Fresh Challenges

by **Razkar** on February 11th, 2014, 12:48 am

75th Day of Spring, 511AV
The Training Yards
14th Bell

A familiar beat rang out from the Training Yards, echoing off the stone in an to an irregular staccato rhythm. Yells and sharp cries punctuated it; lulls and flurries of sound were an audible chronicle of the saga enacted. For centuries the Yards had played host to such songs. Now Razkar and his fang were donating their small contribution.

"G... Goddess..."

Mavix hawked and spat a scarlet glob into the sand, the thick spittle mixing with the rich red dirt immediately. The young male pushed himself upright and tossed his club from hand to hand, wincing as his bruised wrist bit as his nerves... then dulled.

"Waiting for something?!"

A grimace of pain twisted into a hard scowl as he turned back to Razkar, still dueling with Alemi. The lithe female and her wooden scimitar had avoided more damage than he, but now she was the sole focus of the veteran warrior's attention and his pair of wooden gladii. He drove her back with a horizontal swing from his right, following it with a stab from his left, her own weapon swinging down to knock it away-

-but his right was already hacking diagonally towards her, forcing her to flick her curved blade upward to stop it-

-and she darted forward, aiming to barrel her shoulder into his chest and knock him off guard-

"Good!"

-only for the male to slide away to his right, turning as he went-

-right gladius striking out hard, landing a stinging blow on her side just above her kidney.

"Bastard!"

But as one tottered away, clutching her side and gritting her teeth, her partner charged into the fray, three-foot-long growling through the humid air towards Razkar, forcing him back.

Don't bother trying to parry. The sheer force of it hitting your blade will ruin your balance. Keep him swinging, keep him guessing... but not for too long.

His thoughts were quick, urgent, but in his heart the clansmen of the Shorn Skulls was overjoyed. For a whole season Erama had been mercilessly drilling him in the Two-Handed dance. Cruel had been her lessons, but fruitful. Now he could hold his own with her, though her stamina eventually carried the day for her (and had it end with lumps and bruises for him, not to mention an eye swollen like a rotten melon the week before). But that day, she was on patrol, and Razkar had felt restless... but whom could challenge him if not her? All others were skilled, but in singular weapons... unless...

All other by themselves, perhaps.

"Careful with your swings!" He barked as he ducked under another whooshing haymaker from the male, spying Alemi recovering herself beyond him. "They'll throw you off, and-"

He punctuated the point by smacking his left into the male's right knee, making him yelp and stagger as he raised his club again-

-right gladius hacking upward vertically, catching Mavix under the armpit, loosening his grip-

-but Mavix hadn't just graduated training; he'd survived patrols and skirmishes in the jungle and was not so quick to lose an advantage, smacking his elbow down to his side and capturing Razkar's blade-

-grinning like a tiger as he locked eyes with-

Don't dwell on it, boy.

-Razkar's forehead as it flew towards him, smashing into his nose and blowing apart his clear vision into a plethora of stinging sparks and stars, sending him reeling back, hands coming up of their own accord to his ruined face-

-right before Razkar lunged and stabbed him under the breastbone with the blunt edge of his gladius... which wasn't saying much. Mavix's eyes popped open in agony as every mouthful of air in his lungs were blasted from his lips, pain striking his legs and sending him back again-

-until Alemi stopped his progress, arms at his shoulders.

"Don't smile." Razkar barked at his comrades/students, swinging his blades around in his hands, pacing back and forth as they breathed the pain from their bodies. "Don't enjoy the fucking moment, like this is some saga. Don't waste time; don't squander any opening you get. Kill your enemy fast and surely, that is all that matters. Trust me... there are always more."

Silence, broken by panting and the soft hiss of sandaled feet on red sand. His younger fang-mates absorbed his lesson... but he could see the feral anger in their eyes; the lust for revenge against the pain he'd wreaked upon them.

"Come to the Yards, he said," Mavix groaned, snapping his nose back into place with a muttered, blasphemous oath, "Always good to train, he said!"

"Well, it is." Alemi said with a fatalistic shrug, rolling her wounded shoulder and flourishing her scimitar as her voice lowered. "For him. You break left. I'll take his right."

"Why like that?"

"Because his right's stronger and you're more battered than me."

Mavix opened his mouth to argue, and that simple, painful gesture told him to shut it again. Instead he just grunted, gripping his club in two hands and smugly deciding to follow his older comrade's advice.

Now more big, wild swings. He can exploit those. Only swing when you know you can hit.

Razkar did the same: he didn't smile. Not with his lips, anyway. But his black eyes shone like twin eclipses in his sunken eyes, and he swung both gladii in his hands, wooden weapons whistling through the air in unision-

-ending with his left held forward, on guard and perpendicular-

-his right cocked back and high to counter-attack.

"Again. Both of you. Your enemy has two weapons, and you only one? The solution is simple: pick up another weapon, or grab a friend to help."

As one his partners darted to his sides, splitting wide, impossible for him to follow in the same gaze. Razkar felt his heart start to pound as the instruments began their song again.

by **Razkar** on February 13th, 2014, 4:52 am

They were everything he had hoped for, and he'd expected nothing less. But even in the glorious heat of that moment before curved blade and heavy club flew towards him, Razkar had a fractured tick to prioritize.

She's faster, as is her weapon. She'll get to you first. His is larger, easier to dodge.

He twisted to his side and his right gladius slashed down, vertical blade stopping her slash at his leg-

-but there was no crack of wood on wood, as she reversed her strike to hack horizontally at his chest-

A feint. Impressive.

-his left gladius whirling up, stopping it with no time to spare, tremor rippling through his arm-

-as Mavix's shadow loomed over them both, arms raised high-

-and Razkar slammed his right elbow backward, stepping back as he did so, hard bone joint smashing into the male's breastbone and making him yelp, ruining the precision of his falling blow-

-as Alemi recovered and kicked out-

Front and back, the blow is coming. No time to block, so-

Razkar threw himself to his right, out from between them, rolling as he hit the sand and hearing the two of them curse and smash into each other-

-Mavix's club thudding onto Alemi's shoulder, her foot catching him between the legs and nearly-doubling him over with a scream a few octaves higher than usual.

But they recovered fast, and Razkar nodded his satisfaction.

"Together!" He barked as he straightened up and they shook off their pain, eapons held ready again, approaching him slow, splitting up, making a pincer to trap him. "More coordination! You outnumber your enemy, you had him on two sides, and still he is standing, but you are wounded?"

Both opened their mouths to retort but Razkar was already moving, sliding fast across the sand, gladii whirling in blurred crosses before him, both of his opponents suddenly on the defensive as he leaped towards Mavix-

-right gladius hacking towards Alemi, keeping her back with the diagonal swing-

-left gladius striking vertically at the male, forcing him to grip his club two-handed, blocking the blow but making him stagger back-

-just as Razkar's flying left knee jerked up into his chest as the two crashed together, veteran warrior landing on the sand as Mavis roared in wounded frustration, clutching his battered chest-

-Alemi flying towards him again, swinging low, then high, then spinning-

-blow aimed at Razkar's head, blocked with his left gladius-

-masking the leg aimed at his crotch-

-blocked and brutalized by Razkar's right-hand weapon, smashing down on her thigh, her face twisting from battle rage to agony-

-as Razkar's left gladius disengaged from her faltering scimitar, rapping her hard across the knuckles, then the elbow in two quick, precise blows that disarmed her, scimitar tumbling to the sand-

"Don't get predictable, female."

-and his final blow to the side of her head sent her sprawling away-

-just in time for Mavix to come in literally swinging, roaring like a Tskanna as his club hurtled towards Razkar's side like a rogue comet, and the older male blocked on impulse-

What did we say before, idiot?

"Shyke!"

-and was sent tottering away like a child by the sheer kinetic force of the blow, balance shot, and Mavix wasn't slow now. Razkar didn't know if he'd been subtly downplaying his speed or he was just angry enough to unlock it, but now the male was charging in, club swinging in circles, uncaring now of staying close, but with that much force, did he need to?

Backing the male towards the wall until Razkar's back slammed into it, Mavix raising his club in triumph as he hammered down one more time-

Mistake, taking the shallow angle.

-and Razkar twisted away to his left, letting the wooden weapon fly past him and smash into the stone wall, actually denting it, vicious reverberation shooting up Mavix's arm, ruining his victory-

-just as Razkar's left gladius slammed into his right kneecap, male crouching as he struck low, already moving as the inevitable retaliation-

-arrived as Mavix swung backhanded at where he assumed Razkar still was at his right, turning blindly where his weapon swung him-

-but the male was crouching, ducking low, weapon going over his head as he spun around the larger male, right gladius reversing in his hand, held as one would a dagger-

-Mavix's club far out to his right as he finished his desperate swing, now with his back to the wall, their positions reversed-

-and Razkar cracked his around the jaw with the bottom of his right-hand gladius, delicious crunch of wood-on-bone echoing sharply around the Training Yard, Mavix's eyes going from enraged to surprised to blank in a tick-

"Bastard!"

-and Alemi staggered at Razkar's back, male already spinning-

-gladius in his left hand jerking up to stop her sloppy, desperate downward slash from her scimitar-

-right gladius hilt smacking her left knee and kidney hard, wooden blade moving with cold, brutal speed-

-before he slammed a knee into her gut, doubling her over even as Mavix slumped to the red sand, stepping behind her and-

The female felt the blunt but solid blade press against her throat, though her vision still swam and swayed like the eyes of a drunk. Her ears, though... they were working fine...

"Firstly, never attack when you're so out of it you can barely walk," he instructor-comrade said softly to her, "It immediately gives your enemy the advantage. Secondly, don't announce it. If you'd just struck me and not shouted first, you might have succeeded."

Sand rushed up to greet Alemi as Razkar released his grip, but her one good hand kept her upright, trembling, shaking, aching... but she would not lie flat on her belly for that bastard. Low chuckling slithered into her ears and she saw the shadowy form of his feet circle around her... before offering a hand that seemed ten times too large as she looked up.

"Good spar, female."

Alemi did what all Myrian females would have done: she knocked his fucking hand away, and got up her damn self.

by **Empyrean** on February 16th, 2014, 8:51 pm

Razkar

Dual Wield	+3
Tactic	+2
Teaching	+2
Acrobatics	+1
Endurance	+2

Lores :

Notes :

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