"It doesn't matter if you're my patron! This is my life!" Orion swung his shield to meet her blade, smacking it aside forcefully. "She tried to force me to make a decision on the spot! How's that fair to me!?" Dinah raised her own shield in retaliation to Orion's attack. The squire followed his swipe with an overhand chop with the wooden battle ax, an attack easily repelled by her defense. "I didn't ask for any of this!"
Dinah slid into Orion's body, using the shield like a battering ram. Her shield met his, driving him backwards. She couldn't believe the shit coming out of her squire's mouth. Everything she'd said about him, everything she'd felt about him, it was all true. He was rotten to the core. Selfish, self serving, and unable to take responsibility for his own actions. He always had an excuse, some reason for why he wasn't at fault for anything that happened. "You didn't ask for this?! I suppose you tripped and your manhood just slipped inside her?"
It was absurd. Absolute madness.
The squire regained his balance, cold, blue eyes falling on his patron. She always had a problem with something he'd done. He'd very nearly quit because of her, because it sounded like she quit on him. She didn't agree with anything he did. She didn't believe in him then. She didn't believe in him now. He was almost ready to take that ax, toss it aside, and go back to the life he'd knew before Dinah Lorene. Before she changed everything, for better and for the worse. "I didn't ask to be told when she was near six months in! We could have actually had a plan! We could have had-," Orion cut off his speech as he nearly took a blade to his face. Recoiling back, he found himself off balance once more as Dinah continued slashing. His arm flew up, shield in tow, to meet her weapon with a loud crack. "Gods blast it, Dinah! We could have figure out something!" He grasped his axe tightly and spun around in a circle to deliver a quick backhand strike.
Dinah struck the top of the axe with her shield, and the resulting stinger made Orion's arm go numb. The weapon fell harmlessly to the ground, and the fight should have been over. But neither squire nor knight would relent.
Orion ducked under the first swing, the whir of the blade audible just above the top of his head. Lunging forward he smashed his shield into hers' and kept his legs moving forward, trying to force her off her position. Dinah gave a few steps, her heels digging into the ground, before rolling off to the side and escaping from Orion's charge. She whacked him on his back as he went by for good measure.
"Orion, do you realize what she's going through? Dealing with you?" Dinah snapped at her squire, kicking the battleaxe back over to him. "Pick it up!"
Keeping his eyes on the angry woman, Orion bent down, shook out his hand, and retrieved the weapon. "What the petch does that mean, Dinah?"
"Are you kidding me, Orion? Do you not know what people say about you? Let's just say you don't have a reputation for being reliable, or even stable." Orion responded with another wild swing of the axe. The weight of the weapon was extremely top heavy, compared to the balance his one handed sword brought. While the sword gave him even strokes, the axe was for hacking. It was almost a club, with a bit of an edge to really tear up the flesh. There would be no clean cuts with a real ax, at least not one designed as this.
Dinah deflected the strike, and quickly struck out with the pommel of her weapon, tracking Orion in the face. Blood poured like a waterfall from his nose. She always injured him seriously when she was trying to make a point.
"What the petch, Dinah!!?"
"Keep your guard up."
Orion gritted his teeth together as his blood streamed down into his mouth. The taste was unpleasant, almost earthy. He spit at her feet, a scowl upon his face. "Then what the fuck do you suggest I do!?" Orion threw the battleaxe at her, the weapon sailing awkwardly through the air. End over end, but rotated so the flat side of the blade was heading at her. The weapon collided harmlessly with her shield and clattered to the ground.
"Get your head out of your ass, and think. She's with your child, a man who's had his hand in more than a couple cookie jars. It's gotta be terrifying for her, and all you've done is nail that feeling in further. If you're going to take responsibility, then take it! If you aren't, let her know! Nothing could be more wicked than leaving her hanging in the balance." Dinah shook her head, watching as her squire unstrapped his shield. How could someone so smart be so incredibly stupid? Why couldn't he understand feelings, or if he could, why did he react the way he did? "She's got a life to plan. For her. For that kid. And she's got to figure out if she's doing it alone or not. So are you going to run? Are you going to retreat like you always do? Leave the situation be and let someone else deal with it? Or are you going to actually step up and realize that what you do has serious effect on those around you? You don't live in some bubble where you can do whatever you want with complete disregard for the consequences."
Dinah sighed, turning away from Orion to return the training weapon to its place on the rack. She couldn't understand how he didn't realize the path of destruction he carved in his path. Orion Michaels had a way with people, a way to make them believe that none of the things you'd heard about him were true. But it only held so for a short while. He couldn't keep up his façade. He'd cave and he'd act wicked, malicious. Cruel. He'd have to change so much if he was going to ever stand before the Windoak. And even if he was a million times better, would it want Orion to do its bidding? Selfish. Capricious. Immoral. Irresponsible. These things a knight does not make.
"Go clean yourself up, Orion. We're done for today. Take some time to figure yourself out."
The blue eyed squire sat there, uncertain of what he was supposed to do. He was sore and in pain from the beating Dinah had given him, and his nose was going to be swollen for a few days. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he also hadn't thought about it from the perspective Dinah had offered. While he didn't agree at all with how Hadyn had put him on the spot, he also couldn't deny that they were both in a bind. He wasn't sure if there was a right answer, but he would have to think on it and figure out what he really had to do.
But Dinah got valid points there.
