To Get Some Air (Dimitri)

[Jaelyn Baroth]

Season of Spring, Day 21, 511 AV

As comfortable and familiar as the halls of Stormhold were there were times Jaelyn liked to get outside of the wall and into the open air. She especially liked to venture outside as the rains started to die down. The air seemed to carry the scent of freshness and cleanness after all the rain.

This year it was very important for her to train hard, and so she had not left the city just to catch a breath of fresh air. Mounted on a horse, armored, and armed it almost felt like she was departing on her Knightly Quest, but Jaelyn quickly dismissed such a silly thought. She had much work to do before she was even close to ready for her Quest.

Neither had she left the city alone. Turning her head to the right she gave a smile to Dimitri as she asked, "I think here might be a good place for some sparring, what do you think?"

She was looking forward to training some more with her fellow squire, especially without repeating the rather embarrassing fall off of her horse from the last time they had trained together.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri exited the man gates of Syliras with his companion Jaelyn. He was riding on a large mixedbreed horse that he borrowed from Windmount Stables. He could feel it's massive back muscles pulsing and moving beneath him as it carried his weight. He was happy they were getting out of town, she was one of the few squires who shared that joy. She was donned in full armor today, but Dimitri settled for the choice of just his tower shield and longsword. While he was well versed in fighting while wearing armor he liked to keep trained on no armor combat. After all one had to assume armor wouldn't always be readily available.

He steered his steed, as he rode bareback, with his knees as they crossed the terrain of the wooded area. Passing massive trees, climbing small hills, riding over debris. The horse took it all in stride. Dimitri then heard Jaelyn comment on their current position for a sparring match. Dimitri smiled, instantly liking her choice. It wasn't the flat ground many grew accustomed to. The terrain was horribly uneven, a couple small trees standing around, even a few fallen ones. The terrain had a slight decline that lead into a small stream. The water appeared waist deep and slow. He smiled knowing this would be a good match.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

Taking Dimitri's smile to mean that he agreed Jaelyn dismounted her own horse and slid heavily to the ground. Leading the fine beast of burden over to a tree on the edge of the area she tied its lead rope to a sturdy looking tree. It certainly wouldn't be good to have the horse wander off and leave her to walk back to Syliras in heavy armor on foot.

Turning to face Dimitri again she gave a little stretch, "Was there anything in particular that you were wanting to work on, or should we just start with some straight up combat practice?"

She had to admit she was finding Dimitri's company rather pleasant since she had started to get to know him. It was nice to find a fellow Squire that seemed to share some of her passions and joys. The fact that he was also rather attractive, especially without his armor on, didn't hurt either...

[Dimitri]

"How about we play a game, Master Adamaal told me about it from when he was a squire. He called it Seek and Retaliate. Basically one of us closes our eyes, and counts aloud to one hundred. The other then hides within the vicinity. No matter where you are, when one hundred is reached, you cannot change locations. Upon reaching a hundred, the counter begins silently looking for the hidden individual. If either player is within reach of the other, they can attack and be attacked. If the seeker lands the first blow, then the seeker gets to hide. If the hidden one lands the first blow, the get to continue hiding."

Dimitri studied the armor clad womans face. He had soft, pretty features, but her eyes showed the willful determination common to their profession. She was so often hidden by her armor but he still assumed her to be quite good looking. He couldn't wait to spar with her again, especially like this. It would be most interesting.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

Jaelyn tilted her head slightly as she listened to Dimitri's explanation of the game. She could see the merit in such an exercise, especially out here. Giving a nod of agreement she smiled at Dimitri, "That sounds like a very interesting game. It would probably be easier without armor on. Would you mind helping me take mine off?"

Regardless of Dimitri's reply Jaelyn started to work on taking her armor off. It took some time, less so with Dimitri's help, but eventually she would have her armor, including the chain mail, stacked neatly on the ground.

"Ah," she gave a little satisfied sigh as she stretched and softly smiled at Dimitri, "I always feel lighter after taking my armor off. Like I could just bound about like a rabbit. So, which of us should hide first?"

[Dimitri]

Dimitri helped Jaelyn remove the platemail. When he helped with her chain mail, he tried to distinctly sneak a view of her body, as chainmail often snagged clothing. He then began stretching, loosening up after the ride. After he was warmed up he found a flat rock and scratched in X into one face of it. "X I hide, no X you hide." He tossed it up into the air ensuring to make it flip end over end. It end landed with a light thud, X down. "Looks like you're hiding." He smiled at the idea of the challenge.

He sat down on a rock and closed his eyes. He still had the smile on his face, as he began his countdown, listening carefully to the sounds around him. In front of him he could hear the stream rushing. He could hear Jaelyn breathing closeby. He heard the wind whipping through trees lightly, a couple of birds chirping. He slowed his breathing as the numbers left his lips. He opened his eyes as he reached one hundred, grabbing his sword and shield and ready to begin the hunt.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

It wasn't hard for Dimitri to get a look as Jaelyn wasn't attempting to hide anything as she pulled the chain mail off, and the clothes she wore underneath were light. While she was far from the epitome of the female form she did have the soft curves of a fit young woman. The skin he caught glimpses of was smooth and fair, lighter than her tanned arms and face.

Watching as Dimitri flipped the stone Jaelyn gave a slight nod as she was picked to hide first. As her fellow Squire sat down she glanced back and forth over the area to try and find a good place to hide.

Finally she settled on a larger fallen tree that was a little ways away. It was large enough it should probably hide her from Dimitri's view until he was almost upon her. As lightly as she could she ran over the uneven ground and climbed over the fallen tree. Once she was on the other side she lay down next to it, her training spear flat on the ground next to her.

As she listened to Dimitri count to 100 Jaelyn felt her heart pick up pace a bit in excitement. Her fingers tightened around her spear as she strained to listen for the sounds of his approach.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri hadn't heard any sign of where Jaelyn may have gone to hide. He held his shield and sword loose and at the ready for maximum reaction speed. He came up with an idea for while looking for her. He would scope out some other hiding positions for himself. There were three separate fallen trees, one hollowed out, all three large enough to hide behind. The stream banks were high enough to hide down in without standing in the stream. There were a couple of climbable trees and low ditches. A few bushes were littered around and a couple tiny hillocks not to mention a few large standing trees to hide behind.

Dimitri approached the first of the fallen trees, the hollowed out one. He grabbed a small piece of bark, and whipped in one end of the long and saw it flip out the other end. Empty. He then peered around the end and saw it devoid of squire. He approached the second tree, which rested at the bottom of a small slope. He approached it silently. He crouched down next to it, then leapt up atop of it. Again, no squire. He made his way to the third tree, somewhat larger than the others. He creaky toward it, careful not to step upon leaves or sticks. He then slowly climbed atop the log, in a position just outside of sight of the other side. He then leapt off, nearly landing on the hiding squire and he hesitated a second before swinging his blade down toward her.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

Laying on the ground next to the log Jaelyn struggled to make sense of the sounds that she was hearing. It was surprising what a difference it made to be without sight. This was definitely a valuable lesson to learn, and something she would have to work on.

There was the sound of the light breeze, a few animals nearby, and the faint sound of the stream going along. After some time there was another sound, but it was faint and muffled. Possibly Dimitri, but she didn't think that it was close enough to be ready to move yet.

After a little more time there came another faint sound, this one close though. Like the sound of something scraping against the bark. Tensing her muscles Jaelyn prepared to spring up, but before she did Dimitri came over the top of the fallen tree and almost landed upon her.

Startled by his sudden appearance she reflexively shoved with her arms and jerked back, coming up to her knees as Dimitri's sword slipped by just in front of her. Taking hold of her spear with her other hand she quickly retaliated with a sideways swipe aimed just above Dimitri's hip.

[Dimitri]

Upon landing on the other side of the fallen tree, Dimitri had discovered his quarry. He was so startled that she was actually there, he hesitated a brief moment. He saw her laying down, but then spring up at the ready. He saw the look of determination in her eyes that mirrored his own, her muscles tensed and ready to spring. He was on slightly higher ground than she, and she was on her knees, giving him significant advantage.

She slashed at his upper thigh in a sideswipe of her spear. Dimitri brought his heavy shield down on the shaft of the spear, driving it down and away. He brought his sword down at an awkward angle, slicing down from his shoulder, toward her ribs. He would flip the blade at the last second should it appear to connect. He kept his shield ready to answer any counter attack she had.