Fall 5, 511 AV The clash of metal rang through the alleyway, and rippled silently across the surface of the black waters which lingered in the nearby canal. Dark brown eyes settled on a pale hazel, seemingly glazed over by the sunlight which shone directly into them. Arms shook with the effort it took to keep the two daggers locked into place, crossed, one side against the other. Veins bulged, producing prominent green and blue lines just beneath the surface of pale flesh, lined with salty sweat which glowed a pale yellow in the light. Muscles rippled beneath flesh as each fighter grit their teeth, trying to ward off the pain that coursed through each of their bodies. "Give up," the man growled. "Never," Aello hissed, as she pulled her blade back, breaking the lock. She staggered a few steps away from her opponent, passing her eyes over his entirety, as she listened to the beating of her heart. Imagining it pounded alongside a drum. She could feel the cool metal of her dagger, its point resting against the space just below her elbow. Finish him, Aello's mind whispered. Finish him... The man lunged for her, swinging his blade wildly about him. First, attempting to bring it down upon Aello's right shoulder, the girl stepped to the left, before he swung the blade inwards, towards her neck. Aello ducked, and as the man's arm raked the air about her, she shot up, and twisted her blade inwards, towards his body. She pushed the metal upwards, from the space in the center of his hips, to the middle of his chest, just below his pectoral muscles, and above his belly-button. The blade didn't so much as sever the ties that held his heavy tunic together. Petch, Aello thought, as she merely drew her weapon against cloth. What the heck is that thing made out of, and why won't it break? she wondered, as the man swept his arm inwards, reversing his previous advance. Aello side-stepped as quickly as she could, just narrowly missing the attack. What sort of cloth does not break? And does that mean that all we may strike is the areas of his flesh already exposed to us? If we intend to draw his blood anyway... leave our mark... Aello leapt forward, only one way to find out, she thought, as she pushed her right hand out to the side, holding the blade away from her. When she was within striking distance, she moved it inwards, towards her left shoulder, in a wide arc. The blade curling outwards, towards her opponent, as she attempted to rake it across the area just below his shoulders. The advance being far more basic than most, the man managed to raise his dagger, and block. There was a soft clanging sound, before Aello rapidly turned to her left, twirling her body around. Her long brown hair sweeping off her shoulders and into the air. Moving with her, as she brought her dagger-wielding arm around. She was hoping that she would be able to push her blade into the man's flesh, the area just behind his arm. Instead, since the man instinctually stepped back, in an attempt to be out of the way, Aello's blade sank into the center of his arm, just above the elbow. The man cried out as Aello split his long sleeves, and began to dig her blade into his flesh. But only a little. Just enough to free a crimson drop, before he knocked her blade away with his own. Aello spun away in silence. Smiling at herself. So it takes a push, and not a pull, to sever the ties... |