With time to kill, and no enemies in sight, Mercuriel decided that he should bring up that promised sparring match he and Beldin had agreed upon earlier. He grabbed his greatsword and walked over to Beldin, grinning from ear to ear.
“I believe you owe me a duel, good sir. Are you ready to pay up? Because I’ve come to claim!”
He got into a battle-ready stance.
Grinning at the tall elf, Beldin unslung his shield and pulled his axe from his belt.
"I'm ready to dance whenever you are, Ser Hound!" he replied.
Mercuriel flashed Beldin another hearty smile before moving forward to attack. He just wanted to test Beldin’s responsiveness first so he swung his sword down towards Beldin’s left leg.
Beldin caught the direction of Mercuriel's move just in time. With his knee as tricky as it was, he tended to be very protective of his legs. He was not a small man, and they were under enough strain as it was without adding a sore knee to it. Luckily, Mercuriel had aimed for his left, but the sound of wood blocking steel was satisfying all the same.
"Like living dangerously, my friend?" he taunted, even as he whipped his axe up, slowing it to half speed a heartbeat before it touched his opponent's right forearm. "I suppose you won't mind if we step it up a bit?"
“Not at all. Give the best you’ve got, my good sir!” Mercuriel was not fazed by Beldin’s attack on his right forearm. They were just dueling after all but, regardless, Mercuriel would enjoy this as much as possible. The fact that Beldin seemed up for it made everything that much sweeter.
Mercuriel pushed forward and aimed the pommel of his hilt towards Beldin’s right shoulder. He tried to use his elven reflexes to bring his lithe form in close to Beldin before the human had a chance to react. Only time would tell if he scored a hit and managed to survive the shield hit his back would probably receive.
Laurelin’s attention was caught by the sound of slashing steel,she turned her face towards the direction of the sound just to see Mercuriel sparring with Beldin.
A sight she’s seen before,however she found such sparring matches particularly fascinating.
She wanted to avoid any interaction with Mercuriel at this point or in that case avoid showing him that she was still interested in him, so she decided not to get too close to the warriors.
However,she approached enough that they were both visible and started picking various herbs she found nearby,even though some of them were completely useless for her poultices or potions.Her leaf-like ears and sometimes her eyes focused on the sparring match as much as possible.
Beldin raised his shield only just in time to deflect the blow that Mercuriel aimed at his shoulder. He was fast, he had to give him that. And sly! He'd been able to block, but only just. Mercuriel was clearly more than boasts, that was certain.
Mercuriel quickly responded to Beldin’s block by aiming his sword at the exposed right leg of the warrior. He swung forward and shouted, “I have you now mighty warrior!” in preparation for the impending victory.
Beldin barely had time for those words to register before Mercuriel's second blow landed, grazing his knee. His world shattered into shards of glittering agony. He kept his legs, but only just, and slumped to his good side, leaning heavily on his axe as if it were a cane.
"Aye," he repllied through gritted teeth, "I'm done. Hail the conquering hero; I yield."
Just as Mercuriel reached out his hand to pat Beldin on the shoulder good naturedly, chuckling at the warrior’s response, he noticed a slight movement in the distance. He thought that he was simply seeing things at first but then he saw movement right near where Laurelin was. The faded sun allowed for him to glimpse what looked to be bandits of some kind. Quickly, he shifted into battle mode, this time for real, and rushed over to Laurelin’s side. He didn’t think through anything, plan anything, he just knew he had to get to Laurelin before the bandits took her by surprise and hurt her.
“Everyone! Take heed, we have visitors!” He shouted to no one in particular as he made his way to Laurelin.
Retour en haut
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