"Us? Who are you?" Valin demanded.

"He's the bloke that got us out of that prison," Becky called over. Sirloaz seconded that assessment, and after a moment, the elf nodded.

"All right. Get up with Finn there, and help her get control of that damn horse!"

She gaped at him momentarily, then twitched as, grinning, the handsome man leapt up behind her, his hands on her waist and his body far too close to hers for comfort. She squirmed a little, and the mare sidestepped.

"Might want to be careful about how you move up here," he said, very close to her ear.

She scowled again. "Watch where ye put them hands." Petulantly, she kneed the horse into action and rode out past the gate and the two bizarre-looking men guarding it, following Valin's lead.

Zel sat in the wagon along with everyone else who didn't have a horse. He took a big gulp from his gourd and eyed the griffin sitting next to him. "What?" the griffin asked.

"Man, must be loaded more than I thought. Could'a sworn a dragon with feathers just talked ta me."

Ria looked over her shoulder and said, "That's no dragon, she's a griffin."

"Ah," he said before taking another drink. "My mistake."

Valin rode up behind the wagon. "Now that the guards aren't troubling us anymore maybe you can tell us why you're here?"

Zel gave him a questioning look. "Haven't you heard of me before? People in these parts call me Iron Boxer Zel. I'm the best drunken boxer around!"

"No I haven't, and that doesn't answer my question."

"Oh, what was the question?"

Valin sighed as he repeated himself. "Why are you here?"

"Cause I got no place to go. Thought I could stick around with you guys, might be fun."

Valin frowned. "What we're doing is not fun. Give us a good reason why we shouldn't throw you out of that wagon and maybe we'll let you come with us."

Zel sat back in his spot. "Man, what a buzz kill..." Zel eyed the elf and said, "Over heard you guys saying you're looking for someone or something. Maybe I can help ya find what it is yer lookin' for. My old master's been traveling around these lands for a long time, knows a lot for an old kook like him. Maybe he can point you in the right direction." Zel pointed a drunk finger at him. "Don't think of leavin' me behind to find him yerself. I'm the only one who knows where he is. Whata ya say, elf boy?"