Festival of the Burning Fields (IC)

Alm snorted as he saw how Aelos swung his sword after the Griffon's lunge. It only barely hit the shoulder before he stepped aside an tried to stab the left side of his opponent's chest.

"He's used to fighting with longer swords, that must be it." the large Dragon said to a common onlooker. Alm would be one to know, for he has a large scar to prove his captain's skills. "Must be still getting used to it. yeah, that's it."

Gilaver managed to sidestep the stab to the right and attacked with a stab of his own.

The partially succesful stab is followed by Barclay uppercut and the following slash down.

Aelos didn't know what overcame him, this Griffon was much more skilled than he'd anticipated and all he could do for the last two attacks was to make sure they wouldn't knock him out. The blunt blades would leave there marks on him and he felt the fierce pain trying to limit his movements.

The trouble Aelos had wasn't unnoticed and the small crowd looked in awe at the Griffon's speed and skill. Though the Dragons had their hands on their swords and trouble not interfering.

The Barclay uppercut had left a painful mark on Aelos' torso, but he saw an opening that could possibly chance the game in his favour, so while he blocked the slash down with his shield, he swung the sword sword into the Griffon's ribcage.

Gilaver hadn't anticipated the Dragon to be standing, let alone capable of counter-attack after the double strike. Due to this, the sword hit on home and Gilaver got to feel proper pain for the first time in this duel.

While the pain from the Dragon’s strike was great, Gilaver composed himself. The man’s strike hadn’t left openings, so he had to create one. With a single smooth move he brought his shield in front of him and bashed Aelos away from him. The bash didn’t cause visible damage, but the Dragon was left in imbalance following the recoil. This was the perfect opening, but Gilaver’s inner Griffon shouted at him. With a rush, it reached his brain. He knew what he had to do and he didn’t exploit the opening with a sword strike...

At the same time Gilaver quickly brought his arm away from the enemy’s shield, and pulled it back slightly behind his body. With that movement, he threw the sword away from him. It clattered to the ground with a slight noise which was drowned under the talk of the watchers. Gilaver clenched his fist, took a fast step forward and struck. His punch took the Dragon completely by surprise and caught him in the chin.

Aelos hadn't see it coming and the punch made him fall backwards like a spoiled maiden. The blunt sword fell from his hands and he strained his arm when the shield fell awkwardly on the sand.

His dragons rushed towards him and helped him up immediatly, but Aelos had trouble focusing on anything else than the Griffon before him. When he finally regained his composure, he spoke in a voice mixed with anger and amusement.

"I once read about a Griffon punching Mastifus the first during the reclaiming of Ravenstern. I'll remember this."

"So will I." said Alm while he picked up the blunt sword and looked at the Griffon with just enough hatred that he could control it.

Gilaver didn't care about the hate within the Dragons. They would have hated him no matter how he won this, albeit the punch might have been a bit too much. This was a great match in Gilaver's opinion and he looked forward to another one.

"Perhaps you will get your chance to punch me the next time we have a match."

Gilaver picked up his sword and took off his shield, and gave them to the man from whom he had received them.

"Still, you were a worthy opponent, and I hope we get the chance to test our skills with each other again."

Karstan gave Aelos back his longsword while the Griffon talked and took a long look at the crowd. People were leaving to find another fight to watch, but despite everything, they'll look at Alm as the great Dragon warrior instead of him.

"Next time, we might not fight with blunted weapons. My sword is legendary and no one that wielded it has ever lost a fight."

he unsheathed it and held it in the sunlight, its name was well thought off as it was whiter than common steel and did indeed look like thick ice that was the breath of the small silver dragon. The present Dragons admired it and calmed down when they realised Aelos had been right, no one had ever lost a fight wherein they wielded that longsword.

Ravys tossed 20 denars into the bag, and picked up a bow.

"I remember playing this same game with order squires. I'm certain that you'll prove to be a strong adversary."

A spider crawled on the ground, a few inches from his foot.

Ravys's leg convulsed, smashing the spider with his boot. He had a look of utter terror on his face, but he quickly composed his emotions.

Calming himself, he quickly reaimed and shot the bow.

The Veccavian archer took little time to aim. She merely drew back her bow and loosed the arrow. It landed just next to the man's arrow... any closer, and she would have split it.

"Well, twenty denars to you then. It isn't like I can't afford to lose today."

Ravys smiled at her.

"How about a more friendly wager? I'll put up 20 denars, and if I lose, I'll pay you double. If I win, we can continue this conversation over some ale."

The Veccavian starred at the man for a moment, then laughed.

"Careful Pendor. You might end up as part of my guard before the night is through."

She took up her bow and loosed the first arrow.

"I hope I would be the one exception in your guard." He said with a chuckle.

He took careful aim, and waited to see if the arrow hit the center or not before loosing.

If it did, he would shoot to split. If it didn't, he would aim closer to the center.

He breathed carefully.

He aimed closer to the center than her, and loosed an arrow.

The Veccavian bite her lip and starred at the target for a moment. Then she drew her dagger and looked to the man, though didn't seem to be threatening him... directly.

"Shall we get to the cutting, or do you still want that ale first?"

Rayvs grinned.

"I would rather we didn't do any of the cutting business, and go straight to the ale. I know a good tent around here."

"I will honor my bet. If there's a bedroll in this tent, the Gelder comes back out."

She handed her bow to one of her guards. The other guard tucked the winnings of the day under his arm and prepared to follow her.

Ravys chuckled.

"By tent, I mean a merchant's tent. They sell good ale and meats there, and I was planning on treating you to some. The guard may not be necessary; I believe you'll find me more than enough to guarantee your safety. I don't mind if he comes along, if you insist."

With that, Ravys began to walk towards the merchant's tent, where a delicious smell was wafting from the opening.

Mattus and his men arrived late that evening. The festivities started long ago and he already saw a people too drunk too walk. They fastened their horses to a post close to the arena. He left all his weapons with his horse except for his Spear. He covered the blade with a cloth and his men followed his example. Something caught his eye and as he looked over he saw a Knight reveal a beautiful sword. It must have cost a fortune.

"Ok men, just do what you want, have some fun, this is the only day off you get for the next two weeks. We received a letter from our Grandmaster, I want you ready at first light back here at the Arena."

With that the group of six disperserd and Mattus made his way closer to the arena. He wanted to inspect the Sword a little bit more.

Gilaver shrugged at Aelos' proclamation, it was a common trend to claim to be undefeated after all.

"I will hold you to that. Now, I'm off to find some ale. If you wish to join, the first round is on me."

"Sounds good, I'll join you." Aelos said and began the sheath is sword when he noticed a man looking at it as he made his way towards the improvised dueling ring. Although cloth covered the spearpoint, Alm lifted a shield to his shoulder-height and stepped closer.

Gilaver didn't bother to stay in the ring nor turn to look at the newcomer. Instead, he just started walking toward a stall. That particular one was among the few that had passable ale and good wine within.